2010 Academy Award Nominations

Let's start at the same point - check out the 2010 Academy Award Nominations.

Ok, so now that we've both reviewed the list I can spout my opinions.

This is the first year that the Academy has nominated 10 movies for best picture instead of 5. Now 5 more movies can slap the "Academy award nominated" label on the front of their DVDs. I'm not clear on other reasons. I heard something about wanting to draw in more of the mainstream crowd (i.e. most of America that has never seen Precious or A Serious Man) by nominating some mainstream movies (e.g. The Blind Side and Up). That's not to say these "mainstream" movies don't have merit. It does confuse me how "Up" can be nominated for both Best Animated Feature Film and Best Picture.

I need to see about 10 movies to be up to speed by March 7th (the day of the awards show). Unfortunately 2 or 3 of the 10 movies are no longer in the theaters and are not yet on DVD. Since I haven't seen many of the movies in the running for one award or another, I can't properly judge them. I can, however, say that I'm pleased to see The Hurt Locker in the running for Best Picture. Conversely, I am not entirely pleased to see that Avatar is also in the running. Although Avatar is an innovative film in its presentation and concept, it doesn't seem like Academy Award quality. Do we really want a quasi-animated movie that tells the same old story of a white guy saving a tribal people representing the best film of our time? I'm not 100% that The Hurt Locker represents the best film of our time either but it does embrace an actual reality and makes us face it too. I'm sure many will disagree with me but oh well.

This year brings the fourth Best Director nomination ever for a woman: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker. The three others were: Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties (1976), Jane Campion for The Piano (1993), Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation (2003). No woman has ever won Best Director.

This year also brings only the second Best Director nomination for an African-American: Lee Daniels for Precious. The other was John Singleton for Boyz n the Hood (1991). No African-American has ever won Best Director.

I'll have to return to this topic after I've seen a few more films.