Oscar Noms I'm Happy About

Now that it's been almost 12 hours since the Oscar nominations were announced, I'd like to take the opportunity to list some of the nominations I'm happy about. Because even though Sally Hawkins didn't receive a nomination, I still want to be more like her and try to be as positive as possible.

I'm glad that Slumdog Millionaire and Danny Boyle have received so many accolades. It's not my favorite Boyle film, but as a longtime fan of his work, it makes me hopeful about his career. Maybe he can make another attempt at a sci-fi film, because Sunshine was so close to being great.

I'm happy for Richard Jenkins being nominated even though I still haven't yet seen The Visitor. I've always liked him, and I did enjoy him greatly this year at least, in both Burn After Reading and Step Brothers. Also for actors, I'm really excited to see Michael Shannon get the nom for Revolutionary Road. He's brilliant in that movie.

As for actresses, I'm happy that both Viola Davis and Amy Adams were recognized for Doubt. Just as I predicted they'd be.

Though Hawkins was snubbed, at least her film, Happy-Go-Lucky, got a screenplay nod.

I really liked Bolt, so it's fun to see that recognized in the animated feature category.

For docs, I'm happy all around, though must find a way to see both The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) and The Garden. And as much as I think Man on Wire is one of the best films of the year, I agree with one of my SpoutBlog commenters that a win for Herzog (Encounters at the End of the World) would be a highlight of the ceremony.

I really love both of the foreign nominees I've seen, Waltz with Bashir and The Class, so congrats to them.

And finally, as a fan of Bollywood music, it's great to see A.R. Rahman get three nominations for his work on Slumdog Millionaire (one for score, two for song). I still can't believe the Academy only nominated three songs, though.

Oscars Confuse Me

I was so shocked and awed by the Oscar nominations this morning, that I failed to even notice that Kate Winslet's nod for Best Actress is for The Reader rather than for Revolutionary Road. And my error was for the world to see over at SpoutBlog.

Anyway, I've just about given up on the Academy, finally. I used to at least enjoy the Foreign category, until Tsotsi won a few years back. But my very favorite category, the one that always saved the Oscars for me, was the Original Screenplay. But not only did Charlie Kaufman get snubbed for writing the best film of the year. My most hated film, Frozen River, got a nomination instead (also the film's star, Melissa Leo kept out my favorite actresses of the year, Michelle Williams, Sally Hawkins and, yes, Cate Blanchett). Also, I just watched In Bruges, and I don't think that was worthy, either. I guess Happy-Go-Lucky is now the one I'm rooting for in that area of the awards, if I even bother watching.

Synecdoche, Doubt and Benjamin Button

I am clearly only slightly better at updating LowExpectation as a blog than I was updating it as a website. But the pre-holiday weeks were very busy for me, and then I was away for two and a half weeks. Now I am home, back into a normal schedule, and ready to share some minor comments each about the films I've seen in the past month.

Synecdoche, New York (2008, Charlie Kaufman)

I've seen this twice. The day after my first viewing, I couldn't think of anything else. The second time was an oddly irritating experience you can read about over at FirstShowing.net. My simple response was that it's like 8 1/2 as directed by Luis Bunuel (and co-written by Bunuel collaborator Jean-Claude Carrier, of course). But now I'm thinking it's better than what that would have literally looked like. I've said this before about other films, but Synecdoche is precisely the film I always wanted to make, a film about everything, particularly everything I've wanted to express about myself and my desire to express everything about myself. Oh, and I definitely appreciate that it features all of my current favorite actresses.

Doubt (2008, John Patrick Shanley)

I saw this the only way I could have enjoyed it, sitting beside a woman who'd spent her entire pre-college education in Catholic school. She laughed throughout. Otherwise, it's only really as good as its performances by Streep, Hoffman, Adams and Davis. John Patrick Shanley has seemingly learned nothing about directing in the 18 years since his last film, Joe Versus the Volcano. Those amateurish camera angles and awkward intercutting between scenes were distracting. He should stick to writing plays.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008, David Fincher)

For a film as magical as this seems to want to be, it completely lacks surprises. I wanted to be amazed, but never was. Instead I was bored up until the denouement, which is overbearingly cruel in its attempt to be sad. A young boy with dementia and a baby dying as if of old age? These are horrible things to watch, and not in a good-sad way. Also, did the film's scenes in the present need to have Katrina as a backdrop? I think I even liked this film's obvious predecessor, Forrest Gump (also scripted by Eric Roth), better. And that's an insult.