At 13:30 GMT, the 2009 Oscar nominations were finally announced. AMPAS President Sid Ganis and his co-host Forest Whitaker finally named the nominees, each of whom are hoping to prove victorious in precisely a months' time.
Was this going to be the year where the unthinkable happened? Could popular outsiders such as 'WALL-E' or 'The Dark Knight' be named as nominees for 'Best Picture'? Could Benicio Del Toro be named as 'Best Actor' for Soderbergh's epic 'Che' and could Mike Leigh's 'Happy-Go-Lucky' continue to dazzle American audiences despite pulling a big fat 'zero' nominations at BAFTA?
Everyone (well Ok, a couple...) had their collective breaths held and waited for the shock nomination, the feel-good story of the year, the year that changed the face of the Academy... and it never happened.
The nominations came and it was the selection equivlent of 'painting by numbers'.
Yes folks, once again the Academy voters prove that they are incapable of selecting films that are anything but 'prestige pictures'. The type of film that screams out like an attention seeking brat. Pictures like 'Benjamin Button', 'The Reader' and 'Frost/Nixon' are always going to get in simply because of the fact that they were all released in December and it is a fact universally acknowledged that most Academy voters have short-term memory!
The bulk of the nominations went to David Fincher's fantasy fable, 'Button' which features Brad Pitt as the eponoymous hero, as a man who ages through life backwards. Earning a (quite frankly) ludicrous 13 Academy Award nominations, it looks like 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', will be the film to beat, but I am struggling to see why it earned so many... If I am honest, I think it will have a hard time winning even a couple on the night. With the film even being a far cry from competing with its spiritual predecessor 'Forrest Gump'. In fact, in a rather odd coincidence, Gump also received 13 Oscar nods in every single category that 'Button' also received, with the exceptions of 'Best Supporting Actress' and 'Best Costume Design'. Instead 'Gump' was nominated for 'Best Supporting Actor' and 'Best Sound Editing'. If ever there was a sign that the Academy is immune to change, this is it!
Then there were the nominees that should have been, including Christopher Nolan for direction on 'The Dark Knight'.
Nolan's film was THE most impressive blockbuster that I have ever seen and in my opinion was a far better effort at directing than Daldry's restrained touch on 'The Reader'.
Perhaps my favourite film of these Oscar nominations has been Darren Aronofsky's heartbreaking 'The Wrestler' and as expected it was shunned by the Academy on all but 'Best Actor' and 'Best Supporting Actress'.
It was expected that Bruce Springsteen would get a nod for fantastic original song on the soundtrack, but even he was shunned in place of two 'Slumdog Millionaire' tracks. Great going Academy! You change the rules for eligibility and end up shooting yourself in the foot!
Which brings me to 'Slumdog', the little 'indie that could'. Boyle's film is fun, but certainly not the 'Best Picture' and I honestly can't see the Academy giving the film award of the year to an Indian/ United Kingdom co-production. However I would love to be proved wrong!
Despite all my irritation at boring nominations, there were some welcome (surprise) nominations including Michael Shannon's scene stealing turn in 'Revolutionary Road' (The only actor in the entire film I actually enjoyed watching...), Richard Jenkins' fine portrayal of a good Samaritan professor in the underrated 'The Visitor' and finally the original screenplay nod for Martin McDonagh's superb 'In Bruges' which I still rate as one of my favourites in 2008.
So the results will be announced on February 22nd and I fully the press to hype the event to high Heaven.
They will be talking about what Kate Winslet will (literally) cry out when she wins her Oscar or how people will react when Heath Ledger wins the award and if Slumdog can prove to overcome the odds. Quite frankly after months of hearing nothing but endless P.R. for this set of nominations, I would be quite happy for them to announce the winners now and be over with it!
But I suppose I am being cynical. After all, i'm still bitter that 'WALL-E' wasn't given a 'Best Picture' nomination! ;)
