February 12th, 2002

Oscar® Nominations, Weekend Box Office

Well, today's the day... the day us movie buffs anticipate with much joy and glee. We wonder who, we pray who and we agonize who gets nominated for the Academy Awards. It's just the biggest awards ceremony for film that occurs every year... but for some reason we can't wait to get up early to hear who has been blessed with a nomination, who has been snubbed and then go off and analyze who may get recognized for their achievments in film during 2001. While some people don't care... if you're into film, you probably do... even if it's JUST an award, we all go nuts about it.

So of course, The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring got the most nods with 13 (could that number prove to be unlucky for them?). The one with the most nods with Best Picture... and while the Academy likes successful films, have they ever awarded such a grand fantasy epic? I think A Beautiful Mind could give it a run for its money (that got 8). As much as I'd love to spread my thoughts of who will win, I'll wait until the weekend before. Some other DVDlaunch staffers may put in their own thoughts as well.

So for now, I'll focus on what surprised me and the one new addition to the ceremony. Okay, I'll begin with the new addition... Best Animated Film. While Shrek didn't score a Best Picture nod as many predicted, it'll sure win this. Like I said before, it was a rather overrated film... Monsters, INC. deserves to win, not "Shrek" or Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius which got a surprise nod in this catagory. Does it deserve the nod? I don't think so... anyone hear of Waking Life? SNUBBED. Oddly enough, all the films are computer animated here.

Moving on... I was a bit surprised that Shrek also got a Best Adapted Screenplay nod. It's very loosely based on the book, and the fact is, the story is so standard, not to mention it's my belief the voice-actors did a good deal of ad-libbing. Speaking of screenplay, in the Original catagory, The Royal Tenenbaums picked up the nod (YES!). I hope Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson win... it was a great movie, and it's a great screenplay (I read it). Sadly, I felt Gene Hackman was snubbed for his role... but I can understand why. His performance is more than a Supporting Actor, but a little bit less under an Actor. Oh well...

Anything else major? Foreign hit Amélie got five nominations, Monsters, INC. got four (hopefully Randy Newman will finally win for music!) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone got three. I was glad to see that it picked up one for its score... I loved it, but many critics bashed it into the ground.

As far other snubs, Baz Luhrmann for director was the biggest. Moulin Rouge may have scored eight nominations, but it's a tragedy that Luhrmann didn't get one. That film is such a visual experience and takes a lot of creativity... and the fact that he put so much of his life behind it and that whole movie is whole extradionary vision, it's really a shame he was passed over. But as I predicted and did hope, David Lynch and Ridley Scott were nominated. Personally, I felt that maybe Luhrmann could have taken Lynch's spot...

And that's about it. So see you before the awards, where I'll make predictions and a few others here. And now on to the usual weekly box office...

Who says Arnold still can't open a movie? While the opening isn't giant, it's still very respectable. Collateral Damage opened in first with some decent reviews and 15 million. Perhaps delaying it after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center did pay off. In second was another newcomer, the family comedy Big Fat Liar with 11.5 million. This should hold strong since they are not many kids movies out there. Third place was the bashed Rollerball with 9 million, while Black Hawk Down slipped to fourth with eight million. Snow Dogs is still doing well with 7.1 million.

The Count Of Monte Cristo made 6.4, while A Beautiful Mind made 6.3. A Walk To Remember slipped to eight with 5.5, The Mothman Prophecies also dropped with 4.8 while I Am Sam finished the top ten off with 4.6.

-Zach B.