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|
February 16th, 2001
Oscar® Nominations: "Famous" Snub
Truly one of the most important days in Hollywood, last
Tuesday, Academy Award® nominations were announced. I
think it's going to be an interesting race, since I feel
this was a year where good movies were considered great
ones.
I guess the biggest disappointment for me that what I
felt was a sure fire nod, Almost Famous, really got
snubbed. With only four nominations, Cameron Crowe's rock
saga really deserved more. While I wasn't expecting a Best
Director nod for him (though I felt he really deserved it),
I was really unhappy that it didn't get a Best Picture nod.
Instead, it got two for Supporting Actress (Kate Hudson and
Frances McDormand), film editing, and Crowe's wonderful
screenplay. Oh well...
Oscar® history was made with Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon scoring a whopping ten nominations,
including Best Picture, Best Song, Best Director, Best
Foreign Film and Best Adapted Screenplay. I believe that is
the most ever for a foreign film. I'm very glad this movie
was recognized by the Academy, as it deserves to be. It got
a lot more than I expected, which I was really happy about.
Gladiator got the most nods, with 12 nominations.
As everyone knows, usually the movie with the most
nominations wins Best Picture. Don't get me wrong, I really
liked film, but I felt it was pretty overrated. We'll see
what it picks up...
The Best Acting catagories have great variety.
Pollock, Ed Harris' directing debut scored two nods,
one for him as Best Actor and one for Marcia Gay Harden as
Best Supporting Actress. The film opened for one week last
December, and this weekend, it reopens for a wider release.
I think that Best Actress will be tough to call, with Julia
Roberts, Laura Linney and Ellen Burstyn, who made it after
much praise for her role in Requiem For A Dream. Joan
Allen also got a nod for The Contender.
Another movie was that was really snubbed was Wonder
Boys, which I really enjoyed. Michael Douglas didn't get
a Best Actor nod, but the film did pick up Best Original
Song and Best Adapted Screenplay.
While I don't feel the Best Original Song catagory is so
good this year (Elton John and Tim Rice didn't get a
nomination for "The Road To El Dorado"). Speaking of not
really main catagories, I met the sound guys for
U-571 last summer when I went to a program at
Universal, and a guy who didn't work on the movie said that
if his friend (who did) didn't get a nod, he said there
would be no justice in Hollywood. Luckily, there is... it
scored two nods for sound. Nice.
As far as other things, I have to say Miramax bought nods
for Chocolat, which is Miramax-manafactured (good
acting, heart warming story, etc). Almost Famous
deserved that spot, and I'm really surprised the Academy
went for "Chocolat".
Also, Billy Elliot snuck in three nods... not bad.
The Academy usually does a Best Director who's not part of
the Best Picture list, and Stephen Daldry got the nod, plus
Lee Hall for Original Screenplay and Julie Waters for Best
Supporting Actress.
I already have my predictions planned out... but I'll
post them the weekend before. Besides, I want the staff to
have their say too... until then... let the hype, massive
advertising begin. Also don't forget to read some tremendous
past
news...
- Zach B.
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