Reaction to the Oscar Nominations
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For the most part the nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards went as expected. The acting categories are almost all considered to be locks for one winner with the other nominees mostly the same as earlier award shows. With the Best Picture category expanding to 10 films it would be hard to complain about ones that didn’t make the cut. Still there were a couple surprises and a few nominations or omissions that I noted.
The most glaring snub seems to be with Star Trek not getting a Best Picture nod. Really there were seven films that were for sure going to be included with the final three open to a handful of possibilities. Star Trek was seen as one of the stronger ones for the final spots and I thought it would get in before District 9 even though both are among my favorite movies of the year.
Really the film that made it in that shouldn’t have is The Blind Side which was a long shot and not only bumped Star Trek but also others like Invictus from the running. I would have been ecstatic if (500) Days of Summer had gotten in. Though some thought it could happen I never really thought The Hangover had a chance. The Blind Side is the worst reviewed film of the 10 nominees with only 70% on Rotten Tomatoes while Star Trek had 94%.
The Hurt Locker was able to tie Avatar for most nominations with nine. It was the least expensive to make of any of the 10 Best Picture candidates. Avatar was the most expensive movie ever made. The Hurt Locker grossed $16 million while Avatar has become the biggest movie of all time with over $2 billion worldwide.
Jeremy Renner’s breakout performance in The Hurt Locker was recognized which is great. He has the makings to become a big name star in the near future.
I think it’s somewhat surprising that the Michael Jackson documentary This Is It didn’t get nominated in the Best Documentary category. There was buzz about the movie being a contender for Best Picture when it came out and it didn’t even make it into the five for Documentary.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, who I can’t stand at all, got a Supporting Actress nomination which is more of a product of being associated with Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart. Bridges is the odds on favorite to win Best Actor.
The Hangover got shut out on Best Original Song also in favor of the more traditional offerings. There was a shot that “Stu’s Song” would make the cut but unfortunately didn’t. It would’ve been fun to have Ed Helms perform it at the show.