When it happened they came through (full list of nominations here) thick and fast, with no real surprises and a few disappointments in the mix. While this is mainly a publicity exercise there is some truly outstanding talent being honoured here, and there’s good news for Carey Mulligan who greatly impressed in An Education and great to see Colin Firth breaking out from his stereotype with A Single Man.
Jason Retiman should have plenty to smile about as he is up for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for George Clooney and Best Supporting Actress for both Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick as well as Adapted Screenplay, however the strong competition is all of those categories may make for a tense night for Reitman.
Not much love for the UK though, and the famous Twitter campaign to get Sam Rockwell nominated for his role in Moon sadly came to nothing, and even extending the Best Picture categories to include ten nominees didn’t allow for Duncan Jones to get on the list, buy hey – he’s got a massive future so I’m sure we’ll see him up there before long.
Some categories have clear favourites, making the potential for an upset even greater. Christoph Waltz is certain to walk away with the Best Supporting Actor award, I can’t see the other actors nominated as having the same impact as Waltz did, though I have yet to see Christopher Plummer in The Last Station, it seems hard to imagine someone besting the maniacal Machiavellian streak of Waltz’s Hans Landa. Never underestimate the Oscar’s penchant for validating a ‘discovery’, and Waltz is one of this year’s biggest arrivals in Hollywood so it seems in the bag.
Supporting Actress has Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga from Up In the Air competing with Mo’Nique who has drawn almost unanimous praise for her role as the abusive mother in Lee Daniel’s Precious, and she has gathered the most buzz for her work. Hard to choose between Kendrick and Farmiga but I don’t think either will walk away with the statue.
Best Actor is a stellar list, with my own pick Colin Firth leading the UK charge for A Single Man and while George Clooney is a surprise (as he’s essentially playing ‘George Clooney’, but doing it really well), Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner is a great pick for an emerging talent who made a huge impact in Bigelow’s film. The buzz is all around Jeff Bridges for his role in Crazy Heart, and a we’ve yet to see it in the UK I can’t call it, suffice to say that if Firth is beaten by Bridges it will be great to see The Dude recognised, but also I’ll be able to look forward to a performance better than Colin Firth’s Single Man.
The Meryl Streep Academy Award, sorry, Best Actress has UK’s high hopes pinned on Carey Mulligan who was outstanding in An Education, and it would be excellent if she left with a gold, bald man on the night, but I’m sure Lee Daniels is very happy to see his star from Precious Gaborey Sibide thrown into the spotlight – I’ve still not seen Precious, so can’t comment but it would have to be a pretty impressive performance to best Mulligans. Will Sandra Bullock win an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year? Unlikely.
The only surprise for Best Director was Lee Daniels, but Tarantino and Cameron are present along with Jason Reitman and recent DGA winner Kathryn Bigelow. Who knows which way the wind will blow on Oscar night, but I think that the whole Cameron Vs. Bigelow angle is a misnomer; for my money Bigelow made a more impressively directed film, balancing the smash and silence of the human toll of warfare, whereas Cameron was all about the spectacle with both achieving impressive results.
And the ten films up for Best Picture… It’s good to see the Coens in there, though A Serious Man was an excellent film it didn’t match up to their No Country for Old Men, and that’s a high standard to beat. Pixar’s Up being nominated is wonderful though I have a suspicion the Oscars will look to the (supposed) future of their industry and cram Pandora’s Box with statues.
Other things which made me smile…
In the Loop being nominated for Adapted Screenplay, Coraline up for Best Animated Feature, Dr Parnassus for Best Art Direction and the expected face off between The White Ribbon and Un Prophete.
So no huge surprises and there’s little to indicate which way it will go. One thing is for certain we’ll be watching and tweeting on Oscar night, join us why don’t you?
