This year's list of Oscar nominees seems way, way off.

February 15, 2000 8:38 AM

This year's list of Oscar nominees seems way, way off. But here's my big five predictions given their lame choices (along with my personal faves if I could choose anything): best pic: American Beauty (Magnolia), Actor: Denzel Washington (John Malkovich), Actress: Hilary Swank (same), Supporting Actor: Tom Cruise (Philip Hoffman), and Supporting Actress: Angelina Jolie (same, she was amazing).
posted by mathowie (16 comments total)

I would disagree on Malkovich for Best Actor....he was the only thing in that movie that seemed a little off. Kevin Spacey would be my choice here, or maybe John C. Reilly from Magnolia. I've never seen anyone play a typical cop so well.
posted by jkottke at 9:05 AM on February 15, 2000

I agree with Hilary Swank for Best Actress. I haven't seen Magnolia, (and I'm rooting for Haley Joel Osment), but I heard Cruise did a pretty good job. I'm suprised that Anderson didn't pick up a Director nomination.
posted by Cavatica at 9:14 AM on February 15, 2000

Well jason, I took a look at my favorites for the year, and I couldn't say that Matthew Broderick or John Cusack should have been nominated. Magnolia's multiple stories made it hard to think of one breakout perfomance. I guess I'm saying Malkovich just for the scene where he's imitating the puppet sequence from the opening. Spacey would be a close second if I got to pick the winners. I think Tom Cruise is one of the lamest nominations, he was great *for Tom Cruise*, but everyone else out-acted him like there was no tomorrow. I forgot Best Direction, which I bet goes to American Beauty, but if the academy wants to reward risk-taking brilliance, they'd give it to Spike Jones for Malkovich (of course, PTA should have been nominated, but that goes without saying).
posted by mathowie at 9:15 AM on February 15, 2000

I don't know when I lost control of my moviegoing - I mean, there were always crappy mainstream movies that got nominated that I didn't see but for the last few years it seems like I haven't seen *anything*... I did love Malkovich, and while I wouldn't necessarily tag him for best actor (I might for best supporting), I thought his contributions to the movie were brilliant. Frankly, the only category I care about this year is Best Original Song. I *so* want Blame Canada to win, even though I'm pretty sure Aimee Mann will get it for Magnolia.
posted by CrazyUncleJoe at 9:26 AM on February 15, 2000

I'm glad to hear that South Park was nominated for something. Earlier last year, there was a story of Tarzan and South Park getting snubbed on both best musical and best song categories for various technicalities. If any movie deserves an award this year, it's South Park (but, of course everyone knows that "Uncle Fucka" or "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" are much better songs from the movie).
posted by mathowie at 10:01 AM on February 15, 2000

Agreed. I wish Uncle Fucka had gotten nominated, just so we could have the big *bleep*ing production number.
posted by CrazyUncleJoe at 10:04 AM on February 15, 2000

Cider House Rules and Green Mile? For best picture? Blech.


And just as Tom Cruise was only good *for Tom Cruise*, the Sixth Sense kid was only good *for a kid*, no? Double-blech.

Thumbs down for this year's Oscars.
posted by luke at 1:05 PM on February 15, 2000

The crap thing about the Oscar's every year is that half the movies haven't even made it across the pond yet. :/
posted by prolific at 1:23 PM on February 15, 2000

Fight Club got one lousy nomination: sound effects editing.

Sound. Effects. Editing.

Jesus. That film rocked me harder than anything else I saw last year (or possibly any other year). I didn't really expect the Oscars to have enough balls to nominate it for Best Picture (even though that'd be my vote), but ... sound effects editing?

I am Jack's raging sense of injustice.

posted by fraying at 2:57 PM on February 15, 2000

I haven't seen half these movies yet, as Prol says, they just aren't here yet - but American Beauty did come out last Friday.

I seem to recall Fight Club getting a serious slagging at the Box Office here though.

posted by tomcosgrave at 3:19 PM on February 15, 2000

I just really hope Hilary Swank wins for best actess, and I'm dying to watch the ceremony just to see her as a her. She was so convincing as a guy, I just can't picture her any other way. Phenominal phenominal phenominal.
posted by megnut at 3:53 PM on February 15, 2000

sometimes... i like to have a movie that rocks the fcuking house, and then gets the shittiest nomination on the list. "sound effects editing?" what kind of crap is that? that's it. i refuse to even watch the damn things (not like i was going to anyways...)
posted by aryn at 7:51 PM on February 15, 2000

I have to agree with luke ... the oscars are pretty LAME .. i mean last year with all that crap about Shakespeare in Love ... it's all just about the studios vying for which move will win ... (even though American Beauty was great)
posted by E-Boogie at 8:05 PM on February 15, 2000

I heard a gret quote from Sean Penn this morning...can't remember it word for word, but it went something like - "I don't care about the Oscars, they're only for people who snitch on each other".
posted by tomcosgrave at 7:50 AM on February 16, 2000

first off, if Hilary Swank doesn't win, i know some kids who will be very angy (myself included)...

secondly, i'm in complete agreement with Derek about Fight Club. i really think it may possibly have been the best movie i've ever seen in a movie theater, for a variety of reasons. have you read the original novel by Chuck Palahniuk? abso-effin-lutely amazing. they followed it pretty closely in the film, too.

but, you know, i see how it wouldn't be nominated for Best Picture. everyone i know who's seen it either loved it or hated it -- there's a remarkable lack of greyness in opinion. either you love it or you hate it, and you won't know which side you'll be on until you see it. i think that's what makes a movie *really* good, though. also, being on the "loved it" side, i personally believe that the people who didn't like it probably missed the point of the film entirely. some people seem to think it pointlessly advocates violence, but god -- that is NOT the true focus. anyway, i think it would be unlikely for a film to be nominated for Best Picture when the public opinion is so clearly divided.

.....i still think it should've been nominated for more categories though. "sound effects editing?" good god. try Best Actor for Edward Norton -- and i'm sure plenty of other technical awards would apply as well. "sound effects editing..." seems like they decided to ignore all those beautifully drained colors and awesome [insert word -- lighting, camera, anything. everything rocked].
posted by joopy at 4:50 PM on February 16, 2000

The real reason Fight Club wasn't nominated for anything meaningful ("sound effects editing" is almost more insulting than nothing at all) is that it's a powerful movie with a truly subversive message that scares the shit out of the people in power--including the folks who run Hollywood. Anybody notice how deceptively it was advertised? They made it seem like a violent, frothy comedic romp. Violent it was, of course, and funny as hell, but that's barely the point of the film; and I think, for the most part, the people who were attracted by the promo and ads didn't get it, and the people who would really appreciate it were turned off by the ads. It's a bloody travesty that it's being so neglected; but it's such a great movie it can't possibly languish, largely unnoticed, forever. I consider the true test of a good movie to be how much I think about it afterwards. After I saw Fight Club I thought about it incessantly the entire next day, and then frequently enough after that that I finally had to go see it again to make it leave me alone. As far as I'm concerned, it deserves Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Soundtrack (is that a category?), not to mention all the technical awards indicated in the previous post. But that's not what the Oscars are about, and I hardly expected anything more than the shit it got.

Sorry for the length. I had to let it out.
posted by Annabel.Gill at 5:15 PM on February 20, 2000