No Country for Sean Penn
It was interesting to watch the entertainment news shows last night. I rarely watch them, as their inane chirping is like listening to fingernails on a blackboard for me, but I do try to tune them in the day the Oscar noms are announced to see the nominees' reactions (this year Billy Bush wore a beret and was carrying a bulldog (?) while speaking badly-accented French as he congratulated Marion Cotillard. Does it make me a bad person to want to see Billy Bush be beaten with sticks?). This year, though, the whole thing was muted by the death of Heath Ledger, so the shows had to pull out their "sad" music and dialed the Oscar coverage down, as it should have been.
Also, no one's sure what kind of ceremony will take place. I'm naturally optimistic about these sort of things, so I think a deal will be done and will get the usual bloated fanfare that we all love, but it was interesting to watch nominees say how pleased they were but that of course they won't cross a picket line. Bush (there he is again) made a bad joke and said if there is no settlement he would be glad to read off the names of the winners. Shoot me. Shoot me now.
What are we to make of the nominations? Well, it was a good day for the Coen brothers and a bad day for Sean Penn. The Coens got four nominations each, counting their pseudonymous work in the editing room as "Roderick Jaynes" (a friend writes that if "Jaynes" wins, who accepts? Will they hire an actor to play the part?). We have four weeks to go until the winners are announced, and things can change, but I think No Country for Old Men is the film to beat, and the Coens will certainly win at least three awards, for writing, directing and producing.
Sean Penn, on the other hand, is having a bad month. First he and Robin Wright break up, and then he gets skunked by the Academy. Penn could have picked up three nominations of his own (for writing, directing and producing) but Into the Wild only managed nominations for eminence grise Hal Holbrook and editing. Wild also was spurned by the Golden Globes, but I thought the love shown from the Screen Actors and Director's Guild had pushed Penn's film into near sure-fire status. No one, indeed, knows anything.
I'm amused by some of the pundits who write in a blase fashion that there were no surprises. Bullshit! I can find no one making predictions on the Web that had Tommy Lee Jones for Best Actor or Jason Reitman for Best Director, no one! I prepare lists of ten possibilities in each category and I had neither one of them in my top ten. Jones was on the short list way back in October, but since In the Valley of Elah made no impression on moviegoers and other names surfaced (and Jones was also ballyhooed for his supporting turn in No Country) I figured his hopes were in the ether. As for Reitman, I am not surprised that Juno got a Best Picture nod, but it seemed like the natural picture nomination that doesn't get a director nod, due to it being a writer-driven picture.
Instead Atonement's Joe Wright got the fuzzy end of the lollipop, which doesn't surprise me as much as Atonement getting into the final five. It got bupkus from the guilds, but apparently the Academy has enough people who are impressed by British accents and luscious period detail to get into the mix (I happened to like the film very much and think it deserves the slot).
I think there are clear-cut favorites so far, but things have a way of evolving. No Country, Day-Lewis, Christie, Bardem and Ryan would seem to be the front-runners. Over the next four weeks I'll go into further detail and bore you all with in-depth analyses of the major categories, where I will reserve the right to flip-flop like Mitt Romney on a windy day. Until then, I hope the Writers Guild strike is settled so everyone in Hollywood can get back to work and we fans can sit in the comfort of our living rooms and make fun of their horrible wardrobes.
Also, no one's sure what kind of ceremony will take place. I'm naturally optimistic about these sort of things, so I think a deal will be done and will get the usual bloated fanfare that we all love, but it was interesting to watch nominees say how pleased they were but that of course they won't cross a picket line. Bush (there he is again) made a bad joke and said if there is no settlement he would be glad to read off the names of the winners. Shoot me. Shoot me now.
What are we to make of the nominations? Well, it was a good day for the Coen brothers and a bad day for Sean Penn. The Coens got four nominations each, counting their pseudonymous work in the editing room as "Roderick Jaynes" (a friend writes that if "Jaynes" wins, who accepts? Will they hire an actor to play the part?). We have four weeks to go until the winners are announced, and things can change, but I think No Country for Old Men is the film to beat, and the Coens will certainly win at least three awards, for writing, directing and producing.
Sean Penn, on the other hand, is having a bad month. First he and Robin Wright break up, and then he gets skunked by the Academy. Penn could have picked up three nominations of his own (for writing, directing and producing) but Into the Wild only managed nominations for eminence grise Hal Holbrook and editing. Wild also was spurned by the Golden Globes, but I thought the love shown from the Screen Actors and Director's Guild had pushed Penn's film into near sure-fire status. No one, indeed, knows anything.
I'm amused by some of the pundits who write in a blase fashion that there were no surprises. Bullshit! I can find no one making predictions on the Web that had Tommy Lee Jones for Best Actor or Jason Reitman for Best Director, no one! I prepare lists of ten possibilities in each category and I had neither one of them in my top ten. Jones was on the short list way back in October, but since In the Valley of Elah made no impression on moviegoers and other names surfaced (and Jones was also ballyhooed for his supporting turn in No Country) I figured his hopes were in the ether. As for Reitman, I am not surprised that Juno got a Best Picture nod, but it seemed like the natural picture nomination that doesn't get a director nod, due to it being a writer-driven picture.
Instead Atonement's Joe Wright got the fuzzy end of the lollipop, which doesn't surprise me as much as Atonement getting into the final five. It got bupkus from the guilds, but apparently the Academy has enough people who are impressed by British accents and luscious period detail to get into the mix (I happened to like the film very much and think it deserves the slot).
I think there are clear-cut favorites so far, but things have a way of evolving. No Country, Day-Lewis, Christie, Bardem and Ryan would seem to be the front-runners. Over the next four weeks I'll go into further detail and bore you all with in-depth analyses of the major categories, where I will reserve the right to flip-flop like Mitt Romney on a windy day. Until then, I hope the Writers Guild strike is settled so everyone in Hollywood can get back to work and we fans can sit in the comfort of our living rooms and make fun of their horrible wardrobes.
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