Quick Notes About the Best Picture Nominees

by Ted Langlais

Like most other movie addicts, I’ve had a life-long love-hate relationship with the Academy Awards. I’m aware of their faults, that they often overlook the better films that have been produced over the years, and have a complete disregard for the beauty of independent film. Yet, each year, I find myself strangely drawn to their allure, once again immersed in the annual ritual of speculating about the winners, should-have-wons, and what-the-hell-were-they-thinkings.

I remember when I first became aware that the Oscars were fallible in their judgment of movie greatness. It was the mid-eighties. I was a Canadian High School student with nothing to do on a snowy Saturday night in April. So, I trudged through the snow to the local General Store and rented a couple of films, Platoon and The Mission. Both had been nominated for best picture, and Platoon had won. I figured that it was the making of a memorable movie night.

I watched The Mission first because I figured that Platoon had to be the better movie. After all, it did win the Oscar for Best Picture.

From the opening sequence of the Jesuit priest being nailed to the cross and sent over the falls, to the gorgeous harmonies of the choir that accompanied the final battle sequence, the movie held me spell bound. The story of two men sacrificing themselves for what they believed, and dying according to their own principles is one that has haunted me to this day.

Platoon paled in comparison. I’ve have never watched it a second time and really can’t remember much of the story.

That was my first lesson about the Academy Awards. It’s a lesson I’ve kept in mind every year since. Even though I do try to watch the Oscars, I don’t expect the film that I liked the best to really win and I certainly don’t expect the film I liked the best in any given year to even be nominated.

So, with that bias in mind, I give you my brief and humble opinions about the five films that were nominated this past year:

Finding Neverland

I’m not certain whether or not I like Johnny Depp’s new trend of playing the ‘regular’ guy. I really respect him as an actor and I’m happy that he can choose whatever scripts he wants these days. It’s nice to see him in a variety of roles but during Finding Neverland, I kept expecting him to reprise his Pirates of the Caribbean role and dress up as Captain Hook.

Kate, whom I used to refer to as the young Helena Bonham Carter but who is now the older Keira Knightly, delivers a wonderful performance and keeps her clothes on the entire time.

Finding Neverland is blatantly melodramatic in a good way, like Field of Dreams. Its central theme is that fantasy is necessary for any healthy life. My wife cried for the last half of the movie. But, although I’ll probably watch it again when it makes its way to HBO, it just isn’t memorable enough to earn a spot on my DVD shelf.

The Aviator

Better than The Gangs of New York (how much of a compliment is that?)

Leonardo’s best performance since teaming up with Johnny Depp in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. Toward the end of the movie, I actually forgot that it was Leo I was watching and that’s never happened to me. Hell, it hasn’t even happened to me while watching a Tom Cruise movie.

I can’t believe that Cate Blanchett won the Oscar for her performance. It was basically a one note imitation of cardboard cut out of the real Katherine Hepburn.

The story itself is well filmed and filled with spectacular scenes and drama, but computer graphics imaging still can’t seem to get water to look right.

Sideways

My favourite film of the bunch, so of course it didn’t stand a chance in hell of winning the Oscar.

An intelligent guy film with some pretentious wine tasting lectures and references being the stories only major detriment. Now, if the main character was actually a beer aficionado touring microbreweries, this dialogue might have been believable. Nothing can change the fact that the whole wine thing is the most obvious plot device since Rosebud, however.

The conversations about writing, on the other hand, were realistic and humorous. I’ve had many similar chats with my own friends. I’ve also tried using drafts of novels to win the girl, but the fact that the main character is actually successful in his using “I’m a novelist so love me” modus operandi is pure fantasy.

Even though I thought this was a wonderful film, I still don’t think that I’ll slap down any more cash for it than I already have.

Ray

As much as Ray Charles deserves to be up there with other musicians whose lives have been turned into movies, Ray really doesn’t rise above the level of La Bamba. It was only Jamie Foxx’s performance that got this movie an Oscar nomination in the first place.
And even though, I have a great deal of respect for Jamie Foxx’s performance we all know he benefited from the role he was playing. When was the last time that an actor portraying a “real life” person or someone with a disability did not walk away with the trophy?

Million Dollar Baby

I finally saw this movie today. Is it just my weak imagination, or do other people still see young Clint from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly or Dirty Harry when they see him in a movie?

The truth is though, that when Eastwood gets behind the camera, he's brilliant. He's brilliant when he's producing, and his music is pretty good too.

Maybe it is just because I had to wait so long to see Million Dollar Baby but I thought it was a (may I use the word again ?) brilliant feature film.

The characters tell the story and the acting is convincing and moving. The camera work isn't flashy but many of the shots use shadow to their full effect, illuminating the actors faces and revealing how much expression can be communicated with a slightly furrowed eyebrow or simple curl of the mouth.

Hilary Swank showed why she has taken home two Oscars. I know she won for her performance during the last thirty minutes of the film but it was really her acting in the first forty-five minutes that won me over.

Thank God I didn't read anything about this movie before seeing it. The twists and turns of the story caught me off guard. Eastwood has done the same thing for the traditional Hollywood boxing film as Unforgiven did for the Western.

Hopefully, he'll do something similar with an aging cop movie in the near future.

Posted by TheScribe at March 08, 2005 11:11 PM |Email ScribeCentral.com

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