DAY 5: GIMMICKLESS OSCARS PREVIEW CONCLUSION

No preview would be complete without discussing the Aniston for every Jolie. I still think Brad's with the wrong girl by the way.

- BIGGEST SNUBS
* Christopher Nolan – Director – Inception involved zero gravity fighting and four simultaneous plots. The King’s Speech involved a guy stuttering.
* Easy A – Fantastically written, this generation’s Clueless, this movie was everything that the expansion of the Oscar’s was meant to address. Maybe there was no room in a crowded best actress field, but either best film or best screenplay is more than deserved.
* Julianne Moore – The only thing propping up The Kids Are All Right was the acting. Moore is the best thing in the movie, as she frequently is. She’s reached auto-nod status in my book. I have a soft spot for all Lebowski alumni. "Don't be fatuous Jeffrey."
* Tron’s Art – The most visually memorable film since Avatar…got no nominations for technical or artistic achievement.
* Waiting for Superman – If not the biggest snub then certainly the most expected. At this point, almost all “documentaries” are at best termed “advocacy” films. A cynic might call them “propaganda” or worse, “for-profit campaign lit.” Regardless, I believe in a no bullshit world – if this is the award for the best hard left “advocacy” film, then they should just call it that up front.
WINNER: Christopher Nolan

- WORST NOMINATION
* Mark Ruffalo – A friend of mine met Fabio once and described him as having “anti-personality” in the same sense as physicists speculate there must be anti-matter to balance all of their equations. Ruffalo is on my short list of actors who have “anti-screen presence,” a trait skillfully employed in The Kids Are All-Right as a sub-plot of its own: Will Mr. Ruffalo’s lack of talent spontaneously combust on screen. Go watch his role in Shutter Island…I say role because “performance” would be inaccurate. He seems serially unaware of what’s going on in the scene around him…silently reviewing his line in his head until it’s his turn to talk.
* The Illusionist – Sitting on one remaining animated film nomination, and looking at worthwhile entries like Despicable Me, Tangled, and Megamind, the academy instead turns to an unknown European film which may or may not involve Edward Norton being a magician.
* The Kids Are All Right – I have always wondered why people write films with no likeable characters. The kids are abysmal, the “father” is a cad, one mother is a bitter alcoholic and the other is a flake. I was pulling for the gardener...who gets fired for having a goofy look on his face.
* David Russell – The Fighter – This was not a noteworthy directorial performance, and the nomination is made all the stranger by, and I cannot stress this enough, the absolutely indefensible choice not to include the Gatti-Ward boxing matches. It’s like making a Holocaust movie with no death camp: the point is missed and the movie is just a miserable train ride.
* Kick Ass’s Writer – This movie was great fun and had plenty of catchy one liners. Fully deserving of attention.

WINNER: Mark Ruffalo

THE YEAR’S REAL TOP 10 REGARDLESS OF GENRE:
1. Black Swan
2. Easy A
3. Inception
4. Kick Ass
5. Waiting for Superman
6. The Town
7. The Book of Eli
8. The Social Network
9. The A-Team
10. The Last Exorcism
HONORABLE MENTION: Cop Out, Despicable Me, JackAss 3D, The Other Guys, True Grit