THE DAILY MOJO by Adam Daniel

Running a bit behind here…. but the Nominations for the 81st Oscar were announced last week. You can find the full list HERE.

Here’s my early thoughts on the nominations – I’ll be posting a more detailed list of predictions / thoughts before the awards on February 23rd (Australia time). Still have only seen half of the major noms, so take that into account. On to the categories:

Best Picture:
‘Slumdog’ seems the lock here at the moment. A feel good picture in a year that was desperately needed it. A multi-cultural production, full of light and colour, drama and comedy, and a scrappy-battler-makes-good plot.
I can’t speak of ‘The Reader’, ‘Milk’ and ‘Frost / Nixon’ yet, but I would be happier with a ‘Benjamin Button’ win in this category than ‘Slumdog’. Not sure why, but ‘Slumdog’ just feels a little like ‘Crash’ to BB’s ‘Brokeback Mountain’; a good film that is going to beat out a more nuanced, deeper piece of cinema.

Actor In A Leading Role:
So happy to see Richard Jenkins here for his performance in ‘The Visitor’. A very well deserved nomination.
The buzz is currently on the Mickey Rourke bandwagon, but with so many top-notch performers this is probably the most open of all the categories. Penn and Langella were both critically lauded and will probably steal at least some of the Rourke ‘cinderella’ vote. But enough to snatch it way from him?
Also, I think I might be one of the few who is reasonably happy to see a Pitt nomination here. Yes his Benjamin Button was a quite passive character, but the emotional journey he takes can be clearly seen in Pitt eyes as they grow clearer and younger. There were probably other worthwhile contenders (DiCaprio? Colin Farrell?) but I didn’t think Pitt was an egregious inclusion.

Actress In A Leading Role:
Melissa Leo was the surprise inclusion here. I guess they only had room for one indie actress performance and Kristin Scott Thomas was the one who missed out (her role in ‘I’ve Loved You So Long’ was generating a lot of heat early on).
Since I’ve seen none of these performances (yet!), I can’t really say much other than I think Winslet is the favourite due to her aggressive campaigning, with Streep close behind.

Supporting Actor:
Call this the ‘Heath Ledger Memorial Award’. Whether or not his is the strongest supporting performance is moot; Ledger will take this as a posthumous honouring of his amazing talents.
Michael Shannon’s nomination is very well-deserved, but his role was minimal. I think the Downey Jnr. nom is a bit of a stretch; he wasn’t THAT convincing as an Australian, let alone his channelling of a black character.

Supporting Actress:
I have yet to see ‘The Wrestler’, but the current buzz is on a Marisa Tomei win. Which would make her probably the most unlikely double Oscar winner of all time. From the good word I’ve heard / read about her role, I think there will be less chance of any urban mythology about a mistake this time.
I’ve only seen Taraji P. Henson in ‘Benjamin Button’ so far, and her role as Queenie was unexpectedly moving. I’m holding out on any serious prognostication until I’ve seen ‘Doubt’, which features two of the nominees in this category.

The Wall-E Award:
Do we really even need to announce the other nominees on the night (‘Bolt’ and ‘Kung Fu Panda’ apparently)? This feels like a cage match between Chuck Liddell, Verne Troyer and Gary Coleman.

Best Song:
Huh? What? Two ‘Slumdog’ songs and one Wall-E song? And no appearance by The Boss?!? Come on. Despite winning a Golden Globe he can’t even get a nomination at the Oscars?

Best Director:
Following the Best Picture prediction, Danny Boyle seems to be the pick here. I would have no problem with this, especially with Boyle’s track record of making compelling films in any genre. But I also feel Fincher’s work in ‘Benjamin Button’ was far superior; juggling the use of a new technology, the expansive period of the film’s story, the egos of it’s superstar actors and the complexities of tone was a much more difficult task and one that Fincher flourised in doing.

The Host:
Am I the only one experiencing a little cultural-cringe factor about Hugh Jackman as host? I guess I’m worried they are going to turn it into the Boy From Oz and have him do a bunch of cheesy musical numbers. Give me the snarky humour of a Jon Stewart or Chris Rock over that kind of double-glazed ham anyday.