I still love the Oscars. Despite the last few decades of plummeting ratings and uncomfortable hosts (we still love you, Jon Stewart), I still anticipate watching the annual award ceremony every year. Because regardless of any faults you or anyone else might have with things like the judging system, made up of 5,500 faceless members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, or the fact that it always runs at least twenty minutes longer than intended due to obligatorily longwinded speeches, or all the Best Picture drama and Best Actor and Actress unfairness, it’s still the only Hollywood award that really holds any weight. Sure, there’s the Golden Globes, but the Globes are like one of those honorary degrees that colleges give to people they once rejected but are now famous and successful. They just aren’t the same.
With the Oscars coming up in just a few weeks, I feel compelled to familiarize myself with the Best Picture nominees which this year include Inception, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, Winter’s Bone, The Kids Are Alright, The Fighter, Black Swan, 127 Hours, The King’s Speech and True Grit.
If this seems like a lot of nominees, that’s because the number of films eligible for Best Picture doubled from five to ten last year. I guess it was because of the overwhelming number of monumental films that came out in 2010 (or something).
In any case, I quickly realized while perusing this list a few days ago that I hadn’t actually seen any of these movies, which is really unusual for me. Even more interesting is the fact that I was recently asked by The College Voice to provide live commentary during Oscar night via a Twitter account. While this sounds amazing and I can’t wait to do it, it seems only reasonable that I should see most, if not all, of the Best Picture nominees before the awards.
Fortunately, I knocked out two of them this week, Toy Story 3 and 127 Hours, and can share some of my own predictions on their award eligibility.
For those of you who don’t know, Toy Story 3 was a success last year, and became a very rare Hollywood “Hat Trick”, which here means “three awesome movies that get more awesome over time.” Considering that Pixar was essentially risking the ruination of an indisputable classic from most of our childhoods, I was very pleased with the end result. If this movie doesn’t cause an emotional response in you, then you have no soul.
Aside from Best Picture, Toy Story 3 has been nominated for four other Oscars: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Animated Feature, Best Sound Editing and Best Original Song. Let’s be blunt: it’s not getting Best Picture, but Toy Story 3 has got Best Animated Feature written all over it. There are only two other nominees in that category after all, and I don’t think either of them caused middle-aged men to bawl their eyes out. Nothing’s getting in Toy Story 3’s way, not even How to Train Your Dragon, which I heard was great but neglected to see.
I have no idea what the real qualifications for Best Sound Editing are (sorry), and since Best Adapted Screenplay pretty much belongs to The Social Network, that leaves Best Original Song, which Toy Story 3 actually has a decent shot at since Randy Newman decided to come out of whatever cave he’s in. This is assuming, of course, that Country Strong doesn’t get in the way, stumbling into the Oscars smelling like whiskey and clichés. Toy Story 3 will no doubt get at least one Oscar this year, maybe two.
Now, it’s hard to talk about 127 Hours without giving away spoilers, at least according to several people who asked me to tell them about the film and then scolded me when I described a key moment. That being said, I’ll try to be unspecific. Relevant side note: mountaineer Aron Ralston is a real person who, after being trapped beneath a boulder in a canyon for five days, amputated his arm in order to free himself.
Now, 127 Hours is about mountaineer Aron Ralston, played by James Franco. While hiking, he gets trapped beneath a boulder for five days, and he frees himself by- oh! I won’t spoil it for you. Needless to say, it’s brutal, and apparently the scene caused some people in Toronto to faint, but that’s not a reason to skip the movie. In fact, one could argue that it’s a big reason to watch.
127 Hours has been nominated for six Oscars. Best Film Editing is a big possibility for this one; Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire fame does some pretty cool things with the camera, putting it in places you certainly wouldn’t expect and giving us lots of oblique angles that increase the intensity rather than parody it.
Franco is absurdly good here; he brings surprising depth to a character that doesn’t have the opportunity to say much. In fact the script for this film can’t be very thick, which is why its Best Adapted Screenplay nomination confuses me. I doubt it will win it, but Best Actor is a possibility unless Javier Bardem surprises us again and spooks the Academy into giving him one to keep his Best Supporting Actor Oscar some company. So, 127 Hours is good, but is it getting Best Picture? I’m going to say no, but it definitely deserves the nod.
Two movies down, eight to go! The Oscars will be on February 27. Also, Anne Hathaway and James Franco are hosting, and I am eagerly anticipating the inevitably super-awkward comedy skits that I know they both worked really, really hard on. What would really be weird is if Franco does somehow pull out the win for Best Actor. Does he have to keep hosting? Has that even happened before? We can only watch and find out. •
Check out The College Voice’s Twitter feed on Oscar night, February 27, for Jerell’s live tweets.
