Dissecting the 'Unfair' Oscar Nominees

On Tuesday the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and actress Anne Hathaway (also an Academy member and a nominee) revealed the nominations for the 2010 Oscars. James Cameron's CGI spectacle 'Avatar' hogged the limelight once again, with a solid nine nominations, tied with Kathryn Bigelow's war drama 'The Hurt Locker'. We loved 'Avatar', we watched it four times in IMAX 3D, and we would certainly watch it a few more times. Fine and dandy, but is it fair? Just look at the nominee list!

In order to generate some excitement, this time around the Academy have increased the Best Picture Oscar slot to 10 nominations. Given the waning popularity (and to an extent the credibility) of the Oscars, the move seemed like a ham-fisted attempt by the Academy to lure in more viewers. In 2009 the Academy lost out on a rather large chunk of viewers (and cash) because everyone's favourite film 'The Dark Knight' was given a royal snub for the major awards. The inclusion of 'Slumdog Millionaire' did increase the ratings to an extent, but the overall interest levels and eyeballs glued to the screen remained scant. Over the past few years the Oscars had become a showcase for the most depressing, dull cinema out there, what with films like 'Million Dollar Baby' being given the major awards. None of the buzz from when 'Return of the Kings' or 'Titanic' won the Oscars was present. Cut to 2010, and the Academy decided to include some 'popular' and 'hit' films like 'District 9', 'Up' and 'Star Trek' in the final lists. But again, was the effort worth it? Certainly not.

Avatar got 9 nominations, along with The Hurt Locker, followed by Inglourious Basterds (8), Precious (6), Up In the Air (6). Consider the film 'Precious' - it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Supporting Actress, Direction, Editing and Screenplay. Anyone who has seen the film would agree that Previous is 'poverty porn'. The film took the easy way out - by depressing the audience beyond recognition. There is not a shred of heart in the film, nor is there a sense of hope at the end of it. While we can ignore the fact that Precious is replete with dark imagery of rape, despair and hopelessness, it is unforgivable that the film, which moves at a snail's pace has been nominated for Editing. Lead actress Gabourey Sidibe was incredible, and so was Mo'Nique, but the Editing nom proves the Academy's intentions. Going by their thought process, Cannibal Holocaust should have gotten an Oscar for making us puke.

Talking of vomiting, consider 'The Blind Side' - a film with more sugar coating than on America's annual supply of donuts or Karan Johar's films put together. 'The Blind Side' follows two rules - completely ignore facts and contrive the story as much as possible to make it inexplicably unrealistic, and hence extremely easy and juicy for audiences to swallow. 'A Beautiful Mind' also did not stick to facts, but it was thought provoking enough to hook you in, and Russel Crowe's performance was simply astounding. 'The Blind Side' features Sandra Bullock's template tough-career-oriented-woman character...with a Southern Accent. The woman has played the exact same character in all of her 2009 releases whose names I deign to mention. But this film was an unexpected hit, and the Academy quickly shoved it in the Best Pic list. Bravo.

And what about the films that were ignored? Granted, it is not easy to fit in ALL good films in the Oscar shortlist, (it all depends on lobbying, you see, and everyone doesn't wish to spend cash to get an Oscar) but that doesn't mean bad films can take their place. The biggest snub was the dramedy '500 Days of Summer', which featured a scintillating performance from JGL. The film has been acclaimed universally, and I haven't yet come across anyone who was not blown away by it. How does a critically acclaimed film not make it to the list while 50-50 films do? It's 'Into the Wild' all over again. Not to mention the shockingly incredible 'Sin Nombre', an indie which should definitely have made it to the foreign language list, if not the Best Picture list. 'The White Ribbon' would walk away with the foreign film Oscar just because of Michael Haneke's name.

The animated list is a sham - films like 'Mary and Max', and the laugh riot 'Cloudy with a chance of meatballs' were snubbed in favor of the Disney tripe 'Princess and the Frog' and the underwhelming 'The Secret of Kells'. And what about the masterpiece '9', whose artwork itself was the price of admission? And Hayao Miyazaki's most excellent 'Ponyo'? Before you accuse me of being biased, Rottentomatoes, Metacritic and IMDB tell me 'Princess' got a much lower rating than 'Cloudy', 'Mary' and 'Ponyo'. What rating formula do Oscar voters follow? Seriously, a hand drawn 'Princess' over a character made out of laces named '9'?

It seems the Academy still hates comedies - the hilarious 'In the Loop' was given one measly nom for its crackling screenplay. And Robin Williams was snubbed for his amazing turn in 'World's Greatest Dad'. Another shocker was Matt Damon and Steven Sodderbergh being ignored for their outstanding 'The Informant'. (Curiously Damon was nominated for his so-so performance in the so-so 'Invictus'). On the dramatic side, neither Sam Rockwell nor his brilliant film 'Moon' got any accolades. 'A Single Man' was grossly overlooked as well, with only Colin Firth bagging an acting nom. But the terrible 'A Serious Man' was given a lot of love, courtesy of the 'Coen' name.

Coming to Avatar - which has noms for Best Film, Direction, Art Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Score, Sound and Visual Effects. We agree with the technical awards, as Pandora and the Na'vi were wondrous to behold in IMAX 3D. Avatar didn't just live up to its hype, it crashed the meaning of hype. But the film's editing was choppy at parts, and James Horner's score was neither extraordinary nor lasting. How many of you remember the title theme of Avatar? And we don't mean the horrendous Leona Lewis song. Thank goodness Dances with Wolves Avatar didn't get a screenplay nom as well.

So what DID the Academy get right? 'District 9' for one, apart from 'Up', 'The Hurt Locker', 'The Cove' and of course 'Inglorious Basterds' (though its not the best Tarantino film). 'District 9' deserves its noms for Best Picture, Editing, Visuals and Screenplay - the pacing, narrative and character buildup were spot on. And dare I say the mech suit in the film was much more realistically rendered than in Avatar (of course there was just one here while Avatar had a few hundred). Pixar's 'Up' was smashing and touching at the same time, and was easily the best entertainer of the year. Forget UP's tasty visuals, Michael Giacchino's mesmerising score for the film invokes a billion emotions all at once. Wonder Woman Kathryn Bigelow deserves kudos for taking on the heavy duty war drama 'Hurt Locker'. The opening scene of the film still haunts us. It would be a fight between 'The Cove' and 'Food Inc' for the Best Doc award, but I favour the former for it was more shocking and original. As for Avatar, yes, James Cameron does deserve the Best Director Oscar for spending a decade developing the technology, before skilfully handling the outrageously mammoth project, managing the $400 million handed to him, and making five times as much back for the producers.