Tagged: 83rd academy awards

The Oscars: And That’s That

The 83rd Academy Awards have come and gone. Yeah, the show itself was a mess. It seems like everybody agrees that Anne Hathaway and James Franco did a poor job hosting. They seemed mismatched the entire way through. Hathaway reeked of trying too hard, but that seemed exceptionally vivid with her next to a somnambulant James Franco. (I don’t think he fully opened his eyes once during the entire show.) Even putting aside that they were a poor fit for this kind of gig, the material itself was pretty bad. It was just a bland, plodding show. There weren’t even any particularly memorable speeches or moments. Yeah, Kirk Douglas filibustered, and Melissa Leo used a naughty word, and that was pretty much it. The only upside: The ceremony was (comparatively) quick.

More importantly, what of the winners? The frontrunners once again triumphed, with nary a shock in sight. “The King’s Speech” rode popular acclaim to the Best Picture trophy, while Colin Firth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale and Melissa Leo took home their foretold Oscars. “Toy Story 3″ was the Best Animated Feature while Aaron Sorkin is an Oscar winner.

The closest thing to a surprise was Tom Hooper’s victory as Best Director, which a lot of people (who aren’t me) had already predicted. History will judge whether Hooper deserved the Oscar over David Fincher, but it looks to me like a throwback to earlier decades, when a guy (it’s always a guy) making either his first big movie or one of his first three films rides a crescendo of hype over more established filmmakers to take the Best Director trophy. Prior beneficiaries: Sam Mendes, Anthony Minghella, James L. Brooks, Michael Cimino, Robert Benton. Those rookie or neophyte directors won by beating, among others: Michael Mann, Joel and Ethan Coen, Milos Forman, Ingmar Bergman, Francis Ford Coppola and Hal Ashby. (This doesn’t even include actor-directors like Woody Allen, Warren Beatty, Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson, who beat Spielberg, Scorsese and David Lynch, so, yeah.) Some of it may have been the obvious appeal of “The King’s Speech,” but at least some small part must have recognized that Fincher has been here before and will be again, plus he’s got a “reputation,” so let’s recognize the new guy who is more of a blank slate.

More notable in the aftermath is what didn’t (or barely) win. “Inception” and “The King’s Speech” took home the most Oscars (four apiece), while “The Social Network” followed that with three trophies. “Alice in Wonderland” took home two Oscars, meaning it has two more than “True Grit,” “Winter’s Bone,” “127 Hours,” “The Kids Are All Right” and “Blue Valentine.” Those films all went home empty-handed, which was particularly brutal for “True Grit.” The movie had 10 nods (the second-highest nomination haul), and while it wasn’t favored in any one category, that’s still a pretty harsh shutout. “Toy Story 3″ took home two awards (animated feature and for Randy Newman, singing about what he sees), as did “The Fighter” (both supporting trophies), and “Black Swan” took him just one award (for Natalie Portman).

This year’s leading nominee, “The King’s Speech,” had 12 nominations and won four of those Oscars. Last year’s leading contenders (“The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar”) each came in with nine nods, and they won six and three Oscars, respectively. The year before, the leading nominee was “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which won three Oscars after getting 13 nominations. The point is that getting a lot of nominations, as always, doesn’t mean that much. But “True Grit” having 10 nominations and losing in every single category is historically noteworthy. Only “The Turning Point” and “The Color Purple” had more nominations (both had 11) and zero wins. The people behind the film can take solace in that they are in good company, in terms of other films that lost 10 Oscars: “Chinatown,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “The Pride of the Yankees,” “Becket” and “Benjamin Button” are on that list. (Of course, every one of those films took home at least one Oscar.)

The hosts, roundly pilloried and nakedly poor choices, aren’t likely to suffer any long-term setbacks. People think David Letterman’s show was the worst ever, and he’s still considered the best around at his actual job. Chris Rock’s show was my favorite in recent years, followed by Jon Stewart’s work, though popular sentiment didn’t seem to agree; regardless, it hasn’t made them any less funny. Anne Hathaway will still be in the next “Batman,” and James Franco will continue his Möbius strip of a career, delving into art, literature, film, television, theater, soap operas, skywriting, whatever. Right now, Franco is known mostly for being “James Franco,” but that hasn’t stopped Gus Van Sant and Danny Boyle and Sam Raimi from wanting to work with him. People think he did his career immeasurable harm, which is pretty dumb. That “Rise of the Apes” thing won’t work out, but this is only a blip on his overall portfolio.

And what of the winners and losers? My haphazard guesses: I think “Black Swan” and “Inception” will be the most indelible of this year’s Oscar films, cited in the years and decades to come by historians and filmmakers alike. “The King’s Speech” will be looked at as a “Forrest Gump”-esque popular choice, and “The Social Network” might resonate as time goes on and the creation of Facebook settles further into the past. “Winter’s Bone” and “127 Hours” seem likely to be remembered as good vehicles for exemplary performances by young stars who grew into great talents (“The Kids Are All Right” might have similar legacy, should the two younger stars live up to the potential they’ve shown), while “Toy Story 3″ could just be another chapter in the “Pixar could do no wrong, even though they released ‘Cars 2′” story. “True Grit” might spark another bout of Westerns, or it might not.

Once again, the Oscars celebrated some (not all, not nearly all) of the year’s best in cinema. In the end, “The Wolfman” has one more Oscar than Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman and Alfred Hitchcock combined. So it’s the same as it ever was.

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The Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director and the Screenplay categories

[As we approach the the 83rd Academy Awards, this site will be breaking down the major categories and posting about the Oscars in general. Enjoy.]

The Oscars are days away. Here are my final picks. (And no, I’m not bothering with Sound Editing and the like. Who cares? I never get them right and I spit in their general direction. But, yeah, I hope Roger Deakins wins cinematography. The dude has earned it.)

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The Oscars: The Supporting Acting Categories

[As we approach the the 83rd Academy Awards, this site will be breaking down the major categories and posting about the Oscars in general. Enjoy.]

The Oscars are days away. Days! The votes are tallied. Information about the ceremony is starting to leak. Jack Nicholson has already been lowered, by crane, into his front-row seat at the Kodak Theater; he’s still asleep, mind you, and they’ll just wake him up a few minutes before the show begins.

There’s been an odd buildup to the Oscars this year. Last year, pretty much every frontrunner took home the award; in each of the three preceding years, there were only one or two close races or surprises. In other words, since “Crash” won the Oscar and forever besmirched (BESMIRCHED) the ceremony, Academy members seem to have decided to just watch the lengthy awards season and agree with the majority whenever possible.

So let’s predict some stuff.

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The Oscar Nominees

The 83rd Academy Awards are a month away. The nominees were announced this morning, and I had some preliminary thoughts, but here are some reactions now that I had time to digest the information.

There were a few mild surprises here or there, but this year’s Oscar nominees largely stuck to the script. Anybody paying even a modicum of attention to the awards season could have predicted at least two-thirds of the 35 nominees in the six biggest categories (the four acting categories, Best Director and Best Picture). None of the surprises seems utterly inexplicable, which is a nice change from recent years (remember that time “The Blind Side” randomly got a Best Picture nomination? Or the time Paul Giamatti wasn’t nominated for “Sideways”?). And, crucially, it doesn’t appear any of the pivots from the expected are going to have an overwhelming impact on the frontrunners in most of the races.

So, the biggest snub was obviously Christopher Nolan’s lack of a Best Director nomination for “Inception.” His slot seemingly went to Joel and Ethan Coen for “True Grit,” so as a fanboy but also a Coen Brothers fanatic I am torn; I enjoy it when they get recognized, but to ignore Nolan’s directorial prowess for “Inception” seems perplexing. There’s a reason this was the snub so many people were discussing today. While I’m very happy to see Darren Aronofsky and David O. Russell finally netted their first nominations (it was also the first nod for Tom Hooper), it’s inexplicable to leave off Nolan. His work on “Inception” showcased a mastery of the minute and the grand that would have made Kubrick proud, to say nothing of his efforts navigating the different dream levels in the movie’s third act after constructing the entire levels-within-levels plot in his script. Nolan should have been nominated, no question about it.

However, Nolan did pick up a Best Original Screenplay nomination. It’s his second Oscar nomination, and his first came a decade ago for writing “Memento.” While I don’t necessarily think he’ll win, at least the screenplay category is more wide-open than Best Director, when his highest hopes would have been losing to David Fincher.

The inclusion of “127 Hours” in the Best Picture category was a pleasant surprise. The film seems to have been largely ignored and forgotten in the weeks since it first hit theaters, and I worried that the stories of people fainting scared audiences away from it. Hopefully the film’s six nominations — including the very, very well-deserved Best Editing nod and James Franco’s acting nomination — bring enough attention to it that people trek out and see it. It’s a visceral, kinetic piece of filmmaking, and the fact that they made a movie about a guy stuck in one place feel so energetic warrants praise for the perpetually spry Danny Boyle; save Nolan, Boyle is the most deserving director who was left out of the Best Director category.

There was also at least one surprise in each of the acting categories. A lot of people were surprised that Javier Bardem snagged a Best Actor nod for “Biutiful” (I called that one), but I was more surprised to see Jeff Bridges enter the category for “True Grit.” A tidal wave of support for “Grit” likely carried Bridges to his sixth overall nomination, and pitted him against Colin Firth for the second consecutive year; unlike last year, their roles are reversed, with Firth the frontrunner and Bridges the glad-to-be-here guy. I actually predicted the five Best Actress nominees correctly, figuring that overwhelming support for “Winter’s Bone” would translate to a nomination for Jennifer Lawrence; I also predicted Michelle Williams’s nomination, but I’m still surprised they picked her and not “Blue Valentine” costar Ryan Gosling. As my brother pointed out, it’s essentially a two-person movie, so how do you honor half but ignore the other half?

In the Best Supporting Actor category, John Hawkes was the big surprise, taking a slot many people (myself included) thought would go to one of the “Social Network” guys. Despite clearly being the lead in her movie, Hailee Steinfeld was nonetheless relegated to Best Supporting Actress, following the “She’s young, therefore we will put her in the less-foregone category.” Jacki Weaver’s nomination for “Animal Kingdom” was the big surprise in that category, edging out one of the costars from “Black Swan.”

Of course, none of the surprises really do much to the overall race. Colin Firth and Christian Bale have their categories locked up, as does David Fincher; Natalie Portman probably still has the edge on Annette Bening, ditto Melissa Leo over Amy Adams and Helena Bonham Carter.

(There were, perhaps, more surprises in other categories: “Waiting for Superman” failed to get a Best Director nomination, while Sebastian Junger’s “Restrepo” and the Banksy documentary made it in. “Despicable Me” won’t get to lose the Best Animated Feature trophy to “Toy Story 3,” and “Hereafter” bested “TRON: Legacy” in snagging a visual effects nod.)

The biggest thing that shifts right now is the Best Picture race. “The Social Network” was the overwhelming frontrunner for the recent past, while “The King’s Speech” went from being potential competitor to valiant silver medalist. After the recent PGA victory for “The King’s Speech,” it now looks like the Brits could be gaining on the Facebook movie. “The King’s Speech” leads the field with 12 nominations, and “The Social Network” is tied for third with eight nominations. Both are in the crucial picture, director, editing, cinematography and screenplay categories. Both have at least one acting nomination. Right now, the smart money says this is a closer race than anybody thought. (Personally, I disagree. I still think “The Social Network” has the edge, though in the next month just having the idea of a two-way race could actually work in favor of “The King’s Speech,” because now the movie’s people have something to really work towards. Of course, from the early going I thought “Speech” would win Picture and Fincher would take Director, but time will tell.)

If anything, the biggest spoiler of the day was “True Grit,” which snagged the second-highest nomination total (10). (And, yes, this movie was ignored by the Golden Globes, which we should remember are the spawn of a useless and corrupt organization.) It has made almost as much money as “The Social Network” and “The King’s Speech” combined. The Coens and Bridges are recent winners, which could work against them (the Oscars are often weird that way). If anything has the chance to reap the benefits of “The Social Network” and “The King’s Speech” splitting votes, it’s going to be “True Grit.”

So, because I love me some numbers:

– “The King’s Speech” leads the way with 12 nominations, followed by 10 nominations for “True Grit,” eight for “The Social Network” and “Inception,” seven for “The Fighter,” six for “127 Hours” and five apiece for “Black Swan,” “Toy Story 3″ and “Winter’s Bone.”

– “The King’s Speech” and its 12 nominations are tied for the third-highest nomination total in Academy history.

– After last year’s show of diversity at the Oscars (a woman and an African-American nominated for Best Director, three African-American acting nominees and one Spanish nominee; the first female winner of Best Director), this year looks like a return to form. The six nominees for Best Director are white males. Last year, 16 of the 20 nominees were Caucasian; this year, it’s 19 of 20 (Javier Bardem is Spanish).

– The Coen Brothers scored their third Best Picture nominee in four years. This is their fourth career Best Picture nomination.

– Last year, 12 of the 20 acting nominees were nominated for the first time (of the remaining eight, three had won Oscars and the rest were unsuccessful nominees). This year, eight of the 20 nominees are first-timers, eight of the nominees have been up for a trophy and lost and there are four prior winners (Bardem, Bridges, Kidman and Rush).

– Since Meryl Streep is taking a breather, Jeff Bridges is this year’s most-nominated Oscar nominee. He has six acting nominations, tying him with 13 other people for seventh-most acting nods in Academy history. There are 16 active actors with as many or more nominations as him.

– Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” star Natalie Portman is both the frontrunner for Best Actress and most deserving. There is bad history here: Aronofsky also directed Mickey Rourke for “The Wrestler” (he was the frontrunner but lost, somewhat understandably, to Sean Penn for “Milk”) and Ellen Burstyn for “Requiem for a Dream” (she should have won Best Actress in 2000, but Julia Roberts won as a Lifetime Achievement Award, because the Oscars can be terrible).

– OH, and if you’re wondering: I had nine of the 10 Best Picture nominees correct and four of the five nominees correct in Best Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Director. I had all five Best Actress nominees correct, so I get a cookie.

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Oscar nominations: Early thoughts

The Academy Award nominations were just announced. I’ll have more thoughts later on when I have time to digest and go through the categories, but here are some things that caught my eye: The biggest surprise that jumps out is Christopher Nolan being dropped from Best Director in favor of the Coen Brothers for “True Grit.” Also of interest is Jeff Bridges making it into the Best Actor category for “Grit,” which rather unexpectedly netted the second-highest number of nominations (10 nods, second only to “The King’s Speech’s” dozen).

I’m pleasantly surprised to find that I was wrong and “127 Hours” did make the final cut for Best Picture nominees. Jacki Weaver’s turn in “Animal Kingdom” took the Supporting Actress slot that many thought would to go one of the two “Black Swan” costars, while John Hawkes’s role in “Winter’s Bone” snagged the fifth Supporting Actor nod predicted to go to one of the “Social Network” guys. It’s worth noting that “Inception” was also snubbed for Best Film Editing, with the fifth spot in that category also going to “127 Hours.” I think Danny Boyle’s film deserved the editing nod, while I’m glad to see “Inception” and “True Grit” made the cinematography category. In the screenplay categories, “Toy Story 3″ was also a nice surprise in the Best Adapted Screenplay section; ditto “Another Year” for Original Screenplay.

Numbers: “The King’s Speech” leads the way with 12 nominations, followed by a surprising 10 nominations for “True Grit,” eight for “The Social Network” and “Inception,” seven for “The Fighter,” six for “127 Hours” and five apiece for “Black Swan,” “Toy Story 3″ and “Winter’s Bone.”

The complete list is here.

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And now, some Oscar predictions

When the Oscar nominations are announced Tuesday morning, there are bound to be a few surprises. There almost always are, whether it’s an unlikely snub or an inexplicable nomination that still makes no sense a year later. But unless “The Blind Side” is nominated for Best Picture again, there’s not going to be anything that awful or unexpected. So here are some predictions:

BEST PICTURE

This category is largely locked. You have the frontrunners (“The Social Network,” “The King’s Speech”), the other contenders (“The Fighter,” “Inception,” “Black Swan,” “True Grit” and “Toy Story 3″) and the surefire also-ran (“The Kids Are All Right”) and that’s eight of the 10 slots already.

There are three movies legitimately hoping for those last two spots: “Winter’s Bone,” “127 Hours” and “The Town.” Any two of those could make it in and it wouldn’t be much of a surprise. However, I’m betting that “127 Hours” is the odd film out. “Winter’s Bone” has sterling support among critics, which will help it sneak in as this year’s “An Education” (a Best Actress nomination paired with a Best Picture nod); when it comes to “127 Hours” or “The Town,” the former never really caught on while the latter has the box office and star power to nudge it into the 10th slot.

My personal preference would be for “127 Hours” to nab one of the final two slots. It is a better film than “The Town,” and for a while was a guaranteed Best Picture nominee. For some reason or other, whether it be the “careful, you might faint!” buzz or the singular focus of the story, it never caught on with audiences nor critics. I thought it was terrific, whereas “The Town” was just good in every conceivable way; it wasn’t stellar, it wasn’t awful, but Ben Affleck directed it and didn’t trip over his own feet so let’s be amazed with that.

BEST ACTOR

Colin Firth has this trophy locked up. There’s no question. Jesse Eisenberg and James Franco are also both locked-in to make the final five. As for the last two, there are a few actors in the mix: Jeff Bridges, Javier Bardem, Robert Duvall, Mark Wahlberg and Ryan Gosling. In my gut, I think Bardem and Gosling round out the category. I would not be surprised if Wahlberg made it in, while Bridges and Duvall (both past winners in this category) would shock me a bit. “True Grit” isn’t getting the attention for Bridges’s work that I think would push him over the edge, while Duvall peaked early in terms of buzz.

BEST ACTRESS

Natalie Portman still has the inside track on this category, with Annette Bening, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicole Kidman the three locks to lose to her. (Yes, Bening has a shot, if only because it’d be the third time in 11 years she lost to a young, up-and-coming starlet. But it’s hard to look at both movies and both roles and wind up with the opinion that anybody but Portman deserves this trophy.) For the fifth slot, it could go to Hailee Steinfeld (who could get nominated for lead or supporting for “True Grit,” a film she preciously owns) or Michelle Williams for “Blue Valentine.” (There are also very, very long shots for Tilda Swinton and Lesley Manville.) I’m going to go with the unlikely pick here and think Michelle Williams gets it.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Again, the frontrunner here (Christian Bale) is so far ahead it’s not worth debating. Geoffrey Rush and Mark Ruffalo are guaranteed to lose to him. The last two slots go to Andrew Garfield and Jeremy Renner.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Melissa Leo easily leads this pack. Hailee Steinfeld, Amy Adams and Helena Bonham Carter are the likely next three. As for the fifth contender, I actually think Barbara Hershey pulls out the upset and gets the nod for “Black Swan” here. I don’t know why. Just a feeling.

BEST DIRECTOR

These five have been locked for ages: David Fincher, who will win; followed by Christopher Nolan, Tom Hooper, David O. Russell and Darren Aronofsky.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

This is the biggest category that’s also the most wide-open right now! I know I say this as someone who used to buy printed screenplays as a kid, but: How fun. This one could go any which way: To “The King’s Speech,” to “Inception,” to “The Kids Are All Right,” “to “The Fighter,” to “Black Swan.” Those are my guesses for the nominees, though Mike Leigh’s “Another Year” script could potentially nudge out “The Fighter.”

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Network” will likely best “True Grit,” “Winter’s Bone,” “127 Hours” and “The Town” in this category.

BEST EDITING

This category is usually locked with the Best Picture category, so “The Social Network,” “Inception,” “The King’s Speech” and “Black Swan” are bound to take four the slots. As for the fifth one, I cannot imagine how they don’t give it to “127 Hours,” but there is a possibility they go in lock-step with the five Best Picture frontrunners (the “real” half of the category) and give it to “The Fighter.”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

This is Roger Deakins’s to lose, but “True Grit” needs four other nominees. Wally Pfister’s “Inception” will be up there, as will “Black Swan” and “The Social Network.” The fifth slot could go to “The King’s Speech,” but if it doesn’t get caught up in a tidal wave of support, I also think “127 Hours” gets the nod here.

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How The Oscar Race Looks Right Now

With the year winding down, and all of the big movies unloaded onto the populace and the critics alike, let’s take a gander at where the major Oscar categories stand. I’m not running through every potential nominee (I’ll do that closer to the nods), but rather the frontrunners in each major category.

BEST PICTURE

Still a two-movie race, with “The Social Network” slightly ahead of “The King’s Speech.” Dark horses that could nudge their way in are “The Fighter,” which has absurdly glowing buzz, and “Toy Story 3,” because the thing made a billion dollars and Disney will market it to death if they have to.

(No, not “Black Swan,” which will be nominated but likely kept out of the frontrunner discussion because A) it’s extremely controversial, artistically-speaking, which is such a welcome change from all of the other manufactured “controversies” we have and will continue to see come Oscar time and B) it doesn’t have the uniform support to break into the top of the pack, whereas “The Fighter” has, if you’ll excuse the expression, an underdog shot.)

BEST ACTOR

Colin Firth’s to lose, though James Franco and Jesse Eisenberg (and maybe Mark Wahlberg?) will make a nice second and third slot on many ballots.

BEST ACTRESS

Natalie Portman has the clear edge here as well. For all of the arguments over “Black Swan,” nobody is denying that she is a wee little powerhouse in that flick. Annette Benning will have one of those “It’s her time, she’s due, also she lost twice to Hillary Swank and that’s just cruel” campaigns, and people will discuss it like it’s a two-person race, but…come on. Jennifer Lawrence will also get some attention for “Winter’s Bone,” however.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christian Bale also has the clear, decisive lead here over Geoffrey Rush. (Both of the supporting categories are going to come down to “The King’s Speech” versus “The Fighter,” by the way. It’s possible, possible, that the Ack-Ting prowess on display in “The King’s Speech” helps it win Best Picture “The Social Network,” though that’s just a vague possibility right now.) Rush is a prior winner, whereas if Bale loses, he will probably bash in the head of the nearest sound guy.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

This being the biggest Wild Card category the Academy has, it’s tough to say someone is a guaranteed winner or something. But six of the last eight winners have been the presumed frontrunners, so it’s becoming more and more likely that Amy Adams pulls this one for “The Fighter.” Her biggest competition is Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech” (and she will likely also face off against Melissa Leo from her own movie). But in recent years, the trophies won by Penelope Cruz, Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones indicate the Academy might like to use this as a way to reward newer starlets. It’s unfair for Carter, who was a prior Best Actress nominee in 1997, but Amy Adams has A) starred in more hits in the last few years and B) will get her third nomination in this category in the last six years. Still, you never know, so while I give Adams the edge, it’s probably the most interesting of the acting categories now.

BEST DIRECTOR

David Fincher has a clear lead here, and even if “The Social Network” doesn’t win the top prize, we could still see a split-vote kind of thing for the first time since Ang Lee won in 2006. Tom Hooper and Darren Aronofsky are his main competition, of course, but he seems to have an edge on both of them.

SCREENPLAYS

Obviously Aaron Sorkin can’t lose Best Adapted Screenplay, so we can all look forward to some angry but wonderfully-composed rant about bloggers while he’s up there. But Best Original Screenplay, that has potential to be a deeply interesting category. You’ve got “The Kids Are All Right,” “Inception,” “The King’s Speech” and “Black Swan” all making solid cases. “Black Swan” probably won’t make it, because it’s more of a director and actor’s triumph than a script rife with subtlety and such, so it’ll come down to the first three. Again, Christopher Nolan is more likely to get a Best Director nomination than a screenplay trophy here, if only because “The King’s Speech” could be on a roll and “The Kids” could get some recognition here. A very, very interesting category.

* * *

Meanwhile, let us consider this tidbit I found noteworthy in the Times story about people hawking their movies:

Look at the numbers of the viewers for the South and the Southwest — they skyrocketed, and that wasn’t ‘Avatar,’ that was ‘The Blind Side,’ ” said one high-ranking Academy member, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for the group.

What movie will win the South this year?

“I don’t think we have one,” he said, glumly.

GLUMLY. Does that poor, poor high-ranking Academy member need a hug? He’s right, obviously, that people from the South and Southwest didn’t see or care about “Avatar,” the Biggest Movie Of All-Time, but instead cared only about “The Blind Side,” with its careful, clinical and, above all else, subtle exploration of Southern mores and customs. “The Blind Side” was the people’s choice. There’s no such thing this year, not with likely Best Picture contenders like “Toy Story 3,” which made $415 million, none of it from the Sun Belt and all of it from coastal “elites.”

Seriously, when movies like “Toy Story 3″ and “Inception” (both of which made more money than “The Blind Side,” just like last year’s fellow nominees “Avatar” and “Up”) are nominated, the Academy will literally scrounge for viewers, all but ignored because it can’t “win the South.” Man, when people say the awards season is nothing more than a callous business, a meaningless parade of self-congratulatory mush meant merelly to buoy bottom lines and boost profits, this might be what they mean.

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There are 248 films eligible for Best Picture

There are 248 feature films eligible for Best Picture this year, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. That is to say, there are 248 films that met the requirements (over 40 minutes in length; publicly exhibited a certain way; screened in Los Angeles County for seven consecutive days), not 248 films with an actual shot at, you know, a nomination. This is why “The A-Team” and “Devil” and “The Last Airbender” are on that list. In case you were worrying. [/Film]

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