academy award noms
so the oscar noms came out this week as i am sure everyone is aware. not too many surprises. awards seem to be pretty evenly divided between the famous and the gay as encyclopedia hanasiana has so aptly illustrated:
http://www.hanasiana.com/archives/001123.htmli guess i was sort of disappointed by a couple things. first of all i was hoping gong li was going to be nominated as the deliciously evil hatsumomo in memoirs of a geisha. sure the movie wasn't great or anything, but as i have previously mentioned i thought she rivaled gina gershon (or maybe tiffani amber thiessen from 90210) as a stellar bitch. fabulous.
i can't really believe munich got nominated for best picture. it was just an entirely mediocre pro-israel spielberg film and there was a ton of better stuff that deserved the nomination. especially, the constant gardener. i didn't think munich was bad necessarily but gardener was better. even walk the line deserved the nom over munich i thought.
everyone who knows me knows of my intense antipathy towards charlize theron. i think she is one of the worst actresses making movies today. and north country was one of the worst movies of the year, so what the hell is the deal with her nom for best actress? not to mention francis mcdormand (who i love) but whose nom was for a role i though particularly poorly written. this movie was terrible and it makes no sense to me.
of course i don't really get the attention that is being thrown at bareback. it is one more in a string of mediocre movies that have come out this year that i really don't care about. it is so miserably boring, and if you haven't seen it yet don't bother. it's so not worth your time or the 5.50 matinee fee. i will say that michelle williams is a bright spot, but this movie should really be subtitled "why straight people shouldn't make movies about gay people."
the singular shining moment in this year's movie line up is paul haggis' crash. i think it is not a coincidence that paul haggis (a canadian) was able to make one of the best movies about the reality of racism in the u.s. i have ever seen. if you haven't seen it you must go to wherever video tapes are sold or rented and buy or rent it right now.
i was kind of disappointed that the only actor nominated from crash was matt dillon. because it has an ensemble cast it could only be nominated in the supporting actor categories (like closer last year). but i especially though that thandie newton was really excellent and maybe don cheadle or even ryan phillippe or terrence howard could have been nominated.
there are still a couple movies i haven't seen (mrs. henderson presents, hustle & flow, a history of violence, pride & prejudice, the squid and the whale) so after i see these i will write about what i really feel should win, which i am sure the academy will completely ignore them all:) feel free to disagree with me about whatever, even though you all will be wrong.