What & Why
Ryan Adams' Best Picture poll on Awards Daily asks readers to choose 10 likely finalists among some 55 or 56 suggestions. The ten I've chosen (listed alphabetically) are Bright Star, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Invictus, Nine, Precious, A Serious Man, The Tree of Life, Up In The Air and Where The Wild Things Are. (I obviously haven't seen Malick's Tree but...well, you know. And haven't I read two men-weeping stories about Wild Things? Or just one?)
Here's why Adams' other suggestions don't rate, with due respect: Amelia (unseen but said by an insider to simply not quite cut it in terms of award-season chops), Antichrist (be serious!), Avatar (Delgo/Ferngully, furry ballerina, space Marines), Away We Go (too nice, modest, low-key), The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (joke suggestion), Broken Embraces (very fine Almodovar, but obviously in the foreign language category), City of Life and Death (foreign language), Coco Before Chanel (allegedly too middlebrow boilerplate), Coraline (animated), The Cove (documentary), Creation (forget it), District 9 (too dusty sci-fi, too cultish, too many empty cat-food cans), Everybody's Fine (unseen but beware of this),
(500) Days of Summer (intriguing film but won't make the cut), Food, Inc. (doc), Funny People (a very strong contender & a totally honorable film, but perceived as an under-performer), Get Low (haven't seen it), Goodbye Solo (forget it), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (be serious), The Informant! (jaunty and quite good in some respects, but lacks that thematic award-season dimensionality), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (not in the game), Inglourious Basterds (baseball bat beating! fresh cow's milk! foot-fetish shots!), In the Loop (superb satire but but lacks thematic depth and scope), Julie & Julia (nice movie, not in the game), The Last Station (allegedly very straghtforward & middlebrow...but where's the distributor?), Lebanon (foreign language), The Lovely Bones (haven't seen it but always be fearful of Jackson), The Men Who Stare at Goats (clever, amusing, not award quality), Moon (overpraised), 9 (nope), Ondine (not by my yardstck), Ponyo (who?), The Princess and the Frog (be serious), The Prophet (superb but foreign language), Public Enemies (admirable wth killre finale, but not as popular as it needs to be), The Road (good but not good enough), Seraphine (nope), Sherlock Holmes (another joke suggestion), A Single Man (sublime film in certain respects, could qualify but Gay-O-Vision factor may inhibit), Sin Nombre (masterful, certainly among the best of the year, but isn't it Spanish speaking?), Star Trek (not that kind of film), Summer Hours (don't know it), Tetro (best cinematography?), Up (animated), The White Ribbon (foreign language), Within the Whirlwind (Siberian gulag love story..what?).
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 23, 2009 at 4:40 AM
comment #1
Rich S.
says ...
Keep bangin' that drum. Nothing else that's come out this year has stirred up as much passion - pro and con - as Inglourious Basterds. It's exactly the kind of film the Academy wants to include to increase viewership. At this point, I don't see any way it's not at least included as one of the 10.
Posted by Rich S.
at September 23, 2009 5:40 AM
comment #2
SnarfTheFierce
says ...
Poetry, fiction, now Oscar oddsmaking...when will Ryan Adams get back to recording music?
Posted by SnarfTheFierce
at September 23, 2009 5:45 AM
comment #3
pchu
says ...
Bad Lieutenant: Port of New Orleans will probably not get a nomination, but it's seriously the funniest film I have seen all year. One that I could watch again and again. Not sure if Nic Cage will get an nomination but he definitely deserves some kind of recognition.
Posted by pchu
at September 23, 2009 6:12 AM
comment #4
Muscle McGurk
says ...
I still don't get how foreign language, documentary, and animated films somehow can't be among the best pictures of the year.
Posted by Muscle McGurk
at September 23, 2009 6:13 AM
comment #5
Chase Kahn
says ...
"Public Enemies (admirable wth killre finale, but not as popular as it needs to be)"
Does anybody backtrack more than Jeff? It goes from greatest gangster film since "Bonnie & Clyde" to "admirable"...
Jeff, you were right about it the first time, don't get cold feet...I'm sure it will end up #18 or #19 come year-end rankings...
Posted by Chase Kahn
at September 23, 2009 6:20 AM
comment #6
DarienStyles
says ...
I don't understand why the "gay-o-vision" is a detractor? Haven't the nominations for "Capote", "Milk" and "Brokeback Mountain" changed anything?
If a movie is great, then it should be seen as a contender. I know it is naive of me to think so, but I still believe voters are able to overcome their own prejudices for greatness.
Posted by DarienStyles
at September 23, 2009 6:20 AM
comment #7
Phreaker
says ...
How about a few paragraph breaks in there -- and this is absurd:
"Amelia (unseen but said by an insider to simply not quite cut it in terms of award-season chops)"
Have you suddenly gone to bed and woke up as Tom O'Neil? What do you know of "award-season chops"? What the hell is that, anyway? Do you eat it with plus sauce?
Posted by Phreaker
at September 23, 2009 6:27 AM
comment #8
Echo07
says ...
Obviously, your readers (including myself) are going to question a few choices on this list based on how a certain film has affected them personally.
Mine is Moon. You say overpraised... I choose to disagree.
If the 10 nominees wish to represent a broad spectrum across multiple genres then Moon is a perfect choice to represent science fiction. In my humble opinion it was one of the most stirring films in this arena over the last 10 years. A beautifully simple yet tragic story, a wonderful performance by Rockwell and a truly tactile / artistic scope in the production design left me transfixed.
Posted by Echo07
at September 23, 2009 6:49 AM
comment #9
MacTheMovieguy
says ...
You're absolutely right. It's 100% impossible that foreign language films (Letters From Iwo Jima, Babel, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Life Is Beautiful, Il Postino), gay themed movies (Milk, Brokeback Mountain, The Hours), or summer blockbusters (Gladiator, The Sixth Sense, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan) could land a Best Picture nomination.
How about instead of writing random babble that comes to your mind, you write about something you actually KNOW about, or at least do a bit of research. If your top 10 actually becomes THE Top 10, I'll shut my website down and walk away in shame, but I don't think you're gonna go 10/10.
Posted by MacTheMovieguy
at September 23, 2009 7:10 AM
comment #10
markj
says ...
The only worthwhile mainstream movies I have seen this year (so far) are: Inglourious Basterds, The Hurt Locker, District 9 and Public Enemies. Who are these people suggesting Star Trek be nominated for Best Film? Are they insane?!
Posted by markj
at September 23, 2009 7:11 AM
comment #11
Tom Reagan
says ...
Frankly these are the nominees which seem likely at this point:
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Invictus
Nine
Precious
Up
Up in the Air
The rest is a guessing game.
Posted by Tom Reagan
at September 23, 2009 8:04 AM
comment #12
Chris Willman
says ...
You're not even going to consider "Up," even to dismiss it? With 10 nominations to spread around, there is no way in the world that will not get in there. I know you want animated films left out of the running, but they're in, and this is a shoo-in this year.
Posted by Chris Willman
at September 23, 2009 8:45 AM
comment #13
Adam Smith
says ...
Broken Embraces was not submitted by Spain as their entry for Best Foreign Language Film. You're talking like it's out of the running because it'll only be nominated there, when that is physically impossible. Check your facts next time before you say something stupid.
Posted by Adam Smith
at September 23, 2009 8:57 AM
comment #14
arturobandini2
says ...
It won't get nominated b/c it's French and too intellectual for the Academy, but you should really take the time to get to know Summer Hours. Not only is it the most resonant movie I've seen this year, but it was your key banner ad for like a month.
Posted by arturobandini2
at September 23, 2009 9:16 AM
comment #15
The Winchester
says ...
Is Clint Eastwood's track record the only reason for the automatic inclusion of Invictus? Because everyone has been talking this up as a surefire Oscar nominee sight unseen.
Posted by The Winchester
at September 23, 2009 11:57 AM
comment #16
Postavant
says ...
The real problem is that while you may be right on why to disregard most of them...what the hell else is there other than what they have down? Such an odd, barren year.
Posted by Postavant
at September 23, 2009 12:44 PM
comment #17
BlackCrime
says ...
Awards Daily have terrible picks.
They just put up a response piece and still think that Food, Inc is going to get a Best Picture nod? Talk about egg on their face.
A Single Man is in for sure though. Mark my words.
Add to the obvious list posted above
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Invictus
Nine
Precious
Up in the Air
A Serious Man
A Single Man
Posted by BlackCrime
at September 23, 2009 3:48 PM
comment #18
Noah Cross
says ...
I think 500 Days of Summer will get the Indy Comedy slot (Little Miss Sunshine) that was available when there were 5 slots.
Posted by Noah Cross
at September 23, 2009 4:24 PM
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