Thursday, February 4, 2010

The best of the overlooked

Oscar nominations were announced earlier this week. I got 41 out of 50 in the predictions I posted here, and 73 out of 106 overall. Every year there's destined to be many deserving contenders overlooked. Here's what I think are the best of the unsung in the major categories:

PICTURE
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Where the Wild Things Are
Star Trek

DIRECTOR
Spike Jonze "Where the Wild Things Are"
J.J. Abrams "Star Trek"
Wes Anderson "Fantastic Mr. Fox"

ACTOR
Liam Neeson "Taken"
James Nesbitt "Five Minutes of Heaven"
Michael Stuhlbarg "A Serious Man"

ACTRESS
Melanie Laurent "Inglourious Basterds"
Emily Blunt "The Young Victoria"
Maya Rudolph 'Away We Go"

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Zach Galifianakis "The Hangover"
Peter Sarsgaard "An Education"
Jackie Earle Haley "Watchmen"

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Julianne Moore "A Single Man"
Evan Rachel Wood "Whatever Works"
Diane Kruger "Inglourious Basterds"

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach "Fantastic Mr. Fox"
Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers "Where the Wild Things Are"
Anthony Peckham "Invictus"

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber "(500) Days of Summer"
Michael Jai White, Byron Minns and Scott Sanders "Black Dynamite"
Dave Eggers and Vendela Vila "Away We Go"

6 comments:

MJenks said...

If Jackie Earle Haley was the supporting actor in Watchmen, who was the lead?

McGone said...

Totally agree with Melanie Laurent in "Inglourious Basterds." I was completely entranced by her whole Sarah Polley-meets-Helen Slater vibe.

I'm still having a hard time with Zach Galifianakis' new found fame. It will be interesting when all the people on Facebook who are fans of "Alan from The Hangover" see his stand up for the first time and realize just how fantastically bizarre he can get.

Red said...

I agree with your picks for the films I've seen...esp. Evan Rachel Wood in Whatever Works. Underrated Woody movie IMHO.

Garney said...

Watchmen is an ensemble film so there probably wouldn't be a lead actor, but if I had to pick one it would probably be Patrick Wilson or Billy Crudup.

I'm a longtime fan of Zach Galifiankis. I dressed up as Alan for Halloween. Love his Between Two Ferns series on FunnyorDie.

The first half of Whatever Works was great, but as soon as the parents came into the picture it went downhill from there.

words...words...words... said...

Definitely agree on Melanie Laurent (although I would have thought that a supporting role) and the script for (500) Days Of Summer.

As much as I enjoyed Fantastic Mr. Fox, I am not sure it is Oscar worthy. It felt to me like an enjoyable but transient pleasure. Nothing about it stayed with me.

Liz said...

Melanie Laurent's character in Inglorious Basterds was hipster catnip: She's French, owns a movie theatre, dates a black guy and is Jewish. If she somehow could have been Asian too, theatres would have been littered with the fainted bodies of boys in skinny jeans and Rivers Cuomo glasses.

She did play it quite well though.