The 83rd annual Academy Awards: a pontification




 

 

I guess, if you come right down to it, the best picture of the year is Pixar’s “Toy Story 3.” The best trilogy of possibly forever is the “Toy Story” trilogy, and there’s no doubt the winner of the Best Animated Feature Film this year will be “Toy Story 3.”

So I have a slight philosophical problem in selecting “Toy Story 3” as my candidate for Best Picture. And I suspect many among the older Academy voters will agree.

Twenty years from now, when “Toy Story 25” has taken its umpteenth consecutive Best Picture Oscar, most of the other contenders in Hollywood will shrug and wonder, “ Why bother?”

So, for the sake of actors, directors and production companies everywhere, I’m suggesting a special, open-ended “Best Hollywood Effort of All Time” achievement award. Here’s my undying admiration, a pat on the head, and now go away.

This year’s Best Picture crop has tremendous potential—and I say this despite mainstream Hollywood’s bogus rationale, beginning in 2009, to extend the number of nominees to 10.

If the industry were genuine about acknowledging excellence, they would have extended all major categories. No, they just want more studio pictures considered, as independent films have become increasingly popular (bravo!) with audiences. Hence Hollywood has hedged the bets in its own horse race. I think they’ve been reading Goldman Sachs’ playbook.

My column’s short, life’s brief, so I’ll cut to the chase. As Best Picture, “Black Swan” is overrated. The first two-thirds is brilliant, but then it gets tacky. I do hope Natalie Portman wins for Best Actress, as her performance is superb. Too bad the picture ultimately gags on its own self-importance.

I’m much tougher on an almost brilliant picture that stumbles than I am on a mediocre film that stretches to make good and fails.

Hence, the almost culturally significant “The Kids Are All Right” fumbles on the last down of the last play and turns a potentially significant social statement about families into an ordinary family drama.

It’s still a worthy picture and deserves to be seen. Annette Bening is a worthy award candidate— but so is Julianne Moore. So where’d she go?

“Inception” may win, but I’m not sure Academy voters are hip enough to have endured its almost hallucinogenic pace. Good flick, but see it twice before you decide.

I think voters will ultimately pick one of three films: “True Grit” (nice effort, but a remake. I felt the same way about “Titanic.” Shouldn’t count); “The King’s Speech” ( very nice film—and who’da thunk one could turn a stutter into a dynamite drama?); and “The Social Network.”

For the last couple of months, my personal bias has been wavering between “The King’s Speech” and “The Social Network.”

For drama purists, “Speech” is simply nirvana. But two weeks ago, history helped shape my decision.

Watching angry Egyptians topple a dictatorship, CNN called the uprising the “social network revolution.”

Without Facebook, what happened in Egypt, what’s presently happening in the Middle East could not be. Impressive, hmm?

So this film about an awkward coding genius who just wants to meet women turning his idea into a worldwide phenomenon is more than a cinematic cultural milestone. It’s also a commentary on today’s youth: discontented, disenfranchised, greedy.

Want to define this country’s confused adolescents ( or adolescently minded) by decade? The ’ 70s: “ Saturday Night Fever” (no, “American Graffiti” was about the ’60s). The ’80s: “The Breakfast Club.” The ’90s: “High Fidelity.” The 2000s and beyond: It’s “The Social Network.”

But see “The King’s Speech” if you haven’t. It’s magnificent. The Best Director award will go to “Speech’s” Tom Hooper or “The Social Network’s” David Fincher.

Best actor? Another tough choice. Jeff Bridges is one of this country’s finest, and it’s time he’s recognized as such. “Crazy Heart” wasn’t enough.

But most folks believe the race is between Jesse Eisenberg (“ The Social Network”) and Colin Firth (“ The King’s Speech”). Both are worthy. I do believe Firth will win. However, for an astounding, convincing performance, my nod is to James Franco in “127 Hours.” Yeah, this true-life tale is painful to watch here and there, but Franco’s performance is nothing short of brilliant.

I see that I’ve grown verbose. Best Actor in a Supporting Role: I vote for Christian Bale in “The Fighter” (although “Speech’s” Geoffrey Rush is also quite worthy).

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: either Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit” or, close behind, Melissa Leo in “The Fighter.”

And finally, my sincere apologies to “ How to Train Your Dragon,” in any other year a worthy Oscar winner for a flawless animated film.

It’s that damn “Toy Story” again. Pixar’s absolutely ruthless.


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