By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
Academy Awards 2007: Short-Shrifted
I spent about ten minutes reading through the nominations and being shocked. Then I had to go. No DREAMGIRLS for Best Picture….I don’t get it. [Major analysis in next day Los Angeles Times.]
ACTING
Come back in a decade, thirtyish actors. Quota’s been filled. No room for:
Christian Bale, THE PRESTIGE, as a magician whose sleight of hand makes his own life disappear. (Edward Norton, another of this year’s screen magicians in THE ILLUSIONIST is apparently too young, and too prolific with his subtle, strong performances to score enough votes–the same goes for Matt Damon (THE DEPARTED) and Derek Luke (CATCH A FIRE), who convinced me that there had to be a second, South African actor, an older man, and not the same Derek Luke, American kid, whom I’d seen in BIKER BOYZ a couple of years ago. How cool for Leonardo DiCaprio, who’s outstanding in both THE DEPARTED and THE BLOOD DIAMOND, to be nominated.) But bad for…
Adam Beach, FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, as the most traumatized of the Iwo Jima Marines, the man who’s destroyed as much bigotry as by what he saw during and after he served in WWII.
Michael Sheen, THE QUEEN, as a youthful, scheming/sly politician named Tony Blair – a man who seems to have a little crush on a mysterious older woman: the ruler of Great Britain.
Also missed:
Laura Dern, INLAND EMPIRE, who continues to explore uncharted territory as an actress, in the role (roles?) of a lifetime in David Lynch’s psychological thriller.
Bill Nighy, the English sex god of un certain age in NOTES ON A SCANDAL, as the husband and father and the one character who says what’s the audience’s mind: “What the hell were you thinking?”
Best Pictures, Not In English
Unfortunately for these foreign-language film entries, there were 61 submissions and at least a dozen titles that’ll be more memorable than the Best Picture nominees. Keep an eye out for:
TEN CANOES, Australia (Palm Pictures)
THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING, Egypt
BLACK BOOK, The Netherlands (Sony Pictures Classics)
REPRISE Norway
VOLVER, Spain. (Sony Pictures Classics)
BABEL
It’s going to win, isn’t it? And I still won’t like the vague voidyness of the script. But I did love the way film’s director, Alejandro González Iñárritu cracked the best joke in California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s face to start off his Golden Globe acceptance speech (“I swear I have my papers in order, Governor” before waxing eloquent about movies, communication, bridging differences in language through film.
MovieCityNews Awards Central
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