Oscar night is the night that ‘tinseltown’ lives for.  People from all parts of the movie world come together to pat one another on the back and say “well done”.  This year it will be hosted by both Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin and will take place on March 7th, a date that has been in my diary for some time.  I love the Oscars.  I know it’s just a group of rich people being self-obsessed, but when you love film you just can’t help yourself.  Growing up my sister and I would make out a list, on one side was who we thought would win and on the other, who we thought should win.  We each did this and had a little competition to see who was right.  We’d go to bed really early and then get up in the middle of the night to watch it live.  It was great.  We both loved the whole thing, not just best picture and best actor(ress) but everything, best art direction, best cinematography; the lot.

Now that I am all grown up, I look forward to the nominations just as much.  During the year, as I see films, I think, “that should be up for…” and it adds to the experience of watching a film.  This year, however, I think the pickings are slim.  You can see the full list of nominations here.

The SAG-awards (Screen Actors Guild) can give you a good idea of who may win the acting awards at the Oscars as the same pool of people vote for both.  On the night the main winners were:

Film: Inglorious Bastards
Actor:  Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
Actress:  Sandra Bollock – The Blind Side
Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz – Inglorious Bastards
Actress in a Supporting Role:  Mo’Nique – Precious: based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire

So is this the list that will prevail at the Oscars?  Well, for me, two categories stand out.  Firstly, I feel that the Actress in a Leading Role category is very weak this year. On the face of it you have the likes of Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep but look a little deeper.  Films like Julie and Julia and The Blind Side are hardly the Oscar-winning roles we look for.  These films are more like the easy-to-watch relaxing type, not the sort to challenge you in any way.  Am I being a movie snob?  Perhaps.  However, I think that Oscar nominations should come from wonderful, deep performances.  I’m not saying you can’t have a good performance in a poor film, but these roles are weak at best.

I remember the nominations in previous years being far superior.  Take 1996 for example, the nominations for Actress in a Leading Role were five truly great performances.  I wanted them all to win.  The likes of Brenda Blethyn and Emily Watson not to mention Frances McDormand in Fargo.  This year, however, is a big disappointment for me.

Take Saoirse Ronan’s performance in The Lovely Bones, one of the best performances this year in my opinion.  She wasn’t nominated however, possibly because Oscar is as much about politics as talent and Hollywood just didn’t take to this film at all.  Stanley Tucci’s nomination was well deserved but I think Saoirse could have made the cut above some of the aforementioned stars.  It looks like Saoirse will have to wait a while for another nomination, she was previously nominated for Atonement.

Secondly, the folks at the Academy decided to increase the nominees for Best Motion Picture from 5 to 10.  A great idea I thought.  However, this year it is slim pickings and I think they found it hard to find 10.  The nominees are:  Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education ,The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Bastards, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up and Up in the Air. Not exactly Citizen Kane are they? Precious is the one that, perhaps, stands out. In recent years we had duels between the likes of Crash and Brokeback Mountain, this year we have 10 films that I probably won’t remember in 20 years.  I loved Avatar, but Best Picture?  Precious and The Hurt Locker are great films too but none of these nominations scream Best Picture to me!  (A list of previous winners can be seen here)

Bottom line:  when I think of the Oscars I think of the award that says this film is one that will stand the test of time and, when I watch it in 10 or 20 years, I will still like it.  I think of classics like Grand Hotel, Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz and more recently One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Taxi Driver and Silence of the Lambs.  Are any of this years movies in that bracket?  I’m not so sure.