The Great Oscar Race, 2012: Already out of breath
So the nominations have finally come out and I find myself even further behind than last year. I have seen a total of two of the Best Picture noms, one of the Best Actor, and an impressive ZIPPO of the Best Actress. The supporting categories are even worse. Even cinematography, a favorite category of mine, finds me at a pathetic 1 of 5!
Still, I look forward to this mad dash every year, despite the unnecessary amount of stress I always end up placing on myself.
In the three weeks leading up to the Oscars, I plan to review each film and state its case, culminating in my personal pick for Best Film and my prediction for the actual winner (the twain almost never meet).
I mean seriously, I did this even before I had The Idler as a venue! It’s a sickness, that’s what it is.
So I’ve knocked out The Tree of Life and The Descendants. Both films are absolutely worthy nominees, but the rest of the category appears to be far more hit or miss. The Artist looks amazing and I hear that that is indeed the case, and I’ve been pretty excited for Hugo since its announcement. Midnight in Paris looks incredibly charming and Moneyball seems like a pretty solid, sports drama. Warhorse‘s story doesn’t exactly light my fire, but it sure looks pretty, and that’s something. The two wild cards are The Help and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Both carry a definite stigma for me (Oscar Schmaltz), so we shall see.
I look forward to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy mostly due to its look (See: elegant), as I hear that it’s nearly incomprehensible story-wise. I have no doubt that Oldman will be fascinating. I have yet to see Beginners, but I have read the script and it brought me to tears (Because it was good). I needn’t hear of Oscar nominations to watch anything David Fincher makes, but it’s a good excuse to get to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (If the title sequence doesn’t pump you up for the flick then I just don’t know what to tell you!).
At any rate, there’s a race to run and I am already out of breath!
A complete list of all 2012 Oscar nominees
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Kevin Mattison is co-editor of The Idler, as well as being an occassional film review contributor for Real Detroit Weekly, a filmmaker and videographer. You can follow him on Twitter at @kmmattison.
