The Oscars: hits and misses

Sean Deez
Contributor
You’re bound to find flaws in the highly anticipated, highly criticized Oscar nominations and winners each year. Usually, the awards’ biggest criticisms have to do with the films and personalities that did not receive nominations or notice.
Those absences have led some to ask, “Who is the Academy, anyway?”

Simply put, the Academy is an organization of around 6,000 people from all walks of filmmaking life. Those members are split into 15 branches (actors, directors, producers, writers, etc.) that place nominations within their field. When the awards show comes around, members cast their ballots, and that’s that.
In a perfect world, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World would be nominated for this year’s Best Picture (Torontonian bias aside, it was the most entertaining film of the year). But that won’t happen.
To be a little more realistic, it would’ve been nice to at least see some other Oscar-checklist-fulfilling films get a nod. White Material, an atypical look at one woman’s life during French colonialism in Africa, is a film that certainly deserved at least a Foreign Language Film nomination. Alas, it has been completely shut out by the Academy.
Four Lions is another low-key film that turned the critics’ heads but didn’t budge the Academy. It’s a unique satirical take on a group of wannabe British Muslim terrorists, the Three Stooges of attempted jihads. Perhaps, there wasn’t enough star power or promotional push behind these films – usually, that’s enough to do it for balloters.
By some sick twist of fate, mastermind director Christopher Nolan missed the boat for Best Directing in Inception. This is the second Nolan film to redefine the summer blockbuster, and sadly, he won’t get a chance at this piece of hardware. And after Kathryn Bigelow won big for The Hurt Locker last year, two other female directors were cut out of this category: Debra Granik for Winter’s Bone and Lisa Cholodenko for The Kids Are All Right.
The Best Actor and Best Actress categories are always entertaining, simply because one person can steal the entire film while the movie collectively falls flat. This year’s I Am Love, for example, featured Tilda Swinton, a British actress who delivered perfectly some Russian-accented Italian in the film.
As far as Best Actor goes, Canadian Ryan Gosling should’ve received a nomination for his performance in the hurtfully true Blue Valentine as the loving and damaged husband of a fizzling marriage. Also, a nomination should go to Jim Carrey for his performance in I Love You Phillip Morris, in which he played a gay con artist breaking out of jail in the name of love. Unfortunately, these performances will go largely unnoticed at the awards, despite the fact they’re some of the year’s best.
Win-or-lose, they are all still terribly, terribly rich.  End scene.
Sean’s Oscar Picks
BEST PICTURE
What should win: The Social Network
What will win: The King’s Speech
BEST DIRECTOR
Who should and will win: David Fincher (The Social Network)
BEST ACTOR
Who should and will win: Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)
BEST ACTRESS
Who should win: Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)
Who will win: Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Who should and will win: Christian Bale (The Fighter)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Who should win: Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
Who will win: Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Who should and will win: Christopher Nolan (Inception)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Who should and will win: Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)