16 February 2000

READERS OF THE DAY: Pat writes: "Not going to comment on the Oscar nominations, except to be happy to see Richard Farnsworth nominated (the SAGs scared me.) But the T.V. coverage was interesting. And the big story on TV coverage was American Beauty. Kevin Spacey live from Vegas on NBC. The producers and Alan Ball live from LA on CBS. Annette Benning by phone on ABC  (and attempting the same thing on E!, but being foiled by technical difficulties.) Not bad DreamWorks...I know their marketing/ PR department was helped in this as American Beauty was the frontrunner. But they are running with it. Miramax will be right in there with Cider House Rules, but the battle begins."

SET writes: "It seems like something is still wrong with the nomination process in the documentary and foreign language film categories. In each case, we've come up with one obvious front-runner and four very low profile also-rans. The omissions of American Movie and Mr. Death from the documentary category are truly bewildering and suggest that the nominators are utterly incapable of recognizing the merits of any work that pushes boundaries. I haven't seen the full list of films that were eligible for the foreign language nomination, and I can't comment on the quality of the four films that no one outside the nominating committee has seen. Still it's a strange grouping that omits Run Lola Run, After Life or Autumn Tale."

Mark takes it all in: "I guess I shouldn't be surprised by what the Academy hath wrought, but there I was watching the nominations with my jaw on the floor. After a year that included many challenging pictures, and from major studios nonetheless, they choose to recognize some of the safest films possible. Although American Beauty can qualify as a risky film, its edginess factor is a wash when you consider the buzz around this film at its release, the nearly universal critical and audience reception of it, and the virtual lock it was thought to be by the entertainment press. The Insider is a very well-made film and also seemed to be one of the favorite sons of the award gods. I don't have a problem with either of those films being nominated. At least they are high quality pictures.

But The Cider House Rules?! I could not believe the categories in which it was nominated, not even taking into account how many nominations it did receive. The film gutted the book, although the gutting was done by the author. It was passable entertainment but not anything to write home about.  The Green Mile was a good film but certainly not one of the five best of the year. If you want to pick a sentimental story for Best Picture, why not The Straight Story, which was also a terrific film.

I liked The Sixth Sense and won't begrudge its success, but does anyone think this would have been nominated for Best Picture if it had not been a box office sensation? If it makes $60-100 million, I don't know that its profile rises quite as much.

My impression of the majority of the nominations is that the voters read all the articles from October and November that were early primers for Oscar contention. The Green Mile and The Cider House Rules were hotter at that time than they were now. And the same goes for some of the acting nominations. Meryl Streep is a great actress, but her nomination for Music of the Heart seems to be out of habit rather than out of passion for the performance. Hey, Meryl Streep made a movie this year so we need to nominate her! Granted, she is fine in the role, but the movie didn't set anyone on fire unlike, say, Reese Witherspoon in Election. At least Tom Hanks wasn't nominated for The Green Mile and we got a pleasant surprise with Sean Penn for Sweet and Lowdown.

Apparently some people can't figure out what constitutes a supporting performance and a lead performance. Haley Joel Osment easily spends more time on screen than Annette Bening in their respective films, yet Osment is a supporting actor and Bening is a lead actress. Huh? Osment likely didn't have a prayer in the Best Actor category, so he gets a chance to win by getting a supporting nom. Michael Clarke Duncan was good in The Green Mile, but his nomination seems to me to be a novelty pick. He met the physical demands of the role and held his own in the film, but I wouldn't call it one of the five best supporting performances of the year.

I've gone on far too long already, so I'll just wrap by saying that I know the Academy Awards are less about honoring the best of the year and more about self-congratulation and marketing. While the Academy does get some nominations right (Being John Malkovich, Magnolia and Boys Don't Cry, for example), those tend to be token offerings to acknowledge these films despite the fact that they will likely last longer in cinema history as important works."

MalaMAR writes: "This is clearly the weakest group of Best Picture nominees in recent history. For such a strong year in American film, three of the five nominated movies were not especially acclaimed as artistic achievements  (The Cider House Rules, The Green Mile and The Sixth Sense). Were the voters throwing darts at a list?

Spot me American Beauty, and then select four others at random from the following list -- All About My Mother, Being John Malkovich, Boys Don't Cry, Election, The Insider, Magnolia, Three Kings and Toy Story 2 -- and you would have a more distinguished list, with greater diversity in style and substance."