The nominations for the 85th Academy Awards will be released on January 10th, just a few days from today, and will, as history has taught us, provide endless frustration for cinephiles everywhere.
But you have already read my thoughts on that. In Part 1 of this feature, published last week, I explained the purpose of this little imagination exercise. Here’s the short version: The Academy Awards annoy me, I still think it is valuable to recognize individual achievements in filmmaking, and so I have put together my Dream Academy Award Nominations – a set of artists and films I would personally nominate if I put on an awards show, or, putting it another way, the artists and films I would like to see nominated in an alternate universe where the Oscars know what they are doing.
These are not, as I explained last time, predictions for what the nominees will be. There is little value in making such prognostications, as the Oscars are habitually predictable, and habitually boring in their picks. I hope my choices are a little more eclectic, and if you find yourself dissatisfied, please feel free to offer your own Dream nominees in the comments. There are plenty of excellent choices to go around. I should note that these picks are, in part, based on my ballot for the 2012 Denver Film Critics Society awards, which I voted in last week.
Because there are a lot of categories to get through – I am doing everything except the Short Film categories, Documentary, and Foreign Language – I am presenting this feature in two parts. As noted earlier, Part 1 focused on the technical categories, while today’s second and final installment dives into the big awards, like acting, writing, directing, and best picture.
Enjoy!
Begin reading on the next page…
Published: Jan 7, 2013 04:31 pm