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…
