Shearing the Oscars: Best Actress

I'd best start by sharing some love on this, the day devoted to the subject. It would be necessary to do so simply because I will need the reminder after I get done with this piece.

This year's Best Actress Oscar race is not so much a puzzle to me as it an infuriating farce that exposes the emptiness of the Academy Awards. Sandra Bullock is the front runner for her work in THE BLIND SIDE. I don't mean to be hurtful. I saw the movie; I thought she was good in it but Oscar good? Please. Of course not, but she has had a really good year and has done so many great things for the box office over the years. Her top competition is Meryl Streep for her work in JULIE & JULIA. Streep has scored a record breaking 16 nominations with this last one but hasn't won since 1983. Naturally, we have to throw her something as some point. At least Streep's performance is Oscar worthy but what I don't understand is why the headlines don't read, "It's Down to Sidibe and Mulligan!"

Here are the nominees for Best Actress ...

SANDRA BULLOCK as Leigh Anne Tuohy in THE BLIND SIDE


I am not going to just denounce Bullock's nomination here. I didn't mind John Lee Hancock's THE BLIND SIDE. It was certainly designed to be satisfying but it accomplished its goals. Bullock carries the weight of the film on her shoulders and does it with strength and attitude to spare. She is also written in such a saintly manner that her character comes off as too perfect to be actually human. The fact is that Bullock has the nomination and the edge to win because she is well liked in Hollywood and Hollywood enjoys rewarding contribution over performance from time to time. Remember Julia Roberts in ERIN BROCKOVICH?

HELEN MIRREN as Countess Sofya in THE LAST STATION


At 64 years of age, this is Helen Mirren's fourth Oscar nomination. She won in this exact category in 2006 for her work in THE QUEEN. She returns now by portraying another famous historical figure, Countess Sofya, wife of Russian author, Leo Tolstoy, in Michael Hoffman's THE LAST STATION. Whereas her work in THE QUEEN had to be spot on given people's familiarity with the subject but, with little existing footage of Countess Sofya, Mirren had to create a character rather than recreate. This role is just not loud enough in a year like this one and I'm pretty sure Mirren knows it.

CAREY MULLIGAN as Jenny in AN EDUCATION


I am convinced that Carey Mulligan is going to be around for a long time and seen as one of the next generation's greatest actresses. In Lone Scherfig's brilliant, AN EDUCATION, she plays Jenny, a teenage girl of excessive intelligence and discipline who longs to let her passion run free. The range of Jenny's journey requires Mulligan to balance the many faces of this teenage girl - the good student, the perfect daughter, the virgin girlfriend to a man ten years her senior and of course the woman she so hurriedly wants to be. The National Board of Review and the Toronto Film Critics Association threw their support behind Mulligan but the film just never caught on like it should have.

GABOUREY SIDIBE as Clareece "Precious" Jones in PRECIOUS


I'm sure I've said this before but it bears repeating; I was completely floored when I met Gabourey Sidibe in person this past fall at a roundtable with her and PRECIOUS director, Lee Daniels. Ignorantly, I expected her to be much like the damaged, frightened, introvert she played in the film but she is the complete opposite. Beforehand, I did not think her performance was much of a stretch from who she had to be in reality. How could it be? Yet somehow, this bubbly, outspoken young lady found a pain so dark that everything she actually is is swallowed up by Precious. Sidibe was honoured by the National Board of Review but most of the film's award focus goes to co-star, Mo'Nique. Sidibe deserves this but will have to hope Streep and Bullock cancel each other out.

MERYL STREEP as Julia Child in JULIE & JULIA


When I mentioned that Streep broke a record this year with her 16th nomination for JULIE & JULIA, I neglected to mention that it was her own record of most career nods she broke. There is no question that Streep gives everything every time she goes out there (almost, anyway) and not having been rewarded by the Academy since 1983 seems unacceptable but why can't we remember that we should be honouring individual performances and not bodies of work. That said, I would much rather watch Streep take this than see Bullock get it for just putting in the time. Unfortunately, with the Screen Actors Guild in Bullock's camp, it might be tricky.

WHO WILL WIN? Sandra Bullock

WHO COULD STILL UPSET? Gabourey Sidibe

Next up in Black Sheep's Oscar coverage, we give you a guide to what nominated films are still playing in theatres out there and what you need to make sure you need covered before Oscar night.

Again, before I go, much love to all the Black Sheep readers!

Shearing the Oscars: Best Picture

The nominations for the 82nd annual Academy Awards were announced this past week and, if you care about the Oscars at all, you likely knew already that they were to be expanding their Best Picture category from five to ten slots. It may have been a thinly veiled attempt to ensure the telecast audience grows this year by embracing a wider array of films but did it work? My guess, based on the support the films reached in other categories and the feelings I'm getting in my stomach, I would venture that had the Academy stuck with five nominees, they would look a little something like this:

AVATAR
THE HURT LOCKER
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
PRECIOUS
UP IN THE AIR

I would have been satisfied with that, even with AVATAR being included. Thanks to the new rules though, the following films get to bask in Oscar glory as well:

THE BLIND SIDE
DISTRICT 9
AN EDUCATION
A SERIOUS MAN
UP

All, save for one, which I will allow you to figure out all by yourself, are well deserving. So, it would appear, that Oscar did good so far and their future bodes well. I'm still back and forth on the move though. On the one hand, I feel that honouring ten films better encompasses all genres and audiences. On the other, I feel it cheapens the recognition itself. While I am torn on this point, I am decisively upset with the media for how they've handled the whole thing. The Academy goes out of its way to reach a wider audience and honour more films and what do you do? You whittle the list down to a mere two entries, suggesting this biblical David vs. Goliath cage match between THE HURT LOCKER and AVATAR, as though none of the other films stand any chance. I understand that frontrunners exist but to be fair, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS has eight nominations in total, only one less than the big two. UP IN THE AIR has already won plenty of top prizes during awards season too. Even PRECIOUS, whose buzz died off long ago, still has Oprah behind it. If she can get a president elected, she can get a measly, little Oscar.

And so, in the interest of actually considering all ten nominated films instead of writing them off immediately after they were announced, Black Sheep will break down the nominations for Best Picture, one by one, beginning with ...

AVATAR

Do I believe AVATAR has an excellent chance of winning Best Picture? Yes, it does. Do I believe it should win? Of course not. The entire world has been swept up in the incredible spell AVATAR has cast on filmgoing audiences. Do I believe it warrants its nomination? Yes, I do. Any film that wows and inspires as many people as this one has, deserves to honoured as one of the best pictures of the year. An exciting adventure doesn't always make for an incredible film though. Director James Cameron's screenplay is unoriginal and obvious and the acting is uneven at best. Sure, I had a good time watching AVATAR but nothing other than that has stayed with me. A Best Picture winner should be timeless.

THE BLIND SIDE

I swore I would never see this movie when I first saw the preview and I finally had to cave last weekend because it was becoming pretty clear that Sandra Bullock was going to score a Best Actress nomination for her work in it. She did just that and, in another beguiling sign that she has a very good shot at winning that award, she also inspired enough love to elevate the film itself into the Best Picture race. Clearly, I had very low expectations for THE BLIND SIDE but I was pleasantly surprised. By that, I mean, it was alright. Alright should not be nominated for Best Picture, let alone win, and, in this case, it won't.

DISTRICT 9

I don't think DISTRICT 9 has any genuine chance of winning this award but the fact that it's here speaks to how much unexpected impact it had on those who saw it, including myself. (DISTRICT 9 is nominated for Best Picture at Black Sheep's Mouton d'Or Awards this year as well.) The Academy also showered the film with love for its elaborate and imaginative screenplay as well as its very real visual effects and intense editing style. Stealing an editing slot from bigger fish, UP IN THE AIR, suggests that its chances are stronger than I think they are but if a piece of science-fiction is going to win this year, it will be for bluer aliens than these.

AN EDUCATION

As AN EDUCATION too earned a Mouton d'Or nomination for Best Picture this year, it is clearly a favorite of mine and I am thrilled to see it make the final cut, alongside the brilliant Nick Hornby screenplay and the breathtaking performance by Carey Mulligan. This film has a much better chance of winning overseas at the BAFTA's though than in Hollywood. It is one of the nominated films that stands a good chance to see its box office receipts increase now but that is only because it has not been seen by many at all. (It has earned less than all of the other nominated films in this category.) It's lack of exposure will ultimately cripple it.

THE HURT LOCKER

This Kathryn Bigelow picture has only made a few million dollars more than AN EDUCATION but has been lauded as the Best Picture of the year by critics almost universally. And now that it is available to rent, interest in the film has, uh, exploded, if you will. Critical darlings don't always take the big prize and God knows war-themed pictures have struggled hard for years now but THE HURT LOCKER has the potential to transcend that. It will reach an audience now that it may never have without this recognition and that audience will be shaken by its overpowering tension. They won't know what hit them and if the HURT LOCKER Oscar campaign doesn't trip any major wires before the big night, the rest of the nominees won't know what hit them either.

Black Sheep's breakdown of the Best Picture nominees continues tomorrow with INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, PRECIOUS, A SERIOUS MAN, UP and UP IN THE AIR.

In the meantime, what do you think? Is it really just a race between AVATAR and THE HURT LOCKER? If it is, was it worth expanding the list to begin with? Black Sheep wants to know what you think!

Black Sheep @ The Box Office: Blindsided!

After two weeks settling for the runner-up position, THE BLIND SIDE capitalizes on good word of mouth and lackluster competition to take the crown from two-week champ, NEW MOON. I caught up on movies I missed in theatres this weekend and had to choose between these two films. I went with NEW MOON. Let me just say, that was definitely the wrong choice. God that was painful to sit through. I guess I should have gone with the crowd.


THE BLIND SIDE man not have grossed NEW MOON numbers but with another $20 million this weekend, it is well on its way to become Sandra Bullock's highest grossing title. Just when it seemed like she couldn't command her asking price anymore, this year she scores one-two punch that began with THE PROPOSAL this past summer also grossing over $100 million. Could an Oscar nomination be that third good thing in the string?


The week's biggest opener hardly has anything to brag about but at least it can brag that it did better than everything else that opened this weekend. Coming in third place was Jim Sheridan's post-war family drama, BROTHERS. The film received mixed reviews from critics, including this one, and, without any Oscar buzz to build on, should drop off the radar pretty quickly. Still, at least it made the radar. Opening in 7th place, an action film not seeing any action, ARMORED. And even further down the list in tenth, another Robert Deniro flop, EVERYBODY'S FINE. Everyone except for Deniro's Oscar chances that is.


Below the Top 10, awards season contenders continued to platform and exceed expectations. Earlier this week, the National Board of Review named UP IN THE AIR the best picture of the year and this weekend, it debuts to $1.19 million on just 15 screens. The film's star, George Clooney, was also named the best actor of the year. While the NBR ignored it, PRECIOUS was honoured with the most nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards this week. This week it suffers a steep drop out of the Top 10 but its $36 million take before any major awards recognition is an incredible foundation going into awards season. And THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG continues to attain stellar results on just two screens, falling off just 5% this week and pulling in another $744K. Its wide release next week will have many eyes watching, including mine.

NEXT WEEK: Clint Eastwood's next awards hopeful, INVICTUS, hits 2150 screens. THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG goes from 2 screens to over 3300. Peter Jackson's latest, THE LOVELY BONES, starts on just 3 screens. And Tom Ford's directorial debut, A SINGLE MAN, begins its limited run.

Black Sheep @ The Box Office: A Very Full Moon

You will have to excuse me; I was away on business. Now that I am back, I am exhausted so I will be doing nothing for the rest of that day. That said, I could not overlook what amounted to the third best opening of all time. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON opened to the best opening day of all time on Friday with over $70 million and finished the weekend with roughly double that. Everyone knew it would be huge but who could have predicted this? The true test will be next weekend. Most fans caught it right away so next weekend will show how far past its fanbase the film will play.


In other box office news, Sandra Bullock has a great year with THE BLIND SIDE opening over $34 million, following her summer hit, THE PROPOSAL. PRECIOUS continues to expand to incredible numbers, almost increasing by 100% over last week after adding approximately 450 screens. There was nothing out of this world about PLANET 51's fourth place opening. Below the TOP 10, FANTASTIC MR. FOX took in another per screen average of nearly $50K before expanding to over 2000 screens next week. Werner Herzog's update of BAD LIEUTENANT starring Nicolas Cage brought in a mild per screen of just under $10K but good word of mouth could turn that around as it expands. And this week's biggest per screen average went to Pedro Almodovar's latest, BROKEN EMBRACES, pulling $54K on just 2 screens.


NEXT WEEK: Happy Thanksgiving everyone! John Travolta and Robin Williams are looking for WILD HOGS numbers with OLD DOGS opening on 3300 screens. James McTeigue, director of V FOR VENDETTA returns with NINJA ASSASSIN on 2500 screens. The critically acclaimed THE ROAD with Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron opens wide. And on the smaller end, character films like THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE and ME AND ORSON WELLES open on a handful of screens and Disney platforms THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG on just two screens before going wide in December.

Source: BOX OFFICE MOJO