Oscar madness

With the big awards show set for Sunday night, I guess I might as well chime in on the Oscars.

I wrote last month about The Blind Side, a Best Picture nominee I simply can't believe anyone would seriously consider Oscar-caliber material. But some are saying we might expect a surprise winner this year because of the new voting formula in the Best Picture category.

This WSJ article sums up my thoughts about the prospect of the new system of voting possibly resulting in an unthinkable Oscar upset:

Which wrist to slit first if "The Blind Side" wins?

Of the two favorites, Avatar and The Hurt Locker, I prefer the latter. But my favorite films of the year were quite different from the nominees. Oscar candidates that I did NOT include in my top 10 are Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, Precious and Up. Of those, the only one I might consider adding to my list is District 9, excellent on a second viewing on Blu-ray the other night.

As for Up, I agree with this critic that the best part of that animated feature is the amazing montage near the start of the movie. It makes you laugh, cry, breaks your heart... all in just over 4 minutes. Too bad the rest of the film is so pedestrian. Here is that brilliant, heartbreaking sequence. The score by Michael Giacchino should win him an Oscar Sunday night. I'll be watching.

The Blind Side: Oscar quality? Really?

Mulling over the Oscar nominations announced this week I am most troubled by one entry: The Blind Side, a formulaic film some have compared to a Lifetime Movie.

I'll just say it wasn't very good.

The Blind Side has been a surprise box office hit with midwestern and southern audiences. Houston Nutt makes a cameo appearance.

The film was one of the 10 best picture nominees. Star Sandra Bullock is up for best actress.

The movie is about a upper-middle class white family in Memphis who befriend and adopt a hulking, mute black teenager. Based on a true story, the movie follows him from homelessness to the NFL, but in the end we know almost nothing about the kid, Michael Oher, because the movie is really about the fiesty Bullock character. Actor Quenton Aaron as Oher has a total of maybe 50 lines in the whole movie.

The film, especially it's contrasts with Precious, has sparked some very heated debate about race, politics and more. See here, here, and here.

Any black folks out there seen Blind Side? How many whites saw Precious?

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Otherwise, no major Oscar surprises. District 9's nomination for best picture makes me reconsider whether it should have been on my list of the best for '09.

It looks like Hurt Locker has a real chance at best picture, and director Kathryn Bigelow for best director. That's good.

Should be an interesting Oscar show next month with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin co-hosting.