Sleeper Cell: Oscar Special

So the Oscars are here, and welcome to the first annual:

!!!Sleeper Cell Snubtastic Chaos Cabaret!!! (*cue pop-fizzle*)

pop-fizzle!

Of course, it’s hard to say there are Oscar snubs when 10 damn movies get a best picture nomination. But I’m here to say: ‚ÄúThere were a few huge snubs.‚Äù The list of nominations is fairly sensible, but why Disney was awarded a nomination for a run-of-the-mill, forgetful, box-office slump-buster is anyone’s guess (many apologies, of course, to my dear, Mickey-Mouse-employed sister). It’s been argued on this site before that 9 isn’t a great animated movie – and I’ve conceded that point; it’s not. But it’s also not a safe, traditional, adaptation¬†with weak story-telling and unimaginative animation.¬†9 bent the traditional animation storyline and went with a dark, post-apocalyptic¬†plot usually reserved for James Cameron or assorted depressed Russian filmmakers – and since everyone knows Up has this award in the bag, a smaller-budget darling of a film project should have gotten some recognition instead of the Academy going out of its way to nominate a second Disney film.

Shane Acker's 9

My picks for snubs to movies that would have had no chance of winning, but deserved a little recognition anyway.

Push – Visual Effects – Kent Houston (one of my favorites of 2009, but received little attention, and the dvd cover design assures it won’t generate much more interest on home video)

9 – Animated Film – Shane Acker

Monsters Vs. Aliens – Animated Film – Conrad Vernon (no question it’s not the best animated feature – I just love that faux-flashback style it has)

Crank 2 – Art Direction – Sebastian Schroder (obviously no chance of winning, but it really outdoes the original. The Dynamic Duo of Neveldine/Taylor is earning my respect 90 eviscerating minutes at a time)

Carlos Cuaron's Rudo y Cursi

Rudy y Cursi – Foreign Language – Carlos Cuaron (directed by the brother of heralded Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron, this movie is no doubt not the best foreign language movie of the year, but it’s the only one I saw, and it made me laugh. About two brothers (Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal) from a small Mexican village who are both recently discovered futbol stars; a respectable comedy/drama)

Every Little Step – Best Feature Documentary – James D. Stern & Adam Del Deo (one of a couple of feature length documentaries I saw this year – chronicles the audition process for the revival of the Broadway Musical, A Chorus Line)

But 9 isn’t where I’ve got a major complaint. That movie had its flaws and that it wasn’t nominated is disappointing, but not entirely surprising. ¬†The animated short on which it’s based (also a product of Shane Acker) is a much more inspired piece of cinema and benefits greatly from its complete lack of dialogue.

Quickly now, here the rest of my Oscar snubs, save the coup-de-grace. These are movies that not only deserve a nomination, but I think would deserve a win (in alphabetical order):

(500) Days of Summer – Original Screenplay – Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber (smart and inventive – takes the rom/com in a completely new direction)

(500) Days of Summer – Art Direction – Charles Varga, Jr. & Eric Steelberg (quite possibly deserves the award for 1 little, animated bluebird)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus – Supporting Actor – Tom Waits as the Devil (maybe the best singer/actor of all time)

Inglourious Basterds – Best Acrtess – Melanie Laurent as Shoshanna (I know we all like Meryl Streep, but not every single year.)

It Might Get Loud – Feature Documentary – Davis Guggenheim (following the talents and conversations of three guitar virtuosos: Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White)

Moon – Original Screenplay – Duncan Jones (Jones joins Sunshine’s Danny Boyle and District 9’s Neill Blomkamp in revitalizing the previously stale sci-fi genre.)

Moon – Best Actor – Sam Rockwell (Rockwell doing what other actors have tried, but better than any of them has ever done)

Public Enemies – Costumes – Colleen Atwood (Atwood at her usual level of perfection creating a convincing look for Michael Mann’s early FBI drama)

Public Enemies – Art Direction – Patrick Lumb / Dante Spinotti (This movie so completely recreates the early 1930s in the details of shoe laces and tabletop radios, it sometimes feels like a movie and more like a documentary)

Finally, Spike Jonze’s brilliant adaptation of a classic:

Spike Jonze with Max Records

Where the Wild Things Are – Adapted Screenplay – Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers (for pulling out the stops and transforming the wild monsters into distinct, captivating characters)

Where the Wild Things Are – Art Direction – Jeffrey Thorp & Lance Acord (for turning the deserts of Australia into an enticing place to visit)

Where the Wild Things Are – Best Director – Spike Jonze (not much to say here – if you haven’t seen this yet, shame on you)

However, my major complaint¬†is with the total lack of regard to the genius of Rian Johnson. Earlier this year, Media Breach posted a review (in this very column, by my esteemed colleague James McAwesome) of his 2005 hardboiled teen mystery, Brick. It was a near-perfect movie with great acting that propelled Joseph Gordon-Levitt to movie stardom – a persona he has worn distinguishedly into movies like The Lookout and the indie-hit (500) Days of Summer. It makes complete sense to me, that Johnson’s follow up movie would be high profile and get all the blessings, considerations, and benefits from whatever studio would be lucky enough to distribute it (in this case Summit Entertainment). I’ll skip all the histrionic-laiden theatrics and just say that he made The Brothers Bloom, cast a couple of past Oscar winners, created a genius script, and gave Rachel Weisz a role that could finally make her more than “the girl from The Mummy” (as my dad likes to call her and which the 8-hour-long Constant Gardener failed to do) as a super-cute, super-talented, bored billionaire. The other previous Oscar-recipient, Adrien Brody, delivered a performance that far outshined his winning performance in The Pianist as the ever-unsatisfied, identity-crisised, shadow-dwelling little brother. And Mark Ruffalo, as he’s been doing since his breakout year of 2004 with roles in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and We Don‚Äôt Live Here Anymore, creates an entirely believable character in Stephen Bloom who shucks and hucks his way through his scams as delicately as Ruffalo does through Rian Johnson’s screenplay.

The Brothers Bloom

But no. The Brothers Bloom went on to¬†its theatrical release in a whopping 150 theaters nation-wide where it raked in the bank-breaking 4.6 million dollars. Now, if you’ve read any of my previous Sleeper Cell reviews, you know I’m not prone to profanity, but WHAT THE EFF?? (Ok. I still can’t do it).

Now, these are the times of the year (when dealing with the Olympics and various award shows) where everyone is a little guilty of hyperbole. I’ve seen quite a few hockey games, and trust me, the gold medal game this year is¬†not the greatest game ever. And the Colts vs. the Saints was¬†not the greatest Superbowl ever. And Kobe Bryant is¬†not the greatest basketball player ever. And, hard as it may be to believe, Avatar is not the greatest movie ever. On the flipside, The Who was not the worst Superbowl halftime show ever, and Antichrist is¬†not the weirdest movie ever. And even the horribly, horrible My Own Worst Enemy was not the worst television show ever. So, with the exaggeration engines at full steam ahead, I’m going to risk saying that The Brothers Bloom is one of only a handful of perfect movies I’ve ever seen (see also Stanley Kubrick‚Äôs 2001: A Space Odyssey and Terry Gilliam‚Äôs The Adventures of Baron Munchausen). There is, literally, nothing wrong with this movie. the casting is intelligent, the costumes are beautiful, the damn lighting is perfect. The sets are amazing. The music is incredibly-timed. It all works. And it works in a Batman-like, timeless world full of bowler hats and tiny cell phones. And the fact that¬†this movie of all movies went unnoticed by the freaking Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is beyoooooooooooooond belief. I honestly haven’t felt this passionate about a movie deserving recognition ever. Never. It’s an incredible story executed flawlessly on film, and if it can‚Äôt have the slew of Oscar nominations it should have earned (including best director, best original screenplay, best art direction, best costumes and best actress), it certainly deserves your attention. So pay up.

Bloom, Penelope and Stephen

Recent posts by Zack

• Zack says, "Go see The Avengers." - May 4th, 2012
• Zack's Take on: The Mite Peckish Games - April 12th, 2012
• Sleeper Cell is Late to the Party for: The Woman in Black - March 25th, 2012
• Review: Another Earth (2011) - August 14th, 2011
• Sleeper Cell: Haute Tension (2003) - June 23rd, 2011

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