Oscar Week: The Snubs of 2012

Before getting down to the inevitable "Who will and who should win" post I will give a list of the films and performances that I felt were worthy of a nomination, yet didn't get one.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. They won last year for their work on The Social Network and put out an equally perfect score this year. More importantly there is absolutely no reason that John Williams deserved a nomination, let alone two. It sounded like the rejected score from everything else the man has done. I think he is a supremely talented composer but hasn't put out anything breathtaking or groundbreaking in years.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Mike Mills for Beginners. The story for this film would have been completely unbelievable if not for three things. One, the basic outline of the plot actually happened to Mills, who also directed. Two, the fantastic performance by Christopher Plummer (who is finally getting some Academy love in recent years). And three, the writing of the story. Mills never makes it seem unlikely that a recently widowed father in his 70's could not only come out of the closet, but be the happiest he has ever been even while being diagnosed with cancer. It sounds like a drama-fest but is surprisingly funny and poignant.
Diablo Cody for Young Adult. This film did not sit right with voters despite their love of both Cody and her Juno director Jason Reitman primarily because Charlize Theron's character just isn't likable but that's what I love so much about the film. Sure we could have made the main character a lovable pretty loser that we root for but hasn't that been done enough? Instead she based a film on a character you root against and is such a train wreck you can't not look. Risky writing and film making that truly deserved to be nominated.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
There are two complaints in this category. The first one is minor and it's that while I am ecstatic at the recent onslaught of films and the recognition given to the magical Jessica Chastain, I think she got nominated here for the wrong role. The more upsetting issue with this category is the complete omission of Shailene Woodley for The Descendants. Yup, I am defending the actress from Secret Life of My Teenage Daughter (I think that's the title. Don't quote me on that). My life has come to this. In all honesty though, she was phenomenal. A lot of attention gets put on the fact that she cries underwater, which is kind of amazing when you think about it and her detractors say that she is essentially playing a sitcom character in a drama. Everyone has a right to their opinion and mine is that if you take her out of the film and add anyone else it would be missing something. I can't tell you what it is, only that Woodley has it.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Albert Brooks in Drive. I want to mention Patton Oswalt in Young Adult too but the category had too many strengths and I can't think place him above five nominees even if he was fantastic. Back to Brooks though. The man stole a movie, with limited screen time no less, away from two of Hollywood's most electrifying young stars in Ryan Gosling and Carrie Mulligan. That is no easy task. Most importantly, he plays the villain without being showy about it. This quality makes him scarier than most villains today. His quiet and direct approach turns a bad guy into a frightening man. Brooks should be contending with Christopher Plummer to win this award instead of watching with the pit crew.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
There could be a case made for Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin but the movie is so disturbing and was so little seen that it wasn't all that surprising when she was left off despite the fantastic performance. Overall, this category was probably the best job done by the Academy this year. Kirsten Dunst also has the right to complain after Melancholia but the film was too avant-garde and her performance too understated for the Academy's taste.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Disclaimer: I have not seen Take Shelter or Shame. Yes. There are two movies from 2011 I did not see. I apologize. From what I have been told Michael Shannon (Take Shelter) and Michael Fassbender (Shame) give the two best performances of the year and deserved to be nominated. Of the films I did see the most glaring omission is Ryan Gosling. Perhaps his lack of a nomination is because he was too versatile this year and the voters couldn't choose. Do you pick the nameless bad ass from Drive, the political wunderkind from The Ides of March, or the lovable bad boy from Crazy, Stupid, Love? It must have been too hard to make a unanimous decision leaving him empty handed.

Best Achievement in Directing
Probably the second best category from the Academy this year. It's hard to take any one of the nominees out of the field but I have to. A case could be made for Steven Spielberg for his effort behind War Horse but while the film was far better than it looked, it still isn't the same Spielberg the world wants it to be. I will, however, toss David Fincher's name into the mix. The man has yet to win an Academy Award despite directing some of the best films of our generation in Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and of course The Social Network. He knocked another one out of the park with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. And while I understand the movie isn't going to sit well with a lot of the older Academy members but if Rooney Mara can get nominated for playing Lisbeth Salander why can't the man who turned an unknown actress into a star?

Best Motion Picture of the Year
In order to justify having three films on this list I am going to pretend the Academy still has 10 nominees this year and throw out the two weakest films in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and War Horse. The movies I would add in are Melancholia, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two. Melancholia was a mind-trip of a movie that affected me like very only the best films ever have. Like it was previously stated, the film was not your typical cinematic fare and that clearly hurt it come ballot time. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo never had a chance and I know it. This doesn't make it one of the more enjoyable films of the year. Some people try to claim the Swedish version was better, and maybe it was, but that doesn't mean that Fincher's take on the story was anything to be scoffed at. The final chapter of the Harry Potter saga may not even be the best film of the series but it was incredibly entertaining and a fantastic cap on a series that started off slowly only to finish off with a bang. Even if that final scene is a little iffy. The series deserves some sort of Academy love and if they were going to shut out Alan Rickman surely they could have found room here for a nomination.