Jim Carrey is so versatile it’s unreal. Although hugely successful, he’s always been a bit under appreciated when it comes to his talent. Of course by under appreciated, I mean he’s never been nominated for a ‘big one’. After two Golden Globes (‘Man on the Moon’ and ‘The Truman Show’), Carrey started to undertake challenging roles on a more regular basis. His performance in ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ was a wonderful shock to the system for every Carrey fan, but alas there was still no Oscar nomination. In fact, I’d be interested to know if any actor has been nominated for more Globes without receiving an Academy Award nomination. Astonishing for a performer of his caliber. History aside, if they snub him this year after allowing Sandra Bullock to beat Meryl Streep then my faith in that particular voting body will be well and truly shaken.
Favourite Films
“Big-e-Low for Cameron” – The Sun (probably)
‘The Hurt Locker’ brutalized ‘Avatar’ Sunday night. In fact, I don’t remember the camera cutting to Cameron at all during the second half of the broadcast apart from when they announced his ex-wife’s name. Crushingly for him, she was sitting but one row in front of him for the duration of this one-sided takedown. As he gazed at the back of her pretty, talented head, ‘The Hurt Locker’ proceeded to scoop six Academy Awards. Best Picture and Best Director yes, but that was (in my opinion) a foregone conclusion. It also picked up Best Original Screenplay which went to a controversial Mark Boal who (angry military man aside) wrote a script that matched the intensity of the action piece by piece. Personally, I think that Quentin should have been considered for this one. Shows how much I know about how screenplay voting. I thought ‘Up in the Air’ was going to walk the adapted category. Silly me, right? But, we’ll get to that later.
Final Oscar Predictions
So, just after the nominations were announced I wrote (at length) about who I thought would reign supreme in each catagory. Not much has changed over the last month, apart from I’ve now seen ‘Crazy Heart’ twice and am fully in love with its soundtrack. I have also re-watched ‘Precious’, arthoused it for ‘Un Prophete’ and treated my parents to some great performances in ‘Invictus’. During this period, there have also been many an award ceremony and many a controversy (ie. naughty ‘Hurt Locker’ producers). Needless to say, ‘The Hurt Locker’ has picked up pace winning big at the BAFTAs and (impressively) at the DGAs. ‘Basterds’ winning at the SAGs may have shaken things up a bit, but only slightly. At best, it will mean a screenplay win for Tarantino.
How Lovely Is Too Lovely?
I haven’t read Alice Sebold’s ‘The Lovely Bones’. I was going to read it before I saw Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the best-selling novel, but then I thought that for the purposes of my blog it would be easier to analyze the film if I wasn’t affected by the books alleged power. I was hoping that as a stand alone piece, the core material would transfer faithfully enough to move me all the same. The last time that Peter Jackson adapted from literature, he created the Lord of the Rings trilogy (and we all know how that turned out).
An American Werewolf In Tatters
How many times did ‘The Wolfman’ get pushed back? Like, a million? When any movie gets delayed more than once, you start to worry. You start to think that what probably happened was that it was screened to people in its earliest potentially finished forms, and that everyone thought it was shit. The woeful director of the even worse than ‘The Lost World’ sequel ‘Jurassic Park 3′ was forced (and I stress) on more than one occasion to return to the cutting room floor (and more than likely, the set) in the hope than he could somehow rectify the situation and do justice to the proposed modern adaptation of a Lon Chaney classic. At least, that’s what I think based on the final product.
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OSCAR NOMINATIONS MAKE ME CRAZY