Star awards: Cameron strikes back

For cynical movie-goers, the awards season can be construed as a load of stuff and nonsense; as Hollywood giving itself a self-congratulatory pat on the back, smugly saying, ‘didn’t we do well?’ Well I for one am not a cynical movie-goer and I see the awards season as interesting, fun and an opportunity to examine the inner politics of the Hollywood machine as well as a source of excellent fodder for conversation complemented by tasty beverages. With this in mind, I asked an elite panel of London Student Screen contributors their opinions on some of the awards nominees and their predictions for who will win what.

The nominations for both the Oscars and the BAFTAs have recently been announced after several weeks of anticipation. Zillions of media outlets have been speculating as to what the results might be on the nights. The film to beat, it seems, is James Cameron’s 3D, CGI, officially highest-grossing-film-of-all-time-if-you-don’t-adjust-for-inflation-in-which-case-it’s-Gone-With-the-Wind opus, Avatar. Avatar has nine nominations at the Oscars and eight at the BAFTAs, both including a Best Picture nod. The highly bankable Canuck director will be hoping to replicate the titanic success of, er, Titanic, his previous film which famously won eleven shiny gold men. Cameron will be in direct competition in many categories with his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq thriller, The Hurt Locker, which has the same number of nominations (though in some cases in slightly differing categories), as Avatar.

Hurt Locker is by far the more ‘serious’ picture and is certainly a lot more deserving than Avatar for a Best Picture award. Avatar may be a technical marvel and should deservedly win a host of technical awards, but it is let down by a frankly shoddy and hackneyed script as well as some dubious acting and some downright weird moments – seriously, what is up with the aliens sticking their ponytails into their horses? Creepy. Others, such as our very own Sam Price, have slightly harsher views of the film, as Price describes it as a, ‘racist neoconservative fantasia inflicted upon world for no particular reason which will win everything, including a gold house for James Cameron and will spell the end of civilisation itself’. Reading between the lines, I can tell you he wasn’t too taken with it. Ben Head, on the other hand, more succinctly sums up the film as, ‘Romeo and Juliet in space. And as horrible blue monsters. Stunning with or without 3D glasses and sure to pick up something among its many nominations.’

Shade Lapite notes the competition between the films, particularly in the directing categories, calling The Hurt Locker, ‘a beautifully shot war story that manages to connect emotionally without melodrama, politics or chest thumping nationalism’. Which is fair. The Best Picture category at the Oscars has swollen to allow ten nominees this year, rather than the usual five. This smacks a little of tokenism, but certainly opens up the playing field a little bit. Personally, I’d like to see A Serious Man take home the prize. It would also be equally pleasing to see Pixar, having long outgrown being limited to the ‘Best Animated Feature’, win for Up, a film Maddy Fry describes as being, “emotive, funny and moving – speaks to the aged and youthful’, an assessment I wholeheartedly agree with.

Several of the panel noted Carey Mulligan’s performance in An Education as a probable winner in the best actress categories; Kate Vine mentioned how Mulligan’s performance was so good, she felt uncomfortable watching during some, more unpleasant scenes. The female acting categories are full of stiff competition this year, particularly from Precious’ Gabourey Sidibe and awards stalwart Meryl Streep. Though in a year where Sandra Bullock has been nominated, anything could happen.

Conversely, in the male acting categories, word on the ‘street’ is Jeff Bridges and Christoph Waltz might as well start making space on their mantelpieces for their awards, the former for his role in Crazy Heart and the latter as the sinister Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds. Basterds is another much nommed picture and while not as poor as some of Tarantino’s recent output, it seems to sit uncomfortably alongside many better films. Mr Price’s opinion: ‘an eye-poppingly dull non-masterpiece from America’s premier big-jawed, flustering, self-important jabbermouth.’ Ben Head offers the alternative opinion that, ‘Brad Pitt’s accent is the best thing Tarantino has directed to date.’ Quite.

I was disappointed to see such highlights of the last year as In the Loop, Moon, The Road and Mesrine being somewhat or entirely neglected by The Academy. Fortunately the first two get a bit more love at the BAFTAs and foreign language categories are well served by either A Prophet or Let the Right One In – though I’m half surprised Avatar didn’t get a nod here too. The Outstanding British Film award at the BAFTAs seems unfairly evenly contested this year with the aforementioned Moon and In the Loop battling it out against the likes of the excellent Fish Tank, the ubiquitous An Education and the well reviewed Lennon biopic, Nowhere Boy. And The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a perhaps surprisingly under-represented picture, should win in the production design category for the BAFTAs.

Ultimately though, all of this awards hoo-ha is pretty meaningless: remember, as I’m sure countless losers in the past have consoled themselves, Welles, Hitchcock, Kubrick and until recently Scorsese never won an Oscar. And for those who can’t stand the damn things, there’s always the Razzies. The Golden Raspberry Awards – or Razzies – serve as an alternative to rather more pompous awards ceremonies by outing the worst films of the year and are heartening proof that some factions in La La Land aren’t too full of it to laugh at themselves. Heavily nominated this year is the god-awful racket that was Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (which is actually Oscar nominated, though we can find solace in that it is only for sound mixing) and Will Ferrell’s ill-advised Land of the Lost. So if the BAFTAs and the Oscars seem all too sickeningly worthy for you, keep an eye on the Razzies coverage to see some well deserving dogs getting kicked. Otherwise, quell the cynic inside yourself, sit back and enjoy the ride.

http://www.london-student.net/2010/02/16/star-awards-cameron-strikes-back/