Oscar the Slouch

The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and as usual produced a few surprises and a few obvious choices. On a personal level, though, I have to say they were disappointing. The Wrestler, Rachel Getting Married, The Visitor and Doubt didn't get nominated for Best Picture - four of the five best movies I saw this year. The fifth, Slumdog Millionaire, did get a nomination, and coming off its Golden Globe win might even take the big award. And good for it if it does, despite the inevitable backlash that has already started (Slate's movie critic called it the "grandma movie" on the ballot, presumably because it has grand sweep and ends on an uplifting note). But to my mind, no movie that includes the burning out of children's eyeballs, train robberies and a series of head-rattling M.I.A. remixes could possibly be a granny flick.

Great also to see Slumdog director Danny Boyle get his due with a Best Director nomination. From Trainspotting through 28 Days Later (even Sunshine, for that matter), Boyle never fails to be interesting, even when he fails (The Beach, anyone?).

Can't argue with the actors - especially cool that The Visitor's Richard Jenkins is among the nominees. And does it really matter who else is in the Best Supporting Actor category along with Heath Ledger?

The actresses are all okay, too - or at least I haven't seen enough other movies to have a quibble. Winslet and Streep are nominated by birthright, of course, but the Leading Role Oscar should go to Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married. In the Supporting category, Viola Davis has only one scene in Doubt, but I'd be shocked if anyone did a better scene in any movie this year.

I haven't seen The Reader or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Of the other three, I hope it's Slumdog or Milk. Frost/Nixon is interesting for political junkies and features great performances, but it's a little slight.

But who cares what I think about the nominations. What really matters is what stars think of themselves. Accordingly, I link you to this Newsweek roundtable discussion, in which the usual celebrity angst and pap about "caring about the work" is hilariously broken up by Robert Downey Jr., whose blunt honesty, free-associating thought-stream and unique pidgin language proves that he never needed drugs to be weird.