Pixar/Disney; Melissa Moseley
How’s this for a frightening thought? By this point last year, the eventual Best Picture Oscar winner had already hit movie theaters. So what’s next year’s winner going to be? Sex and the City 2? Valentine’s Day? Jonah Hex? Yikes. Is there any chance we can start 2010 over?
Granted, big awards-baiting films usually come out in the final three months of the year. But considering two of 2010′s ten Best Picture nominees (The Hurt Locker and Up) were released before the end of June, it’s only natural to wonder whether any films from the first half of this year could end up making the cut come next January. Most Oscar watchers are finding the pickings exceedingly slim. Says one Academy member, “I wouldn’t be surprised if nine of the ten Best Picture nominees come out of the second half of the year.”
The first six months of the year haven’t been completely barren, though. Sundance favorite Winter’s Bone has earned fantastic reviews, particularly for young star Jennifer Lawrence’s breakout turn, while a handful of other performances—Michael Douglas in Solitary Man, Vanessa Redgrave in Letters to Juliet—have an outside shot at being remembered at the end of the year. The hilarious and surprisingly moving Joan Rivers—A Piece of Work has also emerged as an early documentary favorite. But what little Oscar buzz there is so far revolves around Toy Story 3, which boasts an astounding 91 score on Metacritic and delivers eye candy and emotional heft in equal measure.
So how can Pixar maintain momentum from June all the way through Oscar night next February? Their strategy is to remain calm, cool, and collected. “I don’t know what we can do but wait at this point and hope for what happened with Up, which is that the movie just kept going,” says Tony Angellotti, who orchestrates Pixar’s Oscar campaigns. “We haven’t even had our first meeting yet.”
Pixar’s pulse may quicken in the coming weeks if a pair of July releases find themselves in the awards hunt. After just missing out on a Best Picture nod with The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan returns with the smart, inventive thriller Inception—and as District 9 proved, a smart, inventive thriller can catch the Academy’s attention in a ten-picture race. Meanwhile, the intimate indie The Kids Are All Right—in which Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play a couple whose lives are turned upside down when their teenage children seek out their sperm-donor father—is buoyed by its unique premise, sharp writing, and affecting performances by the entire cast. “This movie really came from a personal, passionate, original place,” costar Mark Ruffalo tells EW. “It wasn’t thought of in a boardroom or in a focus group before it was written. It wasn’t made to sell toys or videogames. A lot of movies are put together through marketing. That’s why there are so many s— movies out there.” Here’s hoping the last six months of the year can turn that around. (Additional reporting by Carrie Bell)
I walked out of Winter’s Bone and don’t understand how it’s a front runner. No suspense….boring….although the direction and cinematography were good, it does not make for a Best movie.
But all this year I believe I’ve been to maybe 3 movies and I’m sitting at home. No one is making movies where you care about the characters (Winter’s Bone), where you can sympathize, have some emotion for the characters. I believe we’ve forgotten how to make great movies in this country.
Is the Academy sticking with 10 nominations for Best Picture? Good luck finding 10 this year.
They’ll find ten. They’ll just all come out in December.
Last year they put in Blind Side to finish out the top 10, we could get more of that. Films that really aren’t great, but have one great performance, or a great script.
I’m with you, Sally. So far, this has been a lousy year at the movies. I never expect much from the major studios because they usually turn out commercial junk (Valentine’s Day, anyone?!). However, I’m disappointed with the indies and foreign cinema. It looks like they’re become just like the major studios–more interested in the almighty dollar than true art. It’s a shame really. Especially in light of the great cinema from the 70s. Where are the Coppolas? Scorseses? Allens? Kurosawas? Fellinis? Bergmans? Truffauts? Kubricks? Right now, the best dramatic art can be found on TV. I’ll take Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Lost, Friday NIght Lights, Big Love, etc. over most anything at the cinema these days. It looks like most of the talent has gone to the little box.
So right Pau. I’d take LOST, Mad Men and Breaking Bad any day instead of the junk that’s been playing on cinemas lately. Bryan Cranston and Terry O’ Quinn deserve an Oscar!!!
Good point. I have enjoyed anything at the movies this year nearly as much as what I’ve seen on TV (though I haven’t got to Breaking Bad yet). It seems to be an unusually bad year so far for movies. I’ve read that the reason is that studios are cash strapped and so they’re going for what seems to be the surest money makers…ie. big budget action, but not realizing that the audience is sensing the staleness of the offerings.
Where am I? Where are you, Pau?
Go watch Shutter Island (recently released on DVD) and The Departed, and then ask where I am.
And Woody’s still making movies, he just passed the lead character torch to Larry David.
I’m gonna get Bobby DeNiro to break your face.
@Sally “No suspense….boring….although the direction and cinematography were good, it does not make for a Best movie” Wow, I thought that when I watched The Hurt Locker.
I’m totally with you. I thought the exact same thing. The performances were strong, and the direction was great, but the actual story was snore-inducing.
For the record, I’m talking about The Hurt Locker. I haven’t seen Winter’s Bone.
Couldn’t disagree with you more about Winter’s Bone, Sally. Were we watching the same movie? One of the most riveting films I’ve seen in quite a while. American audiences really don’t have any patience for something different. Sad.
Speak for yourself, you generalizing twit.
Really? All 300 mill of them Skyler? Thats taking generalizing to the extreme.
Sally, I saw Winter’s Bone at Sundance, liked it but don’t think it will win. It’s been a great year for non-fiction. Front runners have to be Climate Refugees and Waiting For Superman. Both really important films. I’ve give the the Oscar to Climate Refugees. Oh, lets not forget about Toy Story 3, great film.
This article is super-douchey sounding. So the first half of 2009 brought 3 movies that made a showing in any major category. So should 2010. Up=TS3, Coraline=Dragon, Locker=Winter’s Bone. It’s not like the first half of 2009 had 3838283 movies that were awesome and it’s whittled down to 3.8 this year.
Also in the below the line categories, Alice should own, which I suppose makes it this year’s Star Trek.
Actually, I just saw Alice in Wonderland and wasn’t too impressed. I think Deathly Hallows may get some of the production awards.
Alice? Terrible movie that might not even be nominated for anything. Typical spectacle frm Burton, with same-old costumes, hammy Depp, and boring plot. Yuck to that movie.
Alice was very good, until the tacked on fight scene at the ending. Burton did something no one had ever done with the story before: interpreted it as a hallucination rather than actual events. I suspect it was studio pressure that forced him to tack on the fight scene and root the film in “reality”.
The frame story was also commendable. Few Alice adaptations have gone to such lengths.
And that is to say nothing of the technical achievements, minus the 3D.
TS3 not only has a 91 score on metacritic, but a 99% score on rottentomatoes.com. It’s a really great film.
Plus, next years winner for Best Picture at the MTV Movie Awards has already been released.
What’s the name of the movie again? i think i forgot….
I’ll predict that the Swedish-language adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo will get at least a nomination for Best Foreign Film.
That’s not how the Foreign Film category works. Each country of origin has to submit one film as its potential nominee the year it was released in their country. Dragon Tattoo was released in Sweden last year and doesn’t qualify.
That stinks – I’ve heard spectacular things about it and wondered if it had a (slim) shot at Best Picture.
Would Fire or Hornet’s Nest qualify, or were they too released last year in Sweden?
Shutter Island?
GAG. Horrible movie.
Great movie! Absolutely LOVED it! Though, I don’t think I’d call it Oscar-worthy. If Inception lives up to the previews, I’d go with that getting a nod.
I liked Shutter Island a lot, but I can’t see it getting nominated for an Oscar. It may get some production nods, but other than that, it’s not in the race.
I’d say its best chances at any of the major awards are Martin Scorsese (Dir.), Ben Kingsley (Supp. Actor), and Patricia Clarkson (Supp. Actress). I would love to see Mark Ruffalo score a nod, but that might be for ‘The Kids are All Right’ instead (if it happens, of course).
I thought Please Give was sharp, witty, and profound, but I know these kinds of wry comedies have a hard time getting Oscar attention. Still, one of my favorites of the year so far, along with Toy Story 3 and I Am Love.
Assuming they keep the 10 movie nominees. I think Toy Story 3 is a lock. It’s a picture everyone loves; young and old. Whether it has any chance of being the first Pixar picture to actually win…who knows. But yeah, the pickin’s are slim at the moment. But as you said; it’s July. And Oscar bait usually comes particularly in the fall… But I definately see Toy Story 3 nominated. It’s too beloved not to be…
I think you mean “whether it has any chance of being the first *animated movie* to actually win”. Animated movies have only been nominated for best picture twice and they came from Disney and Disney/Pixar. This wouldn’t just be the first best picture win for Pixar, it would be the first best picture win for an animated movie from any studio. And that would be a wonderful thing. I definitely think it’s a lock for the animated movie Oscar though … just hope it doesn’t cripple it’s chances of the big prize!
While I would LOVE to see an animated picture win the Best Picture Oscar – simply to show how far animation has come since Disney himself – I sincerely doubt it. The Academy is traditionally very stingy when it comes to animation.
really, are they going to go for ten nominees again. They should stick to five. but i actually for the first time skipped out on the oscars last year and i had a pretty wonderful evening. So, i’m not really caring.
Woody for best actor!!!!! C’mon, who’s with me???
YES!
Yes, I absolutely agree, but I say Jessie for best actress. I love, love, loved her in this one. Her facial expressions were precious.
We already know Toy Story 3 will win Best Animated Film (as it should) and get nominated for Best Picture (as it should). Next!
What about How to Train Your Dragon? I am a big Toy Story 3 fan, but I’ve been hearing people raving about it. Dark horse?
Dragon was good, but Toy Story 3 was better. Also, factor in that this is the only chance the Academy will have to reward the Toy Story franchise. I don’t see them passing this up. The only way they would not vote for Toy Story 3 is if it sucked which it surely and emphatically did not.
All the other animated nominees will not only be face the fantastic film that is Toy Story 3, but it will be also facing the entire trilogy as a whole.
I have to disagree..I thought HTTYD was better than TS3. They were both great, no doubt about that, but Dragon actually made me physically emotional. Not just “aww sad” but I cried. And I don’t cry at movies!
The academy has, in a way, honored the Toy Story franchise when they gave John Lasseter an honorary Oscar for making the first completely computer animated film. No matter what happens, animation sure has come a long way!
Toy Story 3 better get a nod. In my opinion it was much better than up. Not that Up was bad, no Pixar movie has been less then great for the past decade or more. Toy Story was just astounding
I actually preferred how to train your dragon to Toy story 3. Toy story was quite good–but it didn’t capture my imagination in the same way, and toy story didn’t feel super original.
you said Toy Story is not ORIGINAl,,,,,how to train your dragon is the one that is NOT original,,,it is based in a BOOK,,,,I havent seen something similar to toy story 3
TS best picture of the year,,,,,hoping Inception gets GOOD reviews too
At this point, I’m hoping TS3 will win Best Picture! Everything else I’ve seen this year was awful. TS3 is the best new release I’ve seen in a long, long time.
lets hope deathly hallows part 1 gets some nominations.it looks amazing,is the final book and is actually great unlike twilight.
fo sho
I hope it does too. Has HP ever been nominated and not won anything before now?
Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 (which comes out next july) will probably get the most nominations, with all the heavy drama at the end of that book. But I do hope that DH1 gets a bunch of nods… probably a shoein for special effects.
The movie hasn’t come out yet. Just because a book was good and you like the trailer doesn’t mean you can assume it is Oscar worthy. At least wait until its release to start demanding awards.
Toy Story 3 is absolutely 100% worthy of a Best Picture nomination. I loved it
definitely,so amazing
How in the WORLD are they going to come up with 10 nominees? I have never seen a year with so many flat out bad movies (and I’m old). But for Toy Story 3, there is nothing.
The suits are killing Hollywood thinking that just attaching a “name” to a project is enough.
Once again, there IS half a year left.