Oscar Nominees 2013: Part 10 of 13

Kon-Tiki

1 Nomination

• Foreign Language Film: Norway (Elling, The Other Side of Sunday, Pathfinder, Nine Lives)

Directors: Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg

Cast: Pål Sverre Hagen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Gustaf Skarsgård, Odd Magnus Williamson, Tobias Santelmann, Jakob Oftebro, Agnes Kittelsen

I am angry at this film, site unseen, and the reason is because (I've heard that) Rønning & Sandberg filmed scenes in both Norwegian and English at that what will eventually be distributed in the U.S. will be in English and not in Norwegian. Now, I am not sure why anyone would do that, but I object. It's going to  play at art-houses anyway: it's not like it's going to move into multiplexes just because it's in English. Anyway, this nomination is good for Norway, whose films (Happy Happy, Angel, Max Manus, O' Horten, Gone with the Woman) have not been doing well with the Academy in recent years. Kon-Tiki, however, will not be winning the Oscar, and everyone knows that.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: Not Ranked – 2013 Release

Prometheus

1 Nomination

• Visual Effects

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Logan Marshall-Green, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall

This was a disappointment to almost everyone, apparently. I thought this movie was sort of fine, but all of my friends who are real Alien fans were pretty pissed. Oscar is correct, though: the failings that this film had were failings of plotting, pacing, and theme, not visual failings. The film, in fact, looks pretty amazing. The effects really are cool in Prometheus – alien births, alien caesarians, aliens inside Logan Marshall-Green's eyes, weird alien life forms that become snakes out of a weird black goo. In other words, the nomination is deserved, but people disliked this movie so much that it hasn't a chance in the world of winning the Oscar here.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #43 out of 65

The Avengers

1 Nomination

• Visual Effects

Director: Joss Whedon

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Clark Gregg

Well I thought this was sort of boring. The boredom, it seemed to me, had chiefly to do with the way Joss Whedon plotted the movie – and maybe that means I should blame the screenwriter – but I guess I mean that the tone of this giant, big-budget, summer action movie, instead of being a series of set-pieces like Transformers (which I freely admit is asinine, but is at least never boring) is a series of conversations about really important things like fighting bad guys and standing up for your country and personal freedom. The whole thing jumps back and forth between plots as though it is a television show, but things never really quite knit together, and I was left confused for much of the movie. Not necessarily confused about what was happening in the movie, just confused about why I ought to have cared in the first place.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #58 out of 65