Biggest Oscar Snubs: Not a Year for "Little" Films

The Oscar nominations are in and there may or may not be a grand night to fete all the nominees and most especially the winners. Yes, the Writer's Strike could nix a telecast Oscars the way it wiped out the Golden Globes. To honor that situation, this article on snubs will not include any of the writing categories. That seems only fair. Besides, people don't care about the writing categories unless someone famous is nominated. Most people don't realize what an art it is to take a novel, a short story and translate it into film in a way that does justice to the original work while satisfactorily bringing it to life on the screen. And great original screenplays aren't exactly a dime a dozen either. But, I digress.

Let's begin at the top of the Oscar pyramid in this year that is thus far being dubbed "Oh, Canada" for the plethora of Canadian nominees - with Best Motion Picture - where the nominees are "Atonement"; "Juno" (Canadian ties); "Michael Clayton"; "No Country for Old Men"; and "There Will be Blood". All in all a very nice crop of films, and a nice touch that a sardonic comedy about teen pregnancy is among the group.

Weird though that "Atonement" the bleak drama of betrayal and lost love in wartime, was seen as a best picture when neither of its lead actors nor its director got a nod. In fact, Atonement" leads the Oscar nomination count with 7 total, but not for lead actors or director. I suppose it's some consolation that the screenplay, adapted from Ian McEwan's novel earned a nomination for writer Christopher Hampton. To Keira Knightley, who may be just too pretty to be taken seriously by the Academy, I would be consoled by the reality that Angelina Jolie's remarkable portrayal of Marianne Pearl in "A Mighty Heart" also got snubbed.

Also missing from this list of presumed "Best Pictures" is "American Gangster" the powerful film starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will be Blood" are both very violent films with violent themes, so it also seems odd that "Eastern Promises" was overlooked, perhaps because it was viewed as being too violent. Finally, I put the word in for three of my favorites that should also have included at least some acting or writing honors - "Zodiac", "The Namesake" and "Waitress".

Now to the acting honors and who got nominated and who got shafted. George Clooney got his props for Michael Clayton, a very strong role in a very good movie. Daniel Day-Lewis was nominated for "There Will be Blood" about the oil wars in California (even bloodier than the water wars of "Chinatown" fame). A stellar actor in a stellar role. Johnny Depp was nominated for Sweeney Todd ad the demon barber of fleet street in yet another Tim Burton 'atmosphere' film. Not a huge Tim Burton fan and I liked Depp best years ago in Burton's "Edward Scissorhands". Now the Burton films seem derivative - and Depp has played many more memorable characters without weird make up. Next up is Tommy Lee Jones in the so-called anti-war film "In the Valley of Elah". It is a remarkable performance, and not the solid Tommy Lee standby either. Finally, and rounding out a list of many actors playing very violent men, is Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises". This is an even better role than Mortensen's turn in "A History of Violence". But, with all these winners there are folks who didn't even get nominated, including Emile Hirsch for "Into the Wild". He may be young and it may be a 'texture piece' movie, but Hirsch was brilliant in this film and just because he didn't smash heads or look ominous most of the time, doesn't mean the role doesn't stay with you. And maybe there is a bias because they have won best acting nods fairly recently, but Phillip Seymour Hoffman was excellent in "The Savages" in a leading role, as was Denzel Washington in "American Gangster".

On the actress side, the nominees are Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth the Golden Age", Julie Christie as a wife struggling with Alzheimer's disease in "Away from Her" (Canadian ties); Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose" ; Laura Linney as one of two middle aged siblings dealing with their distant father's care in "The Savages" and Canadian Ellen Page (we're supposed to note her Canadianness) as the circumspect pregnant teen in "Juno". Hard to begrudge any of these actors and their roles a nomination, but Angelina Jolie really was stunning in "A Mighty Heart" and Keira Knightley was heart-breaking in "Atonement", while "Elizabeth" is not the incredibly talented Blanchett's best role, or even her best role this year.

Now the field where people really get ripped off is the supporting actor field. Supporting actors make movies memorable. They make good movies great movies. Who could forget "Wilson" propping up Tom Hanks in "Cast Away"? Okay, maybe the wrong analogy. The supporting actor list is strong - Casey Affleck as the PI in the very bleak "Gone Baby Gone"; Javier Bardem as the relentless killer in "No Country for Old Men"; Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the crazed CIA operative in "Charlie Wilson's War"; Hal Holbrook as Ron Franz, the wise companion along the way to Emile Hirsch who advises the young man to embrace forgiveness during his quest into the Alaskan WIlderness; and Tom Wilkinson as the flaky, questionable whistle-blower in "Michael Clayton. Great actors in fine roles. Although, Hoffman's nod for a great role but not one of his greatest may have eased out my favorite, Andy Griffith, for his role as Old Joe in "Waitress" - perhaps the most overlooked film of the year. Maybe the Academy couldn't force us to choose between two geezers, Hobrook and Griffith, regardless they turned in the two most memorable supporting roles of the year. And I think Robert Downey, Jr. also deserved to be nominated (for some award) for his role as the steadily dissipating journalist covering the Zodiac case for the SF Chron in "Zodiac", and darn it, John Travolta was just wonderful and innocent and kind as Mrs. Turnblad in "Hairspray" He wasn't just another guy in a dress, he gave her life and dignity and he made her comfortable with her size.

Supporting Actress is also always difficult to nail down to just five nominees. The Academy chose Cate Blanchett for "I'm Not There", the delightfully inventive study of Bob Dylan through the years that included a segment with Blanchett as the folk artist; Ruby Dee for her portrayal as mobster Denzel Washington's mother in "American Gangster"; Saorise Ronan as the spiteful little sister in "Atonement"; Amy Ryan for her role as the distraught mother in "Gone Baby Gone" and finally Tilda Swinton as the attorney whose career hinges on winning the big class action case in "Michael Clayton". Okay, a great batch of performances. But, missing is the stunning performance by Tabu as Ashima Ganguli in "The Namesake", and for that matter, Kelly MacDonald as the bit of relief in "No Country for Old Men" as the wife of ill-fated Josh Brolin.

Finally on to the directors, where egos get smashed every year. Ben Affleck is probably wondering why Julian Schnabel is nominated for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly",a French film. But great cinema transcends language. Also nominated is young Jason Reitman for "Juno" (following up his debut with "Thank You For Smoking"); Tony Gilroy for the powerful "Michael Clayton"; Joel and Ethan Coen for "No Country for Old Men" and finally Paul Thomas Anderson for "There Will Be Blood". Besides Affleck (who is great behind the camera, as "Gone Baby Gone" demonstrates), Sean Penn is probably pretty miffed that he didn't get recognized for directing "Into the Wild".

Clearly not a year for actor-directors, even when the actor isn't in the film he directs. Because the other person left off the director list is the late actress-writer-director Adrienne Shelley for her legacy film, "Waitress". To be honest, she could have been nominated for director and held up to these guys, or as writer and held up to the competition there, or even as best supporting actress and held her own. She is the big invisible person at this year's Oscars. Her film was a great story, with great characters, an ensemble piece with stand out performances by Andy Griffith, Shelley and lead actress Keri Russell. It had its own little bit of menace (since menace seems to be the theme this year) in the person of Jeremy Sisto as Russell's 'terrible husband', but it had a great deal more. When you talk about who got left out at this year's Oscars, everything else you hear after Adrienne Shelley's name is 'blah, blah, blah'...