Sight Unseen

77th Annual Academy Awards

I have a pretty good track record with the Oscars; over the past ten years, out of 50 Best Picture nominees, I've seen 44, including all 25 the last five years.

This year, I've seen only The Aviator. I'll see Ray next week or the week after on DVD, I'm sure, and Million Dollar Baby and Sideways have been on my must-see list for months, but for some reason I'm just not the cinemagoer I once was. Part of it involves moving to the suburbs, of course; in Minneapolis I lived a mile from a theatre that I could walk to for limited release films, whereas now some movies don't make it to Woodfield for weeks after I've read the reviews. That cooling-off period can be brutal on the sense of urgency needed to push me into the theatre rather than waiting for the DVD.

With that said, I am disappointed not to see Kinsey up for anything but Laura Linney's supporting nod, and a bit stunned that Alan Alda stole Peter Sarsgaard's supporting nomination out from under him and that Clint Eastwood knocked Paul Giamatti and Javier Bardem out of the Best Actor race. But the Academy skews old; we all know that. I shouldn't be so surprised that where critics choose younger, up-and-coming performers, the Academy goes with two vets, or that a movie about sex loses out to a movie about Ray Charles. Hopefully the Grammy voters won't show Charles the same love rather than honoring Green Day. Time will tell...