The Oscars: 2007
That Martin Scorsese has never won an Oscar for best director defies belief. One look at his long list of credits and one has to wonder what the Academy has been thinking all these years. How many Oscars have gone to people who surrounded the great goggly-eyed New York director?
Since Ellen Burstyn won the Best Actress Oscar in 1974 for “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” Scorsese has directed films to 64 Oscar nominations but only 15 trophies. And nine of those trophies came since 2004: “The Aviator” won five and “The Departed” won four. In fact, nearly half of the nominations given to a Scorsese film (26) have come from those two movies plus the insanely fun “Gangs of New York,” which went zero for 10 in 2002.
And despite the fact that Scorsese’s films are littered with a veritable who’s who of pop culture icons, he has never won an Oscar for his direction. It is as though the Academy is offering a mea culpa here.
Here in the Vault, we cannot imagine how “Bringing Out the Dead” (1999) was ignored by Oscar entirely. It is one of Scorsese’s most evocative films and the style there gave rise to some of the more noteworthy scenes in “The Aviator.” Another of our favorites is the sumptuous, tightly controlled “The Age of Innocence,” in 1993, which may have laid the groundwork for “Gangs” in 2002. Both films evoke a New York City that few outside the Smithsonian have ever imagined.
Well, Marty finally got his due and Vault couldn’t agree more. Vault had quickly pegged “The Departed” for Best Picture in a walk on the strength of its cast. Leo DiCaprio really earned his cheese in this movie going cheek by jowl with Jack Nicholson who was in his element and at the top of his form. Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg were also solid in support here.
Other highlights of our Oscar evening included the three divas from “Dreamgirls,” Beyonce Knowles, Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose, who simply laid waste to a medley of their three nominated songs. Them three ladies can bring it, brother, and it was Vault’s biggest injustice of the night that the Best Original Song didn’t at least go to that song-writing team when the real best song, “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going,” also from “Dreamgirls,” didn’t even get nominated.
The Academy evened up, though, by giving Jenny Hudson the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. You might remember Ms. Hudson as being voted out of American Idol a few years ago. Well, it is her time now, and her acceptance speech was Vault’s best moment of the night.
Best Song went to Melissa Etheridge for “I Need To Wake Up,” which was a great song, sure, but the Academy was clearly wanting to make a green statement with that award.
“An Inconvenient Truth” (V.V. 12/8/06 – Vault Rating: 8) won the Best Documentary Feature hands down and was accepted by Al Gore, who made like he was going to make a big announcement when the exit music flared up, stealing his thunder. It was a good bit of humor on a well-behaved Oscar night.
The documentary film has become the most original of film genres of late. Many filmmakers are taking a guerilla approach to journalism to get stories out into the mainstream that the corporate media will no longer touch. Many interesting films on the Middle East have risen to prominence. Vault can barely wait until the Summer 2007 release of “Sicko,” Michael Moore’s neck-wringing of the American health care system. Vault is putting early money on an Oscar nomination for “Sicko” in 2008.
Oscar hostess Ellen DeGeneres kept things light with her breezy humor. Best Gag was served up when she got Steven Spielberg to take her picture with Clint Eastwood on a mini-digital camera. Looking at the results, she said the picture wasn’t centered very well and gave him the camera back to re-shoot it.
The Oscars had a decided international feel as Mexican films were nominated a record number of times. Guillermo del Toro’s eerie fantasy, “Pan’s Labyrinth,” won three out of six nominations based on its winning makeup, cinematography and art direction. “Labyrinth” certainly looks like a must-see if you can still catch it on the big screen.
Best Live Action Short film also looked wildly funny. “West Bank Story” is a 20-minute musical romp through a world of competing falafel stands on the embattled west bank in Palestine. The Sharks and the Jets never dreamed it would come to this. The clip played on television Sunday night was irresistibly funny.
Here are the winners in the big categories. For a full list of nominees and winners, you can check out the Internet Movie Database. In fact, you can safely bet that any film on the roster of nominees is going to make the cut here at the Vault. Always feel free to pick up an Oscar-nominated film with the confidence it will reward you.
Best Film: “The Departed”
“Babel”
“Little Miss Sunshine”
“Letters from Iwo Jima”
“The Queen”
Best Director: Martin Scorsese for “The Departed”
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – “Babel”
Clint Eastwood – “Letters from Iwo Jima”
Stephen Frears – “The Queen”
Paul Greengrass – “United 93”
Best Actress: Helen Mirren for “The Queen”
Penelope Cruz – “Volver”
Judi Dench – “Notes on a Scandal”
Meryl Streep – “The Devil Wears Prada”
Kate Winslet – “Little Children”
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker for “The Last King of Scotland”
Leonardo DiCaprio – “Blood Diamond”
Ryan Gosling – “Half Nelson”
Peter O’Toole – “Venus”
Will Smith – “The Pursuit of Happiness”
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson for “Dreamgirls”
Adriana Barraza – “Babel”
Cate Blanchett – “Notes on a Scandal”
Abigail Breslin – “Little Miss Sunshine”
Rinko Kikuchi – “Babel”
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin for “Little Miss Sunshine”
Jackie Earle Haley – “Little Children”
Djimon Hounsou – “Blood Diamond”
Eddie Murphy – “Dreamgirls”
Mark Wahlberg – “The Departed”
Best Documentary: “An Inconvenient Truth”
“Deliver Us From Evil”
“Iraq in Fragments”
“Jesus Camp”
“P.O.V.: My Country My Country”
Best Foreign Language Film: “The Lives of Others” – Germany
“After the Wedding” – Denmark
“Days of Glory” – Algeria
“Pan’s Labyrinth” – Mexico
“Water” – Canada
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