By now, you’ve heard the Oscar noms (you haven’t? click here) and have probably dissected them with your friends, but I’ll throw in my two cents anyway and then get to the script giveaway.
The nominees were mostly predictable so my excitement was muted (it was also wayyy early when nominations were announced), and the few surprises were not happy ones. Maggie Gyllenhaal for Crazy Heart? Someone needs to explain that to me. No way was she better than Melanie Laurent’s subtly seething performance in Inglourious Basterds or Marion Cotillard’s wife whose heart is breaking in Nine.
And I liked The Blind Side, mostly (only?) because of Sandra Bullock’s performance, so I’m okay with her nomination, but the movie has no business being in the best picture race. Neither does A Serious Man, which HAS NO ENDING! Why have the Coen brothers decided it’s okay to put their characters through all sorts of travails and then resolve nothing? They did that with No Country for Old Men and again with Serious Man. I am done with their films for now.
OK, rant over, let’s get to the giveaway. First of all—it’s open to international readers. I will e-mail a script from one of this year’s Oscar-nominated films to everyone who can get 3 people to subscribe via e-mail to this site (if you’re already a subscriber, you only have to get 2 others). If you can get 6 people, I’ll e-mail you 2 scripts. I don’t spam or give out the list to anyone.
After they subscribe, just send me their e-mail addresses so I know which ones to give you credit for, then tell me which script(s) you want. There’s no time limit to this giveaway.
Available screenplays:
- Avatar by James Cameron
- Crazy Heart by Scott Cooper
- An Education by Nick Hornby
- The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach
- The Hurt Locker by Mark Boal
- Inglourious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino
- Invictus by Anthony Peckham
- Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire by Geoffrey Fletcher
- A Serious Man by Joel & Ethan Coen
- Up in the Air by Jason Reitman
- The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke
What did you think of the Oscar nominations? Who will you be rooting for on March 7?
23 Comments
Jen Forbus
February 3, 2010 at 5:38 amI haven’t seen enough of the movies to be able to comment educatedly about the nominations, but when you have 10 films up for Best Movie, I guess they have to fill the slots? Just kidding!
Of course, I’m pretty tickled about Colin Firth’s nomination simply because I think he’s awesome. I haven’t seen him in this role, yet, though.
And UP for best picture is pretty exciting, too. Yay!
I guess I can’t get credit for Christine since she’s already subscribed, huh? Just kidding. Let me go handcuff some folks and bring them over here because I want that INVICTUS script. Then maybe I can bring it with me in April and you can talk about Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood while we’re hanging out and then they’ll show up…that’s how it works, right? 😉
Ethan
February 3, 2010 at 10:25 amAvatar had a script?
Pop Culture Nerd
February 3, 2010 at 11:12 amHaha!
FFBUFF8
February 3, 2010 at 11:16 amAvatar did have a script, Ethan, it’s the same as every other Pocahontas remake!! LOL!!
Christine
February 3, 2010 at 11:49 amI was thinking more along the lines as a Fern Gully remake. 😉
EIREGO
February 3, 2010 at 11:04 amJen, I think that is EXACTLY why some of these films were nominated, they needed 10! Silly to do this during a year so bereft of great films. We can only hope for the future.
Pop Culture Nerd
February 3, 2010 at 11:11 amJen, I’ll give you credit for Christine! You only need one more.
Christine
February 3, 2010 at 12:13 pmIMHO, 10 is way too many and a bit ridiculous. I’m like you, Jen and haven’t seen many of the nominees. The only 2 of the “Best Movie” category, I’ve seen were Avatar and UP. (And I probably wouldn’t have seen Avatar, except they were showing it at our local IMAX and that just seemed a movie you need to see on a big screen.) We generally wait until movies have been out a while so the theater crowd is thinner or until they make to ON DEMAND on cable.
I second your “Yay!” for UP. [POINT!] Oh, and also your assessment of Colin Firth’s awesomeness. 😉
And Jen does get a big Gold Star for my introduction to PCN. THANK YOU! You both rock!
Pop Culture Nerd
February 3, 2010 at 12:27 pmI just met you and I love you. Squirrel! Oh, I love that movie.
I’m so glad Jen introduced you to me, too, Christine. You are a blast around here. And anyone who loves Colin Firth is a friend of mine.
Christine
February 3, 2010 at 12:40 pm****Spoiler alert for UP****
I finally got Brian to sit down and watch it with me. I just knew that I was going to have to talk him into watching the rest of the movie after that montage of Carl and Ellie’s life together. Sure enough, when Ellie’s in the hospital, Brian said “If she dies I am NOT going to be happy.” Needless to say, I got him to stick with it and he’s as big a Dug fan as us! 😉
Pop Culture Nerd
February 3, 2010 at 12:49 pmA friend of mine told me there’s a prequel in the works about Ellie and Carl’s life together since there was such an overwhelming reaction to that montage. I’ll be in line to see that movie for sure!
Christine
February 3, 2010 at 12:51 pmOoh! Me, too!
Julia
February 3, 2010 at 3:12 pmTotally tearing up thinking about that montage. Loved it, loved it, loved it. I’m happy the movie is nominated.
I will be even happier when Kathryn Bigelow wins against her ex-husband 😉
In my opinion, not only was it a Pochontas remake, Avatar was all glitz, no substance. Technologically and visually beautiful, but…. so??
And, PCN, I stopped watching Coen Brothers movies AGES ago, but was talked into No Country for Grumpy Old Men. Boy, was I sorry I wasted those hours of my life….
Going to look for friends now.
Pop Culture Nerd
February 3, 2010 at 4:18 pmHi Julia!
I’ve seen Up twice now and that montage made me cry both times. Her stumbling on the hill while he waits with plane tickets in his pocket was too much.
I think it’s totally badass that Bigelow directed that movie. The conditions looked hard and I almost got PTSD just watching it.
I tried to stop watching the Coens’ movies but I’d also get talked into them or I’d get screeners so I pop them into the DVD player. But then I always berate myself afterward because the movies make me angry! Ugh. This time, my resolve will stick.
Thanks in advance for sharing your friends!
EIREGO
February 3, 2010 at 11:05 amI am on the hunt for people, PCN!! I loved The Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Pop Culture Nerd
February 3, 2010 at 6:53 pmThanks, EIREGO!
FFBUFF8
February 3, 2010 at 11:18 amStill can’t understand why anyone would nominate A Serious Man. It was a mildly interesting independent film at best.
Will be throttling some people to get them to subscribe. I need me some of them scripts!
Christine
February 3, 2010 at 12:18 pmThe only nominee that I’ll really be rooting for is the Documentary Short – The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant.
http://oscar.go.com/nominations/nominees/the-last-truck-closing-of-a-gm-plant/3228
The plant is/was in Moraine, OH, a suburb of my husband’s hometown of Dayton.
Pop Culture Nerd
February 3, 2010 at 12:23 pmDo you know people who worked at the plant, Christine? I have a friend whose dad worked at a GM plant all his life and when it closed, it was heartbreaking for him.
Christine
February 3, 2010 at 12:48 pmI don’t know anyone now, but when we lived in Dayton in the 80s, I was a teller for about 5 years at a branch that had a lot of GM employees as clients. When you see people every other Friday with their paychecks and whatnot, you get to know them. Some of them, started as summer jobs in later high school years and then signed on after they graduated. They are a family to each other. So it’s not just the loss of a job, it’s the loss of a support system.
Jen Forbus
February 4, 2010 at 5:49 amI have a friend whose husband just recently retired from GM. He worked at the plant in Parma and didn’t really want to retire, but was “strongly encouraged” to do so. Around us, though, gads and gads of Ford people lost jobs because of the two plants. One closed altogether and the other has been summarily downsized.
The general population didn’t feel especially bad for them, though, after all kinds of info was released in the press about their compensation packages and unemployment benefits. On unemployment most of them were making more money than the average person in our county.
Shell Sherree
February 3, 2010 at 4:23 pmGreat incentive, PCN!!
Call me a traditionalist, but I’m struggling with the ten nominations for Best Movie thingo. Ten just seems to take some of the thrill away for me ~ and remembering five nominees is easy, but ten starts to tax my attention span of a gnat {and a small one at that}. And keeping Directing at five surely says to some degree {aside from that occasional and mysterious Best Movie that Directed Itself phenomenon} “these are the five movies we really thought were the best” anyway??? But since there are ten and I must move with the times, I’m glad ‘Up’ made the cut!
Pop Culture Nerd
February 3, 2010 at 7:03 pmYou make a good point, Shell. It’s like the Academy is saying, “These 10 movies may have gotten nominated for best picture, but, really, only the 5 directed by THESE people have any chance of winning. The rest of you are just filler for us to hopefully jack up ratings.”