Before I begin, with all due respect to the Academy Awards, “(500) Days of Summer” should have been nominated for this award.
With that being said, this year’s nominee field has been expanded from five to 10, and to say the field is stacked is an understatement. They’ve got blue man group creatures, regular creatures, heartthrobs, bombs, Lenny Kravitz and a host of other factors that would even confuse a Google search engine. Nominated for best picture there’s: “Avatar,” which has been described as “Dances With Wolves 2.0,” “District 9,” the Peter Jackson movie that isn’t “Lord of the Rings,” “Up in the Air,” starring everyone’s favorite dreamboat George Clooney, “The Hurt Locker,” which for all of us nerds is the closest thing to “Call of Duty” on the big screen, “A Serious Man”, which I have never heard of, “An Education,” which I also have never heard of, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” and “Up,” two movies I have affection for.
All of these films are worthy of the nod, but there’s one missing that stands above all others.
Pardon my Nazi occupied French, but “s**t,” Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” is the one to take it home.
Only Tarantino, who was robbed of a best picture Oscar in 1994 by the uber-sad “Schindler’s List,” could deliver a new spin on World War II. He can translate actors hacking off scalps into a best picture nominee. This movie would have been good if another director had done it but was made a classic by Tarantino.
The film contains the absolute best acting out of any of the nominees this year.
I’ll take Brad Pitt — who delivered an exceptional role as Lieutenant Aldo Raine — out of the equation on this one, just to make it fair.
Christoph Waltz was nominated for best supporting actor, with much applause for his role as Colonel Hans Landa “The Jew Hunter.” You can make an argument for best acting and actress snubs across the board for this masterpiece. Mélanie Laurent, playing Shosanna Dreyfus the movie theater proprietress and accidental puzzle piece to “Operation Kino,” played a fantastic role along with Diane Kruger, who played actress turned double agent Bridget von Hammersmark.
This movie is more explosive than “The Hurt Locker” and “District 9” combined, no pun intended. Anyone who wasn’t sitting chin to palms, knees to elbows in the final half-hour are the same people demanding for more Pixar love at the awards.
Best picture won’t come easy for any of the nominees, but with the tone, writing, acting, dialogue and cinematography that Tarantino presented I feel that these “basterds” deserve their respect at this year’s Academy Awards.
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