Continuing the Sneaky Cheetah's unattainable quest to see every Oscar nominated film before Sunday night!
Nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Ruby Dee) and Best Art Direction.
The film most deserving to be pissed off when the Oscar nominations were announced had to be American Gangster. No other film this year had a pedigree like this one. Starring Oscar winners Denzel Washington (Glory, Training Day) and Russell Crow (Gladiator), written by Oscar winner Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List), produced by Oscar winner Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind), edited by Oscar winner Pietro Scalia (JFK, Black Hawk Down), costumes by Oscar winner Janty Yates (Gladiator), all led by three time Best Director nominee Ridley Scott. And all it scored was Supporting Actress and Art Direction? So disappointing. And deservedly so. Everyone of these people are at the top of their game here, turning in a truly great crime drama. It follows Frank Lucas' (Washington) rise to the most powerful drug kingpin in America, and New Jersey cop Richie Robert's (Crowe) attempts to bring Lucas down and expose the corruption in New York's police force. The film is big. Epic even. There are tons of different scenes and sets as the film covers a number of years from the late 60's-early 70's, which could prove to be an ambitious enough task to earn the Art Direction Oscar. I think Crowe actually out-acts Denzel, though I think Denzel is at the point when he is larger then his roles. He's always Denzel, no matter who he's playing. Same with Tom Cruise. Not so with Crowe, who still seems to morph into different characters. The supporting cast is colorful with many interesting actors, though I think Ruby Dee's performance is overrated and too small to win the Oscar. American Gangster is sitting in IMDB's top 250 of all time, and it's in my top ten of the year.
The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: A
This is Ruby Dee's first Academy Award nomination.
Art Director Arthur Max was previously nominated for Gladiator (2000) and Set Decorator Beth A. Rubino was nominated for The Cider House Rules (1999).
Nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Ruby Dee) and Best Art Direction.The film most deserving to be pissed off when the Oscar nominations were announced had to be American Gangster. No other film this year had a pedigree like this one. Starring Oscar winners Denzel Washington (Glory, Training Day) and Russell Crow (Gladiator), written by Oscar winner Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List), produced by Oscar winner Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind), edited by Oscar winner Pietro Scalia (JFK, Black Hawk Down), costumes by Oscar winner Janty Yates (Gladiator), all led by three time Best Director nominee Ridley Scott. And all it scored was Supporting Actress and Art Direction? So disappointing. And deservedly so. Everyone of these people are at the top of their game here, turning in a truly great crime drama. It follows Frank Lucas' (Washington) rise to the most powerful drug kingpin in America, and New Jersey cop Richie Robert's (Crowe) attempts to bring Lucas down and expose the corruption in New York's police force. The film is big. Epic even. There are tons of different scenes and sets as the film covers a number of years from the late 60's-early 70's, which could prove to be an ambitious enough task to earn the Art Direction Oscar. I think Crowe actually out-acts Denzel, though I think Denzel is at the point when he is larger then his roles. He's always Denzel, no matter who he's playing. Same with Tom Cruise. Not so with Crowe, who still seems to morph into different characters. The supporting cast is colorful with many interesting actors, though I think Ruby Dee's performance is overrated and too small to win the Oscar. American Gangster is sitting in IMDB's top 250 of all time, and it's in my top ten of the year.
The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: A
This is Ruby Dee's first Academy Award nomination.Art Director Arthur Max was previously nominated for Gladiator (2000) and Set Decorator Beth A. Rubino was nominated for The Cider House Rules (1999).
No comments:
Post a Comment