Friday Film Fun: Who do you think should have received an Oscar nomination?

I was saddened to see that this year, the entire continent of Asia -- which, among other things, boasts the largest national film industry in the world (i.e., India) and at least two other major ones in China and Japan -- didn't even have one representative in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

And this especially since I think that this time around, China's THE CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER is a film that's not at all without merit. (OTOH, reckon that Hong Kong shot itself in the foot by not having either Johnnie To's EXILED or ELECTION 2 as its nominee -- as opposed to Feng Xiaogang's THE BANQUET.)

Webs of Significance ( http://webs-of-significance.blogspot.com )

Funny, I've been wanting to vent about this with someone who might care!

I find it shocking that neither Matt Damon nor Jack Nicholson were nominated for their performances in The Departed. Both were as strong -- if not stronger -- than DiCaprio.

Re: Matt Damon... Believe it or not, this was my first time seeing him act. He was just about brilliant in this film and deserves more recognition here. Great texture in his character, and he played all the conflicting personas masterfully.

Re: Jack Nicholson... I have to wonder if the Academy just takes this old stand-by, go-to guy for granted. Maybe he's pigeonholed as the reliable eccentric that delivers at the box office simply for being his quirky, real-life self. And if that's true, I'd say the "self" he brought to The Departed was stellar!

I enjoyed Leo DiCaprio in this film, don't get me wrong. But it's hard to imagine it would have qualified for a Best Picture nomination without the excellent jobs done by Damon and Nicholson.

Thanks again for asking!