The Academy Award nominations are out; here are the major ones:

Picture:                               Director:
   The Crying Game                        Neil Jordan (The Crying Game)
   A Few Good Men                         James Ivory (Howards End)
   Howards End                            Robert Altman (The Player)
   Scent of a Woman                       Martin Brest (Scent of a Woman)
   Unforgiven                             Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven)

Actor:                                 Actress:
   Robert Downey Jr (Chaplin)             Catherine Deneuve (Indochine)
   Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven)            Mary McDonnell (Passion Fish)
   Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman)           Michelle Pfeiffer (Love Field)
   Stephen Rea (The Crying Game)          Susan Sarandon (Lorenzo's Oil)
   Denzel Washington (Malcolm X)          Emma Thompson (Howards End)

Supporting actor:                      Supporting actress:
   Jaye Davidson (The Crying Game)        Judy Davis (Husbands and Wives)
   Gene Hackman (Unforgiven)              Joan Plowright (Enchanted April)
   Jack Nicholson (A Few Good Men)        Vanessa Redgrave (Howards End)
   Al Pacino (Glengarry Glen Ross)        Miranda Richardson (Damage)
   David Paymer (Mr Saturday Night)       Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny)

Orginal screenplay:                    Adapted screenplay:
   Neil Jordan (The Crying Game)          Peter Barnes (Enchanted April)
   Woody Allen (Husbands and Wives)       Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (Howards End)
   George Miller & Nick Enright           Michael Tolkin (The Player)
      (Lorenzo's Oil)                     Richard Friedenberg (A River Runs
   John Sayles (Passion Fish)                Through It)
   David Webb Peoples (Unforgiven)        Bo Goldman (Scent of a Woman)

What do you think?

17 responses total.

The nominations for "The Crying Game" surprised a lot of people, including
the film's makers.  It had been expected to get perhaps a couple of
nominations, but garnered six, including picture and director, actor, 
supporting actor, and original screenplay.  This is remarkable considering
the limited distribution the film has received -- it has played in only
200 theaters in this country (in Ann Arbor, the non-commercial Michigan
Theater picked it up).  Personally, I think the recognition is deserved,
but like others am surprised that it happened.

I was disappointed that "Malcolm X" didn't receive nominations in the
best picture and director categories, and that "The Player" didn't get
best picture or best actor.

The nominations for "Howards End" are deserved and not unexpected.

Sounds like the lack of nominations for Malcolm X are a case of
a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Certainly "The Player" was better than "The Crying Game".  And "A Few
Good Men" for that matter...

re #1:  By not nominating Spike, the "Academy" avoids the problem of his
        throwing a tantrum and screaming "racism" at the time of the awards.
        He can get it all out of his system now.  Yes -- Spike has done this
        at every major film show in which he was nominated for best picture,
        including Cannes.

        The Academy Awards are very political, and the "Academy" is always
        concerned about negative publicity.

  I'd like to know if Aladdin was nominated or not... 
Certainly Robin Williams deserves at least 1 nomination

Re #4:  Interesting.  (Are you personal friends with Mr. Lee?  :)

Re #5:  "Aladdin" received a best original song nomination, don't know what
else.  Nothing in the "major" categories.

re :4, it's still a shame, because _Malcolm X_ ought to have had
a good shot at taking Best Picture with or without Lee's tantrums.
Denzel Washington certainly deserves his nomination.

"Aladdin" also received a nomination for best musical score.

 re #1:  Like remmers, I'm surprised that  "The Crying Game" got so many
nominations.  Unlike remmers, however, I don't agree that they were deserved,
though I thought the movie was OK it was the biggest case of critic-overhype
I've seen in a while.  I'd discuss more about why I think the critics have
gone ga-ga over it but I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone and the
conspiracy of silence to preserve the film's spoiler(s) has been fairly
successful up until this point.  About the only Crying Game nomination I
agree with is Jaye Richardson's Best Supporting Actor nomination (though
I also have doubts about whether Best Actor or some other category might
not have been more appropriate..)

re #4:  What was that, John?  ;)

re #7:  I haven't seen X, so I can't speak as to its merits, but it never
        surprises me when the Academy overlooks a good film or rewards a
        bad one.

   I haven't been surprised since they awarded it to
Rain Man instead of Dangerous Liasions.

I am very disappointed that "Reservoir Dogs" was ignored entirely.
Maybe it wasn't released in time to qualify for this year's awards?

I agree with Mike on "Crying Game".  It was good but not worth all
the hype it's received.  "Reservoir Dogs", "The Player", and "Malcolm X"
should all have been nominated for best picture.

  I agree that they should all have been nominated..  Don't know whether
any of them should have won, but they deserve consideration at least.
I'm not surprised that "Reservoir Dogs" wasn't nominated -- it's just a 
tad less wholesome than the sort of movie the Academy likes to recognize.
That "The Player" and "Malcolm X" weren't nominated did surprise me..

     Re 13: wholesome?  Was Silence of the Lambs wholesome?  How many
awards did it walk away with?  Now mind you, I'm not complaining.

  True..

sure surprised me. i enjoyed it, but i thought _beauty and the beast_ was
last year's best. _aladdin_, btw, got 5 nominations in 4 categories.

this year it looks like a showdown between clint and emma thompson. i
think they're planning to do a film together next year.

In response to an earlier question, "Reservoir Dogs" did indeed
open early enough to be eligible for this year's awards. 
(As long as it opened anytime, anywhere, in the year 1992.)

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