41 Songs But No End Credits


The Academy has released a list of the 41 songs that they have determined are “eligible” for an Oscar nomination next year.  Considering how this year has gone, I shouldn’t be surprised that the songs that I really liked (like “Kick Ass” from Kick Ass and “End Credits” from Harry Brown) have not been deemed eligible.

Anyway, via Awards Daily, here’s the complete list of the eligible songs:

“Alice” from “Alice in Wonderland”
“Forever One Love” from “Black Tulip”
“Freedom Song” from “Black Tulip”
“Bound to You” from “Burlesque”
“Welcome to Burlesque” from “Burlesque”
“You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me” from “Burlesque”
“There’s a Place for Us” from “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong”
“Me and Tennessee” from “Country Strong”
“Despicable Me” from “Despicable Me”
“Prettiest Girls” from “Despicable Me”
“Dear Laughing Doubters” from “Dinner for Schmucks”
“Better Days” from “Eat Pray Love”
“If You Run” from “Going the Distance”
“Darkness before the Dawn” from “Holy Rollers”
“Sticks & Stones” from “How to Train Your Dragon”
“Le Gris” from “Idiots and Angels”
“Chanson Illusionist” from “The Illusionist”
“Never Say Never” from “The Karate Kid”
“To the Sky” from “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”
“What If” from “Letters to Juliet”
“Life during Wartime” from “Life during Wartime”
“Made in Dagenham” from “Made in Dagenham”
“Little One” from “Mother and Child”
“Be the One” from “The Next Three Days”
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours”
“When You See Forever” from “The Perfect Game”
“I Remain” from “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”
“Dream Big” from “Pure Country 2: The Gift”
“How I Love You” from “Ramona and Beezus”
“Darling I Do” from “Shrek Forever After”
“Noka Oi” from “Six Days in Paradise”
“This Is a Low” from “Tamara Drewe”
“I See the Light” from “Tangled”
“Rise” from “3 Billion and Counting”
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3″
“Eclipse: All Yours” from “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”
“Nothing” from “Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too”
“A Better Life” from “Unbeaten”
“Shine” from “Waiting for ‘Superman’”
“The Reasons Why” from “Wretches & Jabberers”

I saw Burlesque with my friend Evelyn earlier tonight (hi, Evelyn!) and even though the movie was pretty silly, we ended up singing our own version of “Bound to You” for three hours afterward. 

I also thought that “Better Days” from Eat Pray Love and “Dear Laughing Doubters” from Dinner For Schmucks were both perfect examples of good songs written for rather disappointing movies.

Still, I’m sad to see that “Pimps Don’t Cry” won’t be getting a chance to bring The Other Guys some Oscar glory.

The 2010 Oscars: Best Animated Feature: The Toadsuckers Have Spoken


The Hollywood Mainstream Establish Toadsuckers (aka., the HMETS) who hand out the Academy Awards (and, even though I rarely agree with them, I still love them for it because I love tacky award shows), have announced the 15 films that are eligible for this year’s Best Animated Feature Oscar.

Those films are:

“Alpha and Omega”
“Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore”
“Despicable Me”
“The Dreams of Jinsha”
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Idiots and Angels”
“The Illusionist”
“Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”
“Megamind”
“My Dog Tulip”
“Shrek Forever After”
“Summer Wars”
“Tangled”
“Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue”
“Toy Story 3”

A few things to note:

In order to be nominated, the eligible films (which, apparently, are submitted for official consideration by their studios) must play in Los Angeles by the end of the year.  So far, Tangled, The Illusionist, Summer Wars, and The Dreams of Jinsha have yet to open.  Don’t get me wrong.  They all will open but until they actually do, they’re only theoretically eligible to be nominated.

Number two, Toy Story 3 and How To Train You Dragon aside, it’s been kind of a crappy year for animated films, hasn’t it?  What the Hell is My Dog Tulip?

Number three, I should give credit for most of this information to the Awards Daily web site.  It’s a good site for tracking the Oscar race but it’s a terrible site if you’re interested in anything beyond a middle class, mainstream perspective on film.  It’s the type of site where Roger Ebert’s word is God and William Goldman is quoted without a hint of irony.  Just from a critical perspective, I like to think of Through The Shattered Lens as being the anti-Awards Daily. 

Number Four, under Academy rules, there will only be three nominees for Best Animated Feature.  (If 15 films are eligible, the Academy can nominate up to 3 films.  If more than 15 are eligible, the Academy can nominate 5.)  Since Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon would appear to be locks, that only leaves one space open.  My personal choice for that slot would be A Town Called Panic — oh, wait!  It’s not eligibile!  Bleh.

Okay, then out of the eligible films, I personally would give the third nomination to Megamind and the actual Oscar to Toy Story 3.