Oscar sees double in 2010

Hollywood will congratulate itself twice as much in 2010, thanks to yesterday's announcement that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will double the Best Picture field from five to 10 nominations at next year's Oscar ceremony.

"After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year," said Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis. "The final outcome, of course, will be the same – one Best Picture winner – but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009."

It's a strange move for the Academy, and one that is almost certainly a response to last year's Oscars, which were criticised for overlooking acclaimed genre fare like The Dark Knight and WALL·E.

The last time 10 movies were in the running for Best Picture was in 1943, when Casablanca took home the award. The following year saw the field restricted to five nominees, an imposition that's been in place ever since.

While mainstream films like Pixar's Up – currently enchanting critics the world over – are likely to benefit from the new rules, the widened field will probably only result in the inclusion of a couple of token popcorn flicks that, while critically hailed, have a snowball's chance in hell of actually winning. Such additions may, however, popularise an awards ceremony that is increasingly under fire for only recognising a certain type of film, which may be precisely what the Academy has in mind with this revamp.

Assorted Oscar observations

I sat up last night watching a delayed telecast of the Academy Awards. Having already read the winners, it was a bit like watching Titantic: not only does it drag on and on, but you already know how it ends.

Random thoughts:

• A hugely predictable ceremony with no real surprises. Not that I expected any. The winners for all the major categories lined up with my own predictions, which I should have posted here, so that you'd believe this statement. As a result of moving countries during Oscar season, I'm yet to catch a number of the nominated films, but I look forward to doing so over the coming weeks.
• In particular, I really need to see Slumdog Millionaire.
• Deserving win #1: WALL•E. With Kung Fu Panda picking up a few recent awards, I was a little worried for Pixar's romantic robot. If it weren't for the film's frenetic second half, I'd have liked to have seen it up for the big award: Best Picture. I also hoped WALL•E would take home Best Song, too, for Peter Gabriel's superb "Down To Earth". Alas, it was not to be.
• Speaking of Best Song, did anyone else find it a bit weird that they had there was a great, big sing-off of the three songs in contention? Should they do this for the other categories too? Imagine Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, Richard Jenkins, Frank Langella and Brad Pitt – all in their respective characters – hamming it up on stage together. Maybe it's not such a bad idea after all...
• Deserving win #2: Heath Ledger. A truly touching moment during an evening of what is ostensibly self-congratulatory back-slapping. For those who feel Ledger was only awarded the trophy because of his unfortunate death, go back and watch The Dark Knight again: it's a powerhouse performance.
• Alan Arkin called Phillip Seymour Hoffman "Seymour Phillip Hoffman" during his nomination speech. Whoops!
• I miss seeing clips from the films when the nominated actors are announced: I don't know if Christopher Walken really thinks so highly of Michael Shannon.
• Deserving win #3: Man on Wire. Probably the best documentary I've ever seen.
• A note on the host: maybe it was because the sound on the telecast was mixed so that you couldn't hear the audience's reaction, but there came a point during Hugh Jackman's credit crunch-themed opening song when he stuck his head through a hole in a cardboard wall just above a headless baby doll to eerie silence. "This is all a bit tragic," I thought to myself.
• Every time the Nine Network cut to an ad break, they played music that sounded suspiciously like Dr Evil's theme from Austin Powers.
• Looking forward, there was a pretty neat clip-fest showcasing some of 2009's biggest releases.

The Dark oversight

The Oscar nominations are in and there aren't many surprises among the contenders.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button deservingly leads the field with 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (David Fincher) and Best Actor (Brad Pitt).

Best Picture favourite Slumdog Millionaire – a film I've been hanging out to see – comes in second with 10 nominations. Given how it swept the Golden Globes, expect it to put in a good showing here.

Meanwhile, biopic Milk landed eight nominations, putting it in third place alongside Christopher Nolan's triumphant reinvention of the Batman saga, The Dark Knight.

What's disappointing is that, despite an enviable haul of awards nominations and wins, The Dark Knight's Oscar nods are almost exclusively in the technical categories.

The blockbuster comic book flick became a record-setting global phenomenon when released last year, leaving a wave of Oscar buzz in its wake. However, The Dark Knight's lacklustre showing at the Globes, which saw the film land just a single nomination and win for Heath Ledger's awe-inspiring turn as the Joker, seemingly slowed the picture's Oscar momentum.

It's a rare occasion, but the Academy is not entirely averse to acknowledging record-shattering blockbusters. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, perhaps the best parallel for The Dark Knight, managed to take home all 11 Oscars for which it was nominated (including Best Picture and Best Director). That same year, Johnny Depp was nominated for his first nuanced performance as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Aside from a couple of surprising but worthy nods, including Robert Downey Jr's fantastic performance in Tropic Thunder and a screenplay nom for In Bruges (Colin Farrell's Golden Globe-winning turn somehow failed to be nominated), this year's contenders are typically po-faced. I was also holding out hope that Pixar's heartwarming WALL•E would defy the odds and also score a Best Picture nomination; alas, it wasn't to be, despite the film landing five nominations, including Best Animated Film and Best Original Screenplay.

The Dark Knight is a sure bet for Best Supporting Actor and most of its technical nods, but, like Return of the King before it, a picture with this much atmosphere, a phenomenal cast, some gorgeous cinematography and direction with such obvious respect for its source material, deserves that kind of recognition. It's not quite worthy of a win, but definitely of recognition.

To fans of the film: you have one last chance to relive The Dark Knight in the ultimate format; Warner Bros. are re-releasing the picture in IMAX cinemas around the world from tomorrow.

To the Academy: why so serious?