newjerseynewsroom.com

BY JOE TYRRELL

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

For no evident reason, New Jersey Newsroom's movie reviewers were loitering on a corner in Montmartre, taking the night air. As if from nowhere, an antique taxi pulled up.

"Get in," said a man in a tux, holding a bottle of champagne. "It'll be ever so much fun!" exclaimed a flapper twirling a long cigarette-holder.

So they did... and were transported back to the Oscar roundtable.

JT: I found 2011 to be a great year at the movies, although less so at Hollywood movies. That gave the Academy a wealth of potential choices if it looked beyond its usual ambit.

So let me start the questioning: If the best picture field had remained at 10, a feat that could have been easily accomplished this year, what two other movies would you have nominated, including one to replace the almost intolerable "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close?"

John Soltes: I agree with your assessment: Great year for movies, but only among smaller independent fare ("The Artist," "The Descendants," etc.) From my perspective, it looks like "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" were the two films right on the cusp of receiving Best Picture nominations — and they would have filled out the category nicely.

I would also look to discard "Moneyball," a good film, but vastly overrated. "Des hommes at des dieux,"[reverse translated as "Of Gods and Men" in English] about French monks caught up in an Algerian civil war, deserved to be nominated. I'm also one of those people who would have championed a Best Picture nomination for "A Separation," a film deserving to jump beyond the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Miriam Rinn: I wish that they'd gone back to just five best-picture nominations this year. The bunch they came up with is relatively weak. "War Horse" is gorgeous with amazing set pieces, but one of the worst scripts I can remember. This would have been much better as a silent film. "The Help" and "Hugo" are both marred by sentimental storylines.

I might have added "Beginners," which I liked a lot, but that doesn't seem up to best-picture caliber either. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is the kind of movie I'm used to seeing on the list _ fun to watch, smart enough, and likely to please a wide audience.

Nancy Mandell: Were there more movies to see in 2011 than in 2010? One thing I know for sure: There were fewer films I considered Oscar-worthy than in recent years—a feeling that may be born out by the Academy’s nomination of nine motion pictures when it could have honored 10… although I still feel that five kept the standards higher.

I was sorry to see “A Dangerous Method,” David Cronenberg’s beautiful and intelligent analysis of the relationship between Freud, Jung and their protégée Sabina Spielrein, so completely overlooked. I’m not proposing that it was a winner in every category, but I do feel it deserved nominations for best picture, best actor (Michael Fassbender), best actress (Keira Knightley), best supporting actor (Viggo Mortensen) and best adapted screenplay.

JT: Those are all good suggestions, but I'm unsure how the Academy overlooked "Take Shelter" and "Margin Call." And of course, I love "Another Earth," a tiny movie with no marketing and so no chance at a best picture nomination, but powered by imagination.

I'll just mention in passing that there seems to be even more of a drumbeat than usual that the Academy is old and in the way, since fan favorites like "Apes," "Bridesmaids" and "Drive" were excluded. (Or is this just a hangover from last year's bad TV show?)

JS: Ditto on "Margin Call" and "Drive."

MR: Oh, I agree that "Take Shelter" deserved recognition, if not as best picture than certainly with a best actor nod for Michael Shannon. He was extraordinary. While I found "Bridesmaids" amusing, I didn't quite see what all the fuss was about. Yes, it's refreshing to see an ordinary-looking, bad-tempered woman as the star, but the movie is actually quite conventional overall. That's not to say that I don't agree that the Oscars _ as always _ tilt toward the stodgy, safe, sentimental, uplifting choice. Is that leaning toward the older viewer's taste? I'm not sure. In my experience, that's what most people want when they go to the movies, whatever their age.