FROZEN RIVER….Atrios links to a Country Fair post today that takes Courtney Hazlett to task for whining about Frozen River receiving a couple of Oscar nominations. Here’s Hazlett:
In the state that Hollywood is in, I would hope that the Academy says, maybe for once we should just kind of look at what the buzz is here and what people really like, and honor filmmaking that doesn’t just attract the affections of a small, elite, effete audience, and really look at what do people like to go and see.
Eh. Hazlett is an idiot. It’s not as if Hollywood routinely ignores popular taste, after all, and Frozen River was only nominated in two categories (Best Original Screenplay and Best Actess).
Plus there’s this: as you all know, my taste in movies is pretty thoroughly middlebrow. But Frozen River’s screenplay was excellent and Melissa Leo’s performance was outstanding — one of the best I’ve seen recently. I haven’t seen all the nominated actresses, but at a minimum, Leo was better than Meryl Streep (in Doubt) and Angelina Jolie (in Changeling). She was really, really good. So go rent Frozen River when it comes out on DVD in a couple of weeks. You’ll enjoy it, and you’ll annoy Courtney Hazlett at the same time. It’s a twofer!
