ARTS
The Michigan Daily Wednesday, March 24, 1982 Page 5
Finding fault with Academy Award nominations
By Richard Campbell
MHERE ARE only two occasions on
* which a film reviewer should be
forgiven for writing something that is
cpmpletely off the wall. The first is 1i0
Best Lists, which contain the
obligatory obscure, foreign, and bad
movies of the previous year. The
second is the annual scramble for
picking the winners of the Academy of
Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences
Awards-the Oscars.
After reading so many columns, by
so many others, it is now my turn to list
my personal favorites for each
category as well as finding overlooked
nominations and some nominations not
worth mentioning.
So here's redundancy with a twist,
Dick's picks:
PICTURE-How on earth On Golden
Pond got nominated is completely
beyond me. Don't get me wrong, I love
Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn
as much as the next cinemaniac, but
the film is about as complex as Mel
Brook's History of the World. In its,
place should be Prince of the City, a
movie about real people coping with
relevant problems. But with the
nominations the way they are, I hope
Reds wins.
DIRECTOR-Again, Mark Rydell did
an admirable job waiting for the right
sunsets in On Golden Pond, but I don't
performance in a movie almost no one
saw; William Hurt, Body Heat; James
Caan, Thief; Harrison Ford, Raiders of
the Lost Ark. The last three are the
most underrated performances of the
year. Next Monday night, even though
they're going to give the award to
Henry Fonda, I'll be rooting for Burt
Lancaster for his nostalgic role in
Atlantic City.
ACTRESS-There are no real
problems in this category, although it
would havebeen nice to see Bernadette
Peters, Pennies From Heaven, or Mary
Steeenburgen, Ragtime in contention.
When the envelope opens I hope it'll be
Marsha Mason, in her role as an
alcoholic in Only When I Laugh.
SUPPORTING ACTOR-Mention
shoule be made of Nicol Williamson, the
bizarre wizard of Excaliber, and of
Christopher Walken, the only bright
spot of Heaven's Gate before telling you
that Jack. Nicholson should get the
Oscar for his brilliant portrayal of
Eugene O'Neill. See Reds again just to
listen to Nicholson.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS-I give
credit to Jane Fonda only for producing
On Golden Pond - her acting was
second rate. A couple of roles that could
easily fill in this slot are Sandy Dennis,
The Four Seasons, a nerve wracking
performance in a so-so film; Kate Reid,
Atlantic City, the querolous old women
whom Lancaster takes care of;
Tuesday Weld, Thief, a beautifully
crafted performance in a beautifully
crafted film. Anyway, Maureen
Stapleton, as the bitchy Emma Gold-
man in Reds, deserves the award.
ORIGINAL SCORE-On Golden
Pond somehow got its saccharine score
nominated in this category, and John
Williams gets the nod again for
Raiders. Taking the place of these two
can be any one of the following: the
(underrated) Prince of the City soun-
dtrack; Napoleon's great score by one
of the best in the business, Carmine
Coppola; the magnificent, tense music
of Tangerine Dream from Thief; and the
grand waltzes of Heaven's Gate. As
none of my favorites are nominated, I'll
have to go for Vangelis' eery, unforget-
table Chariots of Fire score.
EDITING-Napoleon, Body Heat,
and Eye of the Needle are all as ex-
cellently edited as the regular
nominations, but none as good as Dede
Allen's work on Reds.
CINEMATOGRAPHY-Let's all
remember the picturesque shots from
Gordon Willis, Pennies From Heaven;
relive the faded celluloid of Vilmos
Zsigmond, Heaven's Gate; and ..ex-
perience the taut film of Paul Lohman,
Thief, as we award Vittorio Storaro for
his sepia-toned rendition of Reds.
Among the other nominations...
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
FILM-None of these prestigious films
have made it to Ann Arbor, so your
guess is as good as mine? But why
wasn't Gallipoli nominated?
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY-John
Guare's Atlantic City.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY-Jay
Preston Allen and Sidney Lumet, Prin-
ce of the City.
ORIGINAL SONG-"One More
Hour" from Ragtime.
ART DIRECTION-Heaven's Gate.
COSTUME DESIGN-I have no idea.
MAKEUP-I hate Heartbeeps so
much, it has to be American Werewolf
in London.
SOUND-Pennies From Heaven.
VISUAL EFFECTS-Raiders of the
Lost Ark.
Burt Lancaster and Marsha Mason: Oscar winners?
think it was worth a nomination.
Richard Pierce, who directed Heart-
land with such quiet dignity or Sidney
Lumet, of the complex Prince of the
City, are more worthy candidates. As
things stand (and remembering that
the Directors Guild gave their award to
Beatty), I hope Beatty wins for his
careful, romantic epic.
ACTOR-There is no way Dudley
Moore should be in this category. His
tactics as the drunk, rich playboy were
funny, but his role was never par-
ticularly interesting. It's nice to see
Paul Newman nominated, but it should
be for his role in Fort Apache, The
Bronx, and not Absence of Malice. I've
got a long list of substitutes for Moore
and Newman: William Treat, Prince of
the City,- who I really wanted to
win-impossible though that is: Rip
Torn, Heartland, a tightly controlled
Getting Out
by Marsha Norman
March 24-27, April 1-3
8:00 p.m.
Trueblood Theatre
Tickets at PTP
764-0450
UN Department of Theatre and Drama Showcase Production
The Dai
Yes, the Daily is going to jump on the Oscar
contest bandwagon. But we've added a little
twist to the regular feature, 10 trivia questions all
about movies released last year. The questions
aren't hard-if you've seen the movies. After
you answer the first part (and don't watch The
Movie Channel to find the answers) go on to part
two: write down who you think is going to win
the major Oscars (and don't go by my picks, I
put down who I want to win, not who's going to
win).
Prizes, you ask? Yes, we've got prizes. Passes
good at the Ann Arbor Theatre and a. Daily T-
shirt.
Enter as often as you like, but make sure your
entries are into the Daily by the time Johnny
Carson gets to the Oscar podium on Monday,
March 29.
1) What is Heaven's Gate? (Hint: It may be a $40
.
I
4 - - /r"%k - - -
y's uscaI
million disaster but that's not the answer we're
asking for.)
2) At the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark, a
seaplane rescues Indiana Jones. What were its iden-
tification numbers?
3) Jack Reed is not, as the publicity for Reds
suggests, the only American buried in the Kremlin.
Name the other.
4) Whose paintings are a featured attraction of
Pennies From Heaven?
5) Where was Sean Connery stationed in Outland?
6) Lex Luthor agrees to help the bad guys destroy
Superman, in Superman II. What does he ask for in
exchange?
7) What is the title of the film being filmed within
the film version of The French Lieutenant's Woman?
8) Name three movies, all released in 1981, in which
Bob Balaban was a supporting actor.
r Contest
9) Last year William Hurt woke up naked in a zoo.
This year, who continued that questionable fad?
10) James Caan runs a used car dealership in Thief.
Name it.
Pick the winners of the major Oscar categories:
Best Picture...... ......................
Best Director ...........................
Best Actor.......................
Best Actress. ............................
Best Supporting Actor .....................
Best Supporting Actress....................
Best Song ..........................
Thanks to
the F la '
Remember, have your entries (marked Oscar En-
tries) into the Daily by March 29.
Records
Bush Tetras-'Rituals' (Stiff)
This could well be The Bush Tetras'
declaration of war. None of their
previous singles have done as much to
display their complete (if somewhat
perverse) mastery of funk and rock.
The first of the thi'ee tracks on Rituals
covers the ground first claimed by The
Tetras with "Too Many Creeps" and
"Snakes Crawl"-funk stripped down
for the attack. Like- its predecessor,
there are no reassuring pleasantries on
"Can't Be Funky." From The Tetras
you should expect more of a command
than an invitation to the dance.
The two cuts on the second side do the
same thing for rock and roll that the fir-
st side did for funk; basically, both
tunes strip down the basic rock format
and then overload its basic components
to produce a sound that might be con-
sidered caricature if it weren't so effec-
tively demonic. The only band that can
explore the dark side of an echo cham-
ber any more thoroughly is The Cram-
ps, but even The Cramps can't quite
match the acerbic pairing of Pat
Place's guitar and Cynthis Sley's voice.
Definitely not dance music for the
squeamish.
-Mark Dighton
37 N. MA PL E
f~r769-1300
BARGAIN MATINEES DAILY $2.50
Riveting...
Enthralling... 1:15
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TOES
'A Flock of Seagulls' EP (Jive-
Arista)
A Flock of Seagulls are soon going to
have to learn (along with Our
Daughter's Wedding) what The Vapors
long ago learned the hard way-one
chorus hook repeated nauseum does not
much of a song make, and such a song
makes a career not at all. The Seagulls'
"Telecommunication" is every bit as
lovably disposable as The Vapors'
"Turning Japanese" was. They are
both the kind of song that begged to be
played over and over again. . . up until
a certain point. After that, they only beg.,
to be broken over the head of anyone
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WHO'LL DO-IT!
MICHAEL CAINE
CHRISTOPHER REEVE
DYAN CANNON
who dares play them past their
welcome.
Even if this EP contained just one
more song of such an irresistable
sound, there might be some hope. Then
at least you could give "Telecom-
munication" a break now and then. But
no such luck. Every other song exists
solely as a heap of production and
single utilitarian hook in order to justify
calling it a song.
The paint is painfully clear that A
Flock of Seagulls are stronger on
technological know-how than
songwriting ability. Like The Vapors
and Our Daughter's Wedding, you could
keep an eye on them for an unexpected
left-field hit, but expecting much more
out of them would probably be asking
too much.
-M.D.
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MAUKIZIO .POLLINI
Mozart: Fantasia in C minor, K. 475
Mozart: Sonata No. 14b in C minor, K. 457
Mozart: Adagio in B minor, K. 540
Mozart: Sonata No. 17 in D major, K. 576
Schubert: Three Pieces- E-flat minor, E-flat major,
C major
Schubert: "Wanderer" Fantasy, Op. 15
VLL UMARCH4A
A8_17HILL AUDITORI J~UM
T;,1,~r(.. (" ' -7 111 n '1 11 111 0111111 11111
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LIANE KEATON-m