OVP: Best Original Song (2010)
The Nominees Were...
"Coming Home," from Country Strong (Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges, and Hillary Lindsey)
"I See the Light," from Tangled (Music by Alan Menken, Lyric by Glenn Slater)
"If I Rise," from 127 Hours (Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong)
"We Belong Together," from Toy Story 3 (Music and Lyric by Randy Newman)
My Thoughts: Occasionally the Oscars throws you such an odd curveball that you sort of have to say "huh, really?!?" That's what I feel like this lineup is-a list of four songs that, while not necessarily bad (okay, at least one of them is), can't possibly represent the best of the cinematic year. Though the following year would only produce two nominees, I personally believe the efforts to revamp this category would begin as a result of 2010. Thankfully, by 2012 we finally had the return of strong songs, but until we get to the 2012 awards, let's just suffer through this year together.
The first nominated song that we'll get to is perhaps the most inexplicable, though oddly not the worst of the four, that of "Coming Home," from Country Strong. The inexplicable part of it is that the title song was so much better. I get that it wasn't eligible, but why would you feature so prominently the song that isn't eligible, particularly since you were very clearly trying to get an Oscar nomination? I mean, it obviously worked, but if you'd picked the upbeat number you might have actually won the trophy. Either way, I literally had to listen to the song again not only for this write-up, but for the review I wrote several days after seeing the film, so memorable it isn't.
Speaking of not memorable, I have to wonder what the thoughts are behind Randy Newman's persistent Oscar nominations for every ditty that he throws into a movie. Some of them, I'll admit, are strong-in fact, I personally liked both of the first two nominated Toy Story songs, but I feel like this number was written in ten minutes, and sounds way too much like the song from Toy Story to count as an original. There's a part of me that wants to break the tie between the four songs that I'm largely indifferent toward by picking the best movie of the four, which is what this one is, but I can't do that with a song that's so inconsequential to the movie, and it would probably have been more appropriate to just do a retread into "You've Got a Friend" instead.
Unlike "We Belong Together," "I See the Light" fits somewhat better into its movie. Menken could also do this in his sleep, but at least the song isn't a retread of all of his other work. The song also fits rather strongly into the fabric of the film rather than as part of a montage or an end credits ditty, which I give it slightly more credit for-you could throw almost anything over the end credits of a movie, but this category seems more appropriate for songs that were actually featured in the films.
The final nominee is the worst of the four, which makes me sad as I used to be a huge Dido fan back in the day, but this song is a cross between mumbling and novocaine. It's hard to believe that A.R. Rahman could go from the jumping "Jai Ho" to this dull and listless bit of music, but he did. The song does play during the movie, but it just seems out-of-place in the film, when a completely instrumental piece would have been a better selection.
And that's it-the Academy for some reason couldn't find a fifth nominee.
The first nominated song that we'll get to is perhaps the most inexplicable, though oddly not the worst of the four, that of "Coming Home," from Country Strong. The inexplicable part of it is that the title song was so much better. I get that it wasn't eligible, but why would you feature so prominently the song that isn't eligible, particularly since you were very clearly trying to get an Oscar nomination? I mean, it obviously worked, but if you'd picked the upbeat number you might have actually won the trophy. Either way, I literally had to listen to the song again not only for this write-up, but for the review I wrote several days after seeing the film, so memorable it isn't.
Speaking of not memorable, I have to wonder what the thoughts are behind Randy Newman's persistent Oscar nominations for every ditty that he throws into a movie. Some of them, I'll admit, are strong-in fact, I personally liked both of the first two nominated Toy Story songs, but I feel like this number was written in ten minutes, and sounds way too much like the song from Toy Story to count as an original. There's a part of me that wants to break the tie between the four songs that I'm largely indifferent toward by picking the best movie of the four, which is what this one is, but I can't do that with a song that's so inconsequential to the movie, and it would probably have been more appropriate to just do a retread into "You've Got a Friend" instead.
Unlike "We Belong Together," "I See the Light" fits somewhat better into its movie. Menken could also do this in his sleep, but at least the song isn't a retread of all of his other work. The song also fits rather strongly into the fabric of the film rather than as part of a montage or an end credits ditty, which I give it slightly more credit for-you could throw almost anything over the end credits of a movie, but this category seems more appropriate for songs that were actually featured in the films.
The final nominee is the worst of the four, which makes me sad as I used to be a huge Dido fan back in the day, but this song is a cross between mumbling and novocaine. It's hard to believe that A.R. Rahman could go from the jumping "Jai Ho" to this dull and listless bit of music, but he did. The song does play during the movie, but it just seems out-of-place in the film, when a completely instrumental piece would have been a better selection.
And that's it-the Academy for some reason couldn't find a fifth nominee.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Golden Globes found room for their usual batch of celebrities and rock stars, with "I See the Light" and "Coming Home" both making the lineup, but they also chose numbers by Cher and Christina Aguilera from Burlesque and Carrie Underwood from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Films I Would Have Nominated: I didn't see Burlesque, but wouldn't this have been the perfect time to finally give Diane Warren an Academy Award? She's never won, and her song is better than any of the four nominated songs (which you can rarely acclaim about Warren's typically soaring but saccharine numbers), and she was clearly in the running considering she picked up the Golden Globe. An even better choice would have been "Ramona" by Beck from Scott Pilgrim, which manages to be a song that can stand by itself and also speaks to the plot of the movie. Also, it's part of the best soundtrack of the year, and would have been an out-of-the-box choice to reward a brilliant songwriter.
Oscar's Choice: In a year where there was no frontrunner, they went with giving Randy Newman a second trophy.
My Choice: "I See the Light" is really the only of the songs that doesn't seem to be a complete filler nominee, so I'm going with Alan Menken winning what may be a mountain of Oscars from the OVP. I'd follow that with Country Strong, Toy Story 3, and 127 Hours.
What about you? Do you also think this was a total miss as a category, or am I missing the genius of one of these songs? And where do you think that Alan Menken puts his eight Oscars?
Also in 2010: Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2010
Past Best Song Contests: 2011
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