Awards Season 2014

[hearthesilence]

Then where's the visual effects nomination? It seems odd to presume that the editor didn't have anything to do with the fluidity of that film.

I think the view in the industry is that on a technical level, it's primarily an achievement of cinematography. Good work in post is necessary, yes, but a lot of the pressure arguably fell on the camera crew. When they were shooting this film, they actually had to check the ends of each take to make sure there was a match for the previous/next shot. So it wasn't a case where they handed off the footage and told them "it's all on you," they had to make the job as easy as possible for them.

[hearthesilence]

My three favorite lead actor performances this year (in order, Gyllenhaal, Tatum, Fiennes) were all passed over. Odd, crowded year for that category in general - apparently Isaac and Oyelowo were hurt by how late their films got into the hands of voters, too.

Best Actor was ridiculously competitive this year. It always is, but this year was especially hard.

Forgot about A Most Violent Year, that seemed to be a likely contender, but it seems to have been shut out altogether.

And yes, I'm certain Selma's late push hurt its chances. It's understandable - the alternative would be to release it in March and hope the early release date doesn't become a disadvantage, or sit on it for almost a whole year, which for a production like this would have been really hard to do financially speaking. But missing out on major guild awards is kind of a drag when you're trying to build momentum.

[warren oates]

I agree with mfunk about the Best Actor snubs. But those who are complaining about Bradley Cooper's nom should reserve their judgment until they've seen the film. He's great in it, and even if his character is inherently less complex than some of the other roles that were in contention his performance is not a lesser achievement.

[Ribs]

I really don't know what to think about Selma - the reason it wasn't nominated for most categories is that screeners were so late. Now that the members should theoretically have access to all their screeners, they should be able to judge it fairly for its two categories, but I feel it's so late that most have already made up their minds.

(I'm also foreseeing some competition with Best Original Song now, as Lego Movie has the boost of having been snubbed in its other category)

[jojo]

Since How to Train Your Dragon 2 won at the Golden Globes, and now The Lego Movie gets snubbed at the Oscars, the conspiracy theorists have to suspect there's some push for HTTYD2 to win it.

Although it won't stop me from hoping Kaguya scores an upset win.

[ordinaryperson]

So let's see this year's Oscar sins
- 8 Best Picture Nominees
- Foxcatcher being nominated for Best Director and not Best Picture (I may post a rant on this)
- Apparently if Robert Duvall has a performance in a film (even a bad one) he'll be nominated
- Life Itself not nominated for Best Documentary
- The LEGO Movie not being nominated for Best Animated Film (I actually didn't like this film so you'll see it in redeemed)
- Meryl Streep gets a nominated just because she is Meryl Streep
- Selma getting nominated for Best Picture only because the academy will feel guilty if it was not nominated
- Big Eyes not being nominated for Best Original Song
- Force Majeure not being nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
- Nightcrawler not being nominated in [Enter category here]

Redeemed
- The LEGO Movie not being nominated for Best Animated Film
- Whiplash and The Grand Budapest Hotel getting nominated for Best Picture
- Jennifer Aniston not being nominated for Best Actress
- Ida nominated for Best Cinematography
- Tangerines and Timbuktu being nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
- Only three Oscar bait movies being nominated for Best Picture

People being stupid
- Everyone complaining about Jennifer Aniston not being nominated for Best Actress
- The pc police on how there are no black actors being nominated for the acting categories ( I do think David Oyelowo should have gotten nominated)
- People who couldn't see the Two Days, One Night nomination coming from a mile away

[Dylan]

Big Eyes not being nominated for Best Original Song

In my opinion, Lana Del Rey's title song fell flat in the film (it was anachronistic, and the lyrics sound like a second-rate Bond song to me) and her End Title didn't fare much better. If anything this is proof that a singer's popularity won't guarantee a Best Song nomination (Big Eyes also proved that a director with millions of fans can make a movie that hardly any of those millions of fans will come out to see). The film itself - which I liked - didn't find its audience and received middling reviews so its absence in most of the categories is not surprising, but I thought the cinematography, costumes, and production design were all brilliant and I'm a tad surprised it didn't get any of those nominations.

[knives]

Sins? Isn't that going a bit far especially for as unique a slate as this? That said I do really wish Fiennes had gotten in maybe as supporting actor given how tight lead is.

[Kirkinson]

My congratulations (and condolences) to Dick Poop...

[hearthesilence]

The only thing I'd call a blatant sin is the complete absence of any recognition for Under the Skin and Goodbye to Language. Not surprising, but moreso with time, their omission will bolster anyone's case about the historical irrelevance of the Oscars.

[knives]

No they won't especially as the historical relevance for the Oscars has nothing to do with those sorts of films. They're very populace awards and are good for analyzing the psychology of the moment.

[jindianajonz]

Was Only Lovers Left Alive eligible this year?

[Zorn]

The only thing I'd call a blatant sin is the complete absence of any recognition for Under the Skin and Goodbye to Language. Not surprising, but moreso with time, their omission will bolster anyone's case about the historical irrelevance of the Oscars.

I was really hoping that at least Mica Levi's score for Under the Skin would have been nominated, but it wasn't as the Academy chose some safe and, in my opinion, really boring scores. Truly a shame as Levi's score was so effective, transformative, and amazing.

[ordinaryperson]

Was Only Lovers Left Alive eligible this year?

Yes it was eligible.

[hearthesilence]

I believe so, it didn't have a qualifying theatrical run (i.e. a full week) until March of this year, but Jim Jarmusch's films have never been nominated for an Oscar, so it was not a surprise that it was overlooked.

[ianthemovie]

The noms for Selma and Foxcatcher are like weird inversions of each other. "We think that Selma is one of the eight best films of the year, but we don't think it was especially well acted, directed, written, edited, art directed, costumed, etc. Meanwhile, Foxcatcher is one of the five best directed films of the year--and also has a noteworthy cast, screenplay, etc.--but we'd rather leave two Best Picture slots empty rather than give it one of them." That's Oscar logic for you! I'm not particularly invested in either of those films but I can't help but notice the disconnect there.

As for Laura Dern, I have no problem with her getting in for her performance in Wild. No, it's not a particularly demanding role, but she made it come to life, as she tends to do in just about anything she's in. I didn't think that film was remarkable but I certainly didn't find it as egregious as mfunk. It's your average Hollywood "inspiring story" that's elevated by some good performances. On the whole I appreciated that it was slightly less polished (maybe we can call Jean-Marc Vallee's style "distressed"--like pre-ripped jeans), looser, and easier to swallow than your average Oscar bait. It's odd that Chastain got snubbed in this category though since she seemed to be on a role getting nominations back in 2011-2012.

Personally, I could not be happier that they went with Cotillard over Aniston or Amy Adams. I have not seen Cake but Aniston's Best Actress campaign reeked of desperation. Paul Thomas Anderson's screenplay nod was also nice to see. On the whole I've dis-invested from the Oscar race since my own favorites are almost never represented. It's much more fun to watch once you resign yourself to the fact that they almost never get it right. In the best case scenario a deserving and talented person eventually wins long after they ought to have done, and for the wrong movie (ex. Kate Winslet for The Reader, or Julianne Moore this year for Still Alice).

[swo17]

Foxcatcher is one of the five best directed films of the year--and also has a noteworthy cast, screenplay, etc.--but we'd rather leave two Best Picture slots empty rather than give it one of them.

The number of empty slots has to do with math, not merit. (Your first clue that merit doesn't factor should have been that this is the Oscars!)

[ianthemovie]

Gah, that's right. I forgot about the preferential ballot voting. But the fact that this kind of thing happens so rarely (Best Director and Best Picture noms not lining up) is still an indication that Foxcatcher is anomalous.

So I guess this means that Foxcatcher is very highly regarded among Academy directors--and actors and screenwriters--but not with voters as a whole?

[swo17]

All we know is that it appeared on less than 5% of all of the top 5 ballots submitted. I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the top 10-15 vote-getters. Or maybe Mark Schultz's latest publicity hurt the film.

[mfunk9786]

ordinaryperson, I'm curious, did you actually see Cake?

[ianungstad]

Jennifer Anniston seems like a nice person but I agree that her campaign was pretty bad. I haven't seen Cake; so I have no idea how close it is to "Blue"; but Anniston got a lot of flack when asked about the similarities between the films and she seemed to have no idea who Juliette Binoche or Krzysztof Kieslowski were. Cake got pretty underwhelming (arguably bad reviews)

[mfunk9786]

But why all the vitriol from people who haven't seen the movie in question? I get that famous actresses are easy targets for whatever reason, but how can you declare something to be some kind of brilliant Oscar move when you don't have a point of reference for what you're talking about?

[ordinaryperson]

ordinaryperson, I'm curious, did you actually see Cake?

No, I just hate Oscar bait with a burning passion.

[mfunk9786]

Yeah, those Daniel Barnz flicks are always awards season juggernauts

[Shrew]

For me, the complaint is less with Aniston and more with the weird way the campaign was pushing her but seeming to hide the movie. Someone on twitter summed it up as the brilliant move of campaigning for a movie that doesn't exist. Her performance might be good, but Cake was handled in such a way that it's a hypothetical performance for most audiences and critics. I don't like the way lots of big contenders have limited runs and don't actually open till January, but at least major critics usually get a crack at them and build legitimate buzz. Aniston's buzz only came from the way she kept grabbing random noms, making it feel like a bigger version of the "Alone but Not Alone" fiasco from last year.

That, and her lack of a nom probably let Cotillard in, so yay.