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...well...
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Look. This was a crazy year. What little consensus there was to be found among precursors was for either films everybody had long since written off, films that came out of nowhere at the "right time", or films that we could only pray would have such good luck with AMPAS. So it shouldn't be shocking that what (few) surprises there were this morning weren't exactly exciting ones.
And it shouldn't be surprising either that the nominations are very heterosexual, very white, and very male. Because THE MAJORITY OF FILMS PRODUCED tick those three boxes, either together or separately. You can come up with any number of fixes to this problem, but to quote Emmy Winner Viola Davis, you cannot win awards for parts that simply aren't there.
But I'm not one to talk about the politics of... well, of anything, frankly. So, on to the nominees, and my reactions.
Best Picture
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight
Nice. I've only missed Bridge of Spies and The Revenant.... WAIT. STOP. WHERE IS CAROL?!?! Although I should note that this was only a shock because at the point in the announcement, Carol had gotten six nominations, so it looked like Best Picture was a real possibility again.
Best Director
Lenny Abrahamson, Room
Alejandro G. Inaritu, The Revenant
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
You cruel bastards, to give us Lenny Abrahamson (who did wonders with Room) but deny us Todd Haynes?!?! But, they've never cottoned to him before, even when his films have gotten other nominations, so I guess this is par for the course.
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saiorse Ronan, Brooklyn
This is really pretty good. Although I haven't seen Joy or 45 Years yet, the other three are firmly at the top of my list for the year. My heart weeps for Lily Tomlin, though, who was just brilliant in Grandma in that way that only she can be. But instead, Jennifer Lawrence gets to be the youngest actress to 4 nominations, so....
Best Actor
Brian Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
BORING.
Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
What. The. FUCK. There are only two women nominated here who actually deserve to be here (Leigh and Winslet). Two of them are emphatically LEADING PERFORMANCES (Carol is told largely from Mara's perspective and Vikander is arguably the freakin' TITLE CHARACTER), and the last is a performance from an actress I love who has barely anything to do and does the bare minimum with the part. How Julie Walters in Brooklyn or Joan Allen in Room or even Jessica Chastain in The Martian couldn't break into this field I will never know.
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed
It's alright. Just alright. To be honest, there weren't many inspiring performances for this category this year. I would have preferred to see Michael Keaton represent Spotlight (Ruffalo overdoes it), and would have preferred to see anyone in The Hateful Eight make it in over Bale, but he's fine. The other three I haven't seen, but it sounds like it's Sly's to lose. To Rylance, my personal hero.
Best Original Screenplay
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room
They did pretty well with the Screenplay categories this year. The only one that doesn't seem to fit is Straight Outta Compton (which admittedly I haven't seen), but what to put in its place? I'm glad Tarantino didn't make it in this time (Hateful Eight is easily his worst screenplay), but the ones I would have rather seen make it (Grandma, I'll See You In My Dreams, It Follows) were never big enough hits, commercially or critically, to ever break in at the Oscars. Frankly, I'm just thrilled that Inside Out, the year's most original, inventive film made it. And we got Brooklyn, Room, AND Carol in Adapted, so I don't feel as awful as I thought I would that Aaron Sorkin's brilliant Steve Jobs script didn't make the cut. Especially since a lot of The Big Short works where it probably shouldn't have, and The Martian is as enjoyable as it is largely due to the surprisingly funny screenplay.
Best Film Editing
The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Frankly, I thought The Big Short was over-edited, but there's always one in this category that is really "Most" as opposed to "Best". The other four all deserve their spots and I would really only add Room, because the escape sequence is the best thriller filmmaking of the year, mostly due to the editing. This nomination for Star Wars made me think it was in play for Best Picture. It missing there is probably for the best, though.
Best Cinematography
Ed Lachman, Carol
Robert Richardson, The Hateful Eight
John Seale, Mad Max: Fury Road
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Revenant
Roger Deakins, Sicario
Best category of the year. Easily. Not one of these doesn't belong here, and while it would have been nice to acknowledge the difficulty of filming in the Room set, Abrahamson's Directing nod I guess makes up for it. This is such a wonderfully diverse set of films, cinematography-wise, and they all look stellar. I can't even pick a favorite.
Just kidding. It's Carol.
Best Costume Design
Sandy Powell, Carol
Sandy Powell, Cinderella
Paco Delgado, The Danish Girl
Jenny Beavan, Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Such a good category, and then.... The Revenant. Let's nominate some dead animals! Where, oh where, are those GLORIOUS Crimson Peak creations? Or those impossibly cool Man From U.N.C.L.E. duds? BUT, double Sandy Powell, who really outdid herself this year on those two films. BRAVA!
Best Production Design
Bridge of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Why do outer space movies always get nominated here? All space stations/shuttles in movies look exactly alike to me. Really, outside of the big rigs of Mad Max, nothing here is particularly inspiring. Crimson Peak would eat all of these films for breakfast.
Best Visual Effects
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
FUCK. YES. EX. MACHINA. Ava is the single best special effect of the year, bar none, and their budget was miniscule compared to the rest of the films on the shortlist. So glad it was nominated, especially alongside the incredible practical effects and gonzo stunts of Mad Max.
That's all for now. The dirty (bakers') dozen. Really, pretty much all I feel comfortable talking about. You can (and by now, probably have) find the whole list of nominations elsewhere. What did you think of the nominations?
LOL love the gifs. I still don't like the Supporting line up with the exception of Hardy and Ruffalo. Oh well. Nice post!
ReplyDeletehehehe Thanks! Yeah, the Supporting Actor lineup is a bit blah. The ones I've seen are all good, but nothing inspiring.
DeleteI have not seen most of the movies but I don't get why Ridley Scott is not nominated. I get why Carol is not up for BP because you have old white men making the decisions. It's ok for them to watch porn girls make out but not have a serious drama/love story about 2 women during the conservative 1950's. I also thought "WTF" about the Revenant up for best costume...makes no sense but Cinderella will get I think. I fully believe Stallone will win it so hold on to your hat. Love the picture insets-funny:)
ReplyDeleteAs long as Sandy Powell wins this year, I'm good. I don't care for what film.
DeleteI love this post. Yours is a lot better than mine. Even so, I need you to tell me how Best Actor can be better. Sure, the Cranston nom is lame as is the Redmayne, but the rest are fucking stellar performances, and I see this as a weak year, especially compared to last year, in terms of male leading roles. And, I think the gender and sexuality cards are hard to play here. Three of the BP nominees are driven by strong female leads (that most likely hasn't happened before), and Carol got its love in the acting categories. I think it's better for Rooney and Cate to be split there. They both could win now...maybe... Oh, and lay off Jennifer Lawrence, man. I LOVE HER...AND WILL FOREVER. And her performance is pretty much the only thing good about Joy.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on just about everything else you said though. I loved Ex Machina and am so glad it got at least a little love.
Thanks, man!
DeleteActor categories are indeed uninspiring this year. How can lead be better? Ian McKellen, Mr. Holmes. Tremendous performance. Swap him out for Cranston and the category is MUCH better (I love Cranston but Trumbo is an easy test we knew he could pass).
The thing about Carol is the number of nominations game. 6. Compared to Brooklyn's 3 and Room's 4. All of these are films I adore, but with that much support you'd figure Carol would be an easy get in Best Picture. Especially since it's EASILY one of the top three films of the year by any standard. And while it may be a better "strategy" for Rooney and Cate to be separated, it's not better for movies and movie fans when someone who has a lead role is nominated in a supporting category. Same goes for Alicia Vikander.
For the record, I really liked Jennifer Lawrence in Joy (and love her in general), but I think an Oscar nomination, in this year, is a bit much for that performance.
Rooney Mara was nominated for the wrong category, and Alicia Vikander for the wrong movie. Redmayne seems to be there only because he won last year, and same with Jennifer Lawrence. If Stallone wins over Rylance and Hardy the world's end is coming. And don't get me started on the best original song.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, and.... YES. To just about everything you say!
DeleteLOL, LOVE! You are so right on the Ex Machina VE nom. SO DESERVED! The Production Design noms are strange. I have that issue too with Space Movies. Gravity was one of my favorite films of the year...but...no. And The Revenant is primarily outside, right...like...trees and stuff?
ReplyDeleteStrange.
SO glad I'm not alone on this Production Design nonsense. Although to be fair, I haven't seen The Revenant, so I can't really say.
DeleteI don't think it would have mattered who they nominated in Best Actor once DiCaprio's name was announced. It's his unless he pulls some Russell Crowe phone foolishness and that's not really his style so I hope he's working on a speech, I detest when they get up there with a piece of paper!! You're an actor goddamnit prepare!! Even if it's not his best work, I haven't seen it so I can't weigh in on that, he's been deserving before and lost and perceived as long overdue.
ReplyDeleteI think Jennifer Lawrence is a wonderful actress, though I didn't really think her work in Silver Linings was award worthy, but not four nominations by 25 wonderful. A lazy nomination.
I'm against category fraud, it cheats deserving performers, but if it made room for Charlotte Rampling to finally get a nomination 50 years after her first deserving performance in Georgy Girl than I can let it slide this time.
I can't even think of the phrase Oscar winner (for acting) Sylvester Stallone without gagging a little and Mark Rylance is so wonderful in Bridge of Spies. Nothing flashy and very real, a fine layered performance. I'm afraid the subtlety of it might work against him.
I really liked Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings (there was one moment late in the film that just knocked me out), but it was NOT win-worthy. ESPECIALLY not with Emmanuelle Riva doing All-Time Great work in Amour that year. She was definitely worthy in Winter's Bone, though, and American Hustle, too (although not for the win for the latter).
Delete(andalsoihaven'tseenBridgeOfSpiesor45Yearsyetdon'thateme!)