Our Annual Oscar Nominations Commentary has Arrived!!
Originally published 15 January 2015
The most anticipated morning of the year is here!
Sophie’s Birthday!!
AND, it’s Oscar time, so pour a cup, and let us tell you the virtues and vices of the movies you’ve avoided all year to go see Guardians of the Galaxy instead.
This year there are 8 Best Picture Noms out of a possible 10, and the biggest surprise missing film has to be Gone Girl. Of all the highest praised films of the year (tomatometer = 88), this one wins hands down as the most entertaining and most lucrative. Fortunately, Rosamund Pike is represented for Best Actress, because that means we’ll get to hear from the 2015 host, Neil Patrick Harris, about how meaningful it was pretending to have sex with her, and then getting killed (oops, spoiler!). The Best Pic causing the most discomfort in theatres would be Whiplash, which of course means J.K. Simmons must also be nominated, because he mesmerizes and terrifies throughout. But he had to be shunted to Best Supporting Actor, because no one could flip a coin between Redmayne and Cumberbatch.
Why not a Best Actor nomination for Timothy Spall in Mr Turner? Because that would make the field 60% British, and since David Oyelowo and Jake Gyllenhaal were already dissed, that would be just piling on. How unusual to see that the most nommed film, Grand Budapest Hotel, having zilch in the acting categories, but I’m not complaining. Well, maybe a little. Pitch Robert Duvall please, and replace him with F. Murray Abraham.
One wonders how close Marion Cotillard came to having two Best Actress Noms, adding her fabulous portrayal from The Immigrant to the list. Perhaps her performance was honored because Two Days, One Night was oddly not submitted for consideration for Best Foreign Language Film. And do Oscar ballots come pre-printed with Meryl Streep’s name on it now? Why not throw a bone to Emily Blunt for Into the Woods, or even the Edge of Tomorrow?
The biggest MIA was The Lego Movie, which currently appears on the Metacritic year-end list at #15, above Foxcatcher, Theory of Everything, and all the nominated animated films.
NOTHING for our favorite movie of the year, Snowpiercer. It had the most subversive message, echoed all over the Bay Area and Ferguson this year: Shut It Down.
Flawed movies-highly praised category would include Birdman, Theory of Everything and, especially, Grand Budapest Hotel. We liked all of them. But Birdman was an amazing movie about a career comeback attempt that was burdened with a clunky magical realism overlay. Theory of Everything had too many phony unearned “time to be inspired!” moments, with the swelling music and people rising to their feet during the Nobel ceremony, for instance. Grand Budapest forgot to bring the funny; so much set-up, so little payoff. Why have Bill Murray in your film, then give him nothing funny to do?
This year features perhaps the widest possible extremes of directing style ever offered — Inarritu’s stunning non-stop uncut camera careening around a theatre in “Birdman” versus the notorious OCD of Wes Anderson in “Grand Budapest.”
There are grumblings again this year about a lack of strong roles for women, which means Scarlett Johansson should be nominated for Under the Skin, on 73 “Top Ten” lists for 2014. We’d rather see her than the obligatory inclusion of the dutiful wife role, provided this year by Felicity Jones.
Nomination this year which made me especially happy — Best screenplay for Nightcrawler. Not many critics noted all the corporate BS that Gyllenhaal was spewing throughout the movie, while being psychotic. Funny how often those two things coincide. A sample:
Ahmed (Gyllenhaal’s assistant): “What happened in there?”
Gyllenhaal: “You should have walked in and looked if you’re half curious. It’s what I’m paying you to do. You need to show initiative. There is no better way to achieve job security than by making yourself an indispensable employee.”
Ahmed: “I heard gunshots!”
Gyllenhaal: “All the more reason you might have helped me! You might have learned a new skill, made yourself more useful, and put us on a track toward growth!”
My second favorite dialogue, from Gone Girl (not nominated). If the Oscar telecast was on cable, they’d show this clip for Rosamund Pike’s nomination:
Affleck: “You c***!”
Pike: “I’m the c*** you married. The only time you liked yourself was when you were trying to be someone this c*** might like. I’m not a quitter, I’m that c***. I’ve killed for you. Who else can say that?”
Affleck: “Yes, I loved you, but all we did was resent each other and try to control each other, and cause each other pain.”
Pike: “That’s marriage.”
In addition to filling out your ballots as they are, let’s do a little something to make the telecast more fun. Add the category “Most referenced social outrage” and see who wins the most. Perhaps as a drinking game?
“Je Sui Charlie”
“Black Lives Matter”
“Free Gaza”
“Screw de Blasio”
“How did the Republicans win the Senate?”
We’ll likely have more thoughts to add in the next few days, but for now, you are now free to roam the interwebs and read all the other, lesser, Oscar commentary.
