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Oscar Nominations 2016 |OT| 5:30am PT Thur Jan 14

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HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
Siciario had some phenomenal shots. Especially when you first see Juarez. I literally gasped along with half the theater. The nighttime scenes were pheneomenal as well. Such an underrated movie.

He wont win though. Revenant is oscar bait and is going to clean up.

That cinematography with that soundtrack. The border and tunnel sequences made me feel ill cause of the tension.
 
Revenant is oscar bait and is going to clean up.

Revenant's not really Oscar Bait for anyone but Leo, though. It's an overlong, gross, mean-spirited movie full of ugly shit that doesn't have any sort of overarching message to it about humanity.

The Academy typically does not reward that shit.
 

zethren

Banned
Revenant's not really Oscar Bait for anyone but Leo, though. It's an overlong, gross, mean-spirited movie full of ugly shit that doesn't have any sort of overarching message to it about humanity.

The Academy typically does not reward that shit.

Well I took it as a somewhat classic style revenge flick, and I think it did very well for itself in that. But I do agree that there really wasn't any overarching message to it.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Revenant's not really Oscar Bait for anyone but Leo, though. It's an overlong, gross, mean-spirited movie full of ugly shit that doesn't have any sort of overarching message to it about humanity.

The Academy typically does not reward that shit.
Did Gravity have an overarching message to it about humanity? It was simple rescue flick like The Revenant. It still cleaned up pretty much all the technical awards and Best Director. I think Revanant will win everything except for Best Picture which will go to either Spotlight or The Big Short.
 

tchocky

Member
British film critic Mark Kermode has done a video on who he thought was overlooked for the oscars including The assassin not even being on the shortlist for best foreign film, Idris Elba, Girlhood and no animated film for best picture. He is happy the academy has left him lots of great films for his Kermode awards (best films/performances that didn't get nominated).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PW96-cHTCI
 

Syntsui

Member
I didn't watch the Martian yet so I won't judge, but seeing Matt Damon nominated while completely ignoring Idris Elba got me surprised.

Whoever watched it, was Matt really that good?
 
Did Gravity have an overarching message to it about humanity?

Gravity didn't win Best Picture.

Cuaron won Best Director, so you could make an argument Innaritu has a shot there - except Miller's probably one up on him for that particular award - AND his film actually has some sort of larger meaning and theme to latch onto, enough to override the genre bias that would otherwise prevent the film from collecting nothing but tech noms.

But likely not enough to win it Best Picture, either.
 

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
I didn't watch the Martian yet so I won't judge, but seeing Matt Damon nominated while completely ignoring Idris Elba got me surprised.

Whoever watched it, was Matt really that good?

He is good in a fun role. But I would pick either of Beasts two leads over him.
 

Timbuktu

Member
British film critic Mark Kermode has done a video on who he thought was overlooked for the oscars including The assassin not even being on the shortlist for best foreign film, Idris Elba, Girlhood and no animated film for best picture. He is happy the academy has left him lots of great films for his Kermode awards (best films/performances that didn't get nominated).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PW96-cHTCI

I don't think The Assassin even make the long list, but then again I'm not sure how often the Oscars ever mesh with Cannes winners, it never seemed like an 'Oscar' film to me so I'm not that disappointed. The sidelining of animation is pretty obvious though, considering there was really space for at least one of them (between Inside Out and Anomalisa).
 

injurai

Banned
Well I took it as a somewhat classic style revenge flick, and I think it did very well for itself in that. But I do agree that there really wasn't any overarching message to it.

Does there need to be? And did it really lack one? The film was about the journey. It's very much a man wronged, fully expecting to die to his wounds.It's the ugly reality of the human condition. A struggle for resources in making a living within the allotted societal constructs. Most white person involved is low on the totem poll in life, and is basical contracted by ventures and carters to return pelts. They are young men, poor men, neive men, scared men, all trying to make their way in the world. At the same time they ravage the natural resources that the indigenous population has come to rely on, and has as every much a claim to.

It's an horrid conflict that is larger than any of the characters. The story itself is one of a man who found these horrors in the frontier. He even falls asleep on his son's corpse only to wake up later, very much to his surprise. He has nothing else, but the hole dug out of him. His loved one's ripped from him. Not unlike many of the other broken character's the in film.

Yes, it follows a man seeking revenge. A man that by the very circumstances of his world, has become hollowed out. Along the way he confronts numerous trials and tribulations, most all of which are true to the original tales and claims on Hugh Glass. The most corroborated and true accounts making up the story that earned him the name The Revenant. As for the over-arching message, it's a man who thought he was seeking revenge in death, incidentally finding life once again. Hugh Glass lives beyond the end of the movie in case you weren't certain. It's a very beautiful done movie that focus on the very harrowing and hallow human experience. In life we are put through great trials, and the ultimate reward might be subtle, or escape us entirely. I very much appreciate what the movie was able to accomplish.
 
Does there need to be?

For Oscar? Yeah.

For everyone else? Of course not.

But this is a thread about how the political student body of Hollywood elects this years Prom King. And the rules there are different than the rules for simply making a great movie and letting it resonate.
 

tchocky

Member
I don't think The Assassin even make the long list, but then again I'm not sure how often the Oscars ever mesh with Cannes winners, it never seemed like an 'Oscar' film to me so I'm not that disappointed. The sidelining of animation is pretty obvious though, considering there was really space for at least one of them (between Inside Out and Anomalisa).

Oops I meant to type long list not short list.
 

Blader

Member
Did Gravity have an overarching message to it about humanity? It was simple rescue flick like The Revenant. It still cleaned up pretty much all the technical awards and Best Director. I think Revanant will win everything except for Best Picture which will go to either Spotlight or The Big Short.

Well, kind of.

I didn't watch the Martian yet so I won't judge, but seeing Matt Damon nominated while completely ignoring Idris Elba got me surprised.

Whoever watched it, was Matt really that good?

Damon was good. I don't think they would've submitted Elba for that category anyway; he's not really the lead (though Abraham Attah, who is, was absolutely snubbed).
 
Thomas Newman was nominated for best original score for Bridge of Spies, but the fucker wasn't able to do a good OST for Spectre after the great work in Skyfall. Yeah, I'm still salty about it.
 

D4Danger

Unconfirmed Member
Siciario had some phenomenal shots. Especially when you first see Juarez. I literally gasped along with half the theater. The nighttime scenes were pheneomenal as well. Such an underrated movie.

He wont win though. Revenant is oscar bait and is going to clean up.

if he does win for Sicario it won't even feel like one of those lifetime achievement awards for all the previous snubs because that film looks incredible and absolutely deserves to win.
 
Thomas Newman was nominated for best original score for Bridge of Spies, but the fucker wasn't able to do a good OST for Spectre after the great work in Skyfall. Yeah, I'm still salty about it.

That Bridge of Spies score is really good, too. It sounds very Williams-ish.

In fact, if I had to rank the nominees (and I haven't heard/seen Revenant yet)

1) Carol - Carter Burwell
2) Bridge of Spies - Newman
3) Hateful Eight - Morricone
4) Star Wars - Williams
 

Parch

Member
Mad Max probably won't win because of dumb reasons.
The Revenant probably will win because of dumb reasons, although I find it completely logical why Leo has never won an oscar. I have never understood the love for this guy.
Perhaps not because of any message, but The Revenant is most definitely oscar bait for how it was filmed.

I enjoyed The Martian most of all, which probably guarantees it won't win. Room is a powerful movie too.
 

Blader

Member
if he does win for Sicario it won't even feel like one of those lifetime achievement awards for all the previous snubs because that film looks incredible and absolutely deserves to win.

Sicario looks great, but it definitely does not deserve the award over The Revenant or Mad Max.

Deakins is long overdue for an Oscar, but I feel he was legit beaten by Lubezki the last two years and feel the same this year.

Mad Max probably won't win because of dumb reasons.
The Revenant probably will win because of dumb reasons, although I find it completely logical why Leo has never won an oscar. I have never understood the love for this guy.
Perhaps not because of any message, but The Revenant is most definitely oscar bait for how it was filmed.

What is cinematography Oscar bait?
 

Ridley327

Member
What is cinematography Oscar bait?
I think that would be films with an overabundance of technically difficult shots that are impressive but don't really add up to whole lot in terms of how it's serving the film as a whole. I think the short version would be that it's too good, and I know that sounds weird, but I did personally feel a lot of that was happening in that film, especially with its padded runtime resulting in a lot of repetition. I absolutely agree it's a marvel on a purely technical level, but it really never meant a whole lot to me beyond that. Not really Lubezki's fault, but it is what it is for me.
 

Moonkid

Member
I think that would be films with an overabundance of technically difficult shots that are impressive but don't really add up to whole lot in terms of how it's serving the film as a whole. I think the short version would be that it's too good, and I know that sounds weird, but I did personally feel a lot of that was happening in that film, especially with its padded runtime resulting in a lot of repetition. I absolutely agree it's a marvel on a purely technical level, but it really never meant a whole lot to me beyond that. Not really Lubezki's fault, but it is what it is for me.
I'll be honest, I went in expecting cinematic 'overindulgence' (whatever that means) but for the most part the cinematography felt wholly appropriate for the story they were telling and was instrumental in how it was told. Which shots exactly do you mean here? The dialogue scenes were held over a prolonged shot but it wasn't exactly technically difficult when not much was going in the immediate background, at least those that I can remember. The shots in the action sequences were brilliant in my opinion, the last time I was this engaged and impressed was The Raid 2.
 

Ridley327

Member
I'll be honest, I went in expecting cinematic 'overindulgence' (whatever that means) but for the most part the cinematography felt wholly appropriate for the story they were telling and was instrumental in how it was told. Which shots exactly do you mean here? The dialogue scenes were held over a prolonged shot but it wasn't exactly technically difficult when not much was going in the immediate background, at least those that I can remember. The shots in the action sequences were brilliant in my opinion, the last time I was this engaged and impressed was The Raid 2.

This is kind of a philosophical reasoning, and I alluded to it in my post, but I feel like cinematography is kind of a two-man job since there's a lot that the director needs to do in order to make sure that the imagery connects as well as the DoP is able to light and block the shots. For The Revenant, I feel like Iñárritu is harming Lubezki's work with how protracted the length of the film goes on for, and so you see a lot of the same imagery repeated (especially for the shots involving trees pointing up to the sky, be it on the horizon or the circular pattern), and there's a lot of stuff that works conceptually but kinda sputters in the execution, like the dream sequences or the shots in which the camera winds up playing a part in the scene with it receiving condensation or being breathed on by Leo. Technically astonishing stuff all around (well, besides how hokey the
floating dead wife
stuff in the dream sequences look, but no one can really help that out), but it winds up feeling a bit too artificial for my tastes. Like I said, I really can't fault Lubezki for a lot of that, since he is such a damn wizard for whoever he works with, and I actually do agree with you that the action sequences are quite brilliant and very much all work as intended, which makes me think that Iñárritu would have a pretty interesting career doing more straight genre stuff if he could get over himself and not treat genre as some kind of four-letter word.

Again, it's just a personal philosophy, but it's one I have a firm belief in.
 

what

I've explained why I wrote what I wrote pretty clearly now.

Describing the contents of the film isnt a review or even any sort of critical appraisal. Its a synopsis of the content as likely seen by the voters, not an assessment of its quality as a film by its viewers.

Which is the thing with the Oscars: the actual quality of a thing is often secondary to other, more political concerns. Its why you can fairly accurately predict Oscars without doing anything but reading Oscar articles. You don't have to actually watch the films. In fact, watching the movies might make it HARDER to correctly take the Academy's temperature.
 

injurai

Banned
what

I've explained why I wrote what I wrote pretty clearly now.

Describing the contents of the film isnt a review or even any sort of critical appraisal. Its a synopsis of the content as likely seen by the voters, not an assessment of its quality as a film by its viewers.

Which is the thing with the Oscars: the actual quality of a thing is often secondary to other, more political concerns. Its why you can fairly accurately predict Oscars without doing anything but reading Oscar articles. You don't have to actually watch the films. In fact, watching the movies might make it HARDER to correctly take the Academy's temperature.

Alright, that makes more sense as you parroting the political vox-pop surrounding the Oscars. Just some of the adjectives being thrown around The Revenant really makes me wonder how reductive people are in their minds when watching slow burn films.
 

Jigorath

Banned
Metacritic has averaged up all the critic's top ten lists for 2015. This how each Best Picture Nominee ranked.

Mad Max: Fury Road - 1st
Spotlight - 2nd
Brooklyn - 5th
Room - 11th
The Martian - 13th
The Big Short - 18th
The Revenant - 22nd
Bridge of Spies - 25th

The fact that Revenant is the frontrunner is hilarious. If it wins (which it probably does) it'll be the worst received BP winner since Crash.
 

overcast

Member
That Bridge of Spies score is really good, too. It sounds very Williams-ish.

In fact, if I had to rank the nominees (and I haven't heard/seen Revenant yet)

1) Carol - Carter Burwell
2) Bridge of Spies - Newman
3) Hateful Eight - Morricone
4) Star Wars - Williams
Burwell will hopefully take it. That and Hateful Eight were special scores in my opinion.
 
If Director's Guild gives it to McKay then yeah, it's absolutely done deal.

I just saw a tweet from someone at the awards that stated the producers didn't actually know to go onstage and recieve their award at first, because they thought they were just reading the nominees alphabetically.
 
It's probably 90% likely that The Big Short wins. PGA has correctly picked the BP winner the last 8 years, and the voting process is very similar to the Academy's.

I just saw it last night and I won't be surprised if it goes 5-0 at the Oscars. It's a very good movie about something important, and unlike Spotlight, is a lot flashier, which is something the Academy often loves.
 

Blader

Member
It's probably 90% likely that The Big Short wins. PGA has correctly picked the BP winner the last 8 years, and the voting process is very similar to the Academy's.

I just saw it last night and I won't be surprised if it goes 5-0 at the Oscars. It's a very good movie about something important, and unlike Spotlight, is a lot flashier, which is something the Academy often loves.

Its story is also timelier/more relevant than Spotlight, particularly in this election year.

The Big Short has BP on lock now. Even if it loses to Spotlight at SAG, PGA is a much better Oscar predictor. The only possible upset would be a director split.
 
the running gag of leocap never winning an oscar's always been really annoying to me.

yes, the man's never won an oscar but he's been nominated many, many times. getting nominated alone is a huge thing imo. you don't have to win it to confirm how great an actor the person it.
 

DeathyBoy

Banned
Leo is a lock for the oscar, therefore he will lose. All the favorites lose =(

You can't stop the Leo train, bro.

200_s.gif
 

CassSept

Member
Leo is a lock for the oscar, therefore he will lose. All the favorites lose =(

That's pure bs. Last year alone 3 of the 4 acting categories were locks long before the Oscar night came. The same 2, 3 years ago. In 2010 pretty much every acting category was a done deal before the awards came. Leo is winning and if he doesn't that's gonna be one of the bigger upsets of recent years.
 
I know it's rare but I can see a picture/director split happening this year. I think Miller will win director.
Don't these splits usually happen?

McKay went from being reviled by people on the Internet for taking away their Edgar Wright film a year ago to being an Oscar front runner and possible winner. Insanity.
 

woen

Member
I think that would be films with an overabundance of technically difficult shots that are impressive but don't really add up to whole lot in terms of how it's serving the film as a whole. I think the short version would be that it's too good, and I know that sounds weird, but I did personally feel a lot of that was happening in that film, especially with its padded runtime resulting in a lot of repetition. I absolutely agree it's a marvel on a purely technical level, but it really never meant a whole lot to me beyond that. Not really Lubezki's fault, but it is what it is for me.

If you look at Lubzeki's work with Cuaron or Inarritu, the cinematography built up, the mise en scène has a clear purpose, makes senses beyond the difficulties and the visual show that they provided. I didn't see The Revenant yet but both Gravity and Birdman were over the top in terms of pure cinematography, even it is something that matches the Academy Award. I didn't read yet any analysis that showed me that these movies were just aesthetic showcases.
 
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