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Oscar nominations thread

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singularity said:
And Michael Shannon gets a best supporting nod for Revolutionary Road while DiCaprio/Winslet get nothing? Really?
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Yeah, wtf is that? Michael Shannon was Kathy Bates' son in the movie, right? And that was an Oscar-worthy performance? :lol :lol
 
singularity said:
I think the fact that the movie was overly long and kind of meanders around aimlessly for a while would be a factor too, but I guess I'm old and out of touch?
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Kind of hard to make that argument with Benjamin Button up for best pic.
 
Blader5489 said:
Yeah, wtf is that? Michael Shannon was Kathy Bates' son in the movie, right? And that was an Oscar-worthy performance? :lol :lol
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His character COMPLETELY ruined that film for me. When you need a guy to explain the fucking movie and its themes to the audience... it's BAD writing.
 
Blader5489 said:
Yeah, wtf is that? Michael Shannon was Kathy Bates' son in the movie, right? And that was an Oscar-worthy performance? :lol :lol
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Yeah. That whole character felt out of place in the film, which brought down my overall impression of it. DiCaprio and Winslet were excellent, of course, but that whole crazy-son character felt so fucking lazy. It was like "hey, let's throw this literally crazy fuck into the plot to say how desolate suburban life is because the audience might not get that it's the whole fucking point of the movie." So much for subtlety.

EDIT: What he ^^ said.
 
SanjuroTsubaki said:
This is just a case of stereotypical internet "outrage". Most of the films up there are decent/good/great/excellent but in a fairly poor year for film there is no clear front runner.

The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionare
The Wrestler

...then for the borderline
Gran Torino
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Reader and Milk like I said from the moment they were announced are very poor films for any year's Best Picture category, but both are far from awful on their own.

I'm still very happy with the amount of nominations for Dark Knight. I hope Wally gets his Cinematography Oscar finally.
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The Reader pretty much only got in by default, since it's a weak overall year and the superior nominees all have some sort of arbitrary problem.

1) The Dark Knight is a comic book film, and as such can't possibly hold up in the Academy's eyes. We'll have to wait for them to evolve first. The Academy, not the films.

2) Very similarly to point #1, Wall-E is an animated film and faces that same stigma. Not only that, but unlike TDK, it had even less of a chance to begin with because it already has its own Oscar category.

3) The Wrestler is very stark and realistic in its depiction of violence, as well as a number of other things, and Academy voters are generally prudish. It's also not a "sexy" pick. Tiny budget, very documentary-like feel, and it's about a professional wrestler.

And Michael Shannon gets a best supporting nod for Revolutionary Road while DiCaprio/Winslet get nothing? Really?
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Kate Winslet beat herself out for the Lead Actress nod, with The Reader. And DiCaprio would've had an uphill climb into the Best Actor category - there was pretty much just one open spot, and it went to Richard Jenkins, who was awesome in The Visitor.
 
dabookerman said:
Good fucking lord. The music was one of the worst things in that shitfest.
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2vmsebo.gif
 
singularity said:
Yeah. That whole character felt out of place in the film, which brought down my overall impression of it. DiCaprio and Winslet were excellent, of course, but that whole crazy-son character felt so fucking lazy. It was like "hey, let's throw this literally crazy fuck into the plot to say how desolate suburban life is because the audience might not get that it's the whole fucking point of the movie." So much for subtlety.

EDIT: What he ^^ said.
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lol the insane guy was the only sane one out of the lot of them lol

subtle as a sledge hammer
 
Trax416 said:
The fact you have Gran Torino has "border line" is fucking pathetic.

PLease don't ever list that worthless, poor excuse for a film anywhere close to those mentioned above.

Everything about it was horrible. It had no redeeming qualities at all. It was one of the worst movies I have watched all year.
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Shut your fucking face.
 
I just don't understand how the Academy could nominate all 3 Lord of the Rings movies, but snub The Dark Knight.

Before the LOTR noms, people thought fantasy films could never be taken seriously by the Academy. So why not honor a film (TDK) that did for comic book movies what LOTR did for fantasy?
 
singularity said:
I think the fact that the movie was overly long and kind of meanders around aimlessly for a while would be a factor too, but I guess I'm old and out of touch?
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You just described Benjamin Button.
 
Rindain said:
I just don't understand how the Academy could nominate all 3 Lord of the Rings movies, but snub The Dark Knight.

Before the LOTR noms, people thought fantasy films could never be taken seriously by the Academy. So why not honor a film (TDK) that did for comic book movies what LOTR did for fantasy?
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Well, the Academy was wrong in nominating two of those, so what's surprising about them being wrong here?
 
Rindain said:
I just don't understand how the Academy could nominate all 3 Lord of the Rings movies, but snub The Dark Knight.

Before the LOTR noms, people thought fantasy films could never be taken seriously by the Academy. So why not honor a film (TDK) that did for comic book movies what LOTR did for fantasy?
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.
 
Dan said:
Well, the Academy was wrong in nominating two of those, so what's surprising about them being wrong here?
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and the one that won should not have been nominated.
 
Rindain said:
I just don't understand how the Academy could nominate all 3 Lord of the Rings movies, but snub The Dark Knight.

Before the LOTR noms, people thought fantasy films could never be taken seriously by the Academy. So why not honor a film (TDK) that did for comic book movies what LOTR did for fantasy?
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Return of the King was an extraordinary film. I remember when I saw the first ROTK trailer (having neither seen the first 2 nor read any of the books) and going, "Wow, that looks good!" So I watched the first two and was totally blown away....and blown away again by the trilogy's end.

Fantasy/Comic book films definitely have an uphill battle with the Academy because of the their perception of not being serious enough but I think that both genres can break into the Academy's view of "superb cinema". Just me personally, I didn't think The Dark Knight achieved that feat.
 
Rindain said:
I just don't understand how the Academy could nominate all 3 Lord of the Rings movies, but snub The Dark Knight.

Before the LOTR noms, people thought fantasy films could never be taken seriously by the Academy. So why not honor a film (TDK) that did for comic book movies what LOTR did for fantasy?
Click to expand...

It'll happen eventually. It's a slow process with the Academy. Johnny Depp's Oscar nod for Pirates of the Caribbean in 2003 was seen as a surprise and a benchmark because they almost never recognize comedy, and particularly not in a film like Pirates and with a character like Jack Sparrow.

They'll be hard-pressed to keep ignoring comic book films if they keep making them great. I don't think that's really the issue. The big problem is with animated films. They have their own category, one that is basically trivial and nobody takes seriously, and that'll only make it that much tougher to get into Best Picture. Foreign films have a hard enough time doing that with their own category, and they're generally held in much higher regard than animated films by the Academy (foreign animated films are screwed).
 
MIMIC said:
Return of the King was an extraordinary film. I remember when I saw the first ROTK trailer (having neither seen the first 2 nor read any of the books) and going, "Wow, that looks good!" So I watched the first two and was totally blown away....and blown away again by the trilogy's end.

Fantasy/Comic book films definitely have an uphill battle with the Academy because of the their perception of not being serious enough but I think that both genres can break into the Academy's view of "superb cinema". Just me personally, I didn't think The Dark Knight achieved that feat.
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Why, because it was too long, complicated and had too many characters in it (which are the most common criticisms I hear)? Good thing ROTK wasn't like that.
 
Trax416 said:
The fact you have Gran Torino has "border line" is fucking pathetic.

PLease don't ever list that worthless, poor excuse for a film anywhere close to those mentioned above.

Everything about it was horrible. It had no redeeming qualities at all. It was one of the worst movies I have watched all year.
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That's wonderful that you have that opinion. Really, good for you. But how about you relax?

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gran_torino/ 77%
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gran_torino/reviews_users.php 91% (929 fresh/85 rotten)

Yeah, just pathetic.

singularity said:
I think the fact that the movie was overly long and kind of meanders around aimlessly for a while would be a factor too, but I guess I'm old and out of touch?
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Overly long? That would be a factor in not getting a best director nod?

... At the Oscars?

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol
 
I'm really glad TDK didn't get a best picture nom. It didn't even remotely deserve it and would have proven that the Academy is more interested in seeming cool than making good picks.

Whether or not LotR deserved noms is irrelevant. TDK doesn't. And I doubt you'll find many people who really think RotK deserved the win.


Scullibundo said:
Has any genre got as big of un uphill battle as Science Fiction?
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Sci fi comedy!
 
As stupid as the TDK and Wrestler snubs are, at least there are some actually good films in the Best Picture category this year. Nothing like fucking Juno or Crash.
 
Blader5489 said:
Yeah, wtf is that? Michael Shannon was Kathy Bates' son in the movie, right? And that was an Oscar-worthy performance? :lol :lol
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Yeah, the worst element of the film with an Oscar nom. Ugh.
But at least Dev Patel wasn't nominated - thank god.
 
I'm agreeing with Finke on most of her points..

My analysis: As usual, the Academy Motion Picture Arts & Sciences voters got it wrong. That they could ignore a Best Picture nod for The Dark Knight and a Best Director nomination for Chris Nolan, nor show any love for Iron Man which was a very satisfying film as well, shows just how out of touch the mostly geriatric members who decide the Oscars really are.

The result is that this year's broadcast, lacking any movies that smack of blockbuster in the major category, should be low-rated yet again. Wall-E was robbed for Best Picture, too. It's long overdue for an animated film to win that category. And overlooking Darren Aronofsky for Best Director was absurd, though he's honored indirectly for both Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei's nods. And what's the deal for ignoring Bruce Springsteen's swell song for that film?

But the madness of today's nominations for the February 22nd Academy Awards goes on and on...

The voters blanked Clint Eastwood for Best Actor, despite the fact he's never won in that category, and for Best Director, which he's won twice. I'd suspected since December that the Gran Torino story, dialogue and message wouldn't appeal to the Oscar elite because it's too blue collar. But, as I've said before, if you want to properly handicap the Oscars, just figure out who is envied or hated most by the Academy voters.

This year, Clint certainly deserved a major category nomination, and the geriatrics love the guy cuz he’s still got a prostate and balls. But Hollywood is also jealous of him because he’s won too many times. The community figures if he wins any more Oscars, then the awards might as well be renamed the Clints. So the Academy pries the viewfinder from his liver-spotted hands and picks from younger directors to make that walk to the podium. Although the well-deserved nod for Angelina Jolie in Changeling is an indirect tribute to Eastwood.

So many major category nods for The Reader also bewilder me. Yes, I thought Kate Winslet would get the nomination for that movie because 1) people who vote for the Academy Awards seemed to hate her in Revolutionary Road as well as disliked that pic overall, and 2) the thinking was she'd be nominated for Best Supporting Actress and win, and 3) she's now in first position to win Best Actress. I think The Reader's popularity with the Oscar balloters was all about Harvey, but not as a reward for The Weinstein Co asshole. This is a sympathy vote for Scott Rudin and Stephen Daldry and Kate Winslet for having to put up with that nasty oaf during the tortured post-production and release of the movie, and for Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella for passing away before their time.

It was heartening to see that, unlike the Academy voters' diss of Brokeback Mountain to win Best Picture after barely screening the pic because of its guy-on-guy action (albeit tame), the balloters were not scared off Milk. Terrific that both Anne Hathaway and Mickey Rourke won nods: the Academy could have blamed her for appearing in that crappy pic Bride Wars, and him for opening his mouth too much and opining about everything. (Less is more, Mickey...) And fortunately, Heath Ledger, the 7th posthumous nominee, is undisputed frontrunner for Best Supporting Actor and fittingly nominated exactly one year to the day since his death from an accidental drug overdose.

Back on December 26th, I raised the question whether this year's Oscars as shaping up as rather suspense-less. See my Oscar Ballots Mailed: Are Best Picture And Other Major Categories Already Decided? Despite the huge money (too much) which Paramount is spending to sell Benjamin Button because Brad Pitt was Brad Grey's former client, I'm still certain that Slumdog Millionaire is a shoo-in for Best Pic. And the only major categories in any real doubt at this point are Best Actor which is slightly less competititive now without Eastwood, and Best Supporting Actress which is wide open now that Winslet isn't in it.
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Rorschach said:
People actually thought TDK would get a best picture nomination? :lol
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I knew it wouldn't. But the simple fact is that it deserved it.

It's a lack of best director that is boggling.

Edit: And best score.
 
Gran Tarino is horrible for the following reasons.

1. The audio production is some of the worst I have seen from any movie daring to call it self respectable. You can clear tell every single time they dubbed something. Which happens alot because the acting is so horrible. The ambient noises they use don't fit the scenes, hell, when the kid is climbing up a METAL ladder it makes the sound of WOOD.

2. The acting is appalling. It could have been done by any random number of film students. There is almost no expression, no emotion, and the Asian kid had the same look on his face during every scene of the movie.

3. The actual shooting of the film. The camera angles were worse then those used for TV shows. Watch a George Foreman Grill commercial, and you will see the same shooting techniques used.

4. The story. First off, for a blue collar, grounded in reality story, it was completely un realistic. I understand what they were going for, but they failed to really convey the message. Many scenes in the movie were a rural bigots wet dream. An old army vet, stomping out a young immigrant "thug". Pulling up to a corner, and regulating, then embarrassing the confused white kid who is trying to "act black". In both of those circumstances, he would have been shot, or beaten within an inch of his life. Though, I guess it's still fun to watch an old, racist, senile dirty Harry teach the scum of society a lesson, by pulling a gun on them. That will really tech those bastards :lol

5. Clothing and make up. Not really much to say about either of them. Nobody dresses like the "thugs" they were portraying. Most "thugs" and "gangsters" dress much different. If you took an older camera and shot the movie, it would be very easy to convince people this was set in the 90's. Outside of a couple cars used.

I understand the entire concept of the movie. I understand why people WANTED it to be good. But overall, as a movie, it was a complete failure. There was nothing good about it. If Clint Eastwood was not in it, you would be hard pressed to even find it at your local block buster, let alone at the academy awards.
 
Rorschach said:
People actually thought TDK would get a best picture nomination? :lol You poor fools.
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what award news outlet did not predict Dark Knight to get in as the 5th film? Surely nobody thought it would get booted by something as insignificant as The Reader.
 
Trax416 said:
Gran Tarino is horrible for the following reasons.

1. The audio production is some of the worst I have seen from any movie daring to call it self respectable. You can clear tell every single time they dubbed something. Which happens alot because the acting is so horrible. The ambient noises they use don't fit the scenes, hell, when the kid is climbing up a METAL ladder it makes the sound of WOOD.

2. The acting is appealing. It could have been done by any random number of film students. There are almost no expression, no emotion, and the asian kid had the same look on his face during every scene of the movie.

3. The actual shooting of the film. The camera angles were worse then those used for TV shows. Watch a George Foreman Grill commercial, and you will see the same shooting techniques used.

4. The story. First off, for a blue collar, grounded in reality story, it was completely un realistic. I understand what they were going for, but they failed to really convey the message. Many scenes in the movie were a rural bigots wet dream. An old army vet, stomping out a young immigrant "thug". Pulling up to a corner, and regulating, then embarrassing the confused white kid who is trying to "act black". In both of those circumstances, he would have been shot, or beaten within an inch of his life. Though, I guess it's still fun to watch an old, racist, senile dirty Harry teach the scum of society a lesson, but pulling a gun on them.

5. Clothing and make up. Not really much to say about either of them. Nobody dresses like the "thugs" they were portraying. Most "thugs" and "gangsters" dress much different. If you took an older camera and shot the movie, it would be very easy to convince people this was set in the 90's. Outside of a couple cars used.

I understand the entire concept of the movie. I understand why people WANTED it to be good. But overall, as a movie, it was a complete failure. There was nothing good about it. If Clint Eastwood was not in it, you would be hard pressed to even find it at your local block buster, let alone at the academy awards.
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The fact you have that list has "border line" is fucking pathetic.

PLease don't ever list that worthless, poor excuse for a list anywhere close to those mentioned above.

Everything about it was horrible. It had no redeeming qualities at all. It was one of the worst lists I have all year.
 
Melissa Leo gets her nomination, Frozen River gets a screenplay nod and I can pretend Van Sant is nominated for Paranoid Park instead of Milk. Good enough for me!

Seeing Batman get snubbed for the majors is delicious, but they'll screw it up by giving Ledger a sympathy award.
 
:lol @
The Reader
The Wrestler being snubbed

I'm gonna love the GAF meltdown when Benjamin Button wins Best Picture.
 
Scullibundo said:
You're all getting pissed off about The Reader getting nominated for Film/Director over TDK when it should be Frost/Nixon and Ron Howard removed from the list to make room for Nolan.
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One day someone will explain how is Ron Piece of Shit Douchebag Howard working in Hollywood. :\ Talentless motherfucker.
 
jett said:
One day someone will explain how is Ron Piece of Shit Douchebag Howard working in Hollywood. :\ Talentless motherfucker.
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Hollywood isn't about talent as much as it's about who you know. Come on.
 
jett said:
One day someone will explain how is Ron Piece of Shit Douchebag Howard working in Hollywood. :\ Talentless motherfucker.
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He provided the voice of the narrator in the greatest comedic television show of all-time. You shut your fucking mouth, heathen.
 
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