OSCAR NOMINATIONS, 2011

Reporting for duty. My wish for the evening: Daft Punk/Trent Reznor fight for Original Score. With live performances by both at the Oscars. First time I'll watch the show live since the ROTK sweep.

Chris Nolan being ignored for best director is baffling.

Has Mike Leigh been nominated for screenwriting before? I thought his films had an improvisational-ness (especially true of ANOTHER YEAR) which the Academy wouldn’t like

No Daft Punk for score? Fuck you, academy of motion farts! 

Nolan got hosed, bigtime. And the lack of supporting actor love for THE SOCIAL NETWORK has me doubting its Best Picture status for the first time. At least TRUE GRIT picked up more than most people thought it would.

Hawkes got his nod. Amen.

Actually, Im really happy Winter's Bone got the love it deserved altogether. Didn't think the Academy would give Lawrence her shot whatsoever. She's losing to Portman no matter what, but still.

I maintain The Kids Are All Right is getting way too much love.

While I can't argue with anyone nominated in his stead, Nolan getting shafted for Director is fucking puzzling.

Hereafter got a visual effects nod. BULLSHIT.

In lieu of the Clint Mansell screwjob, score is either Zimmer's or Trent's.

My hope for Scott Pilgrim died painfully a while back, but seriously, Best Song is a crop of bullshit this year. I didn't even know there was a Newman song in Toy Story 3 till right now.

John Hawkes! Awesome. Christian Bale appears to be a lock in that department, but I'd love to see good ol' Sol Star get the statue.

The other noms are pretty much as expected. Very glad to see Jackie Weaver get her due respect, but Ben Mendelsohn absolutely deserved to be nominated for supporting actor. Actually, Animal Kingdom not being among the best foreign films is quite ridiculous.

Wow, what a debut for Hailee Steinfeld.  Thrilled that she got the nomination.

I'd argue with Hooper's inclusion over Nolan.I lovelovelove THE KING'S SPEECH, but it's not a directorial revelation or anything. haven't seen THE FIGHTER yet, so might feel similar about David O. Russell.

EDIT: Just for some cheer, John Hawkes going to the Oscars is even cooler than Richard Jenkins getting his out-of-nowhere nomination a few years back.

Other than the Nolan snub, pretty much as expected so far. And I'm extra happy for Dogtooth's inclusion. Even if I don't think it has a realistic chance. On its merits it should win but I can't see the Academy voting for it. 

Russell's direction raised what could've been an average as hell story into something awesome. He deserves his spot.

I'd like to argue against The King's Speech, but Im not nearly as in love with that flick as the rest of the world is altogether, and i'll need a second viewing to know exactly why.

Alice in Wonderland getting nominated is equally puzzling (for me, its visual effects were altogether a mixed bag), but at least it's all technical nominations.

And seriously, The Tempest?  Its costumes were pretty overdone, in my opinion.

Alice's effects and design could've been just as easily accomplished by having the Cadbury Bunny vomit on the print. Fuck that nomination.

How anyone could nominate ALICE for effects after watching Crispin Glover weeble about like a broken computer sprite for two hours is beyond me.

Oh, and I'll start a fucking riot if Firth doesn't win this too. A riot!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Clark 

All the actors' work raised what could've been an average as hell story into something awesome.

Pretty much how I feel about The Fighter.  Russell just had to point the camera in the right direction, and anytime he could have showcased his directing (the boxing scenes), it fell flat.  I'd give his nod to Nolan any day of the week.

I'll join you in politely smashing up some dustbins and postboxes. Looking at the nominees Firth should have this in the bag. A phenomenal performance.

As Casey Moore pointed out on Twitter, INCEPTION not being nominated for best editing is ridiculous.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingcujoI 

As Casey Moore pointed out on Twitter, INCEPTION not being nominated for best editing is ridiculous.  

Yes it is. Also Scott Pilgrim.

Incendies should and might beat Biutiful, who rides on the Bardem and the director's name alone. Incendies a superior movie in every way.

No Nolan for Directing?  WTF.

Would love to see Franco and Hawkes win.

Weird that Nolan got snubbed in the directing category, but picked up a nomination in writing.  Also weird that Pilgrim was completely ignored in the technical categories.

Also, fuck Alice in Wonderland.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin S 

Incendies a superior movie in every way.

Since when has that ever been a requirement to win an Oscar?

Personally, I can't believe anyone thought Scott Pilgrim would ever get near any Oscar nod. 

No Nolan is a surprise, maybe he's still seen as too 'genre'. Hawkes a nice surprise. Would've been fun to see Daft Punk nominated but I still don't think that score was as amazing as the hype would suggest - if the brilliant end credits theme could qualify for best song then definitely. Not many real surprises this year, like In The Loop getting a screenplay nod last year, but there's not a whole lot to complain about either.

Not really many surprises, and a lot of glaring omissions.  No Mila Kunis, no Nolan of course, and no Andrew Garfield...that really sucks since IMHO he was better than Eisenberg.

Wanted The Town to get a spot in the 10 Best Picture noms, but eh...what are you gonna do?

Quote:

Originally Posted by fuzzy dunlop 

Would love to see Franco and Hawkes win.

 

Franco's great in 127 HOURS, but Firth knocks spots off of him. 

No...Expendables for Best Picture, Typical!  Also Typical, No Best Director for...Sylvester Stallone either.  Daft Punk should have been nominated for best score.  At least there was...One deserving Oscar Nom...Iron Man 2 nominated for Best Special Effects was it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew Merriweather 

Franco's great in 127 HOURS, but Firth knocks spots off of him. 

Haven't seen Kings Speech yet, so Franco is still the front runner in my mind.

Holy shit! DOGTOOTH. Yeeesss.

Nolan must have run over someone's dog at the Academy, because that Director omission is just utter horseshit. 

Have no real problem with any of the other noms other than a heavy sigh at all the Alice tech nods.  That's just lazy, Academy. 

When was the last time Best Visual Effects was five nominees?  Seems like it's been three for a long time now. 

At the very least, Effects is a foregone conclusion. That's Inception's award.

I'm perplexed at Nolan's snub in directing, but I wouldn't bounce Tom Hooper out for him--there's a lot of really great, subtle directorial choices with the cinematography and framing that elevated the film. And also, let's not forget, great performances don't happen in a vacuum; he directed a trio of them in the same film. If I had to swap, I'd take out Russell and put in Nolan. Nolan will have his day, I'm sure.

I'm more surprised than I am shocked at the lack of Daft Punk for best score, especially with all the scores which were for whatever reason ineligible.

Hell, THE KINGS SPEECH wasn't even Desplat's best score of last year.

Would love to see Stuart Craig actually win for Potter (the Ministry in Part I is just tremendously well-designed), although the competition this year is considerable. He's been nominated for the films, but hasn't actually won an Oscar since The English Patient.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua Miller 

Holy shit! DOGTOOTH. Yeeesss.

 In my blog I noted this might be the first surrealistic movie featuring

that's also kind of a comedy to get an Oscar nod.

I will check in with more reaction later (got to go to a funeral right now), but for now let me just say I am both enraged and bewildered by the existence of a "BEST ANIMATED FILM" category if it appears that animated films qualify for the general BEST PICTURE award. Why not a "BEST COMEDY" or "BEST DRAMA" award then? It makes no sense to give animation it's own category and then say some animated films are so good they can transcend that category and win a regular award

It's like the SPECIAL OLYMPICS of movie awards. If you're just going to use it to hand out Oscars to DREAMWORKS ANIMATION STUDIOS for making crass films that generate lots of money, only to then turn around and say "Ok, but TOY STORY 3 is actually a good movie outside of the standards of mere animated films!", then really, what is the point?

PS Rath Bandu, before he left, agreed with me on this point

These past nine years must have been Hell for you, Kate.

The Wolfman is nominated for an Oscar. I repeat, the fucking WOLFMAN!

And of course Scott Pilgrim got shit. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by santi-freak 

The Wolfman is nominated for an Oscar. I repeat, the fucking WOLFMAN!

 

For Makeup. Rick Baker, motherfucker. Recognize.

Biggest snub was Waiting for Superman.  I'm not surprised a documentary critical of the  teacher's union failed to get a nomination, but it's still disappointing.

Someone better break the news to Kate that films nominated for Best Forigen Film are also eligable to be nominated for Best Picture. It's a new reality!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Clark 

Quote:

Originally Posted by santi-freak 

The Wolfman is nominated for an Oscar. I repeat, the fucking WOLFMAN!

 

For Makeup. Rick Baker, motherfucker. Recognize.

 I'm waiting for someone to start complaining that SALT and UNSTOPPABLE got Oscar noms too, unironically failing to realize that it was just for SOUND.

Am I missing Nick's picks for best original screenplay or am I going blind???

Isn't the entire reason we have 10 nominees now kind of related Christopher Nolan? Where's the love, Academy? Despite the director snub, this is pretty much how I thought it'd go. That's not a bad thing, there's no real front runner now (though I'm still behind The Social Network), so it could be a real race for the next month.

I can't wait to see Franco's reaction, win or lose. It would be kind of awesome if he won, but damn, Colin Firth is fucking great.

The snub of Daft Punk's excellent score for Tron: Legacy is pretty shitty, but I'm glad that Renner is once again nominated, and Jeff Bridges too.

Inception was a good movie, but I'm not upset that Nolan didn't get a directing nod. At least he got a nod for the screenplay, which I believe was well deserved since it was a pretty original movie.

Not much to add (beyond the fact that the Garfield snub pretty much seals the deal for King's Speech to take the big one, though The Fighter certainly has a shot, so to speak). While I agree that Leo's formidable competition, the presence of Adams may split enough votes to give it to Steinfeld (who gave at least as fine a performance as Leo did, and with a lot less life experience to guide her).

I'll toss in some love for The Gruffalo; cute story with some really fine voice work and facial animation.

ETA: Are people really that hipped on the Tron score? I can see being delighted had Daft Punk had a reason to show up at the Oscars just for the hell of it, but about 85% of it sounded like by-the-numbers big-budget scifi to me.

By the way, I'm rather proud that of this being the first Oscars since '05 where I've seen all the Best Picture nominees.

Seeing Hawkes get a nom for Winter's Bone is a pleasant surprise-- he won't win but he'll get attention nonetheless and I can't really complain about that. As far as everything else, let me echo the "what the fuck" reaction to Nolan getting shafted for direction and Inception and Scott Pilgrim getting shafted on editing. I never had a delusion that Scott Pilgrim was a serious Oscar contender or anything, but it never seemed outside the realm of possibility that it could get an editing nom. Looks like I was more deluded than I realize.

I don't think Exit Through the Gift Shop, good as it is, is winning anything when Restrepo's around and Hollywood still loves its Afghanistan war stories. Plus, who would accept that award for Banksy (because like hell he'd show up to receive it himself)? Guetta? Someone pretending to be Banksy? Or, dare I say...Spike Jonez? Wouldn't that be something.

Best picture, I say with confidence, goes to The Social Network. It's "the film" of the year, the it-movie that has won over critics and the mainstream and which will come to represent 2010 in cinema years from now. There are better movies released this year-- Black Swan's my #1-- but I think this is really TSN's category.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Clark 

By the way, I'm rather proud that of this being the first Oscars since '05 where I've seen all the nominees.

I always try to do this every year, and come up short for one reason or another.

Although as far as the Best Picture nominees go, I only need to see The King's Speech, Winter's Bone, and The Kids Are All Right.