Well, i
know that it may seem like i am putting rather a lot of emphasis on awards
season at the moment, as i recently said to some mocking members of my family
(you know who you are) it’s like my superbowl, and is now my favorite holiday of
the year (yes, it’s even better than Christmas). Yesterday, the Oscar
nominations were released, and for the first time ever, I watched them being
unveiled live, yes, it was pretty exciting. This year the Oscars will be
celebrating heroes, superheroes, action heroes and film heroes, and the
ceremony will be hosted by Ellen DeGeneres for the second time. Just to be
clear in this post I will not be giving my predictions for the results
themselves, just commenting on various snubs and surprises, it seems like an
appropriate time.
It seems
like a good idea to start with the supporting acting categories, the only real
surprise in the Best Supporting Actor category was the inclusion of Jonah Hill
for The Wolf of Wall Street, his performance in the film is not typical academy
fare, and it’s nice for the academy to be finally recognizing comedy. His
performance in the film is fantastic, and in some ways is instrumental to
DiCaprio’s performance. His inclusion comes of course at the cost of Danel
Bruhl’s performance in Rush, in a sense it is a shame that the academy still
refuses to properly represent foreign actors, and this year Barkhad Abdi is the
only vaguely foreign nominee in any of the acting categories (he was born in Somalia but was raised in Yemen).
There are
no surprises this year in the Best Supporting Actress category, and the
nominees are the same as they were for the globes, the only snub is the
omission of Oprah Winfrey for The Butler, her performance was visceral, painful
and touching, and it is a shame that neither the HFPA nor the Academy saw fit
to recognize her work.
In the Best Actor category there were rather a few surprises, as with last year, this is an
incredibly stuffed category, and there were many fantastic performances by men this
year, the caliber of the actors who were snubbed is testament to this. Christian
Bale’s performance is American Hustle was nominated, he truly is a fantastic
actor and it was great to see his work on this film nominated. Bruce Dern’s
performance in Nebraska also got a nomination, and it’s always nice to se an
older actor get recognition, especially after so fine a career.
Now for the
snubs, and I’m afraid there were many, perhaps the most obvious omission is Tom
Hanks, who was lauded for his work on Captain Philips, and who was nominated
for a globe for his performance. I feel that although Hanks didn’t get a
nomination, his castmate did, and it is nice to see the academy supporting new
and exciting talent. Also snubbed was Robert Redford, whose performance in All
is Lost failed to get a nod, this is a shame, particularly as Redford has yet
to win an Oscar, but, this category was awfully full this year. Also
snubbed were Oscar Isaac and Idris Elba, I was particularly upset by Isaac’s
lack of a nomination, as his performance in Inside LLewyn Davis is truly a
powerhouse, and his performance is emotional and at times heartbreaking. The
only other real snub was Joaquin Phoenix, for Her, this is even more surprising
given that he has nominated multiple times for the Oscars and has never won,
and that he is clearly not on the Academy’s ‘Hit List’.
In the Best
Actress category there were only a few surprises, Meryl Streep’s nomination for
August Osage County, although a surprise, is not really a shock, the academy
has favored Meryl for years, and although she is a superb actress, her
performance in this film is far from special. Of the snubs the most surprising
is the omission of Emma Thompson for her work on Saving Mr Banks, her
performance in this film was acclaimed by critics, and Hollywood has long
favored self-referential films about the making of movies (think ‘The Artist’).
Among other snubs was the omission of either of the stars of Blue Is The
Warmest Color, although I didn’t really expect this film to get a nomination, I
feel that it is essentially a continuum of the Academy’s refusal to grant
nominations for worthy foreign language performances.
In the Best Director category, I was delighted for Martin Scorsese to get a nomination for
The Wolf of Wall Street, otherwise there were very few snubs, perhaps the only
surprisingly omission is Paul Greengrass, director of Captain Phillips. This
category, although surprisingly in cases is not the momental flop it was last
year, and the nominations seem at least fairly logical.
The
Best Screenplay categories also seem fairly logical, the only startling omissions
are the snubs of Inside LLewyn Davis and Saving Mr Banks. Perhaps Meryl Streeps
smear campaign against Walt Disney worked better than anyone expected. The
addition of The Broken Circle Breakdown in the Best Foreign Language Film
category is a bit of a surprise, and it
certainly makes me a little proud to be from Belgium! I would describe Blue Is
the Warmest Color as a snub, despite the fact that it wasn’t
selected as France’s official selection for this category, it is
disappointing that this
film wasn’t given more recognition.
There were
no real snubs in the Best Animated Feature category, the omission of Monsters
University will perhaps come as a surprise to some, but overall this film
simply didn’t match up to the quality of the other films in competition this
year. The surprises are the additions of The Wind Rises and Ernest and
Celestine. It is nice to see Hayao Miyazaki nominated seeing as this is it’s
last feature film, and it’s great for a couple of foreign animated movies to be
nominated this year.
The Best
Documentary Feature featured some of the biggest snubs this year, Blackfish
failed to receive a nomination despite being acclaimed at Sundance and being a
powerful portrayal of a complex subject. Also missing from this category was
Stories We Tell, the autobiographical film by Sarah Polley that was
largely seen as being a favorite for this category, and of all the categories
this year, this category seems to be the most disappointing and illogical.
Now we come
to Best Picture, again this was a hugely competitive year, and there were many
fantastic films that weren’t nominated here or at the golden globes, the
biggest surprises are the Coen Brothers’ Inside LLewyn Davis, Saving Mr Banks,
Capitan Phillips and Blue Is the Warmest Color, and it would have been nice to
see the latter receive some recognition, in lieu of it being this years’
recipient of the Palme D’Or at Cannes, this again perhaps proves Cannes ineffectiveness
at providing a barometer for what will happen during awards season (runner up
was Inside LLewyn Davis which also failed to receive a nomination). Also
snubbed was Lee Daniels’ The Butler, which although attempting to be Oscar
bait, failed to pick up a single major nomination this awards season,
(retrospectively this can perhaps be seen as a sign of the Academy’s integrity,
I must explore this sometime).
Overall
this years’ list seems to be a fairly logical (if a little safe) series of
nominees, there are no categories which the academy really screwed up (unlike
last year), and the academy even tentatively branched out, nominating more
unexperienced actors, and supporting a lot of young talent including the
feature film debuts of Lupita Nyong’o and Barkhad Abdi. It is also worth noting
that Jennifer Lawrence’s third nomination makes her the youngest person ever to
receive three nominations. Overall the biggest snubs are of course Inside
LLewyn Davis which failed to pick up a single major nomination despite being a
fantastic film, and Saving Mr Banks, which was long thought to be a favorite to
win best picture. Lee Daniels’ The Bulter was also snubbed and failed to pick
up a single nomination. Finally rounding out this group therapy session is Blue
Is The Warmest Color, which wasn’t nominated for a single Oscar. The fact that
Jackass was nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling will surely amuse some,
but American Hustle’s snub from this category is a mystery (perhaps explosion
at the wig factory would have been a better title).
Overall
this is a fine list of categories, and the Acadely showed their artistic
integrity somewhat by picking some unexpected nominees, and not rising to the
bait of some films, I look forward to the Oscars telecast on the second of
march, and I am sure that Ellen DeGeneres will make just as fantastic a host as
she did last time, and will certainly do a better job than Seth McFarlane.
