Official Oscar Nomination Thread (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Conway]

"With the exception of Michel Hazanavicius (THE ARTIST), everyone in the Best Director category has made a better movie. Much better."


And....? They didn't make those other movies in 2011. Seems like a week argument. Some would argue that Capra's best film is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It just so happened it had to go up against Gone with the Wind that year. They have to have cutoffs somewhere.

 

[Kevin EK]

War Horse was only nominated because the Academy now allows up to 10 films to get the Best Picture nomination - as a specific response to the negative reaction to the nominees in 2008. It will not win, since the real race there is essentially down to The Artist and The Descendants. The favorite seems to be The Artist, which again seems likely to sweep three of the most important categories.


Keep in mind that the Academy seldom goes with the big budget movie these days. They are more likely to go with the smaller budget, more independently minded movie. Look at the last few winners: The King's Speech, The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men. The Hurt Locker in particular is instructive: it was a modestly budgeted movie about a munitions-clearing team in Iraq. It was filmed under difficult conditions in the Middle East, and it overcame all odds to get made and get Kathryn Bigelow a DGA award and an Oscar. This year, there is definitely popular sentiment for Martin Scorcese, as there was for James Cameron with Avatar. But James Cameron and Avatar did not win the major Oscars. Those went to The Hurt Locker.


Martin Scorcese also just won a DGA Award and an Emmy in the past year for his direction of the pilot episdoe of Boardwalk Empire. He won Best Director for The Departed five years ago, most likely in recognition for his long and distinguished career to date, as is normally the case with the Oscars. Many people finally win an Oscar for something after having been nominated multiple times, and the eventual win is almost a cumulative nod. Given that Scorcese won a DGA Award so recently, it's not likely that he'll immediately get it again. The more likely winner will be Hazanavicius for The Artist, for the pure audacity of making a silent movie in 2011, and for making it in such a charming fashion. Of all the nominees for the major categories, only The Artist has that distinction - it's the kind of idea the Academy tends to reward. And the movie is a valentine to the golden age of Hollywood, which never hurts either.


I'd look for Hugo to pick up a few more technical awards as a nod to the great work done on the movie. And I'd look for The Artist to take the Picture/Director/Screenplay trio. The acting categories will be a different story, but they usually are.


Steven Spielberg will be nominated again within the next few years. He's usually nominated for his more serious films, like the two for which he finally won Oscars in the 1990s. His last nomination was for Munich, which was the serious film out of the two he did in 2005. He wasn't nominated for the 2008 Indiana Jones movie, and I doubt anyone expected him to be nominated for Tintin. But you may see a nomination for Lincoln, if that comes out as well as it looks. I doubt he's much concerned about getting another Best Director nod this year. He'll make plenty more films and get plenty more nominations and awards down the road.

 

[Craig S]

Originally Posted by Steve Christou

Wow I just noticed J. Edgar not getting any Oscar noms at all and Clint Eastwood makes films especially for the Oscar luvvies, that must have stung. ...

Originally Posted by Russell G [url=/t/317978/official-oscar-nomination-thread/30#post_3891079]

Yeah, Eastwood must be pissed, he always gets noms, even that Hearafter or whatever it was movie got a nom for Special Efffects (I think it won, over Inception and Scott Pilgrim... RIDICULOUS!) and I don't think anyone liked it.

You guys can't be serous. You really think that Clint Eastwood gives a rat's ass about Oscars at this point in his life and career?? Dude's 81 years young. He makes the movies he wants to make.


Inception (rightfully) won the Visual Effects Oscar last year, but Hereafter's nomination was earned - the tsunami scene which garnered the nod was spectacular and frightening.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Craig S



You guys can't be serous. You really think that Clint Eastwood gives a rat's ass about Oscars at this point in his life and career?? Dude's 81 years young. He makes the movies he wants to make.


Inception (rightfully) won the Visual Effects Oscar last year, but Hereafter's nomination was earned - the tsunami scene which garnered the nod was spectacular and frightening.

I'm with you, he has his four Oscars, but he always made movies he wants to make. At least for the last 35 years or so.

 

[Brandon Conway]

With Hazanavicius winning the DGA, The Artist is basically a lock for Director/Picture Oscars. I love the film, so I'm cool with it, but what Scorsese does in Hugo is pushing the language of film to a whole new level.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Brandon Conway

With Hazanavicius winning the DGA, The Artist is basically a lock for Director/Picture Oscars. I love the film, so I'm cool with it, but what Scorsese does in Hugo is pushing the language of film to a whole new level.

Yeah, I'm afraid so.

 

[Kevin EK]

The Artist is on its way to getting the trifecta.


But it still could go a little different. Since 1968, there have been six times where the DGA Award winner did not get the /Best Director Oscar. Two of those cases were situations where the director was not even nominated for an Oscar. The divergence is due to the different people voting. The DGA Awards are voted on by DGA members, including film and television directors of all stripes, as well as below the line production managers and assistant directors. The Oscars are voted on by Academy members, and the Best Director Oscar is nominated by feature film directors who are Academy members. So the nomination process is narrowed down to a specific group of movie directors. Usually, everyone comes out with the same answer, but there have been divergences.

 

[Michael Elliott]

I caught up with a few more of the major noms that I hadn't seen. WARRIOR was pretty good and Nolte was great in it but I don't think he would have made my list for the Top 5 of the year. EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE....yikes. I didn't think CRASH was a good movie but I understand how some might be taken in by it. This film, on the other hand, really shocks me with the Best Picture nomination because I don't recall anyone really calling it a good movie let alone one of the best of the year. I found it to be incredibly frustrating and rather exploitive and for the life of me I don't see how it got Best Picture. Max von Sydow was terrific so I don't have a problem with him getting a nom. I just got done with EL&IC about twenty-minutes ago and the crowd report was rather telling. I'd say there were at least 30-40 people there and I noticed five walk outs. The crowd was extremely quiet throughout and I noticed one person crying at the end, which is pretty telling and I think it says the film isn't working for most.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

"With the exception of Michel Hazanavicius (THE ARTIST), everyone in the Best Director category has made a better movie. Much better." And....? They didn't make those other movies in 2011. Seems like a week argument. Some would argue that Capra's best film is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It just so happened it had to go up against Gone with the Wind that year. They have to have cutoffs somewhere.

Exactly. It's not like there's a one film limit per director. Woody Allen also got nominated for Crimes and Misdemeanors and Martin Scorsese for GoodFellas. Should Orson Welles have thrown in the towel after Citizen Kane? The Magnificent Ambersons, The Stranger, The Lady from Shanghai and Touch of Evil might not hold a candle to that masterpiece, but I'd much rather have them than not. If a movie wasn't first released in NY or LA at some point during 2011, it shouldn't enter the conversation.

 

[Brandon Conway]

I must say, the SAG awards basically re-enforced what I thought was happening. Between it and the DGAs this weekend they've made this year's Oscars rather obvious. The only real mystery left for me is to see if Hugo will go 0-11, or perhaps actually get one (presumably Art Direction).

 

[Craig S]

There is one very positive note from the SAGs, and that is that momentum may be swinging away from Streep in the Best Actress race as more people see The Iron Lady and realize how bad it is. Very happy for Viola Davis - she has turned in some amazing performances over the past decade and even though The Help isn't her best role (not a comment on Davis but the limitations of the role as written) I still think in this year's crop she's a worthy winner.


If it wasn't clear before it should be now that Octavia Spencer is a solid lock for Supporting Actress. And Plummer is the guy to beat in Supporting Actor.


I've read some comments that The Help's cast win in the SAGs may mean it is getting some BP momentum. Not sure I buy that. It does look like The Artist has Picture, Director, and Actor sewn up.


So yeah, for yet another year it looks like another suspense-free Oscar telecast, at least for the major awards. Bummer.

 

[Kevin EK]

Now appears to be going towards:


Best Picture - The Artist

Best Director - The Artist

Best Original Screenplay - The Artist

Best Actor - The Artist

Best Actress - The Help

Best Supporting Actor - Beginners

Best Supporting Actress - The Help


But again, you never know...

 

[Patrick Sun]

The general public will go "Wha?" when it comes to such a landslide night for "The Artist" (if it pans out for it).

 

[Ruz-El]

Originally Posted by Patrick Sun

The general public will go "Wha?" when it comes to such a landslide night for "The Artist" (if it pans out for it).

Talking to the casual movie fans at work, they're already saying"Wha?" due to the lack luster best picture noms, forget about a sweep.


The only positive to The Artist sweeping is there is a very thin chance the studios will see this as a chance to profit off their silent film catalogs. Provided they can convert them to 3D and add a Ke$ha song to them anyways....

 

[TravisR]

Talking to the casual movie fans at work, they're already saying"Wha?" due to the lack luster best picture noms...

I'm not one of those miserable bastards who hasn't liked a movie since 1970 (not because they've turned into bitter old men but because the movies are all bad now) but even I think it was a fairly weak year. I haven't seen The Descendents or Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close yet but I've seen the other BP nominess and they are all fine movies but none of them really stuck out as THE Best Picture to me. If I was a voter, I'd probably go with Hugo but I wouldn't be too bothered if The Artist, Midnight In Paris or The Tree Of Life won.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I'll co-sign on this year's slate of Best Film nominees being pretty weak overall. It'll be interesting to see which film from 2011 will be remembered fondly as strong films, even 10 years from now, as I can't see that number being more than 5.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Yeah, I agree this is a lackluster slate. I've seen 8 of the 9 - all but "Extremely Close" - and can't find a single one that excites me. That's unusual - I normally find at least one flick to choose as my clear "rooting interest". "Social Network" last year, "Avatar" in 2010... there's usually something I actively hope will win.


This year? Shrug. I'll probably root for "Descendants" because I like some of Payne's other work - thought "Sideways" should've beaten the awful "Million Dollar Baby"- but I'm not enthusiastic about it. More hoping "Artist" LOSES than anything specific wins...

 

[Michael Elliott]

While it's not 1939 I'm not sure why so many people are acting like it's one of the worst years in decades. While there weren't a large number of great films this year we at least got to see some legends return to some pretty big movies. Scorsese, Malick, Allen, Eastwood, Herzog, Spielberg and even Polanski released some pretty good to great films. THE ARTIST and HUGO, whether you like them or not, shined a spotlight on silents and probably got many more saved, preserved and released. Both Clooney and Fincher released very good movies that show we at least have some good directors lined up for future films. TAKE SHELTER, THE BEAVER, YOUNG ADULT, A BETTER LIFE, THE PERFECT HOST, MELANCHOLIA, EVERYTHING MUST GO, RED STATE and THE CONSPIRATOR were pretty good movies that no one saw so these stand a shot at be discovered at some point. Not to mention the countless foreign movies that were either overlooked or haven't been released here yet.

 

[TravisR]

While it's not 1939 I'm not sure why so many people are acting like it's one of the worst years in decades. While there weren't a large number of great films this year we at least got to see some legends return to some pretty big movies. Scorsese, Malick, Allen, Eastwood, Herzog, Spielberg and even Polanski released some pretty good to great films. THE ARTIST and HUGO, whether you like them or not, shined a spotlight on silents and probably got many more saved, preserved and released. Both Clooney and Fincher released very good movies that show we at least have some good directors lined up for future films. TAKE SHELTER, THE BEAVER, YOUNG ADULT, A BETTER LIFE, THE PERFECT HOST, MELANCHOLIA, EVERYTHING MUST GO, RED STATE and THE CONSPIRATOR were pretty good movies that no one saw so these stand a shot at be discovered at some point. Not to mention the countless foreign movies that were either overlooked or haven't been released here yet.

It's not so much that it was a bad year, it's just that, in terms of BP nominations, there was nothing that stood out all that much to me. Off the top of my head, I liked The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Ides Of March, Young Adult and Drive more than the other movies that actually got a BP nom. I'm not surprised that none of those got nominated (except Ides Of March) but since none of my really favorite movies made it, my interest is lower than normal. Random thoughts: I just saw The Help and liked it much more than I thought I would. The performances from everyone (not just the nominated actors) are all very good. I'm not a Woody Allen aficiando but Midnight In Paris is probably my favorite movie of his since Annie Hall. Granted, I know I've missed ones here and there but Midnight In Paris was a charming little movie. It's a shame that Young Adult could get some Oscar recognition for its script or its actors. Speaking of Red State, I'm hoping Michael Parks can use that as a springboard to get some character roles in big movies. For how good that guy is, it's a crime that he isn't more well known and in bigger movies.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I have seen all the nominated films except for EXTREMELY
LOUD and MIDNIGHT IN PARIS.


Thus far, THE ARTIST is my pick for Best Picture. Have

just seen it, and I thought it was simply fantastic. Who would

think a B&W Silent film would evoke so much emotion and
make for one of the most entertaining films of the year.