Uncut Gems (2019) (1 Viewer)

[Winston T. Boogie]

I kind of feel that the film was not given real consideration because Sandler is the star. Phoenix is considered a "serious" actor and thus that elevated Joker above a picture that features Adam Sandler. Which I think is ridiculous. Sandler is fantastic and fully invested. He gained weight for the role and delivers an outstanding serious performance. Maybe I'm wrong but I think they overlooked this one just because Sandler is the featured actor.

 

[TravisR]

I kind of feel that the film was not given real consideration because Sandler is the star. Phoenix is considered a "serious" actor and thus that elevated Joker above a picture that features Adam Sandler. Which I think is ridiculous. Sandler is fantastic and fully invested. He gained weight for the role and delivers an outstanding serious performance. Maybe I'm wrong but I think they overlooked this one just because Sandler is the featured actor.

I think that's true to some degree but I also think that Sandler was just a runner up. If there had been one more person nominated, it would have been Sandler. Phoenix is easily the best thing in Joker and he's good in the movie so I don't begrudge his nomination.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I saw it with my wife and thought it was really impressive on many levels. But she absolutely hated it.

Yes, I doubt my wife would enjoy this film either. I went to it alone and ended up sitting with a German or Austrian couple that were, sort of humorously, drinking heavily during the show. I moved a seat away from them during the film because the guy could not help talking to the screen every time Sandler's character made another insane move that went against all good common sense. He also had an incredibly loud and contagious laugh that erupted several times during the film that caused other audience members to laugh and I was unsure whether they were laughing at him or the film.

It was more funny than annoying but he took the hint when I moved away from him and then offered me a beer, I think as apology for his being so noisy. Then the blonde that was his date or wife had to keep getting up to go to the bathroom during the film and during her last trip fell drunkenly on top of me and struggled to get up basically groping me in about 30 different ways. I was trying to be careful as to how I touched her to help her up because I did not want her to get the idea I was groping her back. He of course laughed loudly at this as he watched her struggle and me obviously trying to be careful where I put my hands as I managed to grip her by the waist of her leather mini skirt and get her back to her feet but with her bending forward as if she were about to kiss me or vomit as she slurred in a heavy German accent "Too much beer."

Despite all this I still really enjoyed the picture but I want to see it again with less German, less beer, and less groping.

 

[Hanson]

Even if Joker never existed, Uncut Gems would have still been squeezed out of almost every category. The open director slot would have gone to Gerwig. Actor probably to Dafoe. And it's not even competing with Joker for Original Screenplay anyway, but couldn't crack that either. It was actually a confluence of Joker and OUaTiH and 1917 and Marriage Story sucking the air out of the room in concert.

And while I liked this film very much, I'm more sore about The Farewell getting shut out than Uncut Gems.

I have a friend who tries to watch everything nominated before the ceremony (I mean, everything). But he did not want to see Uncut Gems and was thrilled/relieved when it got skunked.

 

[Malcolm R]

The Academy is never going to give an Oscar to Adam Sandler, whose career was built on weird voices and fart jokes. See also: Jim Carrey (Golden Globe wins for The Truman Show and Man in the Moon, and a nomination for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; zero Oscar nominations).

 

[JohnRice]

The only movie I've ever seen that Adam Sandler is in is Punch-Drunk Love, so I have no idea what any of you are talking about.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I don’t think any awards body would have difficulty recognizing Sandler if they felt he deserved it; I think Punch-Drunk Love made the point that he’s a more than capable actor. And awards groups in general have a soft spot for comedic actors doing a drama, perhaps in part due to a long standing bias among many that comedy is easy and low class and that drama is the highest form of the art one can aspire to (I disagree but it’s not a rare opinion).

I think it is truly rare for voting bodies to hold grudges against actors for not being the type of performers they wish them to be. If you polled every voting member of every awards group, yes, it seems likely that one of those members would dismiss Sandler out of hand for being a comedian. But I generally do not believe in the whole deal with people being “snubbed” or there being some intellectual reason that voters are refusing to consider a certain choice. In almost every case, there’s simply someone that the voters liked more, or someone whose studio was more effective at getting voters to see a film than another studio was with theirs. It’s not nearly as monolithic a group nor as coordinated an effort as people think.

Even when people talk about “momentum” with a film doing well at successive award shows, that’s overblown. What looks like momentum is often the result of different awards bodies sharing a lot of the same voting members, and thus, similar results.

 

[bujaki]

It's interesting to note that the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards for Best Actor went for:
ADAM SANDLER for his work in Uncut Gems.
I guess not all AARP members are old farts.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

The only movie I've ever seen that Adam Sandler is in is Punch-Drunk Love, so I have no idea what any of you are talking about.

And what were your thoughts on Sandler and the picture itself?

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Even if Joker never existed, Uncut Gems would have still been squeezed out of almost every category. The open director slot would have gone to Gerwig. Actor probably to Dafoe. And it's not even competing with Joker for Original Screenplay anyway, but couldn't crack that either. It was actually a confluence of Joker and OUaTiH and 1917 and Marriage Story sucking the air out of the room in concert.

And while I liked this film very much, I'm more sore about The Farewell getting shut out than Uncut Gems.

I have a friend who tries to watch everything nominated before the ceremony (I mean, everything). But he did not want to see Uncut Gems and was thrilled/relieved when it got skunked.

Yes, I mean I think 2019 was a pretty good year and so I think there is plenty of room for people to make cases about who or what was snubbed, so all fair game. I was really just comparing Joker and Uncut Gems and really I feel like Joker is a film that basically in many ways just wants to ape films like Uncut Gems. So, to me Joker is an odd attempt to copy or nod to this type of picture...and obviously in the case of Joker, Scorsese in particular.

Whereas Uncut Gems is just the real deal.

 

[JohnRice]

And what were your thoughts on Sandler and the picture itself?

Of course, you probably realize I was being a little sarcastic, but it's true that I've only ever seen Sandler in that one movie, unless I'm forgetting something. In that case, I think he and the movie are excellent. I have no doubt that Sandler has greater acting skills than most people give him credit for. Do I think he's Gary Oldman? No. But there's a long history of largely comedic actors very effectively playing horrible, even psychopathic characters, and I suspect Sandler has the ability to pull this character off quite well.

People always feel this or that was "snubbed". I so largely disagree with awards, because they exclude so many wonderful little features, that I'm consigned to being happy on the rare occasion I believe they got one right.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

The Academy is never going to give an Oscar to Adam Sandler, whose career was built on weird voices and fart jokes. See also: Jim Carrey (Golden Globe wins for The Truman Show and Man in the Moon, and a nomination for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; zero Oscar nominations).

Well, if Sandler takes on more roles in the vein of Uncut Gems, meaning truly serious parts where he is not doing his goofy or angry man child bit I think they could later give more thought to nominating him.

I think to Academy voters Joker is more of a prestige picture because it has Phoenix and De Niro and also pretty strong political messaging they are enamored of.

Uncut Gems features Sandler and a bunch of unknowns and first time actors...so, they probably are far less likely to reward it. I think if Academy voters see it they will conclude "Oh, this Sandler guy can act." because really he does and he throws himself into this part completely.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Of course, you probably realize I was being a little sarcastic, but it's true that I've only ever seen Sandler in that one movie, unless I'm forgetting something. In that case, I think he and the movie are excellent. I have no doubt that Sandler has greater acting skills than most people give him credit for. Do I think he's Gary Oldman? No. But there's a long history of largely comedic actors very effectively playing horrible, even psychopathic characters, and I suspect Sandler has the ability to pull this character off quite well.

People always feel this or that was "snubbed". I so largely disagree with awards, because they exclude so many wonderful little features, that I'm consigned to being happy on the rare occasion I believe they got one right.

I've never really been a fan of Sandler and have not seen most of his work. I am a huge fan of Paul Thomas Anderson and so have also seen, and own a copy of, Punch Drunk Love. Sandler is good in it but I would say that Anderson does utilize the angry man child Sandler persona in the film. Anderson did say that something he recognized in Sandler's acting was that underneath the goofy there was a bit of simmering rage. Not uncommon with comic actors.

The difference in Uncut Gems is that Sandler puts none of that man child thing into this part. He is playing an unstable, angry, and obsessed man with zero of the Sandler "goofy" at play. It's a great performance and he goes all in with it and is mesmerizing in the part as a man that is basically a human train wreck.

It is by far the best thing I have ever seen him do.

 

[JohnRice]

Maybe I should say that in Punch-Drunk Love, Sandler is perfectly suited to the role, but he also embodies it, which involves more skill than he gets credit for. In comparison to, for example, Tom Cruise (who I think is a genuinely crappy actor) in Magnolia, where I think he's just playing himself to the fullest degree.

And yeah, I got the Superbit of PDL, then the Criterion BR when it came out.

 

[TravisR]

I think to Academy voters Joker is more of a prestige picture because it has Phoenix and De Niro and also pretty strong political messaging they are enamored of.

If they're looking for that, they should vote for Parasite because it's a better movie with a much better presentation of the same basic message.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I really don’t think several thousand voters sat down together and schemed “Now, how can we send a Message?”

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

If they're looking for that, they should vote for Parasite because it's a better movie with a much better presentation of the same basic message.

I agree but I was just talking about Uncut Gems and Joker.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Maybe I should say that in Punch-Drunk Love, Sandler is perfectly suited to the role, but he also embodies it

I agree and take into account that Anderson created that part specifically for Sandler.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Wow, this is one annoying film: Cheesy synthesizer Vangelis rip-off soundtrack; jerky camera and quick cutting to make it seem more exciting than it is; Gilbert Gottfried, er, I mean Adam Sandler yelling F-bombs for two hours and ten minutes; no one to give a damn about. I had to fast forward just to get to the good part - where Howard finally shuts up at the end.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Wow, this is one annoying film: Cheesy synthesizer Vangelis rip-off soundtrack; jerky camera and quick cutting to make it seem more exciting than it is; Gilbert Gottfried, er, I mean Adam Sandler yelling F-bombs for two hours and ten minutes; no one to give a damn about. I had to fast forward just to get to the good part - where Howard finally shuts up at the end.

Interesting take on the picture...