Well technically, my Oscar watch begins in the spring with the rumblings coming out of Cannes, which then begins my countdown and anticipation to what I'll see at TIFF in September, which really properly gets the whole award season kicked off in full try-harding fashion.
I began the day obviously by watching the nominations live - [side note how anyone (i.e. Chris Pine) can look that good in a suit at 5:30am PST I'll never understand] - and then by immediately basking in the petty satisfaction of Jennifer Aniston not getting a nomination (#Brangeloonieforlife), despite one the sickest, slickest Oscar campaigns run in years. So I guess even though the Academy is racist, sexist, and completely out of touch with everything (see: this years nominations below), the one thing I'll give to them is the fact that they really didn't want Rachel Green's future shitty fart-comedy movie trailers to say "starring Academy Award Nominee Jennifer Aniston"
But I'd say that's probably the only thing they got right today. The more I think about it, the more insane these nominations are. So now though, lets talk some shit about the Academy is. Initial thoughts:
What the hell went wrong for Selma this year? Especially coming off a previous year that saw 12 Years a Slave win Best Picture?! Ugh. My brother suggests that one of the problems with Selma was that it came out too late in the year, and so there hasn't been enough buzz, not enough people have seen it. I don't disagree, but also, there are clearly other things at play here, i.e. race and gender -- 2 things the Academy doesn't do well. Proof: Oscar voters are 94% white, 77% male and only 14% are under the age of 50.
Selma did get a Best Pic nomination, but nothing else. This is strange, no? Is the sum of a movie not made of its parts? If a movie is Best Pic quality, doesn't that indicate that the story, and/or acting and/or directing is also great?
My brother pointed out that in Ava DuVernay (who directed Selma) not being nominated for Best Director, this is the 8th time a female director's film has been nominated for Best Picture, but she hasn't been nominated for Best Director. (Other examples: Zero Dark Thirty, The Kids Are Alright, Winter's Bone...) I guess what the Academy is saying is, you shouldn't make movies unless you're a while man--b/c that's who is nominated this year (and every year). No doubt that Richard Linklater's masterful Boyhood gets him on the list, as well as Birdman's Alejandro González Iñárritu. Those are easily the 2 best movies I saw in 2014 (though I still have some catching up to do). And I'm thrilled that Wes Anderson, who is one of my favourite directors, finally got a Best Director nomination, but don't tell me that Ava DuVernay didn't deserve that nomination more than the guy who directed The Imitation Game, which is not a very good film by the way (Cumberbitches beware!) UGH.
So, to honour the rage of Ava not being nominated, I'll tell you to go and see her first feature, Middle Of Nowhere, which I saw a few years ago at TIFF. It's a really great film about a woman who drops out of med school to support her husband who's in prison. David Oyelowo, who plays MLK Jr. in Selma, is in it as well.
I began the day obviously by watching the nominations live - [side note how anyone (i.e. Chris Pine) can look that good in a suit at 5:30am PST I'll never understand] - and then by immediately basking in the petty satisfaction of Jennifer Aniston not getting a nomination (#Brangeloonieforlife), despite one the sickest, slickest Oscar campaigns run in years. So I guess even though the Academy is racist, sexist, and completely out of touch with everything (see: this years nominations below), the one thing I'll give to them is the fact that they really didn't want Rachel Green's future shitty fart-comedy movie trailers to say "starring Academy Award Nominee Jennifer Aniston"
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| Sorry Jenn! No Oscar for you! |
What the hell went wrong for Selma this year? Especially coming off a previous year that saw 12 Years a Slave win Best Picture?! Ugh. My brother suggests that one of the problems with Selma was that it came out too late in the year, and so there hasn't been enough buzz, not enough people have seen it. I don't disagree, but also, there are clearly other things at play here, i.e. race and gender -- 2 things the Academy doesn't do well. Proof: Oscar voters are 94% white, 77% male and only 14% are under the age of 50.
Selma did get a Best Pic nomination, but nothing else. This is strange, no? Is the sum of a movie not made of its parts? If a movie is Best Pic quality, doesn't that indicate that the story, and/or acting and/or directing is also great?
My brother pointed out that in Ava DuVernay (who directed Selma) not being nominated for Best Director, this is the 8th time a female director's film has been nominated for Best Picture, but she hasn't been nominated for Best Director. (Other examples: Zero Dark Thirty, The Kids Are Alright, Winter's Bone...) I guess what the Academy is saying is, you shouldn't make movies unless you're a while man--b/c that's who is nominated this year (and every year). No doubt that Richard Linklater's masterful Boyhood gets him on the list, as well as Birdman's Alejandro González Iñárritu. Those are easily the 2 best movies I saw in 2014 (though I still have some catching up to do). And I'm thrilled that Wes Anderson, who is one of my favourite directors, finally got a Best Director nomination, but don't tell me that Ava DuVernay didn't deserve that nomination more than the guy who directed The Imitation Game, which is not a very good film by the way (Cumberbitches beware!) UGH.
So, to honour the rage of Ava not being nominated, I'll tell you to go and see her first feature, Middle Of Nowhere, which I saw a few years ago at TIFF. It's a really great film about a woman who drops out of med school to support her husband who's in prison. David Oyelowo, who plays MLK Jr. in Selma, is in it as well.
Shock in the Best Actor category is the addition of Bradley Cooper to the exclusion of Jake Gylenhall and David Oyelowo. Jake, who's been nominated for all the Awards this season for his performance in Nightcrawler, was considered a lock for the fourth spot, with Oyelowo, B. Coop, and Steve Carrell vying for 5th. In true Academy fashion though, the black man playing MLK Jr. is overlooked for the white man's dream, B. Coop. Third year in a row now for Coop with his good hair and his relatable American roles--football! cops! snipers! I can almost see Academy members clenching their fists and gritting their teeth while whispering "America" as they submitted their ballots for Coop.
And really, American Sniper, 6 nominations? I just can't with that movie. And I can't with Clint Eastwood, who is now nominated for everything and anything he does. He is the undeserving male version of Meryl Streep. Honestly, I'm surprised Eastwood's crazy Chrysler commercials that aired during the Superbowl a few years back (that Bill Hader so wonderfully parodied) weren't nominated.
I wonder if the nostalgia for American militarism is coming from the resurgent "war on terror" we've been seeing lately? (I'm not actually asking by the way). In any case, the fact that Eastwood chose not to depict the end of Navy seal Chris Kyle's narrative--that the most lethal sniper in American war sniper was not killed during his 4 tours in Iraq, but actually was shot to death at a shooting range in Texas by a fellow young military veteran he'd gone there with b/c of the vets ongoing PTSD. Maybe examining the story of PTSD, lack of support for returning soldiers, or insane gun violence in the US would have been a more worthwhile note to end the film on? No?
Other ridiculousness/snubs:
- Birdman is NOT nominated for Editing. The whole movie is edited to look like one continuous shot. How that doesn't get some Editing recognition is beyond me.
- Force Majeure, which I've heard about non-stop since TIFF was left off the Foreign Films list.
- NO Foxcatcher for Best Pic, despite having a Best Actor nom and Best director nom, and that there can be 10 nominees for Picture, and there are only 8.
I know there are more, but I must leave some of the raging for tomorrow!
What are your thoughts about the noms?
