I looked around, but I didn’t see a thread for the latest Oscars? Lock this one up if there is one, but I don’t see it.
So what is everyone’s thoughts?
It’s a hard pick for me, because I love American History and Les Miserables is my favourite musical. But I’m rooting for Lincoln.
I am sad that Moonrise Kingdom didn’t get nominated for best pic, or that Les Miserables was snubbed in the Cinematography category.
And while I understand why they weren’t nominated, I am disappointed that The Avengers wasn’t nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Rise of the Guardians wasn’t nominated for Best Animated Film, and How Bad Can I Be not nominated for best song.
I thought Cloud Atlas was one of the best films of the year. I was really surprised and upset when it didn’t garner a single nomination. I mean, sure it’s one of those films that is naturally going to polarize its audience because of its subject matter, but I thought that the Academy just eats that stuff up.
Also, definitely agree with you on Moonrise Kingdom.
Looking at the Oscar nominations list. I’m glad Argo, Life Of Pi and Les Miserables are up for Best Pic, seeing I enjoyed all of them and they’re the only three I’ve seen.
Props to Jackman and Hathaway for your acting nods, you fully deserve it.
Good picks for Best Animated Ghetto - I’m not surprised Dreamworks Animation didn’t get a pick this year (is this the first time?), seeing that they were a little weak (in comparison to the strong showing) this year. Although, I was secretly wishing that there would be room for Madagascar 3. Honestly, as much as I love Pixar, I’m tired of it always being a shoo-in. In my opinion, Brave, even with all its heartwarming moments and magnificent crimson locks, should not be on that list this year.
Hobbit gets makeup, congratulations Newman and Adele for Skyfall’s score and theme respectively, good on ya Paperman and Maggie In ‘The Longest Daycare’ for animated short film, and kudos to Avengers for Visual Effects.
Predictably, a select few films hog the limelight, and disappointingly, no animated film for Best Pic this year. Still looking forward to the show, though, if only because MacFarlane would be hosting and there will be a tribute segment to James Bond.
Haha, I’ll admit that he tends to rely on offensive humour and repetitive sight gags, even with his movie Ted (which I gave 4 stars in a printed review, but only because I like the ‘bromance’ and crossover-parody aspects of it).
Hmmm yeah come to think of it, I don’t recall WDA getting Best Animated Ghetto (it’s just my term to express my displeasure of lumping animated films into a separate category, like “Foreign Films”). I will definitely be rooting for Ralph to WRECK IT!
Ding: While I haven’t seen Cloud Atlas (although I plan to next week), I was surprised by the Academy snub. Such a shame, it looks like a visual masterpiece, at the very least.
You know, I was surprised as well, concerning Cloud Atlas. I haven’t seen it, but from what I heard about it, and the trailers and its cast, I expected it to get some recognition. Because it was, as you said, polarize the audience and was very very unconventional, and would go against Lincoln and Les Mis and Argo, I didn’t think it would ever win. But I did think it’d be nominated.
I’m not bothered by the offensive humour. I’m a big South Park fan. But I find that South Park at least has substance and is brilliant satire. MacFarlane’s work is repetitive and over all written poorly. What bothers me the most is that his work is unbareably misogynistic.
But credit given where credit is due. He is a talented singer and voice actor. I love his Lounge Lizard Style, and I do think he deserves the Oscar nom for best song. (Although I plan to never see Ted)
They never had won an Oscar in that category. While I understand why people dislike the Best Animated Film having a category (As Bird says, it’s an art form not a genre!) I am glad it’s there because i gives animated films an opportunity to get an Oscar which they wouldn’t have.
Ah, he got an Oscar nom? I didn’t pay attention the Best Song category, I’ll have another look.
A person I met yesterday to ask about ramen joints also criticised Ted when I told her I gave it four stars (she’s a film critic too). She said that Ted is like a big screen version of Family Guy, right down to the repetitive humour, big swing numbers and non-sequitur cutaways. Ted (who’s voiced by MacFarlane) also makes a reference to his voice actor by saying at one point that he sounds like Peter Griffin (who’s also voiced by MacFarlane). And Mila Kunis, another Family Guy actress, plays the love interest to Mark Wahlberg’s layabout.
So yeah, if you don’t like Family Guy, you’re not missing much by missing out on Ted.
I’m glad too the Academy has decided to recognise animated films’ merits, but sometimes I wonder why segregate them from live-action films? I feel that the animation industry is really settling for ‘second-best’. And we’ve had three animated films nominated for Best Picture for the medium’s 75-year history since Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs being its first feature film in 1937, a really wide disparity in comparison to live-action films’ tallies.
Pixar had the best shot of being the first studio to win an Academy Award for Best Pic, but at the rate it’s relying on sequels and spin-offs, I don’t think that will happen anytime soon.
While we’re on the topic of animated films and music, I’m also disappointed When Will I See You Again from Wreck-It-Ralph was not nominated for Best Song. Granted, it’s by a ‘mainstream’ artist, Owl City, and the pop-synth vibes might not gell with the mostly old Academy board members. But I thought it was a rather fitting ending song (both mournful and upbeat, [spoil]cos’ Ralph and Venelope part ways, but they look forward to seeing each other again[/spoil]), and the Academy has nominated such exclusively-end-credit songs like We Belong Together (Toy Story 3), Down To Earth (Wall-E) and My Funny Friend And Me (The Emperor’s New Groove).
Although I didn’t love Cloud Atlas nearly as much as I hoped I would, I’m still shocked that it didn’t even get some sort of makeup nomination.
I’m really disappointed that Moonrise Kingdom didn’t make the cut for Best Picture, and that Looper didn’t get a nod for Best Original Screenplay (although that was somewhat expected). It’s too bad that Rise of the Guardians isn’t a Best Animated Feature nominee, either. I have a lot more complaints, but I’ll leave it at that
I’ve seen a good majority of the Best Picture nominees, and I hope to watch them all before the show. I just watched Beasts of the Southern Wild last night, and I was taken aback by how good it was. I’m actually hoping it wins; that girl definitely deserves Best Actress, at least. Lincoln and Life of Pi were enjoyable, but not extraordinary to me, and I enjoyed Les Mis a lot, but I don’t think it deserves to win. And I don’t see the appeal of Zero Dark Thirty at all. I thought it was really unengaging; there’s almost nothing to latch onto dramatically or character-wise until the last half hour.
Glad to see some nominations for Skyfall, which was surprisingly great.
I’m upset about a lot of omissions, but I’m still looking forward to the show. Unfortunately yeah, Seth MacFarlane is hosting, which will probably make it difficult to watch.
Yes, I generally open a board for every Ceremony, but I didn’t this year. Sorry!
I don’t think we can say Cloud Atlas was snubbed. That term is usually used for films that were expected to be nominated/win but didn’t. In all seriousness, nobody expected CA to get nods, except maybe in a couple of technical categories.
The only snub I can think of right now is The Dark Knight Rises for visual effects. I think it deserves a nom since most of the effects were practical and not computer animated. Take out Huntsmen.
Yep, he did! While I did like the song, I’ll be rooting for Suddenly from Les Miserables. I guess I’m being super cynical, but I doubt that an animated film will ever win Best Pic. If it does, it’ll be a great suprise. I think the closest we’ve ever gotten was Up. Even though animation is a medium and not a genre, there is still a lot of bias against it for not being serious enough among many Academy Voters. The fact that it has a category and TS3 and Up got Best Pic nods is a step in the right direction, but I still doubt one will ever win Best Pic. I guess it’s contributing to the problem, but I still support the Best Animated Film Category, because it’s the close animated films will get to Best Pic. (There is a same debate for Best Foreign Language Film)
Anne Hathaway is a shoe in for Best Supporting Actress, so at least there’s that. I have a feeling that it won’t do as well in other categories. It was less well received by critics than other films that it’s competing against, so i wouldn’t get my hopes up.
Yeah, I was surprised that TDKR was snubbed as it was. Especially since the last film was well received at the Oscars. (If I remember correctly, someone fact check that for me?
And yes, you’re right about The Dark Knight, e-j-e. In fact, its known that the reason they expanded the Best Picture category from the previous 5 to a maximum of 10, was that both TDK and WALL-E were snubbed.
I also think TDKR and The Impossible should have been nominated for best Visual Effects, as they featured very nice practical effects instead of CGI only.
And it’s a bummer. I’ve been a big Les Mis fan for years, but I can understand the criticism. Heck, I’m supporting Lincoln at the Oscars this year. I think the Les Mis movie had it’s benefits (Showing the Barricades and the action of the Revolution in no way that the stage production ever could, for example). But besides that, it lacks luster compared to seeing the thing on stage.
Ah yes, thanks Spirit. Now I remember about the 10 category thing. That’s why I’m even more suprised.
I’m really annoyed they snubbed Cloud Atlas for Best Makeup too, after having watched it. I didn’t even recognise the actors in a few of the roles, it was that good!
I think Cloud Atlas also deserved Visual Effects, especially for the Neo Seoul scenes. Or even Total Recall, which was my guilty pleasure from last year.
There was an article in my local broadsheet which questioned why a lot of Oscar-bait films are getting late releases in Singapore (Flight, Hitchcock and Lincoln, for example, are getting late February releases while Django Unchained won’t be out till March). A few distributors said this was because these “indy” films don’t have star power or mass appeal, unlike Les Mis, which had Hathaway and being a stage production, or Life Of Pi having a famous director and an all-ages storyline.
So the distributors are purposely releasing 'em closer to awards season so that word-of-mouth might convince the casual cinemagoer to shell out their $10 investment. And for movies like Django, they are counting on Academy wins to include as accolades in the print ads. In fact, Beasts Of The Southern Wild is premiering tomorrow, though I have no intention to see it in theatres (not because I don’t want to see it, I do, but because it doesn’t deserve the big-screen treatment for me and I’d rather enjoy it in a more intimate setting).
I’m just bummed out that a lot of Oscar-baits are taking so long to come to Singapore screens here, even though I won’t be watching most of them. Although, I suppose that’s a good thing, since the Awards publicity will get more folks here to watch 'em and support the filmmakers.
I think some of the Cloud Atlas make up work was pretty, good, but I guess the fact that some others weren’t, damaged its chances. I’m thinking about Hugh Grant’s make-up in the Cavendish segment, for instance.
I think the category that CA could have gotten was Best Original Score. It was better than Skyfall’s, for instance.
I agree with what everyone’s saying about Les Mis. I’m a big fan of it (read the book, seen the stage show). As I said in another thread, I found the movie a mixed bag. While there were a good few problems about the production, there were so many defining portrayals that I was ultimately pleased with it.
Apart from Les Mis, where were the nominations for The Avengers!? It was awesome!
