Leonardo DiCaprio Finally Wins an Oscar

[Steven Bogos]

Leonardo DiCaprio Finally Wins an Oscar

After five unsuccessful nominations, DiCaprio has finally taken home the academy award for best actor.

Film buffs will know that Leonardo DiCaprio's Oscar nominations have become somewhat of a running joke. The poor guy has been nominated five times, for his roles in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Aviator, Blood Diamond and The Wolf of Wall Street, but never took home the little golden guy. Until now, that is, with the accomplished actor winning 2016's academy award for best actor.

DiCaprio won the award for his role in The Revenant [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revenant_(2015_film)] - a survival drama in which his character, frontiersman Hugh Glass, is stranded in the American wilderness.

In his acceptance speech (which the poor guy has been perfecting for over twenty years) DiCaprio thanked his director and co-star Tom Hardy for his "fierce talent on screen" and "friendship off screen" before campaigning for action to combat climate change, saying making The Revenant was "about man's relationship to the natural world".

You can watch the full speech in the video to the right.

Source: BBC [http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35670715]

Permalink

 

[Zontar]

It's about time, now he's OFFICIALLY overrated.

Seriously, he's not a good actor, how does he have such a massive fan base?

 

[FalloutJack]

With no offense to his actual fans, I simply do not like the man. Something about him has always rubbed me the wrong way, possibly due to his popularity in Titanic, which of course I had to hear about so much during all of my education that I got completely tired of hearing about it, but also because ever since he got that goatee, he's looked so damn creepy.

If you love 'im, that's fine for you. But for me, no thank you.

 

[karkashan]

I can hear the sound of thousands of memes, crying out in the dark, suddenly dank.

I kinda want to see this film but at the same time I don't. Looks like it has great atmosphere but at the same time sometimes a great, realistic atmosphere can be kind of off putting. Like Kholat. Great atmosphere, really felt like you were in a frozen wilderness - but that made the emotional bobs and weaves a little too intense for my liking.

This went off track, but I'm happy for him.

praisegrima

 

[jurnag12]

In other Oscar news, Fury Road won 6 of them (costume design, film editing, make-up and hairstyling, production design, sound editing, sound mixing).

 

[karkashan]

It's about time, now he's OFFICIALLY overrated.

Seriously, he's not a good actor, how does he have such a massive fan base?

He's hot.

praisegrima

 

[Laser Priest]

But he's terrible.

I don't watch the Academy Awards, but... was anyone else nominated this year? This guy is not a good actor.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Huh, I did not expect the first few comments freakin' decrying DiCaprio and calling him overrated. Then again, with the atmosphere on The Escapist going the way it is... We can't have nice things these days I suppose.

Anyway, I'm glad. He's one of the greatest actors in the current crop, if only by his sheer breadth of his performances and how consistently he pulls them off. From What's Eating Gilbert Grape, to Django Unchained to The Revenant. In almost every movie he played in he gave it exactly the kind of acting the character, dialogue, setting and general atmosphere required.

Few actors can pull off such a variety of performances as he has done in the last 20-odd years and I love him for it. It's a well-deserved Oscar in my book.

In other Oscar news, Fury Road won 6 of them (costume design, film editing, make-up and hairstyling, production design, sound editing, sound mixing).

I'm glad it did. The film was a technical masterpiece and basically won all the big technical Oscars.

 

[Abomination]

Anyway, I'm glad. He's one of the greatest actors in the current crop, if only by his sheer breadth of his performances and how consistently he pulls them off. From What's Eating Gilbert Grape, to Django Unchained to The Revenant. In almost every movie he played in he gave it exactly the kind of acting the character, dialogue, setting and general atmosphere required.

Few actors can pull off such a variety of performances as he has done in the last 20-odd years and I love him for it. It's a well-deserved Oscar in my book.

I found his Blood Diamond role especially good. Became a believable South African with the added "devil may care" attitude many exude.

While I don't know if he deserved an Oscar for his role in The Revenant, as I haven't seen the film - doesn't look to my tastes - he does deserve an Oscar.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I don't watch the Academy Awards, but... was anyone else nominated this year? This guy is not a good actor.

Just the usual people playing in biopics or dramas that brooch current affairs.

OT: Can we now finally shut up about this poor little millionaire drowning in pussy not getting his just recognition as an artiste by a bunch of out-of-touch old farts?

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I'll be honest, for a long time I didn't like the guy for no other reason than while working at Blockbuster during the time Titanic was released on VHS, I had so many people say I resembled Leo... Fat lot of good it did me, having crippling social anxiety made dating near impossible despite apparently being comparable to DiCaprio physically (its the eyes).
But over time I've watched his work and can't say I don't think he's a good actor, Basketball Diaries, What's Eating Gilbert Grape are both masterful performances and it was ludicrous he didn't win any recognition for those roles.
But happy for him he's finally got the big one, however pretentious I find the Oscars to be. Good for him.

 

[Jandau]

The only thing that will match the sheer volume of fanboy memes over the next week will be the volume of people screaming "He's overrated!", "He sucks!" and such. Nothing new there. Personally, I think he's a solid actor, might as well give him the award, he's as good as any. Also, while I didn't find Revenant to be his best work, it's worth bearing in mind that acting Oscars are often given as much for the previous roles as for the one listed.

Beyond that, I'm quite glad Fury Road won so many. Sure, none of them were for any of the "big" categories, but this felt like the Academy saying "It's a really great film, we loved it tons, it just didn't fit into the major categories, therefore we went for volume", which is fine.

 

[Alleged_Alec]

In other Oscar news, Fury Road won 6 of them ( film editing).

But the film editing was pretty horrible. Especially the bits of the cars moving which were played at double speed looked so horribly bad.

 

[Metalrocks]

i usually dont care about oscars but im happy for him. he was amazing in the revenant and other movies as well. inception, django, still have to see wolf of wall street but i will rent it eventually. all of his performances are great and convincing enough.
before i could nto stand that guy because of titanic, but since blood diamond, he started to be more open with his roles and not some whiny little man on sinking ships and screwing rich women in cars.

 

[Wintermute_v1legacy]

Maybe I'm just a dumb movie goer and I should stick with Transformers, but I can't see what was so great about his performance in The Revenant. I mean it wasn't bad, but a large part of the movie the dude is just grunting and walking around. By comparison, I felt Tom Hardy was much better. The same goes for Matt Damon in The Martian. I don't see what's so special there either. I don't know about the rest because I can only watch so many movies.

Still, I'm ok with him winning. While I'm not a fan of any actor in particular, I have to say I enjoy most of the movies he's in.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I don't know why he would want to be associated with the very icon that represents the corruption in Hollywood.

 

[Saltyk]

Wow. There's a lot of hate in here. I won't lie. I kinda get it. He was in Titanic. One of those huge movies, but one that a lot of us probably didn't care about for one reason or another. And DiCaprio became the face of the movie. I've seen other movies that he has been in, including the great Inception. But he's always just been "The guy from Titanic" to me.

The Revenant has changed that. The movie was brutal. The beer attack scene was probably the single most devastating thing I have seen in film (even if the bear and all the CGI animals looked very fake to me). So, I say good for him. I don't really care about the Oscars. I never have and never will (the movies that win the 'Big Ones' I don't care about and the movies I care about win Oscars like Special Effects or whatnot). But I recognize that winning an Oscar is a big deal for any actor. And DiCaprio has been in some good movies. So, I think he earned it.

Maybe I'm just a dumb movie goer and I should stick with Transformers, but I can't see what was so great about his performance in The Revenant. I mean it wasn't bad, but a large part of the movie the dude is just grunting and walking around. By comparison, I felt Tom Hardy was much better. The same goes for Matt Damon in The Martian. I don't see what's so special there either. I don't know about the rest because I can only watch so many movies.

Still, I'm ok with him winning. While I'm not a fan of any actor in particular, I have to say I enjoy most of the movies he's in.

I think there is a lot behind the scenes there. For one, they weren't on a set. They were in the wilderness and even used natural light for every scene (that alone means the Director should win best Director, frankly). DiCaprio has even stated that this was one of the hardest movies he has ever filmed simply due to the harsh conditions.

I'll also say that it can be hard to act without speaking. I saw this movie. I felt his pain in each scene. That betrayal and anger. His sorrow. I think he did pretty well.

There's also probably an element of awarding him for previous work. People think he should have won for a previous movie and got robbed, so they gave him this one.

 

[Mikeybb]

but a large part of the movie the dude is just grunting and walking around.

I know.
I do this every day.
Do I get any recognition?
Do I heck.
Where's MY oscar, damn it?
WHERE?!?

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Maybe I'm just a dumb movie goer and I should stick with Transformers, but I can't see what was so great about his performance in The Revenant. I mean it wasn't bad, but a large part of the movie the dude is just grunting and walking around. By comparison, I felt Tom Hardy was much better. The same goes for Matt Damon in The Martian. I don't see what's so special there either. I don't know about the rest because I can only watch so many movies.

Still, I'm ok with him winning. While I'm not a fan of any actor in particular, I have to say I enjoy most of the movies he's in.

He ate a real live fish in freezing tempratures... that's why he won. Yay Oscars!

People said he should have won an oscar for actually cutting his hand in Django Unchained and playing it off in character. Personally I would say if he could get an oscar for eating live fish in character, then he got cheated by not getting an oscar in Django.

I like Di Caprio, he's a dedicated and hard working actor, but he never really excels at anything. Tom Hardy, as you mentioned, was a far superior actor in The Revenant. It's not uncommon for Leo to be overshadowed by other actors in his films.

I will say that he gets some undue criticism. I can accept that he has a limited range which is why we get the "Di Caprio with an accent" style of character so often, but he does pretty well despite this. His body language is pretty good, sometimes exceptional, but his facial expressions are very limited (which is why him winning an oscar in The Revenant is so ridiculous to me).

Oscars aren't what most folk think they are anyway. It's a popularity show for affluent film producers, film makers and actors. It has very little to do with quality (even though the caliber of talent involved means most films are at least extremely well executed). I think the biggest farce is that it's fed to the public like it's some sort of significant cultural event, when it only really exist for the benefit of those within the industry.

 

[Zydrate]

Strange how he wins for a movie I didn't actually like. I like him as an actor and the movie was okay on a technical standpoint, it was just incredibly boring with the OCCASIONAL neat moment like him crawling in a dead horse for warmth. Otherwise I found myself going "DO SOMETHING" at the movie on the long closeups of water or hearing DiCaprio breathing over a sky-shot for twenty straight seconds. Yawn.

I will admit this is something of a personal discovery: I am not a fan of survival movies. The Grey was boring and Mark Wahlberg's "Shooter" (a weak movie in its own right) had Mark's character run around while wounded for half the movie and I was so bored.