Oscar Nominations Released

[Mischlings]

They can be found here: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120124/ENT02/201240396/1478/rss

I don't have a huge number of opinions from my first look at the list -- the only thing that really jumps out at me is the Animated Feature category -- Pixar wasn't even nominated (rightfully so, mind you), but Tintin wasn't either? I find that quite hard to believe, but the whole "politics" about motion capture explains it, even if I don't like it. Also disappointed, but not surprised, that Andy Serkis didn't get a nod for playing Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Any other thoughts/opinions?

 

[GonvilleBromhead]

Glad to see Gary Oldman nominated for TTSS, though I doubt he'll get it. Thought it should be up for Best Picture, even though it probably wouldn't win. Has a good chance with adapted screenplay though.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Not that I've cared about the Oscars for some time now, but I'd actually forgotten about this whole "double the nominations for Best Picture" nonsense. Why not 30 nominees? Why not put everything up for Best Picture? Then you can do a Final Four bracket system!

They've seriously dropped all pretense at respectability at this point. They might as well just merge with the People's Choice Awards.

 

[Mischlings]

Not that I've cared about the Oscars for some time now, but I'd actually forgotten about this whole "double the nominations for Best Picture" nonsense. Why not 30 nominees? Why not put everything up for Best Picture? Then you can do a Final Four bracket system!

They've seriously dropped all pretense at respectability at this point. They might as well just merge with the People's Choice Awards.

...I want to see someone do the bracket system now. That would be awesome.

The Oscars don't really mean much, it seems, other than being an opportunity to get some movies made and distributed that never would otherwise, such as The Artist, which while I haven't seen it, it takes balls to release a silent movie in 2011. They're still interesting to speculate about, as well as see just how out of touch the voters are. (Also, the nominations are now a sliding scale between 5 and 10.)

Also, I hate the fact that, of all the summer blockbuster movies to throw small nominations at, they chose Transformers for most of them. Ugh.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

...I want to see someone do the bracket system now. That would be awesome.

The Oscars don't really mean much, it seems, other than being an opportunity to get some movies made and distributed that never would otherwise, such as The Artist, which while I haven't seen it, it takes balls to release a silent movie in 2011. They're still interesting to speculate about, as well as see just how out of touch the voters are. (Also, the nominations are now a sliding scale between 5 and 10.)

Also, I hate the fact that, of all the summer blockbuster movies to throw small nominations at, they chose Transformers for most of them. Ugh.

Yeaaahhhhhhhhhhh I dunno about that. The Oscars occasionally turn their supercilious gaze upon an "artistic" film and give it mild profile, but almost invariably they end up handing Best Picture to some bloated monstrosity instead. Look at some of our Best Picture winners in years past. Braveheart? Forrest freakin' Gump? Crash? These are not even good films, let alone "Best Pictures". Most offbeat and indie films fall way under Oscar's radar.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

"Winnie-The-Pooh" wasn't nominated for Best Animated Feature Film? That makes me mad. And the lack of Animated Films in the "Best Picture" award have made me stopped caring.

 

[Mister Eff]

This year's list is a joke. Melissa Mccarthey gets nominated for Bridesmaids? So if I were to grow a vagina, put on weight and shit in a sink on camera, I'd get an Oscar nomination?

Also, where are the noms for Drive and Senna? Argh.

 

[Mischlings]

other than being an opportunity to get some movies made and distributed that never would otherwise

Yeaaahhhhhhhhhhh I dunno about that. The Oscars occasionally turn their supercilious gaze upon an "artistic" film and give it mild profile, but almost invariably they end up handing Best Picture to some bloated monstrosity instead. Look at some of our Best Picture winners in years past. Braveheart? Forrest freakin' Gump? Crash? These are not even good films, let alone "Best Pictures". Most offbeat and indie films fall way under Oscar's radar.

My point is that some movies are made because the studio sees the possibility of competing for an Oscar. It's not about them winning necessarily, but just the possibility of them winning allows them to get made. I mentioned The Artist, which I don't think would get made or distributed if not for the fact that it can compete for an Oscar, and the same thing happens with other movies. Will it win? I don't know -- but that's what it took to get it made.

Of course, sometimes making a movie for the sake of trying to win an Oscar gives us something like The Company Men -- there's a good movie somewhere in there, but it certainly wasn't what we got.

This year's list is a joke. Melissa Mccarthey gets nominated for Bridesmaids? So if I were to grow a vagina, put on weight and shit in a sink on camera, I'd get an Oscar nomination?

Also, where are the noms for Drive and Senna? Argh.

I hated Bridesmaids as well -- then again, I can't stand Judd Apatow's style or gross-out humor in general. I understand why in movie "politics" it means something, but that's no reason to give it nominations.

"Winnie-The-Pooh" wasn't nominated for Best Animated Feature Film? That makes me mad. And the lack of Animated Films in the "Best Picture" award have made me stopped caring.

We didn't exactly have a great year for animated movies. When even Pixar delivers a movie that just isn't good, there's a problem. I still think Tintin should count as animated, but apparently motion capture doesn't count as anything to the Academy.

And does anyone know how you pronounce "Michel Hazanavicius"?

 

[Carl The Manicorn]

Yes! I hope "Man or Muppet" gets the best song. I love Bret from Flight of the Conchords, so I hope that he wins over that stupid movie about birds. MUPPETS FO LIFE!

But seriously, I could have seen all of this list coming. It's all arty bullshit. And the good, original stuff will get trumped by the arty, more classy dramas. If there is one thing I wish would happen, it is that "Bridesmades" gets best original screenplay.

 

[burningdragoon]

Wow... the only nomination that was from a movie I actually saw was for Visual Effects for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. And I didn't even see that until a couple weeks ago. I should probably get out to the theaters more often... maybe.

 

[Mischlings]

Wow... the only nomination that was from a movie I actually saw was for Visual Effects for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. And I didn't even see that until a couple weeks ago. I should probably get out to the theaters more often... maybe.

I haven't seen that many of the movies on the list, mostly because so many come out while I'm at college in November/December and I don't have the time or opportunity to go to theaters often, and the theaters that are here don't show much.

 

[repeating integers]

...I want to see someone do the bracket system now. That would be awesome.

The Oscars don't really mean much, it seems, other than being an opportunity to get some movies made and distributed that never would otherwise, such as The Artist, which while I haven't seen it, it takes balls to release a silent movie in 2011. They're still interesting to speculate about, as well as see just how out of touch the voters are. (Also, the nominations are now a sliding scale between 5 and 10.)

Also, I hate the fact that, of all the summer blockbuster movies to throw small nominations at, they chose Transformers for most of them. Ugh.

Yeaaahhhhhhhhhhh I dunno about that. The Oscars occasionally turn their supercilious gaze upon an "artistic" film and give it mild profile, but almost invariably they end up handing Best Picture to some bloated monstrosity instead. Look at some of our Best Picture winners in years past. Braveheart? Forrest freakin' Gump? Crash? These are not even good films, let alone "Best Pictures". Most offbeat and indie films fall way under Oscar's radar.

Wait, Forrest Gump wasn't a good film? When did this happen?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Wait, Forrest Gump wasn't a good film? When did this happen?

Some time around July, 1994.

 

[repeating integers]

Wait, Forrest Gump wasn't a good film? When did this happen?

Some time around July, 1994.

What made it bad, exactly? Was it too "sappy" and "sentimental"?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

What made it bad, exactly? Was it too "sappy" and "sentimental"?

I can see that you're feeling defensive. Where do you imagine this discussion is going to go? If you enjoy Forrest Gump, more power to you. I wish I enjoyed everything, I really do. That would just mean more things to love and enjoy. It's not like I'm out to hate films just for something to do.

And it's not like the film is completely irredeemable. I just find it painfully trite, full of bad acting and faux profundity. The sentimentality is one of its few redeeming features. I'm actually a sucker for sentimentality. But not to the point where it makes an otherwise awful film palatable. Gump has its moments, but it also veers dangerously close to Patch Adams territory at times.

 

[Mischlings]

What made it bad, exactly? Was it too "sappy" and "sentimental"?

I can see that you're feeling defensive. Where do you imagine this discussion is going to go? If you enjoy Forrest Gump, more power to you. I wish I enjoyed everything, I really do. That would just mean more things to love and enjoy. It's not like I'm out to hate films just for something to do.

And it's not like the film is completely irredeemable. I just find it painfully trite, full of bad acting and faux profundity. The sentimentality is one of its few redeeming features. I'm actually a sucker for sentimentality. But not to the point where it makes an otherwise awful film palatable. Gump has its moments, but it also veers dangerously close to Patch Adams territory at times.

I didn't comment on the Forrest Gump thing because, while I enjoyed the movie, I could definitely see where you were coming from. Also, given that Pulp Fiction and Shawshank Redemption came out that same year, a good case can be made against it winning best picture.

One thing about the Oscars is that if it gives a win to a movie that doesn't really deserve it, that will probably be forgotten. In fact, the Oscars seem to be, for the most part, so based on a movie's momentum at the time that it often is given to a movie that doesn't really hold up later. For a couple of examples, if awarded today, The Graduate would win over In The Heat of the Night, Citizen Kane over How Green Was My Valley, or could we possibly untangle the mess around the 1939 best picture (I can't say which was the best, but there were about 4 movies that could win in any given year)? (I didn't even look at anything recent because it's probably too soon to judge)

Also, for fun, when looking at the nominations, replace the word "best" with "most" and see if things make more sense (yes, I stole that from Film Crit Hulk, but it's very true).

The buzz seems to be Hugo vs. The Artist with an outside shot for The Descendants. I need to see the first two before I can really comment on that.

 

[sunburst]

Forrest Gump is not an awful movie. It's also not a particularly good movie. It's just bland. And it definitely did not deserve all the Oscars it won. That's a sore spot with many film lovers; Forrest Gump kept Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption from getting awards they deserved.

As for this year's nominees, I'd like Best Picture to go to either Midnight in Paris or The Tree of Life. Also, I hope The Help doesn't win anything. Why aren't there any strong Animated Feature contenders taking advantage of Pixar's absence? 2011 was everyone's best chance; they blew it.

 

[repeating integers]

What made it bad, exactly? Was it too "sappy" and "sentimental"?

I can see that you're feeling defensive. Where do you imagine this discussion is going to go? If you enjoy Forrest Gump, more power to you. I wish I enjoyed everything, I really do. That would just mean more things to love and enjoy. It's not like I'm out to hate films just for something to do.

And it's not like the film is completely irredeemable. I just find it painfully trite, full of bad acting and faux profundity. The sentimentality is one of its few redeeming features. I'm actually a sucker for sentimentality. But not to the point where it makes an otherwise awful film palatable. Gump has its moments, but it also veers dangerously close to Patch Adams territory at times.

Fair enough. Funnily enough, I've never actually seen it from the very beginning, but I was feeling a tad defensive for some reason. I do have this unfortunate/fortunate tendency to enjoy and even get defensive over just about every movie I see - even if they're probably not really very good. Sometimes I feel this odd sense of sympathy whenever I see a movie being attacked, as if it's alive and could get hurt feelings.

Also;

"It's not like I'm out to hate films just for something to do."

Well, I'm glad of that, because I'm pretty sure "hating films(/games/books/music) for something to do" is actually quite a common pastime on certain parts of the Internet.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Well, I'm glad of that, because I'm pretty sure "hating films(/games/books/music) for something to do" is actually quite a common pastime on certain parts of the Internet.

It's pretty much THE pastime, yeah. I like to think I've grown out of it (mostly).

 

[putowtin]

Not that I've cared about the Oscars for some time now, but I'd actually forgotten about this whole "double the nominations for Best Picture" nonsense. Why not 30 nominees? Why not put everything up for Best Picture? Then you can do a Final Four bracket system!

Excellent idea, let us vote a la "March Mayhem" I'm sure we could pick a winner!