Independent Spirit Award Nominations

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Okri
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by Okri »

The Original BJ wrote:Well, here's the first outcome that's produced a split from the same voting pool among the top contenders. (Amusingly to me, it was the reverse of the split I voted for.)

And what's really terrific is that, unlike the splits we've had in recent years (12 Years/Gravity, Crash/Brokeback) or MIGHT have had (King's Speech/Social Network, Babel/Miss Sunshine/Departed), in which ONE of the categories seemed pretty set, one could easily foresee a split occurring tomorrow night that was the REVERSE of the one that happened today.

It brings to mind the Aviator/Million Dollar Baby year, when Aviator/Eastwood AND Million Dollar Baby/Scorsese seemed like perfectly viable outcomes. (Of course, that year, there was no split...one reason why I'm hedging my bets against it.)
Indeed. It's also worth mentioning that that year was the first year where WGA, SAG and DGA it exactly right with oscar. Unsettled races have a habit of looking settled in the aftermath.

Except 2002. I still can't believe that happened.
The Original BJ
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by The Original BJ »

Well, here's the first outcome that's produced a split from the same voting pool among the top contenders. (Amusingly to me, it was the reverse of the split I voted for.)

And what's really terrific is that, unlike the splits we've had in recent years (12 Years/Gravity, Crash/Brokeback) or MIGHT have had (King's Speech/Social Network, Babel/Miss Sunshine/Departed), in which ONE of the categories seemed pretty set, one could easily foresee a split occurring tomorrow night that was the REVERSE of the one that happened today.

It brings to mind the Aviator/Million Dollar Baby year, when Aviator/Eastwood AND Million Dollar Baby/Scorsese seemed like perfectly viable outcomes. (Of course, that year, there was no split...one reason why I'm hedging my bets against it.)
Okri
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by Okri »

Oh, how do I love this year?
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by FilmFan720 »

My ballot:


BEST FEATURE
Boyhood

BEST DIRECTOR
Richard Linklater, Boyhood

BEST SCREENPLAY
Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias, Love Is Strange

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Nightcrawler

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Sara Colangelo, Little Accidents

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Marion Cotillard, The Immigrant

BEST MALE LEAD
David Oyelowo, Selma (the toughest category to vote in... a lot of good options)

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Riz Ahmed, Nightcrawler

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Darius Khondji, The Immigrant

BEST EDITING
John Gilroy, Nightcrawler

BEST DOCUMENTARY
CITIZENFOUR (more the better of a bunch of films I don't love)

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Ida

CASSAVETES AWARD
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by OscarGuy »

As I posted on Facebook a couple of days ago:

If Keaton, Moore, Simmons and Arquette should win the Spirit Award and then turn around and win at the Oscars, it will be the second consecutive year when all four Spirit winners won Saturday and then went on to win Oscars the next night. Happened last year too.

I honestly think Redmayne will win the Oscar, so the possibilities is lower, but it wouldn't shock me and it would be one of those fascinating bits of Oscar trivia.
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by Bog »

Wasn't it not that long ago something so carbon copy as Boyhood, Inarritu, Keaton, Moore, Arquette, Simmons was a literal impossibility for winners on both Saturday and Sunday nights? I understand most are actually indie flicks in this case, but it's shocking to see a set of guesses that almost exactly match Oscar winner likelihood.
The Original BJ
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by The Original BJ »

My ballot:

BEST FEATURE
Boyhood

BEST DIRECTOR
Alejandro G. Iñárritu - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

BEST SCREENPLAY
Dan Gilroy - Nightcrawler

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Nightcrawler

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Desiree Akhavan - Appropriate Behavior

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Julianne Moore - Still Alice

BEST MALE LEAD
Michael Keaton - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Patricia Arquette - Boyhood

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
J.K. Simmons - Whiplash

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

BEST EDITING
Sandra Adair - Boyhood

BEST DOCUMENTARY
CITIZENFOUR

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Ida
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by nightwingnova »

I liked her a lot in Nightcrawler. But, I'm afraid she didn't have that much to do, even if she imbued her small part with much more than a typical actress would have.
Sabin wrote:I'm thrilled for Riz Ahmed who added so much to a relatively thin character, but Rene Russo's likely omission from Best Supporting Actress lists is bound to be one of the true shames of the season. Here's an actress who wasn't anybody's idea of a critic's darling in the nineties but had a run of successes that in retrospect did nothing for her career. They were either well-received Hollywood hits or she was well-received in poorly-received Hollywood hits, but either way they all made money. Lethal Weapon 3 & 4, In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Get Shorty, Tin Cup, Ransom, The Thomas Crown Affair. That's almost one a year for the bulk of the decade. She had a bad couple of years most likely due to the shifting blockbuster atmosphere and she's been forgotten for ten years.

Rene Russo coming back with Nightcrawler is a classic Oscar story. One of those actresses who suddenly lost her heat for zero reason whatsoever who's back not just reminding people why she was big in the first place but also letting them know that they never took full advantage of her talent in the first place. I really hope she's not overlooked.
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by anonymous1980 »

I have to say I'm so THRILLED Norte, the End of History made the Best International Film list. It is a remarkable film. It's available on iTunes so I strongly suggest you all go see it.
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by Sabin »

My guesses. Slightly more difficult in a few categories than usual.

Best Feature - Birdman
Best First Feature - Nightcrawler
John Cassavetes Award - Blue Ruin
Best Director - Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Best Female Lead - Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Best Male Lead - Michael Keaton, Birdman
Best Supporting Female - Patricia Arquetta, Boyhood
Best Supporting Male - J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Best Screenplay - Nightcrawler
Best First Screenplay - Dear White People
Best Editing - Boyhood
Best Cinematography - Birdman
Best International Film - Under the Skin
Best Documentary - Citizenfour
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by ITALIANO »

Sabin wrote:I'm thrilled for Riz Ahmed who added so much to a relatively thin character, but Rene Russo's likely omission from Best Supporting Actress lists is bound to be one of the true shames of the season. Here's an actress who wasn't anybody's idea of a critic's darling in the nineties but had a run of successes that in retrospect did nothing for her career. They were either well-received Hollywood hits or she was well-received in poorly-received Hollywood hits, but either way they all made money. Lethal Weapon 3 & 4, In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Get Shorty, Tin Cup, Ransom, The Thomas Crown Affair. That's almost one a year for the bulk of the decade. She had a bad couple of years most likely due to the shifting blockbuster atmosphere and she's been forgotten for ten years.

Rene Russo coming back with Nightcrawler is a classic Oscar story. One of those actresses who suddenly lost her heat for zero reason whatsoever who's back not just reminding people why she was big in the first place but also letting them know that they never took full advantage of her talent in the first place. I really hope she's not overlooked.
Yes. Like all Italians - Nightcrawler has opened here two weeks ago to mostly negative reviews - I found the movie VERY banal and repetitive. But that Rene Russo! Even when she was young, I thought she was often the best aspect of the - usually very commercial - movies she was in. She was always a pleasant presence, a real woman despite her objectively uncommon looks - and sometimes even more than that: an actress of warmth and humor. But now, in Nightcrawler, she shows a charisma and a bitterness that reminded me of some great aging female stars of the past. There's a lot of subtext in her character in Nightcrawler - a world of loneliness, failed ambitions, regret - and she conveys all that perfectly. If only there had been more TEXT - one or two scenes which were totally hers - she'd certainly be an Oscar nominee. No doubt about it.
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by Mister Tee »

FilmFan720 wrote:
Mister Tee wrote:Do people still watch the Spirit awards? I used to find them a pleasant diversion when they aired Saturday afternoon -- they were fun to have on while I was doing party prep. But since they started running them at night, on time delay, I haven't bothered with them -- I think the Precious year was my last time.

And I've never really felt they've established an identity -- the standards for what makes an indie and what doesn't seems ever-fluctuating (maybe they're better this year, but it's hard for me to see Selma as an indie while Foxcatcher isn't). And as for all those who-the-fuck nominees, I feel about them the way Uri does about foreign-language acting nominees: they're only there for window dressing; something Oscar-y will win in the end.

So it's hard to go looking for tea-leaf evidence in this set of nominees. Russo or the Boyhood/Birdman screenplays being left out are just the kind of arbitrary things that have always happened here -- Russo could just as easily end up the ONLY Nightcrawler Oscar nominee; that's how little Spirit nominees have lined up with the Oscars.

I will add that, if Boyhood and Birdman were films sure to be ignored by AMPAS, I might be more interested that there was some place for them to have their day (as Far from Heaven, for example, once did). But both those films, like 12 Years last year, seem likely make strong showings at the Oscars, and I'd just as soon wait for that.
They're live again this year!
Ah -- then I might return.

Just to back up my sense that arbitrary omissions are de rigeur for this group: even while showering Silver Linings with nominations, they left off both DeNiro & Weaver. And, while nominating The Descendants for film/director/screenplay, they included Woodley in support but left off Clooney in lead.
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by FilmFan720 »

Mister Tee wrote:Do people still watch the Spirit awards? I used to find them a pleasant diversion when they aired Saturday afternoon -- they were fun to have on while I was doing party prep. But since they started running them at night, on time delay, I haven't bothered with them -- I think the Precious year was my last time.

And I've never really felt they've established an identity -- the standards for what makes an indie and what doesn't seems ever-fluctuating (maybe they're better this year, but it's hard for me to see Selma as an indie while Foxcatcher isn't). And as for all those who-the-fuck nominees, I feel about them the way Uri does about foreign-language acting nominees: they're only there for window dressing; something Oscar-y will win in the end.

So it's hard to go looking for tea-leaf evidence in this set of nominees. Russo or the Boyhood/Birdman screenplays being left out are just the kind of arbitrary things that have always happened here -- Russo could just as easily end up the ONLY Nightcrawler Oscar nominee; that's how little Spirit nominees have lined up with the Oscars.

I will add that, if Boyhood and Birdman were films sure to be ignored by AMPAS, I might be more interested that there was some place for them to have their day (as Far from Heaven, for example, once did). But both those films, like 12 Years last year, seem likely make strong showings at the Oscars, and I'd just as soon wait for that.
They're live again this year!
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by Sabin »

I feel like I understand how that happened. Birdman and Boyhood are so visibly director's films that it's easy to overlook that, yes, somebody sat down and wrote the whole thing out beforehand. Innaritu and Linklater feel like directors first and writers second. Linklater especially is guilty of making it look like his films were written all too easily. No, Richard Linklater didn't just film a kid growing up.

Whereas J.C. Chandor, Dan Gilroy, and Ira Sachs all seem like writers first and directors second.
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Re: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Post by Greg »

The Original BJ wrote:The screenplay category, though, is totally bonkers to me.
No film managed to receive a nomination for both its director and its screenplay.
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