Nomination Talk

[The Original BJ]

Been reading Sasha Stone's Twitter today. She's making a strong case for involuntary commitment.

I unfollowed her this morning. I'm sorry, it's the Academy Awards, not a violent political coup in your home country. There's really no need to have a seismic emotional breakdown over this stuff.

What's your Twitter handle?

I hope you don't take this personally, but I think I'd prefer to keep my anonymity around here. (I'm afraid of situations like what happened to Sabin with his coworker.) On Twitter, I always keep things positive, but I like being a bit more honest on this board.

[flipp525]

Been reading Sasha Stone's Twitter today. She's making a strong case for involuntary commitment.

I unfollowed her this morning. I'm sorry, it's the Academy Awards, not a violent political coup in your home country. There's really no need to have a seismic emotional breakdown over this stuff.

What's your Twitter handle?

[rolotomasi99]

All a part of Paramount's master plan...

See, if money were my only goal, I'd just skip the Oscar campaign altogether and give Selma a January release. Who needs all the rest of this hassle and expense, not to mention poor long-term business relations?

I thought the whole point was they only spent enough money to send screeners to the roughly 6,000 Academy members rather than to the tens of thousands of Guild members. They spent probably the minimum amount money necessary to earn a Best Picture nomination. It was clearly money well-spent. I wish whoever was in charge of the campaign for MR. TURNER had spent that much. That is the movie that really feels snubbed to me.

[mlrg]

of all the oscar bloggers she was the one that correctly guessed most of the nominess.

Yes, but even in this kind of game I think that generally we on this board are often better...

Yeap

[ITALIANO]

of all the oscar bloggers she was the one that correctly guessed most of the nominess.

Yes, but even in this kind of game I think that generally we on this board are often better...

[Sonic Youth]

Been reading Sasha Stone's Twitter today. She's making a strong case for involuntary commitment.

I unfollowed her this morning. I'm sorry, it's the Academy Awards, not a violent political coup in your home country. There's really no need to have a seismic emotional breakdown over this stuff.

She's had nervous breakdowns even before. Are all American women like her?

Not all. Just the white ones.

[mlrg]

Been reading Sasha Stone's Twitter today. She's making a strong case for involuntary commitment.

I unfollowed her this morning. I'm sorry, it's the Academy Awards, not a violent political coup in your home country. There's really no need to have a seismic emotional breakdown over this stuff.

She's had nervous breakdowns even before. Are all American women like her? Because seriously, I find her scary. Too emotional, too "politically correct"... and sometimes, simply, too limited.

True. Nevertheless, of all the oscar bloggers she was the one that correctly guessed most of the nominess. But she truly is despicable

[ITALIANO]

Been reading Sasha Stone's Twitter today. She's making a strong case for involuntary commitment.

I unfollowed her this morning. I'm sorry, it's the Academy Awards, not a violent political coup in your home country. There's really no need to have a seismic emotional breakdown over this stuff.

She's had nervous breakdowns even before. Are all American women like her? Because seriously, I find her scary. Too emotional, too "politically correct"... and sometimes, simply, too limited.

[Big Magilla]

I'm so glad Gillian Flynn didn't get nominated for Gone Girl. I watched that stupid movie again on Blu-ray Tuesday night and it seemed even worse the second time around.

I've seen Rosamund Pike in lots of things over the years, and she always stood out regardless of the size of her role. In another era she'd be getting all those English rose roles Deborah Kerr used to get. Had End of the Affair been a 2014 film instead of a 1999 film she would have been perfect casting in the Deborah Kerr (1956)/Julianne Moore (1999) role, so I'm happy for her even thought I didn't think it was much of a performance. The real villain, though, is the writing. If this thing had been written by a man the feminists would be howling to the ends of the earth. Except for Carrie Coon as Ben Affleck's twin sister, all the women in this thing are either nasty or stupid or both. Not that the men are much better, but the women are treated especially harshly by the narrative. If the Razzies had any guts this would be a leading contender for Worst Film of the Year instead of all those obviously crappy movies they actually nominated.

[The Original BJ]

Been reading Sasha Stone's Twitter today. She's making a strong case for involuntary commitment.

I unfollowed her this morning. I'm sorry, it's the Academy Awards, not a violent political coup in your home country. There's really no need to have a seismic emotional breakdown over this stuff.

[Sonic Youth]

All a part of Paramount's master plan...

See, if money were my only goal, I'd just skip the Oscar campaign altogether and give Selma a January release. Who needs all the rest of this hassle and expense, not to mention poor long-term business relations?

[The Original BJ]

First of all, it's always worth focusing on the positive -- Boyhood, Birdman, and The Grand Budapest Hotel all had a triumphant morning, and though your mileage on the films may vary, these were three extremely well-reviewed efforts by singular filmmakers, some of whom have been waiting a while for a morning like this. The fact that these nominations were, by and large, completely expected, shouldn't take any of the joy out of them.

As the nominees came out, it became crushingly clear that the Guild omissions for Selma weren't just a screener thing...and STILL the Academy managed to come up with a nomination haul that seemed completely unexpected, as the movie hung on for that Best Picture nomination by the skin of its teeth. I'd love to know how close it came to missing the citation completely, which all but felt like a crumb to fend off a potential boycott of the Oscars. I think there are a lot of factors that resulted in the movie not doing well, many of which will be ignored by an attempt to reduce it to sheer racism (though you can't deny movies about white men did REALLY well today), but I'll just express disappointment that the exciting breakthrough efforts of DuVernay and Oyelowo didn't make the cut, and be glad the outcome wasn't worse.

Would have loved for Nightcrawler to have been the Guild hit that carried over, rather than American Sniper, which I think is pretty weak tea. Without the Eastwood nom, though, it does seem unlikely to be a significant Best Picture threat. The Imitation Game, also, failed to get the sort of bonus nominations (Costume Design, Cinematography, Sound Mixing) that might have foreshadowed a King's Speech-style Best Picture surge, and with Cumberbatch seemingly running third in Best Actor, it's hard to see the movie gathering enough force to become a more traditional alternative to Boyhood, but I guess you never know.

So weird that Foxcatcher managed to best Selma in Director, Actor, AND Screenplay, only to lose out on that spot in Best Picture.

To reiterate what I discussed yesterday, two of the big hits in contention (Gone Girl and Into the Woods) had pretty disappointing mornings. (I'm not considering Unbroken "in the conversation" -- its reviews were too poor for me to take it seriously as a candidate). American Sniper -- which seems certain to be a hit once it goes wide -- is about the only really populist picture in the mix. The Academy sure is glad it expanded the field to make sure they included those giant blockbusters The Theory of Everything and Whiplash, right?

Happiest surprise of the day: Marion Cotillard, for many reasons. Her performance in this movie is her best yet I feel, the nomination is also recognition for her great year, it got a Dardenne brothers movie (of all things) into a major Oscar category, AND it denied a spot for a candidate that was all campaign, no movie. Not that I take relish in Jennifer Aniston's disappointment, but this was a movie that had no business being considered for Oscars, and the entire media brouhaha about its awards prospects is to blame for any disappointing set-up for her nomination failure.

That stat about the last Alzheimer's Best Actress frontrunner notwithstanding, I do have to express shock that folks think Cotillard is in it to win it this year. Are these the same folks who thought Emmanuelle Riva (in a multi-nominated Best Picture candidate) would prevail? Because I see virtually no precedent for a Dardenne brothers movie to yield a Best Actress winner, much less one for a previously rewarded actress, against a performer as overdue career-wise as Julianne Moore. (And I'm with Mister Tee in being sick of people describing Still Alice as "not much of a movie" to the extent that it could actually HURT Moore's chances -- I personally think it's more of a movie than 50% of the Best Picture nominees.)

I also smiled for the Laura Dern surprise, especially given how Wild got otherwise blocked elsewhere. It's interesting that I felt Wild deserved a nomination haul much closer to the one Vallee's last film got, while I'd have been happy with limiting Dallas Buyers Club to the dual acting citations Wild achieved.

Ida in Cinematography was a GREAT surprise. That's just a stunningly shot movie.

The omission for The LEGO Movie in Animated Feature (which sent audible gasp waves throughout the room) is the kind of exclusion that happens every once in a while that just seems completely inexplicable. I'm actually not such a fan of the movie as to be outraged (though I do think it's better than some of what was cited), but I couldn't even begin to come up with a theory for why it couldn't muster up top five support. It seems crazy to me that the short live action portion at the end would have reduced enthusiasm to such an extent, but I don't have any better explanation.

Can I just vote NO in Best Adapted Screenplay? If I were an Academy member, I'd seriously consider just picking Paul Thomas Anderson, even though I don't get his movie, and just pretend the prize was for Boogie Nights/Magnolia/There Will Be Blood instead.

It's always amazing to me that, given the sheer number of potential sound candidates in any given year, it's so rare we get anything other than a 4/5 matchup between the two fields.

The Hobbit's effects would have been deserving, but I can't blame voters for just being exhausted by this series (as I was, through most of the last installment). Interesting that two comic book series that haven't been recognized in the past squeezed into that Visual Effects field, along with Guardians (which still managed the Marvel-typical low nomination total, missing out on both sound categories.)

[rolotomasi99]

I would love to know what Selma's producers are thinking right now. Whatever it was Paramount thought it was doing with the screeners, I hope no one believes that they succeeded because they received a Best Film nomination. It's a classic "Would you rather" question. Would you rather have your film a). recieve several nominations (Actor, screenplay, a few techs, maybe even director) but not Best Picture; or b). Best Picture and nothing else (other than song). Maybe I'm wrong, but doesn't choice a. seem like the more gratifying of the two?

Of course, Selma could have had choice a. and Best Picture. Who knows? If reports of the screener issues were accurate, then lesson learned, hopefully. Better to get more of them out earlier rather than limit them only to AMPAS members. A wider net catches more fish.

Except the real point for Paramount is to get people to buy tickets for the film. All the press this "snub" will create is golden for them. I mean look how much of this thread alone has been devoted to it. Paramount could give a fuck about the other nominations other than how they translated into money for them. Ava DuVernay on the other hand is probably furious at how the whole campaign was handled.

Not when you have a film that could have legitimately been a contender to win Best Picture and maybe a lot more. With the reviews, subject matter, accessibility and support the film has, had Paramount given the film the support it needed, it could have ended up with Picture, Director, Actor, Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Song, Costume Design...throw in a nod for Supporting Actress and you have the most nominated film of the day. Certainly, a Best Picture win would give this film a much bigger bump than it has right now. Do we think it will even be in theaters still by the end of February?

I think it will do quite well this four-day weekend consider what holiday it is. I think all the twitter chatter and article after article talking about SELMA being snubbed despite being nominated for Best Picture will give it more free press than other Best Picture nominees like WHIPLASH, THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, or AMERICAN SNIPER. The film's box-office will probably pass all the other Best Picture nominees except AMERICAN SNIPER and THE IMITATION GAME.

It is the same situation Columbia Pictures was in with ZERO DARK THIRTY. While all the controversy and attacks against Kathryn Bigelow may have cost her being nominated for Best Director, they helped push the film to almost $100 million at the U.S. box-office. No studio is going to pass up free press that gets people to buy tickets. All this fuss about SELMA being snubbed is going to make people curious. I bet the studios behind WHIPLASH and THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING wish people were discussing their films as much as SELMA.

[Sabin]

For a morning with many surprises, I don't have much to say or complain about. At the beginning of this or any year if you had asked me the chances of Birdman, Boyhood, or The Grand Budapest Hotel, I'd say maybe if there's a 10th nominee. Not much else. And these are our front-runners. I suppose it's possible that someone out there dislikes all three of our front-runners, or maybe hates them, but I can't remember the last time we had such distinctly auteurist contenders.

And yet it certainly tells you something about the demographics of the Academy when they biggest hit they nominate for Best Picture is directed by Wes Anderson. These are white men. Admittedly, these are white men who took a while to warm up to Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater (Austin represent!). As not a particularly big fan of Gone Girl or Selma but someone who certainly finds them preferable to American Sniper, Foxcatcher, The Imitation Game, and The Theory of Everything, I concede that there's something off hanging in the air. With Gone Girl, it really is time to how much they truly love David Fincher when they only time they warm to him is when he contours himself around Sorkin and Gump. It took a lot of work to screw up Selma's chances and not American Sniper, Foxcatcher, The Imitation Game, and The Theory of Everything. I wouldn't be surprised if the Selma people are envious of Foxcatcher's "Just barely!" nomination tally. Eric Henderson wrote on Slant that no director this year had to defend her choices as a director more than Ava DuVernay. Compare what she went through with the gauntlet of politesse Morten Tyldum sashayed through for Alan Turning's homosexuality. Everybody behind Gone Girl and Selma have a right to be pissed because all that bullshit like screeners aside, fundamentally if the voting demographic was different, these films would likely be nominated.

But again in a year where the heavies are Birdman, Boyhood (a film in contention for essentially six awards + Best Song), and The Grand Budapest Hotel, it really is hard for me to join their side. Sure, they weren't given a bounty of alternatives, but it's entirely plausible that American Sniper, The Imitation Game, and The Theory of Everything all racked up double digit nominations.

ISOLATED THOUGHTS
The fact that Best Original Song is between the song from Selma and "Everything is Awesome" speaks to larger than that race.

Damian Chazelle may not have won Best Director but everyone behind Whiplash had better be feeling pretty good about themselves. Despite a worldwide gross of $7 million, they racked up five nominations including Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing. For all the talk of the inevitability of Graham Moore's screenplay win, I bet he's terrified.

Not sure if Marion Cotillard's nomination speaks to anything other than what a crazily weak year it was for viable Best Actress nominees but The Dardenne Brothers have officially gone mainstream. Those Oscar-courting whores, this was their plan to begin with.

Now I have to watch Wild to see if Laura Dern is my horse in the Best Supporting Actress race. Always nice to see her get recognized for a strong, underrated career, but my heart goes out to Rene Russo.

If somebody can explain to me how The Lego Movie missed out on a nomination, that'd be swell. Is How to Train Your Dragon 2 going to win?

In a year with Fiennes, Gyllenhaal, Oyelowo, and Spall among others, I don't really have a favorite Best Actor nominee. I honestly might have to watch them all again to feel confident in making a choice. Bradley Cooper is the surprise nominee and he's actually quiet good at making American Sniper less noxious, at times even contemplative.

Best Visual Effects is an interesting race. Will voters give Dawn... the Oscar it was denied in 2011 or does Interstellar's five nominations and quasi prestige (even though there's a chance it has the lowest RT of the group) make it a lock? More interesting is that the other nominees are mortal enemies. Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy are Marvel films while X-Men: Days of Future Past is a Fox property, and Marvel has been tearing its hair out for fifteen years trying to get the rights to the X-Men back to the point where they are possibly rebooting their entire comics line to exclude all X-Men. There is some nasty business between these two companies.

I've never been to Sasha Stone's site. I really don't know anything about her. On a whim, I looked at her twitter account. Is she going to be okay?

[rolotomasi99]

Adding to the irony of the Selma snubs, today is Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

It would have been his 86th birthday, and SELMA was nominated for Best Picture (and song) for the 87th Academy Awards.