The 88th Oscar Nominations

[Reza]

I'm happy my country is represented once again this year as former winner Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy (for the documentary feature Saving Face) is nominated in the Short Subject category for A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness.

Proud of her as she happens to be family - married to my nephew.

[flipp525]

If I were a casting agent, I would've cast Elisabeth Moss in the Rachel McAdams role in Spotlight.

Maybe she was too busy playing the Rachel McAdams role in Truth?

Hahaha, really? I actually haven't seen Truth. Maybe they should've switched. I think Moss would've been better as Sasha.

[The Original BJ]

If I were a casting agent, I would've cast Elisabeth Moss in the Rachel McAdams role in Spotlight.

Maybe she was too busy playing the Rachel McAdams role in Truth?

[flipp525]

If I were a casting agent, I would've cast Elisabeth Moss in the Rachel McAdams role in Spotlight.

[Big Magilla]

Yeah, actually I read that about Wise on another usually trustworthy site. I should have done my own research before repeating it.

[Mister Tee]

The inconsistent Alejandro G. Inarritu becomes the first winner since Robert Wise 49 years ago to be nominated the year after winning. He was lucky last year. Now they're predicting back to back wins, only the third in Oscar history behind John Ford and Joseph L. Mankiewicz

But Wise received a nod after winning for TSOM the following year only for Best Picture (The Sand Pebbles), not for Best Director. The last Best Director winner to be nominated the following year also in the directing category is, I guess, Elia Kazan (54-55, OTW/EOE).

Woody Allen, 77-78?

[HarryGoldfarb]

The inconsistent Alejandro G. Inarritu becomes the first winner since Robert Wise 49 years ago to be nominated the year after winning. He was lucky last year. Now they're predicting back to back wins, only the third in Oscar history behind John Ford and Joseph L. Mankiewicz

But Wise received a nod after winning for TSOM the following year only for Best Picture (The Sand Pebbles), not for Best Director. The last Best Director winner to be nominated the following year also in the directing category is, I guess, Elia Kazan (54-55, OTW/EOE).

[flipp525]

Well, that's awesome that N'yongo is hitting Broadway. I wish her the best. anonymous, I haven't seen Star Wars yet so, like, chill out. From what I've heard though, it was a rather small, mostly CGI role and The Jungle Book is of course voice work. Perfectly respectable credits, but I really hope the Americanah project gets off the ground because that novel is excellent and I'd like to see what else she can do.

Switching subjects, I have a hard time believing they'll reward Iñárritu twice in a row, especially for the somewhat overwrought The Revenant. There were so many pretentious, eye-roll and chuckle-worthy moments in that film that I lost count. Part of the reason Birdman was good was because Iñárritu didn't seem to take it so seriously.

Leo would have to be caught in bed with a dead boy for him to lose the Oscar at this point.

[dws1982]

Yes exactly... To be honest, the Academy - especially in the last twenty years - has often "fallen in love" with young pretty actresses who weren't especially talented, sometimes even giving them not just a Supporting Actress nomination but the award itself. And then these actresses have all more or less vanished from sight.

Speaking of, where has Lupita N'yongo disappeared to? She's done next to nothing since all that fanfare surrounding her win. I know that it's difficult for women of color in Hollywood (especially women of dark color), but I was expecting more. And, no, appearing in that Liam Neeson airplane flick doesn't count.

Ummm....she's in the highest grossing movie of all time, y'know? She has a role in Star Wars and is in the upcoming Disney Jungle Book reboot.

Specifically, she's in New York right now preparing for the Broadway premiere of Eclipsed in about six weeks.

[anonymous1980]

Yes exactly... To be honest, the Academy - especially in the last twenty years - has often "fallen in love" with young pretty actresses who weren't especially talented, sometimes even giving them not just a Supporting Actress nomination but the award itself. And then these actresses have all more or less vanished from sight.

Speaking of, where has Lupita N'yongo disappeared to? She's done next to nothing since all that fanfare surrounding her win. I know that it's difficult for women of color in Hollywood (especially women of dark color), but I was expecting more. And, no, appearing in that Liam Neeson airplane flick doesn't count.

Ummm....she's in the highest grossing movie of all time, y'know? She has a role in Star Wars and is in the upcoming Disney Jungle Book reboot.

[flipp525]

Yes exactly... To be honest, the Academy - especially in the last twenty years - has often "fallen in love" with young pretty actresses who weren't especially talented, sometimes even giving them not just a Supporting Actress nomination but the award itself. And then these actresses have all more or less vanished from sight.

Speaking of, where has Lupita N'yongo disappeared to? She's done next to nothing since all that fanfare surrounding her win. I know that it's difficult for women of color in Hollywood (especially women of dark color), but I was expecting more. And, no, appearing in that Liam Neeson airplane flick doesn't count.

I'd heard talk of her playing the lead in an adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah but that was awhile ago. She passed up on Gugu Mbatha-Raw's role in Concussion which is fine. Whatever. It's a Will Smith movie - I probably would've too. But it seems conspicuous that she's been absent from film after being right in the center of the conversation.

Doesn't the nature of the Best Supporting Actress race favor a veteran performer like Jennifer Jason Leigh or would that be too close in profile to Patricia Arquette's narrative last year to repeat in a win for her? The Hateful Eight was a bloated mess but I wouldn't mind it winning for its two best elements - JJL's performance (which she really knocks out of the park, especially in the film's final reel) and Morricone's score which I'll never forget.

Precious Doll, I'll have to check my source and get back to you on Hailee Steinfeld. That's a really good point.

[ITALIANO]

I think Rooney Mara is the likeliest winner.

I wish. And she's certainly helped by the fact that Vikander (who is she?)

That's how I feel about Vikander. I know I have seen films she has appeared in and what role she played but she has made zero impression on me.

Yes exactly... To be honest, the Academy - especially in the last twenty years - has often "fallen in love" with young pretty actresses who weren't especially talented, sometimes even giving them not just a Supporting Actress nomination but the award itself. And then these actresses have all more or less vanished from sight.
Of course, in Alicia Vikander's case, not only she's not impressive - she's also nominated for a movie which nobody seems to truly like. So if she wins - even in an admittedly confused, schizophrenic race - the love for her must be really stronger than I imagine.

[ITALIANO]

Best Actress was crowded with possibilities, Supporting Actress wasn't

Crowded with possibilities..? If they could find room for Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, I'm not so sure. And antway, category fraud is always wrong.

Is Supporting Actor more suspenseful than Supporting Actress at this point? Not sure either.

[Big Magilla]

My initial reaction was let's just see what the loudest mouthed bloggers have to say next year and go with that. That seemed to be all this was, nominate whatever has been in the wind all along.

There were bright spots. Spotlight, Brooklyn and Room were nominated for Best Picture, but Carol wasn't. On the other hand the two worst nominees received the most nominations and are now being championed as front-runners for the win.

Tom McCarthy was nominated for Best Director despite last minute talk that he might be left off the list and Lenny Abrahamson pulled off a surprise nod. Even so, the Best Director slate is the sorriest I've ever seen it. No Todd Haynes. Not even a decent veteran substitute like Ridley Scott or Steven Spielberg. The inconsistent Alejandro G. Inarritu becomes the first winner since Robert Wise 49 years ago to be nominated the year after winning. He was lucky last year. Now they're predicting back to back wins, only the third in Oscar history behind John Ford and Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The equally undisciplined George Miller, who one of the dodos on GMA was in awe of because he's 80 is actually only 70 - the non-nominated Ridley Scott is closer to 80 - is now considered his only real competition. The fifth nominee is Will Ferrell's writing partner.

Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Lawrence. Can we have a year without Jennifer Lawrence being an automatic nominee? Jennifer Jones, Jennifer Jones, Jennifer Jones, Jennifer Jones was bad enough. In-between there was Ali MacGraw as Jennifer in Love Story, but the smarter Academy membership of 1970-71 rejected her.

Cranston and Redmayne are knee-jerk nominees for Best Actor. DiCaprio and Damon this year are as well, but DiCaprio is overdue and Damon is charm personified in a role that could have been boring as hell, so OK. Fassbender, though, is the only nominee who deserves to win on the basis of performance alone, but he can't win because his film was a flop, or so the thinking goes. The bloggers have told us so over and over so many times that no one in Hollywood dares to think otherwise.

Although Mara and Vikander are nominated in the wrong category and Vikander is nominated for the wrong film to boot, I can at least understand the voting here. Best Actress was crowded with possibilities, Supporting Actress wasn't, so it was the perfect situation for shoehorning.

There were so many good actors vying for support that some of the best were left off the slate but none are slugs. This is the only acting category that has some suspense in it, although the suspense is now narrowed down to Rylance and Stallone.

Can it be the most exciting winner will be Lady Gaga for Best Song?

[Precious Doll]

I think Rooney Mara is the likeliest winner.

I wish. And she's certainly helped by the fact that Vikander (who is she?)

That's how I feel about Vikander. I know I have seen films she has appeared in and what role she played but she has made zero impression on me.