Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

A couple things I will take pride in -- predicting 100% correctly the not-easy categories of Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, and Film Editing.

Yesterday, I was thinking over Mister Tee's comment about Oscar usually adding a title that didn't make PGA. And in past years, that movie has either been something that did very well at the Globes that was resuscitated (Room, Selma, Philomena) or a real critical causes celebres (Amour, The Tree of Life -- both Palme d'Or winners). Given that there wasn't a movie that really fit either of those profiles this year, I wondered what that movie could be, and it turns out, it didn't exist. (Which is to say, it seems really hard to pull an Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close -- hang out on the fringes of the Oscar race with tepid support, and then crack Best Picture.) And of course, for all the Deadpool talk after its Guild successes, that movie blanked completely.

Hacksaw Ridge in general, but Gibson in Director especially, was the morning's big groaner. I'm so disappointed the usually imaginative directors branch went for such hokum.

On the flip side, only one nomination for Nocturnal Animals, and for (in my opinion) a praise-worthy element. (Also Michael Shannon has pulled off the rare hat trick of two Oscar nominations for performances where he didn't show up at either Globes or SAG...and the one time he DID get Globe/SAG nominations, he missed with Oscar.)

Isabelle Huppert, despite being widely predicted, struck me as not-certain, and her nomination was probably the morning's highlight. Adams seemed a strange omittee, given her movie's overall strength, and I agree with Mister Tee on Streep -- this is her first nomination in a while (maybe since Music of the Heart) where I actively resent her hogging a spot from someone more deserving.

Loving does a Blue Valentine -- nominations for both Actors at the Globes, neither at SAG, and then Actress only at the Oscars.

Jim: The James Foley Story: 2016's Best Song Nominee From a Movie You've Never Heard Of.

Lots of us assumed all the newbies contributing strong music would have a tough time breaking through in Original Score. But, voters passed on John Williams, and gave us Mica Levi (another cheer moment for me), though of course there had to be one spot reserved for a vet (sadly, a never-rewarded one who will lose again).

La La Land's Sound Editing nomination pushed it into record-tying territory. Unless I'm missing something, I believe this is the first live-action musical to reap a nomination in this category.

Kubo and the Two Strings becomes only the second animated movie to score in Visual Effects.

Lastly, weren't those nomination announcement videos horrendous? Frankly, their self-congratulatory nature made me dislike all of those people speaking (most of whom I like), and really made it difficult to focus on absorbing the actual information being presented.

Also can we move this thread? It's in the wrong year

Big Magilla wrote:

Aceisgreat wrote:19th for Streep? Or 20th? And any chance Kevin O'Connell finally makes it to the stage?

20th for Streep. 21st for O'Connell, but he'll probably lose to La La Land like just about everyone else in the non-acting categories.

Assuming Emma Stone is not winning

Aceisgreat wrote:19th for Streep? Or 20th? And any chance Kevin O'Connell finally makes it to the stage?

20th for Streep. 21st for O'Connell, but he'll probably lose to La La Land like just about everyone else in the non-acting categories.

19th for Streep? Or 20th? And any chance Kevin O'Connell finally makes it to the stage?

So, I think most people would call the (few) surprises unpleasant ones. I doubt too many here are excited at Hacksaw Ridge's strong showing. Also, even if people personally agree with Amy Adams snub (it was the first time I really liked her), you have to acknowledge it felt like a cold gesture approaching Paul Giamatti levels. And, as I'd mentioned before, if we knew nothing about "shortlists", the omission of Elle for Foreign Language would have been one of the biggest stories of the day... and it would have convinced everyone that Huppert was a weaker contender than first thought.

But La La Land.... wow.

Wait. The composers nominated 4 first timers? Holy fuck. Did someone drug them?

Looks like Hollywood has finally forgiven Mel Gibson.

No huge surprises overall, although I expected "Silence" to do better in the craft categories.

I guess this makes La La land a shoo-in to win Best Picture.

All the nominees with pictures:

http://oscar.go.com/nominees?om_mid=_BY ... car_170124

Another thought.

In listening to the re-broadcast, I realized that the only people they either mentioned or showed were those who are still living and under the age of 70. Even in talking about Oscar hosts, they only went back as far as Billy Crystal.

The streaming was annoying with Ivan Reitman's face frozen over the sound for a good portion of the first part. They're re-running it now with the picture restored.

Some of the tidbits by the former nominees and winners were nice, others kind of dumb. We really didn't need to know that Jennifer Hudson never paid attention to the Oscars before her own nomination, but has watched ever since.

As for the nominations themselves, forget about the extended voting period - most of the nominations went to those who were predicted before the Globes, the BAFTA nominations and even the SAG nominations started people predicting Hugh Grant and Aaron Taylor-Johnson over Lucas Hedges and Michael Shannon.

Amy Adams snubbed is the only major surprise.

I'm surprised they couldn't get Barbara Walters to host the nominations announcement.

La La is in with 14