Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

As the anyone but Trump crowd would put it, all the non-Max votes outweigh the Max votes, too bad they couldn't coalesce around one candidate.

Mister Tee wrote:I thought of voting for The Big Short here, just to counteract the poison darts many are throwing

I'm voting for it in both categories for pretty much that reason. I could just as easily have voted a straight Room ticket, or split either way between the two, however.

anonymous1980 wrote:What I love about Mad Max: Fury Road is that it is essentially cinema at its purest form: It tells its story VISUALLY. It doesn't stop to do expository dialogue to explain the world. It doesn't have a complicated plot. I love the fact it respects its audience enough to be the one to form the story in their head through visuals.

Or, as Pauline Kael once said of another film, it turns movies into what some always feared they'd become: jolts for jocks.

I find this movie a major generational divide. Everyone I know my age (including one guy who's an Academy voter) is utterly mystified by this elevation of a movie that, at best, achieves the level of Speed or The Bourne Ultimatum to best picture/director contender.

I thought of voting for The Big Short here, just to counteract the poison darts many are throwing, but, in fact, it's only my second choice in both categories, and I had to be forthright and vote for Room. And, like BJ, add that both Carol and Steve Jobs belonged on both rosters more than any other nominee save Room.

I wouldn't say Max is anything like Sanders. Sanders is part of the system. He's been an elected official far longer than Hillary and in spite of being against the very system he operates within, he's still a part of that system. The world he lives in is more akin to a libertarian society where the government has no role in the lives of the people and, instead, those who control the means of production control society since there's no one there to stop them from doing so.

Max doesn't fight the system, he fights to survive. He fights to make sure he's not held under the boot of the oppressor, but doesn't have nearly as much concern for others as he does for himself. Only by working with Furiosa does he expand his worldview enough to help fight against the system.

CalWilliam wrote: And honestly, concerning subject matter (let's forget craft for a moment), nobody can deny that Spotlight, Room, Brooklyn and Bridge of Spies deal with something more meaningful than Fury Road.

There's actually plenty of themes within Mad Max: Fury Road that you can say are "meaningful": A cautionary tale about the dangers of global warming and destruction of the environment; tyrannical patriarchy; women's liberation; sex slavery and child soldiers. It takes the themes of Room and Beasts of No Nation and tells it in a fantastical way...without spelling it out and without being too preachy and obvious about it.

What I love about Mad Max: Fury Road is that it is essentially cinema at its purest form: It tells its story VISUALLY. It doesn't stop to do expository dialogue to explain the world. It doesn't have a complicated plot. I love the fact it respects its audience enough to be the one to form the story in their head through visuals.

OscarGuy wrote:That's why they call it opinion, Cal, castigating others for forming a different opinion than their own is condescending, especially when it's clear that the majority of people, even apparently on this board, is in favor of the film. Considering how often the film and its supporters were berated over the last several months, it's gratifying to see it doing much better here.

It's like Bernie Sanders supporters going on the attack against Hillary Clinton and her supporters. The level of vitriol was not only unwarranted, but disappointing and often demeaning. You can have different opinions on films, that's fine. We all do, but to get to the level of discourse of berating others for having a different viewpoint is contrary to polite discourse.

I understand your point, thank you. Maybe one day I'll rewatch it, because I may be missing something, and fortunately, I'm able to change my opinions with time, for better or for worse. I didn't mean to sound patronizing, but I just can't understand the love for it. Yet. And honestly, concerning subject matter (let's forget craft for a moment), nobody can deny that Spotlight, Room, Brooklyn and Bridge of Spies deal with something more meaningful than Fury Road.

Except that Bernie is the personification of Mad Max while Hillary is the personification of the lead women in Brooklyn and Room.

A win for Mad Max is tantamount to a win for Bernie.

That's why they call it opinion, Cal, castigating others for forming a different opinion than their own is condescending, especially when it's clear that the majority of people, even apparently on this board, is in favor of the film. Considering how often the film and its supporters were berated over the last several months, it's gratifying to see it doing much better here.

It's like Bernie Sanders supporters going on the attack against Hillary Clinton and her supporters. The level of vitriol was not only unwarranted, but disappointing and often demeaning. You can have different opinions on films, that's fine. We all do, but to get to the level of discourse of berating others for having a different viewpoint is contrary to polite discourse.

Mad Max: Fury Road winning here in both categories is a disgrace. It's true that the competition is not exhilarating, but come on...

At least you could have picked among three less bad films (The Big Short, The Revenant, The Martian), or among three good or decent ones (Brooklyn, Bridge of Spies, Room and Spotlight). The only possible choice for me is Tom McCarthy's movie, though Room is a very affecting piece overall, Brooklyn a very nice old-fashioned kind of story, and Bridge of Spies a perfectly respectable piece of filmmaking.

A very disappointing list, even if the Academy managed to select the best in the end, as I did.

Brooklyn and pass on director.

Miller and his film. Easy choice from this extremely drab lineup.

In a lineup without Carol or Inside Out, my vote goes to Mad Max: Fury Road and George Miller.

I feel like my thoughts on all of these films have been well established over the season, so I'll just say I voted a straight ticket for Room, with regrets that Carol and Steve Jobs weren't invited to the party.

My votes go to Spotlight and Tom McCarthy.

I also found Brooklyn, Room, Bridge of Spies and The Martian among the year's ten best films, although only Spotlight, Brooklyn and Room make my top five. Carol and Son of Saul get the other top five spots, with Labyrinth of Lies, Ex Mchina and 45 Years rounding out my top ten.

Abrahamson is the only other Best Director nominee who makes my list of five.

Suffice to say I loathed both The Big Short and the latest incarnation of Mad Max and just about everything associated with them and wouldn't nominate either one for anything.

That leaves The Revenant which I thought deserved its technical nods but not Best Picture and not Best Director. I thought the film dragged on much longer than it should have and there was only so much I could take of Tom Hardy. Every time he opened his mouth I wanted to stuff something in it to shut him up. Meryl Streep gets flack for using a different accent for every role, but nobody complains about Hardy who does the same thing. The difference is that Streep's accents are nearly always genuine, while Hardy's are often ridiculous, none more so than here.

I still need to see Bridge of Spies and the Revenant, but my current BP rankings are:

1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Brooklyn
3. Spotlight
4. Room
5. The Martian
6. The Big Short