Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

anonymous1980 wrote:Is Jonah Hill really gonna be Academy Award nominee Jonah Hill?

No worse than Academy Award nominee Mark "Marky-Mark" Whalberg.

I wonder what's on the mind of those who participated in the Harry Potter wager?

anonymous1980 wrote:I think Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy's very strong showing here bodes well for Gary Oldman who many Oscar pundits already declared dead. I don't know if this means it will get in Best Picture, but Actor and Adapted Screenplay are well-within reach now.

What an amazing film !! Oldman so deserves to be nominated.

For three years, all five BAFTA Best Picture nominees carried over to the Oscars. I find it unlikely the same will be the case this year, but wouldn't that be an amazing list?

And I do think that the <em>Hugo</em> snub with 9 other nominations is a bit more telling. I don't think it will happen with the Academy, but even the BAFTA group saw through the thin cheerleader nature of <em>Hugo</em>, though they still gave <em>The Artist</em> the most nominations over even <em>Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy</em>. As I've been thinking for months now, <em>The Artist </em> will win Best Picture at the Oscars. And despite the rumblings we'll hear over the next several months, they weren't exactly chomping at the bit to give Scorsese an Oscar. They had plenty of opportunity, so I don't think he's going to beat Michel Hazanavicius. Never bet on a split vote...but DGA might change that.

Good point, Reza.

I think Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy's very strong showing here bodes well for Gary Oldman who many Oscar pundits already declared dead. I don't know if this means it will get in Best Picture, but Actor and Adapted Screenplay are well-within reach now.

anonymous1980 wrote:Personally, I would think Hugo or Midnight in Paris would have appealed more to the Brits rather than a very American film like The Help.

You are obviously not familiar with British Imperialism. They ''invented'' the ''servant'' class. So, like Americans, the film hits home very close to the Brits as well. For a very cozy view of the Master/Servant relationship watch the two British tv serials Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey. Things were really not that cozy (see A Passage to India) although Americans took things a bit further with their chaining and whipping of ''the help''.

Moneyball is an even more "American" film than The Help so it's not surprising to me that it failed to make the Best Picture cut, but I still can't get over the acclaim for Jonah Hill who basically just stands there in the film. I guess they consider that versatility compared with his frenetic acting in other things.

I think Hugo's failure to make the Best Picture cut is more telling since it's the third most nominated film with 9 including Best director vs. The Artist's 12 and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy's 11. Drive's strong showing is a bit surprising - Best Picture, director and Supporting Actress - Carey Mulligan for this rather than Shame. The Descendants gets in for Best Picture, but not Director or Supporting Actress. Jim Broadbent is nominated for a nothing role in The Iron Lady and Judi Dench is nominated for her amusing, if somewhat skewered take on Sybil Thorndike in My Week with Marilyn while Vanessa Redgrave, who has never won a competitive BAFTA, is once again shut out - but we already knew that as she failed to make the long list.

Looks like The Artist; Hazanavicius; Oldman; Streep; Plummer and either Chastain or Spencer to me.

Some thoughts:

- Drive and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy making it in over Hugo, Midnight in Paris and Moneyball is a surprise but for me a bigger surprise is that The Help still made it in. Personally, I would think Hugo or Midnight in Paris would have appealed more to the Brits rather than a very American film like The Help.

- Despite Drive doing well, Albert Brooks was snubbed.

- Despite The Descendants also doing fairly well, Shaleine Woodley was also snubbed and there were two free spots (Janet McTeer was ineligible and they nominated Bejo in Lead).

- Is Jonah Hill really gonna be Academy Award nominee Jonah Hill?