Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

The Original BJ wrote:Well, here's the first outcome that's produced a split from the same voting pool among the top contenders. (Amusingly to me, it was the reverse of the split I voted for.)

And what's really terrific is that, unlike the splits we've had in recent years (12 Years/Gravity, Crash/Brokeback) or MIGHT have had (King's Speech/Social Network, Babel/Miss Sunshine/Departed), in which ONE of the categories seemed pretty set, one could easily foresee a split occurring tomorrow night that was the REVERSE of the one that happened today.

It brings to mind the Aviator/Million Dollar Baby year, when Aviator/Eastwood AND Million Dollar Baby/Scorsese seemed like perfectly viable outcomes. (Of course, that year, there was no split...one reason why I'm hedging my bets against it.)

Sabin wrote:I'm thrilled for Riz Ahmed who added so much to a relatively thin character, but Rene Russo's likely omission from Best Supporting Actress lists is bound to be one of the true shames of the season. Here's an actress who wasn't anybody's idea of a critic's darling in the nineties but had a run of successes that in retrospect did nothing for her career. They were either well-received Hollywood hits or she was well-received in poorly-received Hollywood hits, but either way they all made money. Lethal Weapon 3 & 4, In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Get Shorty, Tin Cup, Ransom, The Thomas Crown Affair. That's almost one a year for the bulk of the decade. She had a bad couple of years most likely due to the shifting blockbuster atmosphere and she's been forgotten for ten years.

Rene Russo coming back with Nightcrawler is a classic Oscar story. One of those actresses who suddenly lost her heat for zero reason whatsoever who's back not just reminding people why she was big in the first place but also letting them know that they never took full advantage of her talent in the first place. I really hope she's not overlooked.

Sabin wrote:I'm thrilled for Riz Ahmed who added so much to a relatively thin character, but Rene Russo's likely omission from Best Supporting Actress lists is bound to be one of the true shames of the season. Here's an actress who wasn't anybody's idea of a critic's darling in the nineties but had a run of successes that in retrospect did nothing for her career. They were either well-received Hollywood hits or she was well-received in poorly-received Hollywood hits, but either way they all made money. Lethal Weapon 3 & 4, In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Get Shorty, Tin Cup, Ransom, The Thomas Crown Affair. That's almost one a year for the bulk of the decade. She had a bad couple of years most likely due to the shifting blockbuster atmosphere and she's been forgotten for ten years.

Rene Russo coming back with Nightcrawler is a classic Oscar story. One of those actresses who suddenly lost her heat for zero reason whatsoever who's back not just reminding people why she was big in the first place but also letting them know that they never took full advantage of her talent in the first place. I really hope she's not overlooked.

FilmFan720 wrote:

Mister Tee wrote:Do people still watch the Spirit awards? I used to find them a pleasant diversion when they aired Saturday afternoon -- they were fun to have on while I was doing party prep. But since they started running them at night, on time delay, I haven't bothered with them -- I think the Precious year was my last time.

And I've never really felt they've established an identity -- the standards for what makes an indie and what doesn't seems ever-fluctuating (maybe they're better this year, but it's hard for me to see Selma as an indie while Foxcatcher isn't). And as for all those who-the-fuck nominees, I feel about them the way Uri does about foreign-language acting nominees: they're only there for window dressing; something Oscar-y will win in the end.

So it's hard to go looking for tea-leaf evidence in this set of nominees. Russo or the Boyhood/Birdman screenplays being left out are just the kind of arbitrary things that have always happened here -- Russo could just as easily end up the ONLY Nightcrawler Oscar nominee; that's how little Spirit nominees have lined up with the Oscars.

I will add that, if Boyhood and Birdman were films sure to be ignored by AMPAS, I might be more interested that there was some place for them to have their day (as Far from Heaven, for example, once did). But both those films, like 12 Years last year, seem likely make strong showings at the Oscars, and I'd just as soon wait for that.

They're live again this year!

Mister Tee wrote:Do people still watch the Spirit awards? I used to find them a pleasant diversion when they aired Saturday afternoon -- they were fun to have on while I was doing party prep. But since they started running them at night, on time delay, I haven't bothered with them -- I think the Precious year was my last time.

And I've never really felt they've established an identity -- the standards for what makes an indie and what doesn't seems ever-fluctuating (maybe they're better this year, but it's hard for me to see Selma as an indie while Foxcatcher isn't). And as for all those who-the-fuck nominees, I feel about them the way Uri does about foreign-language acting nominees: they're only there for window dressing; something Oscar-y will win in the end.

So it's hard to go looking for tea-leaf evidence in this set of nominees. Russo or the Boyhood/Birdman screenplays being left out are just the kind of arbitrary things that have always happened here -- Russo could just as easily end up the ONLY Nightcrawler Oscar nominee; that's how little Spirit nominees have lined up with the Oscars.

I will add that, if Boyhood and Birdman were films sure to be ignored by AMPAS, I might be more interested that there was some place for them to have their day (as Far from Heaven, for example, once did). But both those films, like 12 Years last year, seem likely make strong showings at the Oscars, and I'd just as soon wait for that.

The Original BJ wrote:The screenplay category, though, is totally bonkers to me.