If you like Argo enough to call it the best film of the year, you probably like Alan Arkin enough to give him a nomination. I'm certainly not in either camp but it's not mistifying.. That being said, the three performers that probably came closest to a nomination but missed out (Javier Bardem for Skyfall, Leonardo DiCaprio for Django Unchained, and Matthew McConaughey for Magic Mike) would all be sufficiently honored in due time.MaxWilder wroteYou’re being very kind. He was nominated for a single line of dialogue. It’s possibly the worst nomination ever.Sabin wrote
The grossest offender of the repeat winner boy's club was Alan Arkin who gave a very funny performance that might seem slightly more nomination worthy had he not won for Little Miss Sunshine for essentially the same work.
That being said, I do wish that the Academy had just gotten it over with and honored Leonardo DiCaprio here. It would've been another movie star winning for slumming it a supporting role but it's a far better representation of his talents than The Revenant and it's certainly a memorable role. Although I like the work that Tarantino got from him in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood even more.
A ridiculous loss.MaxWilder wrote
I like Waltz just fine but would have voted for PSH. Of course, that’s easy to say in hindsight. We expected many, many more nominations in his future.
It's strange in hindsight that Philip Seymour Hoffman wasn't nominated at all for the first half of his career where he played his most memorable, inward sad sacks (Boogie Nights, Happiness, Magnolia). He only got nominated during the second half of his career, the acclaimed character actor phase where he generally played more theatrical, outward parts. But yes, he should've won for The Master, the best of his nominated performances, and in my mind a performance of such clarity and quality that the rest of the film is always trying to catch up with but never quite reaches.
Yep, he campaigned for Best Supporting Actor. I'm not sure how enthusiastically he did because the film screened for the first time rather late (I'm not sure it was seen before December), and barely screened for SAG voters, and within a month and change of being seen for the first time, he was ignored by Academy voters. Leonardo DiCaprio IMO has the greatest track record of any actor today of delivering performances that likely almost get nominated for Oscars but didn't.MaxWilder wrote
Django and Hollywood are his best performances. This is pure conjecture but did he decline to campaign for Django? It’s obvious best supporting actor is not the award he spent years chasing.
It's 2012. It's not a great film but it's quite funny. There's a scene with Paul Rudd that is incredibly funny.MaxWilder wrote
I need to revisit Wanderlust (liked it at the time). Wasn’t it a 2011 release, though?