This morning, film journalists, bloggers and fans dragged themselves out of bed to watch the 84th annual Academy Awards nominations. And like always, it ended with disappointment, shock and the occasional pleasant surprise. The Academy Awards is one of the few film award shows that still holds some importance and prestige in the industry. That’s what makes this year’s nominations all the more frustrating, and at times, bewildering.
In a year when Melissa McCarthy’s shitting in a sink gets an Oscar nod, maybe it is time for us to stop analyzing on the cinematic significance of Oscar nominations.
Every year film fans are left wondering why the best of the year is either partially snubbed, or left out entirely. Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter and Lynne Ramsay’s We Need To Talk About Kevin were left without a single nomination between them, making the acting categories far less exciting than they should be.
Swinton’s performance in Kevin was one that should be remembered for years, but it seems the film proved too challenging for Oscar voters. The same could be said about Jessica Chastain’s and Michael Shannon’s performances in the low-key Take Shelter, and yet Chastain was nominated for the lesser film The Help.
And while some of the year’s best films received minor recognition, it is clear they have no shot at winning any of their categories. Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life was nominated for Best Direction, Best Picture and Best Cinematography, and yet I do not see anyone betting on that film to win either Picture or Direction. The fact it was left out from both Editing and any acting category is a true shame, and more of a nail in the film’s coffin than anything else.
As always, the Best Picture category is a mixed bag of films that deserve it and ones that were made specifically to be nominated. It is great to see Hugo, Midnight In Paris, and The Tree of Life nominated but when you have Stephen Daldry’s much-panned Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close nominated alongside those great films, you have to question the legitimacy of the awards. And speaking of legitimacy, the ridiculous Best Supporting Actress nomination of Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids makes me wonder why Jack Black has yet to be nominated.
After being snubbed last year for the great Shutter Island, Scorsese’s Hugo took home 11 nominations and it seems to be neck-and-neck with the beloved silent film The Artist for most of the major awards.
For a year with films by such greats as Spielberg, Scorsese, Malick and Allen, the excitement is at an all time low. The obvious film to take home Best Picture is The Artist and film fans do not seem to care for. While my favourite film of 2011, The Tree of Life was nominated for Best Picture, I realize the chance of it winning is about as high as Cars 2 winning for Best Animated film. And yes, I realize Cars 2 was not nominated.
The films that were snubbed would have made this an exciting and fresh year at the Oscars, but as always, the best films were discarded and the Oscar-bait was swallowed whole.
Contra previous comment, I’m right there with you: “In a year when Melissa McCarthy’s shitting in a sink gets an Oscar nod, maybe it is time for us to stop analyzing on the cinematic significance of Oscar nominations.”
Also, it’s a very common complaint that the Oscars don’t give enough love to comedies. Yet when they do people complain it should have been a more serious performance. This just illustrates to me why the Oscars will never “get it right.” There is no right.
Scott Nye did love THE ARTIST! But I didn’t think it’s one of the best films of the year, and of those nominated for Best Picture, I’d put it…fifth or sixth, depending on how I feel about THE DESCENDANTS that day.
And I am in total agreement with your comments about the Oscars and comedies. Granted, I’d rather they have gone with Jodie Foster than Melissa McCarthy, but I can’t really fault them for it either. It’s not like I wasn’t laughing my ass off both times, and I am really, really pleased that nearly that entire category is comedic performances.
My reactions to the nominees every year are this: If I can look at the list and say that overall there are some pretty damn good movies on it, I’m happy.
Two of my favorites of the year were Rango and Drive, but I’m not going to begrudge the Academy for putting Hugo over them, because at least this might get people to seek out some pretty good movies. I know I plan on seeing A Cat in Paris and Chico and Rita now thanks to the Oscars!
I wouldn’t be too harsh on academy voters. They only really get 1 vote in their categories despite getting to name 5 nominees. Tyler & David often moan about the absence of comedy but how many times would they pick a comedy film or comedy performance as their number 1 choice of the year? Personally I think they should be 5 nominees for every category with all the voters 5 choices counting (1 point each) when they tally the votes. This would (obviously) much better represent the true feelings of what the academy thinks are the 5 best achievements in each category. Blame the voting system not the voter. Having said that, also remember the average age of an academy voter is 57 so their taste is likely to be a little different than the average critic who tends to be more in the 35-54 bracket and the average internet film who tend to fall more into the 16-34 bracket.
Also add to that, their prime job isn’t too watch movies like critics. If you’ve got a big a pile of screeners to watch over Christmas and only the chance to watch 10 films what’s going in your DVD player? Well regarded (but easy watches) like Midnight In Paris, Hugo, The Artist, War Horse, Moneyball, The Descendants, The Help etc. or tough little indies like Shame, We Need To Talk About Kevin and Tyrannosaur. As for the Extremely Loud best pic nom I think it shows more the flaws of the voting system and having too many nominees rather than mass affection from the Academy. It only has 1 other nomination.
I wouldn’t put her in my top 5 but I don’t think Melissa McCarthy’s nomination is completely ridiculous.
Contra previous comment, I’m right there with you: “In a year when Melissa McCarthy’s shitting in a sink gets an Oscar nod, maybe it is time for us to stop analyzing on the cinematic significance of Oscar nominations.”
Film fans didn’t care for The Artist? I loved it…seems Scott Nye really liked it as well reading the article posted on this site.
Also, it’s a very common complaint that the Oscars don’t give enough love to comedies. Yet when they do people complain it should have been a more serious performance. This just illustrates to me why the Oscars will never “get it right.” There is no right.
Scott Nye did love THE ARTIST! But I didn’t think it’s one of the best films of the year, and of those nominated for Best Picture, I’d put it…fifth or sixth, depending on how I feel about THE DESCENDANTS that day.
And I am in total agreement with your comments about the Oscars and comedies. Granted, I’d rather they have gone with Jodie Foster than Melissa McCarthy, but I can’t really fault them for it either. It’s not like I wasn’t laughing my ass off both times, and I am really, really pleased that nearly that entire category is comedic performances.
My reactions to the nominees every year are this: If I can look at the list and say that overall there are some pretty damn good movies on it, I’m happy.
Two of my favorites of the year were Rango and Drive, but I’m not going to begrudge the Academy for putting Hugo over them, because at least this might get people to seek out some pretty good movies. I know I plan on seeing A Cat in Paris and Chico and Rita now thanks to the Oscars!
I wouldn’t be too harsh on academy voters. They only really get 1 vote in their categories despite getting to name 5 nominees. Tyler & David often moan about the absence of comedy but how many times would they pick a comedy film or comedy performance as their number 1 choice of the year? Personally I think they should be 5 nominees for every category with all the voters 5 choices counting (1 point each) when they tally the votes. This would (obviously) much better represent the true feelings of what the academy thinks are the 5 best achievements in each category. Blame the voting system not the voter. Having said that, also remember the average age of an academy voter is 57 so their taste is likely to be a little different than the average critic who tends to be more in the 35-54 bracket and the average internet film who tend to fall more into the 16-34 bracket.
Also add to that, their prime job isn’t too watch movies like critics. If you’ve got a big a pile of screeners to watch over Christmas and only the chance to watch 10 films what’s going in your DVD player? Well regarded (but easy watches) like Midnight In Paris, Hugo, The Artist, War Horse, Moneyball, The Descendants, The Help etc. or tough little indies like Shame, We Need To Talk About Kevin and Tyrannosaur. As for the Extremely Loud best pic nom I think it shows more the flaws of the voting system and having too many nominees rather than mass affection from the Academy. It only has 1 other nomination.