Oscar Nominees 2014!

Jonathon says:

I can’t believe Inside Llewyn Davis was not nominated for Original Screenplay. That was the best script of the year, in my opinion. Every single line can be interpreted in two ways – hilarious, or deeply, profoundly tragic. Every single event can either be seen as hilarious or tragic. It depends on the mood you’re in, I guess, as to how you view the film – comedy, tragedy, or both.

Just look at the scene where Llewyn comes across two boxes filled with Al Cody’s unsold vinyls. The scene is riotously funny. The cover of the album is ridiculous. But it’s very melancholic as well – a microcosm of the thousands of artists in myriad fields who never ‘made it’. That sort of nuance wasn’t in American Hustle, et al.

Tony says:

Always say this every year but worth noting that unlike the the BP’s for example, Oscar voters only really get one vote that counts in most categories and this goes some way to explaining a lot of snubs/surprises every year. Highly likely that Hanks, Thompson, Inside llewyn Davis, Greengrass, Stories We Tell etc. appeared on a lot of ballots but they just didn’t get enough of the all important number 1 votes to get in. On the other hand the voting system probably helped a loved/watched by the minority film like Her get a best picture nomination over a well liked by the majority of the Academy film like Blue Jasmine or Saving Mr. Banks. I thought the choices were generally pretty good but whatever the voting system you consider best for them to adopt, three things are for certain – in a consensus vote no-ones going to agree with every choice, the music branch will always make lousy choices for Original Song and John Williams will always get nominated!