The OFFICIAL Murderfreckling 2015 Oscar Nominations Thread — Page 4

"There are Selma screeners, since they leaked onto pirate sites, etc. Not sure of the timing of them going out compared to other movies..."

This missed several guilds and Paramount is notorious about screeners. Unless they have something like a Scorsese film that branches will go out of their way to see, it's hard for a lot of films to rise above that. The Imitation Game in Paramount's hands would've likely netted the same if not less nominations.

"I keep hearing Force Majeure would be the big foreign film to beat, and it didn't win a GG and not even nominated for an Oscar... I didn't see it yet, though."

It's a major work from an up and coming director in Rouben Ostlund who clearly is a guy to watch. In fact many cities are already do retrospectives on his films in addition to Force Majeure. Foreign Language Films, in choosing by country, tends to snub. I mean, the Dardennes weren't even on the short-list, yet Cotillard gets in for actress for their film that had little to no campaigning. It took Haneke forever to break through. Force Majeure is pretty strong, sharp, and funny, but incredibly technical. I can see some pushback on it and if you have to save a film if you're the committee, it's more important to save Timbuktu or Leviathan (consider how both films play within the current political climate).

Anyway, thoughts:

I'm glad Cotillard had a grassroots campaign from word of mouth going all the back to Cannes, and she herself barely campaigned, and got nominated on merit. Thank goodness it was Aniston she replaced. Egg on the face of several Oscar bloggers like Pete Hammond who've been doing hard lip service for her. It was bad enough with seeing their 'causes' like Robert Duvall succeed. This kind of year where there weren't strong contenders of female leads from equally strong studios (such as the case for Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Beyond the Lights, who with a better studio easily could've been nominated) that it calls for some foreign actress taking the slot. Cotillard has done such good work of recent, not mention coming very close to a second nomination. Glad it was for a Dardennes film. Of all things.

I thought that Foxcatcher would do much better here than expected. I think there's a lot of good will with the Academy with several figures in this project: Megan Ellison, Mark Ruffalo, and Bennett Miller. However, Bennett Miller is the weirdest nomination. 2 for 3 in narrative features in director nominations, one of which was during the 5 Best Picture field and the other he nets a Director nod WITHOUT a Best Picture which his first two narrative films did get a nomination in. This group likes him. A lot. I have no idea why. He has a house style that has the cold, detachment of a European air, yet seeks to make films more about America than apple pie. I get the respect. Passion is another.

Should Birdman be concerned it didn't get an Editing nod? Even if it is 'Edited less' it is still constructed and a good achievement at editing. I guess people think more edits and showier edits mean it was out there.

I think The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Imitation Game are the biggest spoilers and easily could be in # 2 position.

With that said, Morten Tyldum's whole status as a Director nominee in a group of directors in Linklater, Anderson, AGI, and Miller, directors who have been honored at major film festivals and the Academy Awards prior as previous nominees and this gun for hire shows up? A newcomer in the mold of Ava DuVernay and Damien Chazelle, hell, going with Eastwood or Mike Leigh wouldn't feel so telegraphed as this Harvey Weinstein special.

Whew! Paul Thomas Anderson saved that Adapted Screenplay set of nominees. A deserved nomination but hoooooooo boy.... Gillian Flynn deserved better. Like, I get what Fincher's rep as some master of taking work that 'in the wrong hands could be awful' versus other directors, but that doesn't mean the scripts he directs are bad or 'saved' by him. I get the movie is controversial and polarizing, but I loved the film as a piece of collaboration from Fincher and Flynn. They clearly like working with each other. A TV series and another film upcoming.

Life Itself wasn't a favorite of mine by Steve James. Surprised though, due to subject matter, that it didn't make it. Citizenfour's to lose.

Figured Cooper would be in, but I thought one of the biopic actors would get eaten alive. Just didn't think it would be Oyelowo. I also feel bad that Jake Gyllenhaal got teased in so many precursors and got nothing. At least Nightcrawler got a screenplay nod.

The scores are so uninspired. Nothing for Gone Girl, Inherent Vice (they really hate Jonny Greenwood), or, dare I say, Under the Skin? Desplat for the right movie, please.

I didn't think The Lego Movie was the bee's knees and if it caused Song of the Sea or The Tale of Princess Kaguya to make it in- so be it. Yet, I cannot help but think the animation branch had a lot of jealousy toward Lord and Miller.

Still Boyhood's to lose. They hit where they expected, maybe not any shocker nominations to speak of, but rather that than be in Birdman's place and miss at a very crucial spot.


WB and Fox Searchlight are clearly the best at what they do. Ditto Cynthia Swartz who is running Boyhood's campaign. Paramount is awful. They spent too much on Interstellar expecting the public and critics to bow down and have the ground shake and it just happened. Even Gone Girl, astonishingly only netted one nomination when Fincher has had quite a run in films scoring nominations, felt like it was in the cultural zeitgeist and discussion than Interstellar did. Meanwhile, Paramount had a summer of Ferguson and decide to not release Selma wide when it is the most zeitgeist-y film of any of the Best Picture nominees. Yeesh. Sony Pictures Classics is good at this too, although this is in a year where I think they had way too much on their plate. I'm still at a loss where Foxcatcher isn't in Top 8 of films but Top 5 in directors.

Updated On: 1/15/15 at 06:19 PM

^ But if they make more movies about white people, then more movies about white people get a chance at arriving at something special that rises above the others for awards. The only movie people keep referencing as the non-white-centric movie that was "snubbed" was Selma. So, even when making a point, most people only come up with one example as a movie showcasing people of color that should have been listed, and rarely do you see a second or third such movie referenced (that I've seen, it was always Selma on the sites I encountered today). So, this is usually positioned around awards and such, but it is more systemic of what movies are being made in general.

I agree @strummergirl that timing of the release, a little luck, and sometimes a happy Hollywood ending help immensely in the Best Picture category.

I still haven't fully recovered from the 77th Academy Awards that saw Don Cheadle (HOTEL RWANDA) lose to Jamie Foxx (RAY) in the Best Actor category and my beloved Annette Benning (BEING JULIA) lost once again to Hilary Swank (MILLION DOLLAR BABY) in the Best Actress runoff. Neither Terry George's HOTEL RWANDA nor István Szabó's BEING JULIA got a Best Pic nomination despite critical acclaim worldwide. They got caught in the AVIATOR-MILLION DOLLAR BABY-RAY crossfire.

The Academy was hell bent on giving Jamie Foxx a statuette that year but had to look out for Morgan Freeman who had Clint Eastwood's backing. Jamie somehow got 2 acting nominations. It could be argued that the Academy took a good look at box office receipts for once.

ETA: HOTEL RWANDA lacked the feel good Hollywood ending and BEING JULIA was a bit too artsy and showed on less than 400 screens.

---

Updated On: 1/15/15 at 07:41 PM

Very proud of Into the Woods! Meryl Streep's nomination was deserved (as with all of her nominations/wins)...she delivered a simply marvelous performance in Into the Woods! She deserves her "masterpiece status".

And...The Lego Movie getting snubbed was a HUGE shocker. For me, it was the best animated film of the year.