And the nominees are:
Many critics were surprised by the Argo and Les Mis directors’ shut out.
'Mostly fine set of nominations but it’s kind of astonishing that Moonrise Kingdom only got a single nomination.
It came out in June (so, like, ancient history in Oscar terms), and Wes Anderson has never really gotten any Oscar love.
Bigelow not getting a director nod for ZDT is sorta shocking. Probably backlash from the torture stuff, but she deserved a nom. ZDT is just insanely well-crafted. Also hurts ZDT for Best Picture.
Yes, Affleck and Bigelow should have been nominated for Argo/ZDT. Pretty big snubs there. I hate to sound like one of the unwashed masses, but the director nominees all feel like “art house” choices.
With the new, higher number of Best Picture nominees, Lincoln will easily divide and conquer everything else … and probably take a bunch of other categories as well.
I’m not really that surprised by the Les Mis director shutout – even apart from the controversial method of filming the musical numbers, it’s a somewhat choppy ride (a major plot point near the end goes entirely unexplained, there’s a love duet that very oddly edited to never show the lovebirds together, etc.)
Argo is a bit more of a shocker, given how well it was received.
I’m guessing Anne Hathaway has a lock on Supporting Actress.
I really need to see Argo.
I thought Argo was okay, but slightly overrated. I felt that Affleck’s direction took way too many liberties, particularly toward the end, to dramatize events for the sake of the screen.
That Best Supporting Actor Category sorta sucks. Everyone nominated in it already has an Oscar.
Was Django Unchained a surprise in Best Picture? I assume its just their “indie cred” nomination for this year?
Also, amazingly, there were enough animated films this year to fill out all the nomination slots. That’s nice, I guess.
I haven’t seen Ted, but I want that song to win if only to see “Academy Award Winner Seth MacFarlane” on all his stuff. Heh.
is QT considered Indie these days? This was a surprise from me because I didn’t really think the movie was anything beyond Okay.
My big surprise is the Silver Linings Playbook. Is this really good? I have to admit that I saw the trailer and read the synopsis and it looks like garbage. I’m tempted to give it a try now, but it’s hard to get over that first impression.
Life of Pi probably doesn’t deserve to be on that list either, though I went into that movie having already read, and disliked, the book.
I have no idea what inspired the broad nominations for Silver Lining Playbook. Blech.
I expect Lincoln to sweep actor, supporting actress and best picture. They won’t give Spielberg the best director, though. I figure either Ang Lee or Haneke for that.
Supporting actor to Waltz.
Actress is the toughest category to predict: I’m guessing either Chastain for ZDT, or Riva for Amour. Jennifer Lawrence deserved should have won an Oscar for Winter’s Bone, but she didn’t, and she won’t get one here either. I can’t see the academy giving it to a 6-year old (or however old she is now, I don’t know how recently it was filmed), and I don’t think anyone even saw The Impossible.
Best Director should be Zheitlin, hands-down, end of story. Just for getting “Beasts” made in the first place, and then for being able to coax the performances he got out of a six-year-old girl and a baker–neither of whom had ever acted before–that’s just phenomenal.
No one else did what he did.
No matter how good it is, the Academy will never give an Oscar to a twentysomething first-timer who directed a low-budget fantasy movie starring amateur African-American actors, though.
Silver Linings is getting massive critical support (currently 91% on RT), so that’s why its on the list. I’m personally boycotting it because I’m mad about them casting Jennifer Lawrence, who is way too young for the role even if she is a good actress. It annoys me to no end when Hollywood does that - just one of my pet peeves.
As for The Avengers, there was no need for them to offer a token nomination this year to any of the better box office successes. Plenty of the films they nominated already count as successes in that regard, with Lincoln, Life of Pi, Django, and Les Miserables at or over $100m US box office.
Why was she too young for the role? I thought part of the character’s motivation was that she was very young to be a widow.
I’m okay with the Affleck snub. I found their dry run visit to the bazaar in Argo so unnecessarily risky, I figured it had to have actually occurred. Nope. Plus, you ever have a moment where I particular shot, cameo, or onscreen incident immediately disqualifies a film as award worthy in your mind? As soon as I saw the guy in the purple spray-painted wookie costume, that alarm bell went off for me. Still, entertaining film, and it gets the honorary BP nod, along with any of the others that lack a corresponding nom for director (as in they can’t win).
Christoph Waltz would seem to deserve Best Supporting any time he’s in a QT film (he’s knocked it out of the park both times) but I think it goes to Tommy Lee or Deniro.
I know Hathaway’s got her statue locked down for her excellent turn in that god awful film, but I’m secretly pulling for Helen Hunt. I’ve never much liked her in anything, but her work in The Sessions was splendid and brave and… er… sexy.
I think that was a ret-con to justify her casting, but my main issue is that the actors are 16 years apart in age. And if you look into the casting process you’ll see they orginally were after actresses closer in age to Bradley Cooper - Jennifer Lawrence was by far the youngest considered.
That seems like an eminently odd reason to boycott a film. I would expect you to bring up the Clooney beef as a boycott excuse before complaining about them casting the talented and lovely J-lawr.
I just don’t like it when Hollywood casts a young woman in a role that could have been handled by an older actress. I’m not talking about movies where the age difference is a central part of the story, obviously. Just a pet peeve of mine. And as I get older I’d rather see mature women opposite mature men, not 22 year olds.
You must be friends with Sarah Silverman ;) On the Doug Loves Movies podcast she recounts how she tried out for that role and her agent told her “they decided to go a different direction,” to which she responded “Oh, you mean they went with someone young and beautiful.”