The awards race
has so many qualifying events and precursors to the Oscars these days
that the winners aren't hard to figure out anymore. One of the only
real surprises we've got left is the actual slate of nominees, with the
suspense centered around who will land in the fourth or fifth slot and
get to rub shoulders with the frontrunners. This year offers some
pleasant and not-so-pleasant shocks, however, because a few of those
frontrunners are missing completely.
Let's get to
the biggest one first, in the Animated Feature Film category. Where is
"The LEGO Movie"? Where is the animated film that critics so loved and
championed, it showed up on multiple year-end top ten lists? That is
still domestically the highest grossing 2014 cartoon feature? I've seen
four of the five nominees here, and while it's a decent bunch, "LEGO"
is easily better than all the other American contenders. What gives?
At least now we know that Best Song is going to "Everything is Awesome,"
because the oversight is so obvious that voters will surely be
compelled to try and made up for the snub.
A
couple of other notable omissions in the smaller categories - "Life
Itself," the documentary about Roger Ebert was left out, removing the
possibility of Steve James finally getting the trophy due to him for
"Hoop Dreams." I've heard a lot of chatter about "Force Majeure" not
making the Foreign Language Film list, but this category is always a
mess due to the eligibility rules. "Winter Sleep," "Mommy," and "Two
Days, One Night," should have all been frontrunners. Likewise,
the Original Song category passed up obvious contenders from Lana Del
Rey and Sia. I can only assume that somebody in the music branch of the
Academy really has it out for Lana Del Rey after this and the "Great
Gatsby" debacle.
And now let's get to the big
guns. Please keep in mind that I've seen fewer of the major contenders
than usual, but I've seen enough. I knew that most of the momentum
behind "Gone Girl" had faded, but to see it land only a single
nomination for Rosamund Pike was a shock. Similarly, "Selma" has been
getting great reactions, and it was predicted to pick up a bunch of
nominations, including Ava Duvernay for Best Director and David Oyelowo
for Best Actor. It only ended up nabbing two, for Best Picture and Best
Original Song. "Nightcrawler" was always a bit of a long shot, but
Jake Gylenhaall was getting good buzz for his performance. It managed a
lone Original Screenplay nod.
Instead, Clint
Eastwood's "American Sniper" has emerged as a late favorite with six
nominations, including one for Bradley Cooper as Best Actor, who has
barely even been in the conversation as a possible contender. Not much
of a surprise, I guess, since "American Sniper" looks to be the kind of
gung-ho, feel-good war film that the Academy loves. I don't want to be
too critical here, because I haven't seen all the films, but I'm absolutely
appalled that "The Theory of Everything," the gutless, formulaic Stephen
Hawking biopic snagged five nominations including Adapted Screenplay.
I'd love to accuse the Academy of preferring safer, more conservative
prestige fare over more challenging, darker, and controversial films,
but that's not true. Because this is also the year that the
frontrunners include some downright weird, and even experimental work:
"Birdman," "Boyhood." and "The Grand Budapest Hotel."
Frankly,
I'm thrilled with a lot of the choices. Richard Linklater and Wes
Anderson are finally getting recognition after decades of great work. I
actually feel a little better now that "Moonrise Kingdom" got snubbed a
few years back, because Anderson deserves the kudos for "Grand Budapest
Hotel" so much more. "Boyhood" wasn't one of my favorites this year,
but I'm rooting for it because it's such a feat of great filmmaking.
And hooray for Marion Cotillard grabbing a nomination for "Two Days, One
Night," over Amy Adams and Jennifer Aniston. And hooray for "Whiplash"
getting a well-deserved Editing nomination. And "Inherent Vice"
getting an Adapted Screenplay nod. And "Ida" snagging a slot in
Cinematogrpahy. And that Isao Takahata is an Oscar nominee.
The
weirdest nomination by far is the Best Director nod for Bennett
Miller. Has anyone gotten a Best Director nod when their film wasn't up
for Best Picture since they upped the number of nominees? "Foxcatcher"
was an interesting film, but I wasn't surprised to see that it didn't
quite make the Best Picture list. There were clearly a lot of strong
contenders because a lot of the nominations across various categories
didn't match up the way they normally do. Note that Clint Eastwood
didn't get a Best Director nod, "Birdman" is missing from Editing, and
no individual contributor to "Selma" had any support at all. It
signals that there was no real consensus with these choices, and that's
a good thing.
Ultimately this is a group of
nominees I can live with, even though there are some massive flaws. I
hoped to see Ralph Fiennes for "Grand Budapest Hotel," Essie Davis for
"The Babadook," and Josh Brolin for "Inherent Vice, though I didn't
expect them. The only snub I'm really bothered by is Gillian Flynn not
getting her due for the "Gone Girl" screenplay. That and "The LEGO
Movie." Because, really, how did they manage to screw that one up?
----
No comments:
Post a Comment