Ups and downs of the Oscar nominations
Ordinarily, this is the time of year when I complain about all the films, actors, or technicians who didn’t get Oscar nominations. I’m usually arguing out of ardor more than knowledge, though; until this year I hadn't really gone to the movies a lot since the early 90s, and have watched things as they came out on DVD. Since the industry likes to save the things that it thinks will get nominated for the end of the year so they’ll be fresh in the voters’ minds, and therefore those films aren’t available on home video yet, usually there are a lot of films I haven’t seen when the nominations are announced.
This year is special, though, because this is the year I started the Monday Matinee. That means that I’ve actually seen almost all of the nominees, and weirdly, that leaves me unable to write too much right this minute. See, I want to write a story listing my OWN nominees, and I feel like I can’t in good conscience do that until I’ve seen Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl and J.K. Simmons in Whiplash. Those performances have just gotten too much press to ignore. It’s a bit of a fluke that I haven’t seen either; both kind of slipped through my fingers despite my best intentions, but the fact is that they don’t come out on DVD ‘til next month, and I won’t feel right about a Best Actress or Best Supporting Actor list ‘til I’ve seen those films. I’m so close to having an informed opinion that I just can’t do it. It’s funny that having missed two films slows me down more than having missed twenty.
Anyway, I don’t want to spoil the story I’ll be writing next month, so I won’t get too into the honors that I think were overlooked by the Academy, or praise too highly the ones I agree with. Even so, there are a few things I noticed about the official list that was released earlier today that I had to comment on (and I promise they aren’t all complaints):
1. OUTRAGE #1: Everybody knows how brilliant Meryl Streep is, but that doesn’t mean she automatically deserves a nomination every time she shows up, and she’s nothing special in Into the Woods. I won’t say who I think should have had that fifth nomination for Best Supporting Actress, but it’s an indictment of the way the Academy works that Streep is on this list.
2. OUTRAGE #2: It is insane that The Lego Movie wasn’t nominated for Best Animated Feature. Not putting down any of the other nominees, and I’d hate to have to pick which one would get left out, but The Lego Movie is clearly the year’s best, and I say that as a man who loves both hand-drawn (Princess Kaguya) and stop-motion (The Boxtrolls) animation far more than computer animation. I would be prepared to accept either of those films winning the actual Oscar, though I would disagree. But for The Lego Movie to not even be nominated? Utterly bizarre.
3. OUTRAGE #3 (and this one actually hurts the most): Under the Skin had an amazing, unique, haunting score that suited its movie as well as any I’ve ever heard (and I’m a man who takes film scores very seriously). I know this is not the kind of movie the Academy likes, and I know also that they are cowardly and conservative in their music tastes (just ask Daft Punk or Clint Mansell), but Mica Levi deserves this award, in my opinion, more than any other contender in any category. I’m really pissed off about this.
4. The Academy totally nailed the Best Cinematography nominations, though. Credit where it’s due. Ida is one of the most beautifully-photographed movies I've ever seen, Birdman is an extraordinary accomplishment, and Grand Budapest Hotel and Mr. Turner would both be good enough to win most years. I haven’t seen Unbroken and don’t plan to, but given that they nominated the film that I would vote for and three others that definitely deserve consideration, I’m willing to go with them on that one.
5. Only slightly less surprising than The Lego Move not being nominated for Best Animated Feature is Snowpiercer not being nominated for Best Production Design. Although I did like it, I found that movie disappointing overall, but I don’t know how anyone could fail to appreciate the artistry of that train.
6. I knew it wouldn’t get nominated, but I do want to say that the editing in Oculus, while the story is jumping back and forth in time and realities, is pretty amazing. I was holding out hope for it. I didn’t need it to win, but a nomination would have been nice.
7. I’m giving Best Makeup to Grand Budapest Hotel just because of how amazing Tilda Swinton’s old-age makeup was.
8. The Lego Movie might have gotten overlooked, but I’m happy that “Everything is Awesome” got its much-deserved nomination for Best Original Song.
Okay, that’s all my notes for now. Give me a couple of weeks to patch the two gaping holes in my film-watching, and I’ll have more to say. I just couldn’t let the day pass without saying something.