So the Oscar nominations are out. Complete list here. The best picture nominees are:
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight
So far, I’ve only seen two: The Martian and Mad Max. I thought the former was okay but not great and the latter was crap (and no, I do not wish to have that debate again). I hope to view the other nominated films soon.
Which of the nominees do you think should win? What picture was robbed via a failure to be nominated?
Feel free to discuss other topics too — open thread!
Mike in NC
Heading out in a few minutes to see “The Revenant”, though we maybe go to a movie theater 4 or 5 times a year.
benw
SPOILERS: Star Wars was snubbed!
schrodinger's cat
Saw Spotlight yesterday, loved it.
Paul W.
I’m glad we’re not debating because Fury Road was one of the most jaw droppingly awesome movies that beat my expectations since inception. Glad it got a nod, I would put it top three for the year, although I haven’t been able to see Revenant yet.
Gin & Tonic
One of the Documentary nominees was Netflix’s Winter on Fire about the 2013-2014 revolution in Ukraine, which I have previously recommended here.
KG
I haven’t seen any of them. But I very rarely go to movies any more (the last two I saw in the theater were Star Wars and Fast and Furious 7). I’ve heard of 5 of those movies though.
Also, I genuinely dislike award shows, so there’s that.
Amir Khalid
My movie-going 2015 was rather hampered by ill health. I thought Mad Max was pretty good, but not great. I like what I like whether it wins awards or not, so I’m generally indifferent to who wins what. Although I did make an exception a few years ago for Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables, because her Fantine hit your feelings the way Hugo’s character hit readers’ feelings 150 years before.
cmorenc
IMHO best picture is a tossup among:
The Martian
Big Short
The Revenant
Best actor should go to Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant, if there’s any justice, with Matt Damon running a close second for The Martian. Yes, Tom Hanks was terrific as usual in “Bridge of Spies” but he’s won before, and frankly DiCaprio’s role was far more challenging to bring off convincingly enough to raise the level of The Revenant far above just being another western about a tough guy with plenty of gorgeous scenery, which is what it could easily have amounted to with a less committed, less talented actor playing the lead role.
I am agnostic about the rest of the nominations, except that really want to get around to seeing one of the nominations for best animated feature film. I’ve seen “Inside Out”, and it thoroughly deserves the nomination, but since I haven’t yet seen any of the rest, I can’t really judge whether it deserves best-of-year.
I’ve seen “Mad Max”, and as entertaining and well-done a romp as it is, it frankly it doesn’t depart or distinguish itself sufficiently above previous movies in this series to be in the same class as the three films I think are clearly the best.
Gin & Tonic
@schrodinger’s cat: It is indeed excellent; I saw it back in December. I’ve actually seen three of the nominees at this point.
J R in WV
This should be on the front page!
At a middle school basketball game last Jan 8th, a brawl broke out, the audience poured onto the BB floor, the refs and coaches were involved and have been banned from attending school functions for the rest of the year!
In Kentucky!
http://www.wkyt.com/content/news/Brawl-breaks-out-at-eastern-Ky-middle-school-basketball-game-364715961.html
http://www.lex18.com/story/30966528/disciplinary-action-handed-down-in-pike-co-basketball-brawl
I used to enjoy basketball, but in a previous life I worked running camera for an organization that covered the HS tourney, all of it. Every Game! for days! I burned out my affection for BB and have only seen a couple of games since.
But for this side show, I would make an exception – like old time wrestling at the bowling lanes in Oak Hill back when I was a yout’ – staged mayhem. Real mayhem, really.
Amir Khalid
@benw:
Genre fiction usually is. FIDO.
J R in WV
Help!! I used a naked link and am in moderation!!! Help~~!!! I say!!
MattF
The NYT gets jokey about corruption in Russia. I don’t object exactly, but it’s unusual for the Gray Lady. Also, the WaPo is wondering what in the world is happening with Our Mr. Brooks.
Cacti
Since it’s an open thread…
Ed Schultz has decided to join Thom Hartmann in the wing of “progressive” media that cashes checks from the Kremlin.
He’s getting a brand new show on RT America.
I didn’t think I could respect him less after he encouraged listeners to sit out the 2010 midterms. I stand corrected.
Mustang Bobby
I saw Brooklyn on Christmas Day and really enjoyed it, so it’s a pleasant surprise to see it nominated for Best Picture along with Saoirse Ronan for Best Actress. Highly recommend it. That was the only one of the BP nominees that I saw.
The only flaw I saw in the film is that it takes place in 1951-1952 and in the background of a street scene there’s a 1955 Buick (can’t help it, I’m a car nut).
Hungry Joe
Thoroughly enjoyed “Spotlight” and “The Big Short,” but I’d classify both as very good, not great. “Mad Max: Fury Road,” however, approaches — and maybe attains — greatness for its pure kinetic … fury.
As for who wins what: Couldn’t care less. Oscars night, like Super Bowl day, is a good time to go to Lowe’s or Home Depot.
pete mack
Spotlight is brilliant. It should sweep.
Miesekatze
I liked The Big Short a lot, and Inside Out.
Ex Machina got a screenplay nom, and I don’t think it was worthy or much more.
This is how it usually goes for me. Can’t judge becuase i haven’t seen most of them.
EDIT: Oh, and I also really liked It Follows.
ZeeLizzie
Saw only Brooklyn and The Big Short. Thoroughly enjoyed both, but Brooklyn is better Best Picture material
Scout211
I really want the see Spotlight but I haven’t seen it playing anywhere near me. Does anyone know when or if it will be in wide release?
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Dragging this up from the dead open thread because I found a link that isn’t behind a paywall:
Elie
I saw the Martian, Brooklyn — both strong contenders in my opinion because of the strong emotion and hope that they evoke in our time of despair and darkness. I would be happy with either winning. Revenant just seems too painful for me to see. Don’t know about the others. We need hope and inspiration… not more darkness. We already feel as though we have been mauled by bears and left for dead. I don’t want to reinforce that…
Josh James
MAD MAX FURY ROAD was one of the best movies I’ve seen in the last year, right next to INSIDE OUT. I haven’t seen REVENANT or SPOTLIGHT yet, but I have a feeling I’ll like them very much.
In my opinion, anyone whose opinion that Mad Max Fury Road is crap really has no business opining about movies :) But I don’t really wanna debate about it.
CREED should have been nominated, and STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, too.
Poopyman
Weather related, so completely OT.
Doesn’t it know it’s out of season?
Apparently it’s headed north from the Azores towards Greenland, intent upon destroying the ice pack.
SiubhanDuinne
I saw The Big Short a couple of days ago, and plan to see both Brooklyn and Spotlight in the next few days. Sorry, but I have zero interest in the brutality of The Revenant — it may be brilliant film-making, but the whole idea of it just makes me want to stay far away. And no interest in seeing Mad Max.
Bobby Thomson
I haven’t seen The Martian but I’m invested in it not winning awards, both because of the “comedy” flimflammery and Damon’s recent douchiness. Plus it’s a drama that’s about as suspenseful as Titanic.
Also, too, I found Inside Out to be underwhelming, but it looks like a weak year for animation.
Cermet
I know exactly who will win – Best Picture: I don’t give a flying fU*K
– Best Actor: I don’t give even a flying fU*K – they will be white
– Best Actress: I don’t give even a flying fU*K – they will be white, too
– Best Supporting Actor: I don’t give a flying fU*K nor for the horse they rode in on … .
– and so on down the list
When the awards get honest, deal with real shows and aren’t just hollywood fluffing fellow hollywooders (is that even a word?) maybe I will then care
Mnemosyne
G read the nominations before me and said, “They’re very … white, aren’t they?” Apparently it’s the first time since 1997 or 1998 that no African-American actors have been nominated.
Of the Best Picture nominees, I’ve seen “The Martian,” which was pretty good but not “Best Picture” good, IMO. I was supposed to see “The Big Short” this week, but it got postponed. Who’da thought we’d ever see the phrase “Oscar nominee Adam McKay”?
“Inside Out” will probably win for Best Animated Feature, unless “Anomalisa” sneaks in under the radar. I haven’t seen the rest of the animated short nominees, but “Sanjay’s Super Team” is adorable and sweet.
Screenplay: it’s weird that “Bridge of Spies” is considered an original, but I guess they didn’t officially base it on a specific book or article. In fact, three of the five original screenplay nominees are fact-based (“Spotlight” and “Straight Outta Compton” are the other two.) I would love for “Inside Out” to win original screenplay, but I could live with “Straight Outta Compton” if only to get S. Leigh Savidge onstage for some color.
cmorenc
@J R in WV:
I referee high school/jv/middle school soccer as well as USSF club soccer – and in the clinical training sessions for both, several key principles are emphasized on how to handle fights/brawls/physical confrontations like this.
1) If you cannot quickly bring the situation under control by your quick-arriving close presence / firm whistle & voice command -BUT NEVER with your own attempts to physically intervene –
2) Step back and take notes of who’s involved, who instigated what, who came in off the bench to get involved, etc. The two (or three) refs present should assume positions roughly opposite (two) or a triangle (three) so the crew has a view of the evolving incident from as many angles as possible..
GENERALLY, in every high school sport, it’s considered a serious multi-game ejection/suspension offense for players or coaches to come off the bench onto the court/field to get involved in any way – except perhaps to attempt to vocally (from the sideline) direct any perps from their own side to break off from further confrontation.
As refs, part of your job is to be the calmest, most sensible head on the field, and not get caught up in your own emotions such that you become part of the problem rather than the solution or after-the-fact resolver.
Peale
I thought the Revenant was noticeably too long and implausible after awhile. I thought the cinematography was also overbearing at times. It will probably win, though. I’ve six of the films and would go with Brooklyn
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I haven’t seen any of these, but maybe I’ll get around to it. What I did see this week: all three parts of the Swedish TV miniseries of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy. Noomi Rapace turned in one of the all time great acting performances in it, at times painfully difficult to watch. I recommend them highly, assuming that I wasn’t the last person around to see them. A warning, though: they’re brutal and they spare the audience nothing. It was the correct decision, but may be too much for some viewers.
Elie
@Bobby Thomson:
How can you “know” so much about the Martian but haven’t seen it? It had plenty of suspense to me… plenty. How did you come to your conclusions about what it in it?
Mnemosyne
@Cermet:
To be fair, the Oscars have NEVER been honest. It’s actually better now than it was in the 1950s and 1960s, when drek like “The Greatest Show On Earth” and “Dr. Doolittle” got nominated just to boost the box office receipts. Still, there ain’t many POC’s nominated, and mostly in writing or documentary categories.
Elie
A very strong film which was too “small” to be nominated but I believe was excellent was The Experimenter — about Stanley Milgram’s experiments on human psychology of following the pack.. Totally awesome….
oldgold
I have not seen the new star war film, but it seems the industry is showing some contempt for its customers by ignoring the highest grossing movie of all time.
I expect Cannes and the like to do so, but for this crass industry to do so is laughable.
Punchy
I nominate this guy for an Oscar.
Shell
Started Mad Max; entertaining but haven’t stayed with it to the end. For a dystopian hellscape, they certainly have things well organized, don’t they?
********
Really enjoyed the Martian- but Best Picture…not sure.
Mnemosyne
@Bobby Thomson:
If you didn’t cry at Bing-Bong’s big moment, you should have your heart checked to make sure it’s still there. Just sayin’.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Mnemosyne: I really liked Inside Out, but, you know, women’s hockey fan and all that.
Lee
@Paul W.:
I agree there is very little to debate about Fury Road. I would say either incredibly awesome or jaw droppingly awesome is really the only debate to have.
JPL
@Mustang Bobby: I haven’t seen the movie, but I imagine, that you are among few people who spotted that. lol
Thoughtful Today
Why isn’t Baud a best picture nominee?!
I DEMAND AN INVESTIGATION!
Mnemosyne
@Elie:
You might want to see “Room” — it starts with a heartbreaking situation, but they get out and heal from it. If you like animation, “Inside Out” makes you cry in a good way.
jl
For the first time in I do not remember how many years, I bought two lottery tickets yesterday morning, powerball variety. Not one G-damn number matched. Tried to return them today, since I got obvs defective merchandize and that asshole at 7-11 laughed at me. I have a complaint. I want my 4 bucks back.
Iowa Old Lady
The only one I’ve seen is The Big Short. I saw previews of The Revenant and reacted with total revulsion.
cmorenc
@SiubhanDuinne:
I can see that The Revenant may not be to everyone’s taste for that reason, but the violence in the movie isn’t of the gratuitous-for-dramatic entertainment sort. Rather, as beautiful as the scenery and cinematography is in the movie, and as many stretched yarns about the true harrowing ordeal of the actual historical 1820s mountain man Hugh Glass as it contains – nevertheless it’s a grittily unromanticized depiction of the life of the mountain men who trapped furs and the indian tribes they had a mixed friendly symbiotic and lethally hostile relationship with – and you come away with a good sense of how brutally hard their life was. Unlike another famous mountain man epic (Jerimiah Johnson, starring Robert Redford) – viewers don’t come away from The Revenant with the sort of romantic gloss on the life (despite tragic incidents afflicting the protagonist in Jerimiah Johnson as well) that induces wistful longings to have lived back then as a mountain man. The life really sucked in reality. At the same time, The Revenant is a taut drama from beginning to end, with not a moment gratuitously wasted.
Bobby Thomson
@Elie: spoiler: he doesn’t die. The rest is detail.
Thoughtful Today
Ed Schultz and Thom Hartmann are awesome.
I wish they were on a different channel.
But last I checked, our ‘liberal’ MSNBC hires mostly Republicans and neoliberals.
gene108
@Elie:
The Revenant seems too cold for me to want to see in January. Everyone in the trailers is freezing their butts off in three feet of snow.
ArchTeryx
@cmorenc: Shaun the Sheep was awesome, ostensibly for kids but packed with British dry wit and references (the Abbey road and the Staring Dog ones were priceless), and told without a word of dialogue. A gem in Aardman’s royal crown.
Bobby Thomson
@Mnemosyne: predictable and manipulative. I just found the movie heavy handed and patronizing.
dedc79
Go see Spotlight, even if you’re inclined to think (as I mistakenly did) that (1) you already know the story and (2) it can’t possibly make for an entertaining movie.
gene108
Stallone got his second acting nomination for playing Rocky.
Mnemosyne
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
I actually thought of you when I saw there was hockey in it. Apparently there’s a cut you can get on YouTube where it’s only the parts outside of Riley’s head, so it’s much more hockey-centric.
geg6
Haven’t seen any of them, but I’m interested in seeing Brooklyn and Spotlight. You couldn’t pay me enough to see Mad Max or The Revenant. Ugh.
I’m really freaked about how white that list is. Especially since the president of the Academy is an African American and Chris Rock will be hosting.
cokane
yeah both the Martian and Mad Max were pretty mediocre films. Martian is buoyed by Damon’s performance but it’s actually kind of a dull survival movie. Mad Max has some fun car chases and that’s about it, still don’t understand why people think it’s some epic masterpiece.
Brachiator
@Cermet:
What films and performances should have been nominated?
In the past I have often seen most of the films that end up getting nominated, but this year I have not seen much of anything, so I don’t have any hard opinion on what should or should not have been nominated.
I will probably try to see “Hateful Eight” or “The Revenant” this weekend.
Oh, yah, I thought that “Mad Max: Fury Road” was great, and those who cannot acknowledge it just blind. But I thought the older “Road Warrior” was all around a better film.
Mnemosyne
@gene108:
Good point. I may wait and watch it on DVD when it’s 100+ this summer.
Mike J
@Bobby Thomson: That’s like saying Apollo 13 was meaningless because they survive. Wouldn’t it have been more realistic had they just suffocated?
The Martian is for people who saw the scene in Apollo 13 in which they jury rig the co2 scrubber and said, “they should make a whole movie of that.” Which, it turns out, was a fair number of people.
Betty Cracker
@gene108: I haven’t seen “Creed,” but I’ve heard it’s pretty good. That type of movie usually isn’t my cup of tea, but I’ve heard enough praise for it to make me look forward to watching it when I can do so at home on the cheap.
Mnemosyne
@Bobby Thomson:
I felt that way at the beginning, but once I realized that Joy was not always right (and wasn’t supposed to be), it clicked for me.
Bobby Thomson
@Mike J: yeah, I had no interest in that movie, either.
raven
I went to see The Revenant without my wife. Great choice. She can handle Jeremiah but there was zero joy in this movie.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Mnemosyne: I’m hoping it’s left people primed for a women’s hockey novel.
Roger Moore
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
That must be a coincidence. I’ve been told numerous times by True Liberals that Dodd-Frank doesn’t do anything about Too Big To Fail.
catclub
Star Wars was overlooked except for ‘original score’. I laughed. For original there sure was a lot I had heard before.
catclub
@Betty Cracker: Slate has a bit up about Creed being snubbed.
Mnemosyne
@catclub:
It got 5 nominations — film editing, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects, and score.
Williams really isn’t a one-trick pony despite his 80s work — check out his jazz score for “Catch Me If You Can.”
Brachiator
@oldgold:
Well, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is not the highest grossing movie of all time, and it has been rightfully nominated for some technical Oscars.
I don’t know that mass popularity alone should mark a film as good (or bad, for people who think that a crappy indie film must be great art just because it is done on the cheap).
trollhattan
@Poopyman:
Wow, that’s just crazy. Thanks a lot, rubenesque Al Gore.
Miss Bianca
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Agree about the Stieg Larsson trilogy. We’ll be rewatching this week. One of the few cases where I think the movies ended up being far, far better than the books (altho’ I did devour the books, rather unwillingly…just got sucked in despite myself).
trollhattan
@catclub:
The Academy can never erase the sin of the Rocky best picture award, so ain’t making the same mistake again.
catclub
@Mnemosyne: I screwed up. I trusted NPR when they said it.
I did not mean to criticize Williams. The score should have been familiar.
Mnemosyne
@trollhattan:
The original “Rocky” is still really good, in that low-key “Marty” kind of way. It’s the sequels that sucked.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Miss Bianca: The problem with the books is that they were never properly edited. They were still a work in progress when Larsson died, and they were released pretty much as they were at that point. The movies benefit by tightening up the story and eliminating subplots that go nowhere.
Even at that, I think the plot has some big problems, especially in the last two. The decision to make the bad guys . . .
[spoiler, though not much of one]
. . . a rogue conspiracy within the security services was a mistake. It distracts attention from the real core, which is the exploration of who Lisbeth Salander is, what happened to her, and how it’s shaped her. The characters are far more interesting than the plot.
Amir Khalid
@Cermet:
The awards have always been first and foremost a commercial scheme to promote movies. Artistic merit is only ever a secondary consideration. If people weren’t paying to see your Meryl Streeps and your Daniel Day Lewises, the movie business wouldn’t give a flying frack that they were brilliant actors. Streep and Day Lewis themselves would be the first to tell you, there are actors as good as they (and better) who have never been within sniffing distance of an Oscar and never will be. Alan Rickman, whose work so many of us have just eulogised today, died Oscarless.
Elie
@Mnemosyne:
Thanks!
I want to see Room and did already see Insight/Inside — which was pretty good. I like hopeful movies — we have so few places to air any collective sense of hope or inspiration anymore. I look forward to seeing Room
NonyNony
@Brachiator:
Sadly Disney will have to console itself by crying into its fat sacks of cash.
Anyone who thinks that Star Wars not being nominated for an Oscar is some kind of snub needs to check into how Hollywood works. Star Wars has already earned the award that Hollywood cares the most about – it made large denominations of cash for the people who put up money to make it. The Oscars are the place where movies that don’t make fat sacks of cash go to get their “but you really tried hard, kid, and we love you anyway” awards.
IOW – if we were talking about kids baseball teams, then Star Wars has won the Little League Tournament. The Oscars are more about trying to figure out which team gets the trophy for “Best Sportsmanship”.
Hollywood in particular – and entertainment in general – is the most ruthlessly capitalistic industry on the planet. Money is all that matters. Even the Oscars – which really did start as a way for the artists to reward each other according to “artistic merit” instead of on what the studios cared about (money) – have turned into a way for studios to make more money.
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
Much like the original “Rocky,” “Creed” is as much a romance and a film about family more than it is a boxing film. Stallone doesn’t mug it up, but gives a warm and generous supporting performance.
I don’t know that it should have been a Best Picture nominee, but it is but it is well crafted and earns its “pull at the heartstrings moments.” It is also an interesting second collaboration between director Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan. Tessa Thompson is quite good, and not just a bland love interest, and the cinematography by Maryse Alberti should have been nominated for an Oscar.
C.V. Danes
Saw the Revenant. Cinematography was absolutely gorgeous. Story could have been a 1 hour show on network TV. Merge the two together and you’ve got 2+ hours of ok story sandwiched between some really beautiful shots.
Not sure how that will translate to the ‘small’ screen. The closest parallel I can think of is Vahalla Rising, although I thought that VH had a better story.
redshirt
10 nominations for Mad Max. I told you all!
And if you didn’t like it, or thought it was terrible, which is fine of course, but possibly consider you didn’t “get it”.
Poopyman
I’m thinking “irony” may not be the best description of what Rock is going to do to that room once the evening gets rolling.
Patricia Kayden
@cmorenc: I’d go with The Revenant just for its emotional impact and father/son story. There should be a category for best animal actor for that bear.
The only other nomination I saw was Mad Max, which was lots of fun and probably could win an award for special effects.
Betty Cracker
@Mnemosyne: I was a kid when it came out and at the time had an odious, poisonous, heinous prick of a stepfather who loved it, so for years I was unable to appreciate its merits. But you’re right — the original is a pretty good film.
Elie
@Mike J:
I agree and was one of those people you describe. The movie inspires us to tackle difficult things technically while also maintaining our humanity… that no matter how far away we are from each other, our humanity and the ability to work together will help us survive. Can’t think of a better message these days. I don’t mind a little hokiness… My husband is a movie snob who doesn’t like his emotions of hope and wonder stimulated. I totally want both and make no excuses…
Mnemosyne
@Amir Khalid:
/putting on my film history hat
Actually, the Academy Awards were created as a scheme to try and prevent government censorship of the movies. The Supreme Court had decided in 1915 that movies were NOT protected as free speech under the First Amendment and could be censored by the government at will. As part of their desperate attempts to avoid government censorship, the moguls formed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to try and prove they were making “art,” not just a commercial product. After a couple of tries, the Production Code office (aka Hays office) headed by Joseph Breen put a censorship regime in place that made the government happy.
They grew up a bit from that, but they always have been (and probably always will be) a Hollywood trade show for American films, with a few brief nods to the rest of the world.
Elie
@gene108:
Yeah! Agree with that! Apparently they truly suffered making it — just too much for me. Anyway, movie was a ripoff from Richard Harris’ Man in the Wilderness done back in the early 70’s. Same story, man mauled by bear and abandoned by his group — comes to terms with it… No one mentions the similarities in these two films. I also have a real hard time looking at animals suffering and that one scene in the trailer of the horse going over the cliff is just not something I can see…
Brachiator
@NonyNony:
This is not necessarily a bad thing. And money is not all that matters. Ego matters as well. Sometimes even more so.
And there have been movie moguls (Louis B Mayer as a prime example) who have been as obsessed with making “quality movies” as with making money.
I live in Southern California and have known a few people in the movie business (and the recording industry). And the weird thing is that even in an industry which is based on making money, those who cynically try to churn out money makers and who have a contempt for audiences rarely turn out anything that is not crappy hackwork.
Oh yeah, and the Oscars were originally as much a private party for stars and others in the industry as it was an occasion for recognizing quality work.
zmulls
Yeah, the original Swedish “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” (etc.) trilogy is really watchable. The Fincher version just missed the boat.
Saw MAD MAX: FURY ROAD and while I enjoyed it to an extent, it’s hard for me to think of it as a Best Picture. For creative vision and for sheer movie-making, it was really great. But there was precious little for me in terms of story or character. Only Charlize Theron rose above her sketchy outline (Tom Hardy was barely in the movie, it seemed). At the end I felt that I had seen one two-hour-long action sequence. Which isn’t a knock.
THE BIG SHORT was a lot of fun,very engaging, and both Christian Bale and Steve Carrell could have been nominated. (Bale was particularly good, especially when you hear that he totally captured the real guy, and even wore some of his clothes in the movie). I could see them giving it Best Picture (and giving THE REVENANT Best Director) for the way they tell the story, plus the politics. I’m guessing it’s an easy Best Screenplay.
I hear SPOTLIGHT is excellent. And my sister said BROOKLYN was one of the most beautiful films she’s seen, so there’s that.
BRIDGE OF SPIES is going to go down as “a pretty good Steven Spielberg pic” — nobody is excited about it. Good for Mark Rylance, though. He’s a very sneaky actor.
JimV
I’ve only seen “Fury Road” (four times so far) but I’ve seen the trailers for most of the others, and doubt if they match it. Someone please, please tell me Charlise was nominated for best actress!
Roger Moore
@zmulls:
Bale actually was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
Betty Cracker
@zmulls:
That’s only because you don’t get it! You’re just too blind to see! I’ll put it this way: Shakespeare? Molière? Beckett? Chekov? Sophocles? Ibsen? MORONS compared to the genius troika that produced the incomparable Mad Max: Fury Road!
Acknowledge its greatness, or in the fullness of time, see your grandchildren weep with shame. There really is no other reasonable choice.
zmulls
@Roger Moore…I know Bale was nominated — my comment is that they both could have been (but the Academy only had room for one of them and Bale was a smidgen better). Carrell’s character is arguably the “conscience” of the film.
@Betty Cracker Next you’ll be telling me that Star Wars was more than a mildly entertaining slog through familiar tropes and retread characters and plot points
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
The only one I’ve seen is Brooklyn. I thought it was good but a little sappy. I was surprised to see that Nick Hornby wrote the screenplay in the closing credits. For once he wrote about a female character who is ambivalent about commitment.
Ripley
@JimV: Nope, not nominated. A real shame; great role and great performance in my favorite movie of last year.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
Yep. There was a recent KPCC AirTalk public radio segment about this, Pushing the political envelope in American film.
And Jeremy Geltzer has written a book about the history of free speech and film, “Dirty Words and Filthy Pictures: Film and the First Amendment (Paperback)”
For those in the Los Angeles area, he is giving a talk about the book at Book Soup on January 30.
Event date:
Saturday, January 30, 2016 – 5:00pm
Event address:
Book Soup
8818 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Gin & Tonic
@zmulls: Mark Rylance was really the only good thing about that film.
Soylent Green
Visually, Fury Road is stunning. Otherwise, it’s crap.
Mnemosyne
@Gin & Tonic:
I half-suspect that Rylance got nominated because everyone watched “Wolf Hall,” but I’m cynical that way.
Bill
I’ve seen none of the nominated films. Bot how the hell did Mad Max get a nomination?!
Also, very disappointed Depp didn’t get a best actor nom.
Bobby Thomson
@NonyNony: except that Gladiator and Titanic both won.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Roger Moore: Clearly, it’s because they’re afraid of Bernie’s promise to dismantle them when he wins the Presidency.
Big Picture Pathologist
@Cacti:
Why do you care about the funding? If he’s not a disgusting liar Foxbot, more power to him.
I listen to TH everyday and the man is rarely wrong about anything.
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
Now you’re getting it!!
mclaren
Have seen most of the films except Spotlight (couldn’t stomach the child-molestation subject matter) and Brooklyn. After the shitstorm of abuse the various fanois and fangirls heaped on me for pointing out that the lastest Star Wars film was a mediocre fifth-rate retread of the original 1977 movie, you people seem to have recognized the truth.
Namely “Next you’ll be telling me that Star Wars was more than a mildly entertaining slog through familiar tropes and retread characters and plot points.” Yep, pretty much. Also, The Revenant looked spectacular but didn’t have that much in the way of character or story: “Cinematography was absolutely gorgeous. Story could have been a 1 hour show on network TV. Merge the two together and you’ve got 2+ hours of ok story sandwiched between some really beautiful shots.” Basically, yes.
“Martian is buoyed by Damon’s performance but it’s actually kind of a dull survival movie.” Can’t argue on that one.
Bridge of Spies? Probably the best of the lot, but still nothing more than a slightly better-than-average Spielberg film. Max Max looked unbelievably amazing and the stunts were astounding, but, as various folks pointed out, it was just one long action sequence, and the putative title characters were basically only there to populate the funny cars and baroque landscape and perform the outrageous stunts. (We don’t even need to discuss Spectre, which I said was shite, and which everyone now seems to have pretty much accepted as, yes, pure shite.)
2015 was not a great year for movies.
I look back to a year like 1974, with The Godafather part II, or 1968, with 2001: A Space Odyssey, or 1994 with Pulp Fiction…and there just wasn’t anything of remotely that caliber in theaters this year.
Elie
Agree with the verdict on Star Wars — totally bland and way way way overrated…
Elie
I don’t know if anyone pointed out or posted on the demise of AlJazeera America. I for one am very disappointed. The only network doing any detailed work on the reality of the American experience with pieces on Michigan water, coal and generalized horror of the American experience for the working man.I was wondering how they stayed afloat but all the people who bitch about Fox but didn’t tune in on some of this really good reporting need to acknowledge that again, progressives did not support news outlet that gets the truth out….
David *Rafael* Koch
well, at least they didn’t nominate that horrible Steve Jobs movie for Best Picture.
Gin & Tonic
@Big Picture Pathologist: Don’t know about Cacti, but I see no improvement in having Vladimir Putin signing your paycheck as opposed to Rupert Murdoch.
Brachiator
I like Richard Brody’s take on Creed in the New Yorker:
David *Rafael* Koch
wow – this is Kate Winslet’s 7th Oscar nomination. 7 over the past 21 years.
trollhattan
@Mnemosyne:
Not a bad film, but see what it won against:
All the President’s Men – Walter Coblenz
Bound for Glory – Robert F. Blumofe, Harold Leventhal
Network – Howard Gottfried
Taxi Driver – Julia Phillips, Michael Phillips
At least three are in top-100 territory.
David *Rafael* Koch
@Brachiator: I still can’t believe “the academy” (sounds like a horror film) ripped off Viola Davis and awarded Streep’s horrid performance as Thatcher. I love Streep – the actor with the biggest range ever, but Thatcher was putrid.
David *Rafael* Koch
@trollhattan:
Back then they really focused on box office. I mean how else do you explain giving Richard Dreyfus an Oscar for “the Goodbye Girl”
Brachiator
@David *Rafael* Koch:
Never saw The Iron Lady, so I can’t really compare Streep’s performance to Davis’.
But that year I liked Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Movies like The Help make my teeth hurt, but Davis’ performance was wonderful.
trollhattan
@David *Rafael* Koch:
Heh. Guess I’m obligated to ask, “People watched ‘The Goodbye Girl’?” At least I can say I never….
Mike E
Eschewed Spotlight to see Brooklyn, and it did not disappoint.
Shaun the Sheep is a little gem.
Bobby Thomson
@David *Rafael* Koch: makeup for American Graffiti/Jaws/etc.? Plus he was good in it.
David *Rafael* Koch
@trollhattan: I’m a TCM junkie and it’s a film in their circulation.
David *Rafael* Koch
@Brachiator: Very good point. Rooney was really good.
Mnemosyne
@trollhattan:
Yes, but I can see why “Rocky” stood out against three (maybe four) depressing movies about how the world sucks and the bad guys always win.
mclaren
@Mnemosyne:
That’s the entire 1970s movie catalog in a nutshell.
trollhattan
@Mnemosyne:
A sentiment that had us electing Reagan four years later (am completely serious here, flicks like “Rocky” and “Billy Jack” tapped the same zeitgeist that slick Ronny used to set himself apart from that meddling Jimmy Carter).
David *Rafael* Koch
@Mnemosyne: but a fact that most people watching the movie forget – Rocky lost to Creed.
Felanius Kootea
Loved Anomalisa (stop-motion film up for best animation – definitely not a children’s film) and think it should win but Inside Out probably will (thought it was okay). Liked Brooklyn, loved Mad Max: Fury Road, liked the Martian (dislike Matt Damon these days), haven’t seen the Revenant and don’t want to, haven’t seen Spotlight but definitely want to.
Kathleen
@pete mack: I agree. One of the best films I’ve ever seen. I also loved Brooklyn and Trumbo (Cranston deserves the Best Actor nod).
tones
@Thoughtful Today: right as rain, there is no room on MSNBC for anything close to liberal anymore, once Keith left, that was it.
agorabum
@Betty Cracker: I thought you didn’t want to debate Max? Also, I’m sure Shakespeare would have liked it. He enjoyed a bit of violence. The fellow who wrote Titus would enjoy the revenge tale at its heart.
tones
@srv: it has been this way for me since the changes in FF , never goes to a previous page.
Gretchen
I loved Brooklyn, and saw it twice. Can’t think about it, even this minute, without getting tears in my eyes. The girl saying goodbye to her mother, maybe forever, looks a lot like my daughter, while the mother is very reminiscent of my mom, so it had a lot of emotional punch.
Darkrose
I like that the only nomination Straight Outta Compton got was for the screenplay…written by two white guys.
Karla
@Elie: Since both movies were based on actual events (sure, with liberties taken, but the bear/abandonment/pursuit elements are the core), I don’t see how one is a rip-off of the other.
polyorchnid octopunch
@Betty Cracker: You should throw Homer in there… and maybe think about the narrative structure of the Odyssey, which is not particularly more complex than Fury Road was.
I think it was a great movie, and one that will change how action movies work because of how much better it was than most of what passes for that… and a large part of that was in how it was made (using real stuff instead of CGI).
I also love the epic troll that Miller laid down on the MRA people without even realising it… watching their tears of outrage that Miller had someone other than Max (and a woman. A WOMAN! What a betrayal! ;) ) as the lead was sweet indeed.