Comments on: That was close. We almost passed the Bechdel Test.

That was close. We almost passed the Bechdel Test.

larrybob — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 11:46:16 -0800

How to write an Oscar-nominated movie, 2015 edition by Alexandra Petri.

By: ORthey

ORthey — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 11:55:46 -0800

I mean I know our society looooooves white people but Jesus, all 20 actor/actresses white? So blindingly white.

By: ChurchHatesTucker

ChurchHatesTucker — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 11:58:04 -0800

So blindingly white. The Lego Movie was robbed. #dickpoop

By: ORthey

ORthey — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:01:59 -0800

Oh, and yeah, so blindingly male, too.

By: el io

el io — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:03:56 -0800

Speaking of Jesus... I was wondering if the Bible passed the Bechdel Test the other night... I decided to google it. My address bar auto-completed "does the bible" to "does the bible pass the bechdel test". Anyways, as I suspected, someone has done the analysis.

By: everybody had matching towels

everybody had matching towels — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:09:53 -0800

Related: Slate's Dan Kois on the differences in how the Academy treats movies about men and movies about women.

By: Etrigan

Etrigan — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:10:38 -0800

The Lego Movie was robbed. Oh my god, seriously, what in the actual fuck.

By: Joe in Australia

Joe in Australia — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:14:49 -0800

What's the joke about the "Acting Nose" about?

By: emjaybee

emjaybee — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:18:10 -0800

One of them reminds Dick of Channing Tatum, but this stays in subtext where it belongs. I managed not to giggle till I got to that one. I went to see the Imitation Game, but mostly to see Keira Knightly in 40s clothes, I will confess. Cumberbatch is rapidly beating out Tom Hanks in the role of "Actor that everyone praises but whom I don't actually care for who is in so many fucking movies that I end up watching him anyway."

By: roomthreeseventeen

roomthreeseventeen — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:18:19 -0800

Dick Poop was also robbed. The guy was nominated and then it was taken away so quickly.

By: Etrigan

Etrigan — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:19:22 -0800

What's the joke about the "Acting Nose" about? Foxcatcher.

By: everybody had matching towels

everybody had matching towels — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:19:32 -0800

I am pretty sure it's a reference to Steve Carrell's fake nose in Foxcatcher.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:24:46 -0800

Lego Movie did get a nom for best song.

By: yasaman

yasaman — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:27:39 -0800

Lego Movie did get a nom for best song. And I hope it wins, because I will derive a lot of delight from seeing the astonishingly improbable combination of words that is "Academy Award Winner Andy Samberg."

By: bleep

bleep — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:28:23 -0800

Re: Acting nose, actors (especially actresses) frequently get rewarded by the academy awards for changing their appearance for a role: uglying up their face, losing a lot of weight or playing someone who's disabled, etc.

By: bleep

bleep — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:29:46 -0800

As if they like to pat themselves on the back for the outward appearance of real acting while actual good acting and actual good movies are ignored.

By: Etrigan

Etrigan — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:31:13 -0800

And I hope it wins, because I will derive a lot of delight from seeing the astonishingly improbable combination of words that is "Academy Award Winner Andy Samberg." Performers don't get credit -- only Shawn Patterson was nominated for "Everything Is Awesome." We do however, get the chance to see Archie Bunker's niece win one.

By: yasaman

yasaman — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:35:45 -0800

Aw, I didn't realize the Lonely Island weren't credited as co-writers on that song. Still, watching that song be performed at the Oscars will probably be the only thing about the show worth watching.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:36:54 -0800

Chekhov's Tatum

By: maxsparber

maxsparber — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:38:09 -0800

And I hope it wins, because I will derive a lot of delight from seeing the astonishingly improbable combination of words that is "Academy Award Winner Andy Samberg." Bob Saget gets to call himself an Academy Award-winner (sort of, and deservedly, believe it or not), so anything is possible.

By: tittergrrl

tittergrrl — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:39:23 -0800

It seems like politics (as in internal jockeying) had a lot to do with some of the snubs this year, at least acting wise. This article has some explanations which hold some water, chief being the lack of David Oyelowo as Best Actor (due to studios campaigning/forcing Carrell getting a best actor nom vs supporting to keep the supporting category open for JK Simmons for Whiplash, pushing Oyelowo out) and why the LEGO movie wasn't nominated (animated features are nominated solely by animation professionals, whose reasons tend to be based more on artistry and craftsmanship than critical reviews, not the general Academy). I'll never get over how the Academy nominated neither Hoop Dreams nor Crumb for Best Documentary Feature in 1994, both because of their awful "flashlight" system where nominators would flash a flashlight at the screen when they were no longer interested, and once a majority of lights were on the screen, they would immediately stop the film. Neither film made it past 20 minutes IIRC. Two of the greatest documentaries of all time. That's the Academy for you.

By: Steely-eyed Missile Man

Steely-eyed Missile Man — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:45:34 -0800

they like to pat themselves on the back All award shows in a nutshell.

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:45:41 -0800

So every year we try to watch all the Best Picture nominations, and to get them all in we usually start out before the nomination and watch any likely candidates that have the right "buzz" around them. Our hit rate was pretty good this year, so we only have a few to go, but we also took in a bunch of movies that didn't make it and I have to say by far and away out of the ones that made it and the ones that didn't the ones that didn't are the much better bunch - Wild, Nightcrawler, Under the Skin and the Babadook in particular. The Oscars are always a little small c conservative but this year seems particularly bland.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:45:47 -0800

Not from that article, but one they linked to: But the Oscars should not be about rewarding competence; they should reward excellence. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA "Should" and "is" are hardly ever int he same room, let alone the same thing. In a world where Forrest Gump won a best picture award I think we can safely stop caring what the Oscars have to say

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:47:35 -0800

FWIW Birdman, Selma and Boyhood are still on our "to watch" list. Oh, and now "American Sniper". Fuuuuuuuuck.

By: Etrigan

Etrigan — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:47:46 -0800

I'll never get over how the Academy nominated neither Hoop Dreams nor Crumb for Best Documentary Feature in 1994 Hoop Dreams was made by the same guy who made the universally acclaimed Life Itself, which was similarly un-nominated and whose subject (Roger Ebert) devoted more ink to Hoop Dreams's snub than 99 percent of Best Documentary nominees ever get. The Academy has a long, long memory.

By: grumpybear69

grumpybear69 — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:48:04 -0800

I thought Carrell was better in Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World than Foxcatcher. But then I also think Life Aquatic was better than Grand Budapest.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:48:44 -0800

Though I will say either Top Five, or Selma should have at least been on the list, and the Imitation Game was ok, but suffered enough problems it shouldn't really be on the list

By: Etrigan

Etrigan — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:49:45 -0800

Oh, and now "American Sniper". Fuuuuuuuuck. I, an Iraq War veteran, will be avoiding this movie on the basis of its patently stupid trailer (and the fact that The Hurt Locker was pablum, so the Academy lost all its "This is a good war movie" cred with me). Feel free to ignore it as well.

By: bigendian

bigendian — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:50:12 -0800

As somebody over at Badass Digest pointed out "18 out of 18 people nominated for Writing and/or Directing are men. 20 out of 20 nominated for Acting are white." So yeah, that should give you some ideas whom not to include for an Oscar-nominated movie...

By: Sangermaine

Sangermaine — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 13:07:19 -0800

I hope Keaton gets it. His performance in Birdman was amazing.

By: Bromius

Bromius — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 13:12:16 -0800

I was quite bummed at the lack of acting nominations for Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin in Inherent Vice.

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 13:14:59 -0800

2015 Oscar nominations: Mr Turner and Selma's snubs are shocking

By: everybody had matching towels

everybody had matching towels — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 13:18:48 -0800

I was quite bummed at the lack of acting nominations for Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin in Inherent Vice. I was too, but I am thrilled that Inherent Vice was nominated for Costume Design - I always appreciate when 1950s-and-forward costume design is recognized, because it's so much harder to get the right details on a era that many living people are actually very familiar with. The Academy should really split the category into "Modern Era" and "Period/Fantasy" costume design.

By: everybody had matching towels

everybody had matching towels — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 13:27:08 -0800

Which, if I would have looked before posting, the Costume Designers Guild already does. They split it into Contemporary, Period, and Fantasy. Here are this year's nominees.

By: ChuraChura

ChuraChura — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 13:53:19 -0800

From The Butter (and Roxane Gay), "These stories deserve to be told but they are not the only stories that deserve to be told."

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 14:03:58 -0800

Hoop Dreams was made by the same guy who made the universally acclaimed Life Itself, which was similarly un-nominated and whose subject (Roger Ebert) devoted more ink to Hoop Dreams's snub than 99 percent of Best Documentary nominees ever get. Huh, I didn't realize that. Life Itself brought me close to tears but part of that was that we were watching it at EbertFest and Chaz, his widow, was sitting in the same theater watching it with us. Generally if the Academy Awards manages to award the best of the year in any category, it's more by accident than design. Mostly they pick the safe and boring crowd pleasers and it's almost always been that way.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 14:17:14 -0800

animated features are nominated solely by animation professionals, whose reasons tend to be based more on artistry and craftsmanship than critical reviews, not the general Academy Also from that article, was surprised that they need to watch all 20 shortlisted nominees in order to vote. Feels like the voting pool would end up pretty shallow.

By: Fizz

Fizz — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 14:20:07 -0800

I mostly watch The Oscars for the spectacle of it all. I stopped giving any credence to any of the choices that the Academy made a long time ago. My own choice of films that should be watched this year: Under the Skin Nightcrawler Jodorowsky's Dune Only Lovers Left Alive Force Majeure Birdman Grand Budapest Hotel Internet's Own Boy There are some great films out there, let your wallet speak for you and support films/artists you love.

By: sparklemotion

sparklemotion — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 14:30:56 -0800

"18 out of 18 people nominated for Writing and/or Directing are men. 20 out of 20 nominated for Acting are white." I'm often not a huge fan of diversity-for-diversity's-sake, and I'd be willing to at least consider an argument that maybe, in 2014, "diverse" folks just kind of sucked at movie-making*. I mean it does happen, sometimes the white dudes are just better at things. That's cool. But Selma is nominated for Best Picture. It is (according to the Academy) one of the best movies of the year. And, I'll admit that I don't know much about what goes into movie making, but you'd think that to be one of the best movies of the year either the acting had to not suck, or the direction had to not suck. So it's a lot harder to make the argument that women and black folks just aren't good this year, when women and black folks created something that's been recognized as "good." So why did Selma get nominated for best picture when it has sub-par acting and directing? It seems like is has to be because either Selma is not that good, and got nominated because the Academy wanted to make some kind of a show to diversity. Or because the acting and directing was also good, but the Academy being racist and sexist didn't want to acknowledge it. Neither of those choices make the Academy look good. Sister president or no. *I would not actually buy that argument because, come on, but I might consider it.

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 14:35:58 -0800

I would question the notion that Lego Movie isn't a technically accomplished movie - they're doing some pretty great stuff with physics and procedural generation.

By: magstheaxe

magstheaxe — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 14:37:04 -0800

I'm still angry at the Academy for not nominating The Last Seduction (and Linda Fiorentino's brilliant performance) on a technicality. I don't know why I insist on getting my hopes up every year. At least Alejandro González Iñárritu (director of Birdman) is nominated . Let's hope he joins Alfonso Cuarón as another Mexican Best Director winner.

By: Etrigan

Etrigan — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 14:43:54 -0800

But Selma is nominated for Best Picture. It is (according to the Academy) one of the best movies of the year. And, I'll admit that I don't know much about what goes into movie making, but you'd think that to be one of the best movies of the year either the acting had to not suck, or the direction had to not suck. I haven't seen most of the nominated movies, but Selma was nominated as one of the eight Best Pictures of the year, while all of the other (major) categories have five nominees. Foxcatcher has nominations in Best Actor, Supporting Actor, Director, and Original Screenplay, but Selma was still judged better. On a purely mathematical level, it's not that insane that the Academy simply thought Selma was better than the sum of its parts, which might have been very good but not top-five good. (Though, frankly, if the movie had been about LBJ's bravery, it totally would have gotten more noms.)

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 14:58:29 -0800

Another thing to note in the Animation field: the Pixar lock is now dead as a doornail.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 15:16:15 -0800

There was no Pixar movie in 2014.

By: tittergrrl

tittergrrl — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 15:24:06 -0800

Another thing to note in the Animation field: the Pixar lock is now dead as a doornail. I dunno about that. Yes, the last two films they released were not nominated, but they were both sequels... Cars 2 and Monsters University. Monsters University maybe should have been, but my guess is Disney put their influence behind Frozen. Those are also the only two films from Pixar that have ever not been nominated for best Animated Feature (the Planes films don't count, as they are not Pixar films, even though they are spin-offs from the Cars series). Let's not forget Pixar had no films in 2014, but have two this year, both original features: Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur. I think their dominance isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

By: ChurchHatesTucker

ChurchHatesTucker — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 15:35:40 -0800

I would question the notion that Lego Movie isn't a technically accomplished movie I wonder how many voters thought it was a big brickfilm.

By: naju

naju — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 16:09:56 -0800

My personal list would be something like: Inherent Vice Under the Skin Coherence The Guest A Spell To Ward Off the Darkness The Strange Colour Of Your Body's Tears Blue Ruin The Dance of Reality The Raid 2 The Babadook Doesn't even scratch the surface though. Such a fantastic year for film.

By: kalimac

kalimac — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 16:30:09 -0800

I know it wouldn't increase the diversity of the nominees, but Calvary was utterly exquisite. I don't know how much this is worth, as I'm not a big filmgoer, but it's probably one of the best movies I've ever seen in my life.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 16:54:51 -0800

My personal list would be something like (in no order): Boyhood Inherent Vice Gone Girl Edge of Tomorrow Locke Blue Ruin Life Itself Grand Budapest Hotel But there's a bunch of movies that I wasn't able to catch in the theater and haven't seen yet like Under The Skin and Only Lovers Left Alive and Birdman.

By: mannequito

mannequito — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 17:07:11 -0800

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 17:13:35 -0800

Clint Eastwood gets auto-nommed I guess. Coming to next Oscars: Chair Shouter.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 17:15:44 -0800

Oh damn, Snowpiercer, how did I forget that?

By: Fizz

Fizz — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 17:16:10 -0800

On the subject of lists, so many have listed Boyhood and I just didn't like that film. I appreciate the idea behind it and the process was interesting, the "concept" of the film is more interesting that the film itself which I just found tedious. It felt very self-congratulatory. Ah well, different strokes, different folks.

By: naju

naju — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 17:50:15 -0800

I don't understand the movie 'The Guest'. I read numerous good reviews from critics I can normally trust, and i see it on a list like naju's above amongst some of my other favorites from the year. But ... when I watched I thought it was legitimately terrible, like cringeworthy B-movie terrible, and I wonder if I missed something - was it meant to be sort of satire or something? Yeah, it's pretty heavily referential and self-aware about its specific influences without being especially overt or hit-you-over-the-head about it, so probably lots of people can watch it without picking up on any of that (which is perfectly OK). Friend and mefite rabbitroom did a write-up of it recently which nails this question: If the "Snoot Films" logo that opens THE GUEST looks somewhat familiar, it's because it was likely modeled after the famous logo for The Cannon Group, the premiere purveyor of 80s action cinema on a budget. The kind of cheap action they specialized in–films such as DEATH WISH II, NINJA III: THE DOMINATION, and Chuck Norris's DELTA FORCE series–is one of the obvious main influences on Adam Wingard's colorful follow-up to YOU'RE NEXT. The other major obvious influence is what gives the film its sci-fi/horror flavor: HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH... The plot of the film recalls 80s action films as well as playing like an inversion of later direct-to-video thrillers in which a (usually female) stranger moves in on a family for ulterior motives (see also: POISON IVY), and in combination with the almost cartoonish finale, THE GUEST almost plays like a tribute to and satire of direct-to-video "guilty pleasures" of the video store era. Of course, if you want to throw all that intertextual junk out the window, THE GUEST is also just a hell of a good time. The cast is fantastic, the soundtrack is awesome, and that last act is almost the David Wain/John Carpenter collaboration we never knew we needed. Hugely entertaining and totally, unapologetically badass. Basically it's like a lost direct-to-video movie from that specific era when thriller, action, and horror could all meld together unpredictably into a single low-budget piece of enjoyable popcorn fun. The score is a full-on John Carpenter wonder, and the whole thing is funny and stylish as hell. Seriously, this movie is still pretty criminally unknown, and if any of this sounds remotely up your alley, seek it out.

By: everybody had matching towels

everybody had matching towels — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 18:00:29 -0800

Here's my Top 5 (I didn't see a lot of movies this year): The Babadook Inherent Vice Gone Girl Edge of Tomorrow Tracks I haven't seen Selma or A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night yet, though, both of which I expect I'll enjoy. Bottom One: Birdman. Visually engaging but otherwise wholly tedious, self-indulgent, and guilty of thinking it's a lot more clever than it actually is.

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 18:32:27 -0800

Poor old Edge of Tomorrow. It totally could have been the crossover smart SF movie of these Oscars if anyone had actually seen the thing. I like it in than role more than Snowpeircer, even.

By: hydropsyche

hydropsyche — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 18:45:56 -0800

The FPP was pretty perfect. I love the people who say Selma wasn't nominated because it did not "accurately" portray LBJ. The only "accurate" things in The Imitation Game are that there once was a man named Alan Turing who worked on the Ultra project and was gay. Literally everything else about the movie is completely fictionalized, some of it quite badly. Also, I'm still waiting for the day when the Oscars require the nominees to actually have been in theaters where real people can see them in the year of nomination. I'm hoping to see Selma this weekend. Of things I actually saw because they were played at theaters in Atlanta in the year 2014: Boyhood Obvious Child Edge of Tomorrow Snowpiercer and an honorable mention tie for the Lego Movie and Interstellar

By: jenfullmoon

jenfullmoon — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 19:15:07 -0800

"DICK'S BOSS pushes this woman out of a window. She falls onto a parked car. This is a movie, so she is probably okay. DICK'S BOSS That was close. We almost passed the Bechdel Test. DICK'S MALE COWORKER Good lookin' out there, Bob." Alexandra Petri is always dead on.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 19:37:38 -0800

Variety speculates on why The LEGO Movie didn't get a Best Animated Feature nomination I haven't seen any of the nominees in that category, so I can't definitively say they aren't all better than TLM, but its seems unlikely. I do object to the comparison to 2009 — where, the article notes, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was not nominated, and The Secret of Kells was, because I did see TSOK and its nomination was well-deserved.

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 20:00:17 -0800

Hopefully the nomination means a proper release for Song of the Sea is coming.

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 01:29:49 -0800

Citizenfour is nominated, mannequito. It's in theaters now-ish btw. (previously)

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 01:41:20 -0800

American Sniper got six Oscar nominations while/for distorting the Iraq war history. (via) Related : What bothers me about Islam... And : A Vietnam Veteran with PTSD is the First US Execution of 2015

By: mannequito

mannequito — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 01:44:20 -0800

jeffburdges: "Citizenfour is nominated, mannequito. It's in theaters now-ish btw. (previously)" Yeah! 3 days only at my local university .... going to see it tomorrow.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 05:57:35 -0800

It doesn't matter of a film is inaccurate, it matters if the inaccuracies get press.

By: onlyconnect

onlyconnect — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 08:40:08 -0800

I was sad that Chef got no love here or at the Golden Globes. That was my favorite movie of 2014.

By: yoink

yoink — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 11:00:37 -0800

why did Selma get nominated for Best Picture when it has sub-par acting and directing Not getting nominated for one of the five best performance slots is hardly the same thing as being judged "sub-par." I haven't seen Selma so can't judge how good it is, but the reviews suggest it's a stirring, but hardly ground-breaking film that happens to be about a very important subject. It does rather seem as if some of the "OMG how could they do that to Selma" angst is conflating the significance of the story it has to tell with the significance of the movie qua movie. Not, of course, that the Academy has done a good job of making that distinction consistently in the past (see a substantial chunk of the movies about the holocaust etc.).

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 14:18:18 -0800

American Sniper feeds America's hero complex, and it isn't the truth about war

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 14:20:01 -0800

American Sniper got six Oscar nominations while/for distorting the Iraq war history. Careful, some of the movie's fans really don't like it when you criticize the film.

By: hydropsyche

hydropsyche — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 14:46:59 -0800

I just saw Selma. David Oyelowo was robbed of a nomination, and so was Ava DuVernay. I see a lot of movies (I mean, assuming they come out in Atlanta, of course)--at least 1 movie a week basically, pretty much every week. I see art house movies and dramas, and I love a cheesy action film. Selma was an excellently crafted and executed movie. The acting was great, the writing was nuanced, and the direction and cinematography were especially good. While doing a good job portraying the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, they managed to capture that this was a movement of many ordinary individuals who put their lives on the line for what is right, not for any other reason. It is very very hard to portray actual violence done by one human being to another with a stick or a whip or just fists and boots and not have it look cartoonish and also not turn away at the moment of pain and suffering. It's really hard to portray an icon like Dr. King and not have it be either cartoonish or hagiographic. This movie captured the violence and the humanity of those terrible days. A charitable reading is that the Academy of Motion pictures is just really really white (and male), and they weren't particularly interested in this movie and so did not give it serious consideration. A less charitable reading is that they intentionally snubbed this particular movie and this particular director at this particular moment in history to make a point. In any case, I will not be watching the Oscars.

By: hydropsyche

hydropsyche — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 14:49:51 -0800

So, now, my top 5 for 2014 are Selma Boyhood Obvious Child Edge of Tomorrow Snowpiercer

By: yoink

yoink — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 16:35:03 -0800

A less charitable reading is that they intentionally snubbed this particular movie and this particular director at this particular moment in history to make a point It's hard to imagine how such a thing would be arranged; you would have to do it as a deliberate conspiracy involving a very large number of people. It seems inconceivable that someone wouldn't spill the beans.

By: hydropsyche

hydropsyche — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 16:42:21 -0800

By: Artw

Artw — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 22:10:03 -0800

I just saw Selma. David Oyelowo was robbed of a nomination, and so was Ava DuVernay. Yup, just saw it and pretty much.

By: emptythought

emptythought — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 03:42:29 -0800

Worth noting snowpiercer is technically not a 2014 film. it was out in 2013 in korea, or at festivals, or something. It's listed as such on imdb and elsewhere, even. although it also lists the date in theaters in the US as july 2014. Wouldn't surprise me if it was disqualified because of that. A less charitable reading is that they intentionally snubbed this particular movie and this particular director at this particular moment in history to make a point. In any case, I will not be watching the Oscars. This hits some weird point in my mind that's like a quantum state of eyerolling and somber belief. It's an outrageous conspiracy theory that i could totally see. It's ridiculous, but something specific about the recent #blacklivesmatter stuff has made several types of old white people really viscerally angry. And angry in a way they don't like to even talk about. I could absolutely see them looking that movie which is exactly about that and going "ugh, this shit again?".

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 09:01:10 -0800

Worth noting snowpiercer is technically not a 2014 film. it was out in 2013 in korea, or at festivals, or something. It's listed as such on imdb and elsewhere, even. although it also lists the date in theaters in the US as july 2014. The standard for feature films is that the date of first showing in a Los Angeles theater must be in 2014, and the first showing anywhere may be no earlier than 2013 — see Rule Three here. Snowpiercer was on the list of films that were eligible this year. (The linked list appears to include feature-length films in all categories, including foreign, documentary, and animated; but not short films.)

By: Artw

Artw — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 09:51:35 -0800

I keep forgetting Budapest is on the list, I so solidly think of it as a movie from the year before.

By: yoink

yoink — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 10:59:07 -0800

I guess you believe that the nominations are simply based on the number of votes, and that those votes are all completely independent of each other, and that there are no campaigns or advocates for some movies over others? I am perhaps more cynical about the academy than you. No, I'm very sure there are campaigns and voters who influence other voters and so forth. That is not exactly the same thing, however, as "hey, let's deliberately snub the director and star of Selma so as to "make a point." (And what point is that, exactly? You really think that the members of the academy are frothing at the mouth mad about the protest marches over Ferguson and Eric Garner? That they're sitting around saying "damned uppity blackfolks, we gotta teach them a lesson, dammit"? And that somehow despite these feelings and despite the fact that they orchestrate their votes as a cabal, the sheer brilliance of Selma somehow forced them to nominate it for Best Picture despite themselves?) Yeah, there are campaigns, and yeah, there are industry insiders and industry outsiders and so forth, but no, there isn't some secret organising body who decide who will and who won't get nominated so as to "make a point."

By: hydropsyche

hydropsyche — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 11:12:38 -0800

Like I said, I was being uncharitable and cynical and obviously also a little hyperbolic. There was an awful lot more to that comment than the one sentence that bothered you. Have you seen Selma? What did you think?

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 12:55:10 -0800

American Sniper got six Oscar nominations while/for distorting the Iraq war history. And it's a huge giant box office hit now. I don't get it.

By: Artw

Artw — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 13:44:21 -0800

Saw a to of people going into it when we were at the cinema the other day. No idea.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 14:22:03 -0800

Noticing a bunch of conservative Christian friends on Facebook saying how much they loved Sniper.

By: Artw

Artw — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 14:45:57 -0800

I'm pretty sure it ends with Eastwood jerking off a Bald Eagle whilst singing a patriotic song about Jesus. ...and I've backed myself into seeing the filthy thing. Fuck.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 07:20:33 -0800

American Sniper got an A+ rating on CinemaScore, which is like an exit poll for movies. So it's going to have massive word of mouth too.

By: Fizz

Fizz — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 12:48:50 -0800

I find his films to be beautiful but there is this horrible "get off my lawn"-ism that rests underneath and I struggle to put it into words but something about the tone of his films is very disturbing. Maybe it is because he has this particular vision of what America should be and the America I grew up in and see is often very different from this version he presents to the viewer. American Sniper felt like a two hour advertisement. It was technically impressive, cinematography, sound, action sequences, etc. But that message underneath. Ugh. No thank you,

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 20:02:24 -0800

"EXACTLY why I have zero time for American Sniper. Look what it feeds."

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 20:14:10 -0800

Just tangentially relevant to American Sniper : Chicago Introduces New Citywide Gun-Sharing Stations

By: Artw

Artw — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 20:26:09 -0800

The real American Sniper was a hate-filled killer. Why are simplistic patriots treating him as a hero?

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 00:04:52 -0800

Seth Rogan Basically Calls "American Sniper" Movie A Nazi Propaganda Film

By: maxsparber

maxsparber — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 08:04:20 -0800

I forgot that American Sniper was about the guy who was bragging about shooting people during Hurricane Katrina. No desire to support the mythologizing of this man.

By: Artw

Artw — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 11:06:58 -0800

Oscars 2015: they should have been contenders...

By: Artw

Artw — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 11:08:06 -0800

American Sniper: anti-Muslim threats skyrocket in wake of film's release

By: Lexica

Lexica — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 11:29:18 -0800

jeffburdges: "Seth Rogan Basically Calls "American Sniper" Movie A Nazi Propaganda Film" Link's apparently dead; here's a cached version.

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 02:30:50 -0800

Michael Moore confirms: Clint Eastwood threatened to kill me at an awards dinner

By: Artw

Artw — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 22:24:11 -0800

Just saw Whiplash - it kicks the shit out of all the other nominees I've seen so far, TBH. (Birdman and, long sigh, American Sniper to go...)

By: hydropsyche

hydropsyche — Sun, 08 Feb 2015 05:24:49 -0800

I thought Whiplash was a pretty great movie, and was surprised Miles Teller didn't get a best actor nomination. Surely since every single person who puts on disability drag gets a nomination, we could spare one for the guy who learned to play jazz drums. I still think Selma was overall a better movie than Whiplash, but they definitely are two of my favorite movies that I've seen in 2015.