General Discussion

Well isn't this just absolute crap. Either the Oscars are getting worse at nominating movies that are actually good, or I'm getting more cynical as I get older. Either way, it's disheartening. I mean come on, in what alternate universe is The Help better than Shame? Alright, an NC-17 movie isn't going to get best picture, but I could think of at least half a dozen movies that came out that were better than The Help or Extremely f'ing Loud. At least nominate McQueen for direction, or Fassbender for best actor, or something. And if I had to choose one Spielberg movie to nominate this year it would definitely be Tintin over War Horse. Ahh!

The song thing is baffling to me. Were there no decent songs? I thought each category is voted on by members of that specific field so "Best Song" would be from composers. Were the pickings that slim that even the composers couldn't come up with more than two (and the one from Rio is crap)? Or *conspiracy theory here* did they want to guarantee that The Muppets would get an award and so they removed all the potential competition?

I'm not surprised that The Adventures of Tin Tin didn't get a Best Animated Feature nom since I've been saying it might not qualify. Oscar made a lot of changes in regards to motion-capture and they're going to be very strict on what is and isn't considered a "real" animated movie for a while. I haven't seen the foreign movies of Puss, but I liked KP2 reasonably. On the other hand, I really liked Rango. That would be my pick.

Am I the only one who didn't think Albert Brooks was THAT good in Drive? Sure he was good but I thought Ron Pearlman and Bryan Cranston were much, much better when it came to supporting roles. I don't really mind him or the movie getting snubbed even though it was my favorite of the year as I wasn't expecting it to be nominated.

If I had to choose from one of the best picture nominees it'll be Tree of Life but I really hope The Artist wins, that would be great.

Yet again, I can't wrap my head around some Oscar things.

Is The Oscars an award show for North American films (hence a best foreign film section) or is it an International Award Show? I ask this because the Iranian film "A Separation" got a Best screenplay nom (and also a foreign film nom). I mean, if the Iranian script really is that good that it can compete with the american scripts, then you start to wonder why there aren't more international nominees, because surely there must be more foreign stuff that are better than the american ones?

This goes for The Artist as well. It is a foreign film that has gotten nominations in many categories. Well, to its defense you could say it's a sort of universal film since it has no speech in it, but still...

Makes me think of Roberto Benigni's "Life is beautiful" (1997) that got noms for both best foreign film AND best picture. how does that even add up?

I like to watch englishspeaking films just much as the next guy, but this makes me feel like the Americans voting for the winner believes Hollywood films are superior to any other countries' films?

Maaan. The worst news since movies. Well not really, but I'm a little bummed about all this. It doesn't really make much difference to me, but I know it makes a difference to people in the industry and they're clearly rewarding and snubbing the wrong people far too much this year. Boo, Oscars...boo.

@myrsnok: You have to remember that these films are nominated and voted on by members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences which is headquartered in Southern California (Hollywood).

The Oscars are always good for reminding me of what movies I haven't seen.

@Tangeu said:

I have a question and maybe someone who knows the rules can help me out:

Why is The Artist not a foreign film? Isn't it French?

It was filmed in the US and is in English.

@PenguinDust: Yes, off course. I know this. And the academy (whoever they consist of) should be voting for US films!

But still... the question remain: why does international film compete in some sections when there clearly is a foreign section?

Sweden (where I hail from) had its equivalent of the Oscars - the Guldbaggen awards - yesterday and I would be extremely baffled if, say, "A Separation", "Tree of Life" or any other awesome foreign film would compete with Swedish films in a category. Now, there is a foreign category (which actually "A Separation" won) so all other non-swedish films are taken care of. But this is apparantly not how Hollywood/the academy work.

The academy really doesn't like Drive. :/

At least The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was nominated in its strongest attributes, Ms. Mara's dominating performance and the beautiful DP work of Jeff Cronenweth.

MAN, does this list have me torn. While I'm glad that there's a lot of things that DO deserve a nomination, there was so. much. snubbing. The fact that a lot of the great young actors we have haven't received even a nomination is weird, but says to me "_____ is almost dead, but this younger person is young, so they'll have a chance at an Oscar later." I'm just saying, Max von Sydow is getting up there and hasn't won once...

@hrn212 said:

Alright, an NC-17 movie isn't going to get best picture,

Not necessarily, Midnight Cowboy got Best Picture, and I'm pretty sure that was an NC-17 back when it first came out (though has been re-rated). Actually, even better, it was rated X. I know times have changed and this new guard of voters is kind of safer, but there IS precedence...

@TheCheese33 said:

That's it. I'm done with awards shows forever. Albert Brooks got SNUBBED.

@nickernzen said:

@Tangeu said:

I have a question and maybe someone who knows the rules can help me out:

Why is The Artist not a foreign film? Isn't it French?

It was filmed in the US and is in English.

No, it is a french film. The reason it was not nominated is because the academy only allows one film per country to be submitted and France selected the film Declaration of War as its submission.

@nickernzen: But filming locations surely can't be a rule? Then "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" would get a best foreign film nomination since it is entirely filmed in Sweden?

It must have something to do with either the language or location of the production company, right?

@Romination said:

MAN, does this list have me torn. While I'm glad that there's a lot of things that DO deserve a nomination, there was so. much. snubbing. The fact that a lot of the great young actors we have haven't received even a nomination is weird, but says to me "_____ is almost dead, but this younger person is young, so they'll have a chance at an Oscar later." I'm just saying, Max von Sydow is getting up there and hasn't won once...

Max Von Sydow's never won an Oscar? Wow. I just looked it up, and apparently Christopher Plummer's never won either. Which old person will take home the Oscar?

@myrsnok said:

@nickernzen: But filming locations surely can't be a rule? Then "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" would get a best foreign film nomination since it is entirely filmed in Sweden?

It must have something to do with either the language or location of the production company, right?

I just think it's totally irrelevant. Whether or not it's foreign, it's still one of the best pictures of the year. It would be very weird for Dragon Tattoo to be nominated for foreign film, but best picture doesn't have any criteria to exclude a film based on anything like that.

Oh so the only notable movie this year gets a Sound Editing nomination. Great.

The oscars continue their irrelevancy and I continue not to watch them.

Oh also Alex has to cope with the existence of now Academy Award nominated Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. That's a real pity.

@MikkaQ said:

Oh so the only notable movie this year gets a Sound Editing nomination. Great.

The oscars continue their irrelevancy and I continue not to watch them.

The only notable movie FOR YOU. The fact is that many great movies are up there nominated.