So the Oscar nominations are in and for the most part I am pleased. Here is my quick response to the various categories:
Best Picture-Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Lion, Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight
I’ve seen all of the nominees and think they are all deserving of recognition. Probably biggest surprise is Fences as it doesn’t have the feel of a typical Oscar movie. I’m very happy to see Hidden Figures and Lion get recognized. I thought they might get snubbed. I guess in my dream world an animated film would sneak in there for best picture. It was such a strong animation year. Oh well!
Best Director- Damien Chazelle for La La Land, Mel Gibson for Hacksaw Ridge, Barry Jenkins for Moonlight, Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea and Denis Villeneuve for Arrival
No real problem with any of these nominees. All good films. I am surprised that Hollywood nominated Mel Gibson. I mean I loved the Hacksaw Ridge but didn’t think the Academy was ready to embrace Mel again
Actor- Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea, Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge, Ryan Gosling in La La Land, Viggo Mortensen in Captain Fantastic, Denzel Washington in Fences
Haven’t seen Captain Fantastic but no problem with these nominees.
Actress- Isabelle Huppert in Elle, Ruth Negga in Loving, Natalie Portman in Jackie, Emma Stone in La La Land and Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins
I haven’t seen Elle but I loved Isabelle Huppert so much in Things to Come that I am happy she was nominated. I hope she wins. I do think Meryl got nominated because of her golden globe speech but she is fantastic in Florence Foster Jenkins. A lot of people criticizing that nomination probably haven’t seen the movie. I do think Amy Adams deserved to be nominated for her fine work in 2016
Supporting Actor- Mahershala Ali in Moonlight, Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water, Lucas Hedges in Manchester by the Sea, Dev Patel in Lion, Michael Shannon in Nocturnal Animals.
I kind of wish Kyle Chandler had been nominated for Manchester over Lucas Hedges but he is good (Frozen chicken scene alone deserved that nom). I’m thrilled to see Dev Patel for Lion even though the kid actor was probably better. He was great in Lion. Jeff Bridges was fantastic in Hell or High Water. Mahershala Ali great in Moonlight and Michael Shannon was best thing in Nocturnal Animals.
Supporting Actress- Viola Davis in Fences, Naomie Harris in Moonlight, Nicole Kidman in Lion, Octavia Spencer in Hidden Figures, Michelle Williams in Manchester by the Sea
A very strong category. I loved all of these performances. Viola for the win!
Original Screenplay- 20th Century Women, Hell or High Water, La La Land, The Lobster, Manchester by the Sea
I liked La La Land but I can probably think of 30 movies that had better screenplays than it in 2016. I have not seen 20th Century Women and don’t plan to until I can rent it because of their planned parenthood donation marketing. No thank you!
Adapted Screenplay- Arrival, Fences, Hidden Figures, Lion, Moonlight
Only real loss to me is Love and Friendship. It actually improved upon a Jane Austen novel. How many movies can say that? I mean of all the things to praise Arrival for the screenplay wouldn’t be one of them…
Animated Film- Kubo and the 2 Strings, Moana, My Life as a Zucchini, Red Turtle, Zootopia.
This is of course the big one for this blog! If I had it my way I would take out Zucchini and put in Your Name but these are all good films deserving of recognition.
Sound Editing- Arrival, Deepwater Horizon, Hacksaw Ridge, La La Land, Sully.
All deserving but I think I would swap out La La Land and put in Patriot’s Day or Rogue One.
Visual Effects- Deepwater Horizon, Doctor Strange, Jungle Book, Kubo and the 2 Strings, Rogue One
A little surprised Deepwater Horizon got a nomination as I don’t remember the visual effects being that great. I think they were better in Arrival or even Batman v Superman (yes I know but visually it was cool). But Kubo and the 2 Strings getting visual effects nomination is huge!!!
Film Editing- Arrival, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, La La Land, Moonlight.
This one should go to Hacksaw Ridge if there is any justice but they are all worthy nominees and were edited well.
Short Film Animated- Blind Vaysha, Borrowed Time, Pear Cider and Cigarettes, Pearl and Piper
I’ve only seen Borrowed Time and Piper but excited to see the rest! I love this category. I sort of wish Inner Workings had been nominated as I loved that short and its message.
Original Score- Jackie, La La Land, Lion, Moonlight, Passengers
Surprised to see Passengers get in there but I enjoyed that score (but is it better than Moana?). I did not like the score in Jackie. In fact, I found it overbearing and annoying, so I don’t get that one…
Original Song- Audition from La La Land, Can’t Stop the Feeling from Trolls, City of Stars from La La Land, The Empty Chair from Jim: the James Foley Story, How Far I’ll Go from Moana
This is the category of heartbreak. No nomination for Drive it Like You Stole it from Sing Street. 🙁 That Empty Chairs song better be amazing…I hope the La La Land songs divide the vote and Lin Manuel wins for Moana giving him the EGOT. Plus, How Far I’ll Go is by far best song out of these nominees.
Production Design- Arrival, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Hail, Caesar!, La La Land, Passengers
No problem with any of these nominees. All fantastic production design.
Cinematography- Arrival, La La Land, Lion, Moonlight, Silence
Happy to see Lion included with its amazing cinematography. I haven’t seen Silence yet but it looks like great cinematography.
Costumes- Allied, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Florence Foster Jenkins, Jackie, La La Land.
The real crime here is no nomination for The Dressmaker, which had costumes that were works of art. Literally they had a traveling museum exhibit of the costumes they were so beautiful. These were all good but nowhere near The Dressmaker. Also Love and Friendship had fantastic costumes.
Makeup- A Man Called Ove, Star Trek Beyond, Suicide Squad
This category is always very weird. Haven’t seen Ove but I can think of a ton of movies that had better makeup than Suicide Squad. I mean I hated it but Miss Peregrine’s was better than Suicide Squad in that department…Could Star Trek Beyond win an Oscar? Seems clear choice
Documentary- 13th, Fire at Sea, I Am Not Your Negro, Life, Animated, OJ: Made in America
I think it is a stretch that the 8 hour OJ series is deemed as a movie but whatever. It’s good and so is 13th. I haven’t seen two of the nominees but am thrilled Life, Animated got nominated. Well deserved! I’m a little surprised Weiner didn’t get nominated.
Sound Mixing- La La Land, Hacksaw Ridge, Rogue One, Arrival, 13 Hours
I’m actually happy to see 13 Hours get nominated for this category. I think that was an underrated film in 2016 and glad to see it get nominated for something. These are all good sound mixing films. No problem here.
So there you have it. Biggest snubs for me are Love and Friendship and Sing Street getting nothing and The Dressmaker not getting best costumes. Biggest surprise is Kubo and the Two Strings for visual effects and all the love for Lion. Yay!
La La Land is now tied with All About Eve and Titanic for Oscar nominations which it’s a fun film but nowhere near All About Eve in my opinion. Oh well. It’s good film so whatever.
What did you think of the Oscar nominations? What did you think was snubbed? What surprised you?
Overall, I too was pleased with the nominations and wasn’t really shocked by anything. I mean seeing 13 Hours, Allied, Suicide Squad, and Hail, Caesar was definitely surprising, but I could live with that and even agree with some of them.
Kubo getting Visual Effects was deff interesting and I’m glad Jungle Book got it too. Kinda surprised that Cap America: Civil War didn’t though.
I’m a bit in my feelings regarding how utterly predictable the Oscars are. I do like that Kubo was nominated for Visual Effects. It just sucks because La La Land will win everything (when its entire release was a ploy for Oscar bait), and….. I don’t know. Just a bit blech in general.
Yeah it is very predictable this year for sure.
You’re more happy about the Nominations than me.
Yeah pretty much everything nominated but Suicide Squad I thought was ok. to good, to great, which is better than some years
Disappointments:
* Tom Hanks wasn’t nominated for Best Actor for Sully. And I knew Ryan Reynolds wouldn’t really get nominated for Deadpool, but I thought, if Johnny Depp could get nominated for the first POTC…
* Doctor Strange wasn’t nominated for Best Production Design.
* Only one song was nominated from Moana, and it was the most obvious one. (They’re all great, but I still think You’re Welcome is the best. I remember Enchanted getting three Original Song nominations.)
I haven’t seen one of the Best Picture nominations. Even though I’m not really a musical fan, I’m wondering if I should watch La La Land just to see what all the damn fuss is about.
All good points. You should definitely see La La Land at the very least to be part of the discussion
Even not having seen most of these, I think most of the nominations are well-deserved. Glad to see Hidden Figures get a Best Picture nom. I am heartbroken at some of the snubs, though: no Best Actress for Amy Adams in Arrival, no Best Animated Feature or Foreign Language Film for Your Name, and no Best Song for Sing Street. Why are two La La Land songs more worthy than a Sing Street one? Any other year, I’m thinking they would have had a better chance at being nominated.
Our summaries have a lot of the same thoughts. I am a bit prickly over Streep’s nomination. I thought she was good in FFJ but it isn’t a new character for her. Would have much rather had Adams, Beckinsale, Hall, Henson, and several others. I think what makes it annoying is that lately it’s nearly an every year thing regardless of the movie. I mean Into the Woods? Urgh…
Yeah I can see why. I certainly would have preferred Kate Beckinsale but I thought Streep was great in the role. I do think a lot of the complaints haven’t seen the movie. I will be annoyed if she wins for sure. I worry they will just so she can give a speech.
Hey, stumbled across your blog and you have some extremely interesting insight on animated films, a film genre I think about every year with the same kind of intensity! (Even though my fledgling blog is working on animated shows, I do follow the movies closely as well.) A few questions: Would you say 2010 or 2016 was a stronger year for animated films, and would you say that Walt Disney Animation is on the same level (or better) than Pixar at this moment in time? I too believe the Academy did a good job in picking the animated films in a very strong year, though I really do need to spend more time with indie flicks…