The 89th Academy Awards (2017) Movie • Page 3

Yeah I most likely am becoming out of touch with what is popular or advertised on TV since I rarely watch network shows as they air, but I had no idea Hacksaw, Hell or High Water or Lion had any sort of critical reputation or popular buzz. Idk if anyone I associate with outside of this site is aware that they exist. The Lion trailer played before a few films, I guess. I've honestly heard more about them in relation to most likely being nominated for an Oscar than I did for being actual films that came out.

Looking back on the past few years, while the films were certainly not the "best" of the year, they at least had popular/critical buzz behind them prior to being nominated. This year's list is odd.

 

It's pretty good. Commercial, conventional, bordering on overly-sentimental, but earned. Great performances.

 

Thanks. I'm probably going to see it this weekend.

 

Pretty much what I expected - a little surprised Nocturnal Animals didn't get in there for BP (I had that instead of Hidden Figures). Only big thing I would've changed is put Amy Adams in for Best Actress instead of Meryl Streep or Ruth Negga.

Only nominees I still need to see are Fences, Lion and Moonlight.

 

One of the biggest bummers is that "Drive It Like You Stole It" didn't get a Best Original Song nomination.

 

I appreciate Lion for a pretty stellar first half, featuring little dialogue, even less English dialogue, and some well directed and structured cinematic drama. It loses its way a little bit in the second half but not for lack of good intentions. International cinema being recognized is good.

 

Honestly I don't see how a Best Picture field that includes four films fronted by people of color (including one that beautifully covers the coming-of-age of a poor gay African American child growing up in Miami), a heady science-fiction film, a neo-Western, and one of the most emotionally shattering and well-acted films I've ever seen "boring," but hey, to each their own.

 

I enjoyed Lion a lot. Also really glad to see Dev Patel getting recognized for something that isn't Slumdog Millionaire. He's great in the film.

 

zero deadpool noms. smdh

 

Yeah, I wouldn't call the nominations "boring". I'm just saying that if I had not read any pre-Oscar speculation regarding the nominations, I would have no idea that Hacksaw/Nocturnal Animals/Hell/Lion would have a chance. The actual nominations were almost exactly what was speculated, so in that sense it's boring.

 

Eh, Hell or High Water isn't exactly an exciting choice. I find the noms largely uninteresting because, outside of Moonlight/Manchester, they're just a lot of pretty middling movies. I am glad for Hidden Figures and Lion, but they, and I think all of the nominees, were expected. Boring in that way.

 

Best Picture nominees, sorted by number of nominations:

La La Land (14)
Moonlight (8)
Arrival (7)
Hacksaw Ridge / Lion / Manchester by the Sea (6)
Hell or High Water (5)
Fences (4)
Hidden Figures (3)

 

La La Lovetopatourselvesontheback

 

It's not really a boring choice either, though. The film is not what anyone could consider an awards-bait film by any stretch of the term. It's not "surprising" to see it recognized, because it was critically-beloved and those audiences who saw it really embraced it as well, but it's still outside of the Academy's typical preferences. Same goes for Arrival as well, now I think about it.

 

That Amy Adams snub hurts

Other than that, nothing really all that egregious or surprising. I feel like I even saw the Hell or High Water nomination predicted in most places

 

Personal Biggest Snubs (that I can think of right now):

Amy Adams, Best Actress - Arrival
Denzel Washington, Best Director - Fences
Andrew Garfield, Best Actor - Silence
Martin Scorsese, Best Director - Silence
Paul Verhoeven, Best Director - Elle
Silence, Best Picture
Annette Bening, Best Actress - 20th Century Women
Elle, Best Foreign Film
Elle, Best Picture
Captain America: Civil War, Best Visual Effects
Star Trek Beyond, Best Visual Effects
Johann Johannsson, Best Original Score - Arrival
All of the songs from Sing Street

 

Mel Gibson has never discriminated against anyone, says Mel Gibson

Not that anyone needs to be reminded of why Mel Gibson really shouldn't be allowed to continue making films, but.

 

I have paid less attention each year, but usually the nominees were much more predictable. The quality was all over the place, but it was obvious what was getting nominated. I never heard anyone talk about Lion, and I never heard serious publications talk about Hacksaw Ridge or Hidden Figures or Hell or High Water or Fences as a movie worth seeing. They all look so remarkably bland and forgettable that there seems to be very little reason to see them; they don't seem even worth seeing and criticizing for their ideological and thematic problems. Silence seems like a no-brainer, but I would imagine that the gardeners and grandchildren of the Oscar voters who fill these ballots out cannot sit through it.

 

La La Land is going to win a bunch of main Oscars for being about white people and I'm going to be irrationally angry because movies like Moonlight, Fences, and Hidden Figures told way more compelling stories.

 

Bit of a crude analysis. The frustration lies more with it being a film about Hollywood. There are problems with the film's depiction of race, though

 

Yeah that makes sense. To me it was a fun movie but wouldn't beat out some others that I've seen this year. I guess the nostalgia for movies and Hollywood that it invokes hits the Academy right in the sweet spot. Still need to watch Manchester by the Sea but I'm excited to get to it, even though from what I hear it'll probably just make me depressed lol.

 

I almost view La La Land as a big budget superhero film; it was a spectacle. I saw there and smiled and fell into the visuals. It was pleasant. I didn't necessarily feel for any of the characters or any part of the story and haven't thought much about it since it was over, aside from digging a bit into the racial politics that are being debated. It was an amusement. Well made, pretty looking, but a bit empty in terms of substance. Themes regarding the American Dream and the drive for success and the like have all been done much, much better by other films.

 

yeah sometimes a movie like La La Land would resonate more after a few weeks of seeing it (maybe i'd look back more fondly at the whole experience and realize how special it was) but alas it's not the case. I even began listening to the soundtrack and really only liked two of them (opening number/emma stone song).

I do think it's bullshit it's going to win best picture though. I mean, we always joke about how much hollywood loves movies about hollywood, but this is fucking ridiculous.


that being said i haven't seen any of the other nominees so i cant give you a better suggestion at this point (other than arrival.... lets go ARRIVAL!)

 

Waiting for the dumpster fire on this site if Mel Gibson and Casey Affleck win. In all seriousness I hope La La Land sweeps. I absolutely adored that movie. Can't remember a movie that made me smile more just by thinking about it or humming the tunes.

 

Shocked to see not a single nomination for Silence. I havent seen it, but everyone I know who has said it was amazing.