All the Oscar talk today will be about Selma being "snubbed." Only two nominations (best picture, best song) for this powerful tale of blah blah blah whiteout white men yakkity yak. That the film is a solid, three star biopic—good, but not great—that's about as aesthetically pleasing, in a visual sense, as a TV movie will not come up often, if at all.
Far more ridiculous than the Selma "snub" is the fact that Gone Girl was nominated for neither best picture nor best director (nor best score, nor best supporting actress, nor ... you get the idea). I'm glad Rosamund Pike got a nod for best actress, but she'll probably end up losing to Julianne Moore for playing A Sick Attractive Person or to Reese Witherspoon for playing An Attractive Person Finding Herself. Gone Girl was the best movie of the year, a provocative portrait of American life in a time of economic turmoil that shined a light on a real cultural problem. It was also a big hit and a critical smash. That the Academy didn't see fit to at least nominate it is a joke.
Some other quick thoughts:
- I only guessed about the best picture nominations; I did okay:
My guess for best picture noms tomorrow: Boyhood, Birdman, Selma, Grand Budapest, Gone Girl, Theory of Everything, Imitation Game, Sniper
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) January 15, 2015
I picked seven out of eight (and also guessed that Whiplash might replace Gone Girl, for what it's worth).
- No Lego Movie for best animated feature? That is ... bizarre.
- The best picture race is a three-way heat between Birdman, Boyhood, and Selma. All signs (that is, all the previous awards won) point to Boyhood. Don't count out Birdman; there's nothing Hollywood loves as much as itself. But there will be an incredible amount of pressure to vote for Selma. Because, well, you know. I think Selma will win.
- The answer to this tweet is that 12 Years a Slave, though flawed, is an order of magnitude more powerful as a piece of visual filmmaking than Selma:
The only question is: How the hell did 12 YEARS A SLAVE win? — Noah Gittell (@ReelChanger) January 15, 2015
- The closest thing to a stone cold lock that you'll find this year is J.K. Simmons for best supporting actor.
- If Hans Zimmer doesn't win best score for Interstellar I'm going to mount a jihad.
- American Sniper is not particularly good and does not deserve to win and conservatives should not get butthurt when it doesn't win. Because, again, it's not that good and does not deserve to. Conservatives getting upset about American Sniper not winning—and it won't—is the equivalent of liberals getting upset about Selma not winning (if it doesn't).
- I kind of hope Citizenfour wins, prompting Ed Snowden to come out of hiding and show up at the Vanity Fair after party, where he will be arrested and taken to Gitmo. That'd be fun.
- The failure of John Wick to get a best picture nomination is going to look pretty stupid in 20 years, Oscar voters.