Good news, everyone! Guess what’s back; it’s Oscar Season.
The official nominations came through last week, and having a nose through
them, my suspicion that I’ve barely seen any of them shines through. The picks
for the 2015 ceremony just seemed much more interesting to me, and
unfortunately I’m stuck with a lot of
work at the moment, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to go and do the big cinema
roundup like I did last year. I will at least try and see The Revenant, though. That being said, we’re left in a tricky
situation where I want to write my ‘traditional’ blog post, but haven’t seen
very many of the nominations. So, as a divergence from last year’s review, this
will be a ‘blind post’ as it were. I’ll have a look mainly at the Best Picture
nominees, offering my groundless opinions where appropriate, and comment as I
would normally on the film(s) I have seen, but for the rest, this will be a
case of predicting the Academy’s moves, based entirely off of what I can skim
from the nominations' IMDb descriptions.
So, we all good for a completely inconsequential post about
my unjustified feelings towards films I haven’t seen? What? I did that last
year too? Well, what can I say, this blog is just a cornucopia of
misinformation.
The Big Short
I hope you don’t think you’re clever because of that title. The Big Short is giving me a very strong
Argo and American Hustle vibe, the kind of dramatized adaptation of real
events that looks like it might be a fun and interesting two hours, but out of
place on the Best Picture nominees. And while Argo did win (despite its “meh” reception), I have doubts that The Big Short will stand tall above the
other nominees.
Bridge of Spies
Bridge of Spies, as
I have briefly alluded to before, appears to be pure, concentrated Oscar-bait,
to the point that I imagine its production process taking place in a chemistry
lab rather than on a set, being concocted by filling a test tube with ‘Essence
of Historical Biopic’, a dash of ‘Tom Hanks’ and just a drop of ‘Long Runtime’ before
simmering over a Bunsen burner. My friend has been to see it and thought it was
alright, (7-8/10 he said), which pretty much confirms my suspicion. I don’t
expect this to be a top contender, and will probably be just washed into the
obscure depths of Spielberg’s catalogue. Seriously, Steve; you made Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. They
got twelve Oscars between them, including two Best Pictures. You can stop with
the war films now.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a
period piece about an immigrant. Next.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Mad Max: Fury Road, which
I have talked about before, was fantastic. And yes, this is the only one of the
Best Picture nominees I’ve seen. But it was damn good, and was still my fave
film of last year. It certainly isn’t what I’d call traditional Oscar material.
But considering how universally loved this film was, by critics and audiences, I
will be very interested to see how
the academy reacts to it.
The Martian
I unfortunately never saw The Martian, because my family, having read the book, wanted to see
it too, and trying to get the three of them to all go to the cinema for the
evening is like herding kittens, only less adorable. However, it looks great,
and I’ve reserved a copy on rental for when it comes out. Again, surprised
about the nomination, it might win but I’m certainly not expecting it.
The Revenant
The Revenant, I
have been informed by many sources, is very good, and while I do feel like this
is Iñárritu’s attempt at a home run rather than a sincere production, I am
nonetheless interested to see it (I’ve heard good things about a bear fight). I
feel this is the most likely one for the academy to pick, but you never know.
Room
Room is not The Room, and you’d be surprised how often
I make that mistake when hearing people talk about it. From the description,
this sounds like the poignancy film: the one whose sole intention is to make
you cry. Like the Oscar equivalent of Marley
and Me, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m much more interested to
see this than I am Brooklyn for
example, so take that as you will.
Spotlight
I’ve heard decent things, and while I’m not a hundred
percent sure it’s my kind of thing, I may give it a look if it plays at my
local ciné. I would accuse it of being Oscar bait, but considering it tackles
the subject of child sex abuse, something that’s normally a little too risqué an
issue for mainstream cinema to cover, I can’t help but feel supportive of it. It
may be Oscar-bait, but it looks like high-end Oscar bait, if only because it’s
about something other than racism for once. If The Revenant doesn’t win, this probably will.
And now quickly, a look at some of the other categories.
Best Animated
Feature
Inside Out will
win. Hands down. As intriguing as Anomalisa
looks with its stop-motion approach, and despite the Ghibli name on When Marnie was There, I cannot imagine
any of them winning over Inside Out.
I’m not necessarily saying its better, just that it's Pixar and so critically
favoured that they’d be mad to snub it.
Best Music
(Original Score)
Sorry in advance if this sounds stupid, but surely the score
for The Force Awakens is pretty
similar to the rest of the Star Wars films?
If not then fine, if so, then questionable.
Best Visual
Effects
Ex Machina, Mad Max:
Fury Road and The Force Awakens are
all here. Of course: they had to be. And The
Martian and The Revenant seem
like reasonable competition. But hang on a moment. What the actual fuck has
happened to Ex Machina? Two nominations?
At least it’s got visual effects, but nothing for Sound Editing or Sound
Mixing? Production Design? Perhaps Best Actress for Alicia Vikander? Even Best
Picture? I can guarantee that whatever Bridge
of Spies is like, Ex Machina is
more deserving of its nomination. Ex
Machina is one of the best science fiction films of recent years, and definitely one of the strongest films this year, even as good as Mad Max: Fury Road. Maybe even better (I
can change my mind on these things). And even the argument that it’s not Oscar material
doesn’t hold up, because Mad Max: Fury
Road also is not Oscar material, as previously mentioned, and that has ten
nominations. Ten! Including Best Picture. OK, rant over. But seriously,
Hollywood; get your head out of your arse.
Well, that’s about everything I wanted to say for now. Stay
tuned for the Oscar Follow-Up in February (I’ll be writing and posting it as
soon as I can after hearing the results, in a rare effort of punctuality on my part).
In the meantime, I’m sure some of these films are better than I make them out
to be, but just remember to exert a bit of critical thinking and don’t get too
sucked in to the hype. A lot of these film’s campaigns exist primarily to get
more box office receipts on opening weekend (see American Sniper from last year for reference). Otherwise, have fun
at the cinema and I’ll see you back here for more baseless film rants. Next
week: Why Clockwork Orange is the Root of All Evil.
