Talking Movie Awards 2011

[YoninahAliza]

^Ahh.... okay. I didn't know that about Masterpiece. Looks like someone didn't read the fine print! But really... the other two I mentioned should have been nominated. What was the academy thinking?

 

[dajrekshn]

I agree with you guys, 2011 was a GREAT year for movies, but you wouldn't know it watching the Oscars last night. What they ended up nominating and awarding seemed more mediocre than most years. Drive (I watched it again and loved it, lol), MMMM, Melancholia and Take Shelter are four of the best films of the year - completely shut out. The Tree of Life, best surprise on the nomination morning, came away empty handed (not even the Cinematography ). Moneyball and Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy got some nominations, but each too went home empty handed. At least A Separation took one award. Then there are stunning performances in We Need to Talk About Kevin, Tyrannosaur, The Guard, again, nowhere to be found.

Instead we got a love fest with Hugo and The Artist (both terribly overrated), which was just basically Academy petting itself on the back for the great movie business they have.

ETA: That picture of Angelina kills me every time, lol.

so so so true. i agree with all of this SO MUCH.

for the first time in ages i didn't have a single personal wish for a win, i had for Michelle to a point, but that was washed away with all her campaigning and the fact that i still haven't watch her movie.

 

[CielDeLit]

None of the movies nominated were outstanding for me, I'm OK with The Artist winning because it was good and the other contenders weren't better imo.
However I'm very happy about Jean Dujardin winning ! Just like I was when he won in Cannes back in May before the film was hyped and the promotion started, he deserves it.

I don't think 2011 was that great at all for movies, I think that it was "good" but I don't think anything is memorable.

I agree. I don't see how it's a better year than the previous.

 

[Aqua Tofana]

Reddit

 

[YoninahAliza]

^Ummm... YES! That was surprising that it didn't even win one award. It was the last time ever that Harry Potter could have been nominated and they didn't even recognize how much it's done for the industry. I do realize that HP probably had a greater affect on the British film industry but still... it's a pretty major film achievement... you would think that the Oscar's would have singled them out for a little video or something. At least HP over the years has had success at the BAFTA's. Also, no nomination for Alan Rickman as Snape??? His portrayal as Snape is quite memorable.

 

[Scott]

let's just say it was a particularly strong year for independent and foreign films and a particularly extraordinary year for women.

i really feel like this year more than ever there was a lot of politics at play. one meryl because she hasn't won in a while. but in truth,was she really the most outstanding? and no offense to octavia but i thought jessica's performance was better. you guys used the term overrated and appropriately so. the whole buzz surrounding the oscars was just that. overrated dullard. even the artist. do you guys believe that if it weren't silent it would have generated that same attention? i think the whole notion of it being silent really drove the hype machine into the ground. i personally think it's overkill. i love the idea of silent films but i would have loved to see that concept being used for something a bit more contemporary in narrative rather than a silent film about the silent film era.

 

[CielDeLit]

^ people now take for granted that a silent movie would be liked and generate interest but at first no one wanted to produce the movie and give the funds...Yes they could have been even more experimental but that was already a big challenge. Maybe these wins will open doors..
You say that it would not generate the same attention it it wasn't silent, perhaps, it's part of its charm and it's worth noticing when a silent movie comes out in 2011. But I believe above all that it would not generate that much attention if it wasn't good. I don't see how it's less Oscar-worthy than the BP winners in the few recent years (or maybe that's just me but I'm usually underwhelmed by the Best Picture winners..).


But I agree that it was a much better year for "foreign" fims than American ones.

 

[dajrekshn]

oh the Artist was def my fave out of all the nominated movies and i "agree" with its Oscar. (i do hope) it pushed or at least opened the doors for more retro - experimental trend in HW and, tbh, if it wasn't for Harvey W. i think that its award journey would end already in Cannes. from that point, i'm glad that the "underdog" took it despite of the fact that the campaign for it seemed like one big circus play for the conservative Academy population in a bad way. out of all the movies nominated it def seemed the most fresh.

i do agree about political Oscar, oh def! it was turned into Meryl's triumph for the sake of not owning it to her for the next 20 years and the whole Help hype was produced so that the Academy can feel good about themselves, just like the movie. tbh, nor Viola nor Octavia's performance left me in special awe, the only one who did for me in that movie was indeed Jessica but then again Jessica was amazing in so many movies, Take Shelter comes to mind first!

 

[sobriquet87]

The films I thought were the best of the year didn't get much Oscar love. I mean absolutely NOTHING for Moneyball, Drive, Shame, MMMM, MI4, TGWTDT (except that one editing Oscar), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, We Need to Talk About Kevin, DH2, Melancholia, or 50/50.

They nominate Bridesmaids! BRIDESMAIDS, but not 50/50. I still need to see The Artist, The Descendants, and whatever else was nominated (see I've already forgotten) before I really judge this years awards season, but overall it was blah for me.

 

[MissMagAddict]

The Artist winning for best picture is really more about Harvey Weinstein than the movie itself.

 

[blueorchid]

Two days after the Oscars and I am so tired of hearing about all of the "snubs" (not referencing anything here, but just in general), people do realize they can't nominate every movie right?

The Artist was a refreshing and charming change from what we usually see, but if one actually compares it to other silent movies it's actually really, really unsophisticated and pedestrian. However, I think if it gets people into silent movies (so they aren't completely forgotten and lost) it's win was sort of worth it. That's also what I liked about Hugo. I'm not sure if those two movies will actually lead to more interest in early cinema, because lots of those stories are worth watching.

 

[*Bianca*]

Of course they can't nominate every movie (I'm sure everyone gets that).
That doesn't mean that there aren't films more worthy of nominations than those that were nominated.

I'm particulary disappointed that Bill Cunningham New York, and Project Nim weren't nominated.... but If A Tree Falls was!?!

On metacritic Project Nim = 83%, BCNY = 77%, and IATF= 65%
On rotten tomatos, Project Nim = 98%, BCNY = 98%, IATF = 88%
just sayin...

 

[sobriquet87]

Yeah no one expects every film to be nominated, but it is indeed frustrating that films like Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (which got terrible reviews) and Transformers 3 (are you kidding me?) can get nominations when legitimately good films do not.

I like that a film like The Artist with no "popular" stars and a fresh concept can get so much recognition. So, I'm not upset about that.

 

[blueorchid]

I think some people really do expect them to nominate everything though and then throw a fit when the awards don't match their personal taste.

 

[saann]

Yeah no one expects every film to be nominated, but it is indeed frustrating that films like Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (which got terrible reviews) and Transformers 3 (are you kidding me?) can get nominations when legitimately good films do not.

They were technical awards that the team worked super hard on. There is no reason they should be overlooked just because the quality of the rest of the film is not up to par. I think this is something the academy did right, because the only thing special about those films were the technical aspects.

I think this is what bothers me the most.. Because it's always the same films being nominated in the same categories over and over again, it shows with most minor categories. I mean sometimes the best cinematography can be found in a less than stellar film. Does that mean the cinematographer should be ignored? Or with music, as much as I hate the films, Twilight part 2 had some great original songs yet nothing was nominated. I've noticed that Best Supporting Actor/Actress can sometimes fall into this, with bandwagon nominations for big films. For a great performance in a bad film to get nominated, there has to be a massive push behind it.

On one hand I understand why.. Because now you have Transformers which is a 3 time academy awards nominated film. It cheapens everything the academy stands for but at the same time it's hypocritical that an awards ceremony that claims to celebrate the best within their respective fields only celebrates the best who got lucky and ended up working on a great film.

 

[kokobombon]

For a great performance in a bad film to get nominated, there has to be a massive push behind it.

I don´t know how A Better Life was received but I didn´t get much hype around it and yet Demian Bichir was nominated, unless it was a political play because he´s latin I think there´s hope that an actor will get their credit despite the film

 

[saann]

The film, and his performance especially, was received very well. It may not have had a major push in popular media outlets but there was an appreciation for it..

And actually I was talking more about the supporting actor/actress categories.. like the supporting actress nominations for Up in the Air
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[dajrekshn]

i think that for a smaller movie, the noms for the actors/actresses only arrives if the movie gets a great critical acclaim, unlike big movies (not only boxoffice wise, but also promotionally wise - for example The Iron Lady) where it seems that even if a movie is bad actors will still get a possibility to be nominated despite of it (Extremely loud and Max V.S. comes to mind). what i noticed more recently is that the Academy is almost like refusing to even observe movies with tougher subject unless it's watered down to an extend it becomes SF (Shame vs. Help comes to mind), it almost seems cowardly.

 

[Chaky]

I was happy when Dragon Tats won Best Editing because for me it was the only surprise of the night.

Frankly, while I like several of the films in the Best Picture category, the major problem was that most of the Academy's choices this year felt so safe. Some of my favourite films were those offering up something more challenging and memorable. I don't know if it's just the age of most of the people voting that makes them disregard some top quality movies.

Part of the problem with some of the categories is that the voting processes are flawed. Main offender: Best Documentary. I think the general consensus is that three of the best films of the year, let alone documentaries, didn't even get nominated (The Interrupters, Senna, Project Nim). At least the Academy seem to be trying to find a way of rectifying that.

And Best Original Song? Surely this year's (two) nominations were proof that they either need to kill off this category or reinvent it completely.

Coming from the UK I'm glad that Bafta at least gave some recognition to Senna and Tyrannosaur and put Drive in their Best Film category. But most of their nominees seem to be prefiguring what the Oscars would do. I know a Bafta voter, and I know what he voted for this year. I can tell you he shakes his head when he sees what gets through to the final list.

But hey, part of the fun of the whole thing is bitching about it during and after!

I'm not going to slate The Artist. It wasn't my favourite at all but it's got bags of charm and appeal. And it really is an oddity to be winning the big one: black & white, silent, shot in Academy ratio, French! MissMadAddict is right though. When the winner was announced, the producer, Thomas Langmann, stood up and high-fived Harvey Weinstein. Job done.

 

[blueorchid]

I think this is what bothers me the most.. Because it's always the same films being nominated in the same categories over and over again, it shows with most minor categories. I mean sometimes the best cinematography can be found in a less than stellar film. Does that mean the cinematographer should be ignored?

I think who's being nominated in the technical categories is interesting, because often they are the best of the best in their field. However, it's important to realize that the voters for the technical awards are very homogeneous. People are making a big hullabaloo about the Academy being mostly old white men, well look no further than the demographics for those wings of the Academy. All those fields are very much a boys club. For example, no woman has never even been nominated in the Best Cinematographer category. The acting portion of the Academy has much greater diversity than the rest of the Academy.