from the article i don't get it. what two songs are actually nominated? They list a handful of songs here but only two were nominated. am I missing something?
Though I haven't seen Tree of Life, I believe that Ghost Protocol should get the visual effects win, from the films that I have seen. one thing; X-Men First Class should not get the win at all. I was surprised how bad or unfinished the effects were in that film. When the ship or sub or whatever crashes into the island, the palm trees looked like video game renditions. The girl flying around looked positively hokey and silly as well.
I confess I'm rooting for Real Steel just because of the Richard Matheson connection. And because I want to put "Basis for the Oscar-Winning Film" on the book cover! (Trivia: What Dreams May Come, also based on Matheson, actually won the Oscar for Visual Effects a few years back. Maybe we can go two for two?)
Because it sucked. It was a dull movie. And I'm not one of those "where are the explosions" types. I was ready for a gripping tale. And all I got was a bunch of British character actors looking at paper. Sometimes chatting on the phone. Occasionally remembering. I think Gary Oldman should be lucky for his nomination. He should've been nominated MANY times before this, and perhaps that's why he's getting nominated now. Seriously, he had two expressions: mouth open, mouth closed. Alec was better in the mini series.
That is true. But I don't see any Oscars in Cera's future...he'll be lucky if he ever even ends up as a presenter.
I liked Cera in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, but it really remains to be seen if he can transition into more adult roles, or if he'll be perpetually playing adolescents until it stretches all credibility.
Well, I've seen exactly two of the movies nominated for Best Picture (Tree of Life and War Horse). Neither deserves the nomination.
Inception, Toy Story 3, Black Swan, and True Grit were all very popular movies that ended up getting nominated last year. They all made well over 100 million. Only ONE of the Best Picture nominees this time made over 100 million. The voters are caring less and less about blockbusters they days. Are they really this much out of touch with their audience? Perhaps they should have stuck with the voting system from last year?
Why should the Oscar nominees have to be box office hits? The ceremony is (allegedly) recognizing artistic acquirement, not popular and financial success. I'd also point out that many are still in release, and thus, may well cross the $100 million box office threshold.
I think that's the disconnect with viewers of the show though. I mean you make movies to perhaps reach an audience, but when you only nominate films that barely anyone has seen, why should they waste their time with the actual show?
True. However, if we're going with box office success, should Transformers be nominated for Best Picture? There has to be SOME amount of integrity. And maybe people SHOULD see some of the Oscar nominated films. Maybe people SHOULD make an effort to see more than popcorn fare.
Well, I'd disupute that "barely anyone has seen" these films. Most of them have earned at least $50 million, if not more. That puts them in the top 100 highest grossing films of the year (out of 371 theatrical releases, according to Box Office Mojo). Yes, this isn't the kind of business that the big franchises do, but they're respectable takes for small to mid-range movies. Yes, The Tree of Life and The Artist are outliers financially, but with rather experimental narratives and limited releases, they've always had low domestic box office expectations. I fully expect Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close to break the $50 million mark; it only opened wide on January 20. As for why more top grossing films weren't nominated, all it takes is a look at the top grossing films of 2011 to understand why. It hasn't been a great year for movies, especially blockbusters.
Until early last decade, the BP winner was almost always in the Top 10 highest-grossing films of the year, but it's been trending away from that (though most of the winners have done in the 50-100 million domestic range).
Exactly. If the Academy wants to honor films they, and not the public, deem worthy, I say more power to them - these are *their* awards after all. But they shouldn't then complain that fewer and fewer people are watching the actual awards show every year. If you want people to watch the show, nominate and (GASP) award some movies the public has deemed worthy.