Academy Awards 2011

Tomorrow, the Oscar nominations will be made public. So it’s a good time to start a board.

Here are my predictions for the Best Picture category, which were fairly accurate last year :stuck_out_tongue:

Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids are All Right
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

I have one slot left. I’m guessing it will be either 127 Hours or The Town.

Come on, Anne. Make my day like you did last year.

Toy Story 3 made it!

It got the Best Picture nomination!

It was also nominated on:
Best Animated Feature
Best Adapted Screenplay.
Best Sound Editing
Best Original Song

Day & Night also got Best Short Film.

In total, 6 nominations for Pixar!

Woohoo! :smiley:

I completely forgot about this happening today, but talk about luck! The moment I got home and flicked on the TV, the nominations were just about to be announced. With just enough time to grab my Lotso I got to see the whole thing! I’m so excited! I’m really proud of this list (even if I have some tiny gripes).
That’s the thing, my gripes are tiny. There were no Best Picture nominations for Alice in Wonderland, Burlesque, Red, or The Tourist. Instead there was no score nomination for Black Swan, Visual Effects nomination for Tron Legacy, Animated Feature for Tangled. Minor gripes. Even still I agree 100% with this year’s list, and I can’t wait for Oscar night. :mrgreen: I still have some time to see a few of these movies, (hey, last year I got to see Up in the Air, The Hurt Locker, The Blind Side, The Lovely Bones, and every nominated animated short between the nominations and the show). So, bring it on Academy, and go Toy Story 3!

That said, my list was 100% accurate, even if I wasn’t sure if 127 Hours or The Town would get the slot.

Toy Story 3 got a nomination in Best Animated at the complete expense of something that actually deserved it! Tangled was shut out of the category. Tangled, Disney’s first full-on success in nearly an entire decade that not even arguably changed the CGI animation game forever, gets shut out of Best Animated Feature category so Oscar can have room to do its pity nods!

Oscar, I am disappoint!

More on nominations later. I’m just a bit too upset right now.

AMPAS, I still love you for giving Powell his due.

^ If there was a worthy category, that was Animated Feature.

Tangled is good, but it’s not better than HTTYD, The Illusionist or TS3. The real problem was that there were only three slots.

I’m sorry I just can’t agree. Either Toy Story 3 gets a Best Picture nomination or it gets a Best Animated nod. It shouldn’t get both. It’s last year all over again. Another great movie gets the shaft and once again the other nominees in a category are just window dressing.

And where did you see The Illusionist? It’s had such a limited run that not even most of the animation enthusiasts I know have seen it.

I didn’t get to see the nominations! Oh well. I wish Tangled got nominated for best pic or best animated, but oh well. :confused:

Congrats to TS3 for making the cut. I never miss the Oscars. I hope to tune in and watch it this year.

First off, let me congratulate Pixar for their nom in Best Pic. You’ve done it again! I kinda knew this was coming, so it’s not remarkable to me on a personal level, but I’m sure you stunned all the skeptics and ‘non-believers’! :slight_smile:

Now on to the bad bits. I’ve mentioned this in another thread, but I’m incredibly disappointed that The Town and HTTYD have been left out of Best Pic in favour of fare like 127 hours and TSN. It seems that adapting biopics from real-life is more well-received than original (or semi-adapated) stories. Also, Legend of the Guardians has been practically snubbed for Best Animated Ghetto, Visual Effects, Original Song, and Original Score. And, as other members have mentioned, Tangled has been left out of Ghetto too, although it did get a mention in Original Song (Congrats, Disney!).

I’m not terribly excited about this year’s awards. I’ll be more interested in the presenters (Hello, Hathaway! Good luck for Rio!) and the Best Pic, which will unfortunately and most likely result in Pixar being snubbed a second time in favour of more ‘grown-up’ fare. :unamused:

Still, gotta keep that dream alive, right? (And I’m not being sarcastic. The more times Pixar or any animated film gain recognition at formal awards, the more the industry fights the prejudice against animation as a legitimate medium of cinematic expression).

Sorry, but that kind of thinking means not giving animation the same chances as the rest of the films. There’s no reason to do that.

I thought you didn’t see it?

I’m really rooting for The King’s Speech in like, every category it’s nominated! It deserves those nominations. I’m also a big supporter of Black Swan.

No the current kind of thinking gives certain films an unfair advantage over other worthy films and knocks some completely out of the running. TS3 has no chance of winning Best Picture. If this were an ordinary race it wouldn’t even be nominated for Best Picture. It getting double nomination knocked deserving films like Tangled out of the race completely.

What if say, Biutiful was nominated for Best Foreign Film and Best Picture? Or Exit Through the Gift Shop were nominated for both Best Doc and Best Picture? I don’t think people would be so silent then. (Yes I know both instances have happened prior to this year but it’s a fairly rare occurrence and it didn’t happen twice in a row)

And imagine if, and this is the longest of long shots, there’s a literally a better chance of Charlie Chaplin beating the crap out of RDJ for dishonoring him at the ceremony than this actually happening, Toy Story 3 won both Best Picture and Best Animated Feature? Because it is blind voting in the Academy. Yeah, doesn’t seem so fair now does it?

Instead we get a pity nod from the Academy as well as no reason to even bet on the other contenders in the Ghetto. Why are they even there? For the rare chance that the Academy might split the vote allowing the other two to win?

Please, this is Pixar’s franchise victory lap and a retroactive award for the entire series that was ineligible prior due to timing and circumstances.

As I read today on tumblr “In a perfect world Toy Story 3 would win Best Film, Tangled would win Best Animated and animation would hold dominion over all.”

Not my idea of a perfect world, but it’s a dang sight better than what we have today.

If Oscar’s going to ghettoize animation he should do it right. Cut some bad jokes and awkward musical numbers and just plain terrible drawn out presentations and give animation its own little world. Best Animation because animation can’t get into the “cool” parties like visual effects or cinematography, Best Voice Acting, this category would be long, probably the longest of the acting nominations list because of the sheer amount of talent and entries. As well as the fact that it would be a combined category of both male and female noms because as we know both often play the other sex/gender. I’m thinking about 10 nominations. And of course Best Animated Feature and Short.

Still a ghetto but at least they’d be recognizing work. And actually if done right it wouldn’t even be a ghetto as the process involved in either medium is so different that the fact that it only seems right to honor the work that wouldn’t otherwise get its due. Can you honestly compare Carell’s Gru to Bridges’ Cogburn? I’m not saying that one is lesser than the other, I’m saying that you just can’t compare the two performances. It’s like trying to judge an abstract painter on the same scale as a landscape photographer. Both can hit you powerfully and are close enough that you can place them on the same emotional scale. But to directly compare them would be a disservice to both.

Wow, Ranta Claus, pack up you whine deer and head back to Hurt Pole until next Awards Christmas. :laughing:

PS: That previous statement was directed at myself.

It has happened when a movie is worth of it. No Foreign film was worthy this year. It just happened that a Animated feature was. And it happened twice in a row, yes. Why deny it the chance?

I think your post can be summarized on these two phrases:

Ok, for me a perfect world has to answer to logic. And what kind of logic is there on that statement? “The best country in the world is Sweden, but the best European country is Germany” But if Sweden IS an European country! If Toy Story is the Best Picture of the year, it is also obviously the Best Animated Film of the year! It’s pure raw common sense.

So you’re telling me no other movie in the Best Picture category deserves to be pegged twice at all?

None?

Cause when the day comes when we can start double pegging every film in the Best Pic category than we can start double pegging animated film.

This has nothing to do with the fact that for two years in a row, I think the wrong film in the category was picked for the Best Picture bump Even if my dark horses got double pegged I’d still be upset.

I loved Crouching Tiger, adored it even, I was still pretty upset when I learned it got double pegged. It should be against Academy rules. It does a disservice to both the double pegee and the other films in the “lesser” category. And AMPAS would be on par with HFPA in the eyes of most if the film did the improbable (but not impossible) and won both categories.

And my logic is sound. If going by visual artistry instead of just how a movie made you feel or whatever else, then HTTYD and Tangled beat Toy Story 3. I’m not calling TS3 is bad or ugly or anything, I’m just saying that the other two have better “cinematography”, art direction, character design and just overall animation. As I think I’ve said before, the tools and techniques used in Tangled could potentially change the entire marketplace. Which means as Best Animated Features go they deserve the nomination more than Toy Story which fits the “checklist” for an Academy Best Picture nom, but falls a little bit short of what’s needed to make it a Best Animated nod. Unless we’re going to start nominating films that we like simply because they happen to be in the medium.

Besides, you’re still skirting the issue that several worthy films were denied entry into the race completely because of Toy Story’s double pegging. Same thing happened last year with Up’s double pegging and they had 2 more slots last year.

Make no mistake, before anyone brings it up, this is not the same as the same actor being nominated for two different roles in two different categories or even in the same category. Or multiple songs from the same film nominated at once. This is the same as say, the stars of Frozen getting both Best Acting and Best Supporting nods.

I never said that. I said no foreign film deserved the double nomination this year.

Evidently, what you think is fair I think would be unfair, and the other way around. We both have very different views on how Academy justice shall work (and in a lot of different matters).

I obviously can’t explain myself very well on English, so I won’t make this a long discussion as I am disadvantaged.

What I’m surprised is about the fact that the only place where I’ve seen complaint about TS3 nomination is here, which is supposed to be a holder of Pixar lovers. Most people seem actually relieved about the fact that it has made it.

How exactly is it a disservice? I’m certain the makers of Crouching Tiger, Up, and Toy Story 3 were absolutely thrilled they got a best picture nom. But it just so happens that they are both foreign and animated films, so I fail to see why they shouldn’t be included in those categories as well, even more so if they are exceptional examples of those mediums.

That’s pretty much how it’s always been with best animated feature. It’s not just about the technique or the artistry, but the content as well (though those things certainly help). Legend of the Guardians didn’t get nominated because it had a weak script and story, and I enjoyed Tangled, but the story was pretty much checklist Disney and the ending felt rushed. It wasn’t quite as emotionally satisfying as Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon (haven’t seen The Illusionist, but I want to).

No, it really isn’t. Those two things are mutually exclusive, an animated feature and a motion picture are not.

^ Well, someone with a better English than me said some of the things I think 8D Thanks, tribefan!

Yeah good for the makers of Up, Crouching Tiger and Toy Story 3.

Cause really, who cares about the makers of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs or Ponyo, Shadow of the Vampire or Tangled? They apparently have no say in this one.

And really who cares about the other nominees in the Best Animated/Foreign category who are only there to fill out berths on what is already a foregone conclusion?

Even if the actual animated nominee I want to win was in the Best Picture category I’d still be upset. If HTTYD, which I think works better as a total package than Toy Story 3 which functions best at an emotional level but doesn’t quite push anything forward visually or aurally in the way that Tangled or HTTYD have, were double pegged I’d be just as upset.

If we’re going to start doing this double pegging I move that we start building genre specific categories so everyone has a chance to get double pegged. Hey, music awards shows got one thing right when they started doing that. (I know animation is a medium and not a genre but the Academy apparently doesn’t)

And those two aren’t mutually exclusive. There are three leads in that film and they all support each other pretty equally. The nature of both the Supporting and Lead Acting categories have always been pretty fluid. Look at Hopkins’ Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. He really had enough screen time to be called a supporting character, but because his performance was so powerful he got nominated for Lead Actor. There’s also the numerous nominations for actors and actresses who got nominated for Supporting for what could barely be called cameo appearances. I’m only citing these examples to point out the nature of those categories before you go and Google some nomination rules and start citing them back.

As for exceptional examples in the category what I’m saying is that Toy Story 3 is a Best Picture candidate that just happens to be animated but it isn’t necessarily the Best Animated Feature. Technique and artistry as well as total package should be factored into the category until Oscar wises up and creates separate categories so individual aspects of these types of films can be honored. I’ll probably have to concede on Crouching Tiger in this section of the argument, even though I don’t agree with it and I still think it’s horribly wrong, as it functions as a total package in both categories.

I still can’t believe no one finds this the least bit unfair to the films that were left out. For one thing Tangled deserved a nom much more than Disney’s last entry. Don’t get me wrong, I love PATF but it was no Ponyo, it wasn’t even a Cloudy. It seemed more like a PR move to re-ignite interest than a genuine nod for the film. Tangled is one of the top 4 best animated films that was released last year. And it was completely shut out of the Best Animated race because of TS3’s double peg. Much like Ponyo and Cloudy got shut out of the race because of Up’s double peg. I don’t see why this should stand just because we love the movies that got the pegging.

Even the Emmys know how to do it correctly. In recent years shows like Family Guy have gotten Best Comedy Under an Hour nods but not Best Animated nods because while the show is animated, and according to that Academy an exceptional example of the medium, it didn’t have the total package to be nominated for Best Animated Show Under An Hour. Not compared to the Simpsons, a currently weaker program but with stronger technique and artistry, South Park, a much stronger program with lower visual sense but excels in its medium due to its expedited process and being able to do so much with seemingly so little unseen pretty much anywhere else. Family Guy works better as a comedy than an animated piece. And that was apparent to not only the producers of the program but the Academy of Television. So why can’t we expect the same from the folks at AMPAS.

Sorry for this long rambling post. And what seems to be a huge uphill battle. There is no such thing as fairness or justice in Hollywood and especially award shows. I already know that. There really is no right way to do things that wouldn’t bloat telecasts to the 12 hour mark.

I suppose we should all agree to disagree and hope that it’s a good ceremony. Hope that Franco and Hathaway actually put on a decent show. That they get a kickin’ music director (Too bad it won’t be Giacchino, I really loved him last time he did it), that none of the presentations will be cringe-worthy, that the music numbers are actually worth watching and that there’s at least one crazy acceptance speech. Because we’re really not going to move forward any other way. As we are arguing Academy semantics and not actual cinematic justice, because it truly doesn’t exist. It’s like the business card scene in American Psycho up in here. 8D

I can’t believe Bryce prefers the score of The Social Network to mine.

I mean look at Toy Story 3, with that subtle off-kilter humor, its tasteful sadness. My God, it even has some Easter eggs!

Had to leave you on a ridiculous note there. It’s getting heated up in this mug…