Tag Archives: Oscar nominations

‘The Revenant’ & ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ lead Oscar noms

January 17, 2016Movies, Newsaward show, nominations, Oscar nominations, OscarsScott Meisner

We’re in the swing of awards season, people! Days after the Hollywood Foreign Press Association praised The Revenant and Mr. Robot at the Golden Globes, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this year’s Oscar nominees. The Revenant continues its hot streak leading the charge with 12 Oscar nominations including nods for star Leonardo DiCaprio (will this finally be his year?!) and director Alexandro G. Iñárritu. If you recall, Iñárritu is also on a roll having swept the Oscars last year with big wins for Birdman.

The following flicks are in the running for Best Picture: The Big Short (landed 5 nods total), Bridge of Spies (6 nods), Brooklyn (3), Mad Max: Fury Road (a whopping 10!), The Martian (7), The Revenant (12), Room (4), and Spotlight (6).

As per usual, there are snubs galore and here are some of the most frustrating. Ridley Scott (The Martian), Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight), and Steven Spielberg (Bridge of Spies) were left out of the Best Director race. They were undeservedly overlooked when the Academy selected Adam McKay (The Big Short), George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road), Iñárritu (The Revenant), Lenny Abrahamson (Room), and Tom McCarthy (Spotlight). Elsewhere, and somehow, someway, Aaron Sorkin was not nominated for his impeccably adapted screenplay for Steve Jobs. And then there’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Though you might not agree that North America’s highest-grossing film of all-time deserved a Best Picture nom, it certainly warrants recognition for more than its brilliant Original Score, Visual Effects, film editing, and sound mixing and editing. Still, sci-fi diehards have Mad Max to root for come the telecast.

And then there’s #OscarsSoWhite. For the second consecutive year in a row, the AMPAS is showering decidedly white actors and filmmakers with nominations and neglecting incredibly talented African Americans. Director F. Gary Gray and his box office hit Straight Outta Compton…Ryan Coogler’s Creed and its star Michael B. Jordan…Samuel L. Jackson for The Hateful Eight…Will Smith for Concussion…Idris Elba for Netflix’s Beasts of No Nation. All snubbed. This simply isn’t fair, and let’s hope that it doesn’t become an annual trend.

The 88th Academy Awards, hosted by Chris Rock, airs Sunday, Feb. 28 at 7pm (est) on ABC. Click here to view the full list of nominees.

2013 Oscar nods are in!

January 10, 2013Movies, News2013 Academy Awards, 2013 Oscars, 85th Annual Academy Awards, Academy Awards, award show, awards show, nods, nominations, Oscar nods, Oscar nominations, OscarsScott Meisner

As we inch closer to the 85th Academy Awards the nominations tallied by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were announced today. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln received the most nominations, 12 of them in fact. The period piece is up for Best Picture, Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Supporting Actor (Tommy Lee Jones), Best Supporting Actress (Sally Field), Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Adapted Screenplay (Tony Kushner), Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Original Score, Production Design, and Sound Mixing. Life of Pi is close behind with 11 nods including Best Picture, Best Director (Ang Lee), and Best Adapted Screenplay (David Magee). The remaining Best Picture contenders are Amour (5 nods total), Argo (7), Beasts of the Southern Wild (4), Django Unchained (5), Les Miserables (8), Silver Linings Playbook (8), and Zero Dark Thirty (5). Daniel Day-Lewis is up against Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), and Denzel Washington (Flight) for Best Actor. Clawing for Best Actress are Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), and Naomi Watts (The Impossible). The movies up for Best Animated Feature are Brave, Frankenweenie, ParaNorman, The Pirates!, Band of Misfits, and Wreck-It Ralph.

Who got snubbed? The biggest shockers are those who were not nominated for Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), Tom Hooper (Les Miserables), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master), and Ben Affleck (Argo; he also wasn’t nominated for Best Actor). Big acting snubs include Leonardo DiCaprio (Django Unchained) and John Hawkes (The Sessions). No technical nominations for Flight or Prometheus. Not a single nod for Rian Johnson’s Looper, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, and the Wachowskis’ Cloud Atlas. And blockbuster The Avengers only managed to land a single nod for Visual Effects.

Jump after the break to see all the nominations. The 85th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Family Guy‘s Seth MacFarlane, airs live Sunday, February 24 on ABC. Watch some of MacFarlane’s latest promos below.
Continue reading 2013 Oscar nods are in! →

2012 Oscar nods are in!

January 29, 2012Movies, News2012 Academy Awards, 2012 Oscars, 84th Annual Academy Awards, Academy Awards, award show, awards show, nods, nominations, Oscar nods, Oscar nominations, OscarsScott Meisner

A few days back the Golden Globes celebrated the best in the TV and film, bestowing the highest of honors to movies like The Descendants, The Artist, and Hugo. Following the Globes is the Academy Awards and just last week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees. Martin Scorsese’ss Hugo is the most celebrated film going into the Oscars leading the pack with 11 nods. The family friendly 3D flick is up for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design, Film Editing, Music, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Special Effects. A mouthful, I know. The Artist is close behind with 10 Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius), Best Actor (Jean Dujardin), and Best Supporting Actress (Bérénice Bejo). The remaining Best Picture contenders are The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life, and War Horse. Dujardin is pitted against Demián Bichir (A Better Life), George Clooney (The Descendants), Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), and Brad Pitt (Moneyball) for Best Actor. And the following ladies are duking it out for Best Actress: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs), Viola Davis (The Help), Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), and Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn). Major snubs include Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part II for Best Picture (it only landed the usual technical nods for Art Direction, Makeup, and Special Effects); Leonardo DiCaprio (J Edgar) and Michael Fassbender (Shame) for Best Actor; Andy Serkis (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes) for Best Supporting Actor; The Adventures Of Tintin for Best Animated Film; and Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross’ major contribution to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with their Original Score.

Hop after the break to see all the nominations. The 84th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, airs live Sunday, February 26 at 7PM on ABC. Continue reading 2012 Oscar nods are in! →

2011 Oscar nods are in!

January 25, 2011Movies, News83rd Academy Awards, 83rd Annual Academy Awards, Academy Awards, Academy Awards nominations, award show, awards show, nods, nominations, Oscar nominations, OscarsScott Meisner

Today the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for this year’s Academy Awards show. Leading the pack is The King’s Speech with 12 nominations, followed by True Grit with 10. In addition for being up for Best Picture, The King’s Speech is also being recognized for its actors (Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter are up for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress, respectively) director (Tom Hooper), and screenwriter (David Seidler). True Grit is also up for Best Picture, Best Director (Joel & Ethan Coen), and Best Adapted Screenplay (the Coens). Actors Jeff Bridges and the young but brilliantly talented Hailee Steinfeld nabbed Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nods, respectively. 127 Hours, Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, and Winter’s Bone round out the coveted Best Picture category.

Time to talk snubs. First up: Christopher Nolan, the man behind Inception. Though the fantastical mind trip nabbed 8 nods (including Best Picture and Screenplay), Nolan was not recognized for his superb direction. Next: Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) and Mila Kunis (Black Swan) are noticeably absent from the Best Supporting Actor/Actress category. Then there’s the Best Animated Feature category; though Toy Story 3 is locked for the win, Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me deserves a spot there amongst TS3 and How to Train Your Dragon. As critically acclaimed as Ben Affleck’s The Town was this past year, the flick only picked up a nod for Best Supporting Actor (Jeremy Renner). And finally there’s Tron: Legacy; it’s one thing not to nominate Daft Punk’s wonderfully electric score, but it’s quite laughable that the Academy did not nominate the movie for Best Visual Effects.

Look after the break to see the full rundown of all 24 award categories. The 83rd Annual Academy Awards, hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway, airs live Sunday February 27 at 8PM on ABC.

[Via EW] Continue reading 2011 Oscar nods are in! →