Love 'em! Thanks.
Eyebrows of Doom already said it, but none of those movies were straight comedies. I would not want Bridesmaids to win best picture, but I thought it was worth a nomination nod among 8 or 9 other movies.
I hope you’re right; I’d rather see Oldman (or even Pitt) win it. Clooney did a fine job but it wasn’t anything we haven’t seen him do before.
Thanks! That was good.
George Clooney…is good at acting!
I’m surprised no one has made any comment about Leonardo DiCaprio. I haven’t seen J. Edgar but I expected him to be nominated. Although seeing as he wasn’t nominated for The Aviator in 2004 (wow that was 2004?) either I guess this shouldn’t be a surprise to me or to him. The Oscars seems to gloss over him a lot.
Did anyone see J. Edgar? Was it good? Was he good?
He was nominated for a SAG award for it. That says something about his performance. To me, the SAG awards mean much more than the Oscars these days.
What?! No Sound Editing nomination for The Artist?
I haven’t seen it but I’ve heard dreadful things about J. Edgar.
And you’re wrong about The Aviator, he was nominated for Best Actor for it - as well as for Blood Diamond, and a supporting nod for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape when he was 14. So 3 acting nominations by his early 30’s… not too shabby. He and his movies typically get plenty of Acadamy love.
Whoops. Yeah would have edited but twas too late. He was indeed nominated for The Aviator. I knew he was for those others as well.
Yeah… and Elvert Dodenhinkel was overlooked for the title role in Waiting for Godot! What is the Academy thinking?!?!?!?!?
You misread my post. I was reacting to Tintin not getting a Best Animated Feature nod (not Hugo, which isn’t animated).
It is astounding to me that Tintin didn’t get a nomination. I thought it was one of the best pictures of the year.
Interesting list of Best Picture nominees this year. I saw 3 films in 2011 that I thought might get a BP nod: Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, and The Ides of March. Of these, I actually thought *Ides of March *had the best chance. Shows what I know.
I haven’t really had my ear to the ground for the pre-nomination buzz, but The Artist and *The Descendants *are not at all surprising coming off their Golden Globe wins. I wasn’t sure whether to expect *Hugo *to be on the list or not, but it seems there’s always at least one “whimsical” (for lack of a better term) nominee since they expanded the category.
Each year I attend the AMC theaters Best Picture showcase and see all the nominees before the Awards. I was kind of hoping for *My Week With Marilyn *and *Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy *and may try to see those on my own. I’m sort of not looking forward to *Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close *or *War Horse *-- they may very well be excellent films, but don’t really seem like my cup of tea. Then again, I really liked Atonement after thinking I wouldn’t. And I sat through Precious, so I guess I can endure anything. I know almost nothing about *The Tree of Life *(and hope to keep it that way until I see it), and am really anxious to see or re-see all the others.
Is it me, or was 2011 kind of a terrible year for movies?
None of the best picture nominees that I’ve seen blew me away. I haven’t seen Hugo, but that’s the only one I hold out hope for at this point.
It was okay – definitely not Eastwood’s best – but he did a pretty good job.
With the caveat that I’ve only seen 1/9 of the BP nominees, I agree. I did see several other nominated movies from other categories, but it seems like a relatively weak field overall, coming off of an especially good 2010.
[QUOTE=Aeris]
Did anyone see J. Edgar? Was it good? Was he good?
[/QUOTE]
I did. It would have worked better as a miniseries (which could have been really great) but they tried to cram a four hour plot into a 2 hour movie. I thought DiCaprio was okay but neither his best work nor Oscar worthy. (J. Edgar thread.)
I was very disappointed in Ides of March, which is odd, since it should’ve been like catnip for me, given my interests and politics. It was slow and dull and took itself far too seriously.
I’ve only seen two of the (too damned many) nominated movies- The Help and Hugo. Of those two I’d go with Hugo; of the others I most want to see The Artist and The Descendants.
I understand the nominations of Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, they’re both great actresses, but for the life of me I still don’t understand what’s so phenomenally great about the book or the movie The Help. I found it incredibly patronizing (young liberal white girl to the rescue) and tired (how the hell many times have we seen the “wise oppressed black servant: privileged unhappy white child/ren” plot?) and unrealistic; is the rest of the country just that fascinated by the Civil Rights era south?
Especially how Brooks was one of the favorites to win the Oscar.
I still hate that Harrison Ford got shut out of all of the awards. I thought he was great in Cowboys vs. Aliens.
Quick notes:
-Extremely dull and Incredibly Maudlin and War Horse are two of the worst movies ever nominated for best picture. Bad bad movies. The Artist and The Help are both a little overrated but are vastly superior. Disappointed Take Shelter, Win Win, Martha marcy may marlene and others weren’t considered but every year there are a half dozen I’d rather see up there.
-Sad about Fassbender, Patton, Albert Brooks.
-I was worried Cars 2 would be nominated. Glad it wasn’t.
-The War Horse theme was ridiculous and over the top. Loved the Hanna Score, sorry it was missed… I’m blanking on a few others.
Of the films nominated, I have seen The Descendants, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. My ranking would be:
- Midnight in Paris
- The Help (This film got a lot of backlash, but I think it is great. I spent a year in Mississippi in the time frame depicted in the movie, and the characterizations ring true for me.)
- The Descendants
- Moneyball (I was very surprised how much I enjoyed this one. Great performances by Pitt and Hill; both deserve their nominations.)
5.Hugo (I thought I would like this one much more than I actually did.)
.
.
. - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Any of those first four would be a worthy Best Picture winner, I think.
I have not seen Tree of Life but I know Terrence Malick’s schtick from Thin Red Line and The New World. My sense is that as a director, Malick would have been a great cinematographer. As a storyteller, IMHO, he is a failure. But now I suppose I have to suffer through Tree of Life just for comparison’s sake.
Well it was essentially screwed, then…ineligible for Best Animated, but unlikely to break its way into first-place voting for Best Picture (given animated pictures so rarely get nominated in that category).