Agreed. Moneyball and Limitless were probably the two best flicks I saw last year.
I haven’t seen a single movie mentioned in the OP.
I gotta get out more. Or some, at least.
No. Christopher Plummer is and always has been the favorite to win. He’s won just about every award he’s been up for this season, which makes me happy because as much as I love Brooks and Drive, Beginners was my 2nd favorite movie of 2011, I love it dearly and deeply, and it’s wonderful to see it getting some recognition in the form of his nominations and wins. If he doesn’t win the Oscar I’ll eat my shoes. Well, metaphorically-speaking, since I’m not Werner Herzog.
And 2011 was an AMAZING year for me. I saw 366 movies in the theater, most of which I enjoyed (I don’t go see movies I think I’ll hate), and dozens of which are Best Picture-worthy, IMO.
J Edgar was not one of them. DiCaprio was good, he always is, but he was in a movie that wasn’t as good as he was. His not being nominated was a surprise, but if his space went to Bechir I’m very very pleased about that.
Really? How come?
Ah. Here we go: New Oscar Rules Deem Motion Capture “Not an Animation Technique”
Given those facts, I see what you mean Maserscmidt. Tintin is screwed. It deserves some attention, but is ineligible in the animated category, and this type of movie is not apt to get Best Picture votes.
I’m not going to reread the thread to see if this point is addressed, and it’s not worth starting a new thread – but I finally saw Bridesmaids tonight, and Melissa McCarthy’s nomination is a fucking travesty.
I appreciated her performance more the second time I watched it.
It was a perfectly fine performance, for what it was – but compared to, say, Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)? No. Not worthy of an Oscar nomination, let alone an Oscar.
Since posting that I’ve seen four more BP nominees, and my personal ranking is:
- Midnight in Paris
- The Artist
- Moneyball
- Hugo
- The Descendants
I liked all five of these, but I think the order is influenced by the fact that I expected to be blown away by The Descendants and wasn’t; and I expected to be bored by Midnight but I was delighted by it. The fact that I was a film major in college surely influenced my love for The Artist and Hugo, and I’m a sucker for Aaron Sorkin so liking Moneyball was not a surprise either.
I’ll see The Help and Extremely Close within the next week, and I should get to Tree of Life after that. I’m not sure I’ll get around to War Horse - I don’t really care to see it, and I think it’s already come and gone from the theaters around here but is not on video yet.
“It’s funny when the fat one burps and shits! Huh huh huh huh!”
McCarthy was nominated solely because of the novelty of a woman playing the role of the fat slob.
I suspect she would have been nominated even if that scene were not in the movie. It was more how seamlessly she became that character, managing to make her both real and hilarious without ever missing a beat, making it look too easy. She didn’t overplay it or underplay it; she just became that person.
That said, I have not seen any of the other Oscar-nominated performances yet :(.
Comic performances are always under-appreciated. They do get recognized once in a while (Kevin Kline, Marisa Tomei) but usually they just are not judged as being Oscar worthy. Melissa McCarthy gave an outstanding comic performance and I am glad it is being recognized.
We did that last year for the first time last year - hitting one of the weekends - and loved it. We’re doing it again this year but hitting BOTH weekends, and I’m looking forward to it even though not every movie seems like one I’d enjoy.
Did you do the marathon last year, or the two separate showings?