# Academy Award predictions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767 "2016-12-15T13:21:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Vicsage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e68b1a/32.png) [@Vicsage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicsage)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/1 "2016-12-15T13:21:46Z")
My predictions for the nominations will be even more movies no one sees. This year more than ever. Hollywood will, with the possible exception of a cartoon, only nominate pretentious boring movies for best picture. They do this anyways, but due to the election not going their way, are going to try to show the dumb mouth-breathing middle Americans that the movies that are popular are for idiots. The truly enlightened coastal people know what’s good. Also a good drinking game to play during the show would be to take a shot of whiskey every time someone says Trump, Russian hackers, or popular vote. You’ll be wasted inside of 30 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/2 "2016-12-15T13:46:01Z")
> [@Vicsage](#): > > They do this anyways, but due to the election not going their way, are going to try to show the dumb mouth-breathing middle Americans that the movies that are popular are for idiots. The truly enlightened coastal people know what’s good. Pardon? Exactly who do you think makes and comprises the largest audience for all of these popular movies “for idiots”? Hint: it ain’t Middle 'Murica. Try again. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/3 "2016-12-15T16:24:55Z")
Manchester By The Sea is the favorite to win, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/4 "2016-12-15T16:59:30Z")
I watched the Critics Choice Awards the other day and had not heard of most of the movies up for best picture such as _Manchester By The Sea_ and _La La Land_. Are they fairly recent releases? ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/5 "2016-12-15T17:01:45Z")
> [@Vicsage](#): > > The truly enlightened coastal people know what’s good. ‘Truly enlightened coastal people’, Bahahahahaha! Thanks for that, I needed a good laugh for today. Probably will still be laughing about it tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/6 "2016-12-15T17:04:48Z")
I’m sensing this isn’t really a thread about movies. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/7 "2016-12-15T17:24:15Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > I watched the Critics Choice Awards the other day and had not heard of most of the movies up for best picture such as _Manchester By The Sea_ and _La La Land_. Are they fairly recent releases? Yes, which is deliberate. Blatant Oscar bait is often released late. It’s fresher in voters’ minds. In the specific case of “Machester By The Sea,” for example, the movie was actually premiered in January at Sundance - but was not commercially released. It was then screened at just a few elite film festivals like Toronto, Telluride and New York, and was then finally released November 18. Obviously they weren’t holding it back because they lost the film in someone’s junk drawer. “La La Land” was just released last week, and even then only in five theatres on its nominal release date. It was ready for release long ago but was deliberately delayed to allow for sneak peeks at film festivals to gather awards buzz. I should point out, though, that these are not rare, niche films by unknowns. “Manchester By The Sea” is a Casey Affleck film, and Affleck has a lot of famous movies to his credit as director, producer, and actor, and his co star is Michelle Williams, a pretty accomplsihed and well known actress. “La La Land” stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, both hot young stars, and also has J.K. Simmons, a very popular actor who won an Oscar two years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Vicsage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e68b1a/32.png) [@Vicsage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicsage)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/8 "2016-12-16T00:20:57Z")
It actually really is a thread about movies and what Hollywood thinks is good. The hollywood people who vote for these pictures are pretentious smug little twits who wouldn’t know a classic or innovative movie if it bit them. And its been this way for decades. In 1978 Star Wars lost to Annie “freakin” Hall. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/9 "2016-12-16T00:43:26Z")
Annie Hall was a movie that spoke to the times more than Star Wars did. Don’t know what to tell ya. Go watch Titanic or ROTK or Forrest Gump if you want B. Picture winning audience pleasers. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/10 "2016-12-16T00:52:00Z")
I’ve always found that the Academy picks movies that I think are worthy of winning, at least in the case of the ones that I’ve seen. I’ve discussed in other threads my awed reaction to _Spotlight_, which I still think is the best film of the decade. I consider the summer to be the dead season for movies, when there’s nothing worth seeing, because the theaters are filled with the types of movies that I don’t watch. OTOH, December is the best movie month of the year, because it’s when Oscar-bait (i.e. the movies I like most) are playing. My taste is clearly much closer to that of the Academy than to either that of the general public or the average member of this message board, but that doesn’t make it better, just different. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/11 "2016-12-16T00:57:09Z")
I watched 6 of the 8 best picture nominees this past year. The best movie I saw last year was one of the 6. It didn’t win, but the winner was very good. Really good movies aren’t necessarily really fun or really easy or really popular. That doesn’t mean good movies have to be a chore, but they aren’t necessarily going to be blockbusters. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/12 "2016-12-16T01:37:08Z")
There’s already an [Oscar thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=812558) going. ---
**Author:** ![GovernmentMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@GovernmentMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GovernmentMan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/13 "2016-12-16T05:34:12Z")
> [@Vicsage](#): > > It actually really is a thread about movies and what Hollywood thinks is good. The hollywood people who vote for these pictures are pretentious smug little twits who wouldn’t know a classic or innovative movie if it bit them. And its been this way for decades. In 1978 Star Wars lost to Annie “freakin” Hall. But Annie Hall is way better than Star Wars ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/14 "2016-12-16T05:41:40Z")
Star Wars is 40 years old next year. Still complaining about its B. Picture loss is akin to whining, in 1977, that _The Life of Emile Zola_ wasn’t the best picture of 1937. In short, let it go. It’s been four freakin’ _decades_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-predictions/774767/15 "2016-12-16T14:41:51Z")
[Moderating] If this was meant to be a thread about movies, it sure started off the wrong way. I don’t see this thread going anywhere productive with an OP like that.