Shafted by the Academy: An Oscar©s Poll

Cafe Society
1

In this poll, let’s nominate films, actors, actresses and performances that were not nominated for Academy Awards this year. Nominate up to 5 in each category, and discuss why you think they deserve mention.

Standards for this thread are open to interpretation. For example, if you believe that The Saga of Joe Blow is the Best Picture this year, nominate it. If, however, you believe that The Saga of Joe Blow is merely the Best Picture among those not nominated , you may nominate it here as well.

My picks…

BEST PICTURE
[ul]
[li]Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It’s probably one of the better movies made this year, though certainly not the best. However, since it is undoubtedly the favorite of millions of children (and parents) around the world this year, it deserves honorable mention.[/li][li]The Others. A rarity in modern horror: no violence, no special effects, minimalist soundtrack, and no histrionic screaming. The plot had its slow moments, but the twist at the end redeemed it. Nicole Kidman’s performance was suitably restrained; the performances of the two little children stole the show (see below).[/li][li]From Hell. A genuinely creepy crime drama that made the audience feel the seedy underbelly of turn-of-the-century London. Nice set design, too.[/li][/ul]

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
[ul]
[li]Alakina Mann, The Others. Never have I been so blown away by the performance of a little girl in a movie. Clearly one of the best pre-adolescent Supporting Actress performances since Anna Paquin in The Piano.[/li][li]Maggie Smith, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Because she’s Maggie Smith and she was in a movie last year (and yes, I know she’s nominated for Gosford Park).[/li][/ul]

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
[ul]
[li]Robbie Coltrane, From Hell. He brought a sense of comic relief, as it were, to an otherwise depressing and creepy movie.[/li][li]Robbie Coltrane, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. As perfect an actor for the role of Rebeus Hagrid as just about anyone I can think of.[/li][li]Richard Harris, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. As long as we’re nominating grand old Shakespearean British actors (such as Sir Ian McKellan), we’ll throw in Professor Dumbledore.[/li][li]Nicholas Bentley, The Others. Another show-stealing performance by a little kid in a movie primarily about ghosts.[/li][/ul]

I don’t have any nominations for Best Actor or Best Actress, simply because all of the performances that blew me away this year have been supporting roles.

So what are your picks???

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Best Makeup
Planet of the Apes. Say what you will about the movie, but the makeup, especially for Tim Roth, was astonishing.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch This musical put the “glam” in glamourous.

A.I. Giving Jude Law the look of a metallicized playboy deserved an Oscar nod.

Best Director
Baz Luhrman. Moulin Rouge didn’t direct itself, you know!

Best Costume Design
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
A.I.

Best Actor
Guy Pearce for Memento

John Cameron Mitchell for Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Gene Hackman for The Royal Tenebaums

Best Supporting Actor

Steve Buscemi for Ghost World

Martin Landau for The Majestic

3

I’ve said it before, but Best Supporting Actor: Alan Rickman as Snape in Harry Potter. He did an absolutely perfect job in the role.

4

I second Guy Pierce.
As for Harry Potter, I won’t deny it’s loved by millions, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s not that great of a movie.

5

Best Picture
Black Hawk Down
Memento
(Take out, Ali, and Gosford Park)

Best Actor
Guy Pearce, Memento
Haley Joel Osment. A.I.
{Take out Sean Penn and Will Smith)

Best Director
Baz Luhrman
(Take out David Lynch)

Just my opinions, of course (and based only on movies I have seen).

6

Harry Potter should be nominated for the biggest waste of my time this year.

Beyond that, I second any and all nominations for Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Mulholland Drive should have swept the awards.

And though I’m not overly in love with the movie, if Haley Joel Osment was nominated for Sixth Sense, he should have been nominate TWICE for AI.

7

I would respond to this thread, but I’m still boycotting all Oscars-related information due to their gross negligence in not properly recognizing Glory lo, these many years ago.

I imagine that when I die, God and I will sit around in armchairs and marvel that Boring Miss Daisy actually won Best Picture that year.

8

Shrek not getting best picture nomination. If anything, it was better than Beauty and the Beast. Oh I get it. It doesn’t have a show-stopping original number.

Best Original Song…I’ll never understand this category. There is not a single blade of bluegrass from O Brother Where Art Thou? Yet the Grammy saw fit to give the soundtrack best Album.

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Was Hannibal nominated for Best Musical Score? If not, then it should be.

10

Best Picture: Memento, Hedwig and the Angry Inch (dump LOTR and In the Bedroom)
Best Actor: Guy Pearce for Memento, John Cameron Mitchell for Hedwig (dump Russell Crowe and Sean Penn)
Best Actress: Naomi Watts for Mulholland Drive (dump Renee Zellwegger)
Best Supporting Actress: Miriam Shor for Hedwig (dump Jennifer Connelly or Marissa Tomei)
Best Supporting Actor: Jim Broadbent for Moulin Rouge! (dump Jim Broadbent)
Best Song: “Come What May” from Moulin Rouge! (dump the Academy on its head for ruling it ineligible)
Best Director: Baz Luhrmann for Moulin Rouge! (dump Ridley Scott)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Memento (adapted from the short story “Memento Mori,” so why it’s nominated in the original category is beyond me)

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[QUOTE]
Best Director: Baz Luhrmann for Moulin Rouge! (dump Ridley Scott)

[QUOTE]

Oh, and add John Cameron Mitchell for Hedwig and dump Ron Howard.

12

Best Picture
Memento.

Best Actor
Another vote for Guy Pearce.
Billy Bob Thornton in The Man Who Wasn’t There. Or at least for best narrator.

Best Actress
Thora Birch in Ghost World.

Best Director
Again, Baz Luhrmann. Ron Howard couldn’t direct monkeys picking nits out of each other’s fur.
Also, Todd Field for In The Bedroom.

Best Song
“Directions” by Josh Rouse, from Vanilla Sky . An amazing melody perfectly fitting the song’s slacker theme, though it’s probably ineligible for some obscure reason.

13

Billy Bob Thornton was wonderful in THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE and in MONSTER’S BALL. He was even pretty good in BANDITS. So why does the Academy ignore him?

MEMENTO deserved to be in the Best Picture category. So did SHREK.

14

I’m not trying to start a flamewar here, but do you people really think “Shrek” is Best Picture material? I liked it okay, but Best Picture?

I think any movie with a Matrix-reference joke automatically disqualifies itself from best picture.

But more than that, Shrek, while entertianing and well-animated wasn’t overly special to me. It was the same old guy fights dragon, gets princess, marries her, and along the way we learn two valuable lessons: (1) you shouldn’t judge people by their outward appearance unless they are short, and (2) it’s what’s inside that counts, but pretty people don’t marry ugly people - one must be converted into the other first.

I dunno, for all the people saying how irreverent and non-traditional it was, I found it to be pretty by-the-numbers fantasy. As I said, I thought it was a good, fun movie, but way overrated otherwise.

15

Another vote for Billy Bob…

for either Monsters Ball or TMWWT , and I’ve also heard from SO that Bandits was a good turn from him as well. Unfortunately I’ve heard rumours that Thornton didn’t make the cut because his votes were split between these movies. IOW, he’s being sort of penalized for being too good. or too consistant anyway…

I’d also thro in a best score and best director nod for Monsters Ball .

I agree with the travesty of overlooking Black Hawk Down and Memento , and A.I. in any number of categories.

BHD for best score and best sound, possibly best director or film…

Memento for actor, screen play, director, film
and
A.I. for best film, best score (a rarity fo Williams IMHO) and GASP… if there was a better supporting actor in a film this year than Jude law in A.I. , i didn’t see it.

CJ

16

Definitley think Memento was overlooked. probably since it didn’t have any real big stars or something like that…
what a shame, that’s probably the one that should win too!

17

Memento definitely deserved a best pic nomination and Waking Life, the best animated movie of last year, wasn’t nominated for best animated movie. This was a criminal oversight as far as I’m concerned. I liked Shrek but think it’s over-rated. Ditto what Legomancer said.

BTW, I thought Harry Potter was a turgid mess and nobody who had anything to do with the movie deserves Oscar recognition. Alan Rickman should have had a mustache to twirl like Snidely Whiplash and John Williams’ score was overly intrusive and manipulative. Full disclosure: I wasn’t very impressed with the book either.

18

Jonah Nolan’s Memento Mori was actually published after the film Memento was made. Ergo, no adapted screenplay Oscar nomination for the film.

19

Shrek was not eligible to be nominated for Best Picture because animated films now have their own caergory. Shrek, Monsters, Inc., and Neutron Boy were the nominees–*Shrek * won.

And Randy Newman won for Best Song (finally) for his song from Monsters, Inc.

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And Monsters Inc. should’ve won, not Shrek. :wink: