This Year’s Biggest Oscar Snubs

There was a lot of buzz this year about all the films and performances which were snubbed in this year’s Academy Award nominations.  While films like the critically panned Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the boring/confusing The Tree of Life, and the overrated (in my opinion) Bridesmaids received Academy attention, a lot of films which were nominated (and in some cases won) at the Golden Globes were completely forgotten about in the Oscar nomination list.  Below are a few of the snubs which personally shocked and disappointed me.  I’d like to give each of them their own honorary Pop and Ceremony Oscar.  I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to hear it.

Beginners (Mike Mills) for Best Original Screenplay

My biggest movie enemy (and the enemy of countless original, witty screenplays) this year is Bridesmaids, written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo.  The comedy took a coveted spot in the Best Original Screenplay category, a spot which could have been filled by any one of countless undoubtedly more deserving screenplays (50/50, Young Adult, The Future, Win Win).  But perhaps none of these screenplays is more deserving of that spot than Mike Mills’s Beginners, a clever and touching story with an equally clever and touching script.

Andy Serkis in Rise of the Planet of the Apes for Best Supporting Actor

This should have happened eight years ago when Serkis brought Gollum to life in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.  Serkis has become a star motion-capture actor, playing King Kong in Jackson’s remake, as well as Caesar the ape in 2011’s Planet of the Apes prequel.  Serkis brought life and emotion to the character, and he’s no doubt worthy of some awards attention.  He’s set to reprise his role as Gollum in this year’s The Hobbit: There and Back Again, so maybe the Academy will show him some love when next year’s nominations are announced.

Kate Winslet or Jodie Foster in Carnage for Best Supporting Actress

Why nominate Melissa McCarthy over either of these incredible actresses, both known for their dramatic roles, who showed their comedic sides as two increasingly frustrated (and inebriated) mothers in Roman Polanski’s Carnage.  While the ensemble cast was superb, the women stole the show.

Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar for Best Actor

I’m going to be honest.  I have not seen J. Edgar, and I kind of don’t plan on seeing it any time soon.  But I know that Leonardo DiCaprio needs to win an Oscar.  It’s been long overdue, and the Academy failed to give him another shot this year.  I have no doubt DiCaprio brought another powerhouse performance to the film, just like he did in The Aviator, for which he was cruelly robbed.  Please give this man an Oscar.  He’s doomed to become the acting equivalent of his oft-worked-with director Martin Scorsese, who finally got his Oscar for The Departed.  How long does DiCaprio have to wait to strike Oscar gold?

The Future for SOMETHING

I know The Future wasn’t a perfect film.  I know it was a small independent project with a quirky plot from an artsy female performance artist.  But I thought it was one of the most original, interesting films of the year, with a great performance from Hamish Linklater.  Couldn’t it get a Best Original Screenplay nod?  Or Best Cinematography?  I know Best Supporting Actor might be far fetched, but I hate to see such a refreshing film so ignored.

Uggie in The Artist for Best Supporting Actor

Can’t we start nominating animals?  Uggie gave one of the best performances of the year, and I say that with zero irony.  That’s one talented pooch.  He brought energy, emotion, and spot-on comedic timing to his role in The Artist.  Show the dog some Oscar love.

A host of original songs for Best Original Song

What happened to the other three nominees?  Here‘s an explanation.  Still, how the nominees turned out to be what they are, without including songs from either Madonna or Elton John, who battled it out at the Golden Globes, is beyond me.  I smell yet another change in voting rules coming next year.

Review: Carnage

If the above trailer doesn’t make you want to see Carnage, I don’t know what will.

Roman Polanski’s newest film, based on the play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, finds two couples (Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly, and Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz) meeting one chilly afternoon in New York City to discuss a schoolyard fight between their sons. What starts out as a civil conversation between four adults rapidly spirals out of control as the characters bicker, drink, and act more childish than their children.

Winslet and Waltz try to leave, but a subtle insult or question pulls them back into the apartment, and everything begins all over again. The characters — and the audience — begin to forget the reason for this meeting, as everything from animal abuse to damaged art books provokes the couples into engaging in vicious and often absurd verbal warfare.

The film occurs in real time in the span of about an hour and twenty minutes. A short runtime, but so full of memorable hilarity. The film’s limited physical space makes the audience feel as trapped and uncomfortable as the characters, and yet no one seems to want to leave.

This is a film driven by its performances, especially Winslet’s and Foster’s. Their delivery runs the gamut from feigned civility to sarcasm to all-out hysteria. The subtle ways the film creates alliances — within couples, between genders — and then breaks them is like a beautifully choreographed dance.

I will say that the trailer pretty much sums up the entire film, and there is little more to it than what is depicted in those two minutes, save for the context to a number of the featured outbursts, as well as one key event which I won’t give away to preserve the shock value.

Carnage is a great film choice to fulfill a quick need for sharp, twisted comedy. It’s a shame neither Winslet nor Foster was recognized with an Academy Award nomination.