Awards Season 2018

[knives]

That's pretty much all there is to it, except that in this case, Cuaron is also well-established in Hollywood.

That's the case with all of the foreign surprises this year actually which puts them in a different realm then when, say, The Grandmaster got nominated for cinematography. Both Pawlikowski and von Donnersmarck have previously made high profile nominees and have worked on english language films. Pawlikowski might even have dual citizenship, I can't remember, getting his start in British cinema and probably still has connections there.

[Persona]

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/m ... um=twitter

Great little interview with Schrader about his first Oscar nomination, touching bit about what he said to Ethan Hawke this morning, and also this humdinger: "No, I'm not done yet, but should a lightning bolt emerge and strike me on my way to the car, I can't say I'd complain."

[Brian C]

Well, yes, effectively. But if that's all they made it out to be, and all people interpreted it as, then it wouldn't have anywhere near the cultural clout that it does (and I doubt we'd be talking about it right now!)

Seems like a dubious assertion. We talk about the Golden Globes, and they barely even pretend to be anything other than a Hollywood wankfest.

[tenia]

it was the best film nominated that year and deserved to win

Not sure about the other Shakespeare noms but I'd argue both Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line are way better films (though I haven't seen Shakespeare in Love since it was released).

[rrenault]

Roma is the fifth film to be nominated for both Foreign Language Film and Best Picture in the same year. Each of the previous four (Z, 1969; Life Is Beautiful, 1998; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2000; Amour, 2012) won for Foreign Language Film but not Best Picture.

See? This is what I was talking about earlier. Four is not exactly a huge sample size to determine trends, and Roma seems generally respected, but I'd be surprised if it had the muscle to win both Foreign Film and Best Picture. Especially since critics' faves tend to not win Best Picture in the first place.

I know I'm not well-liked 'round these parts and have misbehaved in the past but just wanted to point out that Spotlight and Moonlight were both named best picture by 2 of the "Big Four" critics groups: NBR, NSFC, LAFCC, NYFCC.

[rrenault]

The difference between this and other years where there's been an overlap is that this is the first year the foreign film is seen as the frontrunner

It seems most of the time a 'serious foreign film' finds favor with AMPAS it's because it's been a relatively weak year on the Anglo-American front. This was the case with both Amour and Cries and Whispers and perhaps Z as well. The Master came out the same year as Amour, but it was too divisive for AMPAS. Amour at least had more universally relatable subject matter. Compare 1973 to 1974, which had the quadruple whammy of The Godfather Part II, Chinatown, The Conversation, and A Woman Under the Influence, the last of which wasn't even nominated for Best Picture but was nominated for Best Director.

One thing I do kind of miss about having a Best Picture field limited to five is seeing which film would sneak into Best Director without being nominated for Best Picture, since most of the time it would be a more interesting film than anything nominated for Best Picture. Understandably, it happens far less often with a Best Picture field expanded to up to ten.

[dda1996a]

My biggest complaint is that I'm happy BP is larger now, but the Academy still finds ways to fill it with shitty movies. I only care about my favorites getting BP noms so they make more money and/or are released theatrically where I live. I guess I can say goodbye to Beale Street playing here now.

[Big Ben]

My biggest complaint is that I'm happy BP is larger now, but the Academy still finds ways to fill it with shitty movies. I only care about my favorites getting BP noms so they make more money and/or are released theatrically where I live. I guess I can say goodbye to Beale Street playing here now.

On the flip side my hometown is finally getting Green Book and The Favorite because we're TRASH regarding release dates. Feel luckly because a film like Beale Street would never play here so don't feel too bad.

[tenia]

The difference between this and other years where there's been an overlap is that this is the first year the foreign film is seen as the frontrunner.

Not only this, but 3 of the 5 noms for Best Director are foreigners.
One might also add that the other main contender is from a Greek director.

My biggest complaint is that I'm happy BP is larger now, but the Academy still finds ways to fill it with shitty movies.

Even when there were less BP nominees, there were tons of mediocre ones, but now that the list is extended, I've never felt there were more good movies added, only more mediocre ones.

[Cremildo]

Even when there were less BP nominees, there were tons of mediocre ones, but now that the list is extended, I've never felt there were more good movies added, only more mediocre ones.

I strongly disagree. Acclaimed films like A Serious Man, District 9, Winter's Bone, The Kids Are All Right, Her, Selma, and Call Me By Your Name probably wouldn't have been nominated if it weren't for the expansion. God knows if the likes of The Tree of Life, Beasts of the Southern Wild or Phantom Thread would have been nominated just for Directing had there been only five slots for Best Picture.

Of course, you'll likely argue those are all "mediocre" movies, but it's no one's fault you're so hard to please.

[domino harvey]

Cesar Award nominations

EDIT: Better link with partial list

EDIT TWO: Best link, full list

[dda1996a]

I strongly disagree. Acclaimed films like A Serious Man, District 9, Winter's Bone, The Kids Are All Right, Her, Selma, and Call Me By Your Name probably wouldn't have been nominated if it weren't for the expansion. God knows if the likes of The Tree of Life, Beasts of the Southern Wild or Phantom Thread would have been nominated just for Directing had there been only five slots for Best Picture.

Of course, you'll likely argue those are all "mediocre" movies, but it's no one's fault you're so hard to please.

I'm not, and there are some better years. But it feels like we get 2 or 3 mediocre or bad films for every good/art film. And considering Thread, Her and Tree of Life also got Director is maybe a good sign (or I'm being naive)

[domino harvey]

Her actually was not nominated for Best Director, but Jonze was nominated without a Best Picture for Being John Malkovich

[Apperson]

If the consensus on this site for Beasts of the Southern Wild was 'mediocre' it'd be an improvement.

[dustybooks]

If the consensus on this site for Beasts of the Southern Wild was 'mediocre' it'd be an improvement.

An improvement to the site, or to the film!?

(I really liked Beasts but I know I'm in a minority, and I'm sure not gonna try to defend it)

[swo17]

An upgrade over the general consensus here that it was less than mediocre

[dustybooks]

I get it now, sorry!

[tenia]

Even when there were less BP nominees, there were tons of mediocre ones, but now that the list is extended, I've never felt there were more good movies added, only more mediocre ones.

I strongly disagree. Acclaimed films like A Serious Man, District 9, Winter's Bone, The Kids Are All Right, Her, Selma, and Call Me By Your Name probably wouldn't have been nominated if it weren't for the expansion. God knows if the likes of The Tree of Life, Beasts of the Southern Wild or Phantom Thread would have been nominated just for Directing had there been only five slots for Best Picture.

I would only take out District 9 which I disliked a lot (and I seemed to remember Beasts of Southern Wild wasn't well received everywhere, but maybe that's just my memory), but otherwise these aren't mediocre. However, you can always pick a few counter-exemples but I don't think it ever made a case.
Look simply from the figures : your list covers 10 years, that's 50 additionnal contenders, meaning I can probably pick as many movies that would prove my point (I probably can pick twice as many). Sure, in the grander scheme of things, this is very much a year-by-year / case-by-case story. Would Phantom Thread picked up for BP if there were only 5 noms ? I don't know. I hope so. But I don't know.
But are these 5 additionnal openings making sure more good movies are in while they were kept away before ? I'd say this year's selection particularly proves it's most certainly not the case.

Of course, you'll likely argue those are all "mediocre" movies, but it's no one's fault you're so hard to please.

Joke aside, it's a real question I'm wondering myself. I'm quite certain the idea behind these 5 additionnal slots were to make sure good movies usually left out were now selected, but I never had the feeling it actually worked this way. But on the other hand, as dom wrote earlier, there always has been tons of mediocre forgettable nominees so it's not as if it's that different from the past, but I don't think we could find 4 in one single year before, while straight away in 2009, I'm not sure leaving out The Blind Side, Precious or Up in the Air were worthy BP contenders.

[rrenault]

I never really understood the hatred for Precious? It's not a great movie, I didn't love it and don't feel the need to watch it a second time, but it's a harrowing depiction of the miserable lives many people of color lead in inner city environments. SInce it's unflinching, of course a lot of people are going to "hate" it just like a lot of people inevitably *hate* The Piano Teacher of Breaking the Waves. It's not a great film, but I refuse to believe Precious is that much worse than a forgettable Best Pic nominee most people just "take or leave" and forget about a year later like The Cider House Rules or Chocolat.

[domino harvey]

You have to imagine my surprise that you like a movie that shows a poor person's life as terrible

[tenia]

I'm not saying Precious is bad (and there certainly are worse movies that were nominated), but I don't feel people remember much of Precious 10 years later, hence my remark.

[knives]

It's definitely still remembered even if not necessarily in France or on middle class intellectual discussion boards.

[mfunk9786]

The thing that fascinates me about Beasts of the Southern Wild is that its now Oscar nominated director hasn't made anything since.

[tenia]

It's definitely still remembered even if not necessarily in France or on middle class intellectual discussion boards.

My bad then.

[rrenault]

You have to imagine my surprise that you like a movie that shows a poor person's life as terrible

I didn't necessarily say I liked the movie, just that it's not exponentially worse than your average take-it-or-leave-it forgettable Best Picture nomination, even though it typically gets the Crash treatment.