Academy Award nominations are out

[RedTeamGo!]

Man, I cannot disagree enough on your takes on the Revenant. I saw it last night and cannot stop thinking about it.

[Caveat Emperor]

Not a single person of color in any of the acting categories

Good. I was worried there might be one event in America this year where the Social Justice Industrial Outrage Complex could have a night off.

[757690]

I'm totally with you on The Revenent, but what did you like about Ex-Machina so much? I thought that was a huge let down as well.

It's extremely unique, and very smart. I personally have been interested in theory of mind explorations, so maybe I have a bias towards it. I'm also a huge Twilight Zone fan, and this is like the greatest Twilight Zone episode ever. Loved the ending too, although I know a few people who were turned off by it.

[*BaseClogger*]

If The Revenant is oscar-bait then There Will Be Blood is oscar-bait. I don't think trying to make something larger-than-life falls into that category. For me, biopics with actors playing showy roles with predictable character arcs ala The Theory of Everything are oscar-bait.

Where to begin with Ex Machina? I liked pretty much everything about that movie, from the intriguing premise, the acting, the score, and the tension the film techniques created that had me on the edge of the seat until the end...

[757690]

If The Revenant is oscar-bait then There Will Be Blood is oscar-bait. I don't think trying to make something larger-than-life falls into that category. For me, biopics with actors playing showy roles with predictable character arcs ala The Theory of Everything are oscar-bait.

Where to begin with Ex Machina? I liked pretty much everything about that movie, from the intriguing premise, the acting, the score, and the tension the film techniques created that had me on the edge of the seat until the end...

My issue with Reverent is that the plot is the plot of every Western, ever. I agree about showy roles for actors, but don't you think Leo saw this role and thought, "I could finally win an Oscar with this one."?

[ac084c]

My issue with Reverent is that the plot is the plot of every Western, ever. I agree about showy roles for actors, but don't you think Leo saw this role and thought, "I could finally win an Oscar with this one."?

Does his motivation for choosing the role really matter if he killed it nonetheless?

[RedTeamGo!]

My issue with Reverent is that the plot is the plot of every Western, ever. I agree about showy roles for actors, but don't you think Leo saw this role and thought, "I could finally win an Oscar with this one."?

I've seen a lot of westerns and I don't agree at all this has the same plot as all of them.

I don't even consider The Revenant a western, I would call it is a survival movie.

[757690]

Does his motivation for choosing the role really matter if he killed it nonetheless?

I'm not upset he was nominated, nor will I be upset if he wins. But I would like to see more actors nominate and winning for their performance first and the not the role that they play. The Oscars seem to reward the latter first and foremost.

[dougdirt]

I saw The Reverent last night. The cinematography was incredible. The acting was strong. The movie itself? Good, but certainly not great. I will only comment on the movies I've seen, but in best picture I thought The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Mad Max, The Martian and Spotlight were all better movies. I haven't seen Brooklyn or Room, so I can't comment.

After hearing about how good so many performances were in Joy, I'm glad that it was only Jennifer Lawrence that got the nod here. She was great, but I just didn't get that vibe from anyone else in the movie.

My Top 5 favorite movies from 2015 in no specific order:
Trainwreck
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Pawn Sacrifice (I actually checked IMDB, which claims it was released in 2014 - though I didn't see it in a theater until this fall...)
The Big Short
The Martian

[*BaseClogger*]

Pawn Sacrifice (I actually checked IMDB, which claims it was released in 2014 - though I didn't see it in a theater until this fall...)

It probably screened at a festival in 2014 but didn't get into most American theaters until 2015. That's good enough to call it a 2015 movie in my book...

[*BaseClogger*]

My issue with Reverent is that the plot is the plot of every Western, ever. I agree about showy roles for actors, but don't you think Leo saw this role and thought, "I could finally win an Oscar with this one."?

So you'd say the same thing of every role DDL has taken? It's a showy role inside a showy movie, not a showy role in another cookie-cutter by the numbers biopic...

[ac084c]

I'm not upset he was nominated, nor will I be upset if he wins. But I would like to see more actors nominate and winning for their performance first and the not the role that they play. The Oscars seem to reward the latter first and foremost.

I agree with you, I guess I just don't see them as mutually exclusive in this case. Similar to Daniel Day Lewis playing Lincoln... could easily levy the same criticism to him if he hadn't killed it... but he did (granted, wasn't his first Oscar, so maybe that's the distinction).

[RedTeamGo!]

I saw The Reverent last night. The cinematography was incredible. The acting was strong. The movie itself? Good, but certainly not great. I will only comment on the movies I've seen, but in best picture I thought The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Mad Max, The Martian and Spotlight were all better movies. I haven't seen Brooklyn or Room, so I can't comment.

After hearing about how good so many performances were in Joy, I'm glad that it was only Jennifer Lawrence that got the nod here. She was great, but I just didn't get that vibe from anyone else in the movie.

My Top 5 favorite movies from 2015 in no specific order:
Trainwreck
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Pawn Sacrifice (I actually checked IMDB, which claims it was released in 2014 - though I didn't see it in a theater until this fall...)
The Big Short
The Martian

Did you download the Revenant or see it in theater?

[RedEye]

Have you seen Concussion?

What would be unfortunate would be if an actor was nominated simply for the color of his skin.

I didn't imply that at all. I thought he was good in it.

[RedEye]

Good. I was worried there might be one event in America this year where the Social Justice Industrial Outrage Complex could have a night off.

Because that's the only way that people of color could be nominated. Right.