I won’t title this blog “The Academy Awards 2016: Controversial, Emotional & Predictable”, although I want too. What have we had so far? Protests regarding the representation of black people and women nominated, and nominated actors who you can so safely bet on winning – the chances that they won’t is like forgetting your own name. Diversity & Competition or rather a lack thereof. Here, I will only comment on the Best Picture, Best Animated Film, and Best Actor and Actress categories.
The Best Picture Academy Award went to Spotlight (other nominees being The Martian, The Revenant, Room, Bridge of Spies, The Big Short, Brooklyn, and Mad Max: Fury Road). Surprising? Hardly. Room may be too traumatic or misunderstood for the Academy to applaud, The Martian too science-fiction to take seriously, and The Revenant just not good enough to win.
Best Actor and Best Actress Academy Awards went to Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant) (other nominees being Matt Damon (The Martian), Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl) and Bryan Cranston (Trumbo)); and to Brie Larson (Room) (other nominees being Cate Blanchett (Carol), Jennifer Lawrence (Joy), Charlotte Rampling (45 Years) and Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn). One could only describe these Awards as: “Forget this year, we give out our Academy Awards to those who haven’t had them yet and are long overdue”.
Regarding Leonardo DiCaprio’s win: I love Leonardo DiCaprio. We all love Leonardo DiCaprio. We all have followed his career from Titanic (1997) or maybe even from The Basketball Diaries (1995) and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), and are madly overjoyed with happiness when he finally pockets his golden statuette. Did we want him to win? Yes! Did he deserve to win this year? Probably not. Emotions aside and with a cooler head, it is safe to say that DiCaprio had excelled more brilliantly elsewhere (The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Blood Diamond (2006), The Aviator (2004)), even if he did not exert himself so overtly and strenuously before on the set. The Oscars should not be the competition of lets-see-who-can-show-the-best-film-commitment in terms of physical exercise, weight gain/loss (Bale in The Fighter (2010)) and skills learned (Portman in Black Swan (2011)) that it has become. But apart from that, in The Revenant, DiCaprio still remained pretty much in his comfort acting zone, not showing something extraordinary or acting out-of-his-usual character. Michael Fassbender was unjustly ignored in his role of Brendon in McQueen’s Shame (2011), and at least here in Steve Jobs his superb acting ability could have been recognised.
Regarding Brie Larson’s win: Seeing that Jennifer Lawrence already has an Oscar under her belt and Cate Blanchett has two of them, why not give it to Brie Larson for a change, seeing that Saoirse Ronan is only up-and-coming? Charlotte Rampling is a terrific actress, and in 45 Years, as in such films as I, Anna (2012) and Melancholia (2011), her acting always surprises the audience with its realism. Though Larson’s win appears to be a deserved one, one cannot help but wonder whether, for example, Blanchett’s previous Academy Awards successes had a role to play here, since Blanchett hadn’t displayed less of that outstanding acting ability here than she did in Blue Jasmine (2013), for which she won her Award.
The Best Animated Film Award went to Inside Out (other nominees included Anomalisa, Boy and the World, Shaun the Sheep Movie and When Marnie Was There). A much deserved win, but, alas, with no real competition in the category. Inside Out is already (rightly) considered a masterpiece of modern animation, and other movies in the category simply haven’t had a slightest chance. One of the biggest injustices of this year’s ceremony was not to include Inside Out as a nominee for the Best Picture Award. It is clear that it would have won in that category, and in any other. It is that good.
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I’m not a racist, but the fact that black people and gays were boiling over the absence of black people and gays among the nominees is ridiculous. Why the hell anyone should get the award based on his skin color or sex orientation at all? I think this is over the edge by now. The same time black people have their own award for “Blacks only” – isn’t this a pure racism? But when they didn’t make a single decent movie – they come and start their butthurt about “racism” and “discrimination”. The same with gays. Gays everywhere. Let’s vote for someone to take Oscar only because of the sex orientation. Ridiculous bullshit.
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I agree , we shouldn’t give awards based on the color of skin or sexual orientation.
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I really thought Spotlight would be too controversial for Oscar voters to win, but Im glad it did. Leo winning for The Reverant was fine but it wasn’t his best role. I’m just pissed that song from Spectre won.
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Yes, although I predicted Spotlight to win, I based my choice on other movies nominated, but in itself I also thought it was a bit out of the Academy’s usual preference. I agree with you about Spectre’s song. I don’t like it at all, to be honest, and especially its squeaky vocals. I was also glad to see Amy documentary winning, that was great.
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The lack of diversity should be corrected by putting together a cast that reflects the world. The Fast and Furious series has tapped into this with box office that gets Hollywood’s attention. Idris Elba as Bond? I’d watch that. The series has shaken (and stirred) things up before when Judy Dench became M.
But on to Sunday night. I was pulling for Larson, though I wouldn’t have been disappointed if Ronan pulled out a surprise win. Both performances are exquisite, though the voters were likely drawn to the raw emotion of Larson’s performance in contrast to the interior depths of Ronan. I was happy for the supporting actor choices: Rylance was subtle and effective in Bridge of Spies. Vikander had one of the better years with both Danish Girl and Ex Machina (we’ll forget about the Man from UNCLE, since almost everyone has by now).
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Fair points. And, yes, when I lament the lack of diversity, it’s not to draw attention to some deliberate and systematic actions by the Academy, but just to point out that, personally, I really really enjoyed the performances of Will Smith in “Concussion” and Idris Elba in “Beasts of No Nation”. among others, in fact, and I don’t see why they were not at least nominated.
Part of me wanted Ronan to win, but I knew it was not going to happen, and I was also happy for Vikander. I like her controlled acting since seeing “A Royal Affair”. She had a really busy year.
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Aww. I think Leo & Larson very much earned their Oscars (and not just because I love Leo). 😉 But, yeah – he should’ve won for Wall Street…
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Well, depends how you look at it. My opinion is that DiCaprio had finer performances minus all this physical strain in horrible conditions. For example, when I think about the Academy Awards 2007, I think DiCaprio (for Blood Diamond) could have easily manoeuvred passed Gosling (for Half Nelson) and Will Smith (for the Pursuit of Happyness). Peter O’Toole and Forest Whiteker were more difficult to bypass, but this is arguably the only movie apart from his pre-Titanic genius performances, where he played someone very different from his usual character, adopting a tricky accent, etc.
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Hmm. Maybe I better watch Blood Diamond! 😉
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I just leave it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3gbAut2reI
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lol, great, Artem, I was close to that, but I thought I would save my energy for his second win 🙂
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Let’s root for someone else now. For Johnny Depp.
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Johnny Depp? That’s a good one, but unfortunately that man has been involved in so much rubbish throughout his career, it’s hard to see past the movie and concentrate on his acting.
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8(
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Maybe he should have been nominated for Black Mass 🙂
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What about Keanu Reeves? Well, I know his career is at downturn, but he’s a great guy after all.
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Yes, he is, I want him to be nominated one day, let alone win. The guy had so many personal tragedies in life, I don’t think he ever cared for awards.
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Haha! That’s exactly what I did too!!! 😉
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