Ballots are being sent out to all 5,856 voting members of the Academy.
As usual, this time of year, we open up the comments to readers who would like to put out their Christmas Oscar wish.
For example: “Dear Oscar, hear my plea…It’s a long shot at best but if Ava DuVernay is nominated in the original screenplay category she will become the first African American female writer and director to be nominated there. There might not have been a better performance this year than Emmanuelle Riva in Amour. And Richard Gere has never been nominated for an Oscar. A well known character actress named Ann Dowd gave one of the best supporting performances of the year.”
Breakdown of branches after the cut.
This is our breakdown but the numbers are slightly off:
Actors Branch: 1,172 (100,000 in SAG)
Art Directors Branch: 367 (2,006 in ADG)
Cinematographers Branch: 206
Directors Branch: 369 (14,500 in DGA)
Documentary Branch: 166
Executives Branch: 443
Film Editors Branch: 224 (104,000-plus in the Editors Guild)
Makeup Artists & Hairstylists Branch: 121
Music Branch: 232
Producers Branch: 450 (4,700 in the PGA)
Public Relations Branch: 368
Short Films and Feature Animation Branch: 349
Sound Branch: 401
Visual Effects Branch: 294
Writers Branch: 376 (19,354 in WGA West, 3K in WGA east)
At Large: 246
Total: 5,784 voting members
When you see how many actors are in the Academy you understand why the SAG ensemble nod is so all-important to determining Best Picture. Many believe that if there is a split this year between Picture and Director it will show up at the SAG awards. The Help won there last year, of course, and didn’t win Best Picture. But getting a nomination there is crucial. Zero Dark Thirty has an obstacle because of it, though it’s not insurmountable. Nothing ever is. Stats are made to be broken. The stats are about as reliable as polls. Polls can be wrong but usually they are right.
Only 369 ballots in the directors branch – that is a tiny number compared to the 14,500 in the DGA.
I urge the Academy (at this late date) to nominate the following five films (and no other) for Best Pic.
1) Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
2) The Kid With the Bike
3) The Turin Horse
4) Oslo, August 31st.
5) That’s My Boy
I’m really curious as to which one you’d pick to win.
Dear Oscar, hear my plea. The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall were brilliant films (along with the many others released this year), please could you do me a solid and nominate Nolan for his directing, give Adele and Deakins their Oscars and make this year an interesting one (we don’t want to have a CLUE who is going to win in some categories!) Also please give something to Hunger Games (nom), Day-Lewis (win), Hatheway (win), Beasts (nom) and The Hobbit (nom – it wasn’t as good as LOTR, but it was still outstanding!)
Christopher Walken, Best Supporting Actor, The Late Quartet
Argo, Best Costume Design
Cloud Atlas, Best Picture
Dear Oscar, hear my plea… Nominate the films your voting members consider the best, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, language, country of origin, religious affiliation, and anything else that has little merits when judging the quality of a film — including whether or not someones hasn’t been nominated before so they should be now.
A film should be assessed as it is and nominated as such. Please don’t nominate a film or person to make a statement since most times it’s too obvious and despite being praised now will more than likely be decried as a terrible choice ten years down the road.
Dear Oscar,
please nominate Emmanuelle Riva for her career-capping monumental work in “Amour”.
please nominate Ann Dowd for her amazing work she did in “Compliance”
please nominate Marion Cotillard for the stunning “Rust and Bone”
please nominate Nicole Kidman for her balls out performance in “The Paperboy”
those are my main wishes. thank you Academy. and don’t fuck it up!
Dear Academy,
No restrictions – Give Daniel Day Lewis his 3rd Oscar. PLEASE…don’t fuck this up!
Thanks.
(Even with all the odds in favor, I will breath a sigh of relief when they call his name Oscar night, till then, I’m sweating). 🙂
Dear Oscar, pleaseeeee nominate both Hathaway and Jackman.
Dear Oscar hear my seconding of Sasha’s motion about Middle of Nowhere’s superb screenplay and execution and also add Emayatzy Corinealdi and Lorraine Touissaint to that for Actress and Supporting Actress. That film is the most emotionally resonant film I saw all year.
Dear Oscar
Please take a look of Nicole Kidman’s extraordinary performance in The Paperboy.
You can add Ann Dawd, but please take out Amy Adams’mediocre performance. After all if Amy Adams can be nominated 3 times (WHAT?????))so far, Ann Dawd sure deserves it more.
Please give Marion Cotillard the Oscar for her wonderful performance in Rust and Bone
Kidman, please.
Dear Academy,
Please snub:
Helen Mirren – we get it, the whole thanking her for playing a thankless person, we get it, Helen actually played Alma unlike her confidence-thing and made her big speech seem like it came out of nowhere…we get it. But it’s not enough this year, not with all these other ladies (and one little girl) staring you in the face
Alan Arkin – phoned it in. Literally, except for that one scene with the executive. Lots of better options here
David O Russell – you brought him back from exile 2 years ago. he doesn’t need this now. he’s pretty much running the quirky-A-list anyway. and the direction in that final dance number – pee-yooooo! ignore some of harvey’s emails this year. you’ve got better director jobs to honor
all the Les Miserables supporting actors except Hathaway – actually i have nothing against them and haven’t seen the film, i just want to stick it to the other commenters around here
Hey Oscar, baby, honey, listen…
For whatever reason, you chose to award THL with Best Original Screenplay. I can’t explain it, but it happen, and it happen over maybe Quentin Tarantino’s finest, most complex, thrilling, mature, and thematically-interesting script to date. It STILL puzzles me.
So anyway, this year it’s gonna come down to Bigelow’s next film, Zero Dark Thirty and QT’s latest Django Unchained. Now look, I know you’re never gonna give QT any of the bigger toys like BP or BD, I understand. Genre movies are so…un-respectable, aren’t they? You’re the same people who chose to award Chairots of Fire over Raiders, Ghandi over ET, never even looked at Back to the Future, and pretty much had to be pressured into finally giving Peter Jackson and crew their well-earned glory in the sun with Return of the King. I get it, I do.
But could you find it in your hearts to give QT another Best Original Screenplay? Besides, you guys are big on make-up Oscars, right? I would LOVE to hear his acceptance speech, btw. Couldn’t hurt the ratings! Might wanna have the censors on stand-by, though.
Please consider Suraj Shama as young Pi and Irfan Khan as the elder Pi.
They both give amazing heartfelt performances and the are lost in the large shuffle of great actors this year.
Life of Pi literally changed my life from depression to beauty of nature and the wonders of life.
Dear Oscars,
Nominate TDKR for BP, Director,Screenplay, Actress, Actor, Supp Actor, along with all the tech nods. Its the best film of the year and you know it. Nominate The Hobbit for BP and director for pushing the limits in filmmaking and being the first 48 fps film. Nominate Prometheus for BP, its the third best film of the year, and it matched Alien. Nominate Weisz, Fassbender, Noomi Rapace because shes given the second best lead female performance of the year.
As soon as I see “Zero Dark Thirty”, “Les Miserables”, and “Django Unchained” the last three film that are being mentioned with the ones I have seen, I suppose that will be the day after Christmas, I will write a letter to the Academy with my plea. Writing anything before then would be or should I say is fruitless.
DeaF Oscar Voters, i ll keep it realistic (and loud…)
-lavant for holy motors
-riva for amour
-no arkin for argo(mc conaughey in for magic mike)
-dowd for compliance
-perks of being a wallflower for adapted
-cloud atlas for as many as
nobody heard me…
Dear Oscar, hear my plea…
Please just hand the Oscar to Jennifer Lawrence. That woman is a force of her own.
Not NOMINATE Quvenzhané Wallis, if the stars are irresponsible or editor of cinema web pages the people with ethics we cannot tolerate how an Academy of Cinema could nominate a child of 8 o 6 years old and endorse child labor and child exploitation.
Dear Oscar, some non-household names in the Supporting categories please. It’s what that is there for. Plain and simple. And look deeper into the cast of Lincoln when you are marking your ballots.
Dear Oscar:
Nominate to Marion Cotillard because she gave the best female performance of this year in Rust and Bone
Dear Oscar, hear my plea. Please nominate Doona Bae as Supporting Actress in Cloud Atlas.
John Goodman in Argo.
“. . .the excellent coloured girl in The Hunger Games.”
Are you serious? The “coloured girl?”
Dear Oscar, please nominate Nicole Kidman for “Paperboy”. Propably the best female performance of the year.
Dear Oscar, hear my plea. . .
As you have known for years now, it never really feels like Christmas for me until you announce your nominations. Sometimes I get the toys I want (Hurt Locker, No Country, Departed), sometimes you inform me that I was a bad boy that year (No Fassbender? No Drive? King’s Speech was better than Social Network?).
This year, I hope I’m not on your naughty list. I would love it if you could go over my list and try your best to get me all the gifts I want:
– A Best Picture nomination for Skyfall (and I’m not even a big Bond fan)
– A second Oscar for Bigelow
– Lots of love for Life of Pi
– Less love for Silver Linings Playbook
– A Jack Black BEST ACTOR nomination
– A Joaquin Phoenix victory upset
– Two foreign actress nominees (Cotillard and Riva)
– A Javier Bardem SUPPORTING ACTOR win (yes, win!)
– A Matthew McConaughey nomination. . .for KILLER JOE
– An Ann Dowd SUPPORTING ACTRESS nomination
– SCREENPLAY nominations for Looper and Perks of Being A Wallflower
– A DOCUMENTARY nomination for The Invisible War
– Five Best Picture nominees this year (and every following year)
If this is too demanding a list, could you at least make sure that MacFarlane nails this hosting thing?
Thanks,
Free.
Naomi Watts will be nominated for Oscar, for sure. She will become a late dark horse and can really take the statue. It looks like votes can split between Jessica and Jennifer.
Dear Oscar, hear my plea…
please shower The Master and Cloud Atlas with nominations. Especially Joaquin Phoenix and Doona Bae, whose performances were stunning and astonishing…
Don’t listen to the critics on Cloud Atlas. They get it wrong loads of times. Just look at Vertigo and (perhaps most importantly) Blade Runner!
Please, give PTA and the Wachowskis BD nods. Their movies had a vision. An ambitious vision and they executed those visions wonderfully…
Also, PSH has GOT to get in for The Master. A nod for one of the four CA boys (broadbent, whishaw, hanks, sturgess) wouldn’t hurt either…
Dear Oscar, please toss a bone to the following, as (most of) the people involved in them will probably never get a chance to grace the Theater again, and more importantly – did genuinely excellent work that far surpass the same old, same old we generally get in our Oscar yearbook every year.
Consider: the Cabin in the Woods, Dowd, Wallis and Henry, Holy Motors, the excellent coloured girl in The Hunger Games (don’t quite remember her name now…), Looper, the kids in Moonrise Kingdom, Jack Black from Bernie.
Dear Oscar, Give Roger Deakins (Skyfall) an Oscar already. Nine nominations for the most beautiful movies ever made, and the man is still without recognition!
Dear Oscar, hear my plea… Swap hosts with the Golden Globes.
Dear Oscar,
Please nominate Zoe Kazan’s sweet, funny, sometimes dark, always surprising script for Ruby Sparks. And take a look at Maggie Gyllenhaal’s utterly charming performance in Hysteria. And finally, I know you’re looking at Dames Dench and Smith for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, but Tom Wilkinson’s performance is the soul of the movie, and he deserves recognition.
Dear voters -just surprise us with the unexpected and deserving .
It´s so tireing to know the likely contenders 2 month before…Please give some fresh and deserving faces a chance . You are the ones to know about .
Dear Oscar (hear my plea),
In light of this year’s male/female actors in lead and supporting roles, please nominate and in the end give the awards to those who really deserve […] no matter how many times they may have already garnered the awards or at least been nominated for the respective categories.
Moreover, [Sorry, Sasha] if your final shortlist for Best Director includes […] the two of Ms. Bigelow and Mr. Spielberg, and you happen to love them both equally in other aspects, in this case please take into consideration the latter’s entire filmography set as well.
And [FANBOY ALERT xD] if relevant, please feature lots and lots of Jennifer Lawrence, Marion Cotillard, (and I know some may not like the following) K. Stewart and L. Lohan’s venue appearances during the live broadcast as well. [To be honest, I am not sure if LiLo is going to be invited. Well, just in case. . . .]
Last but not least [sorry, this is lame because the main reason I am rooting for him despite having not seen Life of Pi yet is that he’s Asian, that is, Chinese/Taiwanese, and I am Asian, Japanese. . . .], please make sure Mr. (Ang) Lee be nominated for his directorial effort for the latest film Life of Pi.
Thank you.
Dear Oscar, Please recognize the genius that is the screenplay for The Cabin in the Woods
Dear Oscar, please ignore people like those a few posts up that suggest you nominate Zach Efron because “he was so fine” in the Paperboy. This isn’t the fucking MTV Movie Awards.
Dear Oscar Voters –
I beg of you to consider writing down the name ANN DOWD on your best supporting actress nominations. Whether or not you loved the movie, please judge Dowd’s work for its brilliance. It is the performance that has stuck with me the most this year. I think a listing that leaves her off is a disgrace. Please help support a hard working actress who has paid her dues and is giving the performance of her career. She needs this nomination to secure more daring and deep work in the future. Please consider this. Please.
– Casey
Dear Oscar, hear my plea…
I know that Safety Not Guaranteed isn’t going to be nominated in any major categories. I shan’t waste my wish on that, but please, PLEASE put Big Machine in the Original Song category. It is one of the best original songs of the year. I know Adele will probably take this award, but I beg you to at least nominate this song so more people will hear it.
Dear Oscar voters,
Please nominate Middle of Nowhere with at least something, anything…
Dear Oscar Voters,
Please do not dismiss The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Put in your screener and watch this truly beautiful film. It is still my favorite of the year and such a moving experience. It’s an instant coming-of-age classic. And please, please give some attention to Logan Lerman for his fantastic, nuanced performance. He absolutely blew me away and it is the most underrated performance of the year, IMO. I’m saddened he hasn’t been given much attention.
Consider it for any category you see fit, including Best Actor (Logan Lerman), Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Ezra Miller), Best Supporting Actress (Emma Watson), and Best Adapted Screenplay.
I will leave you with this quote from David Edelstein’s review, which sums it up so well.
“Has there ever been a time when you were among friends and felt as if you truly belonged, yet were aware at the same instant that the joy was fleeting and you’d soon be alone—and that the pain of loss would be almost as intense as the bliss? That’s the feeling Stephen Chbosky captures in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, his exquisite adaptation of his best-selling YA novel.”
Dear Oscar voter,
Get out of your bed, put in your teeth, splash on some Old Spice or your preferred ode de mothball, fire up your motorized scooter and go see a fucking movie.
Dear Oscar voters, please award Anne Hathaway “Best Supporting Actress” win! She’s at the very top of her career, she gives an extraordinary performance in Les Misérables. One of Hollywood’s most versatile actresses in her age-group, working in cinema today. While, Sally Field gives a respectable performance in Lincoln, she didn’t have groundbreaking material to work with. On top of that, she already has two consecutive wins. She has absolutely nothing to prove anymore, she’s a living legend.
Dear Oscar hear my plea… Please nominate Mary Elizabeth Winstead for Best Actress in Smashed.
Dear Oscar,
NOMINATE THE HUNGER GAMES FOR SOMETHING! Show that you actually care about the YA audience. It should in the very least get a nomination for best song. Also give Jennifer Lawrence the Oscar for best actress.
Dear Oscar, please bring 10 nominees for BP. That year was one of the best of the last decades. Don’t represent this in your main category with the same number or less nominees than the mediocre 2011.
Dear Oscars please hear my plea and nominate Channing Tatum!!! And if you’re feeling generous why not Zac Efron since he was sooo fine in THE PAPERBOY!!!
I just can’t deice which of the two has the hottest ass.
Although I am admitted Bond fan, I genuinely think Skyfall was Oscar-level great. I must add Skyfall also for Cinematography and Original Score and The Master as well for Best Picture and Original Score.
Dear Oscar, I don’t care that much who you nominate in the top categories or the techs; you’ll do what you want. But please nominate Adele, the Les Miz song, and even Katy Perry and Keith Urban and LET THEM SING THE SONGS IN THEIR ENTIRETY. Your show is sure to be boring otherwise.
Dear Oscar Voters, despite the hard blows you’ve given my sanity in years past, ultimately, I still trust you guys to do the right thing. Please consider the following:
Nominate: The Dark Knight Rises and/or Skyfall for Best Picture
“Skyfall” for Best Original Song
Javier Bardem for Best Supporting Actor
Amy Adams and Ann Dowd for Best Supporting Actress
Above all, please, despite his personality, nominate Joaquin Phoenix for Best Actor. Like Mo’Nique said a few years ago, keep in mind the performance and not the politics. Another snub a’ la Fassbender last year, is, simply, intolerable.
Watch the screeners and only vote on what you’ve seen and not heard “buzz” from. Your educated vote is essential for the film world and advancing the respect for it!
Dear Oscar,
Please bring The Impossible for Best Picture and especially for the excellent performace of great actress Naomi Watts. I watched The Impossible yesterday and i found the performace of Naomi Watts the best of the year,is realy better than Jennifer, Jessica or Riva .
Dear Oscar: Can you please follow the lead of other critics’ awards and give a “rising star” category or a “kid’s category?” I would love to see young kids like Haley Steinfeld and Q. Wallis in those categories BECAUSE THEY ARE SO DAMN GOOD and wouldn’t win against the adults in the Best Acting category.
But I want to see Q. Wallis in the best actress category (and felt Haley should have been in the best actress category). Please Oscar nominate her and shake up the membership!
Dear Oscar, please take a second look at Flight and the actors besides Denzel Washington. I don’t know the young man’s name who played the patient in the stairwell, but he was damn good, and so was Kelly Reilly(?).
Dear Oscar, please nom the director of Beasts….to further shake up the director’s category.
Please don’t vote for Quvenzhané Wallis, we can not justify child labor far from child exploitation
dead oscar voters,
you must be on crack if you do not nominate ann dowd for her performance in compliance. i just will find your whole organization a complete joke and you will have no measurement or understanding or “true” acting. amy adams gets invited what every two years? and shell be playing janis joplin and will probably be invited back again next year. lets give dowd her probably only chance and do the right thing and give her a ticket to the red carpet.
also i thought dwight henry and ezra miller were ten times better than alan arkin who you awarded an oscar for playing s grandpa who was dead nearly two thirds of a movie. dear oscar voters, lets do the right thing this year.
oh and lets work on our best picture lineup oscar voters. no more “extremely loud and incredibly dull” choices, mmkay?
Dear Oscar voters,
Please don’t forget Rachel Weisz and how mesmerizing she was in The Deep Blue Sea. Don’t let (the usually fantastic but just routine this year) Helen Mirren get the nomination instead.
Also, The Hobbit was way better than anyone expected. Remember that and make it a strong presence in the tech categories.
Love you always,
John
Dear Oscar, hear my plea… give Skyfall as much nominations as you can. Best Picture if possible. Give Lincoln a record breaking number of nominations and please, give Argo as much love as you can.
XOXO
Dear Oscar, hear my plea. Watch Holy Motors and imagine yourself pulling off what Denis Lavant does. Then realise you couldn’t and vote for him for Best Actor.
Dear Oscar,
Please nominate the people and films who fucking deserve it.
Dear Oscar, hear my plea…
Please, please, do as almost always and do not give the prize to anybody deserving, and if possible do not even nominate them, so that nobody gets confused and thinks that you are about quality, art or achievement of any kind.
Dear Oscar voters, please avoid the temptation of voting for that Exotic Hotel, a movie I could go through for only 20 minutes till I gave up giving chances to it. Please avoid the temptation of think you should reward The Dark Knight Rises or Skyfall just because you didn’t with The Dark Knight and Casino Royale, which were better films (love Skyfall, though).
Please dare to reward The Impossible, The Avengers and Cabin in the Woods, which all three success to achieve the, pun intended, The Impossible: the true traslations to screen of what it feels to be involved (and survive) a disaster, and to faithfully transfer the spirit and mood of a comic book – splash pages included… and also make in the “Cabin” case, to make the ultimate spin of one of the most basic genres. Dare to reward them over more “serious” stuff.
Please do nominate Tom Holland for Lead Actor, Naomi Watts for Lead Actress and please, please, please, give Ewan McGregor his long delayed, richly deserved Oscar he has been deserving since Trainspotting.
Please avoid by all means the politization of the night with your picks. If that means overlooking Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln, Argo, so be it. I don’t need Hollywood to tell me once more, what is the truth, and who my heroes may be. Glamorous entertaining versions of official speechs are not politichal films. For those who think so, my advide is to check out “Missing”, “Buddah Collapsed out of shame”, “No man’s Land” or “Turtles can Fly”. Or the Oscar winning “La Historia Oficial”. Those are the kind of political films I like seeing apprecciated.
Dea Oscar Voter don’t forget Perks of being a wallflower! Also, if you could fit in Ruby Sparks and Safety Not Guaranteed somehow, it would be really awesome!
Dear Oscar, hear my plea….. please nominate Matthew MacConaghey for Best Supporting Actor! His work in Magic Mike is amazing!
Also nominate Kristen Scott Thomas for Best Supporting Actress for Salmon Fishing in the Yemen!
And emmanuele riva for best actress!
Dear Oscar,
please let the best actress shortlist be as follows:
Jessica Chastain
Jennifer Lawrence
Marion Cotillard
Emmanuelle Riva
Rachel Weisz
Dear Oscar, hear my plea…
Please give a deserving amount of nominations towards “Argo”. I know many are jumping on the “Lincoln” and “Les Miserables” bandwagon but don’t forget about Ben Affleck’s terrific thriller. At least give it Sound Mixing – a good seven nominations should make it an underdog threat. As well, since you completely gave “Cloud Atlas” the finger towards the Makeup and Hairstyling category – please garner it some nominations towards Production Design and Original Score.
Almost let this one slip my mind as well…please make room for “Moonrise Kingdom” in the Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay categories.
That’s enough, Paul H., that’s enough
Also forgot to mention – a nomination for Arcade Fire for “Abraham’s Daughter” from “The Hunger Games,” please? Even though Adele deserves the Oscar win, I’d like to see this nomination still happen.
Okay, I’m going to assume that this is mainly for dark horse or long shot nominations.
Dear Oscar, Hear my plea…
Please, please, PLEASE nominated “Prometheus” for Best Production Design and Best Supporting Actor (Michael Fassbender). And please nominate Joaquin Phoenix for Best Actor for “The Master.” His comments from months ago may piss you off, but that’s no excuse to not nominate him for his spellbinding performance. Also, if you nominate “Skyfall” for Best Picture, that would be a pleasant surprise.
Dear Oscar, hear my plea; you lost 4 million viewers last year on your telecast, a direct result of honoring the least-seen Best Picture winner, adjusted for inflation in the history of American filmmaking. Resist, then this director’s followup; stand up to her and just say no. Balance your overwhelming predilection for arthouse films with the undeniable fact that 3 movies propelled the industry that you claim to honor to its best boxoffice year ever, and with critics galore proclaiming their goodness. The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and The Hunger Games belong just as much in the thick of the Oscar race as Beasts of the Southern Wild and The Master. Include these three, and people will come to watch. Snub them, and you will lose cred with American moviegoers even more than you already have. It’s time for the five-year Best Picture reign of error of Fox Searchlight, The Weinstein Company, Paramount Vantage and the like to end here and now. That it swings back to the big studios who did produce quality work.
Dear Oscar voters,
This may be your last chance to nominate Andy Serkis for his fantastic work in creating one of the most iconic motion-capture performances and villains in the history of cinema. Please consider him for best supporting actor.
Dear Oscar, please do not nominate people who were nominated so many times before unless their work is really exceptional and give chance to somebody else. In other words no Mirren, Arkin, Dench, Smith, Streep, Hopkins, even Washington over Riva, Trintignant, Gere, Phoenix, Dowd, Goodman, McConaughey (can’t believe I’m saying this)…It would be so cool if you just consider movies like Holy Motors, Skyfall, On The Road and Looper in some of the categories and nominate Haneke for best director, Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild and The Avengers for best picture.surprise me but pleasantly.
Dear Oscar voters, please nominate Nicole Kidman’s fearless performance in The Paperboy.
Oscar, don’t forget The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel–multiple acting nominations (Maggie Smith, Judy Dench, Tom Wilkinson, & Dev Patel), Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture. And maybe you want to be really crazy this year and give nominations for a second British comedy–“Hysteria,” the funniest film since “Some Like It Hot,” I know probably not, but I’ll give it a try. And of course be kind to “Argo.”
Dear Oscar, hear my plea:
Do as usual and vote as you please! don’t give a damn what critics, bloggers and self-righteous “cinephiles” might say, whatever you do, they’ll find a reason to trash you and your choices. So stand tall and be proud of your glorious institution.
Dear Oscar, Hear My Plea…
Please nominate KEIRA KNIGHTLEY for Lead Actress… You were one of the few who had the balls to nominate her in ‘Pride & Prejudice’ despite your British counterparts snubbing her, you failed to nominate her in her most subtle work in ‘Atonement’, so this is the perfect time to get your balls back through her work in ‘Anna Karenina’…
Also, hear the SAG and the Golden Globes and put on your screeners of ‘The Paperboy’ on your DVD players and have a look on NICOLE KIDMAN’s risk-taking work in the film for Supporting Actress…
*Question: In what category does the Public Relations Branch vote for???
Dear Oscar, hear my plea… please nominate Alexandre Desplat (twice), Marion Cotillard, Emanuelle Riva, Quvenzhane Wallis, Keira Knightley in the unknown best actress category
Agree, Robert A. Joaquin Phoenix is this year’s Best Actor performance. Hope Academy gives credit to where it is due, carrot comments and all.
“Dear Oscar, Hear my plea – The two best actress contenders are the youngest and the oldest. A Best Actress category without Quvenzhale Wallis and Emmanuelle Riva would be a huge injustice to our high school yearbook of film. Nominate their work.”
Dear Oscar, hear my plea–Listen to Joseph! And by the way, are you really going to drop the ball on Joaquin Phoenix’s performance this year? Really? Think of how that’s going to look in the decades to come…
Dear Oscar, hear my plea….. Please nominate Jack Black for Bernie. “Love Lifted Me!”
Dear Oscar people,
Please, consider the following undersung performances:
Mary Elizabeth Winstead for Best Actress, Smashed – I am LIVING her experience right now and I can tell you she fucking NAILS it in such a real, don’t-give-me-awards way that is unbelievable.
I think Mike Epps did effectively charming but sinister supporting work in Sparkle.
Bradley Cooper blew me away in Silver Linings Playbook. Perfect marriage of actor and material. And you NEVER see the creaky pretentious actors wheels turning that kept me at a remove from DDL in Lincoln.
I’m actually in the camp that thinks Quvenzhané Wallis is too young to be nominated for Oscar. I think she should get a special Oscar for child performance instead. That said, Dwight Henry is great as supporting actor for Beasts.
Leonardo DiCaprio does nothing for me – his reign of terror working with brilliant directors is a massive annoyance. Getting in the movies he’s been is is reward enough.
I hope Prometheus gets noms for how beautiful it is.
Not sold on the Amy Adams nod for The Master. She had, like, one scene and we’ve seen the Lady MacBeth thing done a million times before and better. Jacki Weaver just did it better last year.
James Badge Dale for supporting actor in Flight. Amazing small performance.
The Satellite Awards have been announced — Silver Linings Playbook sweep!
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/12/17/silver-linings-playbook-homeland-big-bang-theory-score-big-at-satellite-awards/
Dear Oscar, Hear My Plea – There’s more to movies than just simple storytelling. Go with the “magic” this year and give lots of support to films that made you think and feel (even if you didn’t know what the fuck was going on!)
Shower the following with nominations: The Master, Holy Motors, Life of Pi, Cloud Atlas and Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Oscar, hear my plea… Christopher Nolan has given us one of the greatest film trilogies of all time. Please don’t let it go unrecognized. It’s themes resonate today and will into the future. Batman and his non-violent need to do good is something everyone can and should take inspiration from. That this has also been portrayed though cinematic exellence should be rewarded. It’s time for the good guys to win.
But above all else, please watch as many of the movies of 2012 as you can. This is one of the greatest years in film. I don’t want anyone who loves movies to miss out.
Thank you. 🙂
Dear Oscars, hear my plea and nominate “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” for Best Adapted Screenplay. Oh, and give Alexandre Desplat the Oscar already. For “Zero Dark Thirty” not for “Argo”. Thank You.
Dear Oscar, hear my plea, please nominate The Dark Knight Rises for Best Picture, it is an epic masterpiece and even with its flaws, the trilogy as a whole deserves at least this one Best Picture nomination…and you know you owe Nolan. I would also love to see you embrace an Anna Karenina for the first time, Keira Knightley excelled one of the most iconic, complex and difficult female roles ever written and she is also an actress who has been doing great work since the first time you recognized her talent. There is an actor, as well, who has been consistently brilliant yet has failed to pique your interest so far, so as my final wish, I ask you to seriously consider Ewan McGregor for Best Supporting Actor.
Dear Oscar, Hear my plea… Ava Duvernay’s subtle, searing screenplay for Middle of Nowhere is the antithesis of the squalor porn you so love for Black people with things like Precious, Monster’s Ball and Beasts of the Southern Wild, but give it a chance. It is worthy, beautiful, important and from the heart of a Black artist made with excellent attention to her craft.
Dear Oscar, Hear My Plea… please nominate Beasts of the Southern Wild in Best Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actor and Score!
I hope you’ll find a way how to recognize Skyfall, huh? *wink wink*
Dear Oscar, hear my plea..What does Leonardo Di Caprio needs to do to win you? He tried to become something he wasnt last year and you gave, even the nomination, to Gary Oldman. (which isnt that bad and is the Richard Gere case of this year)
Matthew McConaughey will win Actor next year, so when will be Leo’s time?
Dear Oscar, Hear my plea – The two best actress contenders are the youngest and the oldest. A Best Actress category without Quvenzhale Wallis and Emmanuelle Riva would be a huge injustice to our high school yearbook of film. Nominate their work.
Dear Oscar, hear my plea… It is so very rare that you walk into a cinema and experience something that is totally different from anything you ever have seen before. This year you have a chance to honor such a film in Beasts of the Southern Wild. Picture, Zeitlin for Director, Wallis for Actress, Henry for Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, and last but certainly not least, Original Score are all more than worthy of nominations.
Dear Oscar, Hear My Plea…
Look through your screeners. Find a film called Keep the Lights On, which you may not have even heard of, but trust me on this. Watch it. If you like it, remember it when making your choices!
Dear Oscar, hear my plea… Matthew McConaughey had the best year of his career, and his work in Magic Mike, while not the typical Oscar-y performance, deserves recognition. Also, The Cabin in the Woods for Best Original Screenplay. Pretty please.
Oh, and it would be nice to see 5 worthy performances in Supp. Actor instead of a nice performance from Arkin.
Oscar voters, it would be nice to see The Dark Knight Rises and/ or Skyfall for BP.
Looking at the 369 number for the Directors Branch, I think it’s safe to say that anyone could get in after the trifecta of Spielberg, Bigelow, and Affleck. I wonder if those directors with the most friends/respect in the branch will get those final 2 slots.
Dear Oscar, please do not nominate anyone who does not deserve it because of political, award hierarchy nonsense! Nominate and award artists who TRULY deserve it this year. That may be a first.
Dear Oscar, hear my plea…give Jessica Chastain so well deserved Oscar, she had to win at least 3 Oscars last year and we all know it 🙂
Dear Oscar, hear my plea….. Please nominate Skyfall for Best Picture. The best Bond movie since Goldfinger.