22 great movies from 2012 that got no Oscar nominations at all.
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower
- Middle of Nowhere
- The Dark Knight Rises
- Cloud Atlas
- Wuthering Heights
- Looper
- Killing Them Softly
- End of Watch
- Magic Mike
- Lawless
- The Grey
- Killer Joe
- Not Fade Away
- Take this Waltz
- Arbitrage
- On the Road
- Safety Not Guaranteed
- Bernie
- Compliance
- Your Sister’s Sister
- Cosmopolis
- The Exotic Marigold Hotel
love the idea of the unoscars or whatever it’s gonna be called.
Nice list, Ryan. I’d add Ruby Sparks too.
I’ll add to that list…
THE HUNGER GAMES (deserved a nomination for lead Actress, but at least there’s a good reason for that omission… also,Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Song)
DREDD (Sound Editing, Art Direction… I loved LIFE OF PI, but how does a movie about a guy in a boat get nominated here?)
JEFF WHO LIVES AT HOME (Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay)
SINISTER (although, I admittedly wouldn’t have nominated it either)
“I’m about to get really sick of repeatedly saying that I deliberately restricted this list to movies in English.”
LMAO! (patience Ryan – we’re some serious Holy Motors fans put here)
Good start on a list, Manuel. Add some Cloud Atlas, some pic/directing for Tabu, and some acting/directing for Holy Motors and we probably have a list.
hope y’all realize if you compel me to watch Holy Motors again and won’t be happy till I move it to #1 on my list, then you’re asking me to mash another pillow in the face of Emmanuelle Riva.
UnOscar list Awards Daily 2012
BEST PICTURE:
Looper
Holy Motors
End of Watch
The Dark Knight Rises
Rust & Bone
Oslo 31 August
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Magic Mike
BEST DIRECTOR:
Joachim Trier – Oslo 31 August
Christopher Nolan – The Dark Knight Rises
Andrew Dominik – Killing Them Softly
David Ayer – End of Watch
Steven Soderbergh – Magic Mike
BEST ACTOR:
John Hawkes – The Sessions
Richard Gere – Arbitrage
Matthias Schoenaerts – Rust & Bone
Anders Danielsen Lie – Oslo 31 August
Jean-Louis Trintignant – Amour
BEST ACTRESS:
Marion Cotillard – Rust & Bone
Anne Hathaway – The Dark Knight Rises
Emayatzy Corinealdi – Middle of Nowhere
Rachel Weisz – The Deep Blue Sea
Judi Dench – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Matthew McConaughey – Magic Mike
Ezra Miller – The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Dwight Henry – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Jason Clarke – Zero Dark Thirty
Samuel L. Jackson – Django Unchained
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Emily Blunt – Looper
Susan Sarandon – Arbitrage
Alicia Vikander – Anna Karenina
Emma Watson – The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Olivia Williams – Hyde Park on Hudson
I would have to add “Jeff, Who Lives at Home” , easily the biggest surprise of the year for me as I am NOT on the “Duplass Express” at all — I’ve hated pretty much everything they’ve been involved in. But that movie is just a small gem.
Ryan, where would you put Once Upon a Time in Anatolia on your International List?
I’ve also read somewhere of a Spanish thriller called Sleep Tight that you might enjoy. You should check it out!
rufussondheim… probably my international list would shape up like this
Amour
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Oslo 31 August
Holy Motors
Tabu
We Have a Pope
Nameless Gangster
A Royal Affair
Headhunters
Blackout
The Raid
Sleep Tight
because i was so busy watching international genre stuff, have not yet seen:
Rust and Bone
This Is Not a Film
Farewell, My Queen
War Witch
Barbara
Kon-Tiki
Beyond the Hills
The Hunt
Lore
No
…and 20 others I’m probably not even aware of
and that’s why I restricted my list for this post to movies in English — because I haven’t caught up to everything on the international side of the story yet
It always irks me when people leave “Holy Motors” out. Clearly, I live in a different world.
I’m about to get really sick of repeatedly saying that I deliberately restricted this list to movies in English.
Dirty little secret (I’ve not seen either) – 2007 was a year for me of seeing virtually no movies, when I look at that year, there’s so many films I’ve not seen. King’s Speech, United 93, History of Violence, all films I’ve missed along the way as well. That time frame, I just had so much going on, I didn’t have the time to watch as many movies as I’d like. (And no, I wasn’t in jail)
But I will say that Pan’s Labyrinth is fucking awesome.
I think No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood are possibly the best films of the last 10 years. Shame they came out the same year. Shame there was a point where I deluded myself into thinking The Social Network after all the critics awards would win and then the PGA happpened….and then the SAG….and then DGA……and…”sigh” you know the rest.
Since we’re being nostalgiac, let me look at the best nominated non-winners of the last 13 years. I bet most would agree that they are a better batch of pictures than the winners.
1) Zero Dark Thirty
2) The Tree of Life
3) The Social Network
4) Inglorious Basterds
5) Milk
6) There Will Be Blood
7) The Queen
8) Brokeback Mountain
9) Sideways
10) Lost in Translation
11) The Hours
12) Gosford Park
13) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
And, as well – films that didn’t get nominated at all look a lot better than the winners.
1) The Master
2) Drive
3) The Ghost Writer
4) The Fantastic Mr. Fox
5) Wall-E (or The Dark Knight)
6) Zodiac
7) United 93
8) A History of Violence
9) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
10) American Splendor
11) Far From Heaven
12) Ghost World
13) You Can Count on Me
rufussondheim, I worry if we argue that There Will Be Blood is better than No Country for Old Men, one or both of us will end up injured or dead.
But Pan’s Labyrinth spanks The Queen’s ass.
Antoinette- Ha! I was too timid (because the promos had it all as Shia LaBeouf rather than a much more spread out story among the three brothers- although Jason Clarke got the short-end of the stick in the writing especially when you know he can act circles around LaBeouf) to see it in theaters the first week and then it did not do well that it left my theater so I missed it. Then I found a torrent with some low expectations (it was mixed to positive but a lot of the bad feedback had to do with the treading familiar territory in the plot and the violence, but I have a pretty high tolerance of that as a viewer) and I really enjoyed myself. I think the fact Nick Cave and Warren Ellis with The Bootleggers got to play The Velvet Underground for the soundtrack was a selling point too.
End of Watch was another film I wasn’t a big fan of sadly. I did like the chemistry between the two leads, but the first person gimmick didn’t work for me and too often I found it predictable. Ayer I think is better at writing pulp stories than films with loose narratives that resemble life. Each situation is an escalation of the previous one. Also as much as I like Kendrick, I thought she was a bit wasted.
Just watched End of Watch. Pretty good, although the ending in the alleyway wasn’t entirely realistic with how it ended up. But still, the chemistry between the two leads was great and was well worth wading through the gimmicky first-person camera stuff that, at times, was a miserable failure.
Ryan,
I was hoping James Franco little letter to the Academy would get Perks some attention. Oh well. It got plenty of screenplay recognition from various critics awards as did Looper. I’m guessing critics have very little impact again now.
Ryan,
I was hoping James Franco little letter to the Academy would get Perks some attention.
I don’t even remember hearing about that, James. It’s all such a sad situation.
But then we have to remember, The Breakfast Club zero Oscar nominations, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off zero Oscar nominations, John HUghes zero Oscar nominations
@Leocdc, I know the US release for Monsieur Lazhar was this year, it was actually released last year and was an Oscar nominee for est Foreign Language Film in 2012, losing to A Separation.
SNOWPIERCER: That director! that cast (fucking Tilda, wet dreams Chris Evans and Jamie Bell, that guy Ed Harris)! That concept art!
Looks promising!!
I’d add two to the list, for sure: The Deep Blue Sea (which someone else already mentioned), and A Late Quartet. The latter especially qualifies for its great performance by Christopher Walken…it’s to his recent career what DeNiro’s performance in SLP was to his.
None of those are great films.
Why Holy Motors (the best film of 2012) isn’t on your list, I’ll never know.
Why Holy Motors (the best film of 2012) isn’t on your list, I’ll never know.
Because the list I wanted to make was a list of movies in English.
I sort of deliberately didn’t include any international films. On purpose. Did you think that was an accident? You don’t know me very well.
Oh snap. There were other people who liked LAWLESS. So fantastic to find that out NOW. lol
I’m talking about action films. Marvel films are nothing more than action films.
Super hero, martial art, revenge tales or whatever, they are all action films, and the suspense, cinematography and edition seen on any fight on The Raid surpasses almost everything done by Hulk, Thor, Captain America or Iron Man (Only the 360º scene on The Avengers is greater in awesomeness I think).
Anyway, it’s just my opinion.
“That’s a kick-ass action movie, better than any Marvel superhero film”
Sigh. Where do I start? THE RAID is a martial arts movie. THE AVENGERS is a superhero movie. Get your sub-genres straight you silly bum.
I guess I was fooling myself with the hope that Perks would get in for adapted. I wouldn’t necessarily take out Argo, Lincoln, Beasts of the Southern Wild, or Life of Pi, but there’s another screenplay is that category that is the weakest screenplay in some time where things play out in plot points rather than how normal life plays out. Oh David, somehow your cartoonish characters got in over the likes of the Perks gang.
I’ve heard some young viewers question why someone would like Perks so much to which someone else said “I think it’s just a teenager thing”. Well I’m far from being a teenager now, but I certainly once was and yea I connected with it. Hell I thought I was gonna hate it. Although their somewhat similar it’s not a movie about addressing an illness making it far more universal, but then again neither is SLP by the end. I’m not a sheep and I’m not gonna just immediately assume that SLP must be a better film for it accolades and supposed level of gravitas where it becomes standard rom com fare by the last 40 mins. With it’s 20 cosmic coincidences and characters reacting in a way that no real human would, SLP is the furthest thing from Perks, a film that was difficult to get funding. SLP…..yea not so much.
I’ve heard some young viewers question why someone would like Perks so much to which someone else said “I think it’s just a teenager thing”. Well I’m far from being a teenager now, but I certainly once was
That’s the core thing. That’s the crux of it.
“How can you identify with a bunch of teenagers more than the ‘grownup’ story in Silver Linings?”
Because I used to be a teenager just like the teens I recognize as being so real in Perks. And I never used to be a maniac who’s superstitious about football or tried to murder somebody because of my jealous-rage temper tantrums.
And because every teenager in Perks is more mature than every ‘adult’ in Silver Linings
Anyone saw Gareth Evans’s The Raid: Redemption?
That’s a kick-ass action movie, better than any Marvel superhero film.
“that category has expanded to ten slots”
:O
Yeah I was thinking 5 is a joke
“I was incredibly surprised and gratified by Josh Trank’s Chronicle. A fresh twist on the found footage genre (I mean a fluid camera that is floating from the characters) even if the third act returns to the cliches and tropes of it. Dane DeHaan finally gave us the male equivalent of Carrie.”
Well said
Dane DeHaan finally gave us the male equivalent of Carrie.
dayum.
Sasha & Craig Kennedy will testify that I shared a list of my 50 favorite films 2012 with them right after New Years Day and all the movies getting mention on this page were on that list except for Keep The Lights On (which I had not yet seen at that time), Liberal Arts and Damsels in Distress.
oh, and last night was the first time I ever herd of Goon
One film that everyone here seemed to overlook from last year is Liberal Arts. It’s a movie about people who like to read! The movie is a bit cliche at times, but some of the conversations are so wonderful, and there’s a great section of the film where two characters exchange thoughts on baroque classical music and what they feel when they listen to it.
It’s really a special film that’s completely accessible for those in that niche who appreciate such things. And it has yet another strong performance from Elizabeth Olsen.
Great list, but most notable that I’m concerned about being left out of an Oscar nomination was Cloud Atlas. It is offensive that it was not even considered for makeup, cinematography, sound, and editing. I can’t wait to buy the blu-ray as soon as it is available for pre-order.
@rufuss
Aye on Emily Blunt.
The upcoming Sam Raimi film sparked my interest in WICKED: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST and whoa whoa whoa…now I really hope OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL is a success and people get interested in this universe again -a la Snow White- because someone must adapt WICKED to film!
Also for the UnOscars I propose
Best Performance by a Gorgeous Male
1. Aaron Taylor-Johnson – ANNA KARENINA
2. Joseph Gordon-Levitt – THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
3. Nate Parker – ARBITRAGE
4. Chris Evans – THE AVENGERS
5. Jim Sturgess – CLOUD ATLAS
Best Performance by a Gorgeous Male
1. Aaron Taylor-Johnson – ANNA KARENINA
2. Joseph Gordon-Levitt – THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
3. Nate Parker – ARBITRAGE
4. Chris Evans – THE AVENGERS
5. Jim Sturgess – CLOUD ATLAS
that category has expanded to ten slots
6. James Howson – unf! WUTHERING HEIGHTS
7a. Logan Lerman – THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
7b. Ezra Miller – THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
8a. Aaron Taylor-Johnson – SAVAGES
8b. Taylor Kitsch – SAVAGES
9. Chris Hemsworth – SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
10a. Channing Tatum – MAGIC MIKE
10b. Alex Pettyfer – MAGIC MIKE
some of them have to double up in the same slot
and we need to think of a better word than ‘slot’
Ok, let’s do this.
I loved a lot of films out of Oscar’s radar, and was totally underwhelmed by the almost logical lack of Looper and The Perks in the Writing nominations, but to everyone his own deliver of love.
A little comment and rating in this 22 films in my list of 67 films of 2012:
Looper (#1): My favourite film of 2012. Original, great in style, development, cast and writing. The perfect reason of why I love cinema. Snubbed on Makeup, Writing, Supporting Actres and Picture.
The Dark Knight Rises (#5): I was underwhelmed the first time on cinema. The second time I absolutely loved it, accepting even its obvious mistakes. Epic, emotional, true to its characters and ending the trilogy in a high note.
The Grey (#11): Loved the film. THE surprise of the year, and the best action/suspense/drama film in a lot of time, filled with a worthy of Oscar, cinematography and mixing sound.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (#14): Love the film, and its whole cast and story.
Safety Not Guaranteed (#15): The little film that knocked it out of the park for me. Amazing chemistry between the cast, writing and performances.
Lawless (#20): Loved the film, despite finding its climax underwhelming. Guy Pearce deserved not only a nomination, but even maybe an Oscar.
End of Watch (#21): Loved the film, and the interaction between Pena and Gyllenhall. One of the surprises of the year.
Cloud Atlas (#23): I liked it a lot, but wasn’t blown away by it. Still expecting to see it on cinema another time expecting to catch something more.
Your Sister’s Sister (#27): Another indie gem, totally recomendable.
Bernie (#34): A surprising real story, with an outstanding Jack Black.
Killer Joe (#42): Interesting, violent, atypical but a very good film.
Compliance (#55): Very good acting in a story so ridiculous that shames me to be real. (The Imposter, that’s an amazing and incredible true story instead)
Take this Waltz (#59): Good acting, but an unpleasant story. I kinda hate the main character and the whole development.
Killing Them Softly (#60): A preachy-on-your-face and boring movie, with very good cinematography and sound editing.
On the Road (#65): Awful film, only redeemed (a little) for its actings and almost great cinematography.
Magic Mike, Wuthering Heights, Middle of Nowhere, Not Fade Away, Arbitrage, Cosmopolis and The Exotic Marigold Hotel: I haven’t seen it yet.
My top 10 films (in order):
Looper
Monsieur Lazhar
Amour
Django Unchained
The Dark Knight Rises
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Life of Pi
Argo
The Secret World of Arriety
No
(Lincoln is #12, by the way)
One nice thing you can say about the Oscars is that it brings us to this site, where we’re able to discuss films like the ones on Ryan’s list and share thoughts with all the great commenters.
And Christophe, I like your attitude.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel? Really?
I disliked Cosmopolis as well. Almost as bad as the book (and this comes from someone who loves DeLillo…but the man seems completely devoid of his former skills these days)
Also, and I think I forgot this because this is not really the kind of film that ever gets awards in the first place, but I was incredibly surprised and gratified by Josh Trank’s Chronicle. A fresh twist on the found footage genre (I mean a fluid camera that is floating from the characters) even if the third act returns to the cliches and tropes of it. Dane DeHaan finally gave us the male equivalent of Carrie.
Seven Psychopaths!!!
Martin McDonagh is one of our most provocative and important writers.
Deep BLue Sea,and Holy Motors were the 2 best movies I saw with no nominations.
Both on my top 10. Perks and killer joe on my runner up list.
Oslo, August 31st
CLOUD ATLAS!
I see you are not on the Mark Duplass express, Bryce, having missed both Your Sister’s Sister and Safety Not Guaranteed. SNG is the better of the two, but Emily Blunt is always watchable so just see both.
But for raunchy comedy that’s surprisingly more sophisticated than it seems, check out his show The League. It starts a little slow, but, damn, it eventually uncorks some extremely hilarious episodes.
I really disliked Cosmopolis as well. Not familiar with the book, and after seeing the film, I will not be anxious to find it.
Videodrome – on the other hand – is still WOW.
How about a sequel to Eastern Promises, David?
Oh yeah, even though it’s 2011 I finally watch Pariah – If you missed this film, go back and give it a shot. The last 20 minutes are just about perfect, not a false note in them and wonderfully well done, with a kicker of an ending that’s genuine, true and heartfelt.
Plus it stars Adepero Oduye whom I think will be on the contender tracker for Best Supporting Actress this year.
Ryan, did you forget Keep the Lights On? I hope you did. It seems like the kind of movie you would like.
Cosmopolis, for me, was a huge disappointment. I like Don DeLillo and i hadn’t read the book. But damn, this movie was like a cut and paste of all the good lines of a DeLillo book but without all of the inbetween stuff to support the good parts. And thus it became super boring.
But then I watched Videodrome for the first time the other day, and it was just plain odd, especially for 1983. But I keep thinking back on it and my nostalgiac take on the film is now incredibly positive.
Also saw Side Effects yesterday. Well made, but the script was just too much complication and double dealing. It just doesn’t hold up. It suffered from being insufficiently organic and overly constructed.
Keep the Lights On! Yes rufussondheim, thanks, just forgot. It should be there in the region between 10-15. Will add when I get back home.
OMG Yess. Now I have to comment on your list:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower [Just awesome, made my top 10. Based on the trailer I thought I was gonna hate it]
Middle of Nowhere [Didn’t think it was all that great]
The Dark Knight Rises [Superior to the highly overrated SKYFALL]
Cloud Atlas [Made my top 10, nuff said}
Wuthering Heights [Better cinematography than the overrated SKYFALL]
Looper [Made my top 10. Joseph Gordon Levitt looked hot even with all the makeup on, astonishing feat]
Killing Them Softly [Somewhat underrated I felt]
End of Watch [Michael Peña should have been recognized instead of Alan Arkin]
Magic Mike [<3]
Lawless [Didn't think much of it, great cast]
The Grey [I thought it was boring]
Killer Joe [William Friedkin still brings it]
Not Fade Away [Haven't seen this]
Take this Waltz [Not a fan]
Arbitrage [Loved it the first time but not very re-watchable. Still would have nominated Richard Gere instead of Hugh Jackman's screams]
On the Road [Garrett Hedlund did his job and as per usual looked like a greek god, but the awful script and inept direction got in his way, but the character was there, somewhere. Kirsten Dunst only had like 10 minutes in the movie and she blew me away. Best performance by far. Overall this film was bad.
Safety Not Guaranteed [Didn't see this]
Bernie [Another one who would have made a better Best Actor nominee than Hugh Jackman]
Compliance [The second best performance by an Actress of the year after Emmanuelle Riva, ignored.
Your Sister’s Sister [Didn't see it]
Cosmopolis [Fucking Yesssssss! I would have nominated Robert Pattinson for Best Actor instead of LES MIZ's Hugh Jackman and I realize I might be the only one in this Earth. <3 <3 <3 Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay would have been deserved too]
The Exotic Marigold Hotel [I feel asleep so I must have not liked it]
Yeah, I'm bored at work.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower was my personal favorite this year. I am guessing it was “too young” for the Academy. Logan Lerman and Emma Watson’s performances were outstanding, and the script was second to none. I am usually pretty good at catching twists before they are unravelled and this one caught me off guard big time. Was not expecting the ending. Thought it was just going to end when Emma was leaving for college. Guess I was wrong. Totally unexpected.
Holy Motors, Tabu, Perks and Cloud Atlas will have a longer shelf life with cinephiles than most of this year’s BP nominees. These films found their own way to tell their stories. Their unique narrative structures will probably be copied by the mainstream in the next few years – just remember where you saw it first.
“I’m hearing credible rumors that Awards Daily will be introducing a special branch devoted to the UnOscars of 2013.”
I almost suggested something similar a couple of times, but get kind of deflated when I see the results of simulated ballots. Maybe it’s just people (like AMPAS voters) trying to crowd onto the winning wagon rather than voting with their hearts.
A seperate section devoted to actual filmmaking over business is a terrific idea. Count me in!
I think you could argue that an alternative Best Director list would have been as good if not better than the one we got:
Argo – Ben Affleck
Django Unchained – Quentin Tarantino
Les Miserables – Tom Hooper
The Master – Paul Thomas Anderson
Zero Dark Thirty – Kathryn Bigelow
Directing should be about directing {the same with writing actually} not about how well received the movie was or who is liked or what has momentum. The five directors above are incredible. And their talent shows in those movies, and movies they have made previously. And you could argue Affleck is the weakest of those, though still excellent. Surely the snubs of Bigelow, Tarantino and Anderson are just as disappointing. I would also squeeze in Looper’s Rian Johnson if I could…
@Ryan – Most of the movies in the list are better than Argo!!!
@Tero – interesting. Your list seems better than the oscar list.
I think you’re using the term great waaaaay too losely on this list. The Best Exotic? Cosmopolis? Really? They aren’t great.
I think Cloud Atlas, Holy Motors, Perks and This is not a film should be at the top of the list.
Cosmolopolis? Really?
I still like the Oscars very much but I don’t take them as seriously as I used to. I realize that most Academy members are often disappointed by the results too, for the simple reason that there are hundreads of eligible films and performances every year, and there are 5 nominees to choose from per category, so chances are the winner is not going to be the one you picked, that’s just the rule of the game. Enjoy the celebration and don’t bother too much abt the results!
Why don’t you just name the anti-oscars: anti-weinstein-awards.
Everybody knows, that his movies always win the most.
Kathy, it’s not going to be as structured as any kind of awards. It will just be a place where people can find articles about movies that every other awards site forgets about when those movies fail to win awards. We are going to make an effort to pay respect to the great movies that get overlooked, but there won’t be any prizes. Nope, if we tried that it might have a strange tinge of Special Olympics, and we really just want to provide a place where we all agree that, for some movies, awards don’t matter.
Trintignant would be eligible for an UnOscar, or is Amour disqualified in all categories?
Could be these very solid nominees:
Lead Actor
Richard Gere – Arbitrage
John Hawkes – The Sessions
Denis Lavant – Holy Motors
Surja Sharma – Life of Pi
Jean-Louis Trintignant – Amour
Supporting Actor
Jason Clarke – Zero Dark Thirty
Leonardo DiCaprio – Django Unchained
Dwight Henry – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Matthew McConaughey – Magic Mike
Ezra Miller – Perks of Being a Wallflower
Lead Actress
Marion Cotillard – Rust and Bone
Judi Dench – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Ann Dowd – Compliance
Aubrey Plaza – Safety Not Guaranteed
Rachel Weisz – The Deep Blue Sea
Supporting Actress
Isabelle Huppert – Amour
Maggie Smith – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
(and three others)
No time to think more, gotta sleep.
Cabin in the Woods. Should have had a script nomination and a makeup nod. There is no way you can tell me Les Miz had better makeup.
Mathew Mcconaughey should have been nominated for ‘Magic Mike’ instead of Alan Arkin. Maggie Smith should have been nominated for ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ instead of Jackie Weaver for ‘Silver Linings Playbook’. ‘Looper’ should have been nominated for original screenplay but it is tough to bump out somebody. I was shocked that ‘Cloud Atlas’ did not at least get a nomination for makeup. Richard Gere should have been nominated for ‘Arbitrage’ but again it is tough to bump out somebody. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ should have been the tenth best picture nominee. It should also have gotten a sound nomination rather than ‘Argo’. Was it a lack of campaigning issue with any of these films?
I disagree with the complete list though. I don’t think that ‘Cosmopolis’, ‘Killing Them Softly’, ‘Your Sister’s Sister’, ‘Not Fade Away’, ‘Lawless’ were good enough to be nominated. They were all worth watching though except for ‘Cosmopolis’ which was boring.
Can i do a sing out for ‘Lore’ Cate Shortland’s Australian/German Co-Production that was The Australian entrant for Foreign Film? It was a beautifully shot and performed story of a group of German children making their way out of their homeland once their Nazi parents surrendered themselves at the end of WW2.
Cloud Atlas was a major snub in my opinion. That movie was incredible in all aspects. The fact the it wasn’t even nominated for best make up, special effects, and score is crazy. A well performed epic ensemble cast movie we don’t normally get to see that is extremely well done deserved a lot more recognition then it did.
Maybe I’m alone in saying this, but Sasha, what about The Hunger Games? It didn’t get any nominations either. I loved The Hunger Games.
Sorry, I noticed CMG already mentioned Damsels In Distress.
To the list above (as well as some of the fantastic additions by others here in the comments) I would add Seven Psychopaths, The Cabin In The Woods, Goon, Jeff Who Lives At Home and Damsels In Distress.
Comment
The Impossible!!!
Good add, Rafa.
@Ryan: Will it include acting awards? Why not this year? I feel the urge to give tons of awards to Emmanuelle… 🙁
Since I’m a really ugly looking guy who wants to be an actor (and have absolutely no other skill for anything else), these kind of things depressed me a lot… especially when performances like hers are this monumental and the attention she has received is not enough. And I’m not even talking about Jean-Louis Trintignant… 🙁
Me34, We sort of already chose the “best” actors with the Awards Daily Simulated Ballot last week
AD readers chose Riva!
First, you should never think you’re ugly; you’re not. and Second, there are different standards for male actors than for actresses. Male Oscar winners cover a lot wider range of appearance from fairy-handsome to not-necessarily-what-you’d-call-handsome.
We might look into the idea of having more year-end polls in December so that everything worth our admiration isn’t weighed down by Oscar expectations
An UnOscars branch would be fantastic.
Technically, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia did get recognized as an Oscar nominee **last year** long before it was made available to more theaters in the US.
Cannot believe I forgot The Deep Blue Sea, Tabu (on my top ten), Beloved, and I am a shameless Christophe Honore fan. Also, and I guess this may be controversial, I loved Damsels in Distress. There is something about Greta Gerwig’s performance that in a perfect world would be the female leading comedic performance winning all of the awards. For people who thought Jennifer Lawrence, for better or worse, was in a screwball comedy mold as Tiffany in SLP, get a load of this.
This is Not a Film and Neighboring Sounds are also films I really want to see.
I like the idea of the UnOscars Ryan. The reason I enjoy following the Oscar race is to make sure that I see the best movies of the year. There are many throughout the year that don’t make the cut, but are great films. Take This Waltz was one of the best!
I like the idea of the UnOscars Ryan. The reason I enjoy following the Oscar race is to make sure that I see the best movies of the year.
We have always tried to give fair and equal coverage to all kinds of movies with an open mind to Oscar prospects throughout the spring, summer ad fall — but then in November/early December comes the sad span of time when we watch great movies begin to fall by the wayside when the big Oscar caravans take over the highway.
So this year we’re thinking that we won’t just discard all those movies and stop discussing them — There will be a tab on the site that takes readers to another wing of the site where those movies can still be appreciated.
This is all Sasha’s idea. My input is mostly to nod enthusiastically.
Some great choices there! I still have to see a handful of these. I don’t know what happened to Wuthering Heights.. I’ve been wanting to see it forever, but still hasn’t appeared.
-Killing Them Softly was criminally underrated. I don’t know why it didn’t click? Scoot McNairy is going places. He gets my un-Oscar for supporting actor.
-I went into Lawless thinking I’d love it, since you know Nick Cave, John Hillcoat, great cast but seems a bit flat at parts, and trying too strained at others. The women were ciphers. But wouldn’t Guy Pearce be a great Batman villain! I always thought he should have been Two-Face. But dang, when did I start crushing on Shia LaBouf? The Sigur Ros video?
Here are the films I liked that didn’t get a single nomination:
1. Holy Motors
2. It’s Such a Beautiful Day
3. Killing them Softly
4. Paradise: Love
5. Killer Joe
6. The Deep Blue Sea
7. Dark Horse
8. Tabu
9. Take This Waltz
10. Cosmopolis
11. Neighboring Sounds
12. The Grey
13. Bernie
14. This is Not a Film
15. The Turin Horse
16. Once Upon a TIme in Anatola
17. Barbara
18. Haywire
19. Magic Mike
20. Beloved
Forgetting the second best film of the year, This is Not a Film, and the third, Holy Motors.
I love Lawless. Way more than I probably should. Not even on my Top Ten list. Actually, not even my Top 15. I just like it. It’s a movie told a million times before (except ultra-violent albeit in a realistic sense) of the era and the 21st amendment is such a deus ex machina of the central conflict. I guess it was not aiming for something extraordinary and that caught critics of the guy who did The Proposition and The Road off guard. Still it is a simple story acted and crafted wonderfully. Tom Hardy sells the hell out of those cardigans being something to fear, Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska each somehow add dimension to their girl from the wrong side of the tracks and upstanding Christian woman cut-outs, and the music and cinematography are both fantastic. Even Shia LaBeouf cannot sink this movie. Also, I like to call the scene where Forrest confront Maggie about whether something happened to her with those men when she saved his life as ‘Jessica Chastain’s other big close-up’ for 2012. What she is working to not say to him and not even going to give off the impression what happened to her knowing he will use that as a reason to avenge in yet another gunfight when he keeps pressing her to be honest with him was one of my favorite scenes from 2012. I hope it gets rediscovered on cable if just because once Jason Clarke and Dane DeHaan get their rightly earned exposure in the next year or two, that roster becomes even more impressive.
Agree on Magic Mike, Killing Them Softly (If you find Scoot McNairy too blank in Argo seriously, check this out), Bernie, The Grey, Compliance, Take This Waltz, and Cosmopolis.
Also add to the list: Holy Motors (because of that stupid rule with foreign language movies so it and Rust & Bone got ignored for The Intouchables.. blergh), The Imposter, Gayby (hold it… it is actually a really well-told story about a specific kind of friendship), The Paperboy (hold on… Nicole Kidman’s performance and hers alone), and especially, Not Fade Away which made me think of That Thing You Do with a Jersey twist yet directed by somebody like Wim Wenders.
I love The Dark Knight Rises in its completely whacked out point of view, political naivete, and clumsiness of it all. Hathaway and Tom Hardy’s eye-acting somehow kept Christian Bale on his game in a way I had not seen from him in the first two movies that some of the reveals in the third act can be forgiven.
Really need to see: Cloud Atlas (I played a week at my local cinema and left), Middle of Nowhere, End of Watch (I have an irrational dislike of Gyllenhaal so this should be interesting), and Your Sister’s Sister.
I forgot Not Fade Away! Might need to add it in the mid-teens. I really really liked that movie. I forgot On the Road too.
Should have said in advance that I was going to try to focus on films in English for this list — but I would have Once Upon a Time in Anatolia bear the top of my international list — and also a Spanish thriller called Sleep Tight.
(not even sure what year Anatolia came out).
Some of them could have better love but this year the Academy truly has an excuse: it was an amazing year and the BP lineup is one of the best of all time and those films dominated the nominations and the winners total tally.
Last year they did not have that excuse. It was a mediocre one and they just couldn’t nominate We Need to Talk About Kevin for anything. Or nominated Drive for just a consolation Sound Editing.
And there the films that eventually get nominated in the main category but we know would have gotten a lot more love in other years. I’m certain had The Sessions and Flight been released in 2011, both would have gotten a bunch of nominations but this year they were barely noticed by the awards.
very true JP — just to be clear , I’m not floating any of these 20 as possible BP substitutes — but would have been nice to see some of them turn up in supporting acting categories or screenplay cats, etc.
This is WHY an ALTERNATIVE MOVIE awards show needs to be created, for these “little” movies with strong stories and performances — or else these movies will go the way of the dust bowl.
The Indie Spirits have lost their way, so maybe another one will take its place — call it the ANTI-OSCAR AWARDS, call it what you must, but some of these films were just great films and need recognition.
call it the ANTI-OSCAR AWARDS
I’m hearing credible rumors that Awards Daily will be introducing a special branch devoted to the UnOscars of 2013.
*them
All of then better than Lincoln.
Off topic: how many Oscars does Ang Lee have? Is it two or three? Did he take Crouching Tiger’s trophy?
The complete Oscar telecast is at hulu.com. It was a joy watching it a second time, and this time I GOT THE SETH MACFARLANE JOKES!
See it again.