This year’s Oscar race is not different from most in the last twenty years. Best Picture is driven by two major factors: Director and Actor. The strong leading man has driven the Best Picture winner for the past seven years. You have to go back to Million Dollar Baby, or I suppose, Crash to find a year when the Best Picture winner wasn’t anchored by a strong leading male, whether or not that actor was nominated or not. The male narrative is key these days, with the giant consensus votes ruling the Best Picture race.
So much has changed since Oscar pushed its date back one month. You would have had to be blogging the Oscars 24/7 for 15 years to notice this. You would have to be able to remember what it was like before. Back when Million Dollar Baby won, the date shift was just starting to take effect. Since then, two things have happened beyond a shadow of a doubt — films released late in the year do not win and all of the films that do win are dominated by the male narrative.
This could just be coincidence, of course. Maybe the only movies worth rewarding are driven by a strong male lead. And maybe we will see a late-breaking film win this year, thus breaking the pattern that has been set since Million Dollar Baby. Either way, this is the way the Oscars have been going for a while now.
Argo – Ben Affleck’s CIA agent makes good by bringing hostages home.
The Artist – Jean DuJardin’s silent film star fails at talkies then finds success.
The King’s Speech – Colin Firth overcomes his stutter, learns how to speak in public, wins the war.
The Hurt Locker – Jeremy Renner dives into the Iraq war, comes out, goes back in.
Slumdog Millionaire – Dev Patel is a poor Indian who becomes rich and gets the girl of his dreams.
No Country for Old Men – Josh Brolin finds a satchel. Anton Chigurh kills him anyway.
Tommy Lee Jones is too old and too slow to protect him.
The Departed – Leonardo DiCaprio is a double agent for a crooked police force – gets caught between doing what’s right and knowing who’s wrong, gets shot.
Crash – an ensemble cast that I don’t remember well enough to say what it was about.
Million Dollar Baby – Clint Eastwood finds and trains a young female boxer who dies.
Return of the King – because Frodo.
Chicago – TWO FEMALES FINALLY
It isn’t that Best Picture hasn’t always been mostly dominated by male narratives – it’s that the strong female-driven movies started to fail to catch fire at the box-office around the mid-90s and once that happened, there has never been much of an economic incentive to get those films made.
With Sandra Bullock now killing it at the box office, with Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Stewart, Jennifer Lawrence all pulling in high numbers, it’s possible things might be changing overall in Hollywood. But that doesn’t mean anything will change with the Oscar race. Let’s look at the potential nominees this year:
12 Years a Slave – a brilliant ensemble here, with plenty of richly drawn female supporting roles. But it is the narrative of Solomon Northup, who spends 12 years having to pretend to be a slave.
Nebraska – despite many vibrant supporting players, like June Squibb in particular, Nebraska is the story of a man’s life seen in the rearview mirror. Did his dreams ever come true? What is the sum of a life? His son helps him figure out who he is and what he’s always wanted.
Captain Phillips – Tom Hanks battles the pirates amid an all male cast. A brilliantly told story with two strong forces in Hanks and the breakout star Barkhad Abdi.
The Butler – Forest Whitaker and David Oyelowo gives two of the year’s best performances as representatives of different eras during the Civil Rights movement.
Inside Llewyn Davis – The amazing Oscar Isaac as Llewyn Davis in one of the best films of the year.
All is Lost – Robert Redford’s unforgettable survival story.
Her – Joaquin Phoenix looking for his perfect love in a machine.
Dallas Buyers Club – Matthew McConaughey goes underground to help AIDS patients survive a little longer.
Fruitvale Station – Michael B. Jordan plays the young Oscar Grant on the last day of his precious life.
Lone Survivor – Mark Wahlberg is the last surviving member of a failed assassination mission.
And the upcoming American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street.
The exceptions? The big one is Gravity. Alfonso Cuaron fought to keep Sandra Bullock the lead, despite one studio’s insistence that she be changed to a he. Bullock is pushing 50, compared to Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, the other actresses being considered for the part. It has held onto the number one spot at the box office for three straight weeks. Sure, George Clooney helps to sell it. His mere presence allows the films to put the popular star on posters, which doesn’t put the burden entirely on Bullock to open but still, in a desert you appreciate every drop of water you can get.
The other exceptions would be Before Midnight, which is solidly about Julie Delpy’s character as much as it is about Ethan Hawke’s. And Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, which turns entirely on Cate Blanchett’s inner world. There’s Blue is the Warmest Colour – which seems to be the only kind of film about women the status quo can get behind. Saving Mr. Banks and Philomena round out the rest.
So why does it seem like now, since the date for the Oscar ceremony was pushed back, that male narrative succeed and movies have to have been seen early to win?
What has changed since 2003? More blogs, more critics, more voices, Twitter, Facebook. It is easier now than it’s ever been for a backlash to form, thus selecting a film out, even a deserving film. Despite what we’d all like to believe, we live in a male-centric culture – it isn’t even that men themselves are responsible for this – women are too. Women sometimes hate women. Women often drag other women down. Note the way the Sandra Bullock character has been dismantled by women. Note the way films like Argo (which has paper dolls for female characters) and The King’s Speech are thoroughly embraced by women? The truth about us is that we are more comfortable with films that fortify the base of our society — the one that tells us that men are more important than we are. We have to admit this about ourselves.
Women and other minorities comes with baggage instantly. Jessica Chastain was not emotional enough in Zero Dark Thirty. Sandra Bullock was too emotional in Gravity. Such scrutiny is never placed on the male leads. Would anyone have ever said “Ben Affleck wasn’t emotional enough in Argo” or “Jean DuJardin was too emotional in The Artist”?
What happens when the Best Picture consensus starts to form is that it backs up Hollywood’s cynical ideas about what makes a movie work: films that turn on the leading male figure. The thousands of people who vote every year determine this, even if the critics awards run counter to it. By the time you get to the Oscar race, the boat is moving too fast to turn it around.
The Producers Guild – 4,700
The Directors Guild – 14,500
The Screen Actors Guild – 100,000
The Academy 6,000
Now that the Oscars are decided a whole month earlier, a consensus has to build before the year even comes to a close. With those kinds of numbers, you are looking starkly at what the majority rules. The Oscar race hasn’t always been built this way. It’s a relatively new phenom, helped along by social networking. The Producers Guild was never very influential until now. Ditto the Screen Actors Guild. Only the Directors Guild has had influence.
I write this only to say that you can pretty much set your watch by these two factors now – Best Picture will be a film that’s been seen earlier than December, and it will feature a strong central male lead. I will be curious to see if either of these rules are shattered this year.
Yes, but you didn’t mention AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY.
Also, ZERO DARK THIRTY (female lead + female director) would probably have been last year’s winner if there hadn’t been some politicians (on the left and on the right) and some Hollywood people (mostly on the left) who dragged it down.
Someone’s copying you… All the time
http://www.premiososcar.net/2013/10/el-oscar-la-mejor-pelicula-un-asunto-de.html
“Thanks a lot for wrecking the backstory I was imagining in which Anton is a former member of Sigur Ros.”
In this story, did Anton ditch Sigur Ros before or after their lead singer wrote the score for We Bought A Zoo (Matt Damon, a cool bear)?
-Watermelons
Since Aragorn and Manuel saw fit to +1 phantom, let me defend Julian the emperor a little.
I understand phantom’s point and he makes it well by including Glenn Close and Julianne Moore. My issue is that no matter how many Moore roles they do, they can’t get Close to the kind of roles offered to Dench, Streep, and Winslet because Close and Moore aren’t Oscar winners.
I feel Julian is pointing to a dangerous calcification – when producers spend eight figures on a drama they need to be able to say “Academy Award winner” and this leads to a chicken-and-egg problem where we may get only these chickens.
Mark Harris pointed this out in his column on Gravity. Last year was the first year that an acting category consisted of all previous winners. He warned that with this actress crop it threatens to become a dispiriting trend.
Phantom is right that these are all great actresses over a certain age – huzzah. But how much more exciting would this race be if it was Julianne Moore, Glenn Close, Charlotte Gainsborough, Imelda Staunton, and Sigourney Weaver as Ryan Stone?
Oscar! the scent of vintage testosterone….mmmm….
it’s why Wolf will… surge… adrenaline and testosterone…. irresistable
Chandor, not Chandler. Dang :/
Al Robinson, thanks for the response. I think the same people who don’t understand the film due to its lack of dialogue, or really don’t understand its narrative confidence, are the same types who overpraised Wall-E for not having dialogue in its first half hour. This is because they implicitly trust (or over-trust in my opinion) Pixar, and don’t know JC Chandler from anything else. That’s why Redford literally sells the film, and Chandler uses his iconic presence perfectly. It’s a movie that had to have an American movie star – which presents an interesting dichotomy. A totally muted story that is reliant on the definition of a once-shining star. Fascinating.
I have to disagree with you on ‘The Master’ – I think There Will Be Blood fits your argument perfectly. Though most understood TWBB was brilliant, they didn’t understand that it was a masterpiece, one of the greatest films ever made. The Master, to me, was a fake masterpiece. Every single moment seemed designed to be the smartest, the most ‘unexpected’, the most artsy. I sound like someone who didn’t get the movie. I did – it just felt horribly false. It felt like PT Anderson doing a cheap impression of his own inspiration.
Cory why would you leave out Beast of the Southern Wild. It was up for best director and screenplay…
I wonder Sasha, why are you not given the foreign language films any further information, or any update yet?! .. I read everywhere that “Wajada” which is a Saudi film is getting almost all the attention! .. could you do that soon?
Those complaining about Bullock’s role in “Gravity” really need dto go back and take another look and try to leave their precconceptions at home. Here’s my take on the matter: http://www.hollowsquarepress.com/4/post/2013/10/-complaining-about-gravity.html
Well I mean , a young beautiful black woman , kidnapped ,separated from her kids and then sold down the river to be enslaved , whipped and raped for 12 looooong years ?……that would simply of been political and cinematic NITRO GLICERINE …what other movie could possibly compete against that
sasha is BROADLY CORRECT , but if 12 YRS had been released in January and had been about a black woman staring ,Lupita Nyongo , it still would have won Best Picture …infact it would be even more emotionally powerful and sympathetic because women are seen as victims more than men …it would clearly of had the Anne Frank effect on audiences and would have been EXPLOSIVE !
OT:
I was supposed to attend an awards screening of August: Osage County next week and it has been cancelled. In fact, I got an email announcing that a whole bunch of screenings of both August and Mandela have been cancelled. Does that mean Harvey is cooling on these titles? It sure looks like he’s backing off them. Anyways I thought it was interesting enough to share.
Just to make one last comment about All Is Lost, I think it’s a divisive movie. I think many people just don’t quite know what to make of it. They’ve probably never seen a movie with so little dialogue. We’ve become so used to having movies use dialogue to move a story along.
Thank you CB for your comment. To me the whole point of cinema is to show us a story. All Is Lost did just that very thing. J.C. Chandor didn’t need to write dialogue since Redford’s character is (I’ll say it like this since I don’t want to give away any plot or secrets) “in the position he’s in”. If you were in that position, you wouldn’t need to talk either.
I feel like there a movies that take many years to find their audiences, and to gain the admiration they deserve. I think All Is Lost may be one of those movies. Just like to go back to 2012, The Master is also one of those kinds. Pure cinema at it’s best.
If the awards were handed out today, it would seem that 12 Years is poised to win. I don’t know about Chiwetel Ejiofor taking best actor though. There seems to be heavy competition from 3 actors (McConnaughy, Redford and Dern) who all have compelling “Oscar stories” (I’ll steal your words from your podcasts, Sasha). Conversly, even though I’ve yet to see those 3 films, they all seem to me like acting pieces, and not necessarily Best Pic winners.
The premise of Sasha’s article also completely explains WHY “Gravity” won’t win Best Picture. It doesn’t have that central male performance. I think this is absolutely right on.
Sandra Bullock, in the performance of her lifetime, very well may win Best Actress, however. Because Best Actress as we know is completely different ball game. And different conversation.
All is Lost is a masterpiece, driven by a performance by Redford that MUST win the Oscar. It was so good, I can easily see it getting nominated for Picture, Screenplay, Editing, maybe even Director. This is a lot like Capote – a fantastic performance that is so well-remembered that Academy members realize that the movie itself is a memorable feat. Such stunning, moving, unbelievable work. Just wonderful.
12 Years a Slave is a lot like its performance – extremely professional and really good, but nothing that ever made me leave the theater overwhelmed (which, in light of if its subject matter, should’ve happened). Did anyone really leave 12 Years a Slave feeling like 12 years had passed? Or did it ever truly explore what it means to go from free to enslaved, or, other than that flashback sequence (which was great), how his relationship to other blacks ever changed in his view? I never got the sense the movie offered anything BEYOND its literal subject matter. For such a beautiful film, it almost entirely lacked subtext.
All is Lost, however, will stick with you in a way few films do. It’s so totally unaffected, and it’s a story that can ONLY be told on film. Not in any other medium – I came out of it with the kind of silent awe that I felt after Black Swan, The White Ribbon, The Dark Knight, Avatar, Inglourious Basterds, Silver Linings Playbook, There Will Be Blood, and United 93. It’s a film that absorbs you, that works on its own level and works so perfectly. It’s art, whereas 12 Years a Slave is commendable craftsmanship.
Well most of my favorite movies are manly movies, but it’s not because I hate women of my gender. They’re just better movies. For example this year, I don’t like GRAVITY. And my second favorite film this year is BLUE JASMINE. But MUD is still my favorite. Should I be sent for reprogramming until I like GRAVITY best?
This year I also liked SIDE EFFECTS and THE CALL quite a bit but they weren’t Oscar-y movies. If they were I’d be rooting for them and the Academy might be voting on them. But since these movies aren’t in abundance what are the voting bodies supposed to do? Push forward subpar films just to “do the right thing”? I wouldn’t want that.
lets ignore movies like blue jasmine, before midnight, saving mr banks, august osage county, short term 12, blue is the warmest color, labor day, philomena, gravity all out and in contention right now..yet you still write this article………..you are correct that things are lopsided and quite frankly they always will be, but your also ignoring every other angle as well. there has been improvement but you never seem to acknowledge that and focus on the bad when it does come as if to say…”i told you so!” how about a positive article focusing on all the strong female leads that there are this year…. perhaps writing that will bring out less negativity in your writing and more of a positive outlook on the situation.
its funny though when a woman does seem to be kicking ass at a young age and taking names(jennifer lawrence) you seem to tear her down at every corner but yet cry for womens rights… lol i really dont understand you lol.
Hopefully there is a day when we don’t really look at a film in terms of genders. I have a great hope in Jennifer Lawrence. She seems to have potentials to become a great combination of a future Meryl Streep and a very commercial blockbuster actress. She needs a good people around her, which I guess she does now. And hopefully she’ll lead other talented actress and maybe in her 30’s or 40’s, we just see a film a film, not complaining about “oh, chick flick” or “oh, male dominated industry” or whatever.
At the moment, it seems like only a few actress can open a film without a much help by male leads or based on another popular media. We still don’t know about that in Jennifer Lawrence. I look forward to seeing how it goes about her after “Hunger Game” is over.
I agree 100% with phantom
Sasha/Ryan:
I wish there was a “like” button for comments as I would like to “like” (and even dislike button as well) some of the comments without writing anything. Like Phantom’s last comment:)
+1
simplest solution?
julian the emperor
I think the fact that this year’s Best Actress race is full of great roles performed by veteran actresses, is a good thing. That means roles for women of a certain age, even though it is a male dominated industry obsessed with youth, ARE actually being written. Great roles. In my opinion that should be celebrated. That’s all.
Phantom:
You find it “liberating” that the best actress race consists (presumably) of seven women, all of them over 38. I would say the exact opposite: It demonstrates the complete lack of imagination on behalf of the bloggers and the industry that they can’t seem to look past the obvious, renowned stars of yesteryear. What would be more liberating? To choose younger, exciting names like Larson, Exarchopoulos, Gerwig or Jones.
I just watched Philomena the other day. And it pains me that a phoned-in (which in her case means a well-executed) performance like the one Dench delivers in that film is very much in contention. Dench is Dench, and she’s never bad, but the film itself is just lazy and half-assed, a crowd pleaser about a grave issue treated like light comedy. Pure fluff.
Bullock is good in Gravity, but I don’t think it’s an Oscar-worthy performance. Blanchett was brilliant, but also a mite self-conscious. Streep and Thompson star in movies I have a strong feeling is just not up my alley, so I reserve my right to be skeptic about them. The alternatives: Multiple nominees like Adams and Winslet…
To me, this shows a distinct lack of imagination, rather than the industry’s warm acceptance of female actors of a certain age. They just happen to recognize the household names, which makes it easier to choose them rather than have to get to know a new set of actresses, some of them starring in indies and some of them in foreign language films.
Crash was about how conflict uncovers the racism in everybody.
My favorite scene is when Bullock’s character, phony through and through, the villain of the film, embraces her maid and, totally horrified, says calls her Latina maid is only friend. That was the moment Bullock’s character realized she had grown up to be her mother.
Sadly, most bloggers thought it was intended as a redemptive moment, entirely missing Cheadle and Hargis’ mockery of the woman. God knows, the dumb ass Academy voters probably thought it was actually redemptive.
Everyone should refer to Cronenberg’s CRASH as The Good One . Even if you didn’t like it.
As I havent seen All is Lost yet, I have a question for those who have seen it:
Is Robert Redford that good in that movie that he might win Best Actor??? I would hate to see him winning over Ejiofor just because he is old/a legend/ never won, etc etc…
That is an easy one word answer: No.
As male dominated as this industry and the Oscar Race in general is, I must say I’m detecting some growth here. First off, I can see at least four films about women making the cut in BP (Gravity, Philomena, Saving Mr. Banks, August : Osage County, and then maybe even Blue Jasmine, The Book Thief, Blue is the Warmest Color) and that’s MUCH better than most years, also even though it is always nice to to see a Cinderella story unfold and a fresh new face getting recognition from the Academy, there is something wonderfully liberating about this year’s Best Actress race : Judi Dench (78), Meryl Streep (64), Emma Thompson (54), Sandra Bullock (49), Cate Blanchett (44), Amy Adams (39), Kate Winslet (38).
Sure, a newcomer could still suprise (Felicity Jones, Brie Larson, Adele Excharpoulos) but right now the race is dominated by women of a certain age…and after seeing exceptionally gifted actresses fade away due to the lack of great material for aging leading ladies (Michelle Pfeiffer, Joan Allen, Imelda Staunton, Diane Keaton, Julianne Moore, Renée Zellweger, Diane Lane, Sissy Spacek, Emily Watson, Helen Hunt, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jodie Foster, Sharon Stone, Miranda Richardson, Angela Bassett, Holly Hunter, Geena Davis, Laure Dern, Sigourne Weaver, Judy Davis) I am pleased to see something seemed to change for the better this year.
Hopefully this change means that in the near future brilliant actresses will find great star vehicles regardless of their age and a Glenn Close doesn’t have to wait decades between worthy lead roles in features and a Julianne Moore doesn’t have to give up her leading lady status and only do supporting parts.
If I were an Academy member and I had to cast my ballot right now, I would choose Captain Phillips as Best Picture and Tom Hanks as Best Actor. His performance was magnificent. At first, I thought the movie would turn out to be just ok. Instead, it turned out to be a great movie! I loved it.
Also, I was impressed Barkhad Abdi’s performance. I don’t know if that performance is strong enough to land him an Oscar nomination, but IMO he deserves one.
I’m just hoping this years Oscar race isn’t as boring as the last two. The Best Picture race is very annoying. Once the nominees are announced, then we always know the for sure winner. It’s like knowing the ending of a movie before you go watch it.
Sasha (totally correctly) complains about the lack of strong female leads among BP nominees… but completely ignores the existence of August: Osage County. And not only in this article but in virtually every article here.
It’s really the early reviews? Well… The Butler is BY FAR the worst reviewed BP contender of the year and we all think it’s gonna make the cut.
Is August dead? Let’s wait until Harvey Weinstein and George Clooney answer this question…
“ Crash – an ensemble cast that I don’t remember well enough to say what it was about.”
Crash – an ensemble cast that doesn’t warrant mention. (my version, though the original is hilarious)
As I havent seen All is Lost yet, I have a question for those who have seen it:
Is Robert Redford that good in that movie that he might win Best Actor??? I would hate to see him winning over Ejiofor just because he is old/a legend/ never won, etc etc…
I know I shouldn’t care, but it’s “Chigurh,” not “Sigur.”
Thanks a lot for wrecking the backstory I was imagining in which Anton is a former member of Sigur Ros.
While your central premise does ring true, I think you might be grasping for straws when you say that women are tearing down other women and that has had something to do with the male lead and Best picture. The two have always been linked. Until Academy membership evens along gender, I think this will continue to be the case. I would love to see more strong female leads, but I would argue in most years where the male-centric picture wins there are very few competitive female films like Zero Dark Thirty or The Hours.
I just checked, and it looks that Robert Redford has never won an Oscar for acting. Heck, he’s only been nominated once, for his part as Johnny Hooker in 1973’s The Sting. I think that the Oscar voters will have a really hard time not giving it to him for All Is Lost.
Okay, here are the 5 I think will get get nominated for Best Lead Actor. Of those five nominees, I think only 3 will get nominated for Best Picture, 12 Years a Slave, Her, and Nebraska. That would of course be 3 out of 5.
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
Joaquin Phoenix – Her
Robert Redford – All Is Lost
The more I think, I think we could have a 3rd possible lock for both Best Picture and Best Lead Actor with Nebraska and Bruce Dern. I would love to see Leonardo DiCaprio get nominated for The Wolf of Wall Street, but I’m more wanting to at least see The Wolf of Wall Street get nominated for Best Picture.
Possible Best Picture nominees, in which a male lead is present:
12 Years a Slave – Chiwetel Ejiofor
All Is Lost – Robert Redford
American Hustle – Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper
The Butler – Forest Whitaker
Captain Phillips – Tom Hanks
Dallas Buyers Club – Matthew McConaughey
Fruitvale Station – Michael B. Jordan
Her – Joaquin Phoenix
Inside Llewin Davis – Oscar Isaac
Mud – Matthew McConaughey
Prisoners – Hugh Jackman
Rush – Chris Hemsworth
Saving Mr. Banks – Tom Hanks
The Wolf of Wall Street – Leonardo DiCaprio
Of these films, I think that all five of the Best Lead Actor nominees are present. That would be 5 for 5. But I am concerned that All Is Lost may not get nominated for Best Picture, so that would drop the Best Actor / Best Picture correlation to 4 out of 5.
But, then again, I don’t know how strong the chances are that Her and Dallas Buyers Club will get Best Picture nominations either. They seem more likely for Best Lead Actor. If that happened where both films are left off the BP list, but are on the BA list, than that could drop it all the way to 2 out of 5 if Redford is still nominated but All Is Lost isn’t. I think the only locks for both BP and BA are 12 Years a Slave and Captain Phillips. Anyone else agree?
Hasn’t the male lead always been a strong indicator of Oscar BP success– especially the outstanding male lead– not just since ’04? One way of looking at it is looking at all the BP nominees themselves and see how they correlate with respective acting nominations. In the 150* BP-nominated films since 1980, it looks like this:
With corresponding Best Actor nomination: 70
Best Supporting Actor: 65
Best Supporting Actress: 63
Best Actress: 40
* for consistency’s sake, I only included 5 nominees from 2009-2012, using precursor indicators and historic Oscar patterns. So the above numbers don’t include Up!, The Blind Side, An Education, District 9, A Serious Man, 127 Hours, The Kids Are All Right, Toy Story 3, Winter’s Bone, Inception, Tree of Life, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, War Horse, Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Les Miserables, or Django Unchained. These would add 2-7-4-3 to the above totals, although I think the swelling of Best Actress nominees coming from the expanded field only reinforces the notion that the ones that are solidly in the Top 5, as before, have fewer nominated Best Actress performances.
Hey thanks Corey. I was wondering about that. 70 to 40 isn’t bad – but I’d bet most of those with Best Actress occurred earlier rather than more recently.
What upsets me the most are where are the black actresses to be found in the lead actress race.
Sure, this year offers multiple black stars in the leading actror, supporting actor and actress’s races, but not one african-american actress is to be found for lead actress.
This has gone on far too long. Give people like Kerry Washington, Viola Davis, Kimberly Elise and Angela Bassett lead roles with no mention of color.
In the 85 year history of the Academy, of the 5 lead acting Oscars that went to african-americans, only one went to an actress.
A shame on Hollywood and the system.
How come no one is really talking about All Is Lost as a possible Best Picture nominee?
I think it was amazing! Robert Redford should win the Oscar, no offense to Chiwetel Ejiofor or Joaquin Phoenix, but Redford carried the movie his complete-self.
Lone Survivor – Mark Wahlberg is the last surviving member of a failed assassination mission.
If this film picks up major Oscar heat, I might quit.
Would anyone have ever said “Ben Affleck wasn’t emotional enough in Argo” or “Jean DuJardin was too emotional in The Artist”?
Gosh, can you imagine?!
I was thinking about this the other day. You have to go all the way back to Terms of Endearment, a whole 30 years ago now, to find a Best Picture winner that solely revolves around women. Chicago has Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones, but also Richard Gere. Million Dollar Baby, Shakespeare in Love, Titanic, Driving Miss Daisy, Out of Africa, all about their female leads, but also about their male leads. The Silence of the Lambs comes close, but Anthony Hopkins is pretty much co-lead in that, and he won the Leading Actor Oscar, ofc. Before Terms of Endearment, lol it’s another 18 years to The Sound of Music! And it’s awful!
12 Years A Slave is the winner this year.