A reason to jeer and cheer for the Academy Awards
By Steven Cayer, Senior Columnist
Last year was another amazing year for movies (especially in December). Of course, if there are movies, there will always be awards shows. The Golden Globes are over, but the 2014 annual Academy Awards are just heating up. With the nominations coming out, there were bound to be people angry over certain movie-exclusions or movies undeserving of honours.
I’m going to tell you my thoughts on a few big snubs and even bigger surprises. After all we have surprises as big as when Mila Kunis didn’t even get nominated for her role in The Black Swan.
First and definitely foremost, where the fuck is The Butler? It was one of my favourite movies of last year, and I thought both Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey deserved at least a nomination. Winfrey’s performance as an alcoholic wife and mother was incredibly powerful. She played the wife of Cecil Gaines, Whitaker’s character. His performance as the White House’s butler subtly carried the movie.
Another movie that didn’t get noticed at all was the ever-intense All is Lost, starring Robert Redford, a movie about a man and his survival on his boat. Not nearly enough people saw this movie in theatres, so I was happy that it got a couple of Golden Globe nominations. The only Oscars nomination it got is for sound editing, which it will probably lose to Lone Survivor. I’m kind of pissed about Redford getting snubbed for best actor. He gave a memorable performance with maybe three lines of dialogue. I think he should’ve taken either Christian Bale’s or Bruce Dern’s spot in the best actor category. Speaking of the best actor category, Tom Hanks’ performance in Captain Phillips should’ve gotten him an easy nomination. His role as the captain of a cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates was frightfully realistic.
Not to rain on anybody’s parade, but the Academy Awards are a popularity contest. In my opinion, American Hustle didn’t deserve as many Golden Globes as it did, if Silver Linings Playbook took the cake last year. Also, when they are choosing nominations, they’re being bombarded with different types of campaign ads that are just trying to get a nomination. It’s kind of bull.
Rant ongoing, I love that we live in a world where a movie like Bad Grandpa can get a nomination—for make-up and hairstyling.
Now, having said all of that, I am still going to fill out my 2014 Oscar nomination ballot and have my entire family, who doesn’t see nearly as many movies as me, gather on Sunday, March 2, hosted by the always funny Ellen DeGeneres.
