[Aptorian]

The Oscar people have an excellent website that lists and details every film nominated for an Oscar this year. Check it out.

http://oscar.go.com/nominees

I was surprised but not surprised to notice that I haven't actually seen a single film nominated this years except for the make-up Oscar nomination for Suicide Squad.

I was wondering if we could get a discussion going about what films you think deserve an Oscar this year or if there is any films that are either missing from the list of nominess or films you don't think deserve to be on there.

I am noticing that both La La Land and Hacksaw Ridge are getting a ton of Nominations.

[D'rek]

Your Name didn't get nominated for Animated Feature Film

Like Apt, I don't think I've seen any of these movies, but I wasn't really expecting to either

[QuickTidal]

Having only seen ARRIVAL from the main list, I'm glad to see it got a bunch of nominations.

Sounds like the general consensus is that LA LA LAND will rule the roost.

Having a kid meant we got out to a lot less films...so we focused on the ones we really wanted to see (FANTASTIC BEASTS and ROGUE ONE) since then...with ARRIVAL as an outlier viewing for me while my wife and daughter visited her sister.

I'd like to see most of the big nominations, but I likely won't get to till long after the Oscars air. Ah well.

[LadyMTL]

I saw Fences and I really enjoyed it, though it is kind of depressing. Viola Davis was spectacular so I am happy that she got a nom. I read the short story that Arrival was based on and I wanted to go see it but never actually got around to it. Hopefully I'll catch it on a PPV or something, I really enjoy Denis Villeneuve's work.

My aunt saw La La Land and told me she liked it but felt it was a bit overhyped. Still, if the Golden Globes are anything to go by it might do really well at the Oscars.

[QuickTidal]

I feel like when I finally DO see LA LA LAND, I'll be underwhelmed by it. The trailers do next to nothing for me. I like musicals, but this might be one that leaves me cold.

[Gorefest]

Oh, it's a musical? *takes it off the to-see list* The only musical I've been able to stomach was Avenue Q.

[Tiste Simeon]

No Sing Street or Hunt for the Wilder People?

Shame.

[worry]

I haven't seen most of these, and literally none of the Best Picture nominees. I actually wouldn't mind seeing all of them (no idea what Lion is, but the rest looked worthwhile, w/ Hacksaw Ridge at the low end of that spectrum). Moonlight is the one I feel (by far) the most urgency to see though. Still, there's nothing here in the vein of Crash or The Blind Side that is nauseating/embarrassing (there wasn't a Sandra Bullock movie at all last year -- 2016 wasn't all bad!). I assume the race is really between Moonlight and La La Land.

[MTS]

Yeah, nobody I've spoken to was that impressed by La La Land (all of them musical fans), so I've no urgency to see it. I do really want to see Hacksaw Ridge, Lion, Captain Fantastic and Moonlight though.

As far as the noms go, I didn't feel like Zootopia was that great, so I was surprised it got an Oscar nom (might have been a slow year for animation).

[amphibian]

The best picture nominees that are the best are Arrival and Moonlight. The rest can be pushed to later or never.

Zootopia was bad. Like bad in its soul bad. Bad in the way that well meaning old people tell young people to protest nicely while on their way to go fuck over everyone by voting in corrupt and incompetent jerks.

Moana will probably win the animated category, but I think Kubo moved me more in a melancholy way than Moana made me happy. That crab sequence was like an acid trip though.

La La Land is a very good musical, but it's a little clunky at moments and the music is good without a big hit (I do like City of Stars though). I suspect a big studio push behind the nominations is driving this than any actual audience clamor.

[champ]

Even Hacksaw Ridge pushed? That film is fantastic, I was really surprised by it, best film I've seen in a long time and I've seen 90% of the nominations.

[Malankazooie]

I've only seen the documentary 'O.J.: Made In America.' Excellent, riveting, and deserving of a nomination.

[worry]

Yah, OJ vs 13th is a tough choice, but OJ manages to be exhaustive and still completely riveting the whole time.

[amphibian]

champ, on 25 January 2017 - 08:02 AM, said:

Even Hacksaw Ridge pushed? That film is fantastic, I was really surprised by it, best film I've seen in a long time and I've seen 90% of the nominations.

Even if it is about a conscientious objector, it's still a WW2 movie and thus in a genre well covered already. Moonlight and Arrival are more "new" in terms of their premises and casts within the movie industry.

[champ]

amphibian, on 25 January 2017 - 04:28 PM, said:

champ, on 25 January 2017 - 08:02 AM, said:

Even Hacksaw Ridge pushed? That film is fantastic, I was really surprised by it, best film I've seen in a long time and I've seen 90% of the nominations.

Even if it is about a conscientious objector, it's still a WW2 movie and thus in a genre well covered already. Moonlight and Arrival are more "new" in terms of their premises and casts within the movie industry.

I'd mostly agree but for Best Picture, it should actually go to the Best Picture. It's a different sort of WW2 film to what you normally expect. Plus it is really well done.

Take the twist out of Moonlight and it is just a very average film - IMO.

I did love Arrival though, that film managed to keep me gripped.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 25 January 2017 - 06:39 AM, said:

The rest can be pushed to later or never.

I dunno, I've heard that LION and HIDDEN FIGURES are both phenomenal. Both are higher on my "want to see" list than anything else on the slate for Best Pic.

[amphibian]

champ, on 25 January 2017 - 04:55 PM, said:

Take the twist out of Moonlight and it is just a very average film - IMO.

What is average about a majority black cast dealing with non hetero sexuality on a tiny budget?

This isn't a movie that gets big play or big money historically. To succeed as it has is quite an achievement.

[champ]

amphibian, on 25 January 2017 - 06:03 PM, said:

champ, on 25 January 2017 - 04:55 PM, said:

Take the twist out of Moonlight and it is just a very average film - IMO.

What is average about a majority black cast dealing with non hetero sexuality on a tiny budget?

This isn't a movie that gets big play or big money historically. To succeed as it has is quite an achievement.

Er, a lot to be honest. For entertainment it is an average film... it is only getting attention because of what it "deals" with.

You kinda proved my point, the first argument you made was the subject matter of what it is dealing with, not the enjoyment...

It didn't keep me gripped nor was I thoroughly entertained by it.

Films should be nominated for how good they are... not what edgey topic they are dealing with...

But this is obviously an each to their own... this is just my opinion...

[QuickTidal]

champ, on 25 January 2017 - 06:52 PM, said:

Films should be nominated for how good they are... not what edgey topic they are dealing with...

Indeed, just because a film happens to deal with ________ should not automatically qualify it to be Best Picture material. That defeats the purpose of the category and the subjectivity of that activity.

That said, I think the Academy OFTEN falls into the trap of giving a Best Pic nod to films that don't necessarily hit that marker of "best" because of ________ subject matter. PLATOON is one of the most apt examples I can think of. That film is NOT deserving of a Best Picture nomination IMHO, let alone the win....but because of the hefty subject matter (and the rest of the lighter fared nominations that year) it got nonmed and won. They've done it on other years too, but that's the one that always comes to mind.

[worry]

Well it's no different from any other such list of Top 5 or 10 things. People make calculations and compromises between how they feel and how they 'should' feel. It's the same thing as people who say "It's maybe not the best one, but it is my favorite" -- the one that is your favorite is the one you think is best. The rest is pretzel logic seeking an objectivity that doesn't exist, even by consensus. This is art, not science.

So the utility of the Oscars (or awards like this generally) is in compiling these lists, so people have collective recommendations of things to see/hear/etc. The actual winners in each category are meaningless except within the industry; as arbitrary as the whims, feelings, and politics of any group at a single point in time.