This week, Bernard, CJ and Zach react to the Oscars! Listen to find out how they did on their predictions and hear their thoughts on the show’s overall presentation. Also, filmmaker Alex Proyas recently lashed out at movie critics following a landslide of negative reviews for his movie Gods of Egypt. The boys dissect his resentment and discuss whether the hate is misplaced, misguided, or perhaps even warranted. Plus, we’ve got three new, glistening, unbelievable, don’t-miss-it-or-we’ll-kick-your-ass amazing Indie Picks of the Week!

Topics

• Indie Picks (3:53)
• Oscar Reactions (15:46)
• Alex Proyas Critic Hate (1:00:57)

Articles Referenced

• Cemetery of Splendour TIFF Review
• The Witch Review
• The Witch Indiecast
• Impossible Light Interview
• Oscar Foreign Film Feature

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• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Subscribe on Stitcher

It’s almost Oscar time again, and I’ve followed the Academy Awards for long enough now to know that they don’t always represent the quality and scope of the year’s best movies. Yet, there’s something about the award season’s glitziest bash that turns me into the film buff equivalent of a WWE fan, who knows deep down that the fighting isn’t actually real, but can’t help going mental when the contenders start hurling themselves from the top turnbuckle.

In anticipation of the 88th Academy Awards nominations, here’s a list of Oscar’s worst and weirdest oversights in the Best Picture category.

10 Films That Should’ve Won Best Picture

#10. Pan’s Labyrinth

Dark-hued, dangerous and melancholy, Guillermo del Toro’s visionary fairytale grows in stature year by year, already looking like one of the films of the young century. It is a deeply textured masterwork, creating a fully realised reality and alternative reality for its young heroine Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), who seeks refuge from the horrors of post-civil war Spain in a fantasy world, only to find it as dark and violent as real life.

Evoking the primal, ancient morality tales of old rather than the sanitized hokum of Disney, it strikes a resonant chord in our deepest wishes and fears. It was probably a bit too obscure for voters—foreign language films rarely get much recognition in the Best Picture category, although lightweight fare such as Il Postino has made a showing in modern times. Martin Scorsese’s The Departed took Best Pic, and it had the misfortune to go up against the excellent The Lives of Others in the Best Foreign Language Film category. I’m sure time will separate Pan’s Labyrinth from both movies significantly.

#9. Pulp Fiction

Quentin Tarantino’s burst of pure cinema is arguably the most influential film of the past twenty-five years. It changed the way people made, wrote and thought about movies ever since. Two decades later, QT is an auteur who can make whatever he wants, please the critics (most of the time), and pack out theatres across the world. Hell, he could even adapt his grocery list for the screen and it would still be a hit.

Pulp Fiction was the perfect blend of attitude, style, music, dialogue, set pieces, dance moves, top shelf performances, and sheer, balls-out bravado. It was sensational, and struck at exactly the right time.

#8. Field of Dreams

The 62nd Awards were arguably the nadir for Oscar, with the twee Driving Miss Daisy beating a strong field including Born on the Forth of July, Dead Poet’s Society, My Left Foot, and my pick, Field of Dreams to Best Picture.

You don’t need to be a baseball fan to be enchanted by this tale of Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner), compelled by ghostly voices to build a baseball diamond over his crops. Told straight and featuring Costner at his most disarming and sincere, it’s a wonderful piece of modern myth-making. It’s a film about nostalgia and regret, but also an optimistic, magic hour celebration of the dreamer in all of us.

#7. The Killing Fields

Losing to Milos Forman’s grandiose, gaudy and rather campy Amadeus, Roland Joffe’s The Killing Fields is an impassioned yet sensitive depiction of the apocalyptic Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. It’s centred on the relationship between two journalists, American Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterson) and Cambodian Dith Pran (Dr. Haing S Ngor) caught amid the brutal regime change.

Working from a grown up screenplay by Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I), Joffe captures the chaos and turmoil of those years in great detail, with escalating panic as the US ditches its Cambodian allies. Schanberg is reluctantly forced to follow suit, leaving Pran to fend for himself in Year Zero. Ngor’s dignified, resolute performance is humbling—a first-time actor, he survived the ordeal in real life before making it to the States in 1980.

#6. Raging Bull / The Elephant Man

Take your pick, either film would have been a worthier winner than Robert Redford’s Ordinary People, which no one has seen since it took the Best Picture trophy at the 53rd awards. Both biopics shot in wondrous black and white, Scorsese and David Lynch’s films examine opposite ends of the human spectrum—Robert De Niro’s repugnant, self-destructive Middleweight Champ Jake La Motta, and John Hurt’s gentle and intelligent John Merrick, trapped inside a hideously deformed body.

Raging Bull is brutal and depressing, The Elephant Man ethereal and heartbreaking. Both have become modern masterpieces.

#5. The Exorcist

William Friedkin’s iconic horror has lost some of its shock value over the years, and I think it is all the better for it. Once you’re over all the head-spinning and spider-walking, you can concentrate on the story itself, and it always amazes me each time I see it how positive the film is. The Exorcist is a good movie in the purest sense of the word, and I think that you can draw encouragement from it no matter what your theological standpoint.

If you’re a person of faith, it makes great propaganda for the church, showing the Devil as crude and debased, while God’s humble servants selflessly lay down their lives to save a possessed little girl. If you’re agnostic, you can be buoyed by the sheer decency of the human characters in the film. If a bomb goes off in a public place, there are always people who run towards the explosion, disregarding their own safety in the hope of saving others.

That’s what the characters in The Exorcist are like, especially old and dispirited Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) and young and doubting Father Karras (Jason Miller)—on blind faith they ride to the rescue with no evidence that God has their backs. Despite its diabolical reputation, I find The Exorcist such an incredibly uplifting film.

#4. Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Like Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick didn’t get much love from the Academy—between them, they won a grand total of zero awards for Best Director. 2001: A Space Odyssey wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture, but I’m listing Dr. Strangelove because I absolutely hate the film that beat it, George Cukor’s smug, shrieking My Fair Lady. (Interesting side note: Audrey Hepburn sported one of two dodgy Cockney accents in the Best Pic category that year, along with Dick Van Dyke’s chimney sweep in Mary Poppins.)

Perhaps coming a little too soon after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Strangelove‘s acerbic satire has become synonymous with the insanity of war. Comedy madman Peter Seller’s three performances are rightly celebrated, but it is the supporting trio of Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens and George C Scott that really stick with you, ultra believable as crazed military men deliriously willing to push the world over the brink of mutually assured destruction to get one over on the Ruskies. Kubrick observes all this madness with a sardonic, deadpan gaze, and the film concludes with one of the most terrifyingly beautiful scenes of all time – the end of the world set to Dame Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again.

#3. Vertigo

No popular filmmaker quite flaunted his kinks and fetishes on the screen quite as obsessively as the Portly Pervert (aka Master of Suspense) Alfred Hitchcock. Vertigo, his most personal vision, was met with a mixed reaction by critics and making little impact at the Oscars, only picking up a couple of technical awards.

These days we’re all amateur psychologists, so I think the modern audience is better positioned to appreciate Hitchcock’s masterpiece. It’s the eerie, twisted tale of a detective ruthlessly shaping a shop girl into the object of his obsessions, an icy blonde (what else in Hitchcock?) that he couldn’t prevent committing suicide because of his fear of heights. James Stewart is magnificent, tainting his good guy image to queasy effect.

#2. The Third Man

Orson Welles already had the greatest film of all time under his belt (Citizen Kane), and a few years later he gave us the greatest movie entrance of all time in Carol Reed’s funny, thrilling and fatalistic The Third Man. We follow Joseph Cotten’s gullible pulp novelist through the noirish, expressionistic underworld of post-war Vienna in search of his old best friend Harry Lime (Welles), wanted by the authorities for peddling dodgy penicillin. Anton Karas’s fabulous zither theme perfectly captures the tone of the film, managing to be jaunty and slightly sinister at the same time. A thing of joy.

#1. Citizen Kane

Although regarded as a cornerstone of modern cinema, Orson Welles’s masterpiece lost out on Outstanding Motion Picture to a film well-regarded but little-seen these days, How Green Was My Valley. Maybe it isn’t so difficult to see why – the Oscars have always been a popularity contest, and I think you need to be a bit of a cinephile to get the most out of Citizen Kane. The film is like Charles Foster Kane’s Xanadu, a magnificent, chilly mausoleum to its creator’s limitless talent, ambition and vanity. A miraculous piece of film making, but there’s little warmth within.

Also worth mentioning is another losing Best Pic nominee at the 1942 ceremony, a tight, atmospheric detective thriller called The Maltese Falcon. While small in scope, it crystallised our notion of noir, and its influence can be seen in movies as diverse as Chinatown, Blade Runner and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

The Best Foreign Language Film category, whether it’s at the Oscars or any other awards show, always poses a strange question: how can you whittle the entire non-English speaking world down to five titles? When you compare this to the eight English-language nominees for Best Picture, it seems like an unfair balance. Now, granted, the Best Picture category isn’t limited to just English-language productions, but you’d be crazy to suggest that foreign productions have the same shot at getting a Best Picture nod as something like The Revenant or Brooklyn (past foreign language nominees like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Amour are exceptions to the norm).

Even stranger is the method of selecting the nominees, which requires countries to submit only one film for consideration in the category. That means France, a country that consistently puts out some of the best cinema in the world every year, can only pick one film to represent their country in the category. But even then, the selected film needs to have a theatrical release within a specific time frame in their home country in order to truly qualify for the category. Those rules can get frustrating for some foreign language films, and the idea of contorting a release in one’s own home country just for the possibility of one award nomination thousands of miles away isn’t exactly an appealing one: in 2013, the French distributor of Blue is the Warmest Colour refused to change their release strategy, meaning one of the most buzzed about films of that year didn’t even qualify for the only category it had a shot of getting nominated in.

The point of all of this is that, like everything else at the Oscars, politics abound, and these nominees need to be taken with a big grain of salt. These five films are hardly representative of the best world cinema has to offer, but they’re far from being the worst either. This year, the Foreign Language category provided one big, welcome surprise: the nomination of Theeb, director Naji Abu Nowar’s film about a young member of a Bedouin tribe who gets caught up in the war taking place far from his community. I saw Theeb back at its New Directors/New Films screening and came away pleasantly surprised at its assuredness, especially coming from a first-time director. The fact that Theeb got a theatrical release in the US was great news on its own; its Oscar nomination should hopefully turn more people on to a great film that deserves to be seen (Theeb is currently out in limited theatrical release from Film Movement).

From the surprising to the not-so-surprising, it shouldn’t come as a shock that Hungary’s Son of Saul received a nomination in this category. It premiered at Cannes in 2015, where it scored the Grand Prix along with a nice distribution deal from Sony Pictures Classics. That, combined with the fact that it’s a Holocaust film, solidified Son of Saul’s appearance here, since at least one foreign language nominee must deal with the Holocaust in some way, shape or form. Critics and audiences have been over the moon for Son of Saul since its Cannes debut, but I came away disappointed after seeing it. Director Laszlo Nemes and cinematographer Matyas Erdely show off their formal skills with the film’s precise construction, using shallow focus and long takes to “immerse” viewers into the horrors of surviving Auschwitz, but it only calls attention to the film’s own technical achievements. And combining a form that’s all about showing itself off with one of mankind’s greatest tragedies makes for a pairing that’s ugly for all the wrong reasons. It’s disappointing to see that, in a year with so many strong films both nominated and eligible for the category, the award will wind up going to Son of Saul, whose bland, digestible form of “difficult” cinema makes its win more about people congratulating their own broadened cinematic horizons than celebrating the best nominee (Son of Saul is currently out in limited theatrical release from Sony Pictures Classics).

That brings me to Mustang, Deniz Gamze Erguven’s film which France submitted this year over Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan, a film most assumed would have been selected given its Palme d’Or win last year. It’s a choice only people who haven’t seen Mustang might find surprising, since those who have seen Mustang know it’s a legitimately great film through and through. Following five orphaned sisters living in a tiny Turkish village, the film portrays the girls’ struggles to fight back against old cultural, religious and patriarchal standards as they’re married off one-by-one in arranged ceremonies. The film may get a little too contrived as it goes along, but it’s impossible to deny that Erguven has crafted one powerful story of a fight for independence and freedom from the old, archaic ways of the past. Mustang has a small but fervent following since its US release in late 2015, and because of that, it might be the only film with a shot at taking the trophy away from Son of Saul (Mustang is currently out in limited theatrical release from Cohen Media Group).

For a nominee like Ciro Guerra’s Embrace of the Serpent, it should just be happy that it got nominated in the first place, as it’s probably too “out there” for people to consider choosing as the winner. Taking place between two periods of time, Guerra shows a shaman living deep in the Amazon as he helps two different scientists try to find a rare plant within the jungle. Embrace has its fair share of gorgeous cinematography, but like last year’s winner Ida it’s hard to find much to enjoy beyond its aesthetics. Unlike Son of Saul, Guerra’s form feels sincere in its attempts to pay respect to the location and cultures he profiles, but other than its pointed look at the devastating effects of colonialism the film comes across as Herzog-lite (Embrace of the Serpent will come out in limited theatrical release on Friday, February 17^th from Oscilloscope Pictures).

Finally, Tobias Lindholm’s A War is a fine follow-up to A Hijacking, which suffered an unfortunate case of timing when it came out around the same time as Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips. Taking place in Afghanistan, Lindholm focuses on a Danish army commander who winds up getting accused of a war crime after making a rash decision during a firefight. Denmark is no stranger to impressive yet overly manipulated drama—see previous Oscar nominee The Hunt, which Lindholm co-wrote—and A War is more of the same, showcasing a complex and nuanced situation with the efficiency of a procedural. Fans of this form of storytelling will find plenty to like here, while those who bristle at the staidness should stay far away. Lindholm continues to show he’s an excellent dramatist, and no matter what A War’s chances of winning might be, it’s difficult to argue against its presence in this category.

CJ and Bernard tackle the #OscarsSoWhite controversy on this week’s episode, delving into the complexities of the pre-awards show debacle and the larger social issue it stems from. To help balance out the heavy shit, we’ll check in on Darth Dissenter himself as he finally shares with us his thoughts on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Better late than never! Plus, Bernard fills us in on a mildly traumatic experience he had involving the legendary Sally Field. All that, plus our Indie Picks of the Week, on this episode of the Way Too Indiecast!

Topics

• Indie Picks (3:10)
• CJ’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens Thoughts (13:49)
• Bernard’s Sally Field Incident (26:35)
• #OscarsSoWhite Debacle (39:43)

Articles Referenced

• Cartel Land Review
• Cartel Land Interview
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens Indiecast

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One of the great trademarks of Oscar-nominated shorts (in any category) is the diversity of the nominees. That diversity reflects not only in the countries represented but also the languages and themes of each film. The 2016 Oscar-nominated Live Action Shorts are no different.

Ave Maria (directed by Basil Kalil)

Five nuns based on the West Bank of Palestine have their dinner—and their vow of silence—disrupted when an Israeli man crashes his car into their statue of the Virgin Mary. Khalil’s delightfully funny short is rich with juxtaposition, not only of faith but also of family.

Day One (directed by Henry Hughes)

The title of Hughes’ effective war-based drama refers to the first day on the job for Feda (Layla Alizada), a US Army interpreter stationed with a unit in Afghanistan. When that unit arrests a bomb maker at his home, their routine mission becomes anything but when the bomb maker’s wife goes into labor. Religious rule forbids a male doctor from touching the mother, so Feda must deliver the baby. Alizada shines in the role.

Everything Will Be Okay (directed by Patrick Vollrath)

In this family drama, a divorced father picks up his 8-year-old daughter for what appears to be a routine weekend. But as the day unfolds the day becomes anything but routine, and the young child knows it. The fist half of Vollrath’s film unfolds with great tension but loses a little steam once it makes its big reveal.

Shok (directed by Jamie Donoughue)

Based on true events, Donoughue’s film begins in the present day when a man finds an old, beat-up bicycle on the road. This triggers memories of two Albanian boys, best friends Petrit (Lum Veseli) and Oki (Andi Bajgora), living in Serbia during the Kosovo War. Petrit makes some bad decisions and brings Oki down with him. The drama lacks tension in the early stages but it closes strong with a stunning ending.

Stutterer (directed by Benjamin Cleary)

Matthew Needham plays Greenwood, a typographer with a stutter so crippling, he has taken to learn sign language to communicate. He has carried on a six-month online romance with Ellie (Chloe Pirrie), and when she suggests they finally meet in person, Greenwood goes into a panic. Cleary’s drama, while the least intense of the nominees, is the most intimate and accessible. Credit must also be given to the film’s sound editor, Gustaf Jackson. Greenwood’s thoughts are audible to the viewer and spoken perfectly in his head, creating a need for Jackson to overlay a lot of competing (and panicked) dialogue; it’s surgical-like editing.

If I had an Academy vote, I would place mine for Day One. I really liked Ave Maria, and it’s the most entertaining of the five films, but the sustained intensity of the on-the-job war drama, coupled with Alizada’s performance, makes it the winner for me.

I saw an interview with Bear Grylls recently where the adventurer praised The Revenant’s realism, saying it accurately depicts a grim struggle for survival in an inhospitable landscape. He liked it so much that he went straight to a travel agent afterwards, booking a nice winter break for himself and the family in the frozen wilderness of Canada where The Revenant was shot.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on the movie, including ridiculous ones like a histrionic piece in The Guardian calling The Revenant “pain porn” and drawing a comparison to ISIS. All news is good news for “Team Revenant” in the run-up to the Oscars, and all those column inches about bear rape and liver eating will surely keep it fresh in everyone’s minds right up to the ceremony.

I don’t really understand why some people are getting so hot under the collar about the film. While the content is gruesome and often brutal, the stylistic choices made by Alejandro Iñárritu keeps the action at a removed distance, even when the camera is shoved up someone’s nose. We’re never given the opportunity to get to know the characters, so we just sit there, observing Hugh Glass’ ordeal with cool detachment, waiting for him to get his revenge so we can all go home. Mel Gibson got the job done about an hour less in Payback, and it was a bit more fun.

DiCaprio and Co. keep talking about what an arduous location shoot it was, which leads me to my main beef with the movie: Iñárritu puts his cast and crew through hell for the sake of authenticity, but makes so many flashy choices that keep drawing our attention to the artifice of the piece. Here are five of them.

1. Long, Long, Long, Masturbatory Takes

Iñárritu and Lubezki are up to their Birdman tricks again, filming long sequences of The Revenant in elaborate takes. The film’s opening set piece is immense, a stupendous tracking shot through the mayhem of an Indian raid on Leo’s fur trapper camp. It’s a little too perfect, as the camera glides clinically through the bloodbath, taking the time to pan and tilt at just the right moment to capture people getting their heads caved in.

Some call this immersive; I call it showboating. It’s like watching a demo reel for a hyper-realistic first-person shooter, and the technique calls attention to the whereabouts of the camera rather than making it disappear. The trouble with long takes is that it goes against the usual visual rhythm we expect in a film, so when the cut doesn’t come, it makes us more conscious of the director’s decision not to cut. Because of this, I’m spending more time admiring the craft than getting involved in the action.

By comparison, look at George Miller’s virtually invisible direction in Mad Max: Fury Road. There are no such flourishes from him. Miller’s only interested in orchestrating his team in service of the story, and that is far more immersive. Iñárritu’s choice of long takes serves his ego rather than the story.

2. Stuff-on-Lens Syndrome

Another thing some people find “immersive” that I find a bit too video game-like is stuff getting splattered all over the lens. It worked in Saving Private Ryan because it felt like some ultra-intrepid film crew was documenting the battle. It doesn’t make sense in The Revenant. Cameras didn’t exist back then, so what is getting spattered with blood, water and misted up by Leo’s breath? The viewer’s eyeballs? It just brings attention to the fourth wall, and once you do that, it makes the viewer conscious of that transparent barrier between them and the action.

3. Ridiculous Dream Sequences

You know when someone at work starts telling you about a dream they had last night, and you take it as an opportunity to think about something else? Dream sequences in movies almost always have that effect on me. Because they’re dreams, the director can throw any old nonsense in there, or use it to fill in some back story that decent writing could have covered in dialogue. We didn’t need a dream sequence in Jaws to show Quint’s harrowing experience on the USS Indianapolis.

The Revenant gives us some very repetitive dream sequences to show us what happened to Leo’s dead wife. It’s pretty hackneyed, and it gets comical when she starts floating around above him like a possessed Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters.

4. Tom Hardy’s Accent

Hardy’s talent as an actor is undeniable, but he’s a very odd duck. In interviews, he looks like he’d rather be wringing the life out of the interviewer with his bare hands than answering their banal questions. And Hardy goes through accents like Inspector Clouseau goes through costumes and silly wigs. The Peter Sellers comparison is apt because one has to wonder—does Tom Hardy need to hide behind these crazy voices the same way Sellers needed to with his characters?

Hardy picked up a Supporting Actor nomination for this year’s Oscars, and he certainly immerses himself in the role of Leo’s nemesis John Fitzgerald. As a Brit, he could have chosen any kind of American accent. Instead, he chose the most outlandish, impenetrable accent he could muster, basing it on Tom Berenger in Platoon. It struck me as such an ostentatious acting choice that every time he spoke it took me out of the movie—like Iñárritu’s directorial choices, the accent feels too much like self-indulgence.

5. “What the hell are you looking at?”

Having spent a couple of hours getting splashed, splattered and breathed on, the fourth wall is finally shattered when Leo peers right down the lens at us in The Revenant’s final frames.

It’s reminiscent of 12 Years a Slave‘s most sanctimonious moment when Solomon Northrup casts a challenging gaze into the camera. That movie spends about an hour showing us that slavery is a bad thing, then Brad Pitt shows up to tell Michael Fassbender that slavery is a bad thing. Then Northrup looks straight out of the movie at us, as if to say, “Shame on you, don’t you know slavery is a bad thing?” Well, no shit, it’s only been abolished for a hundred and fifty years or so.

At the end of The Revenant, Leo fixes us with a similar meaningful gaze, although his message seems to be more universal.”Mankind…bunch of assholes, huh?”

With characters ranging from a bear to a young Hindu boy, themes ranging from familial loss to the Soviet space program, and animation styles ranging from CGI to pencil-and-paper, the field of nominees for the 2016 Best Animated Short Oscar offers something for every taste. And regardless of your preference, there’s something for everyone in this year’s shorts.

Bear Story (directed by Gabriel Osorio Varga)

The most touching of all five nominees, Bear Story shows a bear telling his story about the fate of his family. The CGI animation of the bear is perfectly fine, but it’s magnificent when the bear presents his tale via something akin to a mechanical nickelodeon. There’s also an overt animal rights message here too.

Prologue (directed by Richard Williams)

Animation veteran Williams, a three-time Oscar winner, returns with a tale of a battle between Spartans and Athenians. There is not plot, per se; it’s simply about a battle of opposing forces. The animation—old-school pencil-on-paper work—is gorgeous.

Sanjay’s Super Team (directed by Sanjay Patel)

This animated short was inspired by director Patel’s own youth. Sanjay, a young Hindu boy, is made to pray with his father but he yearns to return to the superhero cartoon he was just watching. His meditation turns into a daydream, where the Hindu gods he worships are actually superheroes. Pixar is back with another wonderful short rich in theme and intended much more for adults than for children (despite it being screened before The Good Dinosaur in 2015).

We Can’t Live Without Cosmos (directed by Konstantin Bronzit)

Titled ы не можем жить без космоса in its native Russian, this film tells the tale of best friends and aspiring cosmonauts facing the rigors of space training. Bronzit wonderfully blends the joy of youthful dreams, the desire to bring those dreams to life, and the psychological effects when those dreams don’t go quite as planned (This film is also part of the 17th Annual Animation Show of Shows. Our review of that can be found here).

World of Tomorrow (directed by Don Hertzfeldt)

This hysterical film, illustrated crudely and presented with unbridled vision, is about a little girl who is visited by a future version of herself. That future version offers lessons in history (past and future), life, love, birth, and death. And quantum physics (This film is also part of the 17th Annual Animation Show of Shows. Our review of that can be found here).

If I had an Academy vote, it would be a tough choice, but I would have to go with We Can’t Live Without Cosmos.  Sanjay’s Super Team is wonderful for its diversity and a welcome return to form for Pixar (remember Lava?). As for World of Tomorrow, it pulls off quite the stunt of being both dense and hilarious.  But as entire packages go, from story to execution, We Can’t Live Without Cosmos delivers better than its fellow nominees.

With respect to all short filmmakers, documentary short films are the most challenging to execute. Sure, animated shorts may require the added dimension of art, and both animated and live action shorts may require the adoption of a traditional three-act structure in a greatly condensed form. But neither animation nor live action shorts bear any burden of proof. There aren’t facts to present, histories to tell, or cases to make. Documentary shorts have those facets. Documentary shorts also come with mandatory moments that must be made to fit within the condensed narrative, and they do not enjoy the luxury of creative fictional exits. These are challenges greater than any of those faced by other types of short films. This year’s slate of Oscar nominees is no exception to those challenges.

Body Team 12 (directed by David Darg)

For many, if not most, the Ebola virus is something far away, something we only read about in the news. In his impactful and efficient documentary, Darg brings viewers through the screen, drops them into Liberia, and puts them on a harrowing ride-along with the members of Body Team 12. This team, part of the Liberian Red Cross, has the difficult task of removing the bodies of those who have succumbed to the virus. The film pays particular attention to the sole female member of the team, Garmai Sumo. This may be the shortest short of the bunch, but it uses every second of that time to solid effect.

Chau, Beyond the Lines (directed by Courtney Marsh)

The subject of this documentary is Chau, a teenager living at the Lang Hao Binh Agent Orange Camp in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The camp is special in that it caters only to those children who have been born with physical handicaps as a result of Agent Orange used during the Vietnam War. Unlike the other members of the camp, Chau has aspirations to become a professional artist and clothing designer. This means he has to leave the confines of the camp and make it on his own. The ravaging effects of Agent Orange on the collection of children make this film difficult to watch at times, and oddly, once Chau is on his own, the film slows.

Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah (directed by Adam Benzine)

Shoah is generally regarded as the greatest film about the Holocaust ever committed to celluloid. Clocking in at more than 9 hours, Shoah took 12 years to produce, five of which were spent editing the 200+ hours of footage. Benzine’s documentary, a reflective one on the masterpiece, is part history lesson, part film studies course, part behind-the-scenes feature, and part biography of Shoah‘s creator, Claude Lanzmann. While loaded with interesting information, the biggest challenge this Oscar-nominated short faces is doing justice to its subject. To capture anything of substance about or related to a 9-hour epic, and to do so in only 40 minutes, is a tall order. Benzine touches only a little on as many points as possible.

A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy)

The subject of this unbelievable documentary is a young Pakistani woman who survived an attempted honor killing. This practice is, at least anecdotally according to Obaid-Chinoy’s film, a growing trend in Pakistan and one that Pakistani courts are actually tolerating. The survivor of an attempt and the focal point of this film, Saba Maqsood, made a decision her family took issue with, so her father and uncle took matters into their own hands. Saba survived, creating a dynamic of guilt and forgiveness that doesn’t accompany most instances like these. This documentary is spellbinding from the first frame, capturing Saba’s personal struggles, her family’s defiance, and the complexity’s of a culture that allows such awful behavior.

Last Day of Freedom (directed by Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman)

While each of the nominated docs are personal in their own ways, this film feels more personal that the others, thanks largely in part to how it is presented. Bill is the narrator of the story about his brother, Manny, and the lifelong struggles Manny faced including illiteracy, several tours in Vietnam, PTSD, and finally a date with the executioner for a murder he committed. The fact that Bill narrates gives the film emotional heft, but it’s the animated presentation accompanying the story that serves as a double-edged sword. It offers an engaging visual style, and as effective as it may be, ultimately it’s one artist’s interpretations of another person’s words. Stick around for the closing title cards—they’re chilling.

If I had an Academy vote, I would cast it for A Girl in the River without hesitation. It combines excellent technical execution, a riveting tale, a protagonist to root for, and the most shocking of subject matters, particularly in the 21st century. It also bears the distinction of being the only doc of the five I want to re-watch, which is a good barometer for me.

From the National Board of Review to the recent handing out of the Golden Globes, the 2016 Oscar season has been nothing short of unpredictable. Yet, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominations in the early morning of Thursday, January 14th, there were few shocks or notable omissions, except for the exclusion of critical darling Carol and its director Todd Haynes.

When the announcements started, the legion of Carol fans were given the chance to rest easy as it scored all of its expected nominations: cinematography, costumes, screenplay, score, best supporting actress and best actress. Yet, when surprise nominee Lenny Abrahamson was announced in Best Director and Carol was nowhere to be seen in Best Picture, it looked like a typical case of Oscar voters favoring the middlebrow over the high brow.

Not too long ago, pundits and insiders thought that Carol could surprise and win Best Picture after critical praise and an extensive stint on the festival circuit. Despite missing an important Producer’s Guild nomination, Carol was overperforming at many Oscar precursors, scoring a slew of nominations at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and BFCA Awards. Going into the morning of the 14th, it finally looked like one of America’s greatest auteurs working today could get support from The Academy, but why did the nominations come up short?

In a year with many female-driven projects as possible contenders, most were predicting at least one of these films to miss out on Oscar morning. Historically, The Academy, which features an alarming number of older, white men, have favored male-led films. In fact, of last year’s eight Best Picture nominees, every single film focused on the life of a male. So, for many, having films like Mad Max: Fury Road, Brooklyn, Room, and Carol in contention indicated a step forward for the Oscars. Yet, aside from Carol, all of these films embrace the plight of the male condition. Even though Mad Max: Fury Road is unflinchingly feminist in its commentary, the audience split was still heavily skewed in favor of the male. Brooklyn devolves into a typical love-triangle story with its leading men representing a woman torn between her family home in Ireland and new home in America. And even though Room tackles a woman’s struggle with media perception, it’s the son of Brie Larson’s character that ends up rescuing her from depression.

Carol never shies away from being a film about women and their strength in a time of repression. Carol and Therese are perceived as classy, intelligent and demure, whereas their male suitors are presented as bullish oafs. Before romance even begins to bud between Therese and Carol, the Todd Haynes film is already at a disadvantage in The Academy by displaying women as interesting and independent, especially at the expense of their men.

As diminutive as classifying Carol as a lesbian romance may be, at the heart of the film is the blossoming love between Carol and Therese. It’s easy to point to the 2006 Oscar ceremony, where Crash won Best Picture over projected favorite Brokeback Mountain, to create a narrative for The Academy’s aversion for homosexual films and performances, but in the past decade a handful of men portraying gay figures have been nominated or awarded. On the other hand, actresses portraying lesbians have had a much harder time breaking through, and it is especially hard when the characters are “just” lesbians rather than transgender, bisexual or queer. The films these women star in often have an even harder time scoring picture nominations.

In recent years, the only film driven by a lesbian couple to be nominated for Best Picture is The Kids Are All Right, a dramedy with a meaty supporting role by a well-respected male actor. In fact, The Kids Are All Right isn’t like Carol at all—it is a conservative film The Academy could have an easier time embracing. Its relative lightness paints a lesbian partnership as something less serious than a straight relationship, whereas Carol illustrates the heavy struggles of lesbians in the middle of the 20th century with dire conviction. By principle, The Kids Are All Right diminishes the family that the lesbian couple has made by putting a man in the middle of it—something The Academy members can get behind.

But the single biggest travesty of this year’s Oscar season might be Todd Haynes missing a Best Director nomination. Haynes has always been treasured by crowds of more refined taste, evident by his many directing mentions from critics’ groups in New York City and Los Angeles, but Carol had him primed for an academic breakout. Haynes’ work in Carol is marked with his usual excellence, manifested in every performance and the fully realized 1950s time period. In recent years, the directing branch has made left-field or highbrow choices compared to the Directors Guild or other committees; meditative and “artsy” films such as Amour and The Tree of Life have garnered nominations for auteurs Michael Haneke and Terrence Malick, respectively. Yet Todd Haynes, who has been making acclaimed films for more than two decades, missed a nomination for his most accessible film to date. Despite his huge influence in the important New Queer Cinema movement, he won’t be joining the ranks of the few openly gay directors to receive an Oscar nomination.

Perhaps Carol’s Oscar problems aren’t exclusive to its production in front of the camera. For the first time since 2008, The Weinstein Company missed out on a Best Picture nod after having two of the biggest front runners at the start of the season. The Weinstein Company has had a tumultuous year after laying off a few dozen staff members, along with box office flops like Burnt. TWC toned down its usual campaigning techniques and perhaps, due to this, not enough Academy members were properly convinced. But Carol has been campaigning for itself ever since its Cannes premiere. It deserved to be a film that could rest easily on its accolades and prestige.

Ultimately, Carol has ended up being The Academy’s biggest Best Picture oversight of the 21st century. Even though The Dark Knight‘s snub in 2009 signaled a need for an expanded picture category to give more genre films a chance, its support was exclusively guilds based, and the lack of picture or director nominations were all but determined after it missed those at BAFTA and the Golden Globes. Carol‘s snub is much more indicative of Hollywood and the AMPAS’ greatest aversions, whether that be the highbrow cinema, gay filmmakers, or women’s sexuality.

In a week where the Golden Globes proved once again how much of a navel gazing joke and an obvious excuse for televised drunkenness it is, one has to look at this morning’s freshly announced Academy Award nominations and hope Academy voters will renew a little faith in the practice of picking out the best and brightest of the year in cinema.

The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road—both a bit more action-oriented than we’re used to seeing in Oscar forerunners—were the favorites with 12 and 10 nominations given to the two films respectively. And if suffering for your art earns you an Oscar these days, Leonardo DiCaprio might just finally take home a little gold dude. Fifth time’s the charm, Leo!

This year we have eight films vying for Best Picture and not a single person of color nominated in a lead or supporting role, which likely has more to do with the lack of diverse films being greenlit and less to do with biased voters, but still an unfortunate truth. Those who so dutifully championed Tangerine this past year are likely feeling the sting of rejection.

Despite nabbing Lead and Supporting nominations, Carol was shut out of the Best Picture and Best Director categories. Ridley Scott was also noticeably absent from the Best Director list for The Martian (which, in case there’s been confusion, is NOT a comedy). Quentin Tarantino might also be feeling a bit overlooked this morning, with only three nominations for The Hateful Eight, but, at least, one is for cinematography, supporting Tarantino’s decision to shoot on 70mm. Star Wars: The Force Awakens asserts itself plenty in technical categories, another unsurprising feat for this box office behemoth.

All in all, it’s not an especially unpredictable list of nominations, but the real fun comes in guessing the winners. The 88th Academy Awards will be held on Feb. 28th and will air at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PST on ABC. Check back for our continued 2016 Academy Awards coverage and read on for the full list of nominees.

List of 2016 Oscar Nominations

Best Picture
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Actress in a Supporting Role
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Director
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamson, Room
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Visual Effects
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Foreign Language Film
Embrace of the Serpent, Colombia
Mustang, France
Son of Saul, Hungary
Theeb, Jordan
A War,Denmark

Best Animated Feature
Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out
Shaun The Sheep
When Marnie Was There

Best Screenplay
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room

Best Documentary
Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom

Editing
The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Production Design
Bridge of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant

Best Original Score
Bridge of Spies
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Original Song
“Earned It” from Fifty Shades of Grey
“Manta Ray” from Racing Extinction
“Simple Song No. 3” from Youth
“Til It Happens To You” from The Hunting Ground
“Writing’s on the Wall” from Spectre

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Mad Max Fury Road
The 100-Year Old Men Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared
The Revenant

Best Cinematography
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Hateful Eight
The Revenant
Sicario

Achievement in Sound Mixing
Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Achievement in Sound Editing
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Costume Design
Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant

Best Live Action Short Film
Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
Shok
Stutterer

Best Documentary Short Subject
Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond the Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Last Day of Freedom

Best Animated Short Film
Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team
We Can’t Live Without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow

After a week off, we’re back with a brand new episode of the Way Too Indiecast! This week, Bernard and CJ welcome director Josh Mond and star Christopher Abbott to talk about their new film, James White. The boys also discuss what is one of the most unpredictable awards seasons in memory and which movies they think will take home golden statues in a couple months time. Disney’s controversial decision to not screen Star Wars: The Force Awakens for critics is also a topic of conversation as your hosts cry foul and risk sounding like film critic elitists. All that, plus our Indie Picks of the Week, on this super-sized edition of the Indiecast!

Topics

• Indie Picks (3:40)
• Disney Snubs Critics (11:05)
• Awards Season Scramble (28:46)
• Josh Mond and Christopher Abbott on James White (1:15:36)

Articles Referenced

Arabian Nights: Volume 1 Review
Arlo and Julie Interview
James White Review

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The Foreign Language category at the Oscars is always a highlight. It’s a chance to give some excellent films from all over the world some recognition in a race and ceremony where they wouldn’t normally (unfortunately). This year was no exception, with films clocking in from Poland, Russia, Estonia, Argentina, and Mauritania, with the winner of course being the visually stunning and rather expected, Ida (Poland’s entry).

So while the Oscars tend to splash up some excitement, some of the films still struggle for the spotlight. And today brings the trailer of one of the less talked-about but still highly buzzed Estonian film from director Zaza Urushadze, Tangerines.

Tangerines finds Ivo (Lembit Ulfsak) and Margus (Elmo Nuganen), a pair of Estonian farmers, looking to harvest a wild crop of (you guessed it) tangerines in war-torn Georgia in the early 1990s. After the abandoned village they are clinging to is decimated by a battle, Ivo and Margus rescue and care for a pair of wounded and forgotten soldiers who happen to be from opposing sides of the bloody conflict.

The small cast is rounded out by Giorgi Nakhashidze and Mikheil Meskhi as the Chechen and Georgian soldiers, respectively. Written and directed by Urushadze, the film opens in limited release on April 17. Check out the pulsing new trailer.

Granted, this year’s Oscars were by no means the most exciting, scandalous, or even most amusing we’ve seen in a while. But that’s not to say the evening didn’t have some great moments. Because honestly, at over three hours long what program is ever going to seem to be a hit in its entirety? The Oscars always have us talking about something, here’s the top moments from the 2015 Oscars that stood out.

#1. The Opening Number

Obviously Neil Patrick Harris is most known for his amazing Tony Awards hosting where he always does musical numbers. Which are of course expected for an evening celebrating theater. The Oscars also have a long history of musical openings, so this was an obvious but excellent decision. NPH sang a touching and catchy tune celebrating movies (of course) but the whole number was stepped up several notches when he was joined by current American Sweetheart Anna Kendrick donning her lovely Cinderella dress from Into the Woods. Just in case anyone worried it would get in schmaltz territory, Jack Black brought some dark moodiness to the affair joining the two on stage and bringing us back to the modern era by reminding us most people watch movies on their “screens in their jeans.” It’s our new favorite hashtag (#screensinjeans).

#2. J.K. Simmons Uses His Acceptance Speech to Get Us All to Call Our Parents

One hears a wealth of emotional and inspiring things in acceptance speeches, and often parents are thanked and appreciated in such speeches, but its more rare for the audience to be chided for neglecting their parents. Not that Best Supporting Actor winner J.K. Simmons meant to make us all feel super guilty that we only call our parents every once in a while, but when the man who threw stools at Miles Teller’s head tells you to call your parents you get the impression he means NOW. On it, sir.

#3. Tegan and Sara and The Lonely Island’s Performance of “Everything is Awesome”

Considering we all knew they weren’t nominated and weren’t likely to win anything at the Oscars, the people behind The Lego Movie still got the point across that they know their film is awesome and nothing has changed. Complete with dancers dressed as characters from the film and with that awesome energetic beat, “Everything is Awesome” was one of the bigger spectacles of the night and by far one of the lighter and more fun moments. When Will Arnett came out to do his solo as Lego Batman, the awesome levels truly were at an all-time high. The real winners were lucky audience members who were handed Lego statuettes, a throwback to director Philip Lord’s tweet that an Oscar nomination mattered not, he could make his own.

#4. NPH’s Birdman/Whiplash Mashup

Running around in his tightie-whities was good enough. Making the connection between Birdman’s erratic drums soundtrack and Miles Teller in Whiplash was perfect. A mostly naked NPH telling Teller his playing was “not my speed” made for some of the biggest laughs of the evening. And those feeling slightly scandalized by the whole thing are just silly. It’s the perfect meta-moment when a live television program references a film scene in which a celebrity endures a ridiculous moment during another piece of live theater. It’s a great scene in the movie and was great when NPH did it as well.

#5. Patricia Arquette’s Simple But Passionate Acceptance Speech/Meryl Streep’s Reaction

These two tie, mostly because they happened at the same time. Upon winning her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, Patricia Arquette thanked all the appropriate people, referenced the sanitation organization she’s involved with and then somewhat unexpectedly threw out that it was time for equality for women in the workplace. Nothing new, granted, but during a night when everyone seemed to have left their soapboxes at home, it was a refreshing reminder that women especially need to use the spotlight whenever it’s given to them to remind others of where we stand. Almost just as stirring was Meryl Streep’s instant reaction, jumping to her feet and raising her arms in support (now our new favorite gif). The fact that such simple statements still get a rise out of those who hear them, means we’re not quite there yet with women’s equality—(not to mention the clarity the Sony hacking gave us in the differences in paychecks still happening in the industry). Thank you Patricia for the needed reminder.

#6. Common and John Legend’s Performance of “Glory”

We’ve seen this one performed a few times, the Golden Globes and the Grammys most recently, but somehow this performance beat out all the rest. For one because Common and John Legend had a powerful group of people walking slowly behind them as though down the road to Selma. The visuals were truly fantastic, but also since Selma was snubbed in many ways for these Oscars, it was as though these two men were committed to giving the film the recognition it deserved. And boy did they move us. There were tears a plenty in the audience, most notably streaming down star David Oyelowo’s face and also Chris Pine’s (causing female hearts around the country to simply snap in two.) The performance made their win for Best Song even more deserved, and the two men spoke so eloquently and with such conviction all the feels just came rushing back. A sincere congratulations to everyone involved with Selma.

#7. First Time Writer/Winner Graham Moore’s Acceptance Speech

As a complete newbie, it was heartwarming to see the young Graham Moore pick up an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Imitation Game, but his speech went even further in making us love him. Falling in line with the slew of “it gets better” style speeches we’ve seen lately, Moore spoke of his attempt to commit suicide at 16 and that anyone out there thinking those same thoughts needs to “Stay weird. Stay different. And when it’s your turn, pass this message on to the next person.” It’s the sort of message we can always use reminding of. And those trolls of the Internet who poked fun at Moore, saying for someone calling for “weird and different” he had one of the more boring scripts of the year, should do well to remember it’s adapted. You can only work with what you got, people.

#8. John Travolta is Ridiculously Creepy to Idina Menzel

So John Travolta made for the best joke of last year’s Oscar show by weirdly mispronouncing Idina Menzel’s name as “Adele Dazeem” before her performance of “Let It Go” from Frozen. An entire meme was formed and we all had a great laugh. Idina Menzel got her much deserved revenge by announcing John Travolta as “Glom Gazingo” when he joined her on stage last night. This was plenty funny and much deserved but as though overly trying to endear the audience (and apparently Menzel) Travolta got extra touchy, weirdly closing in on Menzel and touching her face. It was strange and just reinforced our preconceived notion that Travolta is turning into one of the more eccentric characters in Hollywood.

#9. Eddie Redmayne Wins Best Actor and Oozes Adorableness

Even we were slightly torn over who would take this one home, Keaton and Redmayne had us guessing, even after Keaton took home the Spirit Award the night previous. So when Eddie Redmayne won the award for his role in The Theory of Everything we were happy for him and no one can say he didn’t deserve it. But his baffled expression, his humongous grin, and the exuberance with which he accepted the award sure make him that much more lovable. It’s the sort of excitement one hopes to see from an actor when they’ve truly done work that merits such accolade.

#10. Birdman Wins Best Picture

Ok, so this is obvious, whoever gets Best Picture always achieves one of the bigger events of the evening, but this one feels all the more significant because it didn’t seem likely to happen. Not that Birdman is any dark horse by any means. They were a close second pick in our minds, but Boyhood getting exactly one award (Best Supporting Actress) of its six nominations is a bit shocking. And maybe even a bit harsh. But once again the Academy proves their nostalgia and narcissism picking a film focused on the arts rather than a film that’s artistry was highly involved and historical. Rants aside, Birdman is an excellent picture and pitting two such dissimilar films against one another is hardly an even battle. Congrats to all, and Boyhood, don’t worry. You’ll still make it into all the history books.

Honorable Mentions: Lady Gaga killing it in her performance of songs from The Sound of Music in recognition of its 50th anniversary and then melting our hearts when hugging Julie Andrews. Sean Penn and his awkward and ill-timed joke before announcing Best Picture. Outrage online around Joan Rivers missing from the In Memoriam (despite being far more influential to the red carpet than to film itself.)

While it brought in some of the lowest ratings for the Oscar’s in a while (down 14% from last year), the evening proved to be enjoyable if mild.

Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel walked away from this year’s Oscar ceremony with four golden statues apiece. After early results didn’t seem to tip toward the night’s trend, Birdman broke away late in the ceremony, with wins in Cinematography, Original Screenplay, Director and Picture. Boyhood, considered a favorite by many pundits (and us), won only for the supporting performance of Patricia Arquette.

Besides the near lack of Boyhood there were many fun surprises on the night. Best Editing went to Whiplash, a very deserved win, however unexpected. Big Hero 6 beat out big favorite How to Train Your Dragon 2. The Academy finally gave some recognition to composer Alexandre Desplat, who won for the first time in eight nominations.

But, of course, the Oscars are more than just the awards, and overall this was a decent, if largely unremarkable, ceremony. First-time host Neil Patrick Harris kept things moving light and quickly through most of the night—with a few strangely controversial jokes. His opening musical performance (along with Anna Kendrick and a very welcome Jack Black) was produced extraordinarily well. All of the music segments, in fact, were the highlights of the show—from the emotionally charged “I’m Not Going to Miss You” to the rousing “Glory” it was a diverse and wonderful selection. Honestly, the production of the event, including the musical numbers and award presentations, may have saved a show that was lighter on humor and the memorable odd moments that tend to happen each year. You may also have noticed there were no clip montages, which I think we can all get behind.

There were also a number of great speeches. Patricia Arquette’s call for equal rights for women was straight-forward and strong. Eddie Redmayne seemed genuinely shocked and grateful for his win. Pawel Pawlikowski said what he was going to say, Academy orchestra be damned! Graham Moore (who won for his adapted screenplay for The Imitation Game) gave a beautiful message for all of us who feel out-of-place. And, finally, Alejandro Iñárritu, who had a lot of opportunities to speak, was just the right amount of humble and self-deprecating.

Here is a full list of the 2015 Academy Award winners from last night.

This week’s news cycle was dominated by the #Oscars, with the ramp up to the post-show giving us all plenty to read. The morning after the ceremony is always one of my favorite days, with all the opinions on what went right, what went wrong and what got weird.

On The Fence About Neil Patrick Harris

There are two wonderful hot takes from Slate this morning. The first is a biting take-down of host Neil Patrick Harris. Personally, many felt that Harris was more adequate than bad, though the expectations that the ceremony needs to be a comedy show doesn’t help. Finding the perfect Oscar host is basically impossible—or, at least, the nature of what the host is expected to do and is able to do isn’t always going to line up. It’s understandable that people expected a little more out of NPH, with his experience hosting other award shows. See our reactions and our favorite moments from the 2015 Oscars.

Biggest Mistake By The Academy In 20 Years?

Slate’s Oscar opinion slams the Academy for its failing to recognize Boyhood as the best picture of the year. Writer Dan Kois thinks Boyhood should have won, and we also have the feeling that in 20 years this decision will look more glaring, but picking Birdman is no great tragedy. He notes that this is the worst mistake the Academy has made in 20 years, but doesn’t even mention Crash, which is already considered a huge misstep.

Independent Spirit Awards

If the Independent Spirit Awards are more your style, Way Too Indie has you covered with the full list of winners, all of the night’s acceptance speeches, and a list of the 7 best moments of the evening. Boyhood received a little more recognition at the Spirit Awards than it did from the Oscars, as Richard Linklater won for Best Director, but strangely wasn’t in attendance to accept the award. Though it was Birdman that flew away with the top prize at the indie awards show as well.

Kristen Bell & Fred Armisen hosted the Independent Spirit Awards

Fifty Shades of Grey Continues To Dominate

Fifty Shades of Grey was #1 at the box office again this weekend bringing in an additional estimated $23 million. From The Telegraph, here is a bizarre story of three women who were arrested after allegedly attacking a man during a screening in Scotland when he asked them to quiet down.

Scream Factory & IFC Midnight Team Up

One awesome bit of news you may have missed last week was the exclusive home media deal between Scream Factory and IFC Midnight. As reported by Fangoria, the new partnership will begin with a special edition Blu-ray of Way Too Indie favorite The Babadook this upcoming April. We’re long time fans of what Scream Factory has put out—even when the films aren’t particularly appealing—as they have always do a superb job of restoring older genre films and always add excellent special features. The upcoming Babadook features Jennifer Kent’s short film Monster and Deleted Scenes that will be exclusive to the Special Collector’s Edition.

Mo’Nique Talks About Being Blackballed From Hollywood

Last week actress Mo’Nique spoke out about her disappearance from Hollywood after her Oscar win in 2010. The Hollywood Reporter interviewed the comedian and actress, covering her perspective of being blackballed by Hollywood following a rocky relationship with filmmaker Lee Daniels. Though the situation is obviously headline-grabbing, there is a plenty else in the interview of worth, including Mo’Nique’s spiritual connection with Hattie McDaniel, as well as a first-hand look into the Oscar campaign season.

Trailer of the Week: Welcome to Me

Kristen Wiig’s next project, Welcome to Me, looks so weird and charming, just like its star. Wiig plays Alice Klieg, a troubled young woman who wins the lottery. She decides to spend her winnings in inspired ways, including creating her own talk show that seems to break every formula of the business. Welcome to Me premiered at TIFF to strong reviews and will have a limited release on May 1st. Check out the trailer below:

Tonight’s the night! Years of work (12 in at least one case), a year of movies, and a lot of hard work leads toward what is considered Hollywood’s highest honor, the Academy Awards. That said, the Academy’s tastes are particular and after last night’s Birdman upset at the Spirit Awards, we can expect a few surprises tonight, but perhaps not in the bigger categories.

Refresh on our predictions. But remember, as they say it absolutely is an honor to be nominated.

List of 2015 Oscar Winners

(Winners highlighted in bold font)

Best Picture
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Highlight: That it won AT ALL?! Not expecting it, but tough competition this year and Boyhood still holds our respect. 

Best Actor
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Highlight: His adorable bashfulness and utter surprise and happiness at winning. 

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild
Highlight: Her joke about winning an Oscar adding years to one’s life (what science is that based on?!) which helps her out since she’s married to a younger man and also her call to trying to get patients of alzheimer’s to be seen and call attention to the disease. 

Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
Highlight: J.K. tells us all to call our parents. Lazy Sunday night parents everywhere tell their kids to “call back later.”

Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Laura Dern – Wild
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods
Highlight: Patricia used a portion of her speech to call attention to her ecological sanitation organization givelove.org as well as an impassioned shoutout to women calling for “wage equality once and for all.”

Best Director
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game

Best Foreign Language Film
Ida – Poland
Leviathan – Russia
Tangerines – Estonia
Timbuktu – Mauritania
Wild Tales – Argentina
Highlight: Director Pawel Pawlikowski defies music deadlines and says his keep, thanking those he wishes to thank.

Best Animated Film
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Best Documentary Feature
CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga
Highlight: Neil Patrick Harris cracks the joke: “The subject of Citizenfour, Edward Snowden couldn’t be here for some treason.”

Best Original Screenplay
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler

Best Adapted Screenplay
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

Best Original Score
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Mr. Turner
The Theory of Everything
Highlight: Preceded by an amazing performance by Lady Gaga performing songs from The Sound of Music for its 50th Anniversary. 

Best Original Song
“Everything Is Awesome” – The Lego Movie
“Glory” – Selma
“Grateful” – Beyond the Lights
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” – Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
“Lost Stars” – Begin Again
Highlight: Common and John Legend call attention to the current struggle for justice and spotlight on the number of black incarcerated men in America in an impassioned speech bringing tears to many eyes in the audience. 

Best Cinematography
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken

Best Editing
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash
Highlight: Tom Cross thanks director Damien Chazelle for pushing him to create great art. 

Best Visual Effects
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Best Sound Editing
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

Best Sound Mixing
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash

Best Production Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner

Best Costume Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

Best Live Action Short Film
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh
The Phone Call

Best Documentary Short Subject
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper (La Parka)
White Earth

Best Animated Short Film
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Feast
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life

The highly discussed possibility of a Best Picture / Best Director split was given fuel by the results of this year’s Independent Spirit Awards. The technically proficient Birdman won the night’s top honor, while Boyhood director Richard Linklater was awarded the directing prize. In fact, so many Oscars frontrunners won awards at this year’s Spirit Awards that the perceived chasm between the shows resembled a mere crack in the sidewalk.

Five out of six frontrunners (depending on your opinions on a Birdman/Boyhood Best Picture & Best Director split) for the big six awards on Oscars Sunday took home honors at the Indie Spirit Awards this year. The one Oscar underdog to win an Indie Spirit Award was Michael Keaton who A) has close to 50/50 odds in the Best Actor race and B) didn’t face competition from the likely Best Actor winner Eddie Redmayne. If the expected results hold for tonight’s Oscars ceremony, it will be the second time in two years that five out of six Spirit Awards winners repeated that achievement at the Oscars (last year, only Steve McQueen’s Best Director win deviated from the Oscars’ picks, and like Keaton, McQueen’s competition was ineligible at the Spirit Awards).

Look back only two years to the 2012 Awards and the similarities weren’t quite as strong: only Best Female Lead winner Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) would ultimately win an Oscar as well. The mutual embrace of The Artist by the Spirit Awards and Oscars saw many similar winners in 2011; however, 2009’s awarding of Mo’Nique (Precious) and Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) followed by 2010’s honoring of Natalie Portman for Best Actress (Black Swan) marked the only major winners to transcend award shows.

Natalie Portman won Best Actress in 2010

Many have taken the increasing similarity between the Oscars and the Independent Spirit Awards as a sign that the indie awards aren’t as indie as they once were. Truthfully, you have to look to the Spirit Awards’ designated low-budget or First Screenplay categories to find the gems like Dear White People and Land Ho!; however, the Spirit Awards’ $20 million budget ceiling still prevents most of the major studio efforts from penetrating the indie tent in Santa Monica, CA. Oscar-nominated films like American Sniper and The Imitation Game were also absent from the nominees due to the budget cap. So what else can be blamed for the increasing likeness between these awards? The Academy Awards’ switch to an expanded Best Picture field.

In 2008, the last time the Academy nominated only five movies for Best Picture is the last year in which there was no overlap with the Indie Spirit Awards’ Best Feature category. In fact in 2008, Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) took home the Independent Spirit Awards’ Best Male Lead prize over eventual Oscar winner Sean Penn (Milk) indicating a lack of consensus between the separate award shows.

2009 only featured Precious as a Best Film nominee at both shows but the following year featured 4 Indie Spirit Best Feature nominees in the Best Picture race. Every year since 2010, before 2014, had only two features overlap, but compared to earlier seasons that often featured one or no overlap in the top category this shift is notable. The only Spirit Best Feature nominees with Best Picture nominations in 2004, 2006 & 2007 were the winners of Best Feature.

Neil Patrick Harris sings onstage in 2007 at Spirit Awards. Tonight he’s hosting the Oscars.

With the Academy Awards increasing the number of nominated films in a year, mid-major films once destined to be overlooked now share the spotlight with studio-produced features. The Oscars have met the need for an awards show to recognize films that emerge from the festival world like Boyhood & Whiplash, which totaled 11 Oscar nominations between them. The Independent Spirit Awards aren’t treading on the Oscars’ territory so much as the Academy has taken a step toward the indie world.

Perhaps this indicates that the Independent Spirit Awards needs to consider dropping its ceiling from $20 million movies to something like $10 million. In a changing filmmaking landscape that’s become increasingly digitized, $20 million can look a lot like $100 million once did. A lower ceiling might eliminate films like Birdman & Selma from the competition but big winners such as Still Alice ($5 million budget) and Nightcrawler ($8.5 million budget) would remain a part of the festivities. Drop the ceiling to $5 million and both Boyhood ($4 million) & Whiplash ($3.3 million) still qualify.

More importantly, lowering the ceiling helps drag films like Appropriate Behavior and Blue Ruin out of the “Best First” categories and into the same discussion as Oscar nominees. Because if predicting the winners of the Independent Spirit Awards means simply waiting for the Oscar frontrunners to materialize, then what’s the purpose of the Spirit Awards at all?

This Sunday night everyone will know who the real 2015 Oscar winners are and that person who hasn’t watched a single nominated film this year will probably win your office pool. In our recent Oscar Winners Revisited columns, we’ve gone back to discuss who should have won back in 2011, and 2012. Now we revisit the 2013 Oscars and discuss why we think Best Picture should have gone to Silver Linings Playbook and not to Argo, as well as our picks in the other 5 major categories that year.

Best Supporting Actress

Who Won – Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Who Should’ve Won – Amy Adams, The Master

Amy Adams’ understated performance as the reserved but grounded wife in The Master seemed to have been overshadowed by the thunderous performances from leads Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. But she had an essential role in shaping The Master into the brilliant and well-acted film that it became. After Adams walked away empty-handed three previous times at the Oscars (nominated for Junebug, Doubt, and The Fighter), I thought she’d finally receive the shiny gold trophy she deserves. Yet somehow Anne Hathaway received more votes from the Academy with her imperfect singing in the classic musical remake of Les Miserables. One day you will win Ms. Adams, one day. [Dustin]

Best Supporting Actor

Who Won – Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Who Should’ve Won – Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

2013 felt like a real “anything goes” year for the Best Supporting Actor category. On one side, there was the trio of living legends Alan Arkin, Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones all playing pivotal roles in films that won elsewhere in major categories. On the other were two men better known as character actors: Christoph Waltz and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Waltz picked up his second win in two nominations (both for Tarantino movies) despite some critics noting Leonardo DiCaprio’s superior performance in Django Unchained. All in all, the overlooked nominee in the bunch was Hoffman. Though we didn’t know it then, The Master would be Hoffman’s final Oscar nomination, his strongest collaboration with his friend, filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson. Playing Lancaster Dodd, the cultish leader of The Cause, Hoffman illustrates the charisma necessary to recruit a legion of followers while also depicting Dodd as a man, “a hopelessly inquisitive man.” It’s a staggeringly complex character made knowable through an honest, vulnerable performance. Lancaster Dodd exhibited Hoffman at his best: charming, empathetic, and exceedingly truthful. He deserved a win. [Zach]

Best Actress

Who Won – Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Who Should’ve Won – Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Nobody was surprised to hear Jennifer Lawrence’s name called for Best Actress in 2013. She was terrific in Silver Linings Playbook, a film that had Oscar wins written all over it, which made this victory feel like an easy lay-up despite the talented group of nominees that year. Emmanuelle Riva nearly broke us down to tears with Amour, Quvenzhané Wallis won our hearts in Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Naomi Watts left us emotionally stirred in The Impossible. But it was Jessica Chastain who shocked us with her bravery in an unapologetic portrayal of CIA agent in charge of tracking Osama bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty. Unlike other Hollywood roles for women, Chastain got the chance to play an intelligent, uncompromising heroine, and she did it extremely well. This might have been one of the better years for lead actresses in recent memory, but Chastain’s electrifying performance stood above the rest—perhaps just a touch above Wallis and Lawrence. [Dustin]

Best Actor

Who Won – Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Who Should’ve Won – Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

With all due respect to the World’s Greatest Actor Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of Freddie Quell creates a character far beyond imitation. The enigmatic Quell is noticeably disturbed, speaking out of the side of his mouth and prone to sudden, violent outbursts. Phoenix is said to have used a rubber band to tie his teeth together on a side of his mouth to contribute to Quell’s odd speech pattern. But beyond his vocal choices, Quell is likely Phoenix’s most physical performance. The actor contorts himself, throwing his body into walls and at others with an animalistic quality. This type of performance could feel over-the-top in a lesser production but guided by Paul Thomas Anderson, Freddie Quell is both frightening and sympathetic. More than that, he’s simply unforgettable. [Zach]

Best Director

Who Won – Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Who Should’ve Won – Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Obviously nobody at the time knew that Ben Affleck‘s Argo would go on to win Best Picture, a strange thing since he wasn’t even nominated in this Best Director category. While people were scratching their heads trying to figure out why he and Kathryn Bigelow were snubbed, some were pleasantly surprised (myself included) to see Michael Haneke on the list for Amour (foreign films don’t often get recognized in this category), as well as first-time filmmaker Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild. Though the race seemed to be between David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) and Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), Ang Lee walked away with his second Best Director award. Remarkably, it was the new kid on the block, Zeitlin, who impressed me the most. He shot Beasts of the Southern Wild on location using mostly local actors, and created a poetic fairy tale most seasoned directors couldn’t produce. Even though he didn’t win, Zeitlin should have felt honored to be in such great company. [Dustin]

Best Picture

Who Won – Argo
Who Should’ve Won – Silver Linings Playbook

This is probably one of my least favorite years for Best Picture, a lot of brilliant films didn’t make the cut while a couple mediocre ones did (cough Les Miserables cough). But I’ll take Silver Linings Playbook over the wondrous Life of Pi, the heartbreaking Amour, and the endlessly moving Beasts of the Southern Wild. Silver Linings is one of the most charming movies of the decade and a delightful throwback to the zany screwball romantic comedies of the ‘30s and ‘40s, a better tribute than the previous years Best Picture winner The Artist. David O. Russell’s chaotic and jumpy style perfectly suits this story of a man suffering from bipolar disorder trying to correct his life amidst an unusual romance, a temperamental football-obsessed father, and any other type of everyday drama that can stand in the way of a positive and happy life. There’s a lightning-in-a-bottle feeling of success to Silver Linings Playbook which the uninspired mess of American Hustle only makes me appreciate more. [Ryan]

In honor of Oscar season being fully upon us, Oscar Winners Revisited is a new column that combines three of our favorite things: arguing about the Oscars, nostalgia, and passing judgment on others. These features hope to re-evaluate past Academy Awards results and see how well the winners and nominees held up versus the choices Way Too Indie Staff members would make today. We’ll be sticking to the big six categories: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress. Make sure to visit yesterday’s installment on the 2011 awards, and check back on Way Too Indie tomorrow for another year’s batch of Academy Award winners, revisited.

Best Supporting Actress

Who Won – Octavia Spencer, The Help
Who Should’ve Won – Berenice Bejo, The Artist

The Artist cleaned up most of the major categories in 2012, earning wins for Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Actor. But I was bummed when Berenice Bejo’s dashing performance in the film failed to capture a win on Oscar night, falling to Octavia Spencer in The Help. Even to call Bejo a supporting actress in the silent film era throwback is kind of a stretch, she spends a great deal of time on-screen with Jean Dujardin. Her charming performance as the young dancer and love interest was done without saying a word. It’s hard to deny Octavia Spencer’s captivating performance, but part of me just wanted this to end in a tie between these two great actresses. [Dustin]

Best Supporting Actor

Who Won – Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Who Should’ve Won – Nick Nolte, Warrior

I’m tempted to award the newcomer Jonah Hill, the youngest nominee by more than 20 years, for his surprisingly textured work in Moneyball. Considering the combined age of the other four nominees totalled more than 250 years, it was unlikely the Apatow-bred actor was going to break through. Beyond Hill, 3-time Oscar nominee Nick Nolte may have delivered the most heart-wrenching performance in this group of actors. Christopher Plummer does solid work in Beginners, but likely garnered a lot of support due to the nature of his role and Plummer’s long career (at 82, Plummer became the oldest competitive Oscar winner ever). Nolte’s Warrior performance came as the sole nomination for a mostly overlooked but beloved smaller project (much like Plummer for Beginners), but his gravel-voiced vulnerability gives his role an emotional anchor. Both veteran actors are deserving of acknowledgement, but the more affecting performance scene to scene for me was Nolte’s. [Zach]

Best Actress

Who Won – Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Who Should’ve Won – Viola Davis, The Help

Surprise, surprise Meryl Streep wins again. Okay, so maybe she doesn’t win all the time, but Streep has racked up a whooping 19 Oscar nominations. That’s enough nominations to make one wonder if she’s getting noms now solely based on her name, not her performances. Her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady wasn’t particularly impressive. In fact, most people that year expected Viola Davis to win since she won at the Screen Actors Guild. And rightfully so. Davis dominated the screen and our hearts when she’s forced to bite her tongue as a black maid serving her white employer. If there was one thing to take away from the 2012 Oscars, it’s that you should never count Streep out when it comes Oscar night. [Dustin]

Best Actor

Who Won – Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Who Should’ve Won – Brad Pitt, Moneyball

2012 lacked the type of standout male lead that drives most Oscars races. With all due respect to Demián Bichir whose surprise nomination came in a film not many had seen (including myself, although the role garnered acclaim from those who did), his inclusion feels like a reward in and of itself. Dujardin’s malleable performance in the lead of the Best Picture winning “silent” film The Artist certainly has a novelty the other nominated performances lack; however, as strong as Dujardin was in the movie, there are inherent limitations to the role. Brad Pitt’s role in Moneyball is by far the more conventional of these two performances. Yet Pitt is delivering a performance that exemplifies the qualities that has made him one of Hollywood’s biggest stars for decades. The ease with which he delivers his lines, the disaffected persona he portrays while still communicating a committed interest in his actions, and the subtlety of the role in comparison to Pitt’s other not-so-subtle standout performances make the part of Billy Beane a highlight of Mr. Jolie’s acting career. He’s no runaway winner, but Pitt is an appealing alternative to Dujardin here. [Zach]

Best Director

Who Won – Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Who Should’ve Won – Martin Scorsese, Hugo

I don’t give Hugo the win for Best Picture and I don’t usually like to give splits in Director/Picture (though in 2013 I would give Cuaron Best Director and The Wolf of Wall Street Best Picture), but Martin Scorsese really deserved it this year. The 3D family film was in fact a much more deserving effort than his long-awaited win for The Departed five years earlier. Hugo saw the filmmaker working completely out of his comfort zone and he absolutely nails it, I’d be hard pressed to think of a more inspiring and heartfelt family film to be released this decade. His use of 3D is also incredible, the best use of the technique I’ve seen thus far, as if Scorsese had turned himself into a sort of modern day version of Méliès (sorry Terry Gilliam). Marty really knocked it out of the park on this one. [Ryan]

Best Picture

Who Won – The Artist
Who Should’ve Won – The Tree of Life

Other than Drive, The Tree of Life was easily my favorite film of 2011 it was one of the most beautiful, poetic, and awe-filled experiences one could have with a film so far this century. A philosophical and emotional epic that sees abstract filmmaker Terrence Malick operating on his most breathtaking canvas yet with the help of God’s gift to cinematography, Emmanuel Lubezki. It’s his most powerful film in a small, but nonetheless outstanding filmography (though Badlands will probably always be my favorite). It’s kind of incredible the Palme d’Or-winning film was even nominated at all (the expanded field helped I’m sure) and it definitely feels like one of those films where the voting body was saying “the nomination is your reward, but you have no chance.” Out of the other nominees only Hugo really comes close to The Tree of Life, though it seems unlikely Malick’s masterpiece ever would have taken home the top prize when competing with the Academy’s continually frustrating choices. The Tree of Life will stand the test of time though which is far more important and telling of a film’s impact. [Ryan]

In honor of Oscar season being fully upon us, we’ve created a new column that combines three of our favorite things: arguing about the Oscars, nostalgia, and passing judgment on others. Oscar Winners Revisited hopes to re-evaluate past Academy Awards results and see how well the winners and nominees held up versus the choices Way Too Indie Staff members would make today. We’ll be sticking to the big six categories: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress. Make sure to check back on Way Too Indie tomorrow for another year’s batch of Academy Award winners, revisited.

Best Supporting Actress

Who Won – Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Who Should’ve Won – Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

It’s hard to complain about Leo’s win for The Fighter, though her self-funded pleading for the award looks more desperate now than even then. Truthfully, her performance might be the year’s second Best Supporting Actress role, but her performance wasn’t the best in the category. As the lead of her film, True Grit’s Hailee Steinfeld carries a movie that also features major actors like Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin. The 13-year old’s steely reserve, and scrappy determination in the face of an overwhelming Wild West is captivating filtered through the Coen’s vision for True Grit, and aided by a script packed with Southern idioms Steinfeld is a delight in the role. This is the type of performance Hilary Swank would have won an Oscar for if Steinfeld were 10 years older, but her relative youth makes the part easier to ignore. 4 years later, it’s impossible to overlook Steinfeld’s captivating performance. [Zach]

Best Supporting Actor

Who Won – Christian Bale, The Fighter
Who Should’ve Won – John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

The Academy loves when big name actors lose massive amounts of weight for their role, as if that’s the only way to show true dedication, and that’s exactly what Christian Bale did (for the second time in his career). Truth be told, Bale did a great job in David O. Russell’s The Fighter, it’s hard to imagine the film without him. But the best performance in this category goes to a different nominee who played a meth-addict; John Hawkes for Winter’s Bone. Here Hawkes makes the most of his limited screen time and perfectly counterbalancing the then little-known Jennifer Lawrence as her drugged up uncle. Hawkes embodies the part of the conflicted antihero with his natural scrappy grit, making him the perfect fit for the role. After picking up the win during the Independent Spirit Awards for this role, there were high hopes Hawkes would also win his first Oscar too. But to this day we’re still waiting for that to happen. [Dustin]

Best Actress

Who Won – Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Who Should’ve Won – Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

I can’t think of a more heartbreaking performance from 2010 than Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine, it’s one of the best lead actress performances of the decade so far and right up there with Anne Dorval (Mommy), Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night) and so many others. Natalie Portman who won this year for Black Swan was incredible in that film, arguably the best she’s ever been, and that certainly made the loss for Williams easier to understand. But still as great as Portman is and she is great, Williams is just on another level with a performance full of tragic and beautiful moments (sometimes seconds apart) as a woman caught in the dissolution of her marriage. [Ryan]

Best Actor

Who Won – Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
Who Should’ve Won – James Franco, 127 Hours

Are you serious? James Franco plays a man who literally gets trapped between a rock and a hard place for 127 hours in agonizing pain and resorts to an unthinkable escape, and yet the Award goes to the portrayal of a British King with a speech impediment? Franco spent the entire film by himself, in a single setting, and wasn’t even able to move, yet his relentless determination proves the power of the human condition, inspiring everyone who watched it. In doing so, Franco demonstrated his ability to perform in a more serious role and earned an Independent Spirit Award in the process. The King’s Speech is one of those films that people forget about several years later, and while Colin Firth’s performance was sufficient, Franco’s is one that sticks with you over the years. [Dustin]

Best Director

Who Won – Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Who Should’ve Won – David Fincher, The Social Network

The Social Network isn’t David Fincher’s best work, not by a long stretch, he’s at his best on films like Se7en and Zodiac. But still it’s impossible to call any of the other nominees this year more deserving than the calculated, precise and damn near perfect work on display from Fincher here; it’s almost insulting to award it to anyone else in fact. Still, Tom Hooper and The King’s Speech rode a wave of late-season awards success and pulled the rug right out from under Fincher. It’s not that Hooper’s a totally undeserving winner, although between The Damned United and The King’s Speech I began to sour on his style, it’s that he’s undeserving in 2011. Aaron Sorkin wrote a great script, Jesse Eisenberg gave a career-best performance, but it’s Fincher who is the true MVP of The Social Network bringing his procedural leanings, unique style and oddly strong sense of humor to this story about the beginnings of Facebook or what could just as accurately be called a story of friends, betrayals, and human nature. Fincher’s presence at the helm can’t be undersold and is the biggest reason why this film is or will be considered a masterpiece by many. [Ryan]

Best Picture

Who Won – The King’s Speech
Who Should’ve Won – The Social Network

The Academy Awards have a penchant for looking back at history with the films they awards their top honors. The King’s Speech fits that mold, an ostensibly feel-good project that depicts a bygone era through the experience of a King and his speech therapist. It’s a pleasant film that for one Weinstein-fueled reason or another turned into the foregone conclusion of 2011’s Best Picture race. In awarding The King’s Speech, the Academy snubbed several films that will be remembered as various auteurs’ defining works, notably David Fincher’s The Social Network. “The Facebook Movie,” as many people dubbed the movie, retains the cold precision of Fincher’s other works but fills its story with damaged egos and big money squabbling. The script from Aaron Sorkin (which won Best Adapted Screenplay this year) features dialog delivered at the pace of a screwball comedy, while somehow communicating the intricacies of computer programming and web strategy. The Social Network is a distinctly modern movie, and it captures the rebirth of America’s tech boom without the benefit of hindsight. But far beyond that it’s a compelling story about human behavior, and the value of relationship vs. power. [Zach]

It’s been 25 years since Billy Crystal first hosted the Academy Awards in 1990, an incredible show that received great praise for Crystal and allowed him to come back for an additional eight times in years since. Crystal’s always energetic work with the Academy Awards has garnered him 3 Emmy Awards (2 for writing, 1 for hosting) and he’s always been relied on to deliver a great performance. His shows were some of the most enthusiastic and entertaining, filled with an appreciation for the magic of cinema as well as an incredible ability to mine laughs out of anything or anybody in the film industry.

In the video below, Billy Crystal reveals big secrets from the 1990 Academy Awards, including the moment Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty visited him in his dressing room mid-show, Paula Abdul’s choreography, live crosses to five different cities worldwide and what it’s like to host for the first time. Neil Patrick Harris certainly has a lot to live up to.

Watch Highlights From Billy Crystal & the 1990 Academy Awards

Like most years, there was a lot of controversy over the Academy’s choices for Oscar nominations this year. Some felt that the lack of Selma representation, namely in Best Actor and Best Director categories since it did receive a Best Picture nom, spoke volumes about the predominately white demographic of the Academy. Though lets not forget last year’s Best Picture winner was appropriately given to 12 Years a Slave. At the time of announcement others felt the love for American Sniper was a bit of a reach, though the film has since set numerous opening box office records. But don’t think for one second I’m completely siding with the Academy, there were big time snubs in most categories (including the enormous neglect for The LEGO Movie). Below are predictions on who will win an Oscar, who deserves to win, and who should’ve been nominated in all the major categories.

Complete List of 2015 Oscar Predictions

BEST PICTURE
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

BEST ACTOR
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Laura Dern – Wild
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

BEST DIRECTOR
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ida – Poland
Leviathan – Russia
Tangerines – Estonia
Timbuktu – Mauritania
Wild Tales – Argentina

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken

BEST EDITING
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Mr. Turner
The Theory of Everything

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Everything Is Awesome” – The Lego Movie
“Glory” – Selma
“Grateful” – Beyond the Lights
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” – Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
“Lost Stars” – Begin Again

BEST SOUND EDITING
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

BEST SOUND MIXING
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

The Academy finally announced their Oscar nominations for 2015, and they certainly created a lot of controversy. With plenty of surprise nominations (American Sniper?!), snubs (Selma), and surprises (Marion Cotillard!), there was plenty to like (and plenty more to dislike). On this edition of the Way Too Indiecast, editor-in-chief Dustin Jansick sits down with C.J. Prince to discuss the most interesting and surprising nominees. Topics include what might be the biggest snub of the year (hint: this snub was definitely the opposite of awesome), why people love nominating Meryl Streep for everything, a strange choice in Best Director, the success of The Grand Budapest Hotel and more.

Topics

• 2015 Oscar Nominations (0:35)
• Biggest Snubs (13:15)
• Best Foreign Films (18:30)
• Grand Budapest Hotel (24:25)

WTI Articles Referenced in the Podcast

2015 Oscar Nominations List

American Sniper Review

Selma Review

Into the Woods Review

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Like them or not, the 2015 Oscar nominations are in.

Snubbing seems to happen every year, apparent front-runners don’t receive nominations and the list of nominations are questioned. No The Lego Movie in Best Animated Film. No Life Itself or The Overnighters in Best Documentary Feature. Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo walk away empty-handed. Gone Girl left out of Best Picture, Best Director, and (strangest of all) Best Adapted Screenplay. Foxcatcher has good enough direction, acting and screenplay, but not good enough for a Best Picture nomination.

Sometimes the list of snubs can shine a light on a great year, which by all means 2014 was (or at the very least, 2014 was better than people think). We all knew that categories like Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, etc. were going to be tight races, so it’s too easy for one of our favorites to just miss the cut (like Jake Gyllenhaal).

Shifting to a positive note, Way Too Indie favorites Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel led the nominations with nine each. Boyhood received six nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and both supporting acting categories. Despite its snubs in all the other major categories, Selma was recognized with a Best Picture nomination. Ida, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, also received a nomination for its stunning black-and-white cinematography. While we expected to see Force Majeure and Two Days, One Night on the list for Best Foreign Language Film, we’re equally happy to have Wild Tales and Leviathan. Meanwhile, Whiplash hauled in a whopping six nominations including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.

Finally, American Sniper, a film that didn’t seem to have much buzz, received six nominations. And somehow the dismal Angelina Jolie film Unbroken wound up with three nominations. Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Full list of 2015 Oscar Nominations

BEST PICTURE
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

BEST ACTOR
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Laura Dern – Wild
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

BEST DIRECTOR
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ida – Poland
Leviathan – Russia
Tangerines – Estonia
Timbuktu – Mauritania
Wild Tales – Argentina

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Mr. Turner
The Theory of Everything

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Everything Is Awesome” – The Lego Movie
“Glory” – Selma
“Grateful” – Beyond the Lights
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” – Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
“Lost Stars” – Begin Again

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken

BEST EDITING
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past

BEST SOUND EDITING
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

BEST SOUND MIXING
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh
The Phone Call

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper (La Parka)
White Earth

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Feast
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life

In our second Way Too Indie hangout, we discuss what we’ve been watching, share our reactions to the Oscars and Independent Spirit Awards, and ponder whether or not the independent film industry is cannibalizing itself. Heavy stuff this week, kids!

Be sure to click subscribe and give us a “like” if you enjoy the show.

This is a big one, folks! We’re giving away two blu-ray copies of 12 Years a Slave, which took home several awards this year including Oscars for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay, an armful of Independent Spirit Awards, and a truckload more. This is your chance to own one of the best films of the year!

How To Enter

You’ve got three chances to win:

• Follow us on Twitter and tweet us your favorite film of 2013
• Like us on Facebook and share this article
• Tell us your favorite film of 2013 in the comments section below

Two winners will be selected at random. If chosen, we’ll notify you either by email, twitter, or Facebook. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

The big winner Oscar Sunday was Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, winning seven awards including Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Visual Effects. Though for the second year in a row, the winner for Best Director did not go on to win the top prize of Best Picture. Instead the honors went to 12 Years a Slave, which also picked up Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. Other winners were 20 Feet from Stardom for Best Documentary, The Great Beauty for Best Foreign Film, and Her for Best Original Screenplay.

Complete List of 2014 Oscar Winners:

Best Picture:

American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Director:

David O. Russell – American Hustle
Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity
Alexander Payne – Nebraska
Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor:

Christian Bale – American Hustle
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actress:

Amy Adams – American Hustle
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock – Gravity
Judi Dench – Philomena
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Best Supporting Actor:

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress:

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County
June Squibb – Nebraska

Best Original Screenplay:

Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell – American Hustle
Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine
Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack – Dallas Buyers Club
Spike Jonze – Her
Bob Nelson – Nebraska

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke – Before Midnight
Billy Ray – Captain Phillips
Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope – Philomena
John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave
Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Foreign Film:

The Broken Circle Breakdown
The Great Beauty
The Hunt
The Missing Picture
Omar

Best Cinematography:

Philippe Le Sourd – The Grandmaster
Emmanuel Lubezki – Gravity
Bruno Delbonnel – Inside Llewyn Davis
Phedon Papamichael – Nebraska
Roger A. Deakins – Prisoners

Best Animated Film:

The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Ernest & Celestine
Frozen
The Wind Rises

Best Documentary:

The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
The Square
20 Feet from Stardom

Best Film Editing:

Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten – American Hustle
Christopher Rouse – Captain Phillips
John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa – Dallas Buyers Club
Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger – Gravity
Joe Walker – 12 Years a Slave

Best Original Score:

John Williams – The Book Thief
Steven Price – Gravity
William Butler and Owen Pallett – Her
Alexandre Desplat – Philomena
Thomas Newman – Saving Mr. Banks

Best Original Song:

“Happy” – Despicable Me 2
“Let It Go” – Frozen
“The Moon Song” – Her
“Ordinary Love” – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Best Production Design:

American Hustle
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
12 Years a Slave

Best Costume Design:

American Hustle
The Grandmaster
The Great Gatsby
The Invisible Woman
12 Years a Slave

Best Makeup & Hairstyling:

Dallas Buyers Club
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
The Lone Ranger

Best Sound Editing:

All Is Lost
Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor

Best Sound Mixing:

Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor

Best Visual Effects:

Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Short Film (Live Action):

Aquel No Era Yo
Avant Que De Tout Perdre
Helium
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa?
The Voorman Problem

Best Visual Short Film (Animated):

Feral
Get a Horse!
Mr. Hublot
Possessions
Room on the Broom

Best Documentary (Short Subject):

CaveDigger
Facing Fear
Karama Has No Walls
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

In our first Way Too Indie Hangout video chat, Bernard Boo (writer), Dustin Jansick (editor-in-chief), and Ananda Dillon (editor), discuss the films that we have watched recently which include; Charlie Stratton’s In Secret (review), Eliza Hittman’s It Felt Like Love (review to come), and Sebastian Silva‘s Magic Magic. The main topics in this episode reveal our predictions on who we think the big winners will be at the Independent Spirit Awards and as well the Oscars this weekend.

Stay tuned for future Way Too Indie Hangouts and subscribe to WTI on YouTube

A few shades darker than your average thriller, writer-director Hany Abu-Assad’s Omar, a nominee for the 2014 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, explores the psychological trauma endured by the eponymous Palestinian twentysomething (Adam Bakri) and his childhood friends Amjad (Samer Bisharat) and Tarek (Eyad Hourani) as they struggle to survive in the violently, psychologically oppressive climate of Israeli-occupied Palestine. Though narratively uninspired and lacking strong performances to lead us through the tale, Abu-Assad’s pensive examination of the toxic environment in the Middle East is as riveting as it was in his lauded suicide bomber drama Paradise Now.

Omar is a brazen, handsome young man with a ferocious will; he scales the twenty foot wall standing between him and Tarek’s house with ease, only to be met at the top by Israeli gunfire, which grazes, but doesn’t phase him. He’s on his way to meet with Amjad and Tarek for their regular “freedom fighter” training, which includes sniper rifle target practice and planning an attack on an Israeli army base over cups of tea. Serving them the tea is Tarek’s beautiful sister Nadia (Leem Lubany), who slips Omar a love note on his saucer as they play eyes. (Amjad’s clearly interested in Nadia too, though his tiny frame suggests he shouldn’t be serious competition for Omar.)

The trio carries out their covert assault at night, and they successfully pick off an Israeli soldier from atop afar (Amjad pulls the trigger). The next day, Omar is caught (following a conventionally choreographed foot chase) and imprisoned by the Israelis and forced to choose between a lifetime in prison and freedom, providing he brings them Tarek (who they believe shot the soldier) on a silver platter. He’s got a month to deliver his friend to the enemy, and the rest of the film follows Omar as he scrambles to placate the suspicions of his people (why was he released so quickly?), win Nadia’s hand in marriage, smoke out the real rat in his inner circle, and keep himself out of prison. It’s an impossible juggling act, but Omar’s nimble of foot and wit and driven by the hope of a future with Nadia.

Doom and danger dominate Omar’s life, as his role in the Palestinian cause takes precedence over his love for Nadia whether he likes it or not. Tarek will only agree to endorse he and Nadia’s marriage after they carry out an ambush on the Israelis. Omar obliges. The ambush is botched (this is surely the work of the rat), and the film rinse-and-repeats–Omar is caught, sent to prison, and set free again, gifted with one last shot at retrieving Tarek by prison warden Rami (Waleed Zuaiter), who we can sense is taking a liking to Omar. The film ends with a bang, a startling flash of violence that is the film’s most resonant moment.

Like many filmmakers depicting the volatile climate of the Middle East, Abu-Assad is evasive in his moralistic statements about the conflict itself, so as not to incur a backlash from either side. What he instead chooses to focus on is the tragedy that the fog of death will forever lie between these young men and their friendship, hopes, and dreams. Omar’s connection to the Israelis instills mistrust and paranoia in the group, and Amjad carries with him a secret about Nadia that could cause their group to implode.

The cast (with the exception of Zuaiter) is non-professional, and it shows. Bakri and Bisharat in particular wear perpetually blank faces, even in the most intense scenes, and it hurts the film. Zuaiter, Hourani, and Lubani’s efforts are more than respectable, but their parts are secondary. Abu-Assad is a storyteller of symbolism; a shot of an older, depleted Omar struggling desperately to scuttle up the wall from the beginning of the movie, is a powerful visual indication of just how far our hero has fallen.

Omar trailer

If there’s one thing in common between Best Foreign Film and Best Documentary, it’s that no matter what you’re gonna piss somebody off. That’s what happened this year when two popular documentaries didn’t get past the shortlist: Stories We Tell and Blackfish. 2013 was actually a terrific year for documentaries, but the best of the best is still underrepresented in this list of five.

Starting with the most insignificant of the five, Cutie and the Boxer follows Ushio and Noriko Shinohara, an elderly couple trying to live off of their art careers. Ushio is famous for his avant-garde pieces, while Noriko has sacrificed her own artistic ambitions to play the role of assistant to her husband. At a scant 81 minutes there isn’t much nuance to speak of, and a lot of interesting details are glossed over (Ushio’s troubles with alcohol in the past are briefly touched on, and the strained relationship with their son only gets several minutes of screentime). By the end it feels like a very slight film, and its subject matter won’t stand up against the competition.

20 Feet From Stardom, on the other hand, is the kind of fluffy doc that Academy voters adore. Director Morgan Neville puts the focus on backup singers, finding out who was singing behind classics (a highlight of the film gives the backstory on Merry Clayton’s vocals in “Gimme Shelter”) and wondering why such talented people could never break out on their own. Neville has picked a terrific topic for his documentary, and he’s lucky enough to have such charismatic personalities carry along his film while he flails from topic to topic. If Neville was able to find something to anchor his film, 20 Feet could have been much better. But it’s doesn’t matter anyways, audiences love the film, and Harvey Weinstein is putting all he can into ensuring it walks away with a trophy on Oscar night. While 20 Feet From Stardom is far from the best film in this category, its crowd-pleasing nature and heavy campaigning will probably make it win. I’m sincerely hoping that this won’t be a repeat of last year’s Searching for Sugar Man win, but the cynic in me says otherwise.

Unsurprisingly politics dominated the category this year. Rick Rowley’s Dirty Wars is the most overtly political film of the bunch, focusing on reporter Jeremy Scahill’s investigation into the US’s new methods of fighting wars. The truth is, of course, horrifying. Drone strikes and seemingly unlimited access to anywhere in the world (along with many, many other depressing revelations) show a level of unchecked power that would give anyone pause. Oddly enough, Dirty Wars is similar to 20 Feet From Stardom in that its subject matter does most of the heavy lifting. The doc’s attempt to play out like a conspiracy thriller falls flat; Scahill’s overly serious narration combined with Rowley’s attempt to make him look like a martyr don’t work well when seeing innocent people get slaughtered. Nonetheless, Scahill and Rowley are covering material that absolutely needs to be exposed to the public more. It’s a pleasant surprise that Dirty Wars was nominated at all, and even though it won’t win it should hopefully get more people watching the film.

When it comes to the battle for the overall best documentary in the group, it boils down to two films: The Act of Killing and The Square. The Square could provide a pleasant upset on March 2nd, as its immediacy and relevance may appeal to voters. The Act of Killing has been a critical darling ever since it premiered on the festival circuit in 2012, with its mortifying look at a country proud of the genocide it committed decades ago. Personally speaking, it’s no contest. As terrific as The Square is at showing the highs and lows of Egypt’s revolution in real-time, it’s still a film in progress (it was re-edited between its Sundance premiere and official release to include more recent developments). The Act of Killing is a documentary that will be referred to years from now as one of the major films in the format. Whether or not director Joshua Oppenheimer deserves mention alongside names like the Maysles, Wiseman, Herzog or Morris (the latter two love the film, and put their names on it as executive producers) remains to be seen, but he’s made a film that can easily be put next to those directors’ strongest works.

Like I said at the beginning, 2013 has been a terrific year for docs, so choosing only one that should have been nominated is quite tough. While I disagree with the consensus on Blackfish, I enjoyed Stories We Tell. My personal pick for best documentary last year would be Leviathan, but I’m not thick enough to expect AMPAS to ever nominate something that borders on avant-garde so much. My pick for what should have been nominated goes to Let The Fire Burn, Jason Osder’s terrific film about the tragic battle between a group of radicals and a city government at its wits end. It’s a balanced look at a messy situation, showing how failure from both sides led to devastation. The fact that Osder effortlessly shows all sides of the story through nothing but archival footage makes his film all the more impressive.

Category Predictions

Best Documentary Nominees

The Act of Killing (review)

Cutie and the Boxer (review)

Dirty Wars

The Square (review)

20 Feet from Stardom (review)

Previous Category Analysis

Best Shorts
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Foreign Film

Where to begin with the Foreign Language Film category? The nomination process will always annoy people: Foreign countries submit one film they consider their ‘best’ for the year, said list is whittled down to 9 films, and a small committee chooses their 5 favourites from the shortlist. This year was also, unsurprisingly, home to some controversy because of the process. Blue is the Warmest Colour was not eligible because it was not released within Academy guidelines (a film must be released before October 1st in its home country), and Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s Like Father Like Son wasn’t even submitted by Japan.

All things considered, despite a few snubs, this isn’t too bad of a list. But first, let’s get some nominees out of the way. The Hunt is a terrific drama that gets a great response out of audiences, but the subject matter will probably turn off voters. The Missing Picture is a personal film about the director’s experience in Khmer Rouge labour camps as a child, and while it covers ground the category has been kind to in the past the film hasn’t been generating much buzz. The fact that it was nominated is an achievement in itself.

It really comes down to two films this year: The Great Beauty and The Broken Circle Breakdown. The Great Beauty has been working like gangbusters with audiences, enjoying mass praise from critics and still healthily making money well into its theatrical run (it opened in November). The Broken Circle Breakdown, and all other nominees really, haven’t matched the success of The Great Beauty, but Broken Circle will reduce most of its viewers into a sobbing mess with its story of a terminally ill child. Granted, I thought it was manipulative garbage (see review below), but the film has been resonating with audiences.

In the end, I think prestige will win out over emotions. The Great Beauty already has a Golden Globe win under its belt, and the story will probably appeal to members more. I could be absolutely wrong about all of this (and I’ll be the first to admit it if I am): for the first time since the 1950s voting on this category has been opened up to all Academy members. This might shake up things considerably, so we’ll have to wait and see come March.

As for who should win, it goes to the only nominee I haven’t mentioned yet. Omar is a terrific thriller that uses genre elements (specifically film noir and, to a lesser extent, western) to comment on the inescapably tragic way of life that Palestinians live daily. Hany Abu-Assad’s political angle never feels preachy or overwrought for one second, and even if one disagrees with the film’s stance they can still appreciate Omar as great genre filmmaking.

To be fair I decided to go with my ‘shoulda’ pick by looking at this year’s official submissions. Naturally I haven’t seen much, including some films that had people fuming over being snubbed (looking at you, Wadjda). From what I’ve seen, then, I decided to go with The Past. Asghar Farhadi’s latest film may be a step down from A Separation, a film that won this category, but Farhadi is still creating great dramas that no one else appears to be attempting right now. Farhadi’s film about characters failing to escape from their pasts is, funnily enough, unable to step out of the shadow of the director’s last film but that shouldn’t take away that it’s still quite good.

Category Predictions

Best Foreign Film Nominees

The Broken Circle Breakdown (review)

The Great Beauty (review)

The Hunt (review)

The Missing Picture

Omar

Previous Category Analysis

Best Shorts
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay

The Best Adapted Screenplay category is the lesser exciting of the two screenplay categories because of the lack of competition within the group of nominees, as well as the lack of films to choose from this year in general. The clear frontrunner this year is John Ridley for 12 Years a Slave, a film about a free black man who got sold into slavery for twelve years of his life. This would be a deserved win for the film as it does stand out against the rest of the competition.

I believe the only film here that could potentially upset 12 Years a Slave is Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope for Philomena—which contains its own heart-wrenching story about a woman searching for her son. Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight may have wooed critics, but a nomination from the Academy is likely all the film will receive. The Wolf of Wall Street certainly portrays the wild (drug induced) ride of Jordan Belfort as a wealthy stockbroker who became a main target of the federal government. Though as exciting as it is to watch, the script benefited from the masterful hand of Martin Scorsese and his crew. The same can be said about Captain Phillips, the story is interesting but not necessarily exceptional.

Though it would be a complete long shot for several reasons, including the fact that it is a foreign language film that is rated NC-17, Blue is the Warmest Color deserved to be nominated for its comic book adaption about a woman’s self-discovery and passionate love for another woman. Blue is the Warmest Color is an admittedly simple story, but one that captures all the raw emotions and intimacy that surrounds a loving relationship. Not to mention that it was the best film of 2013.

Category Predictions

Best Adapted Screenplay Nominees

Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke – Before Midnight (review)

Billy Ray – Captain Phillips (review)

Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope – Philomena (review)

John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave (review)

Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street

Previous Category Analysis

Best Shorts
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Original Screenplay

The screenplay category is notorious for giving smaller indie films a chance for recognition that they may not receive anywhere else on Oscar night. That is not exactly the case this year as all but one (Blue Jasmine) of these nominees received a Best Picture nod (though really only one (American Hustle) is considered an actual contender in that section). But I attribute this exception more as praise for the Academy for including such films like Her and Nebraska in the Best Picture category because in most years these could have been edged out by more mainstream picks like Saving Mr. Banks or August: Osage County.

In my opinion, there is a pretty clear standout amongst the nominees, and that is Spike Jonze’s Her. Quite literally, this film contains the most original screenplay out of the bunch when a lonely writer (Joaquin Phoenix) develops a romantic relationship with an operating system. The film is unbelievably charming and remarkably thought provoking. It’s biggest competition in this category will be David O. Russell’s American Hustle, but I am still baffled as to why the film is getting so much acclaim. I personally believe the only real achievement in American Hustle is earned from its acting talent. Nonetheless, look for it to be a major player in all categories including this one.

Woody Allen has received an impressive 16 nominations for screenwriting over the years, but I do not suspect his riches to rags story in Blue Jasmine has what it takes to win this year, especially considering he won the category just two years ago for Midnight in Paris. Dallas Buyers Club certainly sounds like an Academy favorite; a true American story about a controversial person, but the narrative of the film never quite reaches the emotional payoff it aims for. And while Nebraska is easily my favorite Alexander Payne film, many will dismiss it for its lack of depth and rather simple story.

There are a few misses that come to mind as far as films not getting a nomination that should have. Nicole Holofcener’s Enough Said was a humble, yet sincere romantic comedy that really moved me. The classic three-act story in The Place Beyond the Pines would have been an excellent addition to this group. But the category really missed its opportunity highlight a small film that received no Oscar nominations this year, Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha. The film feels like it was penned by a young Woody Allen (remember his impressive nom count?) as it packs a light and whimsical story around a very likeable but flawed character. Frances Ha was relatable, humorous, and charming. Oh, and it is shot in New York.

Category Predictions

Best Original Screenplay Nominees

Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell – American Hustle (review)

Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine (review)

Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack – Dallas Buyers Club (review)

Spike Jonze – Her (review)

Bob Nelson – Nebraska (review)

Previous Category Analysis

Best Shorts
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor

Well we can thank the Best Supporting Actress category for giving us some sense of competition. Best Supporting Actor is one of the few categories in this race that’s set in stone. Jared Leto, who plays an AIDS-infected transgender woman in Dallas Buyers Club, goes through a physical transformation that’s just as dramatic as Matthew McConaughey’s in the film. Leto is excellent in Dallas Buyers Club, and by now the Oscar is his to lose.

Personally speaking, out of the five performances it was Jonah Hill’s in Wolf of Wall Street that surprised me the most. For a 3 hour film about pure excess, and the most over the top performance in Leonardo DiCaprio’s career, it was Hill who turned out to be the glue that held the film together. He repeatedly stole scenes from DiCaprio and plenty of other great actors, and provided the film’s biggest laughs throughout. It’s the kind of role that will establish Hill as a true talent, and help him step out of the shadow of his more famous friends in the Apatow clan.

As for the others…Michael Fassbender is great at playing the horrendously evil Epps in 12 Years A Slave, but it’s too one-note when he’s in a field of more multifaceted performances. Barkhad Abdi gets the “happy to be here” nomination slot for his debut role in Captain Phillips. Abdi’s rise from limo driver to Oscar nominated actor makes for a great story, but he doesn’t have a chance at getting near the stage on Oscar night. And in all honesty, I completely forgot about Bradley Cooper getting nominated for American Hustle. He’s not bad (I think he did a much better job in The Place Beyond The Pines, but that’s just me), it’s just a slight performance in a slight film.

It’s tough to pick one actor who should have been nominated. I think it was a great year for comedic performances, with James Franco in Spring Breakers and The Rock in Pain & Gain being highlights (also severely under-appreciated: Danny McBride in This is the End). Ultimately, I decided to go with Keith Stanfield in Short Term 12, who felt like a real discovery this year. His arc as troubled teen Marcus is the best thing about the film, and he brings such a quiet intensity to the role that a separate film could have easily been dedicated to his character.

Category Predictions

Best Supporting Actor Nominees

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips (review)

Bradley Cooper – American Hustle (review)

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave (review)

Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street

Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club (review)

Previous Category Analysis

Best Shorts
Best Supporting Actress

It appears as if the Best Supporting Actress race will be between Jennifer Lawrence and Lupita Nyong’o, and with the latter recently winning at the Screen Actor Guild, we have her slightly nudging out J-Law for the win. But it is still a close race. Everyone seems to be hopping on board the Lawrence train with her recent success and her down to earth personality, so do not rule her out completely. In a slightly less competitive year, Julia Roberts performance in August: Osage County would have earned her more attention, but instead finds herself in a distance third. Both Sally Hawkins and June Squibb received their first Oscar nominations this year, but have a much greater chance of getting recognized at the Independent Spirit Awards than here. Although she never appears on screen, Scarlett Johansson’s (Her) voice alone makes us care about an Operating System like we never have before. Johansson’s lack of a nomination for her role is not all that surprising as there has never been a nomination for a voice performance–a shame because this would have been a perfect time to start.

Category Predictions

Best Supporting Actress Nominees

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine (review)

Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle (review)

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave (review)

Julia Roberts – August: Osage County (review)

June Squibb – Nebraska (review)

This morning the official announcement of nominations for the 2014 Oscars came in with Gravity and American Hustle on top with an impressive total of 10 nominations each. Not far behind was 12 Years A Slave which hauled in 9 nominations. The Best Picture race will almost certainly be between American Hustle and 12 Years A Slave with Gravity almost a lock to pick up several technical achievement awards. A pleasant surprise for me was to see the Academy’s love for Spike Jonze’s Her, which nabbed 5 nominations including Best Picture, while the Coen Brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis received nominations only for Best Cinematography and Best Sound Mixing.

Other surprises were Jonah Hill getting a Best Supporting nod for The Wolf of Wall Street, Saving Mr. Banks only receiving a single nomination for Best Original Score, despite many believing it had Best Actor and even Best Picture potential (though I agree with the Academy’s decision on this one). Another surprise were Blackfish and Stories We Tell getting nudged out of the Best Documentary category, as 20 Feet From Stardom slips in. The biggest disappointment for me was seeing Blue Is the Warmest Color getting snubbed in the Best Foreign Film category.

The 86th Academy Awards will air March 2, 2014 at 7 p.m. ET on ABC.

Full List of 2014 Oscar Nominations:

Best Picture:

American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Director:

David O. Russell – American Hustle
Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity
Alexander Payne – Nebraska
Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor:

Christian Bale – American Hustle
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actress:

Amy Adams – American Hustle
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock – Gravity
Judi Dench – Philomena
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Best Supporting Actor:

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress:

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County
June Squibb – Nebraska

Best Original Screenplay:

Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell – American Hustle
Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine
Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack – Dallas Buyers Club
Spike Jonze – Her
Bob Nelson – Nebraska

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke – Before Midnight
Billy Ray – Captain Phillips
Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope – Philomena
John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave
Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Foreign Film:

The Broken Circle Breakdown
The Great Beauty
The Hunt
The Missing Picture
Omar

Best Cinematography:

Philippe Le Sourd – The Grandmaster
Emmanuel Lubezki – Gravity
Bruno Delbonnel – Inside Llewyn Davis
Phedon Papamichael – Nebraska
Roger A. Deakins – Prisoners

Best Animated Film:

The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Ernest & Celestine
Frozen
The Wind Rises

Best Documentary:

The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
The Square
20 Feet from Stardom

Best Film Editing:

Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten – American Hustle
Christopher Rouse – Captain Phillips
John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa – Dallas Buyers Club
Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger – Gravity
Joe Walker – 12 Years a Slave

Best Original Score:

John Williams – The Book Thief
Steven Price – Gravity
William Butler and Owen Pallett – Her
Alexandre Desplat – Philomena
Thomas Newman – Saving Mr. Banks

Best Original Song:

“Alone Yet Not Alone” – Alone Yet Not Alone
“Happy” – Despicable Me 2
“Let It Go” – Frozen
“The Moon Song” – Her
“Ordinary Love” – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Best Production Design:

American Hustle
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
12 Years a Slave

Best Costume Design:

American Hustle
The Grandmaster
The Great Gatsby
The Invisible Woman
12 Years a Slave

Best Makeup & Hairstyling:

Dallas Buyers Club
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
The Lone Ranger

Best Sound Editing:

All Is Lost
Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor

Best Sound Mixing:

Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor

Best Visual Effects:

Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Short Film (Live Action):

Aquel No Era Yo
Avant Que De Tout Perdre
Helium
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa?
The Voorman Problem

Best Visual Short Film (Animated):

Feral
Get a Horse!
Mr. Hublot
Possessions
Room on the Broom

Best Documentary (Short Subject):

CaveDigger
Facing Fear
Karama Has No Walls
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

The story of Thor Heyerdahl and the Kon-Tiki expedition is one so extraordinary it’s hard to believe it took this long to get dramatized. Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen), an ethnographer who spent a decade in Polynesia, discovered the natives’ ancestry can be traced back to Peru. His thesis is dismissed by the scientific community since the two lands are approximately five thousand miles apart. Heyerdahl argued that Peruvians made the journey on their wooden rafts, and in order to finally silence his critics he decided to make the same journey himself.

Heyerdahl recruits four people for the voyage: two radio operators (Tobias Santelmann and Jakob Oftebro), a childhood friend with experience at sea (Odd Magnus Williamson) and Herman (Anders Baasmo Christiansen), an engineer Heyerdahl met while trying to fund the trip in New York. At the last minute a Swedish ethnographer (Gustaf Skarsgård) tags along to film what would eventually be the Oscar-winning documentary of the same title. With all the exposition and character introductions out of the way, the crew departs from Peru to begin their 100 day trip.

Like Life of Pi (aka that other movie about a long journey at sea), Kon-Tiki deals with faith but in a way that’s less satisfying. Herman who, as an outsider gets forced into the role of rationalist, argues with Heyerdahl over the raft’s construction. His pleas of securing the raft with wire are ignored by Heyerdahl, who insists that having faith and “trusting Tiki” will ensure a safe trip. Not only is this theme underdeveloped, the fact that the journey is already known to be a success makes the theme’s presentation disingenuous. It’s very easy to look at something successful in retrospect and claim some other power is responsible. The spirituality in Kon-Tiki only amounts to a giant thud.

Beyond that, Kon-Tiki doesn’t offer much that’s interesting. It’s a very Hollywoodized production, and unsurprisingly its studio-friendly format earned it an Oscar nomination. The standard story beats, emotional cues and conflicts in adventure stories all pop up, with none of them generating any kind of response. A sequence involving a pool of sharks attacking the raft is a stand-out, mainly because of the impressive special effects. The closing sequence, where Heyerdahl reads a letter by his wife, is surprisingly effective, but most of the impact is undercut by how poorly developed their relationship is. The Kon-Tiki expedition itself was an incredibly grueling and challenging 5,000 mile journey, but Kon-Tiki is anything but challenging. It’s a well-made film, but ultimately a forgettable one.

Just as many expected, Argo took home the top award of Best Picture at the 85th Academy Awards, despite Ben Affleck not receiving a Best Director nomination, something that has only happened four times in 85 years. It was a year for records as Daniel Day-Lewis winning Best Actor for his role in Lincoln means that he is now the only person to have won three Best Actor awards in Oscar history. Also, the first time since 1969 there was a tie for a category (both Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty won for Best Sound Editing).

Even though Argo walked away with the top honors and two other awards (Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing), Life of Pi was the film that took home the most awards this year with four wins (Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Score and Best Visual Effects). And while Lincoln had 12 nominations, the film only ended up winning two awards (Best Actor and Best Production Design).

List of 2013 Oscar Winners:

(The winners are highlighted in bold red font)

Amour
Argo
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Michael Haneke – Amour
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Ang Lee – Life Of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

Denzel Washington – Flight
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings PLaybook
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

Alan Arkin – Argo
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook

Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
Sally Field – Lincoln
Amy Adams – The Master
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

Michael Haneke – Amour
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
John Gatins – Flight
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty

Chris Terrio – Argo
Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
David Magee – Life Of Pi
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

Amour
Kon-Tiki
No
A Royal Affair
War Witch

Seamus McGarvey – Anna Karenina
Robert Richardson – Django Unchained
Claudio Miranda – Life Of Pi
Janusz Kaminski – Lincoln
Roger Deakins – Skyfall

Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How To Survive A Plague
The Invisible War
Searching For Sugar Man

William Goldenberg – Argo
Tim Squyres – Life Of Pi
Michael Kahn – Lincoln
Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers – Silver Linings Playbook
William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor – Zero Dark Thirty

Dario Marianelli – Anna Karenina
Alexandre Desplat – Argo
Mychael Danna – Life Of Pi
John Williams – Lincoln
Thomas Newman – Skyfall

“Before My Time” – Chasing Ice
“Pi’s Lullaby” – Life Of Pi
“Suddenly” – Les Miserables
“Skyfall” – Skyfall
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” – Ted

Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln

Anna Karenina
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman

Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables

Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Argo
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life Of Pi
Marvel’s The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White And The Huntsman

Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays At Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

Adam And Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head Over Heels
Maggie Simpson In The Longest Daycare
Paperman

Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death Of A Shadow
Henry

While my Oscar predictions may not be quite as good as my Independent Spirit Award predictions were last year, I will offer my best guess at who I think will be declared the winner for each category. This year is a bit of a strange year in some of the categories as front-runners have been swiftly changing throughout the year. Take for example the Best Picture category, after strong buzz in September from the Toronto International Film Festival, people pegged Silver Linings Playbook as the leader – completely bypassing Argo which premiered a week earlier. Suddenly things shifted when Lincoln opened later in the year, but not for long as Zero Dark Thirty premiered shortly after with great buzz, making the race seemingly between those two. Then out of nowhere Argo started to gather steam by winning many of the other Award shows, making it a strong contender, and my pick to win Best Picture at the 2013 Academy Awards.

Winners will be announced at the 85th Academy Awards will air February 24, 2013 at 5:30 p.m., PT/ 8:30 p.m., ET on ABC.

List of 2013 Oscar Predictions:

(My prediction for the winners are highlighted in bold red font)

Amour
Argo
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Michael Haneke – Amour
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Ang Lee – Life Of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

Denzel Washington – Flight
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings PLaybook
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

Alan Arkin – Argo
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook

Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
Sally Field – Lincoln
Amy Adams – The Master
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

Michael Haneke – Amour
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
John Gatins – Flight
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty

Chris Terrio – Argo
Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
David Magee – Life Of Pi
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

Amour
Kon-Tiki
No
A Royal Affair
War Witch

Seamus McGarvey – Anna Karenina
Robert Richardson – Django Unchained
Claudio Miranda – Life Of Pi
Janusz Kaminski – Lincoln
Roger Deakins – Skyfall

Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How To Survive A Plague
The Invisible War
Searching For Sugar Man

William Goldenberg – Argo
Tim Squyres – Life Of Pi
Michael Kahn – Lincoln
Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers – Silver Linings Playbook
William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor – Zero Dark Thirty

Dario Marianelli – Anna Karenina
Alexandre Desplat – Argo
Mychael Danna – Life Of Pi
John Williams – Lincoln
Thomas Newman – Skyfall

“Before My Time” – Chasing Ice
“Pi’s Lullaby” – Life Of Pi
“Suddenly” – Les Miserables
“Skyfall” – Skyfall
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” – Ted

Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln

Anna Karenina
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman

Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables

Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Argo
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life Of Pi
Marvel’s The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White And The Huntsman

Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays At Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

Adam And Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head Over Heels
Maggie Simpson In The Longest Daycare
Paperman

Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death Of A Shadow
Henry

Oscar Nominated Animation Shorts Reviews

Adam and Dog
Adam and Dog tells the story of the blossoming relationship between a dog and a Neanderthal that hits a speed bump when the Neanderthal gets a girlfriend. This was probably the most ambitious of the shorts and while beautifully designed, the story fell flat and at 16 minutes long, felt too slow at times.

Adam and Dog

Fresh Guacamole
Fresh Guacamole offers intriguing insight into the lost innocence of a generation disillusioned with a callous society the defines success with capitalistic ideals…just kidding. This two minute short involved a man making guacamole using ingredients that morphed into quirky toys and objects. It was fun and thoroughly entertaining and the animation was incredibly life-like.

Fresh Guacamole

Head Over Heels
Head Over Heels is about an aging the couple that live in a strange house. The relationship has fallen apart so drastically that the husband now lives on the ceiling, while the wife remains on the floor, and they barely interact. Short story short, it is about the rediscovery of their love, back when they were “head over heels” for each other. I felt this was the best concept of all the animated shorts, and it was very funny as the old couples routines were very cute (think Up but add a woman). This was my second favorite of the shorts, and if Paperman hadn’t been so good, this would have been my pick for the Oscar.

Head Over Heels

The Longest Daycare
The Longest Daycare shows Maggie Simpson being dropped off at an Objectivist daycare, and then spending the rest of her day trying to save her new pet caterpillar. The Simpsons, as usual, seamlessly blend intelligent jokes with simple cartoon comedy and create a fast paced, entertaining, but largely forgettable short film.

The Longest Daycare

Paperman
Paperman tells the tale of a chance encounter at a train station that leaves a man desperately trying to reconnect with the women who caught his eye. When his attempts flounder, fate itself decides to ensure they meet again. It’s truly amazing how Disney can create instantly charming characters, the guy and girl seem relatable and you truly root for them to meet throughout the film. This animated short executes on all levels, it was funny, endearing, and whimsical.

Paperman

What will win

Paperman is the clear front-runner this year and for good reason. The other nominates such as Head Over Heels had more depth and stronger concepts, but Paperman plays it mostly safe with excellent execution.

What should win

Paperman

Just by glancing over the synopsis for each of the five Oscar nominated short live-action films, you get the sense that you are in for a somber set of films to watch. One of the films (Henry) is about an 84 year-old man in a constant state of confusion as he battles Alzheimer’s disease while trying to hang on to the memories of love. Another film (Curfew) is about a man who is about to commit suicide because of his abysmal relationship with his sister. Overall, these short films pack an emotional punch in thirty minutes or less.

Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts Reviews

Asad
Asad is essentially a coming of age tale of a young boy living in a dangerous Somali fishing village who must decide between the life of being a modern day pirate, raiding ships like most of his peers, or going against trend by pursuing to be a fisherman. The young boy clearly wants to be a fisherman as he befriends an elderly fisherman who takes him under his wing. The only problem is the boy has never caught a fish, for which he blames on his bad luck. The best part about Asad is how concise yet comprehensive the film is by never wasting a single minute. Even though this Somali environment is incredibly hostile, the film chooses to not focus on the violence that could have easily over-taken the story if not handled properly. The film contains the best ending in the group alongside the right amount of humor and plenty of charm.

Asad

Buzkashi Boys
In a lot of ways Buzkashi Boys is quite similar to Asad; both follow young boys in foreign lands who struggle to achieve their dreams in life. Here, the coming of age story is about two best friends who dream of one day playing Buzkashi, a game of horse polo that involves playing with a dead goat. The first thing you will notice about Buzkashi Boys is how beautiful the cinematography is set in the contemporary Afghanistan city of Kabul. The film is an inspiring story about following your dreams and knowing where you stand in life. The one thing that I had a problem with is that it was slow to get to its point; something a short film should never have issue with. At the same time, it is not hard to see people falling in love with the film.

Buzkashi Boys

Curfew
What amazes me is how a film that is under twenty minutes can have such a wide range of emotions; dark and depressing, funny and endearing, yet ultimately uplifting, all at the same time. Curfew starts off with a middle-aged man with slitting his arm with a razor blade in a bathtub that quickly fills with his own blood. But interrupting his attempt at suicide is the red phone sitting next to the tub that starts to ring. It turns out that the person who saved his life is also the one responsible for nearly ending his life, as we find out when his estranged sister calls asking for him to look after her daughter for the night. The color red is prominently showing throughout the short; powerfully representing both love and death. Juxtaposing the grim tone is his nine year-old niece when she busts out a mood-changing dance sequence in a middle of the bowling alley. Do not be surprised if you find yourself laughing, tearing up, and cheering all throughout Curfew.

Curfew

Death of a Shadow
Death of a Shadow contains the most creative concept in the group of shorts, but unfortunately ends up also being the weakest of the bunch. After dying during World War I, Nathan is giving a second chance at life in exchange for capturing 10,000 shadows using a supernatural camera that is able to see what no one else can. Nathan tries to use this opportunity to seek out the woman he fell in love with before he died, but discovers that she has already fell in love with someone else. Death of a Shadow would have worked much better as a full length film instead of a short. Because of the short runtime, the viewer is not able to fully sympathize with any of the characters or to completely comprehend relationships that are shown. If this short ever becomes a full length feature, consider it one to keep an eye on. But until then, the story does not have enough time to fully develop to its potential.

Death of a Shadow

Henry
The gloomy color palette used in Henry perfectly conveys the turmoil state of an elderly man with Alzheimer’s who believes his wife disappears mysteriously one day. The film points out while living in a constant state of confusion is both frightening and heartbreaking; the most terrifying part about old age is the awareness of losing one’s memory. Henry would make a wonderful companion piece to another Oscar nominated film Amour, as they both feature the tragedy of memory loss and the powerful force of love. This heart-felt film benefits from the remarkable lead performance of Gérard Poirier, who gives the best performance out of all of the live-action shorts.

Henry

What will win

There are two films that have a good chance for their name to be called on Oscar Sunday and they are; Asad and Buzkashi Boys. If I had to choose one, it would be Asad because the ending is so memorable.

What should win

If it were up to me, my vote for the best live-action would be for Curfew. It was grim, depressing, funny, sad, and moving all at the same time but may be a touch too “edgy” for the Academy’s vote. Oddly enough, Curfew was the only one of the bunch that was best suited as a short; the rest would all make for better full length films.

This year’s group of short documentary nominees may look like a harrowing bunch to sit through (topics include homeless teens, African children receiving heart surgery and breast cancer patients to name a few) but that should be no reason to scare anyone off from watching them this weekend. All five shorts share a common thread of people either enduring and/or prospering under tough circumstances. The subject matter may be bleak, but they’re all great displays of human strength.

Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts Reviews

Inocente (dir. Sean Fine, Andrea Nix)
Inocente opens with a close-up on its subject of the same name, a 15 year old Mexican-American who explains her situation. For years Inocente, her mother and younger brothers have been homeless. She goes over the various ways they’ve found shelter over the years before shifting to Inocente’s passion for painting big, colourful and unique pictures. The work speaks for itself when it comes to showing off how talented she is, and through a local arts program Inocente is given her own art show. A lot of focus is put on the arts program, but the most interesting parts come out of the fractured relationship between Inocente and her mother. Fine and Nix don’t get too deep into the reasons behind the rift in the family, with an ending that feels lacking. Early on Inocente mentions inviting her mother to the art show and worrying if she’ll show up; eventually her mother does show, but the attempt at an emotional climax falls flat since Inocente is never actually seen with her family. But what makes Inocente such an interesting subject is her relentless optimism. Her art is surprisingly playful, and we repeatedly see people amazed at her positive attitude despite everything she’s been through. A title card at the end points out that this is one story out of millions of homeless children in the United States, but hopefully this one story is only the beginning of a long career.

Inocente

Redemption (dir. Jon Alpert, Matthew O’Neill)
The title refers to New York City’s recycling program, where one recycled can or bottle earns 5 cents. Redemption follows ‘canners,’ people who make a living off of collecting and recycling goods throughout the city. The people Alpert and Neill encounter come from all sorts of different backgrounds: a Vietnam veteran, a former programmer for Microsoft who can’t live off of social security, a couple from Guatemala who fly up to collect cans while waiting for their crops back home to grow and a Japanese man who worked at the World Trade Center are a few of the stories told throughout. The not so subtle jabs at the upper class, including an eye roll worthy shot of the camera panning down from a Wall Street sign to a person pushing a cart full of cans, seems unnecessary given how much the subjects situations are more damning of “the 1%” than anything else. The intended goal of the redemption program has mutated from an incentive for morally good actions to a method of survival. The recession made more jobs disappear in the city, with most of the ‘canners’ complaining about how competitive the practice has gotten over the years (one person suggests that the amount of people collecting cans has recently tripled). Nothing in Redemption is more damning towards the upper class than seeing these people literally fighting with each other over empty cans.

Redemption

Kings Point (dir. Sari Gilman)
Kings Point opens with narration about New York City in the 1970s. According to the narrator, the crime was so bad at the time that many people moved out of the city to different states. Many of these people looked to Florida, where they were offered cheap prices for a condominium in an area with a nice climate. Now, almost 40 years later, the retirement community that the film gets its title from is filled with former New Yorkers entering what they assume to be the last years of their lives. Sari Gilman, whose grandmother lived at Kings Point for three decades, spent ten years filming people within the community either trying to enjoy themselves or going over their regrets in life. The documentary tends to go back and forth from lighthearted material to more sombre moments with some of the subjects. Two of the most memorable people in the doc are Bea and Frank, two friends who spend so much time together that people initially think they’re married. Frank says that he loves Bea but the age difference (she’s 10 years older) holds him back from committing to her. Eventually Frank tells the truth, explaining that he won’t marry an older woman because he doesn’t want to bury another wife. It’s these moments of candor that make Kings Point such a compelling film, as each person frankly discusses topics like aging, death and loneliness without holding back. Comparisons to Michael Haneke’s Amour are obvious, but Kings Point packs just as much of a gut punch in a significantly shorter amount of time.

Kings Point

Open Heart (dir. Kief Davidson)
Open Heart starts out in Rwanda with a father taking his 6 year old daughter Angelique to the doctor. The doctor lays out a grim situation for him: Angelique needs open heart surgery to survive, and the only place it can be done is 2500 miles away in Sudan. Angelique has been selected to get the procedure done for free, but her family cannot go with her and if she dies the body can’t be sent back home. The doctor’s blunt delivery of the news along with its placement right at the beginning of the film makes for one of many surreal moments throughout Open Heart. Angelique, along with several other children including 17-year old Marie, have been chosen to get open heart surgery in Sudan. Their condition, which can easily be prevented through penicillin that is unavailable to them, can only be treated in Sudan because it is the only hospital in the continent that can perform the necessary operations. Once the kids get to the hospital, whose modern and sterile environment directly clashes with the earlier moments in Rwanda, the doc’s focus opens up to include the doctors running the facility. Both stories are riveting, and Kief Davidson’s ability to weave back and forth between them without making one feel left behind is remarkable to watch. Open Heart has its fair share of moments that range from infuriating to heartbreaking, all of which add up to a terrific documentary.

Open Heart

Mondays at Racine (dir. Cynthia Wade)
On the third Monday of every month the Racine salon in Long Island offers its services for free to any women diagnosed with cancer. The owners, two sisters whose mother died of cancer, came up with the idea when they remembered how distressed their mother was about her looks as the cancer got worse. The salon is merely the jumping point for Mondays at Racine, which mainly follows two women with breast cancer who come to the salon regularly. Cambria is a young mother who was in the process of adopting a second child when she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. Linda is in her 50s and is still battling cancer after being diagnosed 14 years ago. While Cambria shows optimism through her chemotherapy treatments Linda shows the devastating impacts of cancer over the long-term. Her marriage is in tatters, and the interviews with Linda and her husband are so unflinchingly raw that it can get hard to watch. Cynthia Wade follows Cambria and Linda over several years, showing their respective progressions and declines in treatment. There’s a personal quality to Mondays at Racine that makes the subject matter hit especially hard, with an ending back at the salon that will move plenty of people to tears.

Mondays at Racine

What will win

Going by past winners, Open Heart seems to fit the requirements with its material hitting all the right tearjerker notes. But I won’t be surprised (or disappointed) to see Mondays at Racine win if voters are drawn in by its personal qualities. While Inocente, Redemption and Kings Point are all well-done they don’t resonate enough to be in the running.

What should win

Open Heart. As terrific as Mondays at Racine is, it doesn’t match the professionalism and impact that Open Heart achieves within the same amount of time.

The nominations for the 2013 Oscars were announced this morning with Lincoln brining in the most nominations with a whopping 12, including most of the main categories. Almost every year at the Academy Awards the showdown for Best Picture is normally between just two films, this year may be a little different. I have always thought Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty are the two films considered to have the best chance at taking the top prize, but with Kathryn Bigelow not getting a nod for Best Director, that severely hurts Zero Dark Thirty’s chances of winning Best Picture.

There were a few surprise nominations this morning, most which were welcoming. First off, Beasts of the Southern Wild got a lot more support from the Academy than what some were predicting. The film walked away with a total of 4 nominations, includes ones for Best Picture and perhaps the most surprising, Best Director. You could say because Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild) got that nod, that it shut out Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) for that final spot. Quvenzhane Wallis got a well-deserved nomination for Best Actress and although it is unlikely, she would be the youngest award winner if she ended up winning.

Some were worried that The Master would not end up getting any love from the Academy, but we can know breathe a sigh of relief as Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams were all thankfully nominated for acting awards. Amour got some love (pun intended) in more than just the Best Foreign Language category (where it is thought to be the front-runner in). The film also picked up nominations for Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Picture.

The 85th Academy Awards will air February 24, 2013 at 5:30 p.m., PT/ 8:30 p.m., ET on ABC.

Full List of 2013 Oscar Nominations:

Amour
Argo
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Michael Haneke – Amour
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Ang Lee – Life Of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

Denzel Washington – Flight
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings PLaybook
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

Alan Arkin – Argo
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook

Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
Sally Field – Lincoln
Amy Adams – The Master
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

Michael Haneke – Amour
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
John Gatins – Flight
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty

Chris Terrio – Argo
Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
David Magee – Life Of Pi
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

Amour
Kon-Tiki
No
A Royal Affair
War Witch

Seamus McGarvey – Anna Karenina
Robert Richardson – Django Unchained
Claudio Miranda – Life Of Pi
Janusz Kaminski – Lincoln
Roger Deakins – Skyfall

Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How To Survive A Plague
The Invisible War
Searching For Sugar Man

William Goldenberg – Argo
Tim Squyres – Life Of Pi
Michael Kahn – Lincoln
Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers – Silver Linings Playbook
William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor – Zero Dark Thirty

Dario Marianelli – Anna Karenina
Alexandre Desplat – Argo
Mychael Danna – Life Of Pi
John Williams – Lincoln
Thomas Newman – Skyfall

“Before My Time” – Chasing Ice
“Pi’s Lullaby” – Life Of Pi
“Suddenly” – Les Miserables
“Skyfall” – Skyfall
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” – Ted

Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln

Anna Karenina
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman

Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables

Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Argo
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life Of Pi
Marvel’s The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White And The Huntsman

Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays At Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

Adam And Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head Over Heels
Maggie Simpson In The Longest Daycare
Paperman

Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death Of A Shadow
Henry

While Hugo started off the 84th Annual Academy Awards strong but The Artist made come back later in the night. At the beginning of the award show Hugo piled on the wins in most of the technical awards such as Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing and Best Art Direction. With the momentum it built early on, it sort of makes sense that it won the Best Cinematography award (although I thought The Tree of Life should have won).

As the night progressed and some of the bigger categories were announced is when The Artist came into the spotlight. The Artist won the top award of Best Picture as well as the prestigious Best Director award. The film received another large award when Jean Dujardin won for Best Actor. It also won for Best Score and Best Costume Design.

Thankfully, there were some upsets throughout the night to keep things interesting in what many thought to be a fairly predictable year. Arguably the biggest upset was when Meryl Streep’s name got called for Best Actress as many, myself included, expected Viola Davis to win. The people from Undefeated accepting the award for Best Documentary even sounded surprised they won that category. Most of the time Best Film Editing winner goes to win Best Picture but The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo won it instead and it was their only one of the night.

The full list of Oscar winners:
(The winners are highlighted in bold red font)

The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight In Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Alexander Payne – The Descendants
Martin Scorsese – Hugo
Woody Allen – Midnight In Paris
Terrence Malick – The Tree Of Life

Demian Bichir – A Better Life
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
George Clooney – The Descendants
Brad Pitt – Moneyball
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis – The Help
Rooney Mara – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn

Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Nick Nolte – Warrior
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Max Von Sydow – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Berenice Bejo – The Artist
Jessica Chastain – The Help
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer – The Help

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Kristin Wiig & Annie Mumulo – Bridesmaids
J.C. Chandor – Margin Call
Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
Asghar Farhadi – A Separation

Jim Rash, Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne – The Descendants
John Logan – Hugo
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon – The Ides Of March
Steve Zaillian & Aaron Sorkin – Moneyball
Peter Straughan & Bridget O’Connor – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

A Separation
Bullhead
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur Lazhar

A Cat In Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss In Boots
Rango

Hell And Back Again
If A Tree Falls; A Story Of The Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

Guillaume Shiffman – The Artist
Jeff Cronenweth – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Robert Richardson – Hugo
Emmanuel Lubezki – The Tree of Life
Janusz Kaminski – War Horse

Anne-Sophie Bion & Michel Hazavanicius – The Artist
Kevin Tent – The Descendants
Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Thelma Schoonmaker – Hugo
Christopher Tellefsen – Moneyball

The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2
Hugo
Midnight In Paris
War Horse

Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.

Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Pt. 2
The Iron Lady

Ludovic Bource – The Artist
Alberto Iglesias – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Howard Shore – Hugo
John Williams – The Adventures Of Tintin
John Williams – War Horse

“Man Or Muppet” – The Muppets
“Real In Rio” – Rio

Drive
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: The Dark Of The Moon
War Horse

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: The Dark of The Moon
War Horse

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt. 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: The Dark of the Moon

The Barber Of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is The Bigger Elvis
Incident In New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami & The Cherry Blossom

Dimanche
The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic

The nominations for the 2012 Oscars were announced this morning with Hugo leading the pack for the 84nd Academy Awards with 11 nominations. The Artist came in as a close second with 10 nominations including; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Score. This is the first year with the new Best Picture rule, no longer is there a set number of Best Picture nominations, instead a film needs to get 5% of votes get a nomination. The new rule is a great change. This year still ended up with 9 films, a few more than I expected.

Perhaps the biggest surprises were The Tree Of Life getting nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, which I am glad that film is getting some love from the Academy. Other shocker is Michael Fassbender not getting a nomination for Best Actor for his role in Shame, shame on you Academy. Tilda Swinton comes up empty for Best Actress for We Need To Talk About Kevin. But some good news, Gary Oldman received his very first Oscar nomination which makes a lot of people happy.

Full List of 2012 Oscar Nominations:

The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight In Paris
Moneyball
The Tree Of Life
War Horse

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Alexander Payne – The Descendants
Martin Scorsese – Hugo
Woody Allen – Midnight In Paris
Terrence Malick – The Tree Of Life

Demian Bichir – A Better Life
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
George Clooney – The Descendants
Brad Pitt – Moneyball
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis – The Help
Rooney Mara – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn

Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Nick Nolte – Warrior
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Max Von Sydow – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Berenice Bejo – The Artist
Jessica Chastain – The Help
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer – The Help

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Kristin Wiig & Annie Mumulo – Bridesmaids
J.C. Chandor – Margin Call
Woody Allen – Midnight In Paris
Asghar Farhadi – A Separation

Jim Rash, Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne – The Descendants
John Logan – Hugo
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon – The Ides Of March
Steve Zaillian & Aaron Sorkin – Moneyball
Peter Straughan & Bridget O’Connor – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

A Separation
Bullhead
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur Lazhar

A Cat In Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss In Boots
Rango

Hell And Back Again
If A Tree Falls; A Story Of The Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

Guillaume Shiffman – The Artist
Jeff Cronenweth – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Robert Richardson – Hugo
Emmanuel Lubezki – The Tree Of Life
Janusz Kaminski – War Horse

Anne-Sophie Bion & Michel Hazavanicius – The Artist
Kevin Tent – The Descendants
Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Thelma Schoonmaker – Hugo
Christopher Tellefsen – Moneyball

The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2
Hugo
Midnight In Paris
War Horse

Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.

Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Pt. 2
The Iron Lady

Ludovic Bource – The Artist
Alberto Iglesias – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Howard Shore – Hugo
John Williams – The Adventures Of Tintin
John Williams – War Horse

“Man Or Muppet” – The Muppets
“Real In Rio” – Rio

Drive
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: The Dark Of The Moon
War Horse

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: The Dark of The Moon
War Horse

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt. 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: The Dark of the Moon

The Barber Of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is The Bigger Elvis
Incident In New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami & The Cherry Blossom

Dimanche
The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic

The King’s Speech took top honors with Best Picture at the 83rd Academy Awards Sunday night, along with Tom Hooper for Best Director and Colin Firth for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay for that film. Natalie Portman got a well deserved Best Actress win for her role in Black Swan. Christian Bale received Best Supporting Actor and Melissa Leo won Best Supporting Actress both from the film The Fighter. Inception won most of the “tech” awards as it was predicted to do.

See the full list of nominations

The King’s Speech

Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

Christian Bale, The Fighter

Melissa Leo, The Fighter

David Seidler, The King’s Speech

Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

In A Better World

Toy Story 3

Inception

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland

“We Belong Together”, Toy Story 3

The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Inside Job

The Social Network

The Wolfman

Inception

Inception

Inception

Strangers No More

The Lost Thing

God of Love

These are my predictions for the 2011 Oscars which will be held on February 27th, 2011 at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, CA. This is not a list of who I think deserves to win, but rather a list of who I think will win the awards. Some of them are a shot-in-the-dark such as the sound, make-up and short film categories but I included my best guesses on them.

See the full list of nominations

If my predictions hold true, The Social Network would walk away with the most awards with six, followed by Inception with four comprised mostly of the technical awards. With the strong line-up of films this year, I think you will see a more spread out list of winners. I predict Black Swan, True Grit and 127 Hours to each receive one award.

The Social Network

Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

David Fincher, The Social Network

Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Christopher Nolan, Inception

Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Dogtooth

Toy Story 3

Inception

The King’s Speech

“If I Rise”, 127 Hours

The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Exit Through the Gift Shop

The Social Network

The Wolfman

Inception

The Social Network

Inception

Killing in the Name

Let’s Pollute

The Crush

The 2011 Oscar nominations were announced this morning with The King’s Speech leading the way for the 83rd Academy Awards. The film, which also led the Golden Globes nominations (but only took home 1 award), took 12 nominations which include; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Surprisingly, The Social Network only took 8 which tied Christopher Nolan’s Inception and behind Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit which had 10 nominations.

Another surprise was Christopher Nolan’s absence from the Best Director’s category. But another person’s snub is another person’s gain as Darren Aronofsky earns his first ever Oscar nomination for Black Swan in the Best Director category. Some say he was snubbed two years ago in that category for The Wrestler.

Even though there were a few surprises, most of the nominations were fairly predictable, especially if you paid attention to the Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominations. Most of the leading nominations were mostly expected.

See who I predict will win Oscars

It was a very solid year for cinema making the award shows very interesting to watch as there was a lot of strong competition all around. The 2011 Oscar winners will be announced on February 27th (a day after the Independent Spirit Awards).

Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 hours

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
David Fincher, The Social Network
The Coens, True Grit

Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Mike Leigh, Another Year
David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson, The Fighter

Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy, 127 hours
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich, Toy Story 3
The Coens, True Grit
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone

Biutiful
Dogtooth
In A Better World
Incendies
Outside The Law

How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit

“Coming Home”, Country Strong
“I See the Light”, Tangled
“If I Rise”, 127 Hours
“We Belong Together”, Toy Story 3

How to Train Your Dragon, John Powell
Inception, Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech, Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours, A.R. Rahman
The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

Black Swan
The Fighter
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

Inception
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Inception
The King’s Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Comes Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

Up In The Air has an all-star cast which received three Oscar nominations of the six total for the film, including Best Picture. Often times humorous and other times emotional, it features quick and witty dialogue with a unique storyline. That being said, it also does have its flaws.

Ryan Bingham’s (George Clooney) life is air travel and because of it, it is very orderly and systematic. Ryan’s job is to fly around the country to inform people that they are fired. He is very much alright with flying 270 days a year, in fact, he enjoys traveling in airports and different cities more than being at home.

Ryan meets Alex (Vera Farmiga) in an airport bar and the two first meet by quickly exchanging the differences between car rental companies as an attempt to impress one another. Then the two compare credit card reward cards before admitting they are two people that get turned on by elite status. They agree to meet each other in a couple weeks when they will be traveling closer to each other in another state.

Ryan returns home from his trip and does not forget to remind you that he does not particularly like being home. He is informed the next day at work that the company has decided to no longer fly workers around the country to fire people. Instead, he will be doing his job via video chat, thus grounding him at home and in his mind grounding his life. Not to mention shutting him down from the date he had just lined up.

So to no one’s surprise Ryan speaks out again this to his boss. It quickly involves the person who came up with the new plan, Natalie (Anna Kendrick). Natalie is a newly hired hard worker efficiency expert. She is very set on her way and lives life on deadlines both on and off work hours. She is a go getter and a planner and she blatantly says she does not mind being married to her career. She is not ashamed of it but does not want to settle in life.

Ryan convinces his boss into showing Natalie what he does on the road and tries to make his case that it cannot be done over the internet. She then travels with him to see what he does in person. He is trying to save what he believes his life is while at the same time she is trying to save the company’s efficiency.

Up In The Air finally reaches its most important part of the film when he is at his sister’s wedding. The groom gets cold feet and he is sent to deal with it. He talks people out of commitment and now has the task of talking the groom into commitment. Which is something he knows little about and you could say he is being a hypocrite because he has not subscribed to that way of thinking.

It was right about then he realizes that commitment is not as daunting and he thought. He has such a way with words; he more or less talks himself into it. Ryan realizes that perhaps he is ready to settle down with Alex after all. The only question left is has Alex turned over a new leaf as well?

Interestingly, the majority of the people we see getting fired at the beginning of Up In The Air are not actors (but obviously Zach Galifianakis is) but actual people who were recently laid off. The filmmakers put ads out and instructed people to treat the camera as if were like the person who fired them. I think that is a nice and creative touch to make it seem more believable.

After watching the film, I began to wonder if Natalie’s storyline even mattered. I believe they could have without her part. Although Anna Kendrick does a good job with this role, I don’t think it ultimately played any role of importance in the film.

The main idea behind the film is loyalty. The word was frequently in the background on airline advertisements. The airline, credit card and car rental places all have membership clubs that reward loyal customers. Both Ryan and Natalie are loyal to their jobs both have different views on what it means to be loyal in a relationship.

Up In The Air has an unique premise and good dialogue with acting that is beyond average but ultimately the storyline is a little bumpy. I am not sure if it is some ironic play on Ryan’s philosophy of empty backpacks and pointlessness but nearly every other character in the film besides himself is pointless. It was a well done film that should have been tied in together a little more.

The Hurt Locker wins the big at the 2010 Academy Awards with a total of six Oscars including best Best Picture and for the first time by a female, Best Director. The films that had the seemed to have the best chances were The Hurt Locker and Avatar, so there was really no big surprises. I was shocked that Sandra Bullock got Best Actress, to be fair I haven’t seen The Blind Side, however I feel like Gabourey Sidibe should have gotten it for Precious. Here is the full list of winners:

Best Picture:
The Hurt Locker

Best Director:
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Best Actress in a Lead Role:
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Best Actor in a Lead Role:
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:
Mo’Nique, Precious

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Animated Feature Film:
Up

Best Art Direction:
Avatar

Best Cinematography:
Avatar

Best Costume Design:
The Young Victoria

Best Documentary Feature:
The Cove

Best Documentary Short:
Music by Prudence

Best Film Editing:
The Hurt Locker

Best Foreign Language Film:
El Secreto de sus Ojos, Argentina

Best Makeup:
Star Trek

Best Original Score:
Up

Best Original Song:
Crazy Heart

Best Sound Mixing:
The Hurt Locker

Best Sound Editing:
The Hurt Locker

Best Visual Effects:
Avatar

Best Writing (Original Screenplay):
The Hurt Locker

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay):
Precious