Juan’s Two Cents – The 84th Academy Award Nominees Edition

No brainer as the winner for best costume design.

Costume Design

  • Likely Winner: The Artist
  • Most Deserving: W.E or Hugo
  • Pleasant Surprise: W.E. was actually nominated for something at the Academy Awards and I can’t stop laughing because Madonna has finally made something that they actually care about in the smallest amount

Film Editing

  • Likely Winner: The Artist
  • Most Deserving: Hugo
  • Snubbed: Drive Contagion [1]

Makeup

  • Likely Winner: Albert Nobbs [1]
  • Most Deserving: Albert Nobbs

Original Score

  • Likely Winner: Ludovic Bource
  • Most Deserving: Ludovic Bource
  • Biggest “Fuck You”: Double nomination for John Williams? Come the fuck on. I loved his scores for both films, but Tintin should stay and War Horse should go (because he’s plagiarizing his own work as per usual a lot in it). I knew Cliff Martinez wouldn’t be here, but where the fuck are Trent & Atticus for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Original Song

  • Likely Winner: Man or Muppet
  • Most Deserving: Man or Muppet
  • Snubbed: Everything??????????????
  • Biggest “Fuck You”: How in the hell did the Academy only vote two songs out of a shortlist that magnificent high enough to qualify for this category? Not only did Alan Menken get totally fucking shafted this year for Star Spangled Man (my favorite scene from Captain America), but Jónsi was kicked to the curb as well even though his song Gathering Stories is amazing. Let’s not even talk about how The Muppets isn’t nominated for TWO Academy Awards in this category this year instead of one (two is the limit per film with the new rules btw). What pisses me off even more is the fact that Rio of all films is the one that was nominated over the previously mentioned (as well as many more). Worst category ever.

Sound Editing

  • Likely Winner: War Horse
  • Most Deserving: Drive or War Horse
  • Go Away and Never Come Back: Transformers 3 [1]

Sound Mixing

  • Likely Winner: War Horse
  • Most Deserving: War Horse
  • Why Are You Still Around: Transformers 3

Visual Effects

  • Likely Winner: Rise of the Planet of the Apes [1]
  • Most Deserving: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
  • Why Didn’t Anyone Assassinate Michael Bay Before This Film Even Went Into Production?: Transformers 3

I will be skipping all three of the short film categories as I haven’t seen a single one of them.

Out of the 46 feature length films that are nominated this year, I’ve seen a grand total of TWENTY-EIGHT which I’m actually really happy with so far. I should have seen most (if not at all) of them by the time the actual ceremony comes along though.

Feel free to agree and/or disagree with me on any category. All I wanted to do was get my thoughts in writing so that I’m not bitching about them all day to the people around me (which I’ll probably do anyway). That’s all for today’s show everybody!

Juan Barquin

Just yer average twenty-something college student with no time on his hands who ends up watching (and writing) too many movies and shows for his own good.

6 Responses

  1. amy says:

    There are a lot of wrongs in this year’s nominations, but the animation category isn’t one of them. Certainly, it isn’t the worse. I haven’t seen Tintin yet, but in terms of animation, motioncap still looks fairly weird – compared to, let’s say Chico & Rita or A Cat in Paris.

    Then again, we have no idea how they pick their nominations for animation. Is it story quality or is it animation quality?

    In terms of Rango, I only found it okay. The texturing of characters was pretty great, but I think an animated film like Chico & Rita is doing more for the genre than Rango is.

    • Juan Barquin says:

      @amy, I’ll just have to go ahead and watch Chico & Rita, but you know I wasn’t a big fun of A Cat In Paris. I think Tintin and Rango had such beautiful animation honestly. They both appealed to me so much and I think Rango is doing plenty for the animation genre. It’s bringing it outside of the box. It’s not necessarily sticking with the norms and it’s practically any live-action western film in animated form – full of homages and references to all of these wonderful classic films.

      • amy says:

        @Juan Barquin, I’m seeing picks like A Cat in Paris in the animation category as technical picks, more than overall films, though. Kinda like The Secret of Kells which was visually stunning but the story left me a bit meh.

        You def. need to check out Chico & Rita.

  2. Eric says:

    Hi, I’m rather new to the group (haven’t been to any of your screenings though) and was just curious on your blog post.

    Couple of comments:

    I totally agree that Drive and Shame were snubbed, and that some of the inclusions are rather idiotic. Shame is among my favorite films of the year, and the lack of recognition really hurts it (then again, they failed to nominate the equally great Hunger). However, your opinion and my opinion on the films The Tree Of Life and Moneyball differ highly, (I came out of Moneyball surprised, and out of Tree of Life disappointed both as a film fan and a Terrence Malick fan).

    I completely disagree with your assertion that Transformers 3 doesn’t deserve anything for sound. I hate that film with a passion, but I cannot fault it for having an absolutely incredible and complex sound design behind it.

    Another gripe I have is your assertion that the animated category is weak. I highly disagree. Although they left out Tintin, I thought it was fantastic that they were able to include Chico and Rita along with A Cat in Paris. Both are absolutely fantastic. The only film in hat category I did not enjoy was Puss in Boots.

    But as is such with most art, it’s subjective. I have my opinions, you have yours, and the Academy has theirs. I hope you enjoy your 2012 movie season. Happy watching.

    • Juan Barquin says:

      @Eric, Glad to see someone taking an interest in things though!

      In terms of Moneyball and The Tree of Life, I can definitely see why people would and wouldn’t like them. I mean, TTOL is probably the years most divisive film due to its content and I can most definitely see why plenty of people would be disappointed (and even hate it if they felt the desire). As for Moneyball, I’m in a very unpopular position. Only about four people I know have agreed with me that it was just plain boring and sentimental, but hey that’s cinema!

      As for Transformers 3, I was mostly just joking around. I mean, I really do hate Michael Bay – because well I don’t think I need an explanation hahaha – but it really does deserve the nominations it received (although it still frustrates me that he recycled certain scenes from his own previous films into this one – laaaaaazy work).

      I stand by my animated films section though. I know a lot of people, including Amy right above, weren’t too happy with what I said either. I just didn’t think A Cat in Paris was very good and neither was Puss in Boots. As for Kung Fu Panda 2 – come on. The only one I can’t vouch for is Chico and Rita. I mean, out of all years to bump it up to 5 nominations, I think this was one of the most unnecessary. I’d much rather have seen the likes of Tintin, Winnie the Pooh, and Arthur Christmas populating the nominees than the ones that are there (with the exception of Rango which is my second favorite animated film of the year).

      Even though we disagree on certain things, thanks for the comment and bringing your opinions to the table though! It’s always exciting to actually get some discussion started. Different strokes for different folks. Hopefully you’ll enjoy your 2012 watching season as well!

  1. November 7, 2013

    […] like last year, I made an obscenely long list of all the positives and negatives that came with the Oscar […]

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