Pour one out for my favorite annual feature from The Hollywood Reporter, the Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot. I enjoy these so much, even if the Oscar voters say ridiculously clueless and racist things. It’s better to know than not know. The fourth anonymous Oscar voter is “a member of the 468-member executives branch who — this season, anyway — is not associated with any of the nominees.” The executive is a woman and she didn’t watch all of the movies, and I really can’t blame her because I have no desire to see Hacksaw Ridge either. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
She didn’t see Hacksaw Ridge: “I did not see Hacksaw Ridge because I heard it was very bloody and, living in the era of Trump, I felt like there’s enough violence in the world. I also didn’t see Hidden Figures, on the advice of someone in my family who told me it did not seem strong enough to be an Oscar contender.
She hated La La Land: “I did not like La La Land — I thought it was imitative and I did not think the leads could sing or dance. I am of an age where I saw [1953’s The] Band Wagon and [1952’s] Singin’ in the Rain, so how could I give this one an award that they never got? Yes, the music is good, but the fact that it got 14 nominations makes me wonder about my colleagues’ opinions. I really felt it was a piece of shi-t.
She loved Moonlight so much: “My choice [for Best Picture] was Moonlight, which is everything I think an Oscar picture should be: good script, good story, good performances and about something meaningful. It’s not quite The Best Years of Our Lives, but it shows what it’s like to live in a world where we seem to be disconnected from our families. Here, a child gets saved from — is she [the character played by Naomie Harris] his mother or his sister? — and gets a [surrogate] father that he didn’t have. I loved it.
A vote for Barry Jenkins for Best Director: “Again, I did not see Hacksaw Ridge. I can’t support Arrival [director Denis Villeneuve] because the story confused me and that’s ultimately his responsibility. Similarly, since I didn’t like La La Land, I can’t support Damien Chazelle — I just don’t think he knows how to make a musical. Manchester by the Sea was well directed, but I read the screenplay after I saw the film and I thought that he had not realized his screenplay’s potential. I liked everything about Moonlight and I think Barry Jenkins deserves most of the credit for that.
A vote for Denzel Washington: “I did not see Hacksaw Ridge, so I could not vote for Andrew Garfield. And I did not see Captain Fantastic, so I couldn’t vote for Viggo Mortensen. [La La Land’s] Ryan Gosling can neither sing nor dance. Casey [Affleck] gave a very good performance in Manchester by the Sea, but I did not like the film well enough — it was just a bit dull. Denzel [Washington] was just perfect as a black man angry at the world that he has not been able to beat.
A vote for Isabelle Huppert: “I don’t like La La Land so I couldn’t vote for Emma Stone. I loved [Loving’s] Ruth Negga — I just bought her as the character. [Jackie’s] Natalie Portman really reminded me of Jackie Kennedy, who is someone I really admired — she got it. Meryl [Streep, of Florence Foster Jenkins] can play any part well. But I voted for [Elle’s] Isabelle Huppert because it is a performance of a brilliant actress in a situation where we, as women, all wonder how we would behave.
A vote for Mahershala Ali: “Lucas Hedges gave a wonderful performance. I loved Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water — I’ve admired him forever. [Lion’s] Dev Patel was fantastic and a close second. But I voted for Mahershala [Ali, of Moonlight] because he plays that part — a drug dealer who cares enough to save a child — and is at the heart of the movie I love.
This voter also went with Naomie Harris for Best Supporting Actress over Viola Davis, which is insane to me, but hey – this voter LOVED Moonlight and it’s good to see that represented here. I’m living for her hatred of La La Land and everyone involved with it – even though I liked La La Land, I agree with her that it’s totally f–king insane that this movie is getting this kind of love. I don’t agree with voting for Denzel and NOT Viola though – Denzel plays a mean bastard well, but Viola is… everything. I’m disturbed by these voters NOT voting for her.
Oh, and THR published a fifth Oscar ballot – go here to read.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I really hope Moonlight gets Best Picture. It IS the best picture no doubt. LLL sweeping the awards would be obsurd and I enjoyed the movie. Moonlight is just MORE and LLL is like a wading pool in terms of depth
LLL is safe.
Ding ding ding!!
I haven’t watched Moonlight yet, i will do today but as far as i’m concerned, Lion is the winner for me
I finally saw Moonlight this weekend and if LLL really wins it will be absurd. I love musicals, but the two movies aren’t even comparable.
Me too. Love musicals. But Moonlight is amazing especially considering homophobia in this country and particularly in the black community. THIS is a hard movie to get made. Not LLL
Moonlight was amazing but it’s not gonna win, I think. They can award a gay movie (maaaybe) or a black one. A gay black movie would be too progressive for the old boys’ club.
When I walked out of Moonlight I said, “Best film of the year, hands down.” I still believe that and I hope it wins. Do I think it WILL win, though? Sadly, probably not. I liked LaLaLand and saw its charm–and I hate people branding it white people’s crap–to me, that sort of talk is divisive and petty–but best film of the year? NO! Sweet and entertaining, yes, but terminally fluffy. Still, I think it could win in a year when we’re inflicted with the depression of a Trump presidency because it’s an escape. Everyone wants a happy escape right now. A reminder of more innocent (or oblivious!) times.
Me? I vote for Moonlight. Best writing, acting, and directing in a single film all year. And FFS, it was ABOUT something! Something that really matters.
The problem with Moonlight, in Academy terms, is that it’s too small, too independent, too “niche” in regards to filmmaking. It doesn’t have any of the big hitters that can campaign hard enough to make a tiny movie win; like the Weinsteins or Fox Searchlight. And I’m pretty sure that a big part of the academy, especially the older, white part (which is the majority), hasn’t even watched Moonlight. It’s not an Academy film, it’s an Independent Spirit Awards/Critics film. I don’t think it has much chance to beat La La Land.
I refuse to even watch LLL. Steve
Bannon is our batS👀It president- I’m
Not up for a white cast musical.
The two leads are white, but the other important character in the story, who is also one of the producers of the film, is black. And all the good musicians that appear in it are black. It has a very praised musical opening number with a diverse cast of singers. There’s a secondary interracial couple. It’s not a fully white cast musical.
I don’t get this. Why are they allowed to vote if they haven’t seen all the films? These days it is easy, they have a code and they log in to watch a film. If they attend a screening then they can register there to prove they have seen it. Once they have seen all the films in a category they can vote in that category. It might not be foolproof or be open to abuse, but to me it is the simplist way to break the cycle of the same people being nominated year after year, because they get the strongest studio backing and are often the only ones seen by voters.
I get what you’re saying but you can’t honestly expect them to watch ALL the films. They’d do nothing but watch them all year. And who’s gonna check if they’re telling the truth?
I do expect them to watch them all. If they don’t have the time, they should excuse themselves from participation in the process. Watching all the nominated films would be considerably less than a week’s work for most people. And a lot more enjoyable than most jobs.
As I posted below, I’ve seen almost all the films in every category and I don’t get to go to screenings or have screeners mailed to me. So, yes, I do expect them to watch ALL the nominated films.
It is part of their job to watch all of the films. If they cannot or don’t want to, then they shouldn’t be voting.
Duplicate.
I really don’t like they get to vote without seeing all the nominees…
Maybe the academy could hold screenings and the members should scan their badges at the end of every movie they saw… hahahaha
The 5th brutally honest Oscar voter is ridiculous… didn’t see many of the feature films and here is what she/he has to say about one category:
“Best Animated Short, Best Documentary Short & Best Live-Action Short
I just don’t have the time to see them. I’d rather see as many of the feature films as I can.”
LOL
Um, yeah. They need to see all the films.
But it’s not like she’s saying she didn’t have time to watch, she actually says she didn’t watch them because “it seems like it’s bloody” and a family member told her it wasn’t Oscar material. You can see the entitlement of these people when they aren’t even embarrassed to admit they are not doing their job properly.
And the movies she should at least see to vote in the main categories are not that many, and they’ve had months to watch them. There’s no excuse.
Right? It should be mandatory for them to see all the films they’re voting on. And someone should teach them all the difference between sound mixing and sound editing, or just what sound does in general, because that seems to be a problem as well. Also what was so confusing about Arrival?
I commented on the laziness of these voters myself, it really is too bad. Totally agree about Arrival as well. Can’t she hear how she sounds? “They didn’t dumb this movie down enough for me to get it, so they don’t deserve my vote.”
Exactly. Have you read the 5th ballot? He criticises Arrival for the shape of the ships, hasn’t seen half the movies either and then drops this gem about Mahershala Ali:
“I eliminated the black actor [Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali] first — I don’t mean that in a politically-incorrect way, I just can’t say his name.”
WOW! I think I would do a better job on this than that guy.
Agreed. Arrival was given the shaft, and it seems it’s just because no one really gave it a chance in the first place!
Yes, I read the 5th ballot Ichsi. More of the same asshattery, pardon my french. When people say they don’t mean this in a politically incorrect way, they’re about to say something racist/sexist. And Mahershala who is such an awesome actor, to be brushed off because of his name!
Then the idiot went on to say Gosling deserves his vote for LLL, even though he admits he thinks Gosling can’t dance! In a musical! Because his performance was “excellent”. Whatever that means.
I laugh so much at all the comments about Arrival… she/he didn’t get it, really?! Wow… zero “critical thinking”
@ICHIS: I concur with you! It should be mandatory!
” To remain a member you need to see most (if not all) the nominees to vote. Oh you dont have the time?! Give us your membership back…
I agree, it makes me so mad to read this and see that she says she did not watch all the films, and yet then she votes which films and actors are best! “I didn’t see Hidden Figures because a family member told me it shouldn’t be an Oscar contender,” give me a break, isn’t it your job as the Academy Member to watch it and then make that call?
Yeah, especially since many Oscars were acting all butthurt when the Academy took those measures to introduce some new blood into the mix. I hope they start looking at those who don’t watch all of the films and handicap their votes. FFS, they have plenty of opportunity to see them for fcuking free.
I agree all movies in the major categories should be viewed when voting for the winners. By nominations they’ve seen the majority. Seeing another 6-8 for the final ballot shouldn’t be too hard. I like the anonymous voter series because it’s really interesting to see how things really work.
Agreed that they should be excluded from voting if they didn’t watch all of the movies. If they can’t do it, someone else would.
I have heard mixed reviews of La La Land. One friend said that Gosling and Stone’s performances and chemistry are what made the movie for her even thou she didn’t think much of the plot/script.
I’ve listened to the soundtrack (haven’t seen the movie yet) and they are both pretty good singers. After hearing Emma Watson singing am glad she pulled out – she’s already ruined a couple of my favourite Disney songs.
I’m sorry but if you’re an Academy member and don’t make the effort to see the nominated films for Best Picture and the acting performances, then don’t vote. MAKE THE EFFORT. They get screeners! I’m not a member. I don’t get screeners but I have seen every film nominated in ALL categories except for the documentary Fire at Sea, the foreign language films Toni Erdman and Land of Mine and two animated features The Red Turtle and My Life as a Zucchini. By Oscar time tonight, I will have seen Toni Erdman and The Red Turtle so that will leave just two films out of all films nominated in all categories that I haven’t seen. And my 88 year old great aunt has seen almost all of them too. It really isn’t that difficult, especially not if you’re getting screeners!
I think the reason Viola isn’t getting votes from some people is the category fraud issue. She really belongs in the Lead Actress category and she would have won that easily because it is not a strong field this year and her performance blows those nominated away. The Supporting actress race should be between Naomie and Michelle. Viola will be walking home with an Oscar tonight but it will be in the wrong category and as a result, somebody will get a Lead Actress Oscar she doesn’t deserve while a deserving actress will lose out on the Best Supporting Oscar.
Do you think the category fraud will prevent Viola Davis from winning? That would be a bit hypocritical of the Academy after Vikander’s win last year.
No, I don’t. I said above that she will walk home with an Oscar tonight, but again, she will walk home with the WRONG Oscar.
I wish Viola had been submitted for best actress, if only because Halle Berry cannot stay the only AA actress with a best actress win. But, given Viola’s age and the academy’s love for big eyed ingenues, I understand the decision.
Yes. Leaving Viola out of it- I’ve got a problem with the consequences of her nomination in the Supporting category. Like you said, someone less-than will go home with Best Actress and a truly Best Supporting actress will go home empty handed.
I agree with you so much; it is the height of unacceptable laziness to not do their job by seeing all of the movies. How can one make as fully informed judgement as possible by excluding certain movies based on such superficial claims?
Just my thoughts, but It will be Naomie or Michelle that wins best supporting actress, not Viola partly because of the category issue. I could be wrong of course.
I completely agree with everyone saying that they believe the academy needs to see all of the movies before they vote. I wasn’t aware that the process could be so HALF-ASSED. What kind of system is that? Only further supports the school of thought that awards like these mean absolutely nothing.
I completely agree that Viola Davis should have been nominated as Best Actress and not Supporting. However, you’re all talking as if she had been forced to compete in that category. Studios decide along with the actors in which category they’ll compete, especially in this case, that it’s a small movie. Viola Davis chose to be supporting, not Best Actress, because she knew the competition would be too strong. Best Actress is a category that for the past 15 years or so loves to reward young, popular actresses too. She was just being smart.
I’ve finally seen La La Land, and I have to agree. If I hadn’t have gone with my mother and nan, I would have left half way through.
Same here. I was so bored. I love a musical, I love dancing, but I can discern when it’s amateur and that movie didn’t hold my attention at all.
I stayed because it was the first time in all the 15 years I’ve known my husband that he ever asked me to go see a musical hahaha. He actually kind of liked it but I thought it was second rate. Bring in some professional dancers at least!! And Emma Stone shines through comedy but they gave her nothing comedic to work with at all. I sprung out of my seat so fast when it was over that my husband cracked up. I was ready to GO.
I don’t blame you for springing. It was LOOOOONG.
Like many of us here I was/am a part of the entertainment business for a long time. So I expected to LA-LA-LOVE La La Land.
Hated it.
Everyone was breathy and weak when they sang. The dancing and songs were ok at best. And what could have been a poignant (although already done) story was rushed over.
And why the hell was Ryan Gosling in that film at all?!?!?
I don’t even know why they felt the need to make Jackie. Nothing new. And although I do admire the work Portman put in, I think it is far from excellent.
Voila Davis should win for Fences. But I felt like Denzel was busy mentally master bating throughout the film. He needed someone to guide him a bit. All scenes were the same.
Haven’t been able to finish Moonlight cause I am afraid of what will happen next. Meaning I am too invested in the chracters to watch them get effed up even more.
Loved Hidden Figires
So far it is the only one I want to watch again.
I agree with everything you wrote. Also, it’s a crime that she listened to her friend about Hidden Figures. I absolutely loved that movie and it was the kind that gave me hope and patriotism that we will get through the age of Trump. La La Land left me bored and disappointed.
ITA with you about Hidden Figures. It was SO timely.
I would think for a lot of the older Academy voters who witnessed the golden age of Hollywood musicals, that La La Land would seem like fluff. When I think of musicals like Gigi, Singing in the Rain, or My Fair Lady, etc, then La La Land comes off as a B movie at best.
SInging in the Rain! Oh, man… Such a classic. La-La Whatever is nothing compared to the musicals you listed, which is why it’s bizarre that it’s getting so many nominations.
I also loved Hidden Figures. Unfortunately, I think it gets written off because it’s a (relatively) feel good movie with a happy ending.
Ugh its like the grammys all over again. Lalaland=Adele. Safe, uninspired, (white) choice
Agreed. Sad, but for a certain demographic, which probably makes up most of the Grammy voting base & the Academy, it feels true.
Moonlight for the win!!
I’ve seen La La Land, and I just get irritated every time there’s a post about it, because every time there is I get the opening number stuck in my head. And not the whole opening number, just the piano sequence.
If one hasn’t seen 40% of the nominees in a category, one should probably abstain from voting in that category.
Also, to skip a movie based on a friend’s recommendation when you are the one who is the Academy voter? The F? YOU are the Academy voter. Watch the damn films.
Also, there are A LOT of movies, actor, directors, etc who never won Oscars. If one cannot vote for a movie, actor, director, etc because some movie, actor, director, etc didn’t win in previous years then no one could ever vote for any Oscars ever again.
Members who don’t even bother to watch all the films in the best director/best movie categories shouldn’t be allowed to vote. That’s a big reason why the same sort of big mainstream movies sweeps the table every year – these idiots have seen them.
So, the members vote but they don’t see all the nominated films? This is unprofessional imo.
I don’t expect them to see every film that gets released in the world, but to not see these that are nominated is ridiculous .
I bet the majority of them haven’t watched any of the Best Foreign Language films but still vote on the category.
I didn’t see LaLa Land, but everyone I know that did said it wasn’t very good. I still can’t believe Deadpool didn’t get nominated for anything!
A superhero movie will never get nominated for best picture because the Academy branch that does the nomination is butthurt because superhero films get so much money to make the film (so they take away from the mid-budget films) and then their film actually gets watched.
The Dark Knight was snubbed…for me The Dark Knight is one of the biggest snubs of all time. Captain America Winter Solider was snubbed. Guardians of The galaxy was snubbed. Deadpool was snubbed. And this time next year Logan will have been snubbed as well.
Maybe not a nomination for best picture, but there a many other categories that Deadpool should’ve been nominated for. Some of the movies on these lists didn’t come close to Deadpool
If you open the awards up to all the comic and space franchises, Deapool wouldnt even stand a chance in the more technical awards like special efforts. That leaves acting, writing and directing. I dont think the acting performances were outstanding, sorry.
Perhaps it could have a shot at the best adapted screeplay and directing awards but are you really proposing that Deadpool was better written than Moonlight, Arrival or Fences? If so, why? It follows an already well trodden story arc – character has the world, loses it, fights to get it back. The only thing different about Deadpool is that its self referential but adult cartoons have been doing that since the Simpsons. The dialogue isnt insprired and there are no emotional layers to the story. Why would it win in this category. I could write an equally long paragraph on the directing but I wont bore you. My point is that yeah it was a fun movie and a great departure from the genre but Oscar nominations would have been pandering.
I think Logan could very well garner a nomination for Hugh Jackman if the Best Actor category continues to be weak this year too. I don’t think Deadpool or GOTG belongs in the same category as Dark Knight or Winter Soldier both of which are far superior films.
@Merry your comment about it having no emotional layers makes no sense. So the only way a script can be nominated is if it’s emotional? The Deadpool script was raved about by a lot of folks high up before the film was released. Just because it doesn’t make you cry or whatever doesn’t mean it’s not good.
But this is why folks stopped taking the Oscars seriously. Only certain types of films get nominations. Comedies, horror movies etc are left in the dark for whatever reason.
@CornyBlue ehh I would rank TDK then GOTG, then DP, then Winter Soldier. I still believe all 4 were snubbed of best picture nominees. And having watched Logan already, it’s definitely a best picture film but won’t get the nomination because of what I already said. Neither will Jackman because he’s been playing the role for over 17 years.
@merry Deadpool was the top grossing rated R movie in history. A lot of people must have enjoyed special effects, acting, directing, etc. It was the first movie in a long time that I didn’t fall asleep during. It was a ginormous hit around the world. Like @sam said, a movie doesn’t need to make you cry to be good. I don’t watch the Oscars because they ignore the great movies for some reason.
Good. Lets get into it.
First, writing with emotional layers doesnt mean the writing should make you cry. Lol. It means a number of things but I dont wish to reproduce freshman my text books here so I’ll highlight just one aspect. It means characters should be complex and three dimensional while remaining grounded to a core. In other words consistent but at the same time your reader should not be able to predict his reaction to a given event in Act 1. Its a very delicate balance and genre movies will almost always fail it as Deadpool did. When you watch a movie and are left thinking about a specific character long after its over, its because the writer struck this balance. This is where character realism derives. Moonlight is an excellent example of this by the way and I expect it will be added to film school curricula in short order.
Second, its completely irrelevant whether a movie sold at the box office. The Oscars going back to their inception was about marketing the industry BY highlighting the artistic side of film making. The majority of the big winners even dating back to the Golden Age were NOT blockbusters. By highlighting deeper more thoughtful film making, the intention is to ensure that those artists continue to get the attention and financing they need to make film that lives past a Summer release. So Deadpool and its kind not only often fail to meet the standard we discussed above, they do NOT need this. Nolans Dark Knight is far superior to Deadpool and even then, I would argue that had it been allowed in, it should have stayed in the technical sections. Its like arguing that Fifty Shades of Grey should win the Booker Prize because it was an R rated blockbuster. You want an award for appealing to lowest common denominator? Here, have a MTV Movie Award (which Deadpool did win fyi).
True, a superhero movie will never get nominated in the artistic categories for several reasons, but mostly because of two: 1) superhero movies have ruined the industry, in the sense that now studios barely dare to greenlight and give a decent budgets to original stories because why risk it when you can make Batman 15 and you know it will do well? And 2) the academy is full of elitists that would never in a million years admit that they think the best movie of the bunch is a popcorn, commercial movie.
That aside, I enjoyed Deadpool and thought it was quite original but I don’t think it deserves any nominations. Just because critics grade a movie well and the audience loves it, doesn’t mean it should win an Oscar. The only superhero movie that’s ever really deserved the prize is The Dark Knight, and despite having Batman in it, it wasn’t a superhero film. And even that one they couldn’t bear to nominate.
I’m one of the people who didn’t like la la land. I just didn’t connect to the characters in any way. I want to see moonlight so badly! Also nothing to do with this post but I saw Get Out last night and it was AMAZING.
Of the 5 Brutally Honest Voters, 3 of them picked Moonlight for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay and Naomi Harris for Best Supporting Actress.
All these secret ballots that are claiming La La Land is crap and yet La La Land is gonna win all the awards.
Shame.
Well… I have my fingers crossed that Moonlight will pull out the win, much like 12YAS over American Hustle.
Totally agree that voters should watch all the films! Also, I just watched Captain Fantastic last night and I thought Viggo was incredible!
La la land is amazing. I just think nowadays people just like to hate for no reason in every subject possible. Maybe it’s just me but reading comments is getting more and more tiring. Is just the felling people microanalyse everything so they can hate on something and feel better about their lives.
People don’t seem to hate Manchester by the sea or Moonlight so maybe blah blah land is really average.
Every Casey Affleck post is full of people saying Manchester by the Sea is crap and that he’s crap in it.
La La Land made a lot of money based on word of mouth. It has a 93% RT critics score and an 84% audience score (which was in the high 90’s weeks into the release and before the backlash, but regardless 84 is still very good. Moonlight is at 86).
That’s a touch less than some nominees, and a bit more than others. It’s not some outlier that people didn’t like.
“Manchester…” is going to be a classic. I am saying that even if I do not like Casey. I am not sure if LLL is going to age well but I love it. 10/10 for me. There are a lot of movies I enjoyed in the past which I now think are slightly overrated.
La La land is getting the usual backlash from the things that go up must come down crowd. It’s grossed $343 million ( domestic and international-wow!) so a lot of people have seen it and more people seeing it equals more opinions. Moonlight has grossed $25 million and its audience is probably very discerning movie goers. Hopefully if it wins some awards tonight, it will increase interest and revenue. It’s on iTunes now, so will be very accessible to watch. Small Indy films need to make money for there to continue to be small interesting movies. I loved both movies.
I understand where you’re coming from. La La Land has become a symbol of the Oscars rewarding white mediocrity, and a lot of the criticism is not even about the movie itself, moreso about what it means that it’s being so rewarded in the context of these other films.
But still– though a technically accomplished film, La La Land really feels half-baked story and character wise. I think I realized it early in the film when Mia’s roommates are coaxing her to come to the party with them. They’re so… bland. I was trying to connect with who these characters were supposed to be, learn more about Mia from her friends, but there was nothing there. They’re just pretty girls in different colored dresses. The world and characters were really not fleshed out.
I could go on and on with examples like that. The movie is weak, but it dazzles with filmmaking tricks (which I found tacky in the way they were employed– I love virtuoso filmmaking when it’s actually inspired, but every over-the-top camera move made me groan because it was so clearly trying to compensate for the lack of substance with style).
As for Emma Stone’s nomination– she really carried La La Land and managed to bring heart to an otherwise pretty crass, soulless movie, so I think it’s fair!
La-La Land is criminally over-hyped and criminally boring, with songs so criminally unmemorable they don’t even stick in your head when you’re listening to them. They hired Emma Stone & Ryan Gosling and couldn’t even make them likeable.
My musical-loving friend made me watch it for “forcing” her to sit through the Ghostbusters remake and afterwards admitted that she’d rather watch the latter again.
I sat down to watch Manchetser by the sea 3 times and I couldn’t watch more than 30 minutes in total. Maybe I didn’t reach the point where you’remhooked and you want to see what happens?
You never get to that point.
Getting real tired of the La La Land backlash. Maybe it’s not to everyone’s taste, but it’s a very well made film by a very, very hot right now director that was a big box office hit with a small budget (currently almost 350 million on a 30 million budget). It was the most celebrated and hyped film from Venice onwards. No duh it’s the favourite.
It’s got a lot of nominations because being a musical with some fantastical elements meant it could compete in a lot of categories many movies don’t. Your average highly nominated Oscar-baity film pretty rarely competes in the original song, sound mixing and sound editing categories, and many aren’t even contenders for original score, production design or costuming. Two of La La Land’s noms come just from the song category, so even if it completely swept the awards (which it won’t) it couldn’t actually win 14 anyway.
To be honest… I loved it.
I’m sure for those who like La la Land, it’s a great film, but my bias is having grown up watching the great Hollywood musicals and for me La La Land is at best a B movie. Just my personal opinion.
This is exactly it. Its a weak imitation of the grand MGM musicals it was trying to be. Very very weak. I kind of feel that people who keep touting this film need to spend a day watching the OG musicals because they would come back very embarassed for praising this as much as they have. I’m hoping that enough Academy members do know film history well enough to tell this fraudulent Emperor that he has no clothes on.
Agree with you. Loved LLL. Not a fan of musicals but I do love Ryan gosling so perhaps that influenced me. Starting to question my taste- oh well maybe I’m just a basic b&tch!
Honestly I was underwhelmed by moonlight. I feel like I’ll be accused of racism somehow for not loving it, but I thought that film didn’t hang together. I do however appreciate that moonlight was a story that was near impossible to get made and it was artistically done.
Part of the backlash was probably inevitable: when you start off that strongly reviewed there are people who go to see it because of the reviews and discover they didn’t like it. Also, the whole ‘HW likes films about the entertainment industry’ part.
I have not seen it. I have no interest in seeing it, it’s not my type of movie. I have friends who love it, friends who love musicals, and have some artistic talent themselves. But they also warned me that it probably wasn’t my type of movie.
I thought industry focused movies The Artist and Birdman were overrated as well. Not they were bad movies, just not that good.
Did you like it? Excellent! It’s normal to be annoyed when something you like gets criticized, or vice versa. Doesn’t mean you can’t still like it just because I don’t care about it.
She’s not wrong: Gosling and Stone can neither sing nor dance and I spent the entire movie wishing it had been better cast. Such lost potential.
Beautiful set design and costumes though.
That was the point though. It was a musical with normal people, who don’t just happen to be brilliant singers and highly trained dancers. I get that that’s not everyone’s favourite style, but what I don’t get is people acting like it’s not intentional. If Chazelle had wanted great singers and dancers he’d have got them.
Lol no that wasn’t the point. The folks behind La La Land like to show the behind the scenes of all the training Emma and Ryan did in terms of dancing, singing and in Ryan’s case playing the piano. They clearly want folks to talk about how “good” Emma and Ryan are with their singing and dancing otherwise they wouldn’t make it a focal point to show them training for the movie.
Well, yeah, even when the choreography and song’s are relatively simple you still have to spend many, many hours training and rehearsing, and of course a studio putting together an Oscar campaign will highlight the work put in.
Gosling’s a significantly better dancer than the film shows, and Emma’s a stronger singer than all but about 30 seconds of the film would suggest, yet they were never pushed to do even a little more.
Do you really think Chazelle wanted Gene Kelly level talent and just went ‘meh, whatever’ when it turned out that obviously his actors couldn’t do that? From early pre-production Chazelle was very clear about what style he wanted. In the early stages he actually wanted actors who’d never sung or danced in any kind of professional capacity at all.
Jeesie with all due respect we can all see you making excuses for mediocrity. Chazelle had trouble greenlighting this film and so merely went with the biggest stars he could find. Neither the original leads nor these two were auditioned precisely because his priority was scoring financing. This is an insult to the movies he was very poorly trying to pay homage to. I shudder to think theres a generation thinking that this was outstanding in any way. Incidentally, if the weak performances are intentionally why are the leads even up for Oscar consideration when by your own admition, they sucked at singing and dancing,
I know that’s what the director and producers said, but then why being a homage to classic musicals from the 50s, where everybody danced and sang great, when you could do a more nodern musical like Once? I doubt they deliberately looked for actors with mediocre singing, as they claim. They just went for good actors that no doubt made the fairly average script pop. There’s a fair share of Hollywood actors that can sing pretty well, as proven in other recent musicals. Something about that doesn’t click to me, it made all the musical numbers in La La Land the worst part of La La Land.
I’m not sure if people just aren’t familiar with this style or not, but it’s very much intentional. I didn’t say Stone and Gosling ‘sucked’, I said they were playing normal people who aren’t also professional singers and dancers.
Seriously, listen to the full score and tell me there were ever any thoughts of getting great singers. There’s a little handful of places in a few songs where a singer could have gone bigger without ruining it. It’s purposely very much not a classic 50’s musical soundtrack.
Considering how dumb this voter sounds (plus she/he didn’t watch all the movies… so why even bother????) I am not surprised by how the Oscars are in no way related to real talent (Gary Oldman anybody? Alan Rickman?) and usually the ones who win do so by brown-nosing media and voters.
Gwyneth Paltrow won an Oscar. You can’t go lower than that.
I was put off by her repeated “I didn’t see it so I’m not voting for it.” Dumb.
I have a feeling that naomie is going to win over viola.
I don’t know anyone who liked LaLa Land. It was schizophrenic. The only reason the Hollywood establishment is going for it is be ause of the sexond half. I think the story of sacrificing relarionship to ambition really touched a cord for them. Not me.
My god, this person is so lazy. “I just couldn’t”mehhmehh whiiine. It’s your job. Do it. Not many of us get to sit around watching movies all day, drinking wine out of a sippy cup with a trashbag full of Doritos next to us. ( I just described my dream job,I think). Really, it’s one thing to say what you liked and why, but how can you be taken seriously when you are basically saying “I can’t watch movies today-TOO MUCH!
My dream job, too!
I can’t get past people voting in categories without seeing all the films. How is that even allowed? It’s totally unfair to discard someone because you didn’t see a film. Stupid Oscars. Oh. Excuse me. ACADEMY AWARDS. Geesh.
And to think they get sent screeners too.
I am also of an age that I saw The Band Wagon and Singin’ in the Rain first run. I’ve also seen every Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire musical in existance as well as most musicals from the 30s, 40s, 50s. That said, I went to LLL yesterday prepared to hate or at least deride it. But, I really enjoyed it, despite the leads being neither singers nor dancers. I don’t want it to win, however. Moonlight for me. I’m not really invested in Best Actor, but I want Mahershala to win and Viola and Naomie to tie. I’m seeing Elle this afternoon, and hope Isabelle wins, having been a fan since the mid 70s and knowing how good she is.
Ryan Gosling in The Nice Guys wasa great performance, I think it was much better than La La Land….which is the same character he always plays, and don’t get me started with Emma Stone, the only part where she was a different character (because she always plays the same cute girl) was during the audition song.
Can you imagine La La Land with another cast, like a younger Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac, that woukd have been amazing!
Totally OT, and I’m sorry, but did you guys hear about Bill Paxton?
Yes, I just read that and came here to comment – complications from surgery. So sad. I really liked him.
Yes, saw it on twitter. Very sad.
I want to be an Academy member! I pay to watch movies at the theater and streaming and members receive screeners and they can’t find time to watch?! I don’t know if this is still the case but read years ago, members could watch the movies in a theater. Exasperated!
Well, I loved LLL so I guess I’m a racist with basic taste, or something…? Also, and in all seriousness, when you’re an Academy member, it should be mandatory to watch ALL movies. Yeah, you won’t love every single one of them, but you still have a Job to do.
Wtf? How can you even vote if you haven’t watched the other movies? This is the reason why those awards suck. It’s just marketing and hype. I rather watch the BAFTAS than the Oscars. Sorry. Hollywood people are so up their own arses that I can’t take them seriously.
So i was okay with La La Land getting cinematography because that was perhaps the only captivating thing in the movie. But then i think this voter or someone in this series said Arrival has gorgeous cinematography while La La Land has a lot of cinematography and yunnow what? She is right. Give the cinematography award to Arrival because nothing came close to the panning shot of the spaceship for the first time.
I would think a requirement would be that all of the nominated pictures/performances need to be seen. That’s unfair and doesn’t give any merit to the awards given.
The awards haven’t had merit for a long time if ever.
“This yea’r’s Oscars are more political charged and diverse than most years but then… there’s La La Land. “
not every older member of the academy still votes for example Joanne Woodward doesn’t vote anymore most of what the voter said is at least partially true and winners didn’t always campaign to receive their award Ms Woodward never once campaigned in the four times she was nominated as Best actress is a leading role and won on her first nomination shortly after her and Paul Newman were married
I hate that these people vote without even seeing all the nominees, you should at least see the Best Picture nominees! And her reason being “someone told me it wasn’t good”. Sigh. No wonder the Academy gets less and less serious.
I agree. If you’re voting, watch the films! I wish I were a member. Free screenings and all.
1000 thumbs up.
That’s the first thing I thought. Why isn’t that an automatic disqualification? It is beyond my comprehension why someone would even think it ETHICALLY appropriate to vote (give their opinion) if they haven’t even seen the films they’re voting/not voting for? It just boggles my mind. It is also disrespectful, if there’s any accountability and respect to an award (I know the Oscars have fallen s bit in terms of respect) at least keeping decorum, politeness and respect to candidates.. just insane to me. I would never think to even vote if I didn’t see 1 of the nominated films. It’s not ethical. And quite hypocritical when she mentions Trump.
La la land is not a masterpiece but this brutallyhonestoscarvoter seems kind of jelaous.
She lost me at she didn’t see all the movies.
Apparently Natalie Portman isn’t attending – isn’t she due very soon? Can’t say I blame her – i imagine it would be very uncomfortable to be sitting all that time.
I couldn’t get over how bad LLL was!! Beyond awful. I couldn’t get through it. Lion was an amazing film.
I grew up watching Hollywood musicals on tv. The Wizard of Oz every year. Singing in the Rain on tv the first time I saw it and twice in theaters. I love musicals and a good musical will sweep me away. LaLa Land has moments where I’m moved by the characters but that didn’t start til Gosling and Stone have their argument and the movie picked up momentum. But it didn’t sweep me away. Anything by Stephen Sonheim is wonderful. The very beautiful Irish musical, Once, was a revelation that made me swoon and songs that floated in my head. And on the tiniest of budgets.
How to define irony? Could be Viola Davis would have won if she hadn’t gone category shopping, to win a lessor award.