I agree with Lainey’s analysis, I think Emma Stone knew this whole time that she didn’t really deserve to win the Oscar for La La Land. [LaineyGossip]
Denzel Washington’s reaction to Casey Affleck is still amazing. [Dlisted]
Viola Davis could read her grocery list & I would watch it. [OMG Blog]
Jackie Warner had a messy car crash. [Starcasm]
Miranda Kerr twirled at the VF Oscar party. [Celebslam]
Tilda Swinton’s latest movie looks bonkers. [Pajiba]
Allison Williams wants to watch The Bachelor. [JustJared]
Wonder Woman is on the cover of Empire. [IDLY]
Ed Sheeran does Jimmy Fallon’s classroom instruments thing. [Seriously OMG WTF]
Will Angelina Jolie & Cristiano Ronaldo be working together? [Socialite Life]
If she does believe it, I can assure her otherwise.
I don’t think she cares. She got the award. Now, academy award winner will always be attached to her name and maybe she’ll get better roles. She annoyed me during the whole debacle so I hope she doesn’t.
Half of them didn’t deserve their Oscars. Maybe if this was another actress, I’d be annoyed, but Emma is so likable it’s easier to let it slide. And she is a really good actress, and she started in comedy, and comedy actresses rarely win Oscars. I’m still a bit sad Viola wasn’t in the lead category.
I think she deserves it. I’ll never understand why the general public gets so riled up about these awards. It’s somewhat important to the actors as it gives them a level of prestige in the eyes of certain bigwigs in the industry (hence why it’s important for actors of all different backgrounds to receive award recognition) but it is essentially just a credential. Many people work to varying different degrees and obtain college degrees. People that don’t have degrees aren’t necessarily less talented or intelligent than those who do have degrees. The Oscars is similar.
Acting is also incredibly subjective. Yes, some actors have more presence than others and some have more range and this is how we rank acting ability. However, the primary job of an actor is to play a real life human being. Some people are powerhouses like Viola Davis and some are just cute like Emma Stone. One persona isn’t necessarily better than the other, it all comes down to preference. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with obviously expressing your opinions on performances but the amount of irritation directed at someone for winning an award is a little much. I’m very much in favour of the Academy continuing to diversify so that we don’t have the same overly familiar material every year and the same old people don’t get nominated.
But the Academy is an audience made up of 6,000 people and you’re never going to impress everyone. It would be like if you gathered 6,000 people from the public and got them to vote in prestigious awards. Many great low scales movies would be snubbed in favour of comic book films, the latest viral animated movie or maybe a mid-budget comedy. Either way, people are going to be annoyed that their favourite movie or performance wasn’t recognised. Different things appeal to different people and to narrow down to 10 films and 5 performances every year is obviously going to leave people disappointed. But not getting recognised doesn’t mean that your film or performance is any less worthy.
Stone presumably worked hard for the role. She put herself out there, she sang and danced and she tried to inject the character with personality and empathy. Some people will enjoy her performance, others will think less of her ability. Ultimately, it’s subjective and not worth getting so mad over. You may be seething but there will be some people who watched her performance and were moved by it. Despite my defence, I didn’t actually care that much for her performance at all but she put in the work and deserves the recognition. Just as hundreds of other actresses do every year. But it can only be 5 and then only 1.
I understand this blog is called Celebitchy so maybe I’m being overly defensive but sometimes I just find that people really do seem to get properly irate about something so small (I understand if it’s just dramatic venting and frustration during your day but I wonder with some people do they actually carry that anger with them).
Sorry about the essay.
I think people are upset because the fact that these young white ingenues keep winning lead actress Oscars for mediocre performances underscores the ageism, sexism and racism in the industry. The fact that Viola felt she needed to move to the supporting actress category to finally win an Oscar speaks volumes, as well Annette Benning’s failure to even get a nomination this year.
Moreover, POC have to deliver ground-breaking performances to even get nominated (and even then, David Oyelowo, Michael B. Jordan, and Idris Elba were all snubbed by the Academy for deserving performances) while someone like Emma can win an Oscar for just being cute and charming. When a POC can win an Oscar for doing nothing more than being “adorable,” I’ll stop caring.
I don’t think anyone thinks that Emma STone didn’t work hard or isn’t lovely. But Hollywood absolutely has a white ingénue problem. Period. I agree with Lainey’s post. It’s obscene to act like a woman who isn’t even 30 years old yet is at the pinnacle of her career and yet that’s what Hollywood repeatedly does with this Best Actress award in a way that they do NOT do with the men which is why it’s gross. Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone, Paltrow, even Brie Larson last year. The list goes on and on where these very young women get rewarded. Personally, I would have much rather seen the award go to someone like Amy Adams or Annette Benning. If we are going to award white women, let’s award women over the age of 40 (who btw both delivered superior performances IMO) and stop with this ageism.
I don’t get the whole Viola had to “finally” win an Oscar thing. She hasn’t been a star all that long. She’s not Peter O’ Toole or Richard Burton with seven or eight noms over decades and no win. And take a look at all the stars far far bigger than Viola who never won despite many wonderful performances. Amy Adams wasn’t even nominated and Michelle Williams lost for the fourth time. Perhaps now Viola has won, no doubt deservingly, that particular view of the situation can be laid to rest.
@Annetommy “She hasn’t been a star all that long.” Viola has been around since the nineties!! She wasn’t a star because women who look like her have to go through theater, television and film for decades before they get to be a star, if at all. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Independent Spirit Awards for Antoine Fisher in 2002. Her first Oscar nom in 2008.
She gave a better performance in Fences than Emma did in La La La and yet her publicist, agent, the film producers knew she would in all probability lose to Emma if she went up against her.
I wouldn’t say upset – I just think her winning the award for La La Land is ridiculous in the face of the roles she was up against. I saw the movie, and it was good, but it wasn’t great. She has the ability, but I agree with Lainey Gossip that this wasn’t her most challenging role and didn’t really reveal anything about her as a talent we hadn’t seen before. I don’t begrudge her the award because she wasn’t the one responsible for voting, nor can I get on her for fighting for it, but it just feeds into this ridiculous notion that the pinnacle of female performance only occurs when they happen to be young and beautiful.
FWIW, the post wasn’t written by Lainey, it was one of her contributors. Emma deserved it more than her buddy Jennifer Lawrence, so there’s that.
The difference is that Lawrence could deservedly have won for Winter’s Bone…
And Emma was terrific in Easy A and could have won for that if those kinds of roles were taken seriously by the Academy.
Well, ever since she won, I’ve seen lots of people calling her all sorts of awful things. So Idk about her, but now I kinda wish she hadn’t won it.
I’ve seen more hate towards Emma than Casey Affleck.
Isn’t that telling?
The negative comments I’ve heard about her are about what she said throwing Warren Beatty under the bus for the envelope mix-up. I mean, I think most people don’t think she should have won, but I haven’t seen any real hate directed at her for that in particular.
ehhh I don’t think she was throwing anyone under anything. She was just telling the truth. She had a card. Warren had a card. Thats not her problem and its not her job to protect Warren or the accountant that messed up.
Yeah, I mean I think she knows she was out-performed this year, but she was clearly thirsty as hell for the Oscar (given all of the campaigning she did). So she still wanted it, even though she knew she didn’t deserve it.
I agree with Lainey’s whole analysis. What bothers me the most about Emma winning is that there’s no other performance of hers that I can point to that was awards-worthy (personally, I think her acting in Birdman was a joke and I can’t believe she got a nomination for that). Even though I’m still peeved at Jlaw for stealing the Oscar from Emmanuelle Riva, I can at least concede that her performance in Winter’s Bone was deserving. And at least when Sandra Bullock won (she also didn’t deserve her Oscar), it was more for her decades in the industry. That Emma was able to win a best actress Oscar for a mediocre performance in a strong year, with no history of great performances and only 10 years in the industry, is astonishing. The pressure is definitely on her to prove herself now.
Isn’t winning an Oscar really about how well the campaign goes more so than the actual performance?
Partly, but for women it seems to be about being a young white twenty-something IT girl. I am so tired of the Academy handing out awards to less-deserving actors/actresses. I didn’t even watch the Oscars this year.
I wonder how much the survival instinct affects the AA organising and voting process. Ratings going down every year as content viewing becomes ever more fragmented. The AA changed the rules last year or several years back to include 10 nominees for best picture, etc. They’re trying to appeal to viewers, maintain the cred and glamour of the awards, and keep the awards recognisable even to people who don’t watch. Having a few popular winners and nominees, or ‘it’ girls and boys, could be one of the strategies to help with that.
I saw LLL. It was good – but that’s it, nothing special and Emma didn’t deserve to win.
i personally think its great that an Asian woman finally won the Oscar.
LOL. Nice one. And Emma seemed to glide out of any controversy over that, just as she has coasted through her career. I have never been impressed by her.
Hahaha good one. I feel bad for laughing but oh well !
She was pretty terrible in Aloha, but so was everyone else because the script was gibberish.
If anyone thinks she was anywhere near as annoying as say, Anne Hathaway then they are crazy. I still like Emma, I thought she did a great job in the movie and I am not sorry she won. There were others that campaigned all over the place as well…she wasn’t the only one. I liked almost all of the nominees and while I didn’t see every movie, I think it sounds like all these actresses are going to be successful no matter what. There was lots of talent this year in all the categories.
as annoying and htirsty as hathaway is nobody questions her career and talent.
she didn’t need white washed role, she did comedy she did drama, sf, historical,etc.
she has been in great films.As sweet as emma may be, Anne acts circles around her.
Opinions are kind of like b-holes, everyone’s got one….I’ll agree to disagree on the Emma/Anne acting argument, I’ve got 3 girls and been forced to sit through the Princess Diaries Part II way too many times, Part I ok, but Part II…ouch.
I think Emma is great and it was a good performance. I am glad we have Best Actress winner who smiled more than three times in her movie. The men should try it and then we won’t have to suffer through hours of gut wrenching displays of masculinity every year. The whole La La Land team handled themselves well – it could have gotten really ugly and with some other people involved, it might have. What a mess.
Did any of the Best Actress noms this year really deserve it? I wish it had been Amy Adams for Arrival, but that just wasn’t going to happen.
By and large, it was a pretty uncompetitive year for that category.
Isabelle did. I’m not sure about Natalie, and I have not seen Loving, so I can’t comment on Ruth.
I thought it was a weak category overall this year. I think Annette Bening should have been a nominee.
Yeah, this year was odd. It started out a very strong year for lead actresses, but the ultimate line up was weak. There were definitely better performances that weren’t nominated, for one reason or another (such as Amy Adams, Annette Benning, Taraji P. Henson and Rebecca Hall).
I felt the same way about lead actor too. Jake G. (for Nocturnal Animals) and Adam Driver (for Paterson) definitely should have gotten nominations over Andrew Garfield and Ryan Gosling.
And Viola belonged in Lead, not supporting.
I havent seen everything but I thought this years Oscars class was overall nothing to be too excited about. There wasnt any real standout performance or movie for me.
Kim min hee of Handmaiden was my bet this year. But Natalie is my next bet. I haven’t seen Elle. Paul Verhoeven is a very confusing director. I do not know if he is a brilliant satirist or a just a trollish type. Starship Troopers, Robocop and Showgirls were taken literally by moviegoers at the time of their release. Later on it was revealed that the joke is on us and he is self aware of his films’ obnoxiousness. Now I am wary of Elle if this maybe one of the Paul’s trick movies.
I’m obsessed with Kim Min Hee after watching that movie.
Actually, i’m obsessed with that movie. Saw it several times at the cinema, in screenings and at a festival!!! Told all my friends to watch it. Even recommended it here whenever there was a movie thread.
It was my MVP for 2016.
No 2 being ZOOTOPIA because the fat tubby reminds me so strongly of my BIL in a good way.
I really enjoyed ELLE despite approaching it with trepidation based upon the director. I think he is both a troll and a satirist who lacks subtlety in all his work. OR i went into the screening primed to hate it based on the director and was pleasantly surprised.
What were the chances an Asian actress could actually score an Oscar nomination though?
But Kim Min Hee just won Best Actress at the Berlinale this year for a different film, and Diego absolutely nailed it when he was announcing her win and said ‘you can’t stop watching her’.
I legitimately thought she was retired from acting before la la land came out. All I seem to remember her for in recent years was Easy A and her Revlon commercials.
She has been everywhere in the last few years, come on now.
Except that whole Birdman thing, for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar.
@daisy and tiffany! Ok let me re- phrase. So I didn’t think she “retired” per se, but you have to admit she’s kept a low profile in recent years.
And it was my understanding that Birdman was more of a smaller indie film. Yes, I remember when she was nominated, but I also remember years before that when there was so much hoopla around her being the next Lindsey Lohan/taylor swifts BFF and she was freakin everywhere. I guess good for her for being selective with her roles (and not joining swifty’s godawful squad lol).
Lol. She was literally nominated for her first Oscar 2 years ago. And has been in the Spiderman films and 2 Woody Allen films.
Well, yeah. Again, my point was it just feels like she’s been fairly under the radar as of the last few years (even with her Oscar nomination). I just feel like she was Jlaw caliber at one point.
Just, nevermind. Facepalm lol.
@Danyella – That’s fair. But she has been pretty visible for the last few years. She has been in quite a few movies that had huge promo tours, become a certified fashion darling, got a major beauty contract (Revlon), her first Oscar nomination, went to the Oscars with The Help a few years before that (and this was after Easy A), etc.
Isadbelle Huppert is probably the greatest actress of the last quarter of the century – so even Meryl wouldn’t have ‘deserved’ an Oscar when competing directly against her. Having said that, I think some of the flak Emma Stone is getting is excessive. She along with J-Law, Brie Larson and others being to an exceptionally talented generation of young actresses – just compare them to eg the generation around and including Reese Witherspoon, who arguably didn’t have the range or talent of the current crop. (To be fair, they mightn’t also have got the same opportunities…) For example, Lawrence and Stone are on a wholly different level than Alicia Silverstone, as actresses.
Have you seen all actresses in all countries? Maybe there’s a better actress in, I don’t know, Kazakhstan. Just because she’s from a big country doesn’t mean she’s the best.
People get nostalgic for the actors and actresses of ‘their’ generation, and tend to look down at the youngsters coming through. I agree with alizia1234 that the current generation of mid 20s female stars are very talented. Yes, they are hyped. But there is substance there, especially when it comes to Lawrence and Larson. And I don’t get how people argue that they are ‘always playing versions of themselves’, and then give someone like Rooney Mara as an example of someone who is different. Mara is very talented, but she has a narrow range. (Can you see Mara doing Lawrence’s role in Joy, or American Hustle?) I get that people are sick of hearing about these younger actresses. But that shouldn’t mean they should be written off.
I disagree with you that this is an “exceptionally talented” generation of actresses. Reese is actually a very good actress (she has a ton of range as evidenced by Election, Legally Blonde, and, of course, Walk the Line, though I still can’t believe she beat Felicity Huffman that year). Hilary Swank was just 25 years old when she won an Oscar for Boys Don’t Cry – none of the actresses you’ve named could match her performance in that film. Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett were both in their early to mid-20s when they got their first Oscar nominations (again, they are leagues better than JLaw, Stone, etc.). Emily Watson was in her late 20s/early 30s when she got her first Oscar nominations (her performance as Jacqueline Du Pre is phenomenal). The list goes on. The difference is that the actresses you’ve named (with the exception of Brie, who I think is the most talented of the bunch) are incredibly over-hyped. And if we’re talking “this generation” of actresses, in my opinion, Saoirse Ronan, Alicia Vikander and Shailene Woodley can act circles around the likes of Jlaw and Stone.
I mostly agree with you. Woodley and Vikander don’t do anything for me acting wise. I find them to be different sides of the same coin as Jlaw and Emma. Personally I would add Rooney Mara to the list of better actresses than Lawrence and Stone. This crop of actresses that are up for all the roles and seem to be everywhere don’t do anything for me. Obviously this whole thing is subjective, but I think part of the problem is that they are so front and centre all the time that when you see them in a movie it’s like “oh look there’s Jlaw”. For me I find their off screen personalities distract from whatever role they’re playing. I just can’t take them seriously.
I tend to agree with you that on the whole, this generation of young actresses are not really strong actresses yet. I think actresses like JLaw, Stone, Watson, Stewart, I’m including Woodley and (maybe controversially) Anna Kendrick are always playing versions of themselves. No real nuance/depth film to film.
What they do seem to have is strong personal appeal and so that is somehow translating into being hyped for strong acting performances. They are all very likable (except for KStew ha ha).
Reese is a weak actor. Just see what she did to Vanity Fair. I agree with Mia Girl’s assessment of those younger actress listed. Rooney and her sister are solid.
Reese is currently slaying in Big Little Lies on HBO.
I’m getting really tired of the La La Land backlash and everyone acting like every aspect of it was garbage. Emma was the front runner from Venice. Her performance garnered near perfect reviews. It’s literally only in the past few weeks that people have turned on the film and her performance in it, before that it was pure accolades.
People were actually excited about a great lighter film and performance winning awards for once!
Reviews of Portman’s performance were much more mixed. Huppert was very good in Elle, but I’m wondering how many people have actually seen it or her other work? She’s done far, far better. Viola herself chose to submit herself in supporting, so the hand wringing there is pretty silly. Meryl obviously didn’t deserve it. So then there’s Ruth Negga, who was wonderful in Loving, but given the way the film never made an impact and just faded away, was never going to win.
‘Light’ performances aren’t easier than dramatic ones. In many ways they’re actually harder. It’s easy to keep people enraptured in your capital A Acting while you scream and cry or while people are on tenterhooks waiting to see what awful thing will happen to you next and how many emotions you’ll throw at the screen when it does. Keeping up the energy of something pleasant and fun is hard work, and something many great dramatic actresses cannot do at all, even in something very, very short like a skit or an ad.
Dramatic performances are not intrinsically more worthy than lighter performances. The idea that they are is responsible for a lot of dreck winning awards. It’s why Sandra Bullock won literally for just doing a drama, it’s why Julianne Moore won for a disease of the week movie and not one of her many more rounded performances and it’s why so many crappy biopics lead to awards, because the combination of real life drama and on-screen drama means it’s extra dramatic, right?
I agree with almost everything you said.
A big exception was Julianne Moore. I felt she gave an incredibly nuanced performance, not some Lifetime disease of the week one-note performance. Her performance was Oscar-worthy and she deserved it.
THANK YOU. This is SO true. Emma didn’t just become the frontrunner 2 weeks ago. People were calling her the frontrunner even after Elle came out. Huppert was great and guess what, SO WAS EMMA.
The so-called light performances are equally as favored as the dramatic ones. That is why year after year we have people complaining, “really, is s/he really better than this dramatic actor?.” We have Gwyneth, Marissa Tomei, Mira Sorvino, Alan Arkin, Christophe Waltz in Django Unchained, Jennifer Hudson, JLaw , Whoopie Goldberg, Julia Roberts and so much more. No one is questioning their talents, they all gave praise worthy performances but the truth is anyone who gets the most buzz will emerge as the winner.
totally agree!! I’ve seen all of the films that were nominated and thought La La land was wonderful and worthy, just as good a film as moonlight, but la la land has stayed with me and i’ll gladly re-watch it, whereas i won’t do that with any of the others.
I’m a little tired of painfully depressing oscar-bait films- La la land was a refreshing antidote.
Thank you. It was a wonderful film and a great night out at the movies. Moonlight was also wonderful and I’m glad they split the big awards. I was just laughing thinking about how if the internet had been around in the 30’s and 40’s, gossip message boards would have been ranting and raving about how “thirsty” Joan Crawford and Bette Davis were. That’s why they were successful actors. They were ambitious, pushy and a little crazy.
Dear God, I hope she doesn’t think that… no hate on Emma, she’s cute and all but LLL was terrible and her performance wasn’t great either. The fact that she beat actresses who deserved it way more was just sad
Yeah that 93% on rotten tomatoes means it’s terrible!!!!
I don’t mean to sound nasty, sorry. I didn’t like LLL at all but everyone has different opinions and taste. It’s what makes the world go ’round. 🙂
No need to apologize! I love that we can respectfully disagree.
European critics did not particularly like the performance of Emma Stone not because it was bad but it was a performance rated as weak and that Gosling was much better. I watched the film and the perfomance of Emma Stone for me was exasperating, for she abused mines and pouts.
Although I love Emma Stone what it disturbs me so far in all the films that she does is that it makes us of the Emma Stone that is to say, mines and big eyes surprised so Not she deserves absolutely not to win the Oscar of the best actresses especially this year where the performance was much better than last year. For me it is like Jennifer Lawrence, they are not for the moment versatile actresses in their acting games. For me the Oscar should have been discussed between Elizabeth Huppert, Natalie Portman, Ruth Negga, Amy Adams, Jessica Chastain
Her role was not challenging. Throw in at least 20 other actresses into it and you’d get the same results. I thought her win was very boring and basic and uninspired. Reminds me of Sandra Bullock winning for that Lifetime movie. Then, a few years later when she actually gave a performance that deserved an Oscar (Gravity), she didn’t win because she already had an undeserved one. I can see the same thing happening to Emma. Being so young and of average talent, this Oscar will actually count against her winning again for a long time.
I do not think she wins a second Oscar although she is adorable with great personality She is an actress with a very low capacity in her performances
I think she’s an above average talent. And aside from talent, she has that “can’t take your eyes off her” thing about her, in my opinion. I think she will grow into it well as she gets older.
ETA: Sandra Bullock is lucky she bagged the Oscar for TBS, because there was no way she was beating Cate Blanchett in 2014.
“Light” movies should be more common in the awards. Not everything should be grief and sadness. I think that plays a part in people’s judgment of good acting. It is entirely possible to do great acting in a lighter film. I just don’t think this was it.
It is more common than you think. Crowd pleasers tend to win over the heavy drama ones. Personally, blockbuster films should also be included. Deadpool deserved a slot. But good blockbuster films will be overlooked by the Academy. I personally prefer Captain America: Civil War and Rogue One: Star Wars Story over some of the nominated films. But that is just me.
I think that light films are also good when played well as Screwball comedy but for me an actress or actor must also know how to express all the emotions of a human being.
In the case of La la land it was not a great movie it was just correct but she performance was just so Blah that even though it’s a light film it’s not an excuse for its performance
I so agree with the contention that comedic roles are always undervalued at awards time. I will always believe that Tom Hanks got the Oscar for Philadelphia bec the voters could not bring themselves to vote him an Oscar for Big. That was a genius performance.
And I also think Emma’s early roles in comedy influence this “unworthy” discussion. Good grief-Marisa Tomei has had to live for years with the rumor that she got her Oscar due to a mix up- and that was a comedic role as well.
People were also shocked when Kevin Kline won his Oscar for A Fish Called Wanda (hysterical movie, btw). Comedy is generally viewed as below the Oscars.
Does As Good as it Gets count as comedy? Drama-comedy? Both leads won that year.
My problem with Emma Stone winning best actress, aside from the fact that her fellow nominees were far worthier, was that she didn’t do anything different than what she’s done in her other movies. I have nothing against “lighter” performances and movies, but Emma Stone played Emma Stone in La La Land.
She had great moments– the audition musical scene and the scene where Ryan Gosling’s character was trying to convince her to go back to LA… but other than that, I was taken out of the film several times by her ‘Emma Stone-isms’, so to speak. The same hammy facial expressions we’ve seen in her SNL stints and countless movies… (“Lovely Night” scene, for example)… this performance, while charming, simply wasn’t award worthy.
This! When her character requested the song from Ryan’s character’s 80’s cover band and then danced with funny expressions – FULL Emma Stone, not her character. That was a relatively early on scene and from then on I couldn’t separate her from her character. It was not a nuanced performance and only highlighted what little range she had since (as you mentioned) she makes those patented “Emma Stone” faces in everything from SNL to Easy A to actual interviews.
I blame Jennifer Lawrence
no wait, Gwyneth paltrow
I blame the youth and nintendo and caffeinated soda.
I love this comment.
Why can’t people care more about foreign language films category there’s no good movies in hollywood anymore!
I disagree. Emma ran one of the thirstiest campaigns any actress has run over the past years. She was ON. Attended every screening, every event, hustled her ass like a pro. She WANTED it. She knew she had her age and the fact that her performance wasn’t awards worthy but she worked it out and did everything she needed to do to be the frontrunner.
Most of the nominees were thirsty and hustled. Why wouldn’t they?
How is this thirsty? She was professional, showed up when she needed to, and rightfully supported her film. You rarely get to be part of a film that has SO MUCh critical love and LLL had a lot of it from the moment it debuted at Venice. She did the same amount of work for Birdman. I don’t see this as being thirsty. You know what’s thirsty? Melissa Leo running her OWN FYC ADS!! Remember that?
The Oscars are consistently not about who is the best in a particular year – they’re about who either campaigns the best (Jennifer Lawrence) or an older actress/actor who’s time has simply come for an overall good body of work (like Julianne Moore). But doesn’t everybody know that by now?
That’s true in some cases but not in all. Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for Blue Jasmine because she was pretty f-king great.
I thought Cate was extremely mediocre in that film.
I think the Academy likes to toss in a few actors with mainstream appeal every year to keep the brand high profile. It must feel super insecure with lower ratings every year, but I suppose online coverage is still massive even if people don’t sit down and watch the whole show now.
I feel like people forget that when La La Land actually came out, it debuted to across the board rave reviews. I think very few frontrunners could have sustained that, and in this day and age of think pieces, award polls, and the award show marathons themselves, few frontrunner movies (and performances) will ever escape the dreaded “over rated” label.
Not to mention, a star can’t campaign too much, or want an Oscar too much. They have to want it, but not too badly. Look at how heavy campaigning changed the reputations of Anne Hathaway, Natalie Portman, and Leonardo DiCaprio. We speak of it so derisively, as though their naked WANT meant that the performances weren’t good and they must not have been deserving to want it so badly. Emma Stone just finished a marathon. She looked tired to me.
We can say for 5 years that the Oscar has become very mediocre, especially for the
Best actress.All the people who love Stone say that she does not deserve the Oscar but she has directed one of the most thirsty campaigns that any actress has run in the last few years, knowing that it is not a great performance so Now that the euphoria of La La Land is passing she must now confronted the critics.
Personally, if I was an actress and the performance was mediocre, I would not consider doing such an intense campaign because I preferred to win for a real performance But as the Oscars are all for an actress, she is absolutely not to be pitied.
The truth is, Viola Davis is the best actress of the year. But, she purposely took herself out of that category, and opted for “best supporting actress”, because she knew that the academy members would more than likely choose a white female for “best actress”; because they’ve done exactly that in both of her two previous nominations. Emma Stone should have thanked “white privilege” when she was giving her acceptance speech. That being said, also white, (French), also nominated for a “best actress Oscar”, Isabelle Huppert should have won. “La La Land” is a good name for this movie, since Jazz was created/invented in New Orleans by authentic Black singers and musicians. I guess all the Black actors were out-of-town, when they held auditions for “La La Land”. Thank goodness the academy members kept it real, and gave the best movie Oscar to “Moonlight”.
““La La Land” is a good name for this movie, since Jazz was created/invented in New Orleans by authentic Black singers and musicians”
FFS! This movie wasn’t about the creation of jazz!!!! Did you watch the thing? Seriously.
i know its ridiculous- i don’t think half the people complaining about the film have seen it
AMY ADAMS, Nocturnal Animals and Arrival, two stellar performances in one year and Annette Benning just a great performance.
I don’t think she deserved the win, by far….but I think it’s a lot to assume that SHE didn’t think she deserved to win based on her using humble words and phrases in her acceptance speech. Emma is younger and most likely has a long career road ahead of her; therefore, it’s only natural to expect that she will continue to grow and learn, so it makes sense to include that sentiment in her speech. If she got up there and eluded to the fact that she had fully evolved as an actor and had nothing else to learn, she would be not only be ignorant but also ridiculed. As to WHY she chose to say what she said, it’s only Emma who will ever truly know.
Publicity drives Oscar winners now. The PR machine starts before the movie even opens. Viola Davis was declared the winner last summer, like Anne Hathaway. The PR is so loud and insistent until everyone believes it to be true and the academy votes accordingly. Not a slam against either of their performances, but the acting is almost an afterthought to the campaign.
At first it seemed like Best Actress was going to be Portman’s (my choice) but then the momentum shifted and by October, Stone was declared the winner and that’s how it went.
I saw LaLa Land and enjoyed it particularly when it picked up in the last half. I didn’t think her performance was Oscar worthy. I thought the storyline was flawed, driving a Prius and going back home after six years? And I don’t believe Meryl Streep should have been nominated either.
That would have left two slots for Viola Davis and Amy Adams.
Yes! It’s a shame Viola won for supporting.
Don’t get the Emma hate. If I wasn’t such a nice person I might think it was jealousy.
I think many winners know they didn’t deserve the OSCAR (JLaw, I’m looking at you) but it’s sort of a popularity contest. LLL was the movie of the year in terms of accolades and rave reviews. It wasn’t that good but it wasn’t that bad either. Emma is not as overexposed as other actresses in her position (Anne Hathaway, yes, I’m talking to you!). She’s going to be fine.
This headline struck a chord with me, and I find it offensive. It would have never been written about a man.
Are y’all crazy?! I watch la la land EVERY single day and I HATE musicals. Emma was that movie. This comes from someone who has studied film. Granted, Moonlight deserved best pic… Hands down.
When Leo was presenting the category of best actress he said you forget the actress behind the character or something like that, but all i saw was Emma Stone trying to act, not being de character.
Am i alone ?