www.bbc.co.uk/markkermode The Oscar nominations have now been been announced and once again there are some glaring omissions and inexplicable oversights...
+Dima Vasilev His score for Once Upon a Time in America is probably the best I've ever heard for a movie I don't understand how he hasn't won for anything, it's kind of the equivalent of Scorsese not having won best director until relatively recently
GiantSandles Absolutely agreed! The fact that Once...in America, Once...in the West and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly were never even NOMINATED is criminal! It's just bad luck The Mission came out the same year as Out of Africa and lost, that's probably my favourite score of his.
Why when someone brought diversity the star with an scrutiny that they don't apply to normal titles, there plenty of great films and performance by actor who are not white, and this is problem that has been happens for years now
+SaucyNinja007 Nobody is crying, no ones is even talking about the political dichotomy here, and i have hear a lot about other minorities not only black people so i dont know what are you talking about
***** Really? What about Beasts of No Nation? Or Girlhood? Or Straight Outta Compton? No black person was even nominated for an oscar out of any of those films.
In my humble opinion, CRIMSON PEAK should have earned at least a few nominations. The production design is hauntingly beautiful, also the costume design is equally beautiful. I only wish the script was half as good as its cast. Jessica Chastain and Tom Hiddleston were fantastic in it, Mia Wasikowska of course was wonderful as usual.
+Gavin48 he's talking about the set design, whether the film was good or not is irrelevant. If Norbit can get nominated for an Oscar then Crimson Peak should've (not that I'm comparing the film to Norbit)
I think the issue with Girlhood is that basically it had little press coverage. It's well known but it isn't well known as something like Spotlight or Room. Had it been as known as those two movies it could have been nominated but would ultimately lose to Spotlight or The Revenant.
Keyser Soze The Academy isn't archaic. They mainly go by buzz, box office, press, and whatever films are considered important that everyone had the chance to see.
Oscars are Oscars. I mean, I can understand how many of the films get the noms they do, but largely they just don't interest me. Which is totally fine in some sense because there were tons of great films from the past year that I did love, so hooray for that. Good to see Fury Road get attention, but it feels like the 'token film that people actually saw' alongside The Martian. I think sometimes they put in films like that just to try and pretend they're still in touch with reality. Like what you like and take the Oscars with a pinch of salt.
+MrWarners14 I thought The Peanuts Movie was great as well. Definitely deserved a nom. Though the animation category was extremely competitive this year, so I can kind of understand.
Personally think that "See You Again" was far more deserving of a nomination for Best Song than The Writing's on the Wall or "Earned It" from 50 Shades. Much more impactful and moving, particularly in the context of the film.
I'm with you on "Writing's", but "Earned It" is great. A real slinky, sexy R'n'B number with catchy and effective use of orchestration. Shame about the movie it came from, though...
Don't get all the love for Inside Out, the film had a nice point but it was bad jokes and dumb "action", Song of the Sea put across basically the same message but heart and art went into it... also the 3D animated Little Prince was pretty solid, for the first hour at least and nobody mentions that because it's not pixar
Just FYI "not only the first animated film to get nominated"... Beauty and the Beast, Up and Toy Story 3 were all animated films nominated for best picture. But you're right, no animated film has won that prize unfortunately :/
+Keyser Soze Dunno who you are referring the "other three amigos," unless you're talking about the other 3 Sicario noms. Del Toro did win before, unless you're solely talking about this year.
Beasts of no Nations - I was dating a girl from west Africa at the time (parents from) and she could barely watch it, she said his accent was terrible and sounded Jamaican, maybe that's something to consider.
+DSQueenie Having parents from West Africa don't guarantee the accent since he didn't grow up there. His accent sounded off to me to but I wasn't surprised.
Inside Out wouldn't have been the first animated movie to be nominated. Toy Story 3 was nominated the first year they expanded to more than 5 Best Picture noms. I believe it was 2010.
As someone regularly driven up the wall by Kermode's labeling of anything and everything as an issue of feminism, that doesn't mean we should go 180 degrees and deny there are any cases of sex discrimination anywhere. The Oscars clearly pick certain kinds of judges who pick certain kinds of movies and that results in many things being left out, from foreign language to non-white actors and stories etc. and if that also includes under-representation of women in cinema *relative to the quality of women in cinema that year* then it's fair to point it out as an issue. If Mark thinks that is the case then fair enough.
I understand Mark's gripe about no animation in the Best Picture category but with the present rules it might make the result of the best animated feature a foregone conclusion eg if inside out got a best pic non isn't that like saying it's automatically the best animated film? My suggestion to make the best picture a fairer category is not to choose 8 or 10 selects films to be in the category. Instead best picture could be made up of EVERY film that received a nomination in the other categories. This year that would mean there were 42 best picture nominees (if you discount the 3 shorts categories). It's a lot but I think would give a fairer and more interesting final result of the night.
Why would anyone be surprised that so many great films, performances, accomplishments, etc., were not nominated for Academy Awards. The Oscars were never really about quality. They're a marketing gimmick that got out of hand.
Got to say, you're overpraising Girlhood a bit too much Mark. It was just okay at best, I'm afraid, although well directed the script was somewhat lacking and I hated that score. Great direction from female directors this past year has come from Desiree Akhavan (Appropriate Behaviour), Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl) and Anna Boden (Mississippi Grind), but unfortunately those were hardly going to get any Oscar nominations (apart from maybe in an acting or writing category).
+J Wizard Phoenix Basicaly every friking movie critic praise boyhood, maybe all the profesional are rigths and the couple of people in the internet are wrong....but how knows....i would say over-hype was a bone-killer for so much people
Beasts of No Nation was really hurt by being from Netflix. When people think Netflix, they think tv and being associated with tv or tv-movies is not good in the minds of cinephiles. That definitely hurt it with the Oscars.
+holmbjerg "What Happened, Miss Simone?" and "Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom" are two Netflix documentaries that got nominated for Oscars this year. I can see this being different compared to fiction films such as "Beasts of No Nation."
So Jin Choi Documentaries are completely different. A very small minority watches them in cinemas anyway, so they are not hurt by that bias, since Netflix is the place most people watches documentaries. On the other hand you have the feature film, something the academy likes to think that they need to protect and keep prestigious. The Academy sort of falls between critics and the general audience. They like to think of themselves as cinephiles, but their taste is a lot more mainstream in reality.
Why do people still bother with the Oscars? Is it just tradition at this point? I'm not into film, but I think almost everyone has noticed that certain kinds of films win over stuff that was actually good. The term "Oscar bait" exists for a reason.
Who cares about diversity at these nominations? It's solely based on merit, not the ethnicity of someone. Positive discrimination is still discrimination you know.
Keyser Soze No they don't. If they did, they wouldn't nominate women or minority groups at all. It's time these lefties grew a spine and realise that we live in a meritocracy, not North Korea.
Mr. Veteran Just because some womens or someone people of color has gain awards that does not mean they dont overlook this minorites, that just awfaul logic, womens and people of color make as good films as white men, but they are not represented in the same number, and the fact that the academy is make up of houndres of old white people is not good sign to
Keyser Soze So, you would prefer affirmative action at these shows over any merit? Really? Surely that must mean shows for minorities (like the MOBO and BET awards) should do the same, no? No-one's complaining about those shows lack of diversity.
Is it bad that I sometimes get the sense Mark Kermode prefers unknown, underrated and under loved films more than blockbusters purely because it's a 'cool' thing to do. I feel that if the Oscar's or the mainstream started to fall in love with films such as 'Girlhood', ''Any number of the animated films he goes on about' or 'indie titles' then he's move on to even more unknown works. In a way i feel he''s has this persona that ultimately limits the films he can enjoy.
+Sam Esdale Where are you getting this from? He openly mentioned that he thoroughly enjoyed Star Wars, he admitted that he was happy that Mad Max got all of those nominations (and that was undeniably a blockbuster), he really enjoyed The Martian, and his favorite movie from last year, Inside Out, was undeniably a Blockbuster. Please stop saying this just because his opinion doesn't line up with yours. Who cares if he likes Boyhood more than Birdman? A lot of people do, and that's just his opinion.
+gun1987gunn She really was good, and really deserved a nomination. That said, Brie Larson is amazing in Room and should definitely win. I was more disappointed by the lack of an Alicia Vikander Supporting Actress nomination for Ex Machina.
Also Kermode treats feminism like it's a football team he supports, I don't disagree but it's weird how much of his judgement's based purely on things being pro-feminism
I'm just praying that Morricone wins for score. He's never won an Oscar, and BY GOD does the man deserve one!
+Dima Vasilev His score for Once Upon a Time in America is probably the best I've ever heard for a movie I don't understand how he hasn't won for anything, it's kind of the equivalent of Scorsese not having won best director until relatively recently
Enino or Emilio?
+sirjaunty1 Ennio
GiantSandles Absolutely agreed! The fact that Once...in America, Once...in the West and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly were never even NOMINATED is criminal! It's just bad luck The Mission came out the same year as Out of Africa and lost, that's probably my favourite score of his.
Ah yes, agreed. The haunting electronic dystopian musical landscape evoked in The Thing (1982) soundtrack is one of my all time favourites.
Very appropriate scene from Inside Out used at the end.
Well Girlhood didn't take 12 years to make
+BilboB love you man
+Michael Garmonsway Did you know though, Boyhood took 12 years to make?
Also a little fact nobody knows about, Boyhood actually took 12 years to make.
+BilboB That would work in Girlhood's favour...
The Oscars are far from perfect, but they should be about standard, not diversity.
+Sam Rees Yeah exactly, and a lot of people who made cinema of a good standard were ignored because they weren't white men
Why when someone brought diversity the star with an scrutiny that they don't apply to normal titles, there plenty of great films and performance by actor who are not white, and this is problem that has been happens for years now
+SaucyNinja007
Nobody is crying, no ones is even talking about the political dichotomy here, and i have hear a lot about other minorities not only black people so i dont know what are you talking about
***** Really? What about Beasts of No Nation? Or Girlhood? Or Straight Outta Compton? No black person was even nominated for an oscar out of any of those films.
***** No, they're not. And Beast of No Nation was also released in cinemas.
Apart from stuff already mentioned, I'm annoyed that It Follows has been overlooked for best score pretty much everywhere.
And cinematography. It's one of the best shot films I've seen from such low budget.
+Jack Sharples Agree, Sicario, Slow West, Hateful Eight, and It Follows has in my opinion the best scores of 2015
I personally believe Crimson Peak should have been nominated for several catergories. It clearly has the most gorgous set design of the year
+Gavin48 I actually really liked it, but I can see why people didn't at all
In my humble opinion, CRIMSON PEAK should have earned at least a few nominations.
The production design is hauntingly beautiful, also the costume design is equally beautiful.
I only wish the script was half as good as its cast. Jessica Chastain and Tom Hiddleston were fantastic in it, Mia Wasikowska of course was wonderful as usual.
+Gavin48 he's talking about the set design, whether the film was good or not is irrelevant. If Norbit can get nominated for an Oscar then Crimson Peak should've (not that I'm comparing the film to Norbit)
+Gavin48 Even is you think that film was bad i want thaaaaat bad
+wherethelightsat I have heard that the movie was flawed, but I agree with set design. Del Toro always does a great job with that.
I'm extremely pleased with Fassbender receiving a nomination for 'Steve Jobs' , my stand out performance of the year.
Disney Pixar's "Up" (2009) actually got nominated for "Best Motion Picture of the Year".
+FabelsJuveler - I think he was meaning nominated and winning because Beauty and the Beast got nominated in 91.
Where's your tribute to David Bowie and Alan Rickman? I thought you were a Bowie fanboy?
+naeemak In time.
+naeemak Scroll down his Twitter feed. Plenty of Bowie on there.
+Ennahdee
If he'd do that he wouldn't just throw something as soon as possible.
+PauLtus B He did a quick tribute to Ken Russell straight after he died. And another celebrity too but I can't remember who it was.
+naeemak I can't remember if it was a tribute as such, but he definitely mentioned Philip Seymour Hoffman in a video shortly after his death.
I think the issue with Girlhood is that basically it had little press coverage. It's well known but it isn't well known as something like Spotlight or Room. Had it been as known as those two movies it could have been nominated but would ultimately lose to Spotlight or The Revenant.
I dont know, you have seen the oscar votes that like that one time? That old white man in the academy certainly seem intouch with the world
Keyser Soze The Academy isn't archaic. They mainly go by buzz, box office, press, and whatever films are considered important that everyone had the chance to see.
J Wizard Phoenix Yeah i think is a number of factor but they also have a history of overlooking film by not-white not-men directors since the 70s
+Keyser Soze You mis-typed 20's.
Keyser Soze No they haven't actually.
Let's not forget, The Oscars are the people who gave the Best Picture award to Titanic and not to Apocalypse Now
+Miles Unsworth And Driving Miss Daisy.
+Miles Unsworth And Shakespeare in Love
Name one awars that dont have a moment like that
+Miles Unsworth And Pulp Fiction, Fargo, Saving Private Ryan/TheThin Red Line, The Lord of The Rings TFOTR
+Miles Unsworth Preach.
Oscars are Oscars. I mean, I can understand how many of the films get the noms they do, but largely they just don't interest me. Which is totally fine in some sense because there were tons of great films from the past year that I did love, so hooray for that.
Good to see Fury Road get attention, but it feels like the 'token film that people actually saw' alongside The Martian. I think sometimes they put in films like that just to try and pretend they're still in touch with reality.
Like what you like and take the Oscars with a pinch of salt.
If Theron doesn't get the nod .......watch your back Kermode !
I was really hoping the Peanuts Movie would be nominated for something. It felt like a movie that the people who made it cared about.
+MrWarners14 I thought The Peanuts Movie was great as well. Definitely deserved a nom. Though the animation category was extremely competitive this year, so I can kind of understand.
Personally think that "See You Again" was far more deserving of a nomination for Best Song than The Writing's on the Wall or "Earned It" from 50 Shades. Much more impactful and moving, particularly in the context of the film.
+Aileen Brennan I really disliked both songs, but do agree that 'See You Again' is more deserving than Smith's atrocious Bond theme.
+Aileen Brennan I'm not personally a fan, but definitely deserved a spot over Earned It.
+Aileen Brennan I don't really like any of these songs, but I agree completely.
I'm with you on "Writing's", but "Earned It" is great. A real slinky, sexy R'n'B number with catchy and effective use of orchestration. Shame about the movie it came from, though...
Don't get all the love for Inside Out, the film had a nice point but it was bad jokes and dumb "action", Song of the Sea put across basically the same message but heart and art went into it... also the 3D animated Little Prince was pretty solid, for the first hour at least and nobody mentions that because it's not pixar
Just FYI "not only the first animated film to get nominated"... Beauty and the Beast, Up and Toy Story 3 were all animated films nominated for best picture. But you're right, no animated film has won that prize unfortunately :/
Kermode likes Girlhood a tad too much in my opinion.
+Paul Melia It's his opinion. He's entitled to it.
+moviebuffreviews Yeah and Im entitled to mine that he likes it too much :)
Paul Melia Touché. :)
He liked BELLE too much last year as well, for probably similar reasons. By the way...are we related?
+Jonathan Melia I don't know but rather cool surname if I do say so myself!
I found it bizarre than Crimson peak wasn't nominated for costume design and production design
That film looked magnificent
Poor Del Toro, the other three amigos have oscar and he not, He deserve one
+Keyser Soze Dunno who you are referring the "other three amigos," unless you're talking about the other 3 Sicario noms. Del Toro did win before, unless you're solely talking about this year.
Beasts of no Nations - I was dating a girl from west Africa at the time (parents from) and she could barely watch it, she said his accent was terrible and sounded Jamaican, maybe that's something to consider.
Sean Connery won for the untouchables
And if you want inaccuracies to reality just look at braveheart
That's very strange considering that, just like your friend, Mr Elba's parents are from West Africa. In fact he may have been born there himself.
+DSQueenie Having parents from West Africa don't guarantee the accent since he didn't grow up there. His accent sounded off to me to but I wasn't surprised.
+shmaveyea coming from an Irishman, I sympathize with her. I don't think I have ever seen a convincing Irish accent from a non irish performer ever.
+VarietyVideoGamer what did you think of Brad Pitt's in Snatch?
Can someone please tell me what is so fantastic about Inside Out? I'm genuinely curious...
I think it's actually a rare solid line-up from the old white guys this year.
I have a suggestion for the Kermode Awards. For Best Documentary you should consider watching Twinsters.
Inside Out wouldn't have been the first animated movie to be nominated. Toy Story 3 was nominated the first year they expanded to more than 5 Best Picture noms. I believe it was 2010.
I don't think Idris is too upset about being snubbed. His OBE will probably make up for it.
I still don't know how Love and Mercy hasn't been nominated for sound mixing or editing. Some of it is absolutely outstanding.
Up was nominated for Best Picture when it came out. So yes, an animated film HAS been nominated in the past. Unfortunately, just not this year.
As someone regularly driven up the wall by Kermode's labeling of anything and everything as an issue of feminism, that doesn't mean we should go 180 degrees and deny there are any cases of sex discrimination anywhere.
The Oscars clearly pick certain kinds of judges who pick certain kinds of movies and that results in many things being left out, from foreign language to non-white actors and stories etc. and if that also includes under-representation of women in cinema *relative to the quality of women in cinema that year* then it's fair to point it out as an issue. If Mark thinks that is the case then fair enough.
Animations will always find it hard to win best picture for the same reason doco's and foreign films do - because they have their own category.
Does anybody else think that as Mark is getting older he is starting to resemble Carl Fredricksen (the old man from Up)?
I thought Ex Machina got surprisingly little.
I believe The French entered Mustang rather than Girlhood for the best foreign language category. It's supposed to be excellent
Do a review of 99 Homes. I think this one went under the radar.
They could have called it 'The Big Short: The Aftermath'
+Man Beadle He already did
Thanks for the heads up... Kermode is just too prolific!
I understand Mark's gripe about no animation in the Best Picture category but with the present rules it might make the result of the best animated feature a foregone conclusion eg if inside out got a best pic non isn't that like saying it's automatically the best animated film?
My suggestion to make the best picture a fairer category is not to choose 8 or 10 selects films to be in the category. Instead best picture could be made up of EVERY film that received a nomination in the other categories. This year that would mean there were 42 best picture nominees (if you discount the 3 shorts categories). It's a lot but I think would give a fairer and more interesting final result of the night.
No best film nod for Sicario and no Foreign Language nod for A Girl walks home Alone.
Easily 2 of the best films last year
Why would anyone be surprised that so many great films, performances, accomplishments, etc., were not nominated for Academy Awards. The Oscars were never really about quality. They're a marketing gimmick that got out of hand.
The End of the Tour, Jason Segel?!
I'm not sure how Benicio Del Toro didn't get nominated for supporting actor, my god his performance was amazing.
Nice ending cut
Got to say, you're overpraising Girlhood a bit too much Mark. It was just okay at best, I'm afraid, although well directed the script was somewhat lacking and I hated that score. Great direction from female directors this past year has come from Desiree Akhavan (Appropriate Behaviour), Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl) and Anna Boden (Mississippi Grind), but unfortunately those were hardly going to get any Oscar nominations (apart from maybe in an acting or writing category).
Ironically he did the same thing for Boyhood.
+J Wizard Phoenix
Ironically "Girlhood" is a weird translation.
+J Wizard Phoenix
Basicaly every friking movie critic praise boyhood, maybe all the profesional are rigths and the couple of people in the internet are wrong....but how knows....i would say over-hype was a bone-killer for so much people
+velocirapta
Dont forget A Girl walks home Alone, but i think Girlhood was awesome
+Keyser Soze See Mark's review for AGWHAAN for what I think of it (basically I hated it)
Beasts of No Nation was really hurt by being from Netflix. When people think Netflix, they think tv and being associated with tv or tv-movies is not good in the minds of cinephiles. That definitely hurt it with the Oscars.
+holmbjerg "What Happened, Miss Simone?" and "Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom" are two Netflix documentaries that got nominated for Oscars this year. I can see this being different compared to fiction films such as "Beasts of No Nation."
So Jin Choi Documentaries are completely different. A very small minority watches them in cinemas anyway, so they are not hurt by that bias, since Netflix is the place most people watches documentaries.
On the other hand you have the feature film, something the academy likes to think that they need to protect and keep prestigious. The Academy sort of falls between critics and the general audience.
They like to think of themselves as cinephiles, but their taste is a lot more mainstream in reality.
And then probably next year the Oscars will over-compensate, and a dreadful film like '12 Years' will clean up
Wasn't Up nominated for best picture in 2009?
Why do people even care about the Oscars anymore?
You realise toy story 3 and UP were both nominated for best picture right?
I thought BONN was illegible for the Oscars because it didn't have a US cinematic release, it was only released on Netflix, wasn't it?
+TreeroyJ Didn't know that. Thanks!
i'd much rather win a kermode than an oscar
No nominations for The Falling. WTF?!?!?
+bremendiego1 That's a 2014 film which didn't come out in the US theaters.
Abrahim Attah should have been nominated
I used to get angry at the oscar now i just enjoy the ceremony and hope the rigth person wins
Why do people still bother with the Oscars? Is it just tradition at this point? I'm not into film, but I think almost everyone has noticed that certain kinds of films win over stuff that was actually good. The term "Oscar bait" exists for a reason.
Not always, just look the history of best picture, hell last year Birdman win that the list oscar bait from that year
Why is the CGI in Anomalisa so clumsy?
+pricklyphlox Lack of budget I'm guesing.
armoredp Thanks. Some of these fancy art movies are beyond my comprehension.
pricklyphlox
That's why we have awesome looking cinema worthy action movies as well ;)
armoredp Yes, we Morlocks need amusements as well.
pricklyphlox
As long as it's shiny and loud I like!
Inside Out? Kermode's lost his mind.
Who cares about diversity at these nominations? It's solely based on merit, not the ethnicity of someone. Positive discrimination is still discrimination you know.
The point is that they have merit but they are overlook because of this factors
Keyser Soze No they don't. If they did, they wouldn't nominate women or minority groups at all. It's time these lefties grew a spine and realise that we live in a meritocracy, not North Korea.
Mr. Veteran Just because some womens or someone people of color has gain awards that does not mean they dont overlook this minorites, that just awfaul logic, womens and people of color make as good films as white men, but they are not represented in the same number, and the fact that the academy is make up of houndres of old white people is not good sign to
Keyser Soze So, you would prefer affirmative action at these shows over any merit? Really? Surely that must mean shows for minorities (like the MOBO and BET awards) should do the same, no? No-one's complaining about those shows lack of diversity.
Mr. Veteran What im saying is that they have merit, but they are overlook, im not trying to make an special olympics out of this
Is it bad that I sometimes get the sense Mark Kermode prefers unknown, underrated and under loved films more than blockbusters purely because it's a 'cool' thing to do. I feel that if the Oscar's or the mainstream started to fall in love with films such as 'Girlhood', ''Any number of the animated films he goes on about' or 'indie titles' then he's move on to even more unknown works. In a way i feel he''s has this persona that ultimately limits the films he can enjoy.
+Sam Esdale Where are you getting this from? He openly mentioned that he thoroughly enjoyed Star Wars, he admitted that he was happy that Mad Max got all of those nominations (and that was undeniably a blockbuster), he really enjoyed The Martian, and his favorite movie from last year, Inside Out, was undeniably a Blockbuster. Please stop saying this just because his opinion doesn't line up with yours. Who cares if he likes Boyhood more than Birdman? A lot of people do, and that's just his opinion.
Charlize Theron all the way. Much better than any female performance last year in those arty farty movies.
those "arty farty" movies being?
+gun1987gunn She really was good, and really deserved a nomination. That said, Brie Larson is amazing in Room and should definitely win. I was more disappointed by the lack of an Alicia Vikander Supporting Actress nomination for Ex Machina.
ohthepeppers Mature response.
Gunn is also my sir name. I'd actually think hard before you respond spewing insults.
+Dima Vasilev
Jeez indeed.
She was terrific.
girlhood was a terrible film, not sure why Kermode loves it so much.
Kermode talking, almost exclusively, about actresses and female led films. Surprise.
Also Kermode treats feminism like it's a football team he supports, I don't disagree but it's weird how much of his judgement's based purely on things being pro-feminism
Inside out was TRASH, Kermode!
Please leave the diversity and social justice rubbish out of the Oscars Mark. Do we not judge people on merit anymore?