Film & TV

Everything is not awesome

Jack Steadman reports back from Hollywood

Jack Steadman

23 Jan 2015 — 3 min read

You might have noticed there’s been a bit of controversy about the Oscars. The LEGO Movie got completely snubbed for Best Animated Feature, and a lot of people got very angry, very, very quickly. The directors (Phil Lord and Chris Miller) responded in their typically wonderful style, with the former posting a picture of an Oscar statuette made of LEGO, and the latter issuing heart-felt thanks to all involved in the film, as well as noting that “everything [was] not awesome.”

But with the obvious outrage over an animated snub aside (even though it’s true, The LEGO Movie has been pre-emptively robbed), there’s been a more pressing and glaring issue, in the complete overlooking of Selma – or, for that matter, any actor or actress of colour. Selma’s Best Picture and Best Song nominations feel like a token gesture – a vague gesture in the direction of a film that has won near-universal acclaim. Morten Tyldum – the director of The Imitation Game, a film that was good because of its strong lead performance, not its weak direction – was nominated over Ava DuVernay, who produced something truly incredible in Selma.

Elsewhere, there were some genuinely valid nominations – Michael Keaton’s turn in Birdman is almost a dead cert, and rightly so, while Wes Anderson finally gets a nomination for his directing work for The Grand Budapest Hotel, his finest film to date. Rosamund Pike’s performance in Gone Girl finally got her the recognition she deserves, while seeing J.K. Simmons nominated for his appearance in Whiplash just feels right.

Guardians of the Galaxy sneaks in with two nominations – Visual Effects and Make-Up & Hair, while the film that it was hoped would finally mark British director Christopher Nolan’s embrace by the Academy falls a little short, with Interstellar only making appearances in the technical categories, albeit deservedly so.

It’s a mixed bag of nominations, all in all. There are some very, very right calls, and there are obvious front-runners for the awards. But there also some worrying omissions, with the fact that the Academy is predominantly old, male and white being more obvious than it has in years.

Felix Film’s Guide to Oscar betting

As the awards season builds up to its maximum climax that is the Oscars, it becomes increasingly easier to predict the winner. And so here are some of the predictions in the popoular categories. Bet at your own risk.

Best Picture: As shown in the poster above, the clear frontrunner here is Boyhood, a film of remarkable achievements that was made over the period of twelve years. The only real competitor this faces is Birdman, but given how Boy has triumphed over Bird in pretty much all the important awards thus far, the top prize of the night is likely to go in favour of what has been dubbed 12 Years a Boy, taken after last year’s winning picture, 12 Years a Slave.

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Michael Keaton, in his fantastic return to form in Birdman is bound to take home his first ever Oscar of his career. He does face stiff competition from audience-favourite Eddie Redmayne of The Theory of Everything, but the Brit actor is far too young to be winning in this category.

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Julianne Moore, believe it or not, has never won an Oscar. She has been nominated a bunch of times and has sure been snubbed over the years. 2015 will be her year, in her heart-breakingly real portrait of an early-onset Alzheimer’s patient, in Still Alice.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: J. K. Simmons, who has long been working as a character actor appearing in bit parts, finally has the chance to shine as a ruthless, terrorising conductor of a jazz band. His supporting performance in Whiplash is winning all sorts of accolades, and rightfully so.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Patricia Arquette’s beautifully nuanced performance, spanning a period of over a decade, is a part of what makes this ambitious tale of Boyhood work so well. With a Golden Globe already in the bag, an Oscar is looking very much a likely scenario for this underrated actress.