Monday Morning Quarterback Part II

By BOP Staff

January 16, 2013

That's a unique version of the Dirty Bird.

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Felix Quinonez: I think for the most part the Oscar nominations are what I expected. Of course there were a couple of surprises and disappointments for me. I'm probably going to be the only one to say it but I can't believe The Dark Knight Rises got NOTHING. Not even one nomination. I was very let down by that.

Another thing that bothered me was that Ben Affleck got no love in the directing category. Argo was one of my favorite movies of the year. I would have been happy if it (Or Django Unchained) was the big winner at the Oscars. Unfortunately this means it's pretty much out of the running in the best picture category. Also, no Best Director nomination for Tarantino? COME ON!

But like I said, I wasn't surprised by too much else. As for the Golden Globes winners I was very happy to see that Argo was a big winner.




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Brett Ballard-Beach: I always like to look at how many films got multiple nods vs how many only got one. This year there were 15 with two or more and 14 with only one (and that's with counting all five animated features). I think there was a good breadth of selection, but because there were some very good films that got excluded (or were included but other areas were not included), a lot of people get jaded. First off, I don't think the directors voting to nominate this year's crop (which is how each field except Best Picture works) were giving Bigelow or Affleck the high hat. It weren't no deliberate fuck you. For all we know, Haneke and Zeitlin received a single more vote than the pair of them. And I am excited that the directors took a little risktaking and looked further afield. It used to be people said, "why don't the Best Pictures and directors ever match up?" My answer for that is above. Now that there can be anywhere from five to 10 Best Picture nominees, the odds that the directors will correspond with five of the Best Picture nominees is greater, but yes, that means some directors "lose out."

I think the Best Actress race features five stellar nominees. Jennifer Lawrence already has two noms by age 22. She's on her way to being the American Kate Winslet, but starring in a lot more blockbusters.

I am sad Moonrise Kingdom couldn't sneak in for the 10th slot.

I don't have a vested interest in Picture A beating Picture B like some years used to be, but think this is an interesting repeat of 1998, in which a historical Spielberg epic (Private Ryan/Lincoln) faces its greatest challenge from an offbeat romantic comedy courtesy of the Brothers Weinstein (Shakespeare in Love/Silver Linings Playbook). And I agree with all four of the lead actors getting noms, and with David O. Russell's two nods. He has quietly become one of the best directors of hysterically funny American comedies (Three Kings and The Fighter included).

Max Braden: The first thing I notice is an absence: I was pretty surprised that Flight did not make the Best Picture list. I thought it was a better movie than Django, Life of Pi, Argo, and even Silver Linings Playbook. Another one I would have automatically added as a nominee would be Prometheus for Best Cinematography (even though I really disliked the movie) over Skyfall. I think Life of Pi should win that category but given the presence of Lincoln it may not. I wouldn't take the Golden Globes as an indicator for the Oscar awards; I can't see Tarantino winning Screenplay over Zero Dark Thirty or Flight. And although Chastain already deserves a a lifetime achievement award, I think Jennifer Lawrence is still the strongest contender for Best Actress. Aside from her, I think the easiest nominations this year were Daniel Day-Lewis and Anne Hathaway. A couple weeks ago, I had formed a theory that Les Mis would win Best Picture over Lincoln because it features a lot of the topics from this year's presidential campaigns (poverty and class issues, etc). I'm starting to waiver on that, but I might play it for the odds.


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