The big Oscar snub not many have discussed.

[jesse_custer]

Laura Dern for Inland Empire. Not only do I think a nomination should have been given to her, but she was far away the best female performer of 2007. Her work in Inland Empire is believable, ever-changing, and scary. I've seen the film twice now and I keep appreciating it and her performance more and more.

[jade_nova]

What is Inland Empire[B] about? I have not really heard about it until you mentioned it.

[jesse_custer]

It's very difficult to describe "Inland Empire" in terms of plot. Just to illustrate this difficulty, I myself have two different interpretations of the film, and I'm not 100 percent sure either is valid. But they're fascinating. One involves a woman who has played so many roles in Hollywood, who has been controlled so much by the culture of acting, that she is no longer able to differentiate between reality and fiction. Another perspective is the idea of a woman having a nightmare, but within her nightmare is another woman having nightmares. And you just have this large staircase of disturbing images.

Regardless, there is no questioning that the film evokes strong emotions, like fear, disappointment, and lust, primarily in the form of Laura Dern's exemplary performance.

Watch it and you might come up with something different, though.

[Shade]

It's a great performance for sure....and I haven't seen all the nominated films, but as much as I like Dern's performance, she didn't come close to Julie Christie's performance in my mind. Christie not winning would be more of an offense to me if I thought the Oscars really had any validity.

I'm really just glad that the right song won for best song.

[EZMOHR]

Got to agree with above poster. Julie Christie was in the better movie, and gave the better performance.

[Omega Alpha]

At least Christie has won an Oscar before. The worst thing is the Transformers sound guy, that lost for the 20th time.

[HomerJay]

I would have loved to have seen Michael Cera or J.K. Simmons get nominated for JUNO, but I think the problem there is that those were EXACTLY the kind of characters they always play. They just play them better than anyone else out there, IMO.

[Mac Danny]

Angelina Jolie in A Mighty Heart was wonderful. I felt that was a snub there.

[EZMOHR]

I would have loved to have seen Michael Cera or J.K. Simmons get nominated for JUNO, but I think the problem there is that those were EXACTLY the kind of characters they always play. They just play them better than anyone else out there, IMO.

I would say yes to Simmons. Cera, eh, it wasn't his best performance of the year.

[GRANT!]

Inland Empire was in limited release in 2006. So it wasn't eligible for this years Oscars.

[Spiffy]

From the title I assumed this was going to be about Brad Renfro being left out of the "death montage" because his union membership had lapsed. :)

[Jared]

From all the interviews I've seen of her, I've begun to question whether Ellen Paige really deserved a nomination, as it seems like she was just playing herself.

[EZMOHR]

From all the interviews I've seen of her, I've begun to question whether Ellen Paige really deserved a nomination, as it seems like she was just playing herself.

It's kind of funny from the interviews I've seen with her since Juno. On the one hand, she seems very humble and on the other hand I want to deck her cause she seems like she's a big time brat. She does seem to be a decent actress though.

[Ilash]

From what I've heard, Inland Empire is weird even by David Lynch's standards so I don't think it's that strange that the Academy would overlook it.

There was plenty that I was happy about this year actually. I haven't seen No Country yet and I might eat these words when I do see it but it's really cool to see the Coen Brothers walk off with that many awards.

My favourite moment(s) though, all had to do with Once. I really, really loved that movie and it was fantastic to see Falling Slowly (beautiful performance, by the way) win best song. Nice acceptance speeches too.

[jade_nova]

Inland Empire was in limited release in 2006. So it wasn't eligible for this years Oscars.

Maybe it can be eligible next year. :)

From the title I assumed this was going to be about Brad Renfro being left out of the "death montage" because his union membership had lapsed. :)

What just because his union membership declined they don't include him in the death montage? That is messed up. He was an actor and he died he should be include whether or not his union dues were paid.

[Ontir]

Inland Empire was in 2006 release, not 2007, so its eligibility is long passed. It did win an Independent Spirit Award last year, which was accepted FOR Lynch, BY Laura Dern. She said that David had asked her to read a haiku, but in keeping with her own independent voice she wasn't reading it!

I thought the snub you might've been talking about was the conspicuous absence of any mention of Brad Renfro's passing, a day or so before Suzanne Pleshette, and a week before Heath Ledger. Shameful!

[GRANT!]

Too slow Ontir... too slow. I already beat you to the snippy retort.

Inland Empire was in limited release in 2006. So it wasn't eligible for this years Oscars.

[Beamish]

The song "Ladies Choice", written for the film version of Hairspray, should have been nominated for an Oscar, over the drippy ballad from Enchanted. I'm not saying it should have won, but it was a fun song, and it helped to progress the plot, which is supposed to be one of the criteria for a song being nominated and eventually winning that award. Three songs nominated from any movie are a little too much.

Having only 3 movies nominated for best make-up is a slap in the face to all movies that had some unique make-up this past year, since up to 5 movies could be nominated. Horror movies are rarely nominated in this catagory, and they should dominate it. I thought it was odd that when they showed the clips of the 3 movies in question, they show Jack Sparrow, with no change in his make-up from the first film, but not any of the creatures desigend for that movie.

[jesse_custer]

Ah, I didn't realize it had a limited release in 2006. Still, a shame that the Academy didn't recognize Dern at all.

[Shadowfax32]

I thought Gordon Pinsent in Away From Her was snubbed.

[The Batman]

Having only 3 movies nominated for best make-up is a slap in the face to all movies that had some unique make-up this past year, since up to 5 movies could be nominated. Horror movies are rarely nominated in this catagory, and they should dominate it. I thought it was odd that when they showed the clips of the 3 movies in question, they show Jack Sparrow, with no change in his make-up from the first film, but not any of the creatures desigend for that movie.

Not only that, but their example of the Oscar worthy make-up in PotCIII was someone putting mascara on Johnny Depp.

And any snobbishness aside, it's much harder to create make-ups that will look real when interacting with real people who aren't in make-up than it is to create ghoulies that are supposed to look grotesque and unusual. That's why movie that do that, like La Vie en Rose, get those Oscar nods and horror movies, like Halloween (2007), usually don't.

[Jmacq1]

Did they show Heath Ledger?

Because IIRC, the "cutoff date" for the death montage is usually January 1st of that year. So Renfro, Ledger, and Roy Scheider (who was also left out of the montage) would show up in next year's.

Another (potentially even more politically incorrect) snub: In the montage of Oscar show hosts, the only one left out was Whoopi Goldberg.

[Beamish]

Heath Ledger was the last celeb shown in the montage. No Renfro, No Schieder.

[jessecuster3]

Did they show Heath Ledger?

Because IIRC, the "cutoff date" for the death montage is usually January 1st of that year. So Renfro, Ledger, and Roy Scheider (who was also left out of the montage) would show up in next year's.

Another (potentially even more politically incorrect) snub: In the montage of Oscar show hosts, the only one left out was Whoopi Goldberg.

They showed the dates they included, I believe its February 1, not Jan 1.

[Omega Alpha]

They showed the dates they included, I believe its February 1, not Jan 1.

Yes, February 1st, which is why Roy Schneider wasn't in it. But Renfro not being wasn't nice.

[Stony]

I like Javier Bardem, I do.
I'm glad he's finally getting some well-deserved recognition.

But damn me if I don't think Tom Wilkinson deserved the Oscar more for "Michael Clayton"

[Shade]

I like Javier Bardem, I do.
I'm glad he's finally getting some well-deserved recognition.

But damn me if I don't think Tom Wilkinson deserved the Oscar more for "Michael Clayton"

I thought Bardem was fantastic as well but it was a very intriguing character he got to bring to life.

I said it before, I would have liked to see Casey Affleck take it because he was the best thing about "Jesse James" and couple that with his turn in "Gone Baby Gone" and I think he stepped up this year big time.

[Omega Alpha]

I thought Bardem was fantastic as well but it was a very intriguing character he got to bring to life.

I said it before, I would have liked to see Casey Affleck take it because he was the best thing about "Jesse James" and couple that with his turn in "Gone Baby Gone" and I think he stepped up this year big time.

Me too. While Bardem was fantastic and deserved it, I think Affleck was even better in Jesse James. His character was much more complex than pretty much any other this year, except for Daniel Plainview, and the range he has shown, going from shy admirer to obsessive to predator ready to kill was fantastic.


As for Wilkinson, while he was great, the category was too tough this year (much more than the leading actor one; even Mortensen, great as he was, wouldn't have been nominated in a slightly stronger yer). Besides Bardem and Affleck, I would say Paul Dano deserved the Oscar more than him; I still can't figure it out why he was ignored in the major awards.

[jessecuster3]

Did they show Heath Ledger?

Because IIRC, the "cutoff date" for the death montage is usually January 1st of that year. So Renfro, Ledger, and Roy Scheider (who was also left out of the montage) would show up in next year's.

Another (potentially even more politically incorrect) snub: In the montage of Oscar show hosts, the only one left out was Whoopi Goldberg.

I am still upset Phillip Seymour Hoffman wasn't nominated as best actor for savages or Before The Devil. I think he will end up as the best actor of this generation.

[SoulOnIce]

Not sure when it was released but I watched Bug last night and I was blown away by Ashley Judd.

[jesse_custer]

^Judd was actually good in that movie.

[Agent_Torpor]

It's kind of funny from the interviews I've seen with her since Juno. On the one hand, she seems very humble and on the other hand I want to deck her cause she seems like she's a big time brat. She does seem to be a decent actress though.

I'm already sick of her. Maybe the overly-fawning cover and story in EW did it, but i'm all for the backlash.

And I hate the Moldy Peaches.

[mlcm]

Josh Brolin's performance in No Country was terrific. Absolutely terrific and it was a shame that he wasn't even nominated, nor was Tommy Lee Jones.

[Omega Alpha]

There were better performances than Brolin's this year, I think.

As for TLJ, I think they just decided to nominated him as best actor instead, and put Phillip Seymour Hoffman instead as supporting. Curiously, while I haven't see any of those yet, many critics think that Hoffman was the one that should have been nominated as leading actor, for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead or The Savages, with Tommy Lee Jones as supporting instead.