Yesterday, I gave a beating to a movie you all inexplicably love as part of the Against the Crowd Blogathon and exhalted one you should. That got me in a contrarian mood. What better way to keep that going than by joining another blogathon that asks us to go against, not just conventional wisdom, but what actually happened. Matt at Film Guy Reviews is hosting his very first blogathon. He calls it the Oscar Re-Do Blogathon. I'm loving this just from the title. All I need to know now is what to do. Matt laid down some simple rules for us to follow.
For this blogathon, you guys pick one of your favorite films over any particular year that didn't get a lot of Oscar love and to make up for that injustice, nominate it across the board. The rules are fairly simple:
1. You must only pick one film from one year.
2. When nominating it in different categories, you must take out one actual nominee to make room for yours.
Ex: Shame (2011)
Best Picture
-Who goes off: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Best Director (Steve McQueen):
-Who goes off: Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris
3. After including it in each category you chose, give a short blurb as to why you would've entered it in the different categories that you chose and why you would've nominated it over the nominees that you replaced.
4. It can be a film that is already nominated. But one that only has about one or two.
5. After posting on your blog, you can post the link in the comments section of this page or tweet me @filmguy619.
You guys have two weeks to take part in this blogathon and I look forward to what you guys come up with. Have fun!
Okay. I can do this. To make it work, we're only going back to the most recent Oscars. We must so that we can correct one of the greatest injustices in Academy Award history. At least, I think so. And that's all that counts.
Yup, it's time to give this movie it's just due...
Let's start with the obvious and give it the nomination it so richly deserves for...
Best Animated Feature
Since The LEGO Movie is in, something has to go. We're getting rid of...
Sorry, Hiccup. It's a cute movie and all, but no. You gotta go.
We're not done yet. To make this feel even better, we're going to pick on one movie in particular. Let's see if you can guess which one. The LEGO Movie is going in all over the place.
Best Original Screenplay
Out: Boyhood
Best Original Song
(Batman)
Out: Lost Stars from Begin Again
(I know this will give it two nominations in this category. So?)
Best Supporting Actor
(Will Arnett)
Out: Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
If you haven't figured it out, I hated Boyhood. To quote my own review "the movie drones on and on, showing us the same thing over and over with people who are progressively a year older than in the prior scene." It does this in the most boring manner, possible, too. How it got a nod for Best Original Screenplay, I'll never know. Where's the skill in writing a script with no plot, no conflict, no rising action, no climax, you know, script stuff. This gives its actors nothing to work with. As much as it pains me to say this, I'll give Patricia Arquette a pass. It's not that she was so great, but I couldn't quite justify dropping her, or any of the other nominees, for Elizabeth Banks who voices Wild Style in The LEGO Movie. Still, I can't let the performers of Boyhood off scot-free. That means, Ethan Hawke gets the axe. He wasn't bad, but Will Arnett as Batman in The LEGO Movie was just so much better. He was perfect. I was tempted to also give a nod to Morgan Freeman, but there were no more Boyhood actors to get rid of. I kid, I kid. Sorta. Freeman was great. I was
SPACESHIP!!! SPACESHIP!!!! SPACESHIP!!!!! SPACESHIP!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSPACESHIP!!!! SPACESHIP!!!!
DeleteS P A C E S H I P!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was disappointed that The LEGO Movie didn't make it as a nominee - it was one of the best that year! I would have this instead of The Boxtrolls though.
ReplyDeleteI liked The Boxtrolls a little better than HTTYD2.
DeleteThanks so much for participating! I agree that the LEGO Movie deserved much better. Honestly, I think it is more inventive and memorable than Boyhood. If you take away the 12 year thing, then I think people wouldn't heap such high praise. I also loved the inclusion of Will Arnett for Best Supporting Actor. I thought he stole the film!
ReplyDeleteThe fact it took 12 years to make is the only interesting thing about Boyhood. TLM is way more inventive. Thanks for hosting. I love any chance to vent.
DeleteWhile I agree that The Lego Movie should absolutely have gotten multiple nominations, I can't justify taking out HTTYD2... that movie was gorgeously animated and superbly voiced, if slightly uneven narratively. Now, take out Big Hero 6 and we can talk. Also: Ethan Hawke was the absolute best thing about Boyhood, effectively communicating a lot about his offscreen life in ways no one else in the cast was able to do. Replace Robert Duvall (easily the "one of these things is not like the others" candidate) if you must - Arnett was hilarious. And Lost Stars should have won the song category. Take out the standard Diane Warren ballad from Beyond the Lights instead.
ReplyDeleteI'll even do you better: Put it into Best Director (instead of Morten Tyldum), Best Sound Mixing/Editing (instead of... anything really), and Production Design (instead of Into the Woods).
BOOM.
We'll have to agree to disagree on HTTYD2. The way you feel about that is the way I feel about BH6. Hawke was good, but being the best thing about a terrible movie doesn't cut it for me. Besides, I haven't seen Duvall's performance, yet, so I didn't feel comfortable taking it out. Like the way you're thinking with the other noms. Great comment.
DeleteWell, you know I'm a fan. In fact, at the Fistis I nom'd it in Sup. Actor (Freeman), Art Direction and Original Song, and it was in the running for Original Screenplay. If I had an animated category, it would be a nom there as well.
ReplyDeleteAnd you know I hated Boyhood...and I'd also have replaced that dragon movie.
Great! We're on the same page.
DeleteHow dare you remove HTTYD2, There were worse animated films in the nominees list! lol But I agree with Boyhood being out.
ReplyDeleteJust to be transparent, I like Boxtrolls better and didn't see the others, yet. Didn't wanna take them out sight unseen. As long as we agree on Boyhood, I'm good.
DeleteHaha, this is hilarious! Though I loved Boyhood, you put anything Linklater does in front of me and I'll love it unconditionally. I'm a complete sap for that stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks! As for Boyhood, I just couldn't. Whatever that movie wanted from me was way too much for what little it gave me,
DeleteI know it's hardly surprising that there is an animated movie I haven't seen, which is the case with this one but I still support the removal of that piece of cow plop called Boyhood for ANYTHING else. God what an awful non-movie that thing is. I've heard good things about the Lego Movie it's just nothing that interests me at all.
ReplyDeleteLove this idea, and the focus of concentrating on just one film in one year makes it much easier to choose. Boyhood was the first movie that popped into my head but there was no movie last year that I felt passionately about replacing it with so I went further back. Here's mine:
My year would be 1956 and the film would be The Searchers which incredibly received zero nominations.
Best Picture:
Remove-Around the World in 80 Days
With great pleasure I take off the film I considered the worst Best Picture winner in the academy’s history. A pointless, overblown, dull and rather stupid “adventure” that is excruciatingly overlong, even its many star cameos are pointless. The Searchers on the other hand is deeply layered and while lengthy never wastes a second of its running time on pointless exposition, that’s about all 80 Days is!
Best Director:
Remove-Michael Anderson-Around the World in 80 Days
Add-John Ford
Since the entire industry knew when the film was released that 80 Days was Mike Todd’s baby and like Gone with the Wind & Selznick the director was mostly there to shepherd the actors along while the producer’s vision was realized. Unlike GWTW though Anderson has no stylistic signature like either Cukor or Fleming. The film is a plodding mess. Ford’s clear vision on the other hand steers Searchers so that the audience is always involved in the journey.
Best Actor:
Remove-James Dean-Giant
Add-John Wayne
Dean is strong in the beginning of the massive Giant but less convincing in the final section, additionally his is much more of a supporting role. Ethan Edwards is John Wayne’s most complex performance and if I had my way he would have won for it.
Best Supporting Actor:
Remove-Don Murray-Bus Stop
Add-Jeffrey Hunter
Murray’s braying buffoon of a character is again misplaced since he’s the male lead in Bus Stop but no matter where he’s placed his performance is so out of control and over the top, save for one scene, that he’s more a blot and distraction from Monroe’s lovely work then any kind of strength for the picture. Hunter’s portrait of Martin’s journey from callow but resourceful youth to finally defiant and independent adult is especially impressive since it shows depth that the actor rarely had the chance to display.
Best Supporting Actress:
Remove-Mildred Dunnock-Baby Doll
Add-Vera Miles
I love Mildred Dunnock and always found her an interesting presence in films but this nomination is a bit of a head scratcher, the role is small and your standard Southern eccentric and I’m surprised she was remembered amongst all the luridness of the story, Carroll Baker sleeping in a crib, Malden contemplating selling her etc. Vera Miles on the other hand takes another stock role, the patient girl waiting at home while the men pursue their goal and makes it memorable by her grit and lack of complacency. She makes it clear that while Martin might not stay in contact for long stretches she’s far too memorable to forget.
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Remove-Around the World in 80 Days
The basic outline of Jules Verne’s novel is intact but the adaptation is overall as flat footed and overstuffed as the film built on it. Frank Nugent’s adaptation of the Alan Le May novel however refines the original and strengths it by sharpening its focus.
Best Cinematography, Color:
Remove: The King and I
King and I absolutely deserved its Oscars in costume design and art direction but a nomination for cinematography. Why? The palace is pretty for sure but we hardly move beyond it and for the most part it’s prosaically photographed. The visual sweep and Ford’s use of Monument Valley is famous, I really don’t understand how every facet of the film was overlooked.
I'm all for this. The Searchers is amazing and Wayne is perfect, here. Great call.
DeleteFor what it's worth, I do something similar to this every Friday. Comments about why I'm wrong and suck are always welcome.
ReplyDeletehttp://1001plus.blogspot.com/2015/08/oscar-got-it-wrong-best-actor-1964.html
Cool, I'll swing by and check it out. Thanks for reading.
Delete