2016 Awards Season: Oscar Nominations

January 24, 2017

La La Land

The Oscar nominations were announced starting at 5:18 am Pacific time. Nothing is good that early in the morning. Worse still, it’s a boring year for nominations with very few surprises worth talking about, especially in the biggest categories. Leading the way was La La Land with 14 nominations, tying the record.

The categories and nominations are...

BEST PICTURE

DIRECTING

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

BEST WRITING - ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

BEST WRITING - ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

BEST DOCUMENTARY - FEATURE LENGTH

BEST DOCUMENTARY - SHORT FILM

  • Extremis
  • 4.1 Miles
  • Joe's Violin
  • Watani: My Homeland
  • The White Helmets
SHORT FILM - LIVE ACTION

  • Ennemis Interieurs
  • La Femme et le TGV
  • Silent Nights
  • Sing
  • Timecode
SHORT FILM - ANIMATED

  • Blind Vaysha
  • Borrowed Time
  • Pear Cider and Cigarettes
  • Pearl Patrick Osborne
  • Piper
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG

Notes and Reactions...

  • La La Land earned 14 nominations, which is nearly twice as many as Moonlight and Arrival, its nearest competitors. It is also considered the favorite in most of those categories.
  • The 14 nominations for La La Land also ties the record for most nominations, previous set by All About Eve and more recently Titanic. This could hurt it on Oscar night, as people will snap back to reality and say, “It’s a good movie, but it isn’t among the best movies ever made.”
  • On the other hand, while I don’t think La La Land deserved these nominations, it is not a surprise. It had been singled out by every major Awards Season voting group.
Going category by category, my initial reactions were.

    Best Picture:

  • Deadpool was snubbed. The Academy voters could have told the world they understand Best Picture means the “best picture” and not “best Oscar-bait picture”, but they decided not to do that.
  • At this point, I think La La Land is the favorite here, but I want Hidden Figures to win instead.

    Directing:
  • Four of the five nominees were also nominated for the DGAs as well, while voters love a redemption story, so Mel Gibson’s nomination isn’t that big of a surprise either.

    Best Actress in a Lead Role:
  • Emma Stone is almost guaranteed to win for La La Land, even though she’s not the one I’m rooting for.
  • Ruth Negga and Isabelle Huppert could be seen a surprises here, but not major surprises. Elle is involved in one of the biggest snubs on on list, but more on that later.

    Best Actor in a Lead Role:
  • This list is identical to the SAG Nominations, so it is really hard to say there were any surprises or snubs here.

    Best Actress in a Supporting Role:
  • Again, all five nominees earned SAG Nominations as well.
  • Viola Davis became the first African American actress to earn three Oscar nominations. She hasn’t won yet, so the past nominations gives her an edge over most of her competition. Most. This is Michelle Williams’ fourth nomination without a win and she is the favorite here.

    Adapted Screenplay:
  • I think Moonlight will win here and I’m happy with that. Although I kind of want Hidden Figures to be the surprise winner here.

    Feature-Length Animated Film:
  • Zootopia will like win here, but My Life as a Zucchini and The Red Turtle are typical Oscar nominees. The Oscars tend to support animated films that have little to no box office presence.

    Foreign Language Film:
  • Elle and The Handmaiden were snubbed. What? I had Elle as the favorite to win, while The Handmaiden was my personal favorite.

    Documentary: Feature Length:
  • O.J.: Made in America, which is a TV mini-series, is the favorite to win here. It’s complicated.

    Documentary: Short Film
    Short Film: Live Action
    Short Film: Animated
  • These three categories are notoriously difficult to predict. It will take a bit of research to come up with even an educated guess.

    Cinematography:
  • I think La La Land will win in a wave. If it doesn’t, then I don’t know what film will win here. Arrival perhaps?

    Production Design:
  • Again, La La Land will likely win in a wave.

    Costume Design:
  • Again, La La Land will likely win, but I really hope Jackie wins instead. We helped with the business plan for this movie, as well as for Manchester by the Sea, so we have a little reason to cheer them on.

    Makeup:
  • I really thought Deadpool was a lock for a nomination here. Without that film, I guess Star Trek Beyond is the next best pick.

    Visual Effects:
  • I’m amazed Kubo and the Two Strings earned a nomination here. It’s not the first animated film to earn a nomination for visual effects, as The Nightmare Before Christmas managed that feat nearly 25 years ago. I don’t think it will win, but I’m happy it got the nod.
  • I really want Doctor Strange to win, because I think it is my favorite movie when it comes to the depiction of magic.

    Editing:
  • La La Land, blah, blah, blah, in a wave. ... Moving on

    Sound Editing:
  • Every single year, I have to research the difference between the two sound categories. It's like I have a hole in my brain where that information is supposed to be stored. If I'm correct, Sound Editing is for sound effects, while Sound Mixing is for placing those effects in the audio track to maximize the effect.
  • ... Yes, I cut and paste that part every year. It saves time.
  • I really hope Arrival wins some of these technical categories, but ... La La Land.

    Original Song:
  • I’m really hoping “How Far I'll Go” from Moana will win here. It has a real shot, because La La Land has two nominated songs, so it is splitting the vote.

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Filed under: Awards Season, Deadpool, Silence, Passengers, Trolls, Moana, The Jungle Book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Captain Fantastic, Deepwater Horizon, Suicide Squad, Florence Foster Jenkins, Hail, Caesar!, Lion, Doctor Strange, Zootopia, Kubo and the Two Strings, Star Trek Beyond, Hacksaw Ridge, Manchester by the Sea, Nocturnal Animals, Arrival, La La Land, Hell or High Water, 20th Century Women, The Lobster, Sully, Allied, Under sandet, Hidden Figures, Loving, Moonlight, Tanna, Life, Animated, En man som heter Ove, A Ga ssi, Elle, Fuocoammare, Forushande, La Tortue Rouge, Toni Erdmann, Fences, Ma vie de Courgette, Jackie, I Am Not Your Negro, Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, Casey Affleck, Jeff Bridges, Stuart Craig, Viola Davis, Andrew Garfield, Ryan Gosling, Naomie Harris, Isabelle Huppert, Viggo Mortensen, David Parker, Dev Patel, Natalie Portman, Jake Roberts, Greg P. Russell, Christopher Scarabosio, Michael Shannon, Wylie Stateman, Emma Stone, Gary Summers, David Wasco, Michelle Williams, Stuart Wilson, Greig Fraser, Damien Chazelle, Thomas Newman, Jess Gonchor, Guy Hendrix Dyas, Rodrigo Prieto, Mike Mills, Linus Sandgren, Denis Villeneuve, Colleen Atwood, Mary Zophres, Octavia Spencer, Eric Heisserer, Joe Walker, Patrice Vermette, John Gilbert, Joanna Johnston, Lucas Hedges, Consolata Boyle, Bradford Young, Andy Nelson, Nancy Haigh, Kevin O'Connell, Ruth Negga, Nat Sanders, Yorgos Lanthimos, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman, Renée Tondelli, James Laxton, Mac Ruth, Madeline Fontaine, Mahershala Ali, Mildred Iatrou, Ai-Ling Lee, Steven A. Morrow, Tom Cross, Peter Grace, Claude LaHaye, Joi McMillon, Christopher Nelson, Kenneth Lonergan, Joel Harlow, Giorgio Gregorini, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, Theodore Melfi, Robert Mackenzie, Alessandro Bertolazzi, Bernard Gariepy-Strobl, Dustin O'Halloran, Nicholas Britell, Mica Levi, Justin Hurwitz, Volker Bertelmann, Taylor Sheridan, Luke Davies, Sylvain Bellemare, Barry Jenkins, Tarell McCraney, Larson Love, Eva von Bahr, Andy Wright, August Wilson, Allison Schroeder, Richard Alonzo