So you’ve already got your bets placed for the dark horses and frontrunners of the Oscar race. When the nominations were announced early January 24, most came as no surprise. The Artist and Hugo lead the noms, the ladies of The Help are shining brighter than ever before, and it looks like it could finally be Clooney’s year for Best Actor. But the only thing more exciting than nomination announcements are the snubs. And boy, were there a few that riled up the fans and critics.
Young and old shed a few years the world over when The Boy Who Lived waved his wand for the last time in Deathly Hallows: Part II. Audiences were essentially unanimous in thinking the final installment was a series’ best, with acting, action, and visual effects. And yet…Alan Rickman got not even a nod for his last act as the cunning Severus Snape. The film wasn’t even considered for Best Picture, despite the fact that it definitely grossed more than all the nine nominated movies combined worldwide! In fact, like a few of the other installments, Harry Potter was only appreciated in the visual department, for Art Direction, Visual Effects, and Makeup. We can’t help but be a tad offended by this.
But looking at Deathly Hallows: Pt. 2 from a genre standpoint, it’s hard to narrow the film down to one category. Fantasy? Action? Children’s movie? A combination of the three and more, which throws Oscar voters in for a loop. Though the J.K. Rowling books are geared towards a demographic under the age of 25, the films have reached populations of all age spans. Both the universality and ambiguity of who in the audience can relate and appreciate the film shows how voters were not swayed by an adaptation of YA fiction novels, no matter how great of reads they are or how well they translate on-screen.
Actor Ryan Gosling sure kept busy in 2011 with three starring roles in Crazy, Stupid, Love; Drive; and The Ides of March, not to mention his much-hyped role in last year’s Blue Valentine. No doubt he’s one of the hardest working thespians out there (good thing he still has time for the gym…), but come ON, voters! Give the man his due for something other than Half Nelson. It’s not enough that he was robbed of People’s Sexiest Man Alive by a tool; now he had to show off his muscles that much harder. Gosling is one of few actors who can say a mouthful within a script by saying nothing at all; shame the Academy Awards didn’t use those few extra votes wisely. But the Oscars rarely go for films so edgy and indie like Drive, which had many good aspects and even Albert Brooks’ terrifyingly-amazing performance to back it up.
And let’s not forget the man who dropped trou and made US, the audience, feel bad about looking. Steve McQueen’s Shame was one of the most provocative films of last year, and we’re not talking just about Michael Fassbender’s impressive member. The film made the viewer feel sorry for his nymphomanic character, and it seemed more violating than pleasurable watching Fassbender get it on with, well, everything on-screen. Hardly has an actor this year been so raw in a role, and we feel Fassbender, as a rising star of 2011 and 2012, deserves much more praise in the form of gold statuettes. Or at the very least, why not fill the awkward 10th spot of Best Picture nom with Shame, which portrayed a usually-euphemistic-looking New York City as a grim, gray place. McQueen and Fassbender were horrible robbed of such fine craft that we the audience so rarely get for our money’s worth at the theaters. It’s a damned shame that the NC-17 rating made the film so taboo for moviegoers and critics, who have truly missed out.
Are we just huffing and puffing here, or do you ‘Buffs agree with these snubs?
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