The Film Experience

Now that we've had 24 hours to process the Oscar nominations I polled Team Experience for one last Oscar Nomination reaction roundup. Which nomination did each of our contributors find most mystifying? Here are their answers which amused me so I hope you feel the same.

Please bear in mind that these items do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management. We each have our pet peeves and our "achievements" we just can't with. Share your headscratchers with us in the comments. What's still antagonizing you this morning a full 24 hours after getting used to it as an "Academy Award Nominee"

Individual targets after the jump...

"Writing's on the Wall" - Original Song
Some notes on the James Bond theme songs:
-"Goldfinger": Shirley Bassey purrs her way through a sexually charged tribute to a dangerous man, ending one one of the all-time great sustained belted notes. Result: no Oscar nomination.
- "Thunderball": Tom Jones uses raw dramatic passion to blast through goofy lyrics, and ends on a sustained note so great that he fainted at the end of it. Result: no Oscar nomination.
-"You Only Live Twice": Nancy Sinatra beatifically croons against the subtly melancholic backdrop of a tentative, sweet romantic melody. Result: no Oscar nomination.
-"GoldenEye": Tina Turner oozes sensuality and predatory menace in a hard-edged, smoky R&B number. Result: no Oscar nomination.
-"Writing's on the Wall": Sam Smith bleakly sings like frozen corpse in a sexless retread of "Skyfall" that attempts to rhyme "blood" with "up". Result: Oscar nomination. - Tim Brayton

Editor's Note: This was the most popular choice to write about but we figured one complaint was enough for publication.

The Revenant Nomination Tally
The most for any film? I found it to be excruciatingly unbearable, a slog to get through. Nothing was gonna stop the "overdue" train for Leo's journey to his inevitable Best Actor win (can't we wait for a performance that's actually worthy?), but I didn't expect all the craft categories to join him as well. Particularly in Production Design (so...trees? Waterfalls? Are you nominating nature?) and Costume Design which was just mangy furs, the dead animals themselves did all the work already! (Oh, and have you heard that Leo almost died while filming this?! RAW BISON LIVER!) - Abstew

Robert Richardson, The Hateful Eight - Cinematography
I had really planned to stop talking about The Hateful Eight but this nomination in particular is too perplexing to ignore. Well, no. Perplexing isn't the right word. I know why he was nominated... but it doesn't mean I think it's okay. Oscar's cinematographer's branch has had a boner for Robert Richardson for ages and ages. But this, his 9th nomination, is galling both because he's been so excessively rewarded already (3 wins) and because this is hardly among his strongest films. I understand having perennial favorites but how could they look at the physical grotty energy of Maryse Alberti's work on Creed, or the iPhone ingenuity of Sean Baker and Radium Cheng on Tangerine, or the theatrical precision of Alwin Kulcher's Steve Jobs work or Rob Hardy's moody reflective gorgeous eye for Ex Machina, or [insert several other options] and think... "Nahhhh, let's go with Richardson for a ninth time!" Their field this year is composed of legends who have an average of 7 nominations each but given the creative wonders bursting from this artform in the past few years, and the blazingly new talents popping up all over the place hey really need to start looking towards the next generation and stop patting each other on the back. -Nathaniel R

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo - Best Actor
I’ve yet to hear one salient explanation for why Bryan Cranston’s chewable performance in Trumbo is winning any attention, let alone that of AMPAS. Can anyone help me out? At least Helen Mirren was left out in the cold. Cranston’s late career ascendence to an industry giant was heartening to see, but it’s been soured with his first film awards notices coming down the pipe for the ripe mess of Trumbo. Cranston’s lips are perpetually, excessively out of alignment as he drawls every gruesome line, his facial muscles pulling double time. It’s a grotesquely mannered performance that I feel bad for anyone suffering through as a result of this bewildering nomination. - David Upton

Rachel McAdams, Spotlight - Best Supporting Actress

Look, there's understated acting, there's naturalistic acting, and then there's "not having anything to do". McAdams is an actress whom I adore, and who should certainly have an Oscar nomination under her belt already (Best Supporting Actress, Mean Girls). But in Spotlight, she's given very little to do and gives even less in her performance, barely suggesting anything about Sacha's inner life except for in the broadest of strokes. When there were so many supporting (or, in the case of Tangerine's Mya Taylor, "supporting") performances this year that gave shape and depth to their roles beyond what was on the page, why would anyone put this perfectly-fine-but-uninspiring performance anywhere near the top of their ballot? - Dancin' Dan

Adam McKay & Lenny Abrahamson - Best Director
Remember 2012 when the Directors Branch brushed off Ben Affleck, Tom Hooper, and Quentin Tarantino for Michael Haneke and — even more unexpectedly — Benh Zeitlin? What the fuck happened? Clearly, this adventurous spirit was a fluke because between Morten “Beelzebub” Tyldum last year and Abrahamson and McKay now, this branch is looking increasingly like the stick-in-the-mud old geezers’ club that everyone suggests they are. What’s weird is that I don’t actually think The Big Short or Room are remotely bad movies, but this is in large part due to the efforts of key, hardworking actors like Christian Bale, Steve Carell, and Brie Larson, who would’ve impressed in these movies regardless of the director. The Big Short is the world’s most enjoyable live-action BuzzFeed listicle, not so much directed as set up for eventual editing and its tricky blend of alpha male slyness and late-act sobriety only registers because its well-cast ensemble is so generally comfortable with improvisation. Similarly, it’s because of Larson and only Larson that the emotional wallops of Room’s best passages manage to even somewhat land. She rescues the film from some dubiously glassy filmmaking through the inherent warmth of her playing and effectively directs young, green Jacob Tremblay more than Abrahamson ever bothers to.

Alejandro González Iñárritu could very well be included amongst these gripes and The Revenant is certainly an unduly arrogant mess. But at least Iñárritu is attempting something on a grand-scale level, however woefully misbegotten. His ambition may bespeak uneven, even unsavory ideas about the future of cinema, but at least he’s got the future on the brain. He clearly wants to push cinema forward and I can admire that way more than McKay’s patchwork PowerPoint and Abrahamson’s unexceptional safe-playing. - Matthew Eng

Best Picture - The Big Short
I understand that the passion for this film is in part driven by the anger it incites. However, I don't get how so many adore a film that so actively condescends to the audience - even outside of the witless bubble bath, gambling asides. With shoddy construction and a bland cacophony of an ensemble, it's an eye and ear sore that never aligns with its admirable intentions. Yikes. - Chris Feil