Thursday
Oct242019
108 days til Oscar...
Thursday, October 24, 2019 at 7:00AM Did you know that there are said to be 108 pressure points in the human body? That number factors into many martial arts. In popular fiction you only need to hit five of them to cause instantaneous death. Movies reference this occassionally and most famously, to westerners at least, in Kill Bill Vol. 2, when The Bride slays her titular foe with the "five point palm exploding heart technique".
What are five pressure points Oscar voters have hit in their attempts to kill you? One of mine is skipping Uma Thurman for her most iconic role. Hell, I would've been tempted to give her the actual statue for Kill Bill Vol 1 -- that was such a weird Best Actress year (2003) so why not?
Reader Comments (56)
tempted? I remeber you gave her the gold medal in that year or did you change your mind? I give her the win as well, it is an incredible performance. Damn academy and it genre bias.
3 words: Glenn Close Oscarless...
Uma should've gotten in for both Kill Bills. Tarantino's masterpiece.
Speaking of which - does anyone think it's weird that predictions lean towards Once Upon a Time being a threat for the BP win? I liked it fine but have yet to speak to someone who considers it Tarantino's best. (That would be Kill Bill, if you ask me.)
Kill Bill didn't get a single nomination in 2003 or 2004. That's still unbelievable to me.
Think of the writing, cinematography, costume design, set decoration, editing, SOUND, supporting performances, etc. that make those movies what they are. You'd have to be blind not to give it anything—anything!
I just wish some awards bodies would have their own opinions without obviously being shaped by the previous nominations from other awards.
Last year was a step in the right direction for the Academy with the Marina de Tavira nomination, but overall, there are never surprises, just a muddy consensus.
Only 5? Okay.
No noms for:
1. Nathan Lane in The Birdcage and
2. Bjork in Dancer in the Dark;
No wins for:
3. Elisabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas,
4. Amy Adams in Junebug, and
5. Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty.
Glenn Close
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Gleen Close
I can probably list like 100, but I'll actually just mention that ATONEMENT was weirdly robbed of so many more nominations especially a Best Actor nom for James McAvoy. A travesty.
I would have given the Oscar to her for VOLUME II. I'm also pissed that Ellen Burstyn didn't win for REQUIEM FOR A DREAM which is the greatest performance I have seen anywhere
I have so many that I'm limiting this to the 2010s.
No noms for:
1. Ethan Hawke in First Reformed
2. Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel
3. Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis
4. Jessica Chastain in A Most Violent Year
5. Ralph Fiennes in A Bigger Splash
They do so much worse nominating the men than the women, in my opinion.
The Best Actress Shitshow of the 80s
Both Vol. 1 & 2 should have had HUGE nomination counts - just as JF is saying. Snubs for Uma (both years), editing, cinematography, and the supporting cast still sting.
The three randoms that just popped into my head:
1. No nomination for Yoon Jeong-hee in POETRY.
2. No nominations in cinematography or actress for THE IMMIGRANT (I know Cotillard couldn't have been nominated twice, but I can't think of a better year for that rule to have been reversed than her 1-2 punch of this and TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT).
3. 0 career nominations for Gong Li.
2008: Rosemarie Dewitt not receiving a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her portrayal of Rachel in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. Rosemarie held her own with Anne Hathaway in their scenes and she had a scorching anger scene followed up by that tender bath scene. Dewitt turned in classic, nuanced work that SHOULD have been recognized by the Academy.
1. Jake Gyllenhaal "Nightcrawler"
2. Ian McKellan "Mr. Holmes"
3. Hugh Grant "Florence Foster Jenkins"
4. Joel Edgerton "Loving"
5. Rachel Weisz "Deep Blue Sea"
Suzanne, that list is almost identical to mine! I'd add Annette Bening for 20th Century Women and Michael Caine for Youth.
I'll add two to bring to five after seeing ken s. mention Weisz (couldn't agree more):
4. Rachel Weisz in THE DEEP BLUE SEA
5. Charlize Theron in YOUNG ADULT (absolutely BONKERS that she wasn't nominated for this?????)
2005: skipping the never-better Joan Allen for THE UPSIDE OF ANGER
Michelle Pfeiffer not winning for the Fabulous Baker Boys … oh the travesty of it all.
@Doug, I realize that 1995 was an insanely rich/stacked year for Best Actress at the Oscars, but Shue is my pick, too, and gave one of the finest performances of the entire '90s, IMO.
Anyway, my very actress-y five:
1. Mia Farrow's snub for Rosemary's Baby
2. Judy Garland's loss for A Star Is Born
3. Michelle Pfeiffer's loss for The Fabulous Baker Boys/snub for Batman Returns
4. Nicole Kidman's snub for Birth
5. Glenn Close's loss for Fatal Attraction
It pains me to say this but The Upside of Anger doesn't age well at all. It's a simpering mess, really.
I'll give Joan Allen credit for looking ravishing in it and delivering some fine scenes. But I can kind of see why it didn't translate into more acclaim. At the time I was all aboard the Allen Express. Not so much 15 years later.
First 5 thoughts:
1. No Theron nomination for Young Adult?!
2. Michael Caine wins over Jude Law?!
3. Neither Phoenix nor Adams nominated for Her?!
4. No Jake nomination for Nightcrawler?!
5. No Fiennes nomination for Budapest Hotel?!
@Anonny, I agree. Love Allen (and Kevin Costner) in TUOA, but, like Mike Binder's films in general, it's a contrived mishmash. Allen certainly was better than most of 2005's Best Actress lineup though.
@brookesboy, I weep for Bening in TCW, but tend to blame her snub squarely on A24's bungled distribution. As was the case for Selma and A Most Violent Year in 2014, opting to release it at the tail-end of the year did the film no favors when a slow-burn rollout would've given audiences (and Oscar voters) ample time to percolate on TCW's finer qualities—i.e. not just Bening's excellent perf. I wish we (Oscar watchers) would hold distributors more accountable for "snubs" than always the Academy.
Five is a very limited number so I'm gonna cheat a little and name 5 actors and 5 actresses who have never been nominated and my favorite performances for which I would have nominated them (I only include American productions to help me reduce the number)
ACTORS
1. Alan Ruck in Ferris Bueller´s Day Off
2. Matthew Modine in Birdy
3. Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future
4. Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future
5. John Cameron Mitchell in Hedwig and the Angry Inch
ACTRESSES
1. Alicia Silverstone in Clueless
2. Angela Bettis in May
3. Catherine O'Hara in For Your Consideration
4. Emily Blunt in The Devil Wears Prada
5. Anna Faris in Smiley Face
Mila Kunis in Black Swan. 😕
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Mine are kind of general.
1. Michelle Pfeiffer not having an Oscar. She should be an Oscar winner for Fabulous Baker Boys, and in a just world she would have been nominated for Batman Returns
2. Madonna’s zero nominations in the Best Song category. Sure, they nominated her the two times that others wrote her hit songs for movies. But to ignore “Into the Groove,” “Beautiful Stranger,” “I’ll Remember,” “This Used to Be My Playground,” and “Live to Tell” is downright criminal. I’d even cite “Die Another Day” since I love it, but I know I’m in the minority there.
3. Nicole Kidman’s missing Oscar nods. I’ve read messages on this site where people claim that their favorite actress deserves 30 Oscar nods, and I’m not gonna claim that here. But certainly she should have gotten nods for Birth and To Die For
4. Annette Bening’s Oscar record. She should have won one by now, and she was deserving of nods for TCW and FSDDIL.
5. Tie. (A) The fact that Ewan McGregor has never been nominated. (B) Joaquin Phoenix not getting a nod for Her. He was so exceptional in this that I always think he actually WAS nominated for it.
1 -Voting for Octavia twice since her win
2 - Ignoring Pfeiffer for 20 odd years
3 - Letting Glenn and Sigourney go home empty handed on the same night.
4 - Giving frances McDormand 2 Oscars.
5 - Not focusing on the acting enough at the ceremony.
The worst winners of the last twenty years:
1. Roberto Begnini
2. Gwyneth Paltrow
3. Sandra Bullock
4. Renee Zellweger
5. Jennifer Connelly
@Erick, re: Paltrow, I understand the distaste for the dubious celebrity/lightning rod that she has become, but does anyone really believe that her Shakespeare in Love performance is a <I>bad</I> one? I mean, more so than, say, Rami Malek?! Because the enduring beef about that Oscar win seems to be more about an extreme preference for Cate Blanchett's star-making performance in Elizabeth than a qualitative argument. I'll give you Begnini, Bullock and Zellweger, but even Connelly is good (though not exceptional) in A Beautiful Mind, so her winning an Oscar over more deserving competition that year seems to be the source of that resentment.
Mareko
In 1999, ALL the others women nominated as Best actress in a leading role were better than Paltrow : Fernanda Montenegro, my favourite, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep and Emily Watson, in this order.
And in 2002, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Marisa Tomei and Kate Winslet >>>> Jennifer Connelly.
That's what I'm talking about.
People understate how good Paltrow was and overstate how good Blanchett was. Neither performance is the pinnacle of what either of them can do onscreen. Blanchett was solid in Elizabeth but Paltrow's win wasn't the "travesty" people make it out to be.
And in the context of their careers it makes sense that Gwyneth would be first in line. The Academy has nothing to be ashamed of for giving her an Oscar.
My 5, limiting myself to choices that are A: Within my lifetime, B: Both painful AND plausible and C: With an obvious scapegoat:
5. Sean Penn, I Am Sam over Gene Hackman, The Royal Tenenbaums
4. Tom Hanks, Cast Away over John Cusack, High Fidelity
3. Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl over numerous candidates, particularly Michael B. Jordan, Creed and Jacob Tremblay, Room.
2. Steve Carell, Foxcatcher over David Oyelowo, Selma (Not just for being an annoyingly one-note "do you get he's creepy yet" performance, but also for being THE performance that was most glaringly emblematic of Oscars So White. At least Cooper, Cumberbatch and Redmayne's (well, at least that year) performances were defensible nominations (not ideal, but essentially defensible), playing characters with complex shading!)
1. Christian Bale, American Hustle (Almost as bad within the same archetype as Oscar Isaac (who I thought was so bad outside of his singing that I was a holdout on him until Ex Machina), though for the opposite reason) over Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
@JF, precisely. It seems entirely personal (which I get) and not at all attached to the actual performance at hand. Your mileage may vary—Montenegro may be my pick, too—but I've yet to hear someone argue that Paltrow is not good in Shakespeare in Love. Therefore, the sour grapes emanate not from the quality (or lack thereof) of the performance itself, but rather the enmity for the person who gave it. And this, still, 20+ years on.
@Volvagia, word. I mean, if you want to reward a great performance in Foxcatcher, why not Channing Tatum, the film's actual MVP? Carrell's nomination is almost as embarrassing as Bryan Cranston's for Trumbo.
Cate Blanchett not nominated for Veronica Guering and Little Fish
Jodie Foster not nominated for Contact
Ralph Fiennes not nominated for A Constant Gardener, Spider, The Grand Budapest Hotel and not winning for Schindlers List in supporting
Naomi Watts not nominated for Mulholland Drive and The Painted Veil
Charlotte Rampling not nominated for Under The Sand
Bjørk not nominated for Dancer in the dark
Jake Gyllenhall not nominated for Nightcrawler
@Mareko—
And in those days breakthrough performers (like Blanchett in 1998) weren't overexposed to the degree that someone like Alicia Vikander was in 2014. Waiting for an Oscar isn't a bad thing if you're young and want to play the long game.
Glenn Close losing for the 7th time was personal.
Oscar 2004:
Best Actress lineup was:
- Charlize Theron in Monster
- Naomi Watts in 21 gram
- Samantha Morton in In America
- Keisha Castle Hughes in Whale Rider
- Diane Keaton in Somethings Gotta Give
Others:
Cate Blanchett - Veronica Guerin
Scarlett Johansson - The Girl With the Pearl Earring
Scarlett Johansson - Lost in Translation
Evan Rachel Wood - Thirteen
Uma Thurman - Kill Bill Vol 1
Jennifer Connelly - House of Sand and Fog
Nicole Kidman - Cold Mountain
Nicole Kidman - Dogville
Charlotte Rampling - Swimming Pool
My lineup for Oscar:
Cate Blanchett - Veronica Guerin
Charlize Theron - Monster
Nicole Kidman - Dogville
Uma Thurman - Kill Bill Volume 1
Scarlett Johansson - Lost in Translation
Kidman winning this. Her performance in Dogville is out of this world!
@Erick Loggia
I get your point. I could add:
A Beautiful Mind winning over Gosford Park, In the Bedroom, The Lords of the Rings and Moulin Rouge
Hilary Swank winning over Annette Bening, Catalinsa Sandino Moreno, Imelda Staunton, Kate Winslet
My real life is so miserable and lonely that you all don’t realise the personal toll it has taken on me and my mental health. Oscars need to eliminate the individual achievement part of their awards, only overdue and previously proven winners thank you.
Sigh, I just knew a couple of y’all trifling hoes would summon me. Anyway here goes... TANDY4EVA
@Cesar Gaytan
Precisely!
That 's the point!
I thought Carell was perfect in Foxcatcher though Fiennes is my winner 2014 Carell is certainly better than the travesty that was Eddie sailing to an Oscar and being cringeworthingly embarrassing whilst accepting it,A re watch of Foxcatcher maybe needed.
I hope not being shot here but here I go...
My five points:
1- No directing Oscars for Stanley Kubrick
2- No acting Oscars for Peter O'Toole
3- No acting Oscars (yet) for Ralph Fiennes
4- No acting Oscars (yet) for Glenn Close
5- No best picture / directing / writing Oscars for Pixar
All of these were well before my time, but
1. Humphrey Bogart not being nominated for “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” in ‘48 is a complete tragedy.
2. Having to choose amongst the splendid nominees in the 1937 Best Actress lineup? Stanwyck, Garbo, Rainer, Dunne, or Gaynor? Impossible.
3. Juanita Moore not winning for her perfect performance in “Imitation of Life.”
4. Singin’ in the Rain’s overall lack of traction with the Academy? Especially with how poorly they did at nominating in many of those top categories were chosen.
5. Having to choose between Peck and O’Toole in ‘62. I still would have hoped for a tie.
Should have been nominated and should have won:
Pam Grier in “Jackie Brown”
Amy Adams in “Arrival”
a) Montgomery goddamned Clift. I'd give him the oscar without question for From Here to Eternity. And I'd give it to him for a Place in the Sun, but Brando was also amazing that year (duh). And he gave me second favourite performance by a leading man in 1953 with I Confess. Goddman he was a terrific actor.
b) 1962. The winners are all solid to exciting. But the nominees in best picture outside of To Kill a Mockingbird and Lawrence of Arabia.... terrible. You had so many flat out masterpieces to choose from and you go with The Longest Day? Nopity nope nope.
c) 1982. I'll forgive Gandhi for best picture (right now) and endorse it for best actor any day. But for best direction over Spielberg? Best screenplay of literally pick one? Best art direction over Blade Runner? I don't have an aversion to sweeps like Nathaniel does, but this one is a bad one.
d) I said Jude Law was the performer that had the biggest gap between my personal tally and the oscar tally. That's not true. That distinction is held by Henry Fonda. Like he should be in the top five for all performers and he's not.
e) Crash.
What if Pam G-D Grier had been the first black Best Actress winner for that sublime performance? Forget Hunt and the other nominees.
I think Dogville didn't get an American release until 2004, making Kidman ineligible until then.
Ten permanently galling non-nominations:
The 2010's: Ethan Hawke "First Reformed"
Anne Dorval "Mommy"
The 2000's: Dennis Quaid "Far From Heaven"
The 1990's: Maureen O'Hara "Only the Lonely"
The 1980's: Rutger Hauer "Blade Runner"
The 1970's: Joan Copeland "Roseland"
The 1960's: Mia Farrow "Rosemary's Baby"
Marilyn Monroe: The Misfits"
the 1950's: Giulietta Masina "La Strada"
Lillian Gish "The Night of the Hunter"