Film

Oscars Rundown 2016: Surprising Snubs

Ok ladies and gentlemen. The Academy Awards, aka The Oscars is just over a month away. In the lead up to the grand event on February 28, 2016 we at BTG Lifestyle are predicting some of the big winners but before we get into that we thought we would start off with some of the more obvious snubs. Those who did not even get nominated. The surprising snubs.

Dean

Steve Jobs – Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin)

There are very few people in the film industry who have mastered the art of screenwriting quite like Aaron Sorkin. A well-respected veteran in the industry but still the most humble person in Hollywood, Sorkin has an incredible knack for writing amazing dialogue.

2015’s Steve Jobs was no exception. His script was so good that he won at the Golden Globe and even Kate Winslet, who won for best supporting actress at the same ceremony, said she is grateful that she had the opportunity to speak his words. Cut to the Oscars nominations and he didn’t even get nominated.

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The Hateful Eight – Best Original Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino)

You would be forgiven for thinking Tarantino was going to walk into the Best Original Screenplay category. He won the award twice before for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained. He was also nominated for Inglourious Basterds.

The Hateful Eight, although admittedly not his best work, was still one of the standout screenplays from 2015. Even when the script leaked, it was so good that instead of scrapping the idea, he decided to do it anyway. Slim chance of winning it? Sure. But to not even be nominated? Huge oversight by the academy. This is QT’s bread and butter.

Stephen

 

Samuel L. Jackson – Best Leading Actor (The Hateful Eight)


The film got enough buzz to get his co-star Jennifer Jason Leigh a nomination, so why not Sam Jackson, who really takes control of most of the situations in the film? I will admit that Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh’s character) is written much better in that various layers to her character are revealed slowly over time. But Jackson’s Warren is a formidable character who’s in charge of his surroundings, despite being at a disadvantage as a black man; this clearly did not translate to the Oscar nominations.

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Beasts of No Nation 

This film should have, at the very least, picked up a nomination for Idris Elba for best leading or supporting role by an actor, depending on how one would like to catagorise it.
Although, many people have argued that the straight-to-Netflix release of this film in conjunction with a limited theatrical release may have caused Academy members to overlook the film, as this method of release is frowned upon. Elba does more than just nail an accent; he embodies the power and duality of the character so well.
Tendai
Steve Jobs – Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin)
Arguably the top writer in Hollywood at the moment and whatever he writes turns to gold. According to the Academy, Sorkin did not write a gold standard script which is hard to fathom. The Steve Jobs reboot (a first of its kind) went all out and got the best man for the job. This is puzzling to see Sorkin not be nominated for what he does best, write award winning scripts.
Rave reviews and Jobs being critically acclaimed it seems like The Academy did not feel Sorkin did a well enough job. This is unheard of as Sorkin has made people’s careers on the small and big screens. This is a miss by The Academy.
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Lead Actress roles for Women of Colour
I know this has nothing to do with the Academy but more on Hollywood. On the other hand, what is the Academy doing to push Hollywood to make more lead roles for women in that are considered minority? The #OscarsSoWhite has been focused on the male snubs but not on the women. Not a single role was written for a lead actress to even be considered a snub. An issue both Hollywood and any awards organisation should address.
Women of colour have not been given the opportunity to lead a movie in 2015 that caught the eye of any awards organisation except the BET. This is a massive miss and one cannot say there are no stories to tell. Stories are in abundance and all it takes is for the studio to green light more stories that are for women of colour.
BONUS! Who shouldn’t have been nominated. 

Stephen


Christian Bale:
His character in The Big Short was completely unexplored due to the fact that there are about a million characters in this film. I don’t think he deserves an Oscar for pulling off a lazy eye and playing drums.

Cate Blanchett: She seems to be taking the mantel from Meryl Streep where everything she’s in gets nominated. Carol was a mundane film about self-centered people, and the only solid performance (due to the script more than anything else) was from Rooney Mara who displayed exceptional range.

Jennifer Lawrence: A pretty average performance in a pretty average film. I’m really not sure why Joy got nominated at all as the film had zero buzz before the announcements.

Tendai

 

Jennifer Lawrence : Hollywood is giving her too much power. She does an average movie then gets all this Awards buzz. Nah! She ain’t a goddess and she is getting away with it because Hollywood won’t green light any other projects for women of minority. It’s starting to get to me and I’m questioning how good Jennifer Lawrence is… or is she just easy to market?

Ok, that’s enough of what could have been. In the coming weeks we’ll be doing posts on Oscar predictions. Stay tuned for that.
For more film ramblings, you can follow us on Twitter:

Stephen @thesnagel

Dean @deeno15

Tendai @1_platinum

Dean Ravell

Writer/director. Fascinated with all kinds of film and just wants to be part of the wonderful world of cinema.

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