SNUUUUUUUUB
The Oscars have stood the test of time, and getting an Oscar clearly means a lot of prestige. Speaking of prestige, The Prestige got no Oscars this year. I've watched the film again, and all I can say is "WHY?!?" It SHOULD have been nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and should have won, because it just barely had the edge over The Departed. Christian Bale should have been nominated for Best Actor (or maybe Best Supporting). I'm not sure he should have beaten Forrest Whitaker, but he certainly would have blown away all the nominees in Supporting. Lastly, The Prestige should have been recognized for the great film it is by getting a nod for Best Picture, as well as Chris Nolan receiving one for Best Director. I won't argue that they should have won those nods, but they should have at least been acknowledged.
So here's my question. Why do you think The Prestige was snubbed? For that matter, if you can think of any other Oscar snubs, what do you think the reasoning behind those was?
So here's my question. Why do you think The Prestige was snubbed? For that matter, if you can think of any other Oscar snubs, what do you think the reasoning behind those was?
posted by Neal Paradise at 8:44 PM
11 Comments:
With all the politics involved behind the scenes, I'm surprised you're taking the Oscars so seriously. It's all about the money.
P.S. Feel free to call me a cynic.
I'm not quite as cynical as Moshe, but I do agree that you obviously can't just assume that the movie that wins actually was the best picture of the year. Other than money, one of the most prevalent trends I've seen is the trend toward righting past wrongs.
This year for example, Babel had as good a claim as any to the Best Film award, but it couldn't win because Crash won last year (undeservedly, in the eyes of many) and Babel is a similar ensemble, multi-perspective movie.
In an even better example, let's take Russell Crowe. In 2000, he was nominated for his role in The Insider, but lost out to Kevin Spacey, which many regarded as a snub. The next year, Crowe was a lock to win for Gladiator, even though it was a lesser performance than The Insider, because it righted 2000's wrong. The year after that, 2002, Crowe was nominated for A Beautiful Mind, but had no chance of winning because of that underdeserved Oscar for Gladiator.
Anyway, that's a really long way to say that I really have no idea why The Prestige was snubbed so, and I was equally boggled when Memento, also directed by Christopher Nolan, failed to garner many meaningful nominations. Perhaps Nolan is just too much of an Academy outsider at this point, but it stands to reason that--if he keeps making films of this caliber--the Academy won't be able to ignore him for long.
"Perhaps Nolan is just too much of an Academy outsider at this point"
I %100 agree. It's all about who's in and who's out. Nolan's flick deserved several nominations, but the fact remains, he's just a boring white guy who makes entertaining movies with no hot topic Hollywood statements such as "right to die" or "white racism." Instead, Nolan simply makes perfectly crafted, perfectly entertaining movies. That doesn't get you jack with the Academy.
The most serious snub was passing over Peter O'Toole, though, who is probably one of the top 10 actors of all time but has never won an Oscar and certainly had an Oscar-worthy effort in Venus. Might be his last too.
Screw Scorcese's Departed. It's just a retread of all his other rotgut.
i'm not ready to say "screw The Departed," but of the four Best Pic nods that i saw, it was #4. and The Prestige was better than all of them. Memento, too, was one great big snub. on Peter O'Toole, though, i think giving him an Oscar for Venus would just be perpetuating the "righting past wrongs" thing. though admittedly, he can act the pants off any actor working today. he strikes me as having the attitude of, "i'm old, i'm experienced, and i'm British. three strikes, you're out." and he's absolutely right.
I think The Prestige got left out of nominatons was because it was just an average movie. I will not say it got snubbed b/c it did not deserve a nomination. With the other nominees of The Queen andThe Departed, which were the best of the best picture nods, it would not have stood a chance anyway. It was not a bad movie but there was nothing stellar about it.
You know, I'm totally on the "The Prestige was snubbed" bandwagon, and I completely disagree with SP that there was nothing stellar about it. But the reason The Prestige was snubbed might have nothing to do with money or insider status or anything else like that. It might just be that a lot of people saw the movie the way SP did.
I've talked to a couple people who said they didn't really enjoy it, which boggled my mind. And it only got a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 66% on Metacritic, so maybe there are more Stormy Pinknesses in the world (and in the Academy) than we expected.
What I still don't understand is why people didn't like it. The superiority complex in me thinks it's because they just didn't get it, but perhaps there's something else. Can anyone else weigh in on this? Either why you didn't like it, or--if you liked it--why you think someone might not have.
personally, i'm totally with you, DW. my jaw literally hit the floor when SP said it was "average." to all those people who think so, i wonder if they saw the same movie i did. the structure of the script was phenomenal, and it was storytelling in its highest form. the acting was top-notch, and the cinematography and sets were beautiful. this is the kind of thing the Academy normally eats up with a king-sized spoon. i can see why the average movie-goer didn't like it, because it moves pretty quickly, and the viewer can easily get lost if they're not careful. but The Prestige deserves high praise because it challenges the viewer, and calls them up to a higher level. but apparently, not many people are really willing to go there, and that is sad.
My personal most aggravating snubs came in the form of Tom Cruise not getting Best Supporting Actor for Magnolia, and Ellen Burstyn not getting an Oscar for Requiem For A Dream. I think the exclusions as far as nominations are way too vast to name, so I'll just stick to one. L.A. Confidential should have been nominated for, and won, Best Picture in 1997. On that same note, Russell Crowe should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the same pic, and won.
But to be fair, Peter O'Toole didn't deserve an Oscar for Venus: He was simply playing himself, which is still a lot of fun to watch, but not much of a stretch. I contend he was robbed of trophies for AT LEAST The Ruling Class, The Stunt Man, and My Favorite Year.
YRF:
2 things.
1. Here, here! to Ellen Burstyn being snubbed for Requiem. I don't know what the Acadamy was smoking to pass that one up.
2. Just to explain my position on O'Toole, I don't think Venus was Oscarworthy perse, I was more finding it interesting that they gave Scorcese an Oscar for a par movie probably because they kept snubbing him, and I was just thinking that O'Toole would have been a better choice if they were going to play the un-snub game.
Yeah, I also think that Scorcesee's Oscar was a consolation prize for Raging Bull, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, etc. While I liked the Departed ok, it definitely wasn't the best film last year.....but neither was anything else that was nominated for Best Picture.
The Academy just wanted to "reward" Julia Roberts for not completely sucking in Erin Brokovitch, which is silly. What REALLY happened that year was a prime example of ageism.
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