Last Thursday at roughly 8:30 a.m. EST, the nominations for the Academy Awards (Oscars) – one of the year’s biggest nights for celebrating cinematic excellence – were announced. While it’s often difficult to satisfy the varying tastes of what’s considered “Oscar-worthy” by the masses, each year there seems to be a select few films in particular that go unnoticed, resulting in a flurry of outrage by moviegoers everywhere. However, this year’s snubs specifically seem to be getting under the skin of movie fans more than ever. The negative reaction from viewers seemed to be more vocal than ever before, opening the floodgates for sharp opinions in regards to acting, direction and technical miscalculations. In my most humble of opinions, however, these are what I believe to be the five biggest blunders by Academy voters this year’s Oscars.
5. Jake Gyllenhaal
Best Actor (“Nightcrawler”)
Though not one of the more widely represented films in the eyes of Oscar this year, Jake Gyllenhaal’s surprising turn as brazenly psychotic freelance journalist Lou Bloom seemed like a shoo-in for a Best Actor nomination. Gyllenhaal’s performance in the taut crime thriller helps to provide the film with a protagonist you couldn’t love to hate more, and helped to turn “Nightcrawler” into one of the most unforgettable films of the year. Not to mention, an Oscar nod would be more than enough motivation for Gyllenhaal to continue the excellent streak he’s had with choosing strong films with challenging roles (“Prisoners,” “End of Watch,” “Source Code”).
4. “The LEGO Movie”
Best Animated Feature
Yeah, you’ve probably heard your friends talk your ear off about this one already. Well, that, or you’ve been the one talking your friend’s ears off. The fact that “The LEGO Movie,” not only arguably the year’s strongest animated film, but one of the most memorable films in general was denied a nomination for Best Animated Feature is, in short, a travesty. How Academy voters could deny the film a token of appreciation for its stellar animation, inventive setup and subversive brand of humor will undoubtedly boggle the minds of moviegoers everywhere for months to come. While it’s wonderful to see The Lonely Island and Tegan & Sara get a nod for Best Song, this is just inexcusable. Everything is so not awesome.
3. David Oyelowo
Best Actor (“Selma”)
I’m cheating a little bit with my next two choices, being they’re from the same film, but to group together the two best aspects of the Martin Luther King Jr. biopic “Selma” wouldn’t be fair to the man and woman who worked so hard just to be ignored for their efforts. The first worth mentioning is David Oyelowo’s stunningly transformative performance as MLK Jr. Oyelowo takes the challenging figure that is MLK Jr, and makes him as utterly human and conflicted as anyone would come to expect. Though often portrayed as more of a pacifist when it came to civil rights legislation, Oyelowo shows MLK’s true, aggressive passion and gives one of the most effective performances of 2014.
2. Ava Duvernay
Best Director (“Selma”)
As a whole, “Selma” may not be the best written biopic ever made or even the best constructed, but dammit, when all is said and done, director Ava Duvernay gets the job done. What could’ve easily slipped into “The Blind Side” or “The Butler” levels of sappiness completely vanishes with Duvernay at the helm, giving a massive source of dignity to not only “Selma,” but Martin Luther King Jr.’s work as a whole. The performances are well-developed, the editing is smooth, and the scenes depicting the many instances of racially-fueled violence refuse to pull punches. With “Selma,” you don’t see a cut-rate re-creation of the events that transpired in the Alabama town; you feel those events in a way that’ll leave you long after the credits roll. How the Academy got this wrong in particular, I’ll never know.
1. “Gone Girl”
Pretty Much All Categories
The worst offender, to me, personally, is the almost total lack of attention to David Fincher’s incredible thriller “Gone Girl.” Ever since I saw this chilling masterpiece back when it was released in October, I was sure this would be a frontrunner in so many categories – and to many other voters, it seemed that way, too. However, and I’m not exaggerating, “Gone Girl” was shot down in almost every likely category: Picture, Director, Score, Editing, Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay. The only deserved nomination the film receives is the fantastic Rosamund Pike for Best Actress, who is sublime. While this isn’t Fincher’s sharpest film to date (what can compete with “The Social Network,” though), I still feel attention should be paid to the ambition that “Gone Girl” puts forward to its audience.