Star Wars not nominated for best picture of the year.

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Who cares about the Oscars anyway? I mean they're nowhere near as meaningless as the Grammys, but they're pretty pointless themselves.

Studios care. Banners saying "Winner of X Oscars" look good on DVD cases.

And if that leads to more interest in a genuinely good movie that would be overlooked by many without the academies acknowledgement, that's a pretty good thing.

Money will always play a part, and you could argue that it's self-indulgent on the industries part. But... The optimist in me likes that they try to acknowledge the braver works.

Star Wars isn't something that needs any more attention given to it, and it (IMHO) was a pretty 'meh' film in most respects. Not only derivative of the first Star Wars film, but also just about every other modern action film too. It had some nice touches, but I thought it was painfully average in most respects. Far from deserving of awards.

IIRC the voters are largely made up of industry insiders who I don't think would find any reasons to be impressed by The Force Awakens.

Why would they need to find ways to be impressed by it? If they liked it more than other films they should vote to give it an Oscar.

Gonna borrow you for a second, Lighknight

Because:

2. Of course it didn't get a nomination. It was wildly popular but wasn't good in any particular category. I mean, none of the actors were "best actor" quality. The writing wasn't fantastic. The graphics were nice but not world shattering. The music was either not new or forgettable. What do we expect them to get for it?

The goal wasn't to make the best movie ever. It was to reestablish the franchise with a return to the look and feel of the originals. They succeeded and did a pretty good job. If they want to push the envelope it will be with subsequent installments or spinoffs.

It's not a particularly good film in any respect. I would think if that's obvious to myself, and others then it would be painfully obvious to a more discerning and savvy viewer. Unless the phrasing of "find any reasons" is what the problem is. It's not even particularly good as a Star Wars film, I can't think of reasons beyond fan-boyism to give it a best picture nom.

And if that leads to more interest in a genuinely good movie that would be overlooked by many without the academies acknowledgement, that's a pretty good thing.

Money will always play a part, and you could argue that it's self-indulgent on the industries part. But... The optimist in me likes that they try to acknowledge the braver works.

Honestly, I don't think the Oscars are a platform that is particularly interested in acknowledging braver filmmaking, as the Academy, probably due to its voter makeup, tends to be fairly safe and conservative in its selections; that's why we have "Oscar-bait" as a term, because it's not that hard to make a movie that will appeal to the Academy voters established tastes. It's the more art house/avant garde festivals that give attention to more daring filmmaking.

If you like.

I suppose it's a relative scale. Something like The Artist is a "braver" production than Transformers 11 (or whatever we're up to now). Call me a cynic, but I think the new Star Wars has a lot more in common with the sequelitis pop-corn flicks than it does with the kind of productions that might actually win.

 

[hermes]

Good. SW was a fine movie, but nowhere near Oscar material (outside of technical aspects)

As others has said, if high grossing was a parameter for Oscars, then Avengers and Jurassic World should be up to their necks in awards.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Oh, and let it not be understated that the academy has a certain disdain of anything sci-fi. I know Star Wars isn't really sci-fi but it's got lasers and spaceships so it qualifies by academy standards.

Ex Machina was probably worthy of a nomination and it's not there either. Why? Cause it's sci-fi.

 

[Bat Vader]

Who cares about the Oscars anyway? I mean they're nowhere near as meaningless as the Grammys, but they're pretty pointless themselves.

Studios care. Banners saying "Winner of X Oscars" look good on DVD cases.

And if that leads to more interest in a genuinely good movie that would be overlooked by many without the academies acknowledgement, that's a pretty good thing.

Money will always play a part, and you could argue that it's self-indulgent on the industries part. But... The optimist in me likes that they try to acknowledge the braver works.

Star Wars isn't something that needs any more attention given to it, and it (IMHO) was a pretty 'meh' film in most respects. Not only derivative of the first Star Wars film, but also just about every other modern action film too. It had some nice touches, but I thought it was painfully average in most respects. Far from deserving of awards.

IIRC the voters are largely made up of industry insiders who I don't think would find any reasons to be impressed by The Force Awakens.

Why would they need to find ways to be impressed by it? If they liked it more than other films they should vote to give it an Oscar.

Gonna borrow you for a second, Lighknight

Because:

2. Of course it didn't get a nomination. It was wildly popular but wasn't good in any particular category. I mean, none of the actors were "best actor" quality. The writing wasn't fantastic. The graphics were nice but not world shattering. The music was either not new or forgettable. What do we expect them to get for it?

The goal wasn't to make the best movie ever. It was to reestablish the franchise with a return to the look and feel of the originals. They succeeded and did a pretty good job. If they want to push the envelope it will be with subsequent installments or spinoffs.

It's not a particularly good film in any respect. I would think if that's obvious to myself, and others then it would be painfully obvious to a more discerning and savvy viewer. Unless the phrasing of "find any reasons" is what the problem is. It's not even particularly good as a Star Wars film, I can't think of reasons beyond fan-boyism to give it a best picture nom.

And if that leads to more interest in a genuinely good movie that would be overlooked by many without the academies acknowledgement, that's a pretty good thing.

Money will always play a part, and you could argue that it's self-indulgent on the industries part. But... The optimist in me likes that they try to acknowledge the braver works.

Honestly, I don't think the Oscars are a platform that is particularly interested in acknowledging braver filmmaking, as the Academy, probably due to its voter makeup, tends to be fairly safe and conservative in its selections; that's why we have "Oscar-bait" as a term, because it's not that hard to make a movie that will appeal to the Academy voters established tastes. It's the more art house/avant garde festivals that give attention to more daring filmmaking.

If you like.

I suppose it's a relative scale. Something like The Artist is a "braver" production than Transformers 11 (or whatever we're up to now). Call me a cynic, but I think the new Star Wars has a lot more in common with the sequelitis pop-corn flicks than it does with the kind of productions that might actually win.

So even if a judge liked Star Wars more than any of the other films they saw that year they shouldn't vote for Star Wars? That seems really dishonest. That's another reason I hate the Oscars. They try and see things objectively when it's all subjective. A good film is subjective.

 

[Raven's Nest]

What in the holy fuck? Is someone seriously advocating for this? No, just no. Why don't we start nominating Marvel movies while we're at it?

...Why not? I mean I'm not sure that any of them to date have been Oscar Material, but if Django Unchained and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon can be nominated for Best Picture, and Return of the King and Gladiator can win it why should the idea of a Marvel movie getting a nomination seem outlandish?

It's mostly due to the fact that those films were made by people at the top of their game working with the best crews. In order to understand why films win or are even nominated for Oscars it's probably necessary to learn what is good direction vs bad direction, good lighting vs bad lighting etc. An action film for example can be made or broken in the editing suite. Mark my words, Mad Max will win for best editing because it's honestly amongst the best I've seen. I'll even plug a great youtuber channel called "every frame a painting", with it, he shows and explains many aspects of film making describing precisely (in his opinion) what makes some films and scenes great and others not. It'll really open your eyes to the art of filmmaking.

Marvel films aren't directed by the best, they don't have the finest cinematographers or script writers or casting directors etc. Neither are the vast majority of even the most popular films, which is often why they don't get nominated. On the rare occasion a well known film ends up winning an Oscar, check the credits. The film makers are bound to have been involved in other academy nominated works.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Studios care. Banners saying "Winner of X Oscars" look good on DVD cases.

I guess my question was rhetorical. The point is, there's no good reason to care in an age where IMDB and RottenTomatoes exist and I think a lot of people who frequent the internet disregard the Academy Awards as being an "authority".

Arguably winning an Oscar gives a movie more visibility (and sends a message to other filmmakers) while forwarding the careers of the people who made it. So everybody wants their favorite movies to win, not just on principle, but because then there'll be a higher chance that more such movies will get produced.

So an Oscar can make a director's career or rekindle an actor's, it opens up all sorts of opportunities. It would also be completely wasted on a Star Wars or MCU movie, because we're gonna get fucktons of those anyway. The only thing that matters to Marvel is to keep printing money.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

Studios care. Banners saying "Winner of X Oscars" look good on DVD cases.

I guess my question was rhetorical. The point is, there's no good reason to care in an age where IMDB and RottenTomatoes exist and I think a lot of people who frequent the internet disregard the Academy Awards as being an "authority".

Arguably winning an Oscar gives a movie more visibility (and sends a message to other filmmakers) while forwarding the careers of the people who made it. So everybody wants their favorite movies to win, not just on principle, but because then there'll be a higher chance that more such movies will get produced.

So an Oscar can make a director's career or rekindle an actor's, it opens up all sorts of opportunities. It would also be completely wasted on a Star Wars or MCU movie, because we're gonna get fucktons of those anyway. The only thing that matters to Marvel is to keep printing money.

But that doesn't explain why studios bankroll Oscar campaigns. They have to perceive some commercial value in it.

 

[Jandau]

Well, good. It's not Best Picture material, not even close.

Look, it's a fun film, it tickles the nostalgia bone quite nicely, has some fun performances and snappy writing, but ultimately, it's fairly formulaic, not very imaginative, has serious pacing issues, lacks proper characterization, etc. It's not bad, but it's not great. It did what it needed to do - it didn't suck and showed that Star Wars is still relevant. Can't we just be glad for that?

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

So even if a judge liked Star Wars more than any of the other films they saw that year they shouldn't vote for Star Wars? That seems really dishonest. That's another reason I hate the Oscars. They try and see things objectively when it's all subjective. A good film is subjective.

Oh, I see.

No. I'm not saying that. I'm saying it was a slightly above average big budget film that they apparently don't think deserves a best picture nomination, and that I'm completely on board with that. In short: I agree with the lack of nomination.

I'm very much of the opinion that they should vote for what they earnestly believe was best, which can entail trying to overcome fanboyism in the name of attempting to be objective. I think that when you overcome that nostalgia for the IP, you are left with a pretty uninspired film.

It's an opinion.