Another year, another set of Academy Award nominees. As always at The Beat, we like to zero in on the “nerd categories”, those films that are usually just reserved for Visual FX honors (where all the comic book movies tend to go), and the Animated side of things.

 

Though a funny thing happened this morning, the Visual effects category is a little less nerdy than usual, with only Doctor Strange coming in from the superhero crop, and Rogue One bounding in as the populist sci-fi pick. Kubo getting a nod in that category was a nice surprise.

 

Visual effects:
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Doctor Strange”
“Jungle Book”
“Kubo”
“Rogue One”

 

As for animated feature, the only snub was probably the enormously grossing Japanese favorite Your Name, which seemed to be soaring towards a nomination. This looks be a tight race between Moana and Zootopia, but Kubo could very well come out ahead on the strength of being one of Laika’s best received efforts. The new Ghibli – The Red Turtle – was (even just co-produced), as per usual, a shoe-in for a nod.

 

Animated feature:
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Moana”
“My Life as a Zucchini”
“The Red Turtle”
“Zootopia”

 

Animated short:
“Blind Vaysha”
“Borrowed Time”
“Pear Cider and Cigarettes”
“Pearl”
“Piper”

 

And no, Deadpool did not get a Best Picture nomination as some might have hoped. But strangely, Suicide Squad did with the Best Makeup and Hair category.

 

What a world!

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7 COMMENTS

  1. I think omitting “Finding Dory” from the Animated movie is a pretty big snub. It’s Pixar and the second highest grossing NA movie of the year….

  2. I think it’ll be between Zootopia and Kubo. The latter will get more of the critical vote from those who think Disney movies only get nominated for being box office successes. “Zootopia’ will get votes for being a great animated movie, but also a Disney movie with a bit of a message more than usual.

    Moana had the unfortunate bad luck to be released in the same year with “Zootopia.’ But it might win best song just because the Oscar community will love to put Lin-Manuel Miranda up on stage with a trophy in hand. (They must be kicking themselves for not nominating “We Know the Way’, though, so they’d have a chance of him singing on the tv broadcast…).

    But Kubo won’t spoil the Golden Globe-winning “Zootopia,” which should have been nominated in the Best Pic category, anyway.

  3. 1. “Long Way North” should have been nominated for animated feature. Absolutely beautiful (and surprisingly suspenseful) film.

    2. It’s a crime that “BvS” wasn’t nominated for VFX. There are so many sequences in that film that most people assume were shot on location which were actually shot green screen on a soundstage. The VFX are flawless.

  4. Dory was not snubbed…. there were TWENTY-SEVEN animated features which qualified for Oscar consideration this year.

    Rule Seven.IV.B covers the nomination process.
    A committee is formed.
    “Those serving on the committee will be required to see 66 percent of the submitted eligible films.”
    There’s a secret ballot.
    “The committee will view all submitted eligible films and assign each film a score of 10, 9, 8, 7 or 6,with the guidelines of 10 (excellent), 8 (good), 7 (fair) or 6 (poor). Those films receiving an average score of 7.5 or more shall be eligible for nomination.”

    7.5 gets you a nomination.
    So, given that Disney had THREE features this year, I wasn’t surprised. Dory was the weakest of the three.
    Me, I suspect Disney will campaign for Zootopia, which is a much stronger film than Moana. (Moana is great, I cried a lot, amazing songs, but Zootopia… That movie should have gotten a screenwriting nom!) Zootopia has been gaining many awards lately.

    What was a snub? “The Little Prince”, possibly. “Your Name”, definitely. (The BAF committee doesn’t nominate non-Ghibli anime, it seems.)

    P.S. The Oscars don’t care about the box office when nominating a movie.

  5. As for Moana… That was a given, nominating Moana for Best Song.
    Disney has carefully controlled what they submit, after “Enchanted” split the vote and lost to “Once”.
    Also, each movie is limited to two selections.

    LMM. is the favorite to win, partly because he would be the fastest and youngest EGOT winner in history, beating his Disney colleague Robert Lopez.

    “We Know The Way” was the stronger song, and would have given credit to Opetaia Foa’i as well.
    (As well as being an amazing production on stage, with LMM singing, along with Opetaia Foa’i!)
    Why it didn’t make the cut? 91 songs were eligible. Perhaps if La La Land wasn’t on the list…

    Fences is the other favorite, for Best Adapted Screenplay, (Posthumous, Pulitzer-prize winner)

    As for BvS, at least the Razzies love it!

  6. 8 nominations for sci-fi movie Arrival is great, but no nomination for Amy Adams as best actress feels a little like a snob to me as she appears in practically all of the movie. If the movie’s so great and she’s in all of it as the central character, then her nomination should have followed logically, IMHO

    though the actresses that do make the list are also all very good and deserving, of course, and I can’t tell you which of those I would remove to put Ms Adams on the list…

    . I particularly enjoyed Ms Streep’s performance as Florence Foster Jenkins…

  7. I’d vote (if I were eligible) for DOCTOR STRANGE for best visual effects. It had genuinely imaginative CGI that didn’t put me to sleep.

    I hope ROGUE ONE isn’t awarded for its ghoulish resurrection of the late Peter Cushing.

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