#( I will win the war for dazzler || music )

[ofprydes]

THE MUSIC KITTY’S BEEN LISTENING TO ( AN 80s & 90s MIX )

SIDE A - link SIDE B - link

[furederiko]

I knew I've doubted whether I'll be able to pull this off... but here it is! My thoughts on the 89th Academy Award Nominations that had just been announced two days ago...

For unknown reasons, unlike the previous years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences apparently decided not to publish the Nominations Announcement on Youtube. Instead, they've published short videos for all 24 categories containing all the chosen names instead. You can check those out through their official Youtube channel (filtered by 'Oscars 2017'). Of course, the event was still streamed globally on their own website, so I guess that's the primary reason. Nevertheless, this was... surprising, to be honest. I mean, I usually could see it at a later time anytime I want (due to the difference of time zone), but now it's no longer possible. And that's a bummer for me.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's address the other elephant in the room! #OscarsSoWhite NO MORE! Yep, after two consecutive years of mostly sidelining people of colors, this year's list is exceptionally good. I mean, many people are singing praises for the picks. I think this is the first time (to my personal experience, of course) that we even have POC's representatives in each of the 6 major categories. We have director Barry Jenkins for his critically acclaimed "Moonlight", that also scored a Best Picture nominee alongside non-white movies like "Fences", "Hidden Figures", and "Lion". On the acting departments, we have African-American actors Denzel Washington, Mahershala Ali, and actresses Viola Davis, Naomie Harris, and Octavia Spencer. They are joined with Indian-British actor Dev Patel, and Ethiopian-Irish actress Ruth Negga, in both of their first-time nominations.

Sure, you might say that we don't see any Hispanic or East Asian names among them. But remember! The Japanese tale of LAIKA's "Kubo and the Two Strings", the Polynesian girl's coming-of-age story of Disney Animations' "Moana", and Studio Ghibli's co-produced "The Red Turtle" are all vying for Best Animated Feature! Obviously, those are solid proof that the Academy is moving on the right direction, right? Sure, the diversity and equality-themed movie "Zootopia" has the highest chance to be the winner in this category, but at least we have representatives in form of cultures, story-setting, alongside its production staffs, right? And lest we forget, Hong Kong very own martial artist/actor Jackie Chan has accepted one of The Honorary Awards of the year!

Wait a sec. Now that I observe more closer, there ARE hispanic representatives too! But these folks are spreaded out in other, more-technical categories. One name that easily stands out the most would be Lin-Manuel Miranda! His inspiring and powerful ballad "How Far I'll Go" from Moana is vying for the Best Original Song. I have to admit though, I doubt it'll stand a chance against the strong competitions from both "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)", and "City of Stars". That's because both arrived from the same team of Justin Hurwitz , Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and were featured in the musical that has practically stolen everyone's heart.

YES! Talking about the nominees, it would be completely rude to not mention "La La Land". Damien Chazelle masterpiece has scored a record-tying fourteen nominations, putting it alongside the likes of "All About Eve" and "Titanic". Although it's not yet a sure bet, but the chance of this musical to walk away as the Best Picture winner is pretty high. Especially if recent Awards were any indications. At the very least, it would easily win all those Sound categories. I'm punching myself everyday because I still haven't been able to see this movie (and for a musical fan, that's saying much!), so I can't tell if it's Best Picture worthy or not. But the signs are certainly already leading towards this delightful conclusion. Unless we get a surprise upset win, of course. After all, the other titles are nothing but greatness. According to professional critics.

Two comic book adaptations put their stamps on the list. After being completely left out last year, Marvel Studios has returned with its visual dazzler "Doctor Strange" on the Best Visual Effects Category. Considering it's one of the most visually engaging movie of 2016, this is a well deserved nomination. Of course, the chance of it winning against either Disney's pure movie-magic that is "The Jungle Book", and even LAIKA's gorgeous stop-motion works in "Kubo and the Two Strings", is... rather slim. Don't get me wrong, all three were among my 10 Favorite Movies of the year. But if you ask me, as much as my Marvel-bias wants the Master of Mystic Arts to win, it's clear that Disney's live action photo-realism wonder (which was also helmed by a Marvel Studios director/producer, and starred many of its actors, in case you've forgotten) has practically booked the top prize since the day it was released. I don't see much of a competition, to be honest.

As for the other comic book movie, well... though it annoys the hell out of me to say this, Warner Bros' boring, bland, and excessively-cheesy "Suicide Squad" can pride its ugly-self as an Oscars nominee now. Eventhough the fact that it gets mentioned for Best Makeup and Hairstyling would never ever justify for its... uhhh... quality. Assuming it had one, of course. I mean seriously, that movie was BAD, like lousy bad, and I'm simply being nice here! I personally believe Warner Bros' "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" deserves this spot a lot better, making it a pair to its Best Costume chance. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story should've been here too, instead on the Visual Effects section. But surprisingly too, there are only THREE nominees in this particular list! So "Suicide Squad"'s chance of winning just become annoyingly high. Which is good for them, because they... well, need the good publicity of it. Of course, whether it or "Star Trek Beyond" will come out as the winner or not, is still anyone's guess. After all, even "Guardians of the Galaxy" didn't win the same category back in 2015. I guess I'll be choosing "Star Trek Beyond" for my personal pick, though there's a possibility I might end up leaning towards "A Man Called Ove" instead. Not sure why, just a gut feeling.

Still in the topics of comic book adaptations, it's worth noted, that we have several superhero alumns on the list this year. Ruth Negga played Raina on the first two seasons of Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.", while Mahershala Ali played Cornell Cottonmouth in Netflix's Marvel's "Luke Cage". Both are great examples of how Marvel TV loves to waste the talents of their actors by killing their characters too early. I mean, just imagine the prestige the two would carry to the shows had they are still among the cast. Am I right? Ironically, the same goes for both Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, our previous Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy from SONY's ill-fated "Amazing Spider-Man" franchise. Now they are sitting there as Best Actor and Best Actress nominees! Looks like being dropped from their superhero flicks has turned the tide for them both... for the better! Other names on this list includes Jeff Bridges, Michael Shannon, Natalie Portman, and Viola Davis who played Obadiah Stane, General Zod, Jane Foster, and Amanda Waller respectively before. It would be unfair to not mention them, right?

Inevitably, this announcement is also accompanied with startling snubs. No surprise here, because it occurs every single year. One of the most-talked about title that seemingly had made everyone cried foul is none other than FOX's "Deadpool". If you ask me, I'm personally more startled to see the reactions instead. I mean, come on... yes, that movie WAS indeed fun, but was it Oscar-worthy or Academy Awards-material? Definitely NOT. I'm frankly even surprised to see it popping up so strongly at the Golden Globes. I'd argue the same thing with Marvel Studios' "Captain America: Civil War". Was that movie great? YES. Leagues better than "Deadpool" in its entirety, and better in storytelling compared to its cousin "Doctor Strange". But even "Civil War" was also definitely not an Academy Award material. At least, it didn't have the edge that "Doctor Strange" and its Escher-like Steve Ditko-inspired kaleidoscopic mesmerizing visuals could champion with. And don't start to argue with 'But even a worse movie like "Suicide Squad" gets one', because shhhhh.... remember what's category it's in again?

The ones that I think are valids to be considered actual snubs, are actress Amy Adams, actor Tom Hanks, and director Martin Scorsese. Many had stated that Adams gave her most stellar performances in not one, but two movies last year: "Arrival" which scored eight nominations that's not related to acting, and "Nocturnal Animals" which only get one nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Meanwhile, Hanks, has been called a frontrunner many times with his performance in "Sully". A movie that's vying in only for Best Sound Editing. And Scorsese, his "Silence" felt like an Award contender from the get-go, but only received a Best Cinematography nomination for Rodrigo Prieto's work. All three names are what we all called 'Oscar Darlings', having been easy regulars on Award's circuit. So not seeing these names was indeed quite a shock. Apart from them, some minor snubs also include: Jake Gyllenhall's performance on "Nocturnal Animals", although this charming actor hasn't been on the Award race for such a long time now; Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who actually WON a Golden Globe for Supporting Actor in the same movie; Disney Pixar's "Finding Dory", eventhough they won last year with "Inside Out"; and certainly several others that slips my mind for now.

One last thing before I wrap this up. I just had to mention The 37th Raspberry Awards or the Razzies! I don't know why, but many entertainment sites seems to be ignoring if not looking down on this Reverse-Awards that honored the Worst Movies of the year. This year in particular. Many outlets seems to just... refuse to talk about it, especially comic books fansites. Why is that? If I had to guess, the answer would be simple. Because one of the year's biggest nomination-grabber is none other than Warner Bros and everyone's 'favorite' "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice". I recon no sites would want to be attacked by death-threats by simply posting the news, right? LOL. Yes, the so-called 'superhero fight of the century' is leading the pack, albeit sharing the first place alongside Zoolander 2 with eight nominations each.

Come on! One would think that a movie that put together DC's greatest superheroes like Batman, Superman, and featured a glorified cameo of Wonder Woman would've been an easy success, right? Well, looks like we were fooled to even expect that result. Not only it was panned by almost every critics, booed and yawned by many audiences (yours truly included), it has now been severely Razzied as well! DC Films' supposedly grandiose movie extravaganza that made many shook their heads in either instant-awe or apparent-disgust scored the nominations for: Worst Picture, Worst Director for Zack Snyder, TWO Worst Actor nominations for both Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill, Worst Supporting Actor for Jesse Eisenberg, Worst Screen Combo (yes, between the two actors), Worst Prequel/Remake/Rip-off/Sequel, and Worst Screenplay for the guys who wrote a previous Best Picture movie and got story credit for "The Dark Knight Trilogy"! That's like... practically EVERY categories that were not Actress-related. Which is good news for Amy Adams, by the way. She might have gotten the snub at the Oscars, but at least she's NOT nominated for Worst Actress at the same time. I bet anyone who initially couldn't care less about the movie would be quite curious now to see whether this dull movie will win these categories or not. After all, it's something Warner Bros used to excessively brag about, right? Personally, I'm not at all surprised with this 'acknowledgement', and I doubt many would be, considering how... eh... 'disappointing' that movie was. Oh and that's not all! Jared Leto's cringing portrayal of The Joker somehow tags along Eisenberg's Lex Luthor for the same category. Which is... a huge irony considering "Suicide Squad" did score an Oscar nominee for his makeup. I say, the joke is on him, right?

All in all, I'm very much pleased with this list. It just feels... glorious to see so many POC on it, both in the acting and technical categories. It also feels good to not have to repeat the same complaints over and over again. Looks like the Academy has been listening to people's voice after all, and I deeply appreciate them for that. Not just that of course! This is also a great sign that many POCs have been given more trust in the movie industry. A good proof that they can now showcase their talents and skills, to up the competition in a significant way. Here's hoping this diverse nominations isn't just a one time only, and will continue to be a trend in the coming years.

As for my personal picks, aside from several categories (like Visual Effects, Best Song, etc), I haven't had a fixed personal prediction for the winners just yet. Why is that? Simply because I haven't seen many of the titles on the list. NO KIDDING! I mean, not just "La La Land", I haven't seen any on the Best Pictures ones! OUCH!!! Of course, I still have plenty of time to do so. At least until the ceremony takes place precisely next month (which is why I'm pushing this post to go up today LOL) on FEBRUARY 26, 2017 with Jimmy Kimmel as the host. Here's hoping I'll be able to catch up with them all, and post my fair predictions as soon as I can. It'll probably goes up just days before the ceremony though. Not unlike last year... ahahahaha.