Entertainment

2021 Oscar Snubs:

Published

3 years ago

April 21, 2021

This years Oscars threw a few surprise nominations at us. In this piece, I will be looking through some of the people who may feel unlucky not to be getting glammed up on the 25th April. Check out my snubs for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor.

Best Picture:
This years Best Picture nominations are some of the strongest competitors for this prize in recent memory. However, there’s a couple of films that will feel aggrieved not to have made it in…

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

After picking up five nominations in other categories, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom will feel put out that it didn’t clinch the Best Picture nomination too. Realistically, it should’ve picked up a nod for Best Picture.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things

One of the most divisive films of the year, I’m Thinking of Ending Things is an incredibly visceral and at times mind boggling film. Its not the kind of film the Oscars normally like, proven by its total of zero nominations however it would’ve been fantastic to see this in the running!

Another Round

One of my personal favourites to come out of a terrific batch of 2020 films, Another Round should’ve been a strong contender for Best Picture. It’ll surely sweep the award for Best International Feature, but with Vinterberg’s nod for Best Director, it’s a big miss in the race for Best Picture.

Supernova

A bit of a long shot this one (and not the only one to come up in this piece), but Supernova was another favourite that felt like it would be right up the Academies street. It’s touching and intimate portrayal of the strains love can feel when combatted with dementia was fantastically done. Just up staged in this awards season by The Father!

Best Director:
Aaron Sorkin

It feels like another snub to not have Sorkin in the running for Best Director, particularly given all the other nominations The Trial of the Chicago 7 received for Oscar night. A big miss but there’s nobody in the lineup I would take out to be replaced by Sorkin.

Charlie Kaufman

Another long shot I know. Kaufman should’ve been in the running for Screenplay and Director. No other filmmaker created something as visceral and bizarre as he did.

Best Actress:
The race for Best Actress has been one of the highlights of this topsy turvy awards season. We’re less than two weeks away and still no further to predicting who will take home the award. Here’s some of the actresses who will feel disappointed to not be in the mix.

Han Yeri

Within the excellence of Minari, Han Yeri does shine amongst her fantastic costars who are rightly nominated. Her performance is fantastic and it’s a shame that she isn’t in the running for this year.

Kate Winslet

Say what you will about Ammonite (and a lot has been said), Kate Winslet is the sheer driving force of the film. Whilst the film leaves a lot to be desired, Winslet is an absolute powerhouse who is ultimately let down by the quality of her surroundings.

Elisabeth Moss

Toni Collette, Lupita Nyongo’o and now Elisabeth Moss. The Academy has once again failed to recognise an excellent performance delivered in the horror genre. Moss is wholly captivating in her turn in The Invisible Man.

Rosamund Pike

Another stand out performance of the year, Rosamund Pike is excellent in I Care A Lot, equalling her performance given in her Oscar nominated performance for Gone Girl. Given her Golden Globe win for this performance too, it’s a shame not to see her nominated.

Sidney Flanigan

Sidney Flanigan’s first acting credit is a truly heartbreaking and real performance delivered in Never Rarely Sometimes Always. Easily one of the best performances put in from last year.

Best Actor:

Mads Mikklesen

Mads Mikklesen feels like an actor who is surely destined to pick up at least one Oscar nomination in his career. He should’ve been nominated in The Hunt and should’ve been nominated for Another Round too. He blends comedy and tragedy expertly and I don’t see any of the other nominees for this year putting in a dance routine like him!

Delroy Lindo

Probably the biggest snub from this years Oscars, Delroy Lindo is pure brilliance in Da 5 Bloods. Playing a man on a mission and a man with nothing to lose, he puts in the best performance of his career and the second best performance of the year (behind Anthony Hopkins).

Ben Affleck

Another long shot, but Ben Affleck delivers the best performance of his entire career in The Way Back (or Finding the Way Back), playing a haunted character with an addiction who sets out on the road to coach his former high school basketball team. A great performance!

Best Supporting Actress

Ellen Burstyn

Up there with Lindo in terms of the weight of snub, Ellen Burstyn was truly spectacular in Pieces of a Woman. The monologue she delivers to Vanessa Kirby is breathtaking. I’m not sure how Glenn Close got the nod over her. The Academy really messed up this one.

Jodie Foster

Joining Rosamund Pike as another Golden Globe winner to not be nominated for the Oscar. It’s surprising not to see Jodie Foster, who is so obviously an Academy favourite, not be nominated. Another one who suffered from her overall surroundings perhaps?

Toni Collette

Another long shot, but Toni Collette is excellent in I’m Thinking of Ending Things. Any four of the actors could’ve been nominated, however Collette puts in my personal favourite performance of the four. It would’ve been nice to see her get what she deserved for Hereditary.

Best Supporting Actor:

Stanley Tucci

Stanley Tucci delivers a career best performance in Supernova (in a career filled with notable performances). Would’ve been an absolute delight to have seen him get his second Oscar nomination for a film he truly puts his heart and soul into.

Jeremy Strong

Taking nothing away from Sacha Baron Cohen’s performance, but he and Jeremry Strong feel like a double act in The Trial of the Chicago 7. It’s a shame to not have them both nominated as I felt they both complimented and played each off each other excellently.

Alan Kim

The highlight of awards season, Alan Kim has been an absolute breath of fresh air for everyone who has been paying attention. His Critics Choice Awards speech being one of the highlights. Not necessarily a snub, just one I would’ve absolutely loved to have seen.

Frank Langella

To make a film like The Trial of the Chicago 7 work, you obviously need the characters to root for, which we get. You also need a villain of the piece, and this role is played to a tee by Langella. A truly hateable character!

FILM RATING

Drama

Elizabeth Debicki’s Diana Stars Despite Major Fumbles In ‘The Crown’

Published

1 week ago

November 21, 2023

Sean Colin Young

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

On November 16, 2023, the first instalment of Netflix’s final season of “The Crown” premiered, leaving me feeling disappointed. Despite my eagerness to watch, life’s commitments often took precedence, making it challenging to indulge in any content. However, after finally catching up, I found myself wishing I hadn’t bothered.

With an ensemble of Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II; Dominic West as Prince Charles, Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana, Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, Salim Daw as Mohamed Al-Fayed, Khalid Abdalla as Dodi Fayed, and Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles, the first instalment of four episodes is set a year after Charles and Diana’s divorce and traces the events to the late princess and her alleged romantic partner Dodi.

I get the fact that Diana’s death was a significant event in modern British history, but the show did not feel like I was watching ‘The Crown’, I felt as if I were watching some Diana propaganda movie for the first half. Even with a legendary cast like the above-mentioned, there’s no escaping terrible writing, unfortunately. The script was demanding way too much from the cast and some scenes had me pulling my hair out.

But the worst was yet to come, after Diana’s death, there comes Ghost Diana, who has conversations with the Queen and the Prince of Wales and at this point, my eyes were staring at the ceiling rather than the screen as I heard the ghost Diana interactions with the queen and Charles, Another point of annoyance was the petulance of Charles and this public perception war with Diana which made me ask the question: Why? To the point that he hires a royal photographer to show his fatherly side.

The portrayal of Diana’s relationship with Dodi was cringeworthy, to say the least. The fact that Mohd. Fayed was pulling the strings to get Diana and Dodi together was drama that I was not looking for: and for what? Validation from the royal family? To be considered British? The fact that he bribed journalists to stalk Dodi and Diana was going way beyond the line of fictional liberties. These liberties were taken by Peter Morgan throughout the first half of the final season making it pretty unwatchable. I somehow got through it all. I am really on the fence with creative liberties but this season, in particular, was shallow and completely unnecessary.

But there are some moments worth praise, even though they are very few and very far in between. The scene where Charles tells William and Harry that their mother has passed away in a car accident or the scene where Harry is writing the card with the envelope titled ‘Mummy’ which is placed at the top of her coffin were moments that stood out for me personally more than Ghost Diana and the whole series at large.

Moreover, Debecki essayed Diana’s role in season five and this season, particularly Diana’s last eight weeks of her life were simply outstanding especially considering how bad the script was. The very moving scene for me was when Diana rejects Dodi’s proposal and Dodi finally manning up to his father; then the two talk about following their passions. This scene showed more maturity than perhaps the entire season before her death.

Perhaps The Crown is plagued by the extraordinary brilliance of the first four seasons that the fifth season and the sixth season tend to fall flat, as noted by The Guardian. And more outlets across the world have dismissed it as clumsy and predictable. I know it was history and creative liberties were taken–but the show just dragged along and it was simply one-dimensional throughout.

At this point, my expectations for the second half of the final season are way down after watching this show. The season is supposed to end with Charles marrying Camilla and William and Kate meeting at the University of St. Andrews.

The second instalment will hit Netflix on December 14.

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