Oscar Voter Reveals Her Brutally Honest Ballot

Oscar Voter Reveals Her Brutally Honest Ballot

>hollywoodreporter.com/lists/oscar-voter-reveals-her-brutally-honest-ballot-meryl-streep-like-a-clown-la-la-land-not-memora/item/best-picture-brutally-honest-ballot-977467

Best Picture

I hated Arrival — it just sucked. I didn't like Fences because they just filmed the play — I wanted to see the guy go into the jazz club and play his music, the girl who's having his baby, his kid on the football field. But I think Denzel [Washington, its producer/director/star] decided that every word of the script [by the late August Wilson] was so precious that he wasn't going to "mess" with it, and the movie suffered as a result. I loved the first half of Lion, but I felt like a different director and cinematographer made the second half. I thought Hidden Figures was wonderful — because it's a great story, not because it was especially hard to tell. It's almost like a glorified Movie of the Week. Moonlight and Hacksaw Ridge were really very good, but I don't think of them as a best picture. La La Land was tremendously enjoyable, but not all that deep or memorable. That left me with Manchester by the Sea and Hell or High Water, two compassionate movies that were incredibly well written, directed and acted. Hell or High Water isn't going to win, but it was my favorite, and it will be remembered as a true American classic.

My vote
(1) Hell or High Water
(2) Manchester by the Sea
(3) La La Land
(4) Hacksaw Ridge
(5) Moonlight

Best Director

Forget about Arrival [director Denis Villeneuve]. After that, it was tough. I decided not to go with Hacksaw Ridge, and not because of anything to do with Mel Gibson's personal problems — even though I'm Jewish. I think he's a different person now; he's a very talented director, and I wish him well. [Moonlight's] Barry Jenkins did a really good job, but the movie's three parts aren't as connected as they could have been. That left me with Manchester [Kenneth Lonergan] and La La Land [Damien Chazelle]. Damien is such a sweetheart; I loved what he did with Whiplash and this one, and he's probably going to win. But I voted for Lonergan, because it was harder to make everything click on that movie, and he really succeeded.

My vote
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Best Actor

Denzel has played this role a million times before, and he got the Tony for it — I'm sure he was amazing onstage, but he didn't do anything unexpected on film. You've got to seem alive in the moment, and maybe if he'd gotten a really great director to direct him, that person would have nudged him to do that. [Hacksaw's] Andrew Garfield and [La La Land's] Ryan Gosling were very good, but not Oscar-level. [Manchester's] Casey Affleck had a role worthy of his brave acting, and he was absolutely wonderful. But I loved, loved, loved Viggo Mortensen's performance [in Captain Fantastic]. He is an actors' actor, and I voted for him. Unfortunately, it's probably the only vote he'll get.

My vote
Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)

Best Actress

I liked none of them. I thought Meryl [Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins] played it like a clown — she's cute and adorable, but this woman didn't matter to me in the end — but people are gaga over Meryl, and I think she solidified her nomination when she gave that speech at the Golden Globes. I don't think she would have gotten nominated without it. I hated Jackie so much — it was just shallow crap — so no Natalie Portman. [Elle's] Isabelle Huppert is an ice-cold actress, and I eliminated her because when you get attacked, beaten and raped, you're not the same person afterward, but she was, and I wanted to slap her to try to get a reaction out of her. The girl in La La Land [Emma Stone] is going to win because she's adorable and everybody loves her, but I don't think she was as wonderful as people are saying. That leaves me with Ruth Negga for Loving, who was fairly one-note, but engaging enough.

My vote
Ruth Negga (Loving)

Best Supporting Actor

I thought [Lion's] Dev Patel and the kid from Manchester [Lucas Hedges] were really good, but not great. The guy from Moonlight [Mahershala Ali] was good, but I don't think his character was that developed — I mean, he's this great guy, and then all of a sudden he just disappears. I really liked Michael Shannon in a movie that I didn't like [Nocturnal Animals] — in fact, I voted to nominate him. But my heart is with Jeff Bridges, because I loved [Hell or High Water]. The acting was sheer perfection. Jeff makes it look easy but, boy, what he does is not easy.

My vote
Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)

Best Supporting Actress

I immediately ruled out [Fences'] Viola Davis — don't get me wrong, I love her and I think she's wonderful, but that's my protest vote. She should have been in the lead actress category, and when the studios put these actresses who are clearly the lead in the supporting category — like they did with [The Danish Girl's] Alicia Vikander last year, even though she had more lines than the guy [Eddie Redmayne] — that really irks me. Because it prevents real supporting actresses, like the waitress in Hell or High Water [Margaret Bowman], from getting nominated. Viola will probably win, but she belonged in the leading lady category. I love [Hidden Figures'] Octavia Spencer, but I felt the other two women in the film [Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monae] were better. Nicole [Kidman in Lion] wasn't all that different from everything else I've seen her do. So, for me, it was between Michelle [Williams for Manchester], for a true supporting part, and the gal from Moonlight [Naomie Harris]. Both of them were wonderful, but the gal from Moonlight went to places that were harder to go to.

My vote
Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

Best Adapted Screenplay

As you know, I hated Arrival. The Lion script was uneven. I didn't really consider Fences because I don't think it was adapted. So it came down to Moonlight and Hidden Figures, and I just thought the story of Moonlight was more of a challenge to tell.

My vote
Moonlight

Best Original Screenplay

20th Century Women was cute, but it didn't fully work. The Lobster was interesting but a little bit weird for me. La La Land was very light. So I was torn between Manchester and Hell or High Water. [Manchester's] Lonergan is very bright and wrote a brilliant screenplay, but I have to go with Hell or High Water, even though it doesn't have a chance of winning.

My vote
Hell or High Water

Best Animated Feature

I watched them all and liked several of them, but I loved The Red Turtle, which was the most profound of the group.

My vote
The Red Turtle

Best Documentary Feature

I'm ruling out O.J. [Made in America] even though I still have an hour of it left to watch — maybe for younger people this is new stuff, but for me it's just reliving a part of the past I don't need to relive. I was disappointed with I Am Not Your Negro — I was really looking forward to learning more about James Baldwin's life, rather than his ideas (which I already knew), because when I first came to New York as a young actress, he was such an avant-garde playwright and fascinating guy. Three-quarters of Ava DuVernay's movie [13th] was wonderful, but the last quarter was so preachy that I felt like I was hit over the head, which was a turnoff. They did a really good job with Fire at Sea, except I hated that little kid in it — killing birds and cutting up cacti and all of that. I voted for Life, Animated because I thought it was a positive story, how the parents took a massive challenge and made something of it.

My vote
Life, Animated

Best Foreign Film Language

I hated the German movie [Toni Erdmann] so much because it was so shticky — Germans are not funny! The only part of the whole movie where I laughed was when she couldn't get out of her tight dress and just ripped it off and went around naked. I hear Jack Nicholson is going to be in a remake, and he might make it funny. The other four were beautifully done, so it was hard. The Australian one [Tanna] was gorgeously photographed. Land of Mine really captured the horrors of war. The Salesman will probably win because there will be a big protest vote about [writer-director Asghar Farhadi] not being able to get into this country [because of Trump's travel ban, now under a stay]. But my heart was with [Sweden's] A Man Called Ove. There's something life-affirming about that movie.

My vote
A Man Called Ove

I want to know her reasoning behind dismissing Arrival automatically for every nomination.

Best Cinematography

Arrival is definitely out. Silence had beautiful photography, but I hated that movie so much, with all the Christian stuff beating me over the head — I mean, c’mon, Marty [Scorsese, its director]! Moonlight and the first half of Lion had some impressive stuff. But I voted for La La Land — the cinematography really elevated the movie.

My vote
La La Land

Best Costume Design

The costumes in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Florence Foster Jenkins and Jackie were really good, but I didn’t like the movies. I liked La La Land, but I don’t think the costumes had much to do with that — modern things aren’t that hard to design, although [Stone] looked great, I have to say. And while I didn’t love Allied, the costumes for Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard were the best thing about it. In fact, when they had one of those little parties for it, I went up to that British lady [Joanna Johnston] and told her that, and I don’t think she knew how to respond. Me and my big mouth. (Laughs.)

My vote
Allied

Best Film Editing

This was a really strong category this year. [John Gilbert] did a great job with Hacksaw Ridge, but Hell or High Water was my favorite film, so I’m gonna stick with it here.

My vote
Hell or High Water

>even though I'm Jewish
> I hated that movie so much, with all the Christian stuff beating me over the head — I mean, c’mon, Marty

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

I didn’t like Suicide Squad very much. The Star Trek [Beyond] DVD they sent me stopped halfway through — something was wrong with it — so I called them and asked them to send me another, but they never did, so that eliminated them! The funny thing is I probably would have voted for them. Again, I liked A Man Called Ove — the whole movie — so that’s the one.

My vote
A Man Called Ove

Best Original Score

I really listened to each of them. La La Land’s was very sweet and stood out to me the most.

My vote
La La Land

Best Original Song

I’m not crazy about any of them — you don’t really remember them like you remember songs like “The Way We Were” even years later — but I’ll vote for the Sting one [“The Empty Chair,” for which Sting is nominated with J. Ralph].

My vote
"The Empty Chair" (Jim: The James Foley Story) (What a Madwoman!)

Best Production Design

Arrival was the first to go. Then Hail, Caesar! and Passengers — just mediocre movies. So it was between La La Land and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I’m sure La La Land will win, but I went with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them because I thought the production value on that movie was really wonderful, even though I wasn’t knocked out by the movie itself.

My vote
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them


Best Sound Editing & Best Sound Mixing

These are the categories I have a really hard time with — it would be easier if they just had a “best sound” category, but as it is I’m really totally confused and prefer to just stay out of it.

My vote for both
[Abstain]

Best Visual Effects

I like the effects in Rogue One, but I voted for The Jungle Book because I thought that one, with the animals and everything, was absolutely stunning.

My vote
The Jungle Book

Best Animated Short

The two that I liked the best were Piper, which is so adorable, and the one with the cigarettes where that crazy guy goes to China [Pear Cider and Cigarettes], which I voted for because it is very intriguing and different.

My vote
Pearl Cider and Cigarettes

So we can add Arrival as a movie women will never understand

And last

Best Documentary Short

The one about the immigrants coming across the ocean [4.1 Miles] is no different than what you see on the news. What bothered me about Joe’s Violin is he said he was a Holocaust survivor, but he wasn’t — his mother and brothers were, but he was sent to Siberian gulags — and that made me doubt everything else about the story. The two about Syria [Watani: My Homeland and The White Helmets] were very well done — I almost voted for White Helmets. But I thought Extremis was the most human and least contrived.

My vote
Extremis

Best Live-action short

I thought Timecode was good, but it was more of an intellectual exercise, so I went with my heart: I preferred the one about the woman and the bike and the train [La Femme et le TGV] because I thought there was something really humane about that one. She grew from that experience and it had a really positive message.

My vote
La Femme et le TGV

I thought the categories were vote just for people related to it (Actors to actors, producers to best picture, director to directors... I suppose old academy people has free ticket to vote everything)

Whatever, that was all old jewish lady rant who hated Arrival and loved Hell or High Water. That's all folks.

what a fucking pleb

We get it. He hates Arrival.

I hate that person

>these are the people that vote for the biggest award in cinema

>Best Cinematography
>beautiful photography, but I hated that movie so much

>Best Costume Design
>really good, but I didn’t like the movies.

what the fuck, does she not understand the point of having categories?

She hated the movie, it's ineffable

>Hollywood insiders, most of whom have never even studied film, have awful taste

big suprise

>Movie about Jesuit priests
>Mad about Christianity being in it
For what purpose?

Why would anyone hate Arrival this much? Not liking it, I can understand. But being this aggressively mad about it? kek

This. I don't really disagree with most of her decisions. They're fairly reasonable.

But she's like;

>Just get fucked Arrival.

I thought Arrival was a 6/10 at best, but this chick hates it. I mean, even though I didn't think it was that great a movie the cinematography was solid, but she's like;

>Get fucked nigga.

Also, on both Cinematography and Production Design she talked about the movies - Not the actual category. It's retarded when they do that.

Like the guy who got nominated for Lion this year - His cinematography on Rogue One was way better. But it's not a "real" film.

Genuinely sounds personal or she is really angry about one specific point, I bet.

>hating Arrival

fucking pleb.

I think she had PTSD with Arrival because the daughter dies

She really talks about movies with "positive message and good feeligns" in some categories, so maybe it's because Arrival is not that at all.

It's ironic because the film has a female lead

I like how she is proud about being incapable of compartmentalizing technical aspects of movies from whether she liked the movie as a whole or not.
>Silence had beautiful photography, but I hated that movie so much
>The costumes in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Florence Foster Jenkins and Jackie were really good, but I didn’t like the movies

Arrival is a prolife film. Feminists believe Amy Adams character should have aborted the child.

Is "brutally honest" now code for "unreflective and simplistic"?

Oh wow, I didn't even think of that

Kek I love her fucking visceral hatred for Arrival

It's code for just saying you don't like things because you just don't. You know when you hate something and you don't really know how to justify it, you just do, that's brutally honest "reviews".

I don't think being unable to express the reason you dislike something is the same as being honest. Even if it's an emotional or aesthetic reason, you'd still be able to formulate it if you knew yourself well enough and were genuinely honest.

makes sense.

>The costumes in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Florence Foster Jenkins and Jackie were really good, but I didn’t like the movies
What's wrong with that exactly? Hellboy II had some of the most well made costumes in recent history but the movie was awful.

It's like when Sup Forums hates on a film for no good reason. Good to know that the upper echelons of Hollywood aren't so different to the shitposters down here.

>but the movie was awful.

>My Negga

shes great

good taste

very anti reddit opinions

"Anti-reddit"
'Reddit' is not a critique, that's just your bias.

>My vote
>Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)
based

That's the point, the movie was garbage, but the costumes were on point, so it deserves recognition for having the best costumes.

This bitch is being petty.

>talking like its some nuanced decision
>fucking pity oscar for leo
>half the oscars are political and heavy handed baiting/ lobbying for them
>denzel straight up admits this is how he won

Is "unreflective and simplistic" now code for a conversation with another person?

Because it's lowest common denominator middlebrow Nolan tier garbage that tries to be deep?

Actually makes sense. I couldn't put my finger on it. I could tell it was something to do with Amy Adams's choice about the kid that must have pissed her off though.

The way she spoke of the film made it sound like there was one specific thematic or narrative point that royally pissed her off and tainted the film for her.

>this was good because it was great
>this was bad because it wasn't good
>i think this should win because it was good
Nice """""critic""""".

I said that above - She mentioned it in the Production Design too.

Who cares about the movies? You're judging the production design.

All women's opinions are like this

>I hated Arrival — it just sucked
So insightful! These are the wise movie critics who americucks look up to, I see now why their education is so admired by the rest of the world

Say what you want but at least she knows how to vote for actors. Especially on point with FFJ/Meryl; although amusing enough that her performance should be pointed out, she did play the character like a clown. It's as if today's (ridiculous) image of FFJ was exactly what she took in order to make her.
And as one-note as he is, she got outclassed by Hugh Grant in her own movie.

Viggo deserves to win

I agree that the character should have aborted the child. Having a kid is already one of the most selfish thing humans can do but to have a kid KNOWING they're gonna suffer through cancer after what? only 14-16 years? Is purely monsterous.

Literally " I don't care about this person's future pain as long as I get some good feelings beforehand"

>I hated the German movie [Toni Erdmann] so much because it was so shticky — Germans are not funny!
>Jew
>hates Germans
Colour me not suprised.

t. "prochoice" baby killer

I want Viggo and Mel to win atleast 1 Oscar

That's all I want

>I hated Arrival
>Moonlight and Hacksaw Ridge were really very good

Numale genocide when?

It's a woman.

>Numale
> when I first came to New York as a young actress

it's a woman

It says something when I can't tell them apart anymore

This wasn't that bad. In a way, it's kind of refreshing to know that it really is just a bunch of old people watching some movies and making choices that are maybe 70~80% based on the actual quality of the film. Maybe she just didn't write them down, but I appreciate the fact that this lady didn't seem to throw in any pity or popularity votes and just went with the movie she liked
We're not so different after all

What did he mean by this?

Yeah, it says you're a retard who can't read.

>hacksaw ridge
>numale

a-are you kidding right now?

>one of the bravest men to ever live from a time long before any of us were born
>a numale

fuck right off

>babykiller
>aborting a fetus before it's force to consciously experience suffering is better

Prolifers are retards.

Yeah no shit it works like that. Your own fault if you care about the Oscars at all.

Everyone dies eventually (which I assume is why you call it selfish), does it matter if it's in 15 or 90 years? Both time periods are nothing in the grand scheme of things.

> I thought Meryl [Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins] played it like a clown — she's cute and adorable, but this woman didn't matter to me in the end — but people are gaga over Meryl, and I think she solidified her nomination when she gave that speech at the Golden Globes. I don't think she would have gotten nominated without it.

Based

conservative jew confirmed

i am actually pleasantly surprised, i expected her opinions to be complete incoherent plebian drivel

>It's okay to subject people to unwanted/unwarranted pain because "HAHA they'll die eventually anyways XD"

No.

>If you want to watch tall dark figures shoot liquid in a chubby redhead’s face, just join brazzers.

Arrival btfo

Not the point, I'm saying that if you believe that giving birth to someone is immoral, the age of their death doesn't matter.

all life is pain, do you claim to be the great judge of who should live and who should not?

The question whether it is immoral to have children is conceptually distinct from the question when they should die once they are here. Your answer to the former does not commit you to any specific answer to the latter.

What? She's not even expressing disapproval that Streep got her nomination because of the speech, which goes to show how political Hollywood is.

>do you claim to be the great judge of who should live and who should not?

No, that's what prospective parents think.

>a childish old jewish woman has more sensible opinions on cinema than the television and film subsection of an anime imageboard

>I hated the German movie [Toni Erdmann] so much because it was so shticky — Germans are not funny!

Fucking Jews.

>I am Jewish
>Germans are not funny
but I am laffin

So is Hell or High Water good?

>I hear Jack Nicholson is going to be in a remake, and he might make it funny.

motherfucker

Isn't the whole point of the movie that we don't have free will?

Yes, it is good.

> Isabelle Huppert is an ice-cold actress, and I eliminated her because when you get attacked, beaten and raped, you're not the same person afterward, but she was, and I wanted to slap her to try to get a reaction out of her.

t. I'm a pleb and totally didn't get that Michelle herself is a Sociopath

>Jewish woman complains that one documentary short was from someone who """only""" survived Siberian gulags rather than the Holocaust

That's a concept too patriarchal for women to understand and accept, and I'm not even joking.

Pretty patrician desu. Much better than a few years ago when some voters admitted to not even watching the movies and voting purely out of political reasons
>"Slavery is bad, therefore "12 years a slave" should win, black lives matter okay? Can you just not? racists??

Arrival has no business being nominated at all.

She's not wrong. The German sense of humor is virtually nonexistent.

I'm literally a nazi, but Tony Erdmann sucked dick. It's worse than Zach Braff's Garden State.

Comedies usually at least make me smile or smirk. Tony Erdmann did neither, it was a boring farce with emotional impact.

Fucking Adam Sander's "Click" is a better drama/comedy than Toni Erdmann. Absolute trash.

Also fucking "Allied" is a 7/10 and it's deserved a nomination more than Arrival.

Adam Sandler fans detected. I heard Netflix has some good movies for you.

*no emotional impact

This one is much better.

Browsed Sup Forums so much they developed an irrational hatred due to the plebs constantly making threads about it.

I kinda see where they're coming from.

And Moonlight, Hell or High Water, and Manchester By The Sea aren't superficially deep?

I dislike the whole Iranian/Gay Muslim parts, but fuck dammit the movie was emotionally manipulative as fuck that you always fell for it.

Triggered Arrival fans incoming.

Imagine unironically saying you were a fan of Arrival. Yuck.

What makes something deep?