The Most Offpissing (Unless there is no such word) Oscar Snubs of 2015

By Patrick Gibbs

First off, let's define the difference between "I wanted this person to get a nomination" and a genuine snub. This morning, I heard some one complain that James Marsden did not receive an nomination for  The Best Of Me. Seriously. I like Marsden, but it was a Nicholas Sparks movie.  That's like complaining that Mark Wahlberg wasn't nominated for Transformers: Age of Extinction.

Now, obviously, I am annoyed that Andy Serkis wasn't nominated for Dawn Of The Planet The Apes, and I will always consider it to be the best performance of the year, but there hasn't been any serious talk of a nomination. While I believe that the Academy needs to start recognizing performance capture performances, and the studio submitted him for Best Supporting Actor, it wasn't something anyone really expected.

To qualify as a genuine snub, it has to be highly acclaimed, including nominations in any of the Awards leading up to the Oscar nominations, or to be a notable absence in a major category for a movie that has received a number of other nominations (such as Ben Affleck for Argo or Ron Howard for Apollo 13.).

Here are, in my opinion, some of the most glaring legitimate snubs of 2015.

Gone Girl
While it did grab a much deserved nomination for Rosamund Pike,  no Best Picture, Best Director (David Fincher), Adapted Screenplay (Gillian Flynn) and not even an editing nomination.







Selma
No Best Actor Nomination for David Oyelowo, despite comparisons to Daniel ay Lewis in Lincoln, and no best director for Ava DuVernay. Now, these are competitive categories, and especially DuVernay was never considered a front runner to win, but it's still a snub, and not just because they are black.

                                                                                     


The LEGO Movie

Genuinely one of the most acclaimed films of 2014, the lack of a Best Animated Feature nomination is utterly dumfounding, but betrays a bias against movies based on established, iconic properties like comic books or toys (in fairness to the Academy, I can count the number of these movies based on established iconic properties that actually deserved major nominations but didn't get them on one hand and still have at least one finger left over, but still . . .)




Big Eyes
Amy Adams just won a Golden Globe but didn't even get a nominator for the Oscar. Now, it's important to point out that she won in the Musical or Comedy category, and the Winner in the Drama category is much more likely to be the frontrunner, but this was a great performance by an actress that is overdue.

American Sniper
No nomination for director Clint Eastwood, a longtime Academy favorite.  Some people are going to say that this is because of Eastwood's endorsement of Mitt Romney, but they are wrong. In actuality, American Sniper may have received more attention than it actually deserved, and the Academy smartly recognized that this was a producer and star driven project and as such, Bradley Cooper's nomination was much more important.

A Most Violent Year                                          
Nothing? Not one single nomination? Come on!

This was arguably last year's most unsung classic. Part of me is really excited to see Oscar Isaac in Star Wars and another part of me is terrified we'll stop getting to see him in classics like this and Inside Llewyn Davis. Ultimately, this movie just wasn't violent enough for most people.






The Grand Budapest Hotel
Yes, the film received a richly deserved 9 nominations, including Best Picture and Directing and Schindler's List and further cements him as one of the all-time greats. Admittedly, Best Actor was a competitive category, but come on.
Screenwriting nods for Wes Anderson. But it still manages to qualify because they left out the heart and soul of the film, Ralph Fiennes, as Best Actor. Fiennes comic work here is in its own way as inspired as his celebrated, chilling turn in Schindler's List.