Is Boycotting The Oscars Necessary?

Recently there has been some controversy surrounding the Academy Awards and the lack of diversity within the nominations. It began when Jada Pinkett Smith addressed the situation after her husband Will Smith was not nominated for his performance in 'Concussion'. She then continues to say that she and her husband will not be attending this years ceremony or watching it. But is there really something wrong with the Academy? And should people be boycotting the Oscars over this issue?

You cannot deny the fact that there is a lack of diversity in this years nominations, but does this come down to racism? Or just the fact that people such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale and Kate Winslet put in great performances in their films? Don't forget that just two years ago the film '12 Years A Slave' picked up nine Academy Award nominations, and walked away with three on the night, including Best Film and Best Actress In A Supporting Role (Lupita Nyong'o).

In previous years there have been many diverse sets of nominations, including two years in which Will Smith himself was nominated. In 2002 Smith was nominated for his performance in 'Ali', but he lost out on the Leading Actor award to Denzel Washington (Training Day), who had won one Oscar previously to this. 2002 is the same year in which Halle Berry walked away with the Leading Actress award for her role in 'Monster's Ball'. In 2006 Smith was nominated a second time for his performance in the film ' The Pursuit Of Happyness', but lost out again but this time to Forest Whitaker (The Last King Of Scotland). 2006 is the same year that Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls) and Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) were in contention for Best Actor In A Supporting Role, and the same year that Jennifer Hudson walked away with the Oscar for Best Actress In A Supporting Role for her stunning performance in 'Dreamgirls'.

Despite having diverse sets on nominations in the past, this year has been very different. The big shock was Idris Elba not receiving a Supporting Actor nomination for his brilliant performance in 'Beasts Of No Nation'. There is definitely a lack of diversity within the Academy Award board of governors, with the majority being older white males, despite the President being Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who has come out herself saying she was disappointed with the lack of diversity within this years nominees, but also made a valid point, that this issue should not take away from those performances in which were nominated. Boone has mentioned that there will be a shake up within the governors, so there is a diverse group of people.

Even if the board of governors were different this year, there would not be too much difference within the nominations, other than maybe Idris Elba being nominated. This is because films such as 'Straight Outta Compton' were great, but the acting was not up to scratch with movies like 'The Revenant', mainly because the actors lack experience, in a year or two after doing a few more films the young actors in this movie may be in contention for awards. Even movie legend Michael Caine has gone on the record to say it took him years to get a nomination. He was 34 by the time he received his first Oscar nomination, and 54 when he won his first Academy Award for 'Hannah And Her Sisters' (1987).

I believe that Jada Pinkett Smith had every right to speak up about this issue, and maybe has a valid point, due to the lack of diversity within the board of governors, but I do not think that this makes boycotting the Oscars necessary. It's been shown that the Oscars do not always lack in diversity, it just so happens that this year the governors believed that the actors/actresses nominated put in better performances than others who were in contention. Despite this I do believe that there should be a mix up within the governors, so that there are some younger people in there, and they are planning to do just that, so now all we can do is enjoy this years awards, and see how these changes affect next year's ceremony.

'The Revenant' Review

After watching one of the most talked about films at the moment, I can safely say that it deserves all the hype, and the 12 Academy Award nominations.

Set in the 1820's, this film sees Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) get attacked by a bear, and after being betrayed by fellow hunter John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) he's left for dead. Glass then makes his way through the tough winter, alone, back to his hunting team.

One of the most visually stunning films seen in a long time, 'The Revenant' uses snowy mountains in the American wilderness as it's background. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu has provided us with some absolutely breathtaking shots of the surrounding scenery, as well as some perfectly framed scenes displaying the various character's emotions. 'The Revenant' only used natural light throughout the course of filming, which adds to how beautiful each scene looks. 

Leonardo puts in the best performance of his career; he overcame many physical obstacles during the course of filming, including eating raw bison liver, despite being a vegetarian most of his life. Even though there have been many good performances this year, it would be a shame if Leo didn't win the Academy Award. Tom Hardy has received the first Oscar nomination of his career for his role in the film. Basically unrecognisable Hardy plays a rather eccentric character, only focused on getting his share of money. He is the sole reason that DiCaprio is left alone in the wilderness, because of his need to get the journey over with.

22 year old Will Poulter also puts in a tremendous performance as the character Jim Bridger, he is unlucky not to be alongside Hardy in the nominations for Best Supporting Actor. In 2014 Poulter won the BAFTA Rising Star Award, and the young British actor has definitely shown he deserved it, displaying the incredible potential he has within this movie. Poulter's character is different to the majority of other men in the film. He takes care of Hugh Glass after the bear attack, and is reluctant to leave him while his health is slowly deteriorating.

 
I rate this film a 9 out of 10, and I recommend it to any dramatic film lover, or Academy Award fan, seeing as this movie will most likely be sweeping them this year. There has been some criticism over the Oscars the last month, but you cannot deny the fact that this film deserves all the plaudits coming its way. This is one of the best films I have seen come out for a long time, and it will be considered a shame if the movie doesn't walk away with three of the big four awards on the night (Best Film, Best Actor and Best Director).

The Nominations Are Here

The nominations for 88th Academy Awards were finally announced a few days ago, and didn't provide many shocks, especially within the 'big four' categories (Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress & Best Director).

Sad news also broke the same day, with the death of much loved British actor Alan Rickman at 69 years of age, known mostly for his role as Professor Snape in the Harry Potter film franchise. He also appeared in huge films such as Die Hard (1988), Sweeney Todd (2007) and Love Actually (2003). He was a tremendous actor, and he will be greatly missed by many.

Best Picture

The eight nominations for best picture this year were as expected, big films such as The Revenant, The Martian and Mad Max: Fury Road are the three big contenders, with The Revenant standing out as the frontrunner.

Lesser known films such as Room and The Big Short are also amongst the Best Picture nominees, these films are unlikely to win, but the nomination itself will give them a boosted number of audience members, and the attention they deserve.

For me the clear winner in this category is The Revenant.

Best Actor In A Leading Role

This category is another in which The Revenant is the frontrunner, Leonardo DiCaprio's performance in this film is nothing short of incredible, and it seems he could be finally be walking away with his long-awaited Oscar.

Despite winning a Golden Globe at this year's ceremony Matt Damon most likely will not be walking away with the Academy Award on the night for his performance in The Martian. The performance is stunning, but not an Oscar winning one, the same goes for Michael Fassbender's performance in Steve Jobs.

Eddie Redmayne, has put in a tremendous performance this year in the film 'The Danish Girl', and by doing this film he has also brought the issues surrounding transgender forward, and in a way has become a spokesperson for these issues. By having a clear social message for society, and excellent acting, Eddie Redmayne definitely stands a chance at winning again this year, which would make it the second year running that Eddie has won Best Actor In A Leading Role.

For me in this category though I believe that Leonardo DiCaprio deserves his first Oscar win.


Best Actress In A Leading Role

This category is wide open this year, which the frontrunner for the majority of awards on the night 'The Revenant' not having a nomination here, due to the lack of female actors in the film.

The big three this year are Jennifer Lawrence for 'Joy', Brie Larson for 'Room', and Cate Blanchett for 'Carol'. Lawrence and Larson were both winners of Golden Globes this year, so there's a higher chance of one of these two being the overall winner. The film 'Joy' has no other Oscar nominations, which director David O. Russell will be highly disappointed at, seeing as his last two films that Jennifer Lawrence has starred in, have a combined total of 18 Oscar nominations and one win (Jennifer Lawrence - Best Actress In A Leading Role - Silver Linings Playbook - 2013). Lower budget film 'Room' will on the other hand be very happy with their 4 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and Best Director.

For me I believe it will be one of the closer categories, but I think Jennifer Lawrence may just clinch it.

Best Director

This is another category in which it will be tight between two of the nominees. This race is between Alejandro G. Iñárritu (The Revenant), and George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road), this is for the same reason that the Best Cinematography category will be between these two films; the films are stunning visually. Some of the shots of scenery within these two films are the best I've ever seen, they are utterly breathtaking at times. Each have their own very different backgrounds to provide an audience, one being a desert, and the other snowy mountains, but they are on a par with each other. 

This is a hard category to pin a winner to, with these two directors deserving the award, because of the hype and excitement around The Revenant, and some of the close-up actor shots within the film, I think that Alejandro G. Iñárritu will come out victorious, but Mad Max will come out on top for Best Cinematography. 

For the full Oscar nominations list - Click Here

Is This Leo's Year?

2016 Film Award Season Kicks Off With

The Golden Globe Awards

Sunday 10th January saw the start of award season for movie stars. The Golden Globes include a greater number of  awards than the Oscars, therefore there are more opportunities for actors/actresses to win. Despite having more award categories within the ceremony, the Globes are still a very good way to judge how the Oscars may go. 

With the film 'The Revenant ' picking up three of the nights top awards (Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Actor In A Motion Picture - Drama, and Best Director - Motion Picture) it is safe to say that when the Oscar nominations are revealed in two days time, this film will be among them. Which leaves the question could this finally be Leo's year? 

Leonardo DiCaprio picked up the Golden Globe for Best Actor In A Motion Picture - Drama over the weekend, beating nominees Bryan Cranston, Michael Fassbender, Will Smith and last years award winner Eddie Redmayne. Leonardo has now won three Golden Globes for his work in the films: The Revenant (2016), The Wolf Of Wall Street (2014), and The Aviator (2005). Despite winning Globes, Leo has never managed to get his hands on an Oscar, he's been nominated four times between 1994-2014, three of those times as a leading actor, and once as a supporting actor. Many critics believe that this year Leo will be standing at the 2016 ceremony receiving his first Oscar, due to his tremendous performance in The Revenant, a film that is yet to be released, not arriving in cinemas until Thursday 14th January. He will have tough competition though, with last years Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne (The Theory Of Everything) expecting to receive another Oscar nod this year for his performance in the film 'The Danish Girl'. I believe that both these men will be going head to head to win this years Best Performance By An Actor In A Leading Role Oscar, and this could well be Leo's year.

Elsewhere at the 2016 Golden Globe Awards the film 'The Martian' was bizarrely nominated within the Musical Or Comedy categories, this film does have a few comedic moments, but I would not class this film as a comedy. It is a film of heightened drama, with an Astronaut being assumed dead and left stranded alone on Mars, NASA work on a rescue mission to bring him home. 'The Martian' picked up two big awards: Best Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy, and Best Actor In A Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy (Matt Damon).

On the female side of this years ceremony, actress Jennifer Lawrence  picked up her third ever Golden Globe (Best Actress In A Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy), for her performance in the film 'Joy'. Making it possible that she could be heading for her forth Oscar nomination, and possibly her second Oscar win. If she were to pick up the award this year, it would make her the youngest actress ever to receive two Best Leading Actress Oscars, currently held by Luise Rainer who won two awards by the age of 28 for: The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937). Lawrence currently holds the achievement of youngest performer to receive two Best Actress nominations (Winters Bone (2010), and Silver Linings Playbook (2012)). Jennifer Lawrence will have a lot of competition for the award, with the Leading Actress category being overflowed with talent this year, with a possible nomination for 2016 Golden Globe winner (Best Actress In A Motion Picture - Drama) Brie Larson for her performance in the film 'Room', as well as a possible nomination for two time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, for her incredible performance in the film ' Carol'.

Kate Winslet beat the likes of Alicia Vikander, Jennifer Jason Lee, Helen Mirren and Jane Fonda to win this years Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actress. Winslet added to her impressive award collection by winning her forth ever Golden Globe, for her performance in the Biography 'Steve Jobs'. Kate Winslet has not received an Oscar nomination since her 2009 win for Actress In A Leading Role, for her performance in 'The Reader', this year could see Kate's Oscar comeback, as there is a definite chance she will be getting a nomination, and a possible win.

The Oscar nominations are announced this Thursday morning. The Globes have been an indicator to who may get the nod, as well as who could possibly walk away with the most esteemed award in the movie business.


To see the rest of the Golden Globe winners - Click Here