1) I thought Seth MacFarlane did an excellent job. I know most of the internet hates him but I thought he was great. He was exactly what you would expect out of Seth MacFarlane: he was crude, he was charming, he sang and danced, and most importantly- he was funny. I adored his opening monologue. I love the jokes at the beginning that were supposed to fail and I couldn't stop laughing at everything involving Capt Kirk. That personified what Seth MacFarlane is: he is both a frat boy and a classy guy. That what you should expect out of MacFarlane. If people didn't like Seth MacFarlane then I don't know what people are expecting out of Oscar hosts.
My favorite MacFarlane joke of the night. After Daniel Day-Lewis won (more below), MacFarlane comes on screen and says, "In order to prepare for this incredible role Daniel Day-Lewis really got inside the 16th President's head. No one has gotten that far inside Lincoln's head since John Wilkes Booth." I laughed hysterically but the crowd did not. MacFarlane's comeback was great as well. "Too soon? Is 150 years not enough time to let that joke fly?" Loved Sethy M and I'll defend his greatness against everyone on the internet.
Apparently hosting the Academy Awards is like being the head coach of the Oakland Raiders: no matter you do you're going to be terrible, you get one year max (two if you're lucky), and everybody remembers and pines for the good old days.
Showing posts with label Ten Quick Reactions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ten Quick Reactions. Show all posts
Monday, February 25, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Ten "Quick" Reactions To Lovie Smith's Firing
As a die hard Chicago Bears fan, I was happy to see Lovie Smith go. I think everyone in Chicago was. Don't get me wrong, I harbor no ill will towards Lovie and I am grateful for his tenure here, but his time as the Bears head coach had passed. While many people across the country view Smith's firing as an outrage and felt he deserved to stay even longer, these people are not Chicago Bears fans and do not know the intricacies of Smith's coaching style. They do not know Lovie's strengths and weaknesses across his nine year run to truly know if he was a good coach or not. I will try to take an unbiased look at Lovie Smith and will try to react to this firing without acting like a typical, stupid, and rash Bears fan.
1) Lovie Smith always had the respect of his players. I think the number one thing a coach needs to be successful is to have the respect of the locker room so he can implement his scheme and plan. Great football minds have been terrible head coaches (Wade Phillips and Rex Ryan first come to mind) because they didn't have the player's respect. Everyone loves Lovie.
2) The Bears defense has always been elite or really good under Smith. Say what you will about his teams as a whole but offenses were always afraid of Lovie's D's.
3) If you are a good coach you should be able to build up your team within three years. Lovie was able to do that. Lovie was hired in 2004 and took over an average club at best. Within three years he made the Bears one of the best defenses of all time and they forced their way into the Superbowl. The Bears have, for the most part, been a legitimate playoff contender ever since then and they went to the NFC Championship game in 2010.
4) While Lovie Smith is generally known for a being a conservative guy on offense, he takes chances and has balls when it comes to 4th and short situations near the goal line / red zone. Especially in the past few years when he has non-Matt Forte backs like Marion Barber and Michael Bush who generally convert in those situations. Many coaches will take the guaranteed 3 points but many times Lovie doesn't. He risks trying to get the 7 and even when he fails to do convert (like in the Seahawks game where those three points probably would have won the Bears the game), it's still the correct decision to go for it.
5) Despite always seemingly being a playoff contender, Lovie Smith has only taken the Bears to the playoffs once since 2006. That's only one time in six years. Most coaches don't even get six years and they most certainly don't get six years with only one playoff appearance. In the past two seasons, the Bears were an almost guaranteed lock to make the playoffs and both times they suffered an epic collapse to allow another NFC North team to take their place
6) As GM Phil Emery said during his press conference:
2004: 14.4 PPG (32)
2005: 16.3 PPG (26)
2006: 26.7 PPG (2)
2007: 20.9 PPG (18)
2008: 23.4 PPG (14)
2009: 20.4 PPG (19)
2010: 20.9 PPG (21)
2011: 22.1 PPG (17)
2012: 23.4 PPG (16)
And by the way, when you take out an NFL record nine touchdowns (and extra points) scored by the defense in 2012, that means the Bears would have only scored 19.5 Points Per Game which would have been good enough for 24th in the league- just behind the Tennessee Titans and above the Cleveland Browns.
Excluding 2004 and 2005 seasons which were (justifiably) rebuilding years for Lovie, the Bears were only in the top half of points per game scored only twice and one of those times the Bears were only the 14th best team- which is barely above average. Also, the other time the Bears were in the top half of PPG scored was in 2006- the Superbowl team led by Rex Grossman. I don't think anyone would claim that a Rex Grossman led offense is a good offense and I have to believe those PPG totals were skewed both by the special teams/defensive touchdowns that were scored plus the first five or six games of the season were the Bears were undefeated and no one knew just yet how bad Grossman really was. Plus, according to Football Outsiders, the Bears had the 20th best offense in the league in 2006.
The point is, Lovie Smith does not know how to run an offense and he had the pieces and weapons to run a good offense- especially once Jay Cutler arrived. This fact alone is enough to easily justify firing Lovie Smith.
7) Lovie Smith is atrocious at challenging plays. Unfortunately, coaching challenging percentage data is not widely available, but I was able to find this statistic from a 2010 Chicago Sun-Times article. Between 2004 and 2010, the Chicago Bears were 19-61 (31%) in terms of challenge percentage which was 5th worst among all NFL teams. It seems to me that Lovie has gotten better at when to throw the challenge flag and when not to in the past few seasons, but any Bears fan can tell you Lovie is bad at knowing when to throw that little red flag.
8) Lovie Smith is really bad at making in game adjustments and while I have no stats to back me up (I don't even really know what statistic(s) I should even be looking for), the eye test shows that Lovie is really bad at making the little adjustments within a game and within a season to have prolonged success. Lovie is also terrible at making adjustments from season to season as it appears that he will always stubbornly use his scheme to a fault. It is common knowledge that Lovie Smith runs a Tampa-2 / Cover-2 defensive scheme; however, this scheme is only effective if you have a successful pass rush. During most of Lovie's nine year tenure he has had a really good pass rush and a really good defensive line, but in the years when there is obviously no pass rush, Smith's defenses are maddeningly frustrating. When you see coaches out there like Bill Belicheck who is constantly tweaking his scheme week to week and quarter to quarter, Smith's stubbornness can not be tolerated.
9) I keep hearing (mainly from ESPN) all about the 2012 season and the fact that the Chicago Bears just won ten games. That is irrelevant. Lovie Smith got fired based upon his nine full seasons where he was proven to not be a good head coach time and time again. It was not just the 2012 season but a cumulative effort since 2006.
Plus, even if you want to talk about his 2012 season, he still missed the playoffs and his team did not control its own destiny. Games versus Houston, versus Seattle, versus Green Bay, and at Minnesota were all winnable for Lovie's team and if the Bears were a legit powerhouse like we all thought they were after 8 weeks, then they should have won at least ONE of those games. Lovie and the Bears benefited from an extremely easy schedule which had them playing the Jaguars, the Titans, the Colts (in Andrew Luck's first game), the Cowboys, the Cardinals, the Panthers, the Rams, and the Lions twice. That's a cake schedule. They lost to the Texans, the 49ers, the Vikings, the Seahawks, and the Packers (twice). All those teams are in the playoffs and they couldn't get one measly win in that bunch.
10) I personally don't mind Lovie Smith as a head coach as much as other Chicago Bears fans do. I think the fact that he had the respect of the locker room is good enough minimum requirements to be a head coach. However, I also think he needs a great offensive and defensive coordinator (mainly offensive) in place to actually make specific calls. Lovie at least has the appearance of being inept during the game (for the most part and only for the little stuff. I think the big stuff like what to do on 4th downs and such is pretty good) and so he needs a great play caller on his sidelines. The problems is is that you shouldn't have to say that about a head coach. In order to truly be allowed to keep your job after a decade you need to prove you can run an ENTIRE team, and not just parts of it. I thank Lovie Smith for his time in Chicago and I hope he finds success and whatever team he coaches next, but his firing from the Chicago Bears was long overdue.
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THE PROS OF LOVIE SMITH
1) Lovie Smith always had the respect of his players. I think the number one thing a coach needs to be successful is to have the respect of the locker room so he can implement his scheme and plan. Great football minds have been terrible head coaches (Wade Phillips and Rex Ryan first come to mind) because they didn't have the player's respect. Everyone loves Lovie.
2) The Bears defense has always been elite or really good under Smith. Say what you will about his teams as a whole but offenses were always afraid of Lovie's D's.
3) If you are a good coach you should be able to build up your team within three years. Lovie was able to do that. Lovie was hired in 2004 and took over an average club at best. Within three years he made the Bears one of the best defenses of all time and they forced their way into the Superbowl. The Bears have, for the most part, been a legitimate playoff contender ever since then and they went to the NFC Championship game in 2010.
4) While Lovie Smith is generally known for a being a conservative guy on offense, he takes chances and has balls when it comes to 4th and short situations near the goal line / red zone. Especially in the past few years when he has non-Matt Forte backs like Marion Barber and Michael Bush who generally convert in those situations. Many coaches will take the guaranteed 3 points but many times Lovie doesn't. He risks trying to get the 7 and even when he fails to do convert (like in the Seahawks game where those three points probably would have won the Bears the game), it's still the correct decision to go for it.
THE CONS OF LOVIE SMITH
5) Despite always seemingly being a playoff contender, Lovie Smith has only taken the Bears to the playoffs once since 2006. That's only one time in six years. Most coaches don't even get six years and they most certainly don't get six years with only one playoff appearance. In the past two seasons, the Bears were an almost guaranteed lock to make the playoffs and both times they suffered an epic collapse to allow another NFC North team to take their place
6) As GM Phil Emery said during his press conference:
Lovie Smith is a good defensive coach who was never able to develop a consistent offense in his nine seasons as head coach of the Bears, and that's what cost him his job.Truer words have never been spoken. No one within the Bears organization knew ANYTHING about running an offense. The only person that had a proven track record of knowing what an offense looks like was former offensive coordinator Mike Martz and he was too stubborn to be good. Lovie Smith did not show any semblance of knowledge that he knew what it took to run a successful offense. Here's a list of the points per game the Bears scored during Lovie's tenure (and BTW, these stats are flawed because many of Lovie's teams scored a bunch of defensive and special teams touchdowns):
2004: 14.4 PPG (32)
2005: 16.3 PPG (26)
2006: 26.7 PPG (2)
2007: 20.9 PPG (18)
2008: 23.4 PPG (14)
2009: 20.4 PPG (19)
2010: 20.9 PPG (21)
2011: 22.1 PPG (17)
2012: 23.4 PPG (16)
And by the way, when you take out an NFL record nine touchdowns (and extra points) scored by the defense in 2012, that means the Bears would have only scored 19.5 Points Per Game which would have been good enough for 24th in the league- just behind the Tennessee Titans and above the Cleveland Browns.
Excluding 2004 and 2005 seasons which were (justifiably) rebuilding years for Lovie, the Bears were only in the top half of points per game scored only twice and one of those times the Bears were only the 14th best team- which is barely above average. Also, the other time the Bears were in the top half of PPG scored was in 2006- the Superbowl team led by Rex Grossman. I don't think anyone would claim that a Rex Grossman led offense is a good offense and I have to believe those PPG totals were skewed both by the special teams/defensive touchdowns that were scored plus the first five or six games of the season were the Bears were undefeated and no one knew just yet how bad Grossman really was. Plus, according to Football Outsiders, the Bears had the 20th best offense in the league in 2006.
The point is, Lovie Smith does not know how to run an offense and he had the pieces and weapons to run a good offense- especially once Jay Cutler arrived. This fact alone is enough to easily justify firing Lovie Smith.
7) Lovie Smith is atrocious at challenging plays. Unfortunately, coaching challenging percentage data is not widely available, but I was able to find this statistic from a 2010 Chicago Sun-Times article. Between 2004 and 2010, the Chicago Bears were 19-61 (31%) in terms of challenge percentage which was 5th worst among all NFL teams. It seems to me that Lovie has gotten better at when to throw the challenge flag and when not to in the past few seasons, but any Bears fan can tell you Lovie is bad at knowing when to throw that little red flag.
8) Lovie Smith is really bad at making in game adjustments and while I have no stats to back me up (I don't even really know what statistic(s) I should even be looking for), the eye test shows that Lovie is really bad at making the little adjustments within a game and within a season to have prolonged success. Lovie is also terrible at making adjustments from season to season as it appears that he will always stubbornly use his scheme to a fault. It is common knowledge that Lovie Smith runs a Tampa-2 / Cover-2 defensive scheme; however, this scheme is only effective if you have a successful pass rush. During most of Lovie's nine year tenure he has had a really good pass rush and a really good defensive line, but in the years when there is obviously no pass rush, Smith's defenses are maddeningly frustrating. When you see coaches out there like Bill Belicheck who is constantly tweaking his scheme week to week and quarter to quarter, Smith's stubbornness can not be tolerated.
9) I keep hearing (mainly from ESPN) all about the 2012 season and the fact that the Chicago Bears just won ten games. That is irrelevant. Lovie Smith got fired based upon his nine full seasons where he was proven to not be a good head coach time and time again. It was not just the 2012 season but a cumulative effort since 2006.
Plus, even if you want to talk about his 2012 season, he still missed the playoffs and his team did not control its own destiny. Games versus Houston, versus Seattle, versus Green Bay, and at Minnesota were all winnable for Lovie's team and if the Bears were a legit powerhouse like we all thought they were after 8 weeks, then they should have won at least ONE of those games. Lovie and the Bears benefited from an extremely easy schedule which had them playing the Jaguars, the Titans, the Colts (in Andrew Luck's first game), the Cowboys, the Cardinals, the Panthers, the Rams, and the Lions twice. That's a cake schedule. They lost to the Texans, the 49ers, the Vikings, the Seahawks, and the Packers (twice). All those teams are in the playoffs and they couldn't get one measly win in that bunch.
FINAL THOUGHTS
10) I personally don't mind Lovie Smith as a head coach as much as other Chicago Bears fans do. I think the fact that he had the respect of the locker room is good enough minimum requirements to be a head coach. However, I also think he needs a great offensive and defensive coordinator (mainly offensive) in place to actually make specific calls. Lovie at least has the appearance of being inept during the game (for the most part and only for the little stuff. I think the big stuff like what to do on 4th downs and such is pretty good) and so he needs a great play caller on his sidelines. The problems is is that you shouldn't have to say that about a head coach. In order to truly be allowed to keep your job after a decade you need to prove you can run an ENTIRE team, and not just parts of it. I thank Lovie Smith for his time in Chicago and I hope he finds success and whatever team he coaches next, but his firing from the Chicago Bears was long overdue.
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Thursday, December 13, 2012
Ten Quick Reactions to the 2013 Golden Globe Nominations (Movie Edition)
To see the full list of Golden Globe Nominees: click here
1) After The Master only received one SAG nomination (Philip Seymour Hoffman) yesterday, it came back with 3 nominations today including one for Joaquin Pheonix, one for Philip Seymour Hoffman, and one for Amy Adams. Smart move Emmy's. I think all three are locks to get (well-deserved) Oscar nominations. Also, I'm happy The Master only earned those three acting nominations and did not earn nominations for Best Screenplay, Best Director, or Best Movie. While the movie is great, it is long and boring and extremely pretentious.
2) Because the Emmy's are smart and actually have a comedy category along with a drama category for movies (you hear that Academy!) Salmon Fishing in the Yemen comes up big with three nominations including Best Actress (Emily Blunt), Best Actor (Ewan McGregor), and Best Movie (Comedy/Musical). Don't expect any Oscar nominations though.
3) Speaking of having a Comedy category, Indie and Hollywood darling Moonrise Kingdom garners only one nomination (Best Motion Picture- Comedy/Musical) while The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel earns two: Best Supporting Actress (Judi Dench) and Best Motion Picture- Comedy/Musical. TBEMH has a slim chance to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Moonrise Kingdom does not.
4) Nicole Kidman is making her push for another Oscar nomination for her work in The Paperboy. She received a SAG nomination yesterday and a Golden Globe nomination today. An Oscar nomination seems likely at this point.
5) After being completely shunned from the SAG awards, Django Unchained comes up huge this morning. It has received 5 nominations including nominations for Christoph Waltz (Best Supporting Actor), Leonardo DiCaprio (Best Supporting Actor), Best Director (Quentin Tarantino), Best Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino), and Best Motion Picture (Drama). As I wrote yesterday after Django's SAG snubbing- the people shouldn't worry. Thank you Golden Globes for correcting SAG's mistake.
6) Here is a list of the five nominations for Best Director: Ben Affleck, Ang Lee, Quentin Tarantino, Katheryn Bigelow, and Steven Spielberg. Three of them have an Oscar for Best Director (Lee, Bigelow, Spielberg), one more has multiple Oscar nominations for Best Director (Tarantino), and the last one is the front runner to win the Oscar this year for Best Director (Affleck). Super deep class.
7) Richard Gere earns a Best Actor nomination for his role in the suspenseful thriller "Arbitrage". However, don't expect him to get any love from the Academy because he's Richard Gere. If the man couldn't even get nominated for his work in "Chicago" then he'll never get one.
8) I saw Bernie last night and Jack Black was amazing in it. He earns a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in the Comedy/Musical division. As of right now, Black is in my top 5 for Best Male Acting Performances of the year. Sadly, I think he'll also go the way of Richard Gere and not earn an Oscar nod. I'll keep up my wishful thinking though.
9) I just want to say how disappointed I am in how xenophobic and and discriminatory Hollywood (especially during award season) can be. Life Of Pi was excellent. Ang Lee and his staff did an incredible job. But essentially the movie is Suraj Sharma (who plays Pi Patel) alone on a boat with a CGI tiger. That's it. I don't understand how you can claim this movie is one of the five best movies of the year and not give Sharma any accolades. The movie doesn't work if you don't care about Pi on that boat and Sharma acts the hell out of that movie. When Tom Hanks did the essentially the same thing as Sharma in Cast Away he was a borderline Oscar winner but when an Indian does it we don't even consider him for ANY awards. Hollywood did the same thing a few years back with Slumdog Millionaire (although a better case could be made for snubbing the actors in that movie because of the big cast and plethora of time spent with the main characters as children). However, there is no excuse this time around.
10) Mandatory Silver Linings Playbook update: Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence each get nominations for their work in the film (with the help of the fact that they were in the easier Comedy/Musical category, although I think they both get nominations anyways). I think Lawrence is a stone cold lock to get another Oscar nomination and I think Cooper's Oscar nomination is relatively safe as well (especially if he is able to defeat Hugh Jackman from Les Mis.). But in a shocking upset Robert De Niro doesn't get nominated (It seems Christoph Waltz took his spot instead). SLP also earned a nomination for Best Screenplay (David O Russell) as well as Best Motion Picture- Comedy/Musical. Like Cooper over Jackman, if Silver Linings' Playbook can defeat Les Miserables for Best Movie- Comedy/Musical then it could possibly have a snowball effect and win Best Motion Picture at the Oscars. I still think the front runner (and very well should be) is still Argo though.
BONUS!
11) There was talk that Matthew McConaughey would get an Oscar nomination for his portrayal in the super boring and dull Magic Mike. However, after getting being left of the ballot by both the SAG and the Golden Globes, there is no way in hell he is getting an Oscar nomination. I'm OK with that. McConaughey was fine in Magic Mike but I never understood the hype he was getting.
12) Quvenzhane Wallis was five years old when she filmed Beasts of the Southern Wild. She (and the movie as a whole) was ineligible from garnering any SAG nominations but the movie seemed like a shoe-in to sweep every other award. It received a whopping ZERO nomination from the Golden Globes. Good. Not only is the movie extremely boring and over hyped but let's not get too excited nominating a five year old for Best Actress.
13) Crap, I need to see The Sessions. John Hawkes and Helen Hunt earn nominations for their performance in the film. Both seem likely to earnGolden Globe and Oscar nomination as well.
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1) After The Master only received one SAG nomination (Philip Seymour Hoffman) yesterday, it came back with 3 nominations today including one for Joaquin Pheonix, one for Philip Seymour Hoffman, and one for Amy Adams. Smart move Emmy's. I think all three are locks to get (well-deserved) Oscar nominations. Also, I'm happy The Master only earned those three acting nominations and did not earn nominations for Best Screenplay, Best Director, or Best Movie. While the movie is great, it is long and boring and extremely pretentious.
2) Because the Emmy's are smart and actually have a comedy category along with a drama category for movies (you hear that Academy!) Salmon Fishing in the Yemen comes up big with three nominations including Best Actress (Emily Blunt), Best Actor (Ewan McGregor), and Best Movie (Comedy/Musical). Don't expect any Oscar nominations though.
3) Speaking of having a Comedy category, Indie and Hollywood darling Moonrise Kingdom garners only one nomination (Best Motion Picture- Comedy/Musical) while The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel earns two: Best Supporting Actress (Judi Dench) and Best Motion Picture- Comedy/Musical. TBEMH has a slim chance to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Moonrise Kingdom does not.
4) Nicole Kidman is making her push for another Oscar nomination for her work in The Paperboy. She received a SAG nomination yesterday and a Golden Globe nomination today. An Oscar nomination seems likely at this point.
5) After being completely shunned from the SAG awards, Django Unchained comes up huge this morning. It has received 5 nominations including nominations for Christoph Waltz (Best Supporting Actor), Leonardo DiCaprio (Best Supporting Actor), Best Director (Quentin Tarantino), Best Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino), and Best Motion Picture (Drama). As I wrote yesterday after Django's SAG snubbing- the people shouldn't worry. Thank you Golden Globes for correcting SAG's mistake.
6) Here is a list of the five nominations for Best Director: Ben Affleck, Ang Lee, Quentin Tarantino, Katheryn Bigelow, and Steven Spielberg. Three of them have an Oscar for Best Director (Lee, Bigelow, Spielberg), one more has multiple Oscar nominations for Best Director (Tarantino), and the last one is the front runner to win the Oscar this year for Best Director (Affleck). Super deep class.
7) Richard Gere earns a Best Actor nomination for his role in the suspenseful thriller "Arbitrage". However, don't expect him to get any love from the Academy because he's Richard Gere. If the man couldn't even get nominated for his work in "Chicago" then he'll never get one.
8) I saw Bernie last night and Jack Black was amazing in it. He earns a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in the Comedy/Musical division. As of right now, Black is in my top 5 for Best Male Acting Performances of the year. Sadly, I think he'll also go the way of Richard Gere and not earn an Oscar nod. I'll keep up my wishful thinking though.
9) I just want to say how disappointed I am in how xenophobic and and discriminatory Hollywood (especially during award season) can be. Life Of Pi was excellent. Ang Lee and his staff did an incredible job. But essentially the movie is Suraj Sharma (who plays Pi Patel) alone on a boat with a CGI tiger. That's it. I don't understand how you can claim this movie is one of the five best movies of the year and not give Sharma any accolades. The movie doesn't work if you don't care about Pi on that boat and Sharma acts the hell out of that movie. When Tom Hanks did the essentially the same thing as Sharma in Cast Away he was a borderline Oscar winner but when an Indian does it we don't even consider him for ANY awards. Hollywood did the same thing a few years back with Slumdog Millionaire (although a better case could be made for snubbing the actors in that movie because of the big cast and plethora of time spent with the main characters as children). However, there is no excuse this time around.
10) Mandatory Silver Linings Playbook update: Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence each get nominations for their work in the film (with the help of the fact that they were in the easier Comedy/Musical category, although I think they both get nominations anyways). I think Lawrence is a stone cold lock to get another Oscar nomination and I think Cooper's Oscar nomination is relatively safe as well (especially if he is able to defeat Hugh Jackman from Les Mis.). But in a shocking upset Robert De Niro doesn't get nominated (It seems Christoph Waltz took his spot instead). SLP also earned a nomination for Best Screenplay (David O Russell) as well as Best Motion Picture- Comedy/Musical. Like Cooper over Jackman, if Silver Linings' Playbook can defeat Les Miserables for Best Movie- Comedy/Musical then it could possibly have a snowball effect and win Best Motion Picture at the Oscars. I still think the front runner (and very well should be) is still Argo though.
BONUS!
11) There was talk that Matthew McConaughey would get an Oscar nomination for his portrayal in the super boring and dull Magic Mike. However, after getting being left of the ballot by both the SAG and the Golden Globes, there is no way in hell he is getting an Oscar nomination. I'm OK with that. McConaughey was fine in Magic Mike but I never understood the hype he was getting.
12) Quvenzhane Wallis was five years old when she filmed Beasts of the Southern Wild. She (and the movie as a whole) was ineligible from garnering any SAG nominations but the movie seemed like a shoe-in to sweep every other award. It received a whopping ZERO nomination from the Golden Globes. Good. Not only is the movie extremely boring and over hyped but let's not get too excited nominating a five year old for Best Actress.
13) Crap, I need to see The Sessions. John Hawkes and Helen Hunt earn nominations for their performance in the film. Both seem likely to earn
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Ten Quick Reactions to the 2013 SAG Award Nominations
To see the full list of SAG Award Nominees: click here
1) Joaquin Phoenix doesn't get nominated for his brilliant performance in The Master. Neither does Amy Adams. Philip Seymour Hoffman does. As boring and long as The Master is, it features the best acting performances of the year. If I had to choose the best performance of the year I would choose Phoenix's performance from The Master. He better get a Golden Globe AND an Oscar nod.
2a) I was worried Bradley Cooper wouldn't get a Best Actor Oscar nomination. Silver Linings' Playbook was released at the perfect time to steamroll and snowball it's away through award season. Cooper's SAG nod is a great stepping stone towards getting an Oscar nomination.
2b) SLP also earned a nomination for Best Actress (Jennifer Lawrence), Best Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro), and Best Cast in a Movie. I don't know how Argo will do at the Golden Globes or with other the other Guilds, but SLP might be the new front runner for Best Picture. However, this may be putting the cart in front of the horse because with the all strengths Argo has (mainly with how well directed it is, how well written it is, and how good of a movie it is as a whole), acting is not per se one of them. Plus, Argo also earned a nomination for Best Cast In A Movie.
3) Javier Bardem earns a nomination for his great performance in Skyfall. Bardem won an Oscar for playing an amazing villain in No Country For Old Men and I think he deserves another one for playing one of (if not THE) best Bond villain ever. With little to no award buzz surrounding the Skyfall actors, I'm glad to see Bardem gets recognized here.
4) No nominations for anyone from Django Unchained. I'm confident this had more to do with the film's Christmas release date than anything else. I hope the late release date for the film doesn't hurt its Oscar chances (although I am also assuming it will be an amazing film. I mean, how can it not be?!)
5a) Surprising nominations for The Best Exoctic Marigold Hotel. Maggie Smith earns a nomination for her performance in the film (although that came as no surprise as 1) She's Maggie freaking Smith and 2) As always, this is a weak year for female nominations). However, what was surprising was that the film also earned a nomination for Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Major Motion Picture. Can this be the fuel the movie needs to get an Oscar nomination for Best Picture?
5b) Maggie Smith earned another SAG nomination for her role on Downton Abbey. While that was not surprising, what was surprising was that it was in the Best Actress category and not in the Best Supporting Actress category.
6) The choices of women to choose from for female side of the acting categories always seems to be weak. That leaves the door open for Nicole Kidman to possibly get an Oscar nomination as she earns a SAG nomination for her work in Lee Daniels' (Precious) flick The Paperboy.
7) Crap, I need to see The Sessions. John Hawkes and Helen Hunt earn nominations for their performance in the film. Both seem very likely to earn Golden Globe and Oscar nominations as well.
8) Les Mis rolls. It earned four including nominations Best Actor (Hugh Jackman), Best Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway), and Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Major Motion Picture.
9) Jeff Daniels earned a nomination for Best Actor for his work in The Newsroom. Beat out Emmy nominees Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Michael C Hall (Dexter), and anyone from Downton Abbey. I just think that's interesting and probably well deserved. I wouldn't be surprised if Daniels + The Newsrooms earns Golden Globe nominations and we see The Newsroom run up big for the 2013 Emmys.
10) Game of Thrones has a huge cast full of amazing actors and its second season was great. That being said, it missed the cut for Outstanding Performance By An Ensemble In A Television Drama Series. Although with a group like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Homeland, and Downton Abbey its a tough group to crack.
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1) Joaquin Phoenix doesn't get nominated for his brilliant performance in The Master. Neither does Amy Adams. Philip Seymour Hoffman does. As boring and long as The Master is, it features the best acting performances of the year. If I had to choose the best performance of the year I would choose Phoenix's performance from The Master. He better get a Golden Globe AND an Oscar nod.
2a) I was worried Bradley Cooper wouldn't get a Best Actor Oscar nomination. Silver Linings' Playbook was released at the perfect time to steamroll and snowball it's away through award season. Cooper's SAG nod is a great stepping stone towards getting an Oscar nomination.
2b) SLP also earned a nomination for Best Actress (Jennifer Lawrence), Best Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro), and Best Cast in a Movie. I don't know how Argo will do at the Golden Globes or with other the other Guilds, but SLP might be the new front runner for Best Picture. However, this may be putting the cart in front of the horse because with the all strengths Argo has (mainly with how well directed it is, how well written it is, and how good of a movie it is as a whole), acting is not per se one of them. Plus, Argo also earned a nomination for Best Cast In A Movie.
3) Javier Bardem earns a nomination for his great performance in Skyfall. Bardem won an Oscar for playing an amazing villain in No Country For Old Men and I think he deserves another one for playing one of (if not THE) best Bond villain ever. With little to no award buzz surrounding the Skyfall actors, I'm glad to see Bardem gets recognized here.
4) No nominations for anyone from Django Unchained. I'm confident this had more to do with the film's Christmas release date than anything else. I hope the late release date for the film doesn't hurt its Oscar chances (although I am also assuming it will be an amazing film. I mean, how can it not be?!)
5a) Surprising nominations for The Best Exoctic Marigold Hotel. Maggie Smith earns a nomination for her performance in the film (although that came as no surprise as 1) She's Maggie freaking Smith and 2) As always, this is a weak year for female nominations). However, what was surprising was that the film also earned a nomination for Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Major Motion Picture. Can this be the fuel the movie needs to get an Oscar nomination for Best Picture?
5b) Maggie Smith earned another SAG nomination for her role on Downton Abbey. While that was not surprising, what was surprising was that it was in the Best Actress category and not in the Best Supporting Actress category.
6) The choices of women to choose from for female side of the acting categories always seems to be weak. That leaves the door open for Nicole Kidman to possibly get an Oscar nomination as she earns a SAG nomination for her work in Lee Daniels' (Precious) flick The Paperboy.
7) Crap, I need to see The Sessions. John Hawkes and Helen Hunt earn nominations for their performance in the film. Both seem very likely to earn Golden Globe and Oscar nominations as well.
8) Les Mis rolls. It earned four including nominations Best Actor (Hugh Jackman), Best Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway), and Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Major Motion Picture.
9) Jeff Daniels earned a nomination for Best Actor for his work in The Newsroom. Beat out Emmy nominees Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Michael C Hall (Dexter), and anyone from Downton Abbey. I just think that's interesting and probably well deserved. I wouldn't be surprised if Daniels + The Newsrooms earns Golden Globe nominations and we see The Newsroom run up big for the 2013 Emmys.
10) Game of Thrones has a huge cast full of amazing actors and its second season was great. That being said, it missed the cut for Outstanding Performance By An Ensemble In A Television Drama Series. Although with a group like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Homeland, and Downton Abbey its a tough group to crack.
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