The 5 Biggest Snubs of the 2015 Oscar Nominations
by Andy Neuenschwander
The 2015 Oscar nominees have been announced, and there are many deserving names on the list: "Whiplash" has a solid five nominations, "Boyhood" is all over the board, and "Birdman" is getting lots of love with nominations for three of its actors including the wonderful Emma Stone.
As always, though, there are a few major snubs that we just can't ignore. Here are the five worst ones:
1. "The Lego Movie"
Best Animated Feature is a tough category this year, with heavyweights like "How to Train Your Dragon 2" and "Big Hero 6," along with surprising nominations like the lesser-known but very deserving "Song of the Sea" on the list.
No matter how good the other nominees are, though, we can't believe that "The Lego Movie" didn't get a nomination. Even if you're one of the people who found it to be a little too loud and action-heavy, it's hard to deny that it was overflowing with creativity and was visually incredible.
"The Boxtrolls," while also visually stunning with its stop-motion style, only got a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes, while "The Lego Movie" earned a whopping 96%. We see this as either the Academy giving a nomination to Laika based on their past work (the excellent "Coraline" and "Paranorman") or a case where perhaps voters thought the live-action elements of "The Lego Movie" disqualified it somehow.
Everything is not awesome.
2. "Selma"
This movie, which tells the story of Martin Luther King, Jr. leading up to his death, is a powerful piece of filmmaking. It's excellently directed, well written, and features tremendous performances, especially from lead actor David Oyelowo. So why does it only have two nominations?
"Glory," the movie's original song which won a Golden Globe last weekend, is nominated, and thankfully the movie is on the list for Best Picture. But for the movie to be ignored in every other category is astounding. Granted, the Best Actor category is especially tough this year, but there's something to be said about just how white the list of nominees is this year in almost every category. It says something about the Academy, and it says something about the state of Hollywood as a whole.
3. "Gone Girl"
Maybe it's because everybody in the Academy had already read the book, but "Gone Girl" has one lone nomination: Rosamund Pike in the Best Actress category. Granted, if we were to choose one element of the movie to be nominated, we would probably choose Pike, who really made this character shine. However, the screenplay (very nicely adapted by Gillian Flynn) and and direction (by the legendary David Fincher) have gone without nominations, and we think that's a damn shame.
4. "Nightcrawler"
The movie is nominated in Best Original Screenplay, but that's the only nomination it got. Jake Gyllenhaal is amazing in this movie and anyone who disagrees is dead wrong. However, again, the Best Actor category is especially tough this year.
5. Jennifer Aniston in "Cake"
The former "Friends" star gives an amazing, raw performance in this movie about a woman dealing with chronic pain, and that performance was enough to earn her nominations at the Golden Globes, SAG Awards and Critic's Choice Awards. Yet the Oscar voters didn't deem it good enough for their ceremony, which doesn't often happen when the other major three give nominations. Cotillard is the newcomer to the group now, but honestly Reese Witherspoon could have sat this year out for her performance in "Wild," which was great but nothing particularly special.