7th Annual Awards Daily Simulated Oscar Ballot – deadline extended

My only qualm with your list is the list.

Antoinette, my only qualm with your list is there’s not enough Scarlett Johannson!!!

I have the same problem; I have not been able to see American Sniper, Whiplash, Foxcatcher, Selma, Most Violent Year, etc. I was lucky that I saw “Birdman” during the ONE week that it was playing locally, and Boyhood came and went so quickly missed it. (I am watching right now as I type this.) Due to my Herculean persistence and grand expenditure of time (8 seconds), I somehow was ale to leap past the favorites to pick Ida, Two Days, One Night, and Unbroken for a few categories.
My tpp few for each category:
Best Picture: 1) Gone Girl 2) Birdman
Director: 1) Linklater, 2) Inarritu
Screenplays: 1) Birdman 2) Grand Budapest, 1) Gone Girl 2) Imitation Game
Best Actress 1) Rosamund Pike, 2) Marion Cotillard—I didn’t see her in the Dardennes film but wanted it to be recognized. I voted for Jones and Adams as well, both of whom I’ve seen.
Best Actor: 1) Michael Keaton 2) Eddie Redmayne
Supporting Actor: 1) JK Simmons 2) Edward Norton I didn’t see Simmons but didn’t love anybody else enough to put them tops. My 4 and 5 were Matthew Goode and Charlie Cox.
Supporting Actress: 1) Jessica Chastain 2) Agata Kulesza in “Ida”
Cinematography: Deakins, Birdman, Ida
It’s rough when I haven’t seen all the films. The preferential ballot really makes you more likely to pick people you think might not get in otherwise. I can see even more clearly how Affleck and Bigelow may have gotten snubbed.

Regarding everyone’s complaints above:

These were the times I had to scroll all the way down into the master list:

1. To put WE ARE THE BEST! in my number 3 spot for Best Picture
2. To put Marion Cotillard in THE IMMIGRANT in the top spot for Best Actress
3. To put Agata Kulesza in IDA in the number 4 spot for Best Supporting Actress
4. To put Robert Pattinson in THE ROVER in the number 5 spot for Best Supporting Actor
5. To put NIGHTCRAWLER in the top spot for Best Original Screenplay (this one DID admittedly feel strange. How is that not a frontrunner?)
6. To put LOCKE in the number 5 spot for Best Original Screenplay
7. To put SNOWPIERCER in the top spot for Best Adapted Screenplay
8. To put EDGE OF TOMORROW in the number 4 spot for Best Adapted Screenplay
9. To put WE ARE THE BEST! in the number 5 spot for Best Adapted Screenplay
10. To put THE IMMIGRANT in the top spot for Best Cinematography

I only felt confused about NIGHTCRAWLER not being on the top tier for Original Screenplay, otherwise the movies I was choosing that didn’t fall into the frontrunner column (WE ARE THE BEST!, LOCKE, THE IMMIGRANT, THE ROVER, EDGE OF TOMORROW, SNOWPIERCER, IDA) seemed perfectly reasonable being absent there. Nobody’s talking about them, which is exactly why I want to go out of my way to do just that. And for the record, there is a Second tier in most categories that DID feature LOCKE and SNOWPIERCER and several other movies not in the main conversation (like OBVIOUS CHILD).

And for the second concern:

Here are the things I wanted to vote for but could not due to eligibility:

1. THE BABADOOK would have made my top 5 for Best Picture
2. Jennifer Kent for THE BABADOOK would have made my top 5 for Best Director
3. Essie Davis for THE BABADOOK would have made my number one choice for Best Actress
4. Julianne Moore for MAPS TO THE STARS would have made my top 5 for Best Supporting Actress
5. Evan Bird for MAPS TO THE STARS would have made my top 5 for Best Supporting Actor
6. MAPS TO THE STARS would have made my top 5 for Best Original Screenplay

I know Paddy cited NORTE, THE END OF HISTORY, GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE, NYMPHOMANIAC, THE MISSING PICTURE, JOURNEY TO THE WEST and CONCRETE NIGHT as films he would have included. I’ve only seen one of those (JOURNEY TO THE WEST) and it would never occur to me to include that in any of the major categories (perhaps some technical ones) we vote on here. I absolutely want to see the rest of those films, and won’t speak to their worthiness until I do, but NYMPHOMANIAC is a problematic situation anyways. Surely you can’t count it as a whole, since it was split into 2 parts well before an extended Director’s Cut was released, right? And then it becomes an issue of: do you reward Von Trier/Gainsbourg/et al for Part 1 (which was considered a must-see) or Part 2 (which I am told was a great big Fuck You to the audience in the grand tradition of Von Trier Fuck Yous)? I’m assuming Part 1 would be the stronger candidate, but isn’t Charlotte Gainsbourg more of a supporting performance in that before taking the lead in Part 2? And is Stacy Martin worthy of sitting in the top 5 lead actresses this year? Is Von Trier’s work in Part 1 SPECIFICALLY good enough for him to make the final 5 in Director or Screenplay? Best Picture for Part 1? I’m playing a bit of Devil’s Advocate here, honestly. If you think it’s worthy of making the 5, I won’t argue with you. There were only 2 movies this year I couldn’t reward that I felt worthy to be in the conversation. BABADOOK in particular was one of my 5 favorite films of the year. It kinda sucks but it also means I got to spotlight some other underappreciated things instead, like Pattinson in THE ROVER or LOCKE in Original Screenplay. I say bypass the frontrunners and find something else that isn’t getting enough love and feature it in the place of the ones you can’t. That seems like as good a response to this issue as any.

for what’s its worth

Best Picture:
1. Boyhood
2. Whiplash
3. Birdman
4. Interstellar
5. Inherent Vice
—
6. Gone Girl
7. The Grand Budapest Hotel
8. Foxcatcher
9. Selma

Best Director:
1. Linklater
2. Inarritu
3. Chazelle
4. Fincher
5. Miller

Well I was waiting until I could see INHERENT VICE but guess what? It’s not playing here. Apparently where I live is not considered “everywhere”. So…. fuck ’em. I’ll do this later this morning.