Inside Out

[EricJ]

You know, I loved Mad Max just like everyone else. But I can't say it's "more worthy" of a Best Picture nod than Inside Out is.

The craze when Mad Max came out in summer was "Heck-yeah, now this is what movies USED to be!", because Rip Van Miller could still direct in his original 80's style, without pandering, overseas-sales, and by using real Australia instead of CGI.
That doesn't make it an Oscar contender in the sense of Spotlight or Trumbo, just that critics could pile praise on it during an otherwise disastrous summer/year.
(It wasn't even a good Max film, since Max is gagged for the first third of the movie, and the Imperatrix is the main protagonist of the whole darn thing...Bring back Tina Turner! )

It could be that Critics' Circle awards have the same restriction on "Animated films are for Best Animated!" that kept them from boosting Toy Story 3 when that came out, or it could be that they only had room for one windmill-tilting stunt and Max had dibs on that one.
I suspect the results will be the same with the other regional-city NY, LA, Toronto and Chicago Critics' awards, with each critic wanting to be the "one" who put Max at the top of their list.

[Dacey]

It could be that Critics' Circle awards have the same restriction on "Animated films are for Best Animated!" that kept them from boosting Toy Story 3 when that came out, or it could be that they only had room for one windmill-tilting stunt and Max had dibs on that one.

Except that, Toy Story 3 was nominated for Best Picture at the Critics Choice Awards, so...

[EricJ]

But...ouch...not even a nomination in ten slots? In such a crap year for movies? Hopefully actual filmmakers will be able to recognise where the brave efforts were made...

They did give it "Best Original Screenplay", which in the Oscars, used to be the condescending "throw the poor dog a bone" pandering they'd give to all the cult-breakout support for a film like Pulp Fiction or Being John Malkovich, without giving it actual Best Picture consideration or maybe a fifth "art" Best Director.
So, could be snobbery, but then, like the Globes, I don't trust any awards that pile the Movie and TV categories together.

[Ben]

And except that the new Max *wasn't* directed in an 80s style (at all...at one point I leaned over to my friend and told him this movie was directed by a seventy year old!), and was actually shot in South Africa, so...

[Vernadyn]

George Miller, like Robert Rodriguez, needs to stay away from "family-friendly" films. I suppose Babe is a cute time-filler (and yes, I'm aware he didn't actually direct that one), but Best Picture material? I applaud him for trying to branch out, but as Fury Road shows, he's better when he's in his wheelhouse. (Though I still don't think it's the best action movie of all time. I only think it's the second best action movie of 2015.)

[Dan]

A simple request has turned viral as college student Jordan Hanzon's "Outside Edition" of Inside Out, with Riley's emotions getting edited out, is garnering a lot of interest.

Video: https://vimeo.com/150483774

[Ben]

This is what I mean by Inside Out being deceptively simple.

When you take out the "emotions" of the film you see that it's really just the fairly unremarkable story of a little girl going through a move to a new place and all the conflicting that comes with it.

The brilliance of the film is that it takes this really basic concept - seriously, aside from perfect observation there's nothing special about Riley's journey - and deconstructs it to include the internal elements that provide the "reasoning" for Riley's emotions and actions.

Once you take them out of the equation, there's no real need for Inside Out to exist which, for me, makes this a totally redundant exercise and a pretty pointless request/watch that I think only non-too-bright or non-imaginative people would be interested in...

Sorry!

[EricJ]

Once you take them out of the equation, there's no real need for Inside Out to exist which, for me, makes this a totally redundant exercise and a pretty pointless request/watch that I think only non-too-bright or non-imaginative people would be interested in...

Yeah, I wasn't quite sure what the point of the "joke" was:
I know it's trying to parallel the no-JarJar "Phantom Edit" for stunts' sake, but was it
A) praising the movie for Riley as an underratedly realistic depiction of 'tween pubescence, and that her plot was "more interesting" or
B) trying to deconstruct the big Oscar-buzz hoopla around the movie by saying that there was really nothing to the movie but "just" the sitcom gags of the emotion characters, or.....?
(Even Honest Trailers had to admit there wasn't that much wrong with the movie to make fun of.)

I'm confused--Is this edit supposed to be a good thing, a bad thing, or a snotty thing?

[Randall]

And of course, the basic plot of Inside Out was purposefully kept extremely simple, so as to not make what was already going to be a novel picture overly complicated. It was the wise choice.

[Ben]

I think the intention was to edit a "good" or at least interesting thing, but it came off bad *and* snotty!!!

[Vernadyn]

To be honest, though, an "Outside Edition" of the film wouldn't be much different drama-wise from many of the lesser indie films being made today.

[Ben]

Exactly. Which is why Inside Out was a CG cartoon about animated emotions inside our heads!

[ShyViolet]

Can't believe no Best Pic nom!!! . This really is a travesty. And much as I enjoyed Toy Story 3, how I the world can that movie get a nom while Inside Out is snubbed???!!!!

Just lost a ton of respect for the Academy...

[Bill1978]

While it is disappointing that Inside Out didn't get a nom in Best Picture, I'm not upset about it. Yes it was a great movie and a wonderful concept but I personally don't think it deserved a best Picture nom. In fact there have been only 2 animated movies that I felt truly deserved a Best Picture nom. One of them got one (Beauty) and one got snubbed (WALL*E). Yes Inside Out moved me, but I didn't walk out thinking that is a Best Picture nom there.

[Ben]

I think it *was* robbed, but I am not surprised. It seemed to lose a lot of momentum recently.

And it's split the BAF race wide open, with at least two strong titles up against it. I expect it will win, but glad to see Shaun The Sheep in there and a bit of love for Aardman.