The Oscar snub goes to…

Oscar season is here and that means all the brightest, most impactful stars of Hollywood are coming together to recognize everyone else’s talents. However that doesn’t mean everyone who the world thinks deserves an award got a nomination. Many beloved films deserved more Academy recognition than they ended up getting and for me, the biggest snubs of the year have something in common.

Best Animated Film: The Lego Movie
How can we forget one of the more noticeable snubs of the year? A testament to the high-minded potential of animation and the need to look at childhood needs in an adult way, The Lego Movie is a brimming example of modern animation with brains and a heart.

Best Original Screenplay: Phil Lord and Chris Miller, The Lego Movie
While the toy is maybe too lacking in tangible context to be considered an adaptation, The Lego Movie is an intricate deconstruction of modern film tropes and standard narrative structure that defies all expectations.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Phil Lord and Chris Miller, The Lego Movie
Even if the toy doesn’t have a concrete story to base a movie off of, The Lego Movie perfectly captures the sheer creative energy of the toy on which it’s based, making it the most exuberant and joyful adaptation in years.

Best Supporting Actress: Allison Brie, The Lego Movie
While Brie may have been playing a unicorn-kitty hybrid of sorts, her performance nails the required amount of silly spacey-ness and repressed anger that comes with being constantly chipper.

Best Supporting Actor: Will Arnett and Morgan Freeman, The Lego Movie
How can we forget the lovely supporting men of the industry? Arnett’s portrayal of hyper-angsty Batman ingeniously satirizes the notion of sullen seriousness being “cool” with a deft touch and a lack of ham. Meanwhile, Freeman embodies the “wise old sage” character and imbues it with a perfect mixture of actual competence and dry parody to showcase the need for mentors but also the underlying ridiculousness of the need for mentors.

Best Actress: Elizabeth Banks, The Lego Movie
Don’t let the scary goth makeup fool you, Elizabeth Banks’ wholly convincing portrayal of confused adolescence and desire for acceptance makes her performance as Wyldstyle a truly memorable and heartbreaking reminder of how confusing and sad the trials of youth really are.

Best Actor: Chris Pratt, The Lego Movie
Chris Pratt, despite being given a role of little exhibited personality, is marvellous as Emmett, a normal guy with nothing special about him. His ability to show the destructive nature of being completely ordinary as well as the toll that being just another cog in the machine takes on the psyche makes his performance one for the ages.

Best Director: Phil Lord and Chris Miller, The Lego Movie
Lord and Miller are known for taking bad ideas and making them great, but this time their incredibly gleeful and unhinged directing style works wonders in this unfathomably creative, well-shot and well-paced effort.

Best Picture: The Lego Movie
An ode to everything cinema can do for viewers, The Lego Movie’s a testament to the power and pleasures of film. It is something that we must hold close to us for fear of it slipping through our fingers.
We must never let it go or it will fly away, even if people feel an Oscar nomination might stop that.
So those are my selections, and regardless of your own grievances, just know that there is always next year for your favourite star to win.