'Suicide Squad' vs. 'Deadpool' at the Razzies and Oscars

I already bragged about the Razzie nominations confirming my guesses as to worst speculative fiction movies of 2016, which were "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice," "Gods of Egypt," and  "Independence Day: Resurgence," all of which were nominated for Worst Picture.  However, I also wrote that I wasn't done with the Razzies.

As for the rest of the nominations, Entertainment Weekly has those.  I may get back to them.  In the meantime, the Oscar nominees will be out shortly.  I'll be checking to see if "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" gets an Oscar nomination to go along with its eight Razzie nominations as I also predicted.  Stay tuned.

It turned out that I was wrong, about that prediction; the movie did not get any Oscar nominations.  However, the other big Warner Brothers/DC Comics movie of the year did, as I mentioned yesterday.

Stay tuned for an entry about the Razzies, in which I plan to include a discussion about "Suicide Squad," which is nominated for both an Oscar and two Razzies, as well as earning Margot Robbie awards for best actress in an action film from both the Critics' Choice Awards and People's Choice Awards for her performance as Harley Quinn.  At least the critics and fans agree on something!

I don't which I'd rather say, I was so close, or right idea, wrong movie, so I'll say both.  I'll also say that I agree with Wochit Entertainment's report that many fans think "Deadpool," which is my pick for best Superhero movie of 2016, was robbed.

Fans of Deadpool are not happy with the Oscar snub. The nominations for ther 89th annual Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday. Despite being nominated for Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes and Best Theatrical Motion Picture at the Producers Guild of America Awards, 'Deadpool' failed to garner even one Oscar nomination. Deadpool was a huge success, commercially and critically. Fans are livid that the movie did not get even one nomination. They are even angrier that Suicide Squad, the DC comic book actioner that flopped with critics and fans, was nominated for best make up and hairstyling.

While the Writers Guild Awards nominated "Deadpool" for Best Adapted Screenplay, I guess not enough of the WGA members are Motion Picture Academy voters to put the film's script over the top.  The other problem would be that "Moonlight" was considered an original screenplay for the Writers Guild Awards, while it's considered an Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars.  That alone would keep "Deadpool" out of the category.  As for the Sound Editing and Visual Effects categories, the movie I'd kick out to make room for "Deadpool" would be "Deepwater Horizon," which is ironic because it's a film I recommend to my students.  Oh, well.  At least "Deadpool" has no Razzie nominations and two Critics' Choice Awards, three if one counts the Entertainer of the Year for Ryan Reynolds.  I'm sure it will get its revenge by winning the Saturn Award for Best Comic to Motion Picture Release, where it will handily beat "Suicide Squad," which is also nominated.

As for "Suicide Squad," I'm sure it deserved its nomination for Makeup and Hairstyling, although I think "Star Trek Beyond" was better at it.  It also deserved its nominations for Worst Actor for Jared Leto, who is probably the worst movie Joker ever, although Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger set very high bars for the role, and Worst Screenplay.  The movie was fun, but it was disorganized and one couldn't think about it or it would fall apart.  Fortunately for both Leto and the screenwriters, "Suicide Squad" is unlikely to win either.  Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was worse than Leto as Joker.  I explain why in the comments to the earlier Razzie entry.

My experience with the Razzies is that the actors are usually the victims of bad writing. That's certainly the case for Ben Affleck, who played a Batman written to be a lot dumber and easier to manipulate than he should be. It didn't help that he was up against a Lex Luthor written to be much loonier than he should be as well. My wife and I agreed he wasn't Lex Luthor, who should be colder and more openly calculating, but a more organized version of The Joker who had a goal beyond "watching the world burn."

That written, I'm not even sure Eisenberg delivered the worst performance among the nominees; that might go to one of the nominees from "Zoolander 2," because nothing is more unfunny than a bad comedy.  Also "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" had even worse plot holes and other writing issues than "Suicide Squad."  I expect "Batman v. Superman" will win, but I am rooting for "Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party" instead.  That movie is my pick for worst political movie of the year.

For the rest of the Razzie nominees, read the list at Entertainment Weekly.  I'll get to the winners next week.  Stay tuned for my thoughts on the Oscar nominees tomorrow.