We continue to pass on comments from filmmakers, writers and festival directors in response to last week’s Oscar nominations.

Teller, Magician, Filmmaker:

Well, how could someone be a better actor doing more complex and subtle work than Jim Broadbent in Lady in the Van?

Compared to, say, 2.5 hours of poor Leo grunting in the mud with shit on his beard in The Revenant. Incidentally, that film deserves a special prize for most frequent use of spinning point of view shots of treetops.

Courtesy Olly Moss and A.M.P.A.S.

Eddie Muller, The Czar of Noir, author:

You are asking the wrong person about the Oscars. I haven’t see a single film that’s been nominated. That makes it two years in a row. I appreciate that the Academy uses the funding it gets from the awards ceremony to preserve Hollywood history, but actually sitting through the telecast is agony. I’d rather be waterboarded.

You can quote me.

Ruby Strange, aka Zoe Elton, director of programming, Mill Valley Film Festival

I could of course go on at length (especially after Stallone’s Golden Globes appearance — no thanks to his director?? Did he think he was just The Help?)…instead, my alter ego, Ruby Strange, offers you these 2 Tao of Film cartoons.

Annette Insdorf, Columbia University Film Professor and author:

I believe the Oscar nominations could​ have included:

• Michael Shannon (Best Supporting Actor, 99 Homes)
• Idris Elba (Best Supporting Actor, Beasts of No Nation)
• Albert Brooks (Best Supporting Actor, Concussion)
• Dukhtar (Best Foreign Film entry from Pakistan)
• Where to Invade Next (Best Documentary)
• Rosenwald (Best Documentary)
• Patricia Clarkson (Best Actress, Learning to Drive)

Finally, either the Academy or the Independent Spirit Awards should have recognized an early 2015 release, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, in such categories as Best Editing (Thelma Schoonmaker), Best Adapted Screenplay (Jesse Lawrence from his novel) and Best Director (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon). Filled with delightful allusions to films including The 400 Blows, The Conversation, Vertigo, Aguirre, and Apocalypse Now, this smart and moving coming-of-age tale won both the Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

Courtesy Olly Moss and A.M.P.A.S.