Blanks' anthem during the moments when last year's nominees were announced:
Darkness imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell...
George Miller is widely loved and much admired by the Academy, plus I think there's a great deal of admiration for the perseverance and dedication needed to get the product done. The content may be unusual for traditional Academy bait, but as filmmakers, they all love a story about a passion project that turns out brilliantly.
I think there's a great deal of FURY ROAD love with some Academy members. Moreso, arguably, than either IO or THE MARTIAN. (SW is a complete unknown at this point.)
I'm in C+/B- territory. Solid enough, but it felt like it was the Cliff Notes version for a potentially deeper story. In particular, I felt Connolly's character wasn't developed nearly enough. The acting was all good, with Depp leading the charge -- that being said, it felt like a mostly one-note performance from him.
It didn't. It also wasn't very Robin Hood-y. These don't sound like they are either; they sound like lame efforts to inject "contemporary" franchises into this very old story. But that's how many execs think these days. They want another franchise and here's this property -- in the public domain, no less -- that practically everyone already knows about. And, in theory, someone could make a really cool, fun Robin Hood movie that would make a ton of money. In theory.