It's that time of year again – Oscar season is upon us. The nominations were dropped on January 23rd for the 90th Academy Awards, and they were filled with surprises and snubs. From Best Picture nominees that were actual wide audience successes to the usual of indie films and Meryl Streep and Daniel Day-Lewis getting the usual nominations. I won't talk about my predictions, those will come later once I've seen the nominees and can make an informed decision. This year is a mixed bag of near-guarantees and surprises, as well as changes to the people that make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and changes in how the awards are given out to prevent another “Moonlight, you guys won Best Picture” incident. We'll have to tune in to see what happens, but we can at least look at what was unexpected and ignored.
Surprises first, we have Get Out as
a Best Picture hopeful. A horror film, directed by a comedian,
starring a relatively unknown group of actors, and a film about race
relations that isn't based on the Civil Rights Movement or slavery.
Now it is entirely possible that it was moved up after the sexual harassment allegations on James Franco, thus giving bad press to The
Disaster Artist, but in all
reality it may be that the Academy wanted another Mad Max:
Fury Road situation where
there's a big hit movie in the running so people can say they saw at
least one of the movies. Another surprise to be sure, but a welcome
one, was the nomination of Logan for
Best Adapted Screenplay. Superhero movies are a genre that more or
less only gets visual effects nominations, though there is the Best
Supporting Actor win that Heath Ledger was awarded in 2008. Logan
does have some heavy competition
in that category, but it at least means the Academy saw something in
the film – and while it's just a screenplay nod, it's still “Oscar
nominated.” The Boss Baby of
all movies is up for Best Animated Feature, for some reason or
another, but it's going against Pixar's hit Coco, so
we can assume Pixar will take home the gold again. Despite the
positive surprises, there were snubs that shocked most people reading
the nomination list, in near every category.
Oh
man, was there some snubs for awards. Logan easily
could have been nominated in the acting categories and even Best
Picture, but we'll just have to stick with the screenplay – though
I will say Patrick Stewart was robbed of a nomination until the end
of time. While stars Margot Robbie and Allison Janney were nominated
for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively, I,
Tonya is not in the Best Picture
run, nor is the previously mentioned The Disaster Artist
(which did get a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination but nothing
else.) Blade Runner 2049
was considered by many to be a
frontrunner for at least a nomination, but in the end, it got mostly
technical nods. Many cite Wonder Woman as
being the big snub, but let's be real, while the movie is great, it
does become a cut and paste origin story after a while, and the third
act is mostly just a CGI villain fight. On the topic of DC Comics
films, I'm surprised The Lego Batman Movie didn't
get a Best Animated Feature nod, though back in 2015, The
Lego Movie didn't get a
nomination either, maybe the Academy is biased against Lego. Adam
Driver nor Mark Hamill got a not for Star Wars: The Last
Jedi, but again, it wasn't
really an expected thing. Strangely, The Shape of Water was
not nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling – perhaps it was
unclear what was CGI (basically just the eyes of the Amphibious Man)
and what was makeup on Doug Jones.
And
lastly, there was the guaranteed nominations. Lady Bird,
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Shape of Water,
and Darkest Hour are
in the fight for Best Picture, and stars from all four including
Saorise Ronan, Frances McDormand, Octavia Spencer, Laurie Metcalf,
and Gary Oldman are all nominated in acting categories. Dunkirk
was almost a sure bet,
considering it fits the usual bill of a World War II film about
soldiers overcoming a major adversity during battle, and it's a
Christopher Nolan (who has a Best Director nod) movie at that. Blade
Runner 2049
is up for Cinematography, an
aspect that was highly praised in reviews for the film. And of
course Meryl Streep is in the
Best Actress race, because whatever movie she's in, she'll get Oscar
buzz for, along with Daniel Day-Lewis for Best Actor for his final
role in Phantom Thread – so
Gary Oldman has some decent competition.
As I
said, this year could go any possible way. With new members of the
Academy that are younger and covering a wider audience of people, it
does allow for movies like Get Out,
a January horror movie, to get a legitimate shot at Best Picture, and
for more unconventional nods towards Lady Bird and
Blade Runner 2049.
Yes, these nominees are more diverse, but as I've said before,
forcing diversity in nominations only allows for lesser performances
to be put over great ones – but it does not seem to be the case
this year, and each acting category has at least one good pair of
rivals in terms of who should get the award. As per tradition, I
intend on watching as many of the nominees as I can, then deciding
who wins, because as of right now, it would basically all go to Lady
Bird, Logan,
and Star Wars. Some
theaters are showing all the Best Picture nominees, and you can go
out and rent at least two of them right now. Give them a watch, see
what's up, and when the office pool starts, you can put in for some
movies you wouldn't have otherwise seen. The show is in March, and
much like the Super Bowl, pregame has already started. Nominations
are out, now it's time to determine who gets to accept their award.
