On Jan. 22, I woke up at 8 a.m. I’m not a morning person; I would never intentionally wake up before 9 a.m., but this day was different–the 91st Academy Awards nominations were about to be announced. I’m a huge fan of the annual Academy Awards ceremony. Last year, I watched 37 of the 59 films nominated with the intention of watching them all. This year I will try to watch the 52 nominees before the ceremony.
Although I haven’t seen them all yet, I can confirm that this year’s nominations are all over the place. Let’s talk about Best Picture.” “Eighth Grade” and “Widows” were robbed. “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “First Man” probably were robbed too; I haven’t seen those yet.
How did inferior movies with mixed reviews like “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Green Book” garner a nomination? “Bohemian Rhapsody” appeals to a broad audience and was a huge box-office hit. The Academy members love biopics. Who cares if its portrayal of homosexuality is problematic? And, who cares if the lead black character in “Green Book” is a walking magical stereotype? The Academy surely doesn’t.
The movies that weren’t nominated were overlooked because many Academy members had not seen the movies. Interestingly, “First Man,” a movie screaming Oscar-bait, was brought down by an odd controversy that wrongfully claimed that the movie did not show the American flag placed on the moon.
Despite my serious best picture qualms, I was very excited during Oscar morning when I read the headlines that “The Favourite” and “Roma” led the nominations with ten nominations each. “The Favourite” and “Roma” are two of the best films of the year and deserved every nomination they got.
“The Favourite” is more of an art house film that I did not expect to perform so well at the Oscars. The cast includes Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone. I bet it has the best chance of winning Best Picture. This film features Emma Stone violently smashing a book against her face to make it look like she was beat by the lady of the bedchamber–her cousin–and a collection of 17 rabbits that Queen Anne keeps to remind herself of her dead children. It’s great.
“Roma” is my favorite movie of the year; every shot is beautiful and intentional. The plot is smaller in scope than any other movie nominated for best picture, but the emotional weight of it had me on the edge of my seat more than “Black Panther” did. “Black Panther” was another fantastic movie from the past year. “Roma” also has a good shot of winning Best Picture. It received nominations in a few categories where most predicted it would not, specifically in the best actress and Best Supporting Actress categories.
I also think that Bradley Cooper was snubbed for best director, and “Eighth Grade” deserved a Writing (Original Screenplay) nomination for poignantly capturing how universally awful it is to be an eighth grader.
“Mr. Rogers” was also robbed of an Oscar. “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” was snubbed of a best documentary nomination, and best original song should be filled with the five best songs from “A Star Is Born.”
No one can tell me “I’ll Fight” from “RBG” is better than “Always Remember Us This Way” and “Hair Body Face” from “A Star is Born.”
It’s a shame Visual Effects does not include “Black Panther.” Is there any justice in this world? Makeup and Hairstyling is pretentious with only 3 nominees. Expand it to 5 nominees, please, like the rest of the categories.
Despite my anger and confusion at some of the nominees, I love the Oscars. I’m extremely excited to watch this year’s host-less ceremony on Feb. 24.
