Some Oscar Nomination Thoughts

I have some thoughts on the Oscar nominations that were announced Tuesday with some pleasant surprises and some disheartening omissions.

 

For Best Picture, I was happy to see “Black Panther” make the list. I think this will have to be filed under “It’s an honor just to be nominated” because “Black Panther” has no presence elsewhere in the major categories. No acting nods, nothing for Best Director.  You have to bore down all the way to Best Sound Editing,  Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Score, Best Original Song and Best Costume Design before “Black Panther” shows up anywhere.  Typically for a film to really have a shot at Best Picture, there needs to be more support in other categories.  

 

“Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Green Book” make the Best Picture list after their big wins at the Golden Globes, wins that a lot of critics did not feel were fully deserved.  It might be possible  “A Star Is Born” has a shot at getting the love others felt it was denied at the Golden Globes but it might be stymied due to the lack of  a directing nomination for Bradley Cooper. I’m thinking the Academy might be leaning towards “Roma” which has been getting a lot of buzz and with additional nominations in Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress,  Best Original Screenplay and Best Director, it’s the sort of film that Oscar voters think of as prestigious and the rest of the world outside thinks of as pretentious. 

 

Distressingly absent is “Mary Poppins Returns”. Yes, I and my family might be biased; we’ve seen this movie twice and found it to be a completely joyous experience each time. “Mary Poppins Returns” is an incredible movie with a lot of different moving parts coming together to make a remarkable whole. “Mary Poppins Returns” lacking a best picture nod, never mind also the Academy overlooking Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel Miranda for acting nominations, is a gross and indefensible oversight. 

 

I’ll have more detailed picks on who I think is likely to win in a fothcoming post as we get closer to the actual awards.