Your 2020 Oscar Nominees

It's that time again. I'm looking forward to this Oscar season, because the batch of nominees are stronger than they have been in the past few years, and I've already seen more of them than usual, thanks to Netflix. In fact, there are so many strong contenders that there are snubs everywhere you look. But, let's get to the movies that actually did get nominated first.

The Best Picture nominees number nine this year: "1917," "Jojo Rabbit," "Joker," "Little Women," "Marriage Story," "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood…," "Parasite," "The Irishman," and a surprising "Ford v. Ferrari." That's a war movie, a mob movie, a sports move, a contemporary dramedy, a classical literary adaptation, Quentin Tarantino doing revisionist history, and three movies that are hard to categorize, but I guess are all some brand of anti-establishment satire (yes, the Nazis count as establishment these days). "Joker" and "Hollywood…" are not to my taste, but they feature a lot of good pieces, and I understand why they're on the list. "Ford v. Ferrari" strikes me as the only thing that's obviously pandering to Oscar voters, but executed well enough that I can give it a pass. I'm very happy to see "Parasite" here and hope that it wins, but I'm pretty sure it won't.

Movies that had a shot, but ultimately didn't make the cut include "Knives Out," "The Farewell," "The Two Popes," "Uncut Gems," and "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood." It's a shame that "Uncut Gems" and "The Farewell" got shut out completely, but I'm honestly not all that bothered. Coming from someone with a Chinese-American background, I'm thrilled "The Farewell" got so much attention, but it struck me as more popular for its novelty than its actual quality. "Uncut Gems" featured a banger of an Adam Sandler performance, but it was deeply uncomfortable to watch. Like "The Lighthouse," and "Dolemite is My Name," "Uncut Gems" just wasn't a movie that the Oscar crowd was going to connect with. There seemed to be a lot of support for "Knives Out," but it receded quickly, similar to the buzz around "Rocketman." "The Two Popes" and "Beautiful Day" were really only in the conversation for their performances, which brings us to the acting categories.

As has been widely discussed, this was a very competitive year in the acting categories. Best Actor couldn't find room for Eddie Murphy, Taron Edgerton, or Robert DeNiro, but I'm glad that Antonio Banderas snuck in for "Pain and Glory." Cynthia Erivo deserves to be in Best Actress, but I wish Lupita Nyong'o for "Us" was in there with her, maybe replacing Charlize Theron. Best Supporting Actor is totally stacked, but I really wanted to see Willem Dafoe for "The Lighthouse" and Song Kang Ho for "Parasite" in the mix. The one big shocker is the lack of JLo in Best Supporting Actress. The acting nominees are awfully white this time around, but there are just enough minorities that the Academy should escape any real controversy. Oh, and I prefer Laura Dern in "Little Women" to "Marriage Story," and I'm glad Scarlett Johansson got the double nomination. She deserved it this year.

The only inclusion I'm really upset about is Todd Philips getting the nod for "Joker" over so many better options. It should be Greta Gerwig in that slot. Or Noah Baumbach or Taika Waititi. "Joker" wound up with a whopping eleven nominations, the most of any film. However, the backlash has been going for months, and I certainly wouldn't treat "Joker" as a frontrunner in any category besides Best Actor. On the flip side, "Parasite" came out with a very respectable six nominations, including in Screenplay, Editing, and Production Design. I'll be rooting for it to be the first foreign language Best Picture winner, though chances are probably slim. The real race is between "The Irishman" and "1917."

Among the smaller races, a few notes. I'm as gobsmacked as anyone as to how "Glasgow" got snubbed for Best Song. It's great to see "Honeyland," a documentary, in the already controversial Best International Feature Film category. There were also some raised eyebrows at "Frozen II" being left out of Best Animated Film, though "Into the Unknown" is competing for Best Song. I'm thrilled that "I Lost My Body" and "Klaus" got nods instead. Also, John William for that last "Star Wars" film is clearly sentiment over sense - but it's John Williams. Who can deny John Williams?

As usual, there's no way that I'm going to be able to post reviews of all the major contenders by Oscar night, but I should at least be able to get a ranking of the Best Picture Nominees up.

And happy watching.
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