Well, we made it. After an extended, and eventful Oscar season, the nominees are out, and it's a pretty strong batch this year, all things considered. The race wouldn't have looked the same if this had been a normal year - I suspect that the smaller films like "Promising Young Woman" would have been edged out - but it's got a little something for everyone, spread the wealth around, and there are some interesting surprises too.
First, my watch list just got longer again. I feel compelled to track down "The United States vs. Billie Holiday," for Andra Day's performance, "The White Tiger" for Ramin Bahrani's screenplay nod, and "News of the World" for four nominations in smaller categories. However, my apologies to Glenn Close, but I don't think I can work up any interest in "Hillbilly Elegy." There were a lot of latecomers to the race this year that didn't end up on my radar for one reason or another, but in the end the big titles were pretty constant throughout: "Trial of the Chicago 7," "Mank," "Nomadland," "Minari," and "The Father." Of the many strong African American films this year, "Judas and the Black Messiah" is not the one I would have gone with as a front runner. At least "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and "One Night in Miami" got nods for performances, but the biggest snub this year was easily Delroy Lindo not appearing for "Da 5 Bloods." The Best Score nod for "Da 5 Bloods" just looks bizarre. I love Lakeith Stanfield, but there's clearly category fraud going on with his nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Who was the lead in "Judas," if not him?
Best surprise of the day is Thomas Vinterberg getting the Best Director nomination. I wish Mads Mikkelson could have gotten a nomination, but the race was very tight this year. And I'm delighted at the nominations for Steven Yeun, Riz Ahmed, Vanessa Kirby, Leslie Odom Jr., Paul Raci, Maria Bakalova, and Youn Yuh-jung, though I don't think any of them is going to win. My predictions are - "Nomadland" and Chloe Zhao for Picture and Director, with the Acting trophies going to Chadwick Boseman, Frances McDormand, and Daniel Kaluuya, with Best Supporting Actress being a tossup. You know, I wouldn't be mad if they gave it to Glenn Close at this point, this year has been so weird.
"Borat" got more love than I was expecting, which is wild. "Tenet" barely made a showing, with the same number of nominations as "Mulan" and the Matteo Garrone version of "Pinocchio." "The Mauritanian" got totally shut out, which I'm a little sad about. I've only seen three of the Best Documentary and two of the Best International Feature nominees, including "Collective," which is in both categories. "Love and Monsters" got a Visual Effects nomination in a year with barely any blockbusters. "Eurovision" got a song nomination. Oh, and congratulations to Derek Cianfrance for his first Oscar nomination for co-writing "Sound of Metal."
It's a great year for representation, and I'm generally happy with how the nominations shook out. I have my usual frustrations over oddball categories like Documentary, which passed over a slew of strong contenders like "Dick Johnson is Dead" and "The Painter and the Thief," and Animated Feature, where the deeply mediocre "Over the Moon" won out over "The Croods: A New Age." Still, some of the iffier possibilities like Chadwick Boseman getting a double nomination, and Jared Leto for "The Little Things" didn't pan out, and I think that's for the best.
As always it's nice to have more to watch, and I have access to the vast majority of the nominees this year already through streaming options. So, despite my reservations about the eligibility flimflammery and all the usual campaigning nonsense, I'm looking forward to Oscar night.
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