Given that the state of movies playing in theaters seems to be precarious these days (although the latest Spiderman movie is packing them in), the announcement of the Oscar nominations this morning was a less lighthearted affair than it usually is. Still, even during a pandemic, the Oscar nominations are always big news to film fans like me. Right away, it was interesting to see the Academy have ten nominations for Best Picture (last year there were only 8). Perhaps the Academy is trying to drum up interest in theater going by spreading the love? Hard to say.
In any event, there were some surprises: to me the biggest was the complete shut out of Wes Anderson's terrific THE FRENCH DISPATCH (poor Anderson has been nominated 7 times without winning!). I was also disappointed that Lynn Manuel Miranda's first rate musical TICK,TICK...BOOM was not given a Best Picture nomination (although Andrew Garfield's performance in the film is up for Best Actor ). Speaking of Best Picture, I was really surprised to see Adam McKay's DON'T LOOK UP up for that award, considering that the film's critical reception was mostly lukewarm (it got three other nominations too). Still, it was very popular on Netflix, and it's certainly a timely satire (and the all star cast doesn't hurt either).
With twelve nominations, the most of any film, Jane Campion's western THE POWER OF THE DOG seems to be the front runner for Best Picture. While I personally didn't love the film, its Oscar success makes for a nice comeback for Campion, who, after her 1993 film THE PIANO was a surprise hit that won 3 Oscars, hasn't had much of an impact in this country since. Another favorite contender for the top award is Kenneth Branagh's bittersweet, autobiographical film BELFAST, which tells the kind of simple, uplifting story about tolerance that the Academy often embraces. And then there's Steven Spielberg's new version of WEST SIDE STORY, which may have an outside chance because the Academy often favors musicals. It also wouldn't hurt to help the well reviewed film out, considering that it's box office has been underwhelming. Perhaps the Academy will want to help give a boost to the popular Spielberg. And it would be the first time that a remake of a film that won Best Picture also wins Best Picture, which would be an interesting turn of events. (And I for one thought that it was a great movie).
This year will see the return of a large crowd for the show at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, a nice change after last year's subdued, scaled down show. Whether or not this return to normalcy will result in better ratings for the show (which have been slumping for years) remains to be seen. Either way, I'll be watching, partly just to get the sense that the world is finally returning to normal.
