Best: New distributors lose their Oscar virginity
Netflix made a huge jump earning its first non-documentary Oscar nominations as “Mudbound” took four including Supporting Actress (Mary J. Blige), Cinematography (Rachel Morrison), Adapted Screenplay (Dee Rees, Virgil Williams) and Best Original Song (“Might River”). It’s a historic and coveted moment for the streaming service, but they weren’t the only distributor to get their first bite at Oscar love. Neon earned it’s first three nods for “I, Tonya” in the Lead Actress (Margot Robbie), Supporting Actress (Allison Janney) and Editing (Tatiana S. Riegel). Moreover, none other than STX earned its first nod for Aaron Sorkin’s “Molly’s Game” screenplay. Their nods and those films successes are only good things for the ever-evolving film industry. [Note: Good Deed Entertainment also earned their first nomination for “Loving Vincent.”]
Best and Worst: Academy nominee Kobe Bryant
On the one hand we’re thrilled that legendary animator Glen Keane has earned an individual Oscar nomination. On the other we’re sort of shaking our head that it’s for such a basic animated short as “Dear Basketball.” Bryan wrote the voiceover and came up with the concept with Keane, but were there really no other animated shorts that were superior to it? Not even “In A Heartbeat”? Come on. We know Laker fans are myopic, but Laker fans in the Animation Branch too?
Worst: “Call Me By Your Name” doesn’t live up to its potential
The Best Picture, Best Actor (Timothée Chalamet), Best Adapted Screenplay (James Ivory) and Best Original Song (“Mystery of Love”) were fantastic. Especially for such an artistic endeavor as Luca Guadagnino’s period masterpiece. That being said, how did “Call Me” not resonate in Supporting Actor (Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg), Directing (Guadagnino) or the below the line categories (Cinematography, Editing). It would have been a disaster if “Mystery of Love” didn’t earn a nod, but we’re still scratching our head on SPC’s campaign that barely got through (and don’t get us started on the box office strategy).
Best: “Baby Driver” and “Blade Runner 2049” aren’t forgotten
No, “Blade Runner 2049” didn’t get the Best Picture or Best Director nominations it deserved, but Denis Villenuve’s wonder took five nominations including Cinematography (Roger Deakins) and Production Design (Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola). Edgar Wright’s “Baby Driver” also raced to three nods including Editing (Julian Slater) and both Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. Not bad.
Best: Sundance, Venice and Telluride demonstrate their importance
How important are certain festivals to the Oscar game? Sundance has two Best Picture nominee premieres this year with “Get Out” and “Call Me By Your Name.” Venice has two with “The Shape of Water” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” Telluride has two with “Lady Bird” and “Darkest Hour..” Cannes and TIFF has none. The three other nominees, “Phantom Thread,” “Dunkirk” and “The Post,” didn’t play at any festival. Considering they aren’t considered Best Picture winning contenders, maybe they should have.
Worst: No love for “Wonder Woman”
After a slew of guild nominations across the board it was something of a surprise that the Academy didn’t come up with one category to recognize Patty Jenkins’ cultural zeitgeist blockbuster. There were even competing consultants who thought it had a great shot at a Best Picture nomination. Despite a strong campaign from Warner Bros. nothing materialized. And so it goes.
Worst: The Animation branch really hates the Lego movies
Geez, at this point Warner Bros. is likely going to give up pushing any future Oscar nods for their “Lego” movies. “The Batman Lego Movie” was absolutely more critically acclaimed than both “Ferdinand” and “The Boss Baby,” the latter arguably the worst Animated Film nominee ever. I mean, after the shocking snub or “The Lego Movie” three years ago and now “The Lego Batman Movie” the Animated Branch is pretty much just telling Lego “we don’t want you here.” That’s gotta hurt.
Best and Worst: the Oscar nominations announcement itself
Perhaps it’s the fact it was aired at 8:30 AM ET, 5:30 PT or maybe they need to work the kinks out, but the mix of thematic bumpers and then live announcements didn’t quite work. The taped segments were only for the non-broadcast portion of the announcements disappearing when the major categories were announced. It was sort of jarring overall and the fact The Academy seemed to have just three camera shots of presenters Tiffany Haddish and Andy Serkis didn’t help matters either as the director kept cutting back to the same basic wide shot. Thankfully, Haddish is Haddish and broke the tension and formality with some funny off the cuff remarks such as “Do we get to take a nap?” and “I gotta see this ‘Dunkirk.’ It seems like a lot of people like it.” As for the bumpers the best ones featured Michelle Yeoh and Gal Gadot, but they were really hit and miss (we still don’t get the “Original Song” one with Rebel Wilson).
Worst: “Okja” snubbed in Visual Effects
This is one of the more disheartening snubs this year. The achievement Erik-Jan de Boer and his team accomplished bringing the Superpig to life was wondrous. Their collaboration with Bong Joon-ho brought a humanity that is often missing from the craft. Somehow the branch didn’t see it that way or maybe they just voted for their friends and employers. Honestly, no words.
