Reel Facts & Opinions: Oscar Nominations - The Good, The Bad, & The Glorious

Nominations for the 90^th Academy Awards were announced today, bringing with them a mix of Good, Bad, and Glorious. Here’s how it breaks down…

THE GOOD

-The nominations were announced in a slickly produced setting with hosts Andy Serkis and Tiffany Haddish (more on them in a minute). Each category was preceded by a short video with stars such as Gal Gadot and Zoe Saldana. The videos were fun and created specific for each category with no dialogue and strong visuals…like a silent film from the age of yesteryear. More of this for the actual ceremony, please.

-Diversity is once again the primary topic of discussion. Oscar favorites Octavia Spencer and Denzel Washington are back, along with newcomer Daniel Kaluuya. Dee Rees became the first African American nominated in adapted screenplay, for her work on MUDBOUND.

-Some other history: Meryl Streep is now the most nominated performer with 21 career nods, having been recognized for her work in THE POST. Also, Christopher Plummer, who famously replaced Kevin Spacey in ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD six weeks before opening night, earned a nomination and became the oldest person ever to be nominated at 88 years young.

-More history: Greta Gerwig, director of LADY BIRD, became the fifth female recognized in the Best Director category, and Rachel Morrison made history as the first woman nominated for Best Cinematography; she was nominated for MUDBOUND.

-James Franco was not nominated for Best Actor for THE DISASTER ARTIST, despite a strong showing during this awards season. Franco was likely passed on due to inappropriate sexual conduct allegations, and it seems the Academy has finally drawn a line; you misbehave, we don’t want you.

THE BAD

-Co-host Tiffany Haddish was a goddamn disaster. She stumbled over every name that was longer than one syllable, mispronounced everything, and came off as an amateur. A little bit of preparation goes a long way.

-I, TONYA, one of the most acclaimed films of the year…did not get a Best Picture nomination, despite earning nominations for Best Actress (Margot Robbie), and Best Supporting Actress (Allison Janney).

-MUDBOUND, a Netflix production, earned four nominations. While this is definitely deserved, the Academy just contradicted its long-standing rule of films needing to play in an actual movie theatre to be eligible. MUDBOUND never left the TV screen, and now the rules have become clear as mud.

-Vicky Krieps was not nominated despite her tremendous turn in Paul Thomas Anderson’s PHANTOM THREAD.

-Patty Jenkins’ magnificent WONDER WOMAN, a cultural phenomenon, did not receive a single nomination.

THE GLORIOUS

-Co-host Andy Serkis was a charismatic charmer. Get this man a job as a future Oscar host.

--John Williams received his 51^st career Oscar nomination with his nod for Best Original Score for STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI.

-Speaking of STAR WARS, the four nominations for THE LAST JEDI brings the total number of nominations for the franchise up to 36 over nine films. This is second only to the Middle-Earth films of THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS, which has 38 nominations over six films.

-Christopher Nolan finally gets his first Best Director nomination for his towering DUNKIRK, which earned a total of eight.

-This was a great year for sci-fi and fantasy. Guillermo del Toro’s fairy-tale THE SHAPE OF WATER leads the pack with 13 nominations, and the genre is backed up by THE LAST JEDI (four), BLADE RUNNER 2049 (five), and LOGAN (one). LOGAN, by the way, is the first superhero adaptation to be nominated for its writing.

-2017 has generally been considered a strong year for film, with many movies earning plenty of good attention, accolades, and reviews. This year the list of Best Picture nominees reflects exactly that, with nine movies selected for the top category (by the way, five of the nine appeared in Reel Speak’s Top 10 Best list HERE), so the Academy was clearly impressed by the year’s output.

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See all of the nominees HERE

The Oscars will be awarded March 4^th.