The 91st Academy Awards nominations have hit the presses and with the announcement comes the mixed reaction of praise and fiery backlash. To start, out of the ten possible nominations for Best Picture the Academy chose only eight, much to the chagrin of critics. Surprisingly, but deservedly, Netflix’s Roma made the cut, as well as Marvel’s Black Panther. Yet the Academy seemed to waste important slots on extremely mediocre films. Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book, and Vice all fell short of box-office and public appeal expectations. Still, the Academy insists on the inclusion of the much-criticized biopic and two run-of-the mill original screenplays.
I was surprised to see the Freddie Mercury film among the squadron of Best Picture nominees due to its pushback from the queer community for the film’s apparent straight-washing and failure to accurately portray Mercury’s fatal battle with AIDS. Even Rami Malek (Freddie Mercury) confessed to the film’s shortcomings, so it seems like a bold choice for the Academy to include it over other obvious choices like Barry Jenkins’s If Beale Street Could Talk, a major snub in the Oscar community. Further, Green Book and Vice both did not live up to their expected hype but remain on the shortlist for Best Picture. Green Book tried to portray a racially relevant historical narrative but was unsurprisingly inaccurate.
The Academy persists in recognizing films that consistently get mediocre reviews and repeatedly keep in circulation Academy regulars like Chris McKay. This year the Academy failed to recognize popular and moving films like Bo Burnhams’s raw coming-of-age story Eighth Grade and Boots Riley’s witty critique of capitalism, Sorry to Bother You. I was willing to concede Vice to Best Picture, a crack at the Cheney and Bush administration, and with it’s star-studded cast (Sam Rockwell, Christian Bale), it was an obvious pick for the Academy despite its rocky writing. But the Academy also tacked the film on the list for Best Original Screenplay, which seems absurd. Vice was consistently criticized for its sloppy screen-writing, and even an amateur moviegoer could sense McKay’s desperation with ill-timed jokes and messy plot. Vice was carried by its cast not its writing. Therefore, it should not be on the list for Best Original Screenplay, a much-coveted list for directors and writers.
A Star is Born got the expected major nods, getting on the list for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper both receiving nominations for acting performance. Some backlash has been heard about Cooper not receiving a nod for his debut as director, and I agree to an extent. Best Director seems like a hodge-podge group of men this year and that is because, well, it is. McKay made the short list for Vice, which is an undeserved nomination for a movie that fell short after his major success The Big Short. But worse, the Academy has come under heavy criticism for not nominating any women in the Best Director category, and undoubtedly women showed up directing movies this year with Marielle Heller’s Can You Ever Forgive Me and Chloe Zhao’s The Rider. Yet, the Academy has refused to recognize diverse artists across gender lines.
Finally, moving into Visual Effects, the category I am most heated about. Paddington 2 (which has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes mind you) did not make the final list for Best Visual Effects which is beyond shocking and the outcry has been heard from the masses. Further, the Academy included Avengers Infinity War but not critically acclaimed Black Panther for this category. Black Panther deserves the nod equally, if not more so. Both Best Actor and Best Actress and Supporting respectively were fairly predictable and well-deserved. A nod should be given to Yalitza Aparicio for making the ranks, a much deserved performance in Roma placed this indigenous actress among the star-studded ranks. But honestly, Ethan Hawke (First Reformed) outperformed Viggo Mortensen (Green Book) and should be nominated accordingly. Musically, many think A Star is Born’s original song “Shallow” will take the win, and I have to say I agree. It has mass appeal and, well, it’s objectively a great song; after all, who knew Bradley Cooper had pipes?
The winners will be announced when the broadcast hits the airwaves on February 24, and although the Academy cannot seem to stay away from nominating problematic movies, it also added a diverse pool to Best Picture, and attempted to expand its pool. But I say it’s not enough. What’s popular in movies today is changing, and the Academy is failing or at least too slow to recognize this change. Despite this, I still will definitely be tuning in to hopefully see Lady Gaga belt “Shallow” live and see Lin Manuel Miranda swing wildly from a light post! •
