Reactions

[danfrank]

My biggest takeaway of these nominations: these movies are accessible. They're partisan, but they have been seen by the American public. They didn't need a Most Popular Film category this year. It's called Best Picture. If you were to make a list of the eight movies that mattered this year and struck a nerve, these might be the eight. You can love them or hate them, but one way or another they mattered. Good.

I've already had arguments with some friends about the relative merits and demerits of these nominated films but that doesn't change the fact that none of these movies have grossed less than a million dollars. Sure, Roma might have, but it's available on Netflix and it has to be the most accessible no name, black & white, two and a half hour foreign-language film of all time. I'm not saying that financials are the only metric we should judge these things but how many years have we suffered through Weinstein fluff. There are no Imitation Games here, no Lions, no Darkest Hours. Every once in a while, that's a good thing.

It sounds like you're saying that what makes a film a worthy best picture nominee is that there is cultural buzz about it, or that it somehow catches the zeitgeist; that a film "matters" if there is a lot of media coverage or people are talking about it around the water cooler. I don't agree with this premise. I think quality matters. I don't think that the 4th version of "A Star is Born" matters all that much. I also think that fluff is fluff, whether it catches the zeitgeist or not, or whether it is promoted by Harvey Weinstein or not.

[The Original BJ]

When Marina de Tavira was announced early on (literally the second nominee read), my jaw dropped -- that's easily the most from-nowhere acting nominee I've seen recognized in my nearly twenty years watching this whole affair. I prepped myself for a morning full of potentially exciting surprises...

...though mostly that was just evidence that they really liked Roma. At that moment, I sort of assumed Aparicio would get that fifth spot in Best Actress, and watched as the movie picked up nearly all of its on-the-bubble nominations (not just Sound Mixing but also Sound Editing). Film Editing was essentially the only possible nomination it didn't get, and I had the same thought anonymous did w/r/t Birdman -- although movies with Best Picture heat generally tend to score there, that branch (perhaps understandably) just doesn't much like films with a lot of long takes. I hardly think this is a fatal omission.

The Director exclusion was certainly a nice sigh of relief for those of us rooting against Green Book (particularly after it had scored in Editing). But I have no idea what to make of Cooper's omission. Oddly, the same scenario of events transpired for me as when Ben Affleck was omitted -- I was paying so much attention to another director's miss (in this case, cheering that Farrelly hadn't scored) that I didn't realize the actor-turned-director had been left off until a friend texted me in shock a moment later. Does this show obvious weakness in A Star is Born's Best Picture hopes, or will sympathy for Cooper help fuel his Best Actor bid (sort of the way Affleck seemed to benefit from that in the long run), or both?

In addition to tying Roma's haul, The Favourite had an equally sensational morning, pretty much getting every potential nomination it could have (including cracking an all-over-the-place Editing category). Reza, do you still think Colman's chances of winning Best Actress are ZERO?

After common consensus had dwindled down to either-Hawke-or-Washington in Best Actor, how surprising to see Dafoe sort of come out of the blue to grab that spot. I know, I know, he had the Globe nomination, but I seriously questioned whether At Eternity's Gate was even being seen at all. At least First Reformed didn't blank completely.

Emily Blunt has now earned five Golden Globe nominations (for film work) and three SAG nominations for seven different performances, and has had the bad luck of narrowly missing Oscar's fifth spot for most of them. I can't say I thought she finally deserved it this year, but I do hope soon she'll have a role that gets her there.

Although I still thought he'd make it, Chalamet struck me as the most likely of the SAG quintet to drop out -- it's really hard to get supporting nominations from movies that don't have any heat elsewhere, and young actors always have a disadvantage. Had Vice and Three Billboards been released in reverse order, there's no way Rockwell would have nabbed this nod, though. (But I agree with flipp -- better a tiny role than another case of obvious fraud.)

I breathed a sigh of relief when Regina King's name was read, but I'd say the poor showing for If Beale Street Could Talk is probably my biggest disappointment of the morning. That would have been an easy Picture-Director-Cinematography nominee by me.

First Man didn't clean up in the techs the way a lot of us thought it would, missing even what seemed to be a sure thing in Original Score. (After the La La Land/Moonlight face-off two years ago, if someone had told you that Chazelle and Jenkins would release follow-up films that were nearly as acclaimed and just as technically well made, would you have believed that Oscar voters would mostly shrug?)

In the end, Black Panther hung on to get that Best Picture spot (though with only eight nominees, you really have to wonder by just how much), but had the expansion never happened, would it have even seemed like a just-miss? Usually the "extra" films come with top-tier acting/writing/directing citations, but Black Panther's haul looks more like Terminator 2's.

Pour one out for Burning, as well as Three Identical Strangers. (I'm not as bummed by the omission of Mr. Rogers). The documentary branch has definitely been widening its range in recent years -- both Minding the Gap and (sight unseen) Hale County seem like the kind of films that critics swoon for, but Oscar hadn't typically found "important" enough.

I had the same thought Magilla did re: Never Look Away in cinematography. I hadn't remotely considered it a possibility, but as soon as Deschanel's name was shown, I thought, well he's certainly in the club. (And given that I haven't seen the movie yet, I'm inclined to assume the nomination has some merit given the pedigree.)

In the end, Mister Tee's comment about "the genres Oscar doesn't like" proved mostly prophetic, with A Quiet Place's Guild run of Picture-Acting-Screenplay-Sound categories leading to one measly Sound Editing nod, and Crazy Rich Asians getting nada.

When Kumail made that comment about how the Makeup category only has three nominees because of a guild thing, what did he mean? I've long wondered why this category hasn't been expanded to five like literally everything else, but is there a legit reason?

[HarryGoldfarb]

Pawel Pawlikowski is, I think, only the 2nd Best Director nominee since the BP expansion without a corresponding Besp Picture nod, after Bennett Miller.

The anything between 5 and 10 has stuck to "in fact, 8 or 9" since the expansion.

We have two previous Oscar winners in both supporting categories and a previous winner in Best Actor. But there's quite a slate of previous nominees who've never won the award:
- Glenn Close, 7th nomination
- Amy Adams, 6th nomination
- Willem Dafoe, 4th nomination
- Bradley Cooper, 4th (acting) nomination
- Viggo Mortensen, 3rd nomination
- Melissa McCarthy, 2nd nomination

And this was a good year for Cannes participants/winners, as the Palm D'Or winner (Shoplifters), the Grand Prix winner (BlacKkKlansman), the Best Director winner (Pawlikowski/Cold War), the Jury Prize winner (Capernaum) and even the winner of the Uncertain Regard Award (Border) managed to secure nominations.

As for Internatiniotal Festivals, I understand that historically we have just one BP winner that previously won one of the three big ones, Marty from Cannes, Rain Man from Berlin and finally The Shape of Water from Venice. If Roma wins, Venice would be the first to give us two BP and consecutively.

[Jefforey Smith]

Willem Dafoe is rather a shocker.

[Big Magilla]

Apparently, The Favourite is the 20th film with three nominated actresses. The Help was the last one, while Gone with the Wind was the first.

Yes, but All About Eve had four. Will there ever be another?

[MaxWilder]

I've already had arguments with some friends about the relative merits and demerits of these nominated films but that doesn't change the fact that none of these movies have grossed less than a million dollars.

$1 million is quite a low bar. At Eternity's Gate, which I'm shocked enough people saw, has made $2 million.

[HarryGoldfarb]

If Marc Shaiman manages to win any of his two nods, he'll be an EGOT recipient.

Apparently, The Favourite is the 20th film with three nomiinated actresses. The Help was the last one, while Gone with the Wind was the first.

Aparicio... first latin woman to earn a Best Actress nomination since Catalina Sandino Moreno back in 2004. Also, she's the second Mexican woman to get this nomination after Salma Hayek.

Roma ties Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's record for most nominations for a Foreign language film.

[Sabin]

My biggest takeaway of these nominations: these movies are accessible. They're partisan, but they have been seen by the American public. They didn't need a Most Popular Film category this year. It's called Best Picture. If you were to make a list of the eight movies that mattered this year and struck a nerve, these might be the eight. You can love them or hate them, but one way or another they mattered. Good.

I've already had arguments with some friends about the relative merits and demerits of these nominated films but that doesn't change the fact that none of these movies have grossed less than a million dollars. Sure, Roma might have, but it's available on Netflix and it has to be the most accessible no name, black & white, two and a half hour foreign-language film of all time. I'm not saying that financials are the only metric we should judge these things but how many years have we suffered through Weinstein fluff. There are no Imitation Games here, no Lions, no Darkest Hours. Every once in a while, that's a good thing.

[Greg]

So, is The Favourite the favorite for Best Picture?

[danfrank]

In what universe are Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book, and A Star is Born better films than If Beale Street Could Talk? I’m wondering how things might have looked different had the Academy held onto their best popular picture (or whatever it was called) category. Might a couple of these Best Picture nominees slid over there and made room for better fare? I’m also bummed that Eighth Grade was snubbed.

[taki15]

Am I the only one who thinks that "Black Panther" and "Vice" were nominated mostly for political and not artistic reasons?
In the case of "Black Panther" it's almost insulting to the fans since it's not even the SECOND best comic book movie of the year.

[HarryGoldfarb]

Green Book (tied with Bohemian Rhapsody) is the least nominated BP nominees, with 5 nods.

Had it ever occured that the PGA winner eventually became the least nominated film from the Oscar BP contenders?

[anonymous1980]

. Not even Roma. Just remember that ignoring editing is why Brokeback Mountain's Best Picture loss was so shocking.

Roma missing Editing feels a bit like Birdman missing Editing. The film doesn't have a lot of visible cuts and a lot of long takes. I personally don't think it will affect its Best Picture chances especially that it got not one but TWO acting nominations which means it has the support of the Acting branch.

[Reza]

I had predicted Yalitza Aparicio but am extremely happy about the surprise nod for Marina De Tavira even if it came at the expense of a nod for Claire Foy.

Pity Ethan Hawke missed out but glad Paul Schrader finally got his first Oscar nod.

[OscarGuy]

Sad day for If Beale Street Could Talk. The best film of the year not nominated for Best Picture.

Saying BlacKkKlansman support was soft is based on what? The only category it was a major upset possibility was Best Actor? It got into Picture, Directing, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, and Film Editing. That last one is a major get. It's one of only four Best Picture nominees on that list. Not Bohemian Rhapsody. Not Black Panther. Not A Star Is Born. Not even Roma. Just remember that ignoring editing is why Brokeback Mountain's Best Picture loss was so shocking.