We’re officially into Awards season with the Oscars and the Razzies, the award ceremony they lend money to while it stays in their garage, both announcing their shortlists. As is always the case there’s some interesting choices and some astonishing omissions. Here’s a couple of thoughts with links either to trailers or pieces I wrote about these films:
- Black Panther getting 7 nominations is incredibly well deserved. Ruth E. Carter not being nominated for the astonishing costume design on that is incredibly unfair. Black Panther looks and moves like nothing else in its genre and her work is a massive part of that.
- I would have loved to have seen A Quiet Place show up in Best Picture or Original Screenplay. John Krasinski, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods do things in that script that completely flip your expectations and trade off Krasinski’s previously established screen persona to startling effect. It’s really, really good and if you can, see it in a double bill with Bird Box to get two different takes on the core themes.
- Robin Hood would never have made that list if it hadn’t tanked financially which tells you a lot about how seriously to take the Razzies. I wrote about it here and found a lot to enjoy as well as some pretty serious missteps. Likewise, nominating Justice Smith for Worst Supporting Actor in Fallen Kingdom is
- Kicking a newcomer when they’re down.
- Failing to take into account the fact he has about 1.65 minutes of screen time with a thankless character and does his best
- Fallen Kingdom has a veritable smorgasbord of elements infinitely worse than he is but apparently they had to make up the numbers somehow.
- I narrowly missed Hereditary on general release and the howls of anguish over Toni Collette being overlooked for Best Actress have bumped it up my To Be Watched pile.
- As David Cummings, fellow podcaster and horror advocate expressed, this feels a little like a window for critical recognition of horror, opened by Get Out last year, has now closed. That’s a shame too as A Quiet Place, Annihilation and the barnstorming Halloween are all more than good enough to land here. And while we’re on the subject, where the Hell is Jamie Lee Curtis’ Best Actress nod?
- As Hereditary, so Lynne Ramsey’s You Were Never Really Here. Also congratulations to the Academy for locking in Best Director as this year’s REALLY SON, REALLY? category with yet another entirely male short list.
What I really love about this time of year is that it’s a road map to new movies, new experiences. Every Oscars short list is a chance to either find movies unfairly overlooked or that made the list and I haven’t seen before. It’s all an invitation to watch something new and that’s an invitation I always enjoy accepting.
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