On Tuesday, Feb. 8, the Academy Awards announced their nominees for the 94th Oscars ceremony. There weren’t any selections that surprised me any more than any other year, but the final picks are bound to be interesting.
Leading the pack with 12 nominations is “The Power of the Dog.” Fine by me. It’s the best movie of the year and it’s not even close. Jane Campion (making history as the first woman director nominated for Best Director twice) crafted an excellent movie that looks great, has phenomenal acting and has stuck with me since I watched it long ago. My full support goes towards this one taking home the big statue.
The runner-up in nominations is “Dune,” (10) which has been one of my favorite mega-hits of the past few years. The first few weeks it was out, it seemed like everyone had caught “Dune” Fever. Technically, it’s beautiful. A bit slow at a time or two, but I still enjoyed it.
Next is Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.” As a megafan of the original 1961 film, I was so surprised by how wonderful this film turned out. Spielberg does some breathtaking trick shots with his camera, and I’d go so far as to say it, in just a few ways, gives the original a run for its money. The poor box office return plague the media coverage of the film, but apparently not enough to taint its Oscar campaign.
Skipping down a few nominations is “Don’t Look Up,” which is one of the most overrated films of last year. There was no doubt that this was going to be nominated, and I’m sure the voting members are really pleased with all of the environmental work they’ve done by considering this for the best film of the year. Groan.
Notably absent from the stage will be “The French Dispatch” in what I’d consider to be quite the sick joke. Not even Best Production Design? Jeffrey Wright gave a really great performance too. While not my favorite Wes Anderson, I would’ve considered this to be a classic Academy pick. Also completely missing from the nominations was “The Green Knight,” another easy pick for Production Design.
Overall, this year, much like last year, was filled with highly-marketed movies that turned out to be just alright. “Nightmare Alley,” “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “Tick, Tick…Boom!” were worth the ticket price, not much more. “Being the Ricardos,” “Raya and the Last Dragon” and a couple of superhero movies missed the mark completely.
Stay tuned for more Oscar opinions as the big day (March 27) nears.
