The Oscar nominations were announced this morning and naturally they are…discussion worthy. As happy as I am for Parasite landing some top tier noms, it’s quelled by Joker leading the nomination field with 11 noms. More than that, this year really felt like the Academy only watch 10-15 movies. With a few notable exceptions every nomination in the feature categories is from a Best Picture nominated film. That is NOT good or healthy for the industry as a whole and makes them look extremely lazy. Anyways here are some further thoughts.

The Good
Parasite making it into Production Design and Editing is HUGE towards the film being a “real” contender for Best Picture. It’s already one of the year’s best reviewed movies and the talk of the town but getting into more tech categories is good as everyone votes for Best Picture.

I am particularly happy with these nominations: Antonio Banderas in Lead Actor, Hair Love in Animated Short, Saoirse Ronan in Lead Actress, Knives Out in screenplay.

The Bad
I picked the wrong negro to get nominated in Best Actress as the Academy decided to nominated Cynthia Erivo for Harriet rather than Lupita Nyong’o in Us. I think this will look bad over time.

So Ford v Ferrari came charging through to get a Best Picture nomination and 3 techs, but there was no space for Tracy Letts in Supporting Actor?

Speaking of, that Supporting Actor lineup is a mess. So old and full of lead performances.

Even though I predicted it, ScarJo landing double noms despite never being nominated before is strange.

The Ugly
How in the hell did Apollo 11 not get nominated in Best Documentary?

In this year of dazzling movies and performances, somehow someway JOKER leads the nomination field?

19/20 acting nominees are white. I want someone from the Academy to explain why Kathy Bates is here or ScarJo needed two noms at the expense of JLo, any of the actresses from Parasite, Taylor Russell from Waves… :/

BEST PICTURE
“Ford v Ferrari”
“The Irishman”
“Jojo Rabbit”
“Joker”
“Little Women”
“Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood”
“Marriage Story”
“Parasite”
“1917”

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Kathy Bates, “Richard Jewell”
Laura Dern, “Marriage Story”
Scarlett Johansson, “Jojo Rabbit”
Florence Pugh, “Little Women”
Margot Robbie, “Bombshell”

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Tom Hanks, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”
Anthony Hopkins, “The Two Popes”
Al Pacino, “The Irishman”
Joe Pesci, “The Irishman”
Brad Pitt, “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood”

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
South Korea, “Parasite”
Spain, “Pain and Glory”
France, “Les Misérables”
North Macedonia, “Honeyland”
Poland, “Corpus Christi”

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
“In the Absence”
“Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)”
“Life Overtakes Me”
“St. Louis Superman”
“Walk Run Cha-Cha”

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“American Factory”
“The Edge of Democracy”
“Honeyland”
“For Sama”
“The Cave”

ORIGINAL SONG
“I’m Standing With You,” “Breakthrough”
“Into the Unknown,” “Frozen II”
“Stand Up,” “Harriet”
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” “Rocketman”
“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away,” “Toy Story 4”

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”
“I Lost My Body”
“Klaus”
“Missing Link”
“Toy Story 4”

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“The Irishman”
“Jojo Rabbit”
“Little Women”
“The Two Popes”
“Joker”

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Marriage Story”
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
“Parasite”
“Knives Out”
“1917”

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Antonio Banderas, “Pain and Glory”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood”
Adam Driver, “Marriage Story”
Joaquin Phoenix, “Joker”
Jonathan Pryce, “The Two Popes”

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Cynthia Erivo, “Harriet”
Scarlett Johansson, “Marriage Story”
Saoirse Ronan, “Little Women”
Renée Zellweger, “Judy”
Charlize Theron, “Bombshell”

DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese, “The Irishman”
Quentin Tarantino, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
Bong Joon-ho, “Parasite”
Sam Mendes, “1917”
Todd Phillips, “Joker”

PRODUCTION DESIGN
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
“The Irishman”
“1917”
“Jojo Rabbit”
“Parasite”

CINEMATOGRAPHY
“1917”
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
“The Irishman”
“Joker”
“The Lighthouse”

COSTUME DESIGN
“Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”
“Little Women”
“The Irishman”
“Jojo Rabbit”
“Joker”

SOUND EDITING
“1917”
“Ford v Ferrari”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”
“Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”
“Joker”

SOUND MIXING
“1917”
“Ford v Ferrari”
“Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”
“Ad Astra”
“Joker”

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“Dcera (Daughter)”
“Hair Love”
“Kitbull”
“Memorable”
“Sister”

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
“Brotherhood”
“Nefta Football Club”
“The Neighbors’ Window”
“Saria”
“A Sister”

ORIGINAL SCORE
“1917,” Thomas Newman
“Joker,” Hildur Guðnadóttir
“Little Women,” Alexandre Desplat
“Marriage Story,” Randy Newman
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” John Williams

VISUAL EFFECTS
“Avengers: Endgame”
“The Lion King”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”
“The Irishman”
“1917”

FILM EDITING
“The Irishman”
“Ford v Ferrari”
“Parasite”
“Joker”
“Jojo Rabbit”

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
“Bombshell”
“Joker”
“Judy”
“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”
“1917”