2016 Oscar Nominations: A Few ThoughtsI always love hearing the Oscar nominations more than the Oscar themselves because their is far greater chance that something spectacular can happen. Anyone or any film could potentially be nominated. Here a few brief impressions:
1. Love for La La Land - La La Land has tied All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997) for the most nominations ever at 14. Both those films won Best Picture, so it's a reasonable bet. There's a sizable minority of Land bashers, but most - including me - love it.
2. The Return of Mel Gibson - Mel Gibson has been returned to the good graces of Hollywood. Not only did he get a surprise nom for director, but Hacksaw Ridge got nominated for Picture, Best Actor, and several other awards.
3. Lots of Little Joys - I love it when when unusual or unexpected films get nominated. Allied, 13 Hours, and Star Trek Beyond each got a nomination. Fantastic Beasts, Deepwater Horizon, and even Passengers got two.
4. Meryl Streep *ugh* Again - Meryl Streep has given some fantastic performances, Julie & Julia being my personal favorite. Yet she has also gotten plenty of nominations for sub-par roles, including this year for Florence Foster Jenkins. Her golden globe speech was arrogant and disrespectful, and I hoped it would hurt her chances this year. I didn't, and she booted out the much better Amy Adams on top. Turns out I actually agree with Trump on something.
5. Pixar Gets Shut Out - Finding Dory wasn't the best Pixar film, but it was easily better than Moana, Zootopia, or Kubo. This is only the third time a Pixar film has not been nominated for Best Animated Feature. Oddly, enough the other two, Cars 2 and Monsters University, were also not originals.
6. Predictions - Right now, three films have the four important nominations (Picture, Director, Screenplay, Editing): Arrival, Moonlight, and La La Land. Arrival has no acting nods, Moonlight is meh, so La La Land looks like its in a good position to win.
Good Surprises: Passengers for Production Design, Fantastic Beasts for Production Design, 13 Hours for Sound, Mel Gibson for Hacksaw Ridge
Terrible Snubs: Silence for Picture and Director, Hillsong for Documentary Feature, Sully for Picture, Director, and Editing, Monae - Hidden Figures for Best Supporting Actress, Goodman - 10 Cloverfield Lane for Best Supporting Actor, Rogue One for Editing, Deadpool for Adapted Screenplay, Heal Caesar! for Cinematography
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