Oscar Nomination Reactions

 


As is so often the case, the Oscar nominations, released Tuesday, caused quite a stir. This year featured a lot of beautiful and moving films and the nominations announced Tuesday, meant to reflect the best of the year in film, didn't feel like they reflected that. As always, there was the good, the bad and the disappointing. Below are some thoughts.

The Good:
* I was excited to see both CODA, my No. 1, and Belfast, my No. 3, make the Best Picture field. I will be pulling for both.
* It's a fun and diverse field of films in the competition.
* I was happy to see Denzel Washington make the Best Actor field and Jessica Chastain make the Best Actress field. I loved both!

The Bad:
* While Nightmare Alley did better than I expected, including a Best Picture nomination, Bradley Cooper went unrecognized for his great performance.
* Some are enamored of Kristen Stewart in Spencer, but I thought it was a middling performance in an underwhelming film.
* There were some wonderful films in the International Feature and Documentary Categories, and yet Parallel Mothers didn't even get submitted and my favorite documentary, The Rescue, and animated film, Sing 2, failed to get a nomination.

The Disappointing:
* Mass is a delightful and wonderful film, with four great performances, and yet it didn't get a single nomination...
* There were a number of great original songs, but it's a shame and disappointment that Don't Look Up didn't crack the field.
* CODA made the Best Picture field, which is great, but Emilia Jones is a treasure who should have made the Actress field.

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