And the Nominations are In

Someone asked me for my Oscar predictions yesterday.  I said my prediction was that it would be one of the lowest-rated shows in several years.

I don't think it was a bad year for movies.  There were a lot of wonderful and reasonably good ones.  It just wasn't a great year for Big Blockbusters that enthralled audiences with their high craft.  I know that The Revenant got 11 nominations, but I've yet to talk to anyone who absolutely was swept away by it.  It might be the favorite, but my reaction was similar to many others I've spoken with -- it's an amazingly wonderful technical production that isn't especially involving.  

Any year when a Mad Max: Fury Road gets the second most nominations at 10, including Best Picture, you know it's not challenging Oscar history for the Greatest Year Ever.  No, I didn't see it, and I'm sure it was fun and well done.  So was Fast and Furious 7,  But I doubt they were expecting a Best Picture nomination.  It's not a debacle that Mad Max got an nomination.  Just very uncommon.  So be it.

I didn't see any travesties in the nominations.  It's all subjective in the end.  But I was still sorry for a few omissions and surprised by some inclusions.

I was sorry and surprised that my favorite film Trumbo didn't at least get a Best Original Screenplay nomination -- it did from the Writers Guild.  At least Bryan Cranston got nominated as Best Actor for it.

I was sorry that Cary Mulligan didn't get nominated as Best Actress for Suffragette.  It was a crowded year, and that's the way it goes.  But she was wonderful in a wonderful film.

I was sorry that Steve Carell didn't get nominated for The Big Short, and for my taste thought he stole the film from Christian Bale who did get nominated.  But what surprised me is that the nomination for was Supporting Actor.  If he was a supporting actor, then it was a movie of everyone being a supporting actor.  But it wasn't -- he was one of the stars, as all the main-title cast was, including Steve Carell.

I was surprised that Tom Hardy got a Supporting Actor nomination for The Revenant, rather than a Best Actor nomination for his tour-de-force double-role in Legend.

I think that the most interesting category this year is  Supporting Actor.  Five highly-deserving gems, including a sentimental favorite Sylvester Stallone who was wonderful.  But then, they all were.

And I was glad that Shaun the Sheep Movie didn't get forgotten for the animated films.

Other than that...que sera sera.  I could single out a few other thoughts, but ultimately it's all just personal taste.  Still, my taste is that the results are a bit lackluster.  Perfectly good films and fine work all around.  And interesting that the choices were a bit more expansive than in the past, which is a worthy thing.  But mainly, for me, just...oh, so that's what you're nominating?  Okay, got it.