Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Rejoice,for Oscar season is upon us!

Well, we certainly needed a lift after the events of this past weekend and thankfully, pop culture has provided with the announcement of the nominees for the 89th Academy Awards, due to be presented on February 26.

There's plenty of applause out there for La La Land's large number of nominations(more on that in a moment) but to me and no doubt many others, the true belle of this cinematic ball is Hidden Figures, which is up for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Octavia Spencer.

This is an end of the year release film that has been gaining a groundswell of support from movie goers and critics alike, hitting box offices highs that even had it beating Rogue One at one point. As thrilled as I am that Hidden Figures is a main contender here, I do wish that it was also being featured in more categories such as Taraji P. Henson for Best Actress and Best Score as well.

A film that brings to light the untold story of three African American women who were a vital component in our country winning the Space Race should be just as celebrated at the Oscars as we know a certain other film is going to be and while I haven't seen either movie yet, it's not hard to see which one is truly more inspiring:


Meanwhile, La La Land is making headlines for it's 14 nominations, including Best Actor and Actress for Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling and yes, All About Eve and Titanic had the same amount but that's no guarantee of success.

 Just ask the folks who put out The Turning Point and The Color Purple how well multiple nominations work out(they both had 11 and won nothing on their respective nights).

Look, I'm sure that La La Land is a nice enough film and musicals are one of my favorite genres. However, the hype machine is seriously working overtime on this one and if it sweeps the Oscars, fine but don't expect everyone to be over the moon for that:


By the way, La La Land, did you have to take up two of the slots in the Best Original Song category? Sorry but I did take a listen to "City of Stars" and "Audition" and forgive me for saying so but they do sound awfully alike.

I know how this category works, they like to mix up somber songs such as the Sting number from Jim, with more lighthearted fare from animated movies like Trolls(which is up for an award here). It's just that the La La Land songs aren't that lively and Moana could have had had one of those spots.

As much as "How Far I'll Go" is a lovely song that deserves it's nomination, it would have also been nice to have "You're Welcome" right along side it. Am I alone in wishing to see Dwayne Johnson singing the praises of his demigod character on Oscar night? I don't think so:



There are other nominations to be happy about, such as Moonlight and Arrival sharing eight each, including Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris in the Best Supporting categories, Viola Davis and Denzel Washington up for Fences and Zootopia being among the Best Animated Film contenders.

On the other hand, I find it highly amusing that Suicide Squad is up for both Oscar and Razzie honors(two for the Razzies, thanks to Jared Leto and Best Make-up and Hair for the Academy Awards). Suicide Squad wasn't as awesome as I had hoped yet it at least had a less mediocre iconic villain than DC's other major movie did.

 Speaking of which, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is sure to sweep the Golden Raspberry Awards this season, being that it's main competition is Zoolander 2, which shares eight nominations in the now infamous bad movie mockery festival.

It's one of the best aspects of Oscar time that movies, both good and bad, are celebrated together with some getting a bit more and less than they deserve from us all. Either way, movies still have much to offer world weary audiences on either side of the cinematic coin yet hopefully better than the epic fail of BvS:


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