Having much to celebrate at the upcoming Oscars party this year

Earlier this week, nominations for the 90th Academy Awards were announced and for once, there was much to rejoice about.

While certain films and entertainers were overlooked(Wonder Woman,on both counts for me) or underappreciated(The Big Sick deserved more than a Best Screenplay nod), a good deal of others were honored,some of which had more than earned their time in the spotlight.

It's clear that the younger and more diverse membership that has been encouraged to join the Oscar voting ranks are starting to make their voices heard,a marked improvement indeed from the days of #OscarsSoWhite. Let's go over a few of highlights and perhaps a guess or two as to who will win big on that special night:

GLAD FOR GET OUT: Jordan Peele's debut film had been making appearances at several awards shows but there was some doubt as to how many Oscar noms it was going to receive.

Fortunately, fans of the massive hit movie were not disappointed as it claimed four major spots, with Peele up for three,including Best Picture(he is one of the producers as well as director and screenwriter). Leading man Daniel Kuyuula joins him as a first time nominee for Best Actor and it would be amazing if he and Peele both won that night.

It's been awhile since Hollywood nominated a scary movie for such big league honors and with the searing social satire that accompanies the terrifying moments on screen, Get Out proves itself to be an instant classic. With one or two solid wins on Oscar night, it would show future film makers that quality material can be recognized well within it's time:

A FANTASTICAL FRONT RUNNER: When it comes to gathering numerous nominations, The Shape of Water is already a winner.

 From international film festivals to critic's choice circles and the Golden Globes, this offbeat tale of love has been given overflowing acclaims and a few wins, including a Best Director for Guillermo Del Toro, who is also up for that award at the Oscars,with 12 other noms along side that one.

My only concern here is that the generous amount of nominations might not guarantee any big wins or any wins at all;it's happened before at the Oscars and it might again here.

 On the other hand, the cinematic affection for this film is sincere and despite the occasionally fickle nature of Academy voters, I think that true love might win out in the end with a couple of awards for TSOW by the end of the night:

A SERIOUS SUPPORTING ACTRESS RACE: This particular category should be quite the showdown, as we have four out of the five nominees in die hard contention for the award here.

While Phantom Thread's Lesley Manville is simply in the "it's a honor just to be nominated" section, the front runner at this point is Allison Janney for her role as the vicious stage mother in I, Tonya.

 She's gotten several awards,including the SAG, for this part and with a solid legacy of awesome acting behind her, it really feels like this is Janney's year. That wouldn't bother me much if it was not for Mary J. Blige being up for her role as long suffering Florence Johnson in Mudbound, a movie that didn't get enough nominations in my opinion.

On the other hand, Octavia Spencer is up for her third  nomination in The Shape of Water(a record making one at that) and Laurie Metcalf has been getting some award love as well as the mom in Ladybird. So, even if Janney wins, as she seems destined to, it won't be an easy victory to claim there:

SOMETHING TO TRULY SING ABOUT: The Best Song category is one that I both love and hate at times but this time out, we really do have a great line-up here.

From the heartwarming sweetness of Coco's "Remember Me" to the inspirational tone of "Stand Up For Something" from Marshall right to the crowd pleasing celebration of The Greatest Showman's "This is Me" and even the delicate romance that "Mystery of Love" from Call Me By Your Name invokes, we have winners all around. Not a clunker in the bunch.

My hopes,however, go to "Mighty River" from Mudbound. For one, Mary J. Blige,who shares a writing credit for the song as well as performs it, should have been nominated for "The Living Proof" from The Help back in 2011. It would also make her possible loss in the Best Supporting Actress category a bit more bearable(although if she won both, that would be incredibly cool!).

Overall, this song is a heart-achingly beautiful reflection of the film's themes; the struggle to meet life's challenges and the power of love to help make that hard road smoother to walk upon. That's what any best original song for a film ought to be and this one certainly is:

There is not too much to lament about at the Oscars at this point, although it is a puzzler as to how The Boss Baby landed a Best Animated nod(really,folks, you couldn't do better than that?).

 We do have more women represented in major sections with Greta Gerwig up for Best Director and Mudbound's Rachel Morrison nominated for Best Cinematography(the first woman to ever be up for that award) and smaller films such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Call Me By Your Name being prominently featured.

Of course, more needs to be done in terms of better representation yet this is a pretty decent start. Things are never going to be perfect but we can appreciate these first steps towards an improved playing field for all artists everywhere.

In the meantime, there's plenty of other film award shows to whet our cinematic appetite for the big movie fest on March 4, including that sassy sour dessert,The Razzies, which will be deciding just how bad honors can go to Transformers: The Last Knight(up for several dubious awards), the dreaded Emoji Movie and the terrible Tom Cruise version of The Mummy. To those who are miffed that The Snowman and The Book of Henry were overlooked, come on, people-even bad movie watching has it's limits!: