{"id":45860,"date":"2020-01-24T11:42:46","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T16:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=45860"},"modified":"2020-01-24T11:43:03","modified_gmt":"2020-01-24T16:43:03","slug":"thoughts-on-the-oscar-nominations-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2020\/01\/thoughts-on-the-oscar-nominations-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on the Oscar Nominations (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Bob Garver<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Super Bowl maybe this coming weekend, but the weekend after is the Super Bowl for movie critics: the 92nd<\/sup> Academy Awards. Here are my thoughts on the ever-popular acting categories, though you\u2019ll notice that I\u2019m consistently underwhelmed by the nominees. Feel free to have passionate opinions where I don\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actor in a Leading Role<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antonio Banderas for \u201cPain and\nGlory\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leonardo DiCaprio for \u201cOnce Upon a\nTime\u2026 in Hollywood\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam Driver for \u201cMarriage Story\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joaquin Phoenix for \u201cJoker\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonathan Pryce for \u201cThe Two Popes\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This could have been an interesting\nrace if voters had decided that DiCaprio doesn\u2019t need yet another nomination\nand instead gone with Adam Sandler (\u201cUncut Gems\u201d), Taron Egerton (\u201cRocketman\u201d),\nEddie Murphy (\u201cDolemite is My Name\u201d), or my personal favorite, Paul Walter\nHauser (\u201cRichard Jewell\u201d). Admittedly they did make a nice outside-the-box\nchoice with Banderas, but I don\u2019t see him as a serious contender for his\nlittle-seen film. Driver could play spoiler, but I think voters are looking for\nmore of a powerhouse as opposed to realism. As much as I\u2019d love to see the\ntoo-long-unrecognized Pryce win the award, this race belongs to Phoenix. Even\nthe people who hated the movie (and there were many) lauded his performance,\nand it\u2019s funny to think that a character as unconventional as The Joker has led\nnot one, but two actors to Oscar glory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actress in a Leading Role<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cynthia Erivo for \u201cHarriet\u201d*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scarlett Johansson for \u201cMarriage\nStory\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saoirse Ronan for \u201cLittle Women\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charlize Theron for \u201cBombshell\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renee Zellweger for \u201cJudy\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*I did not see this film or\nperformance<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a little upset that Awkwafina\ndidn\u2019t get nominated for \u201cThe Farewell,\u201d but it\u2019s not like she wouldn\u2019t be\neaten alive if she had. Zellweger as Judy Garland is a lock. Like Rami Malek\nwinning for playing Freddie Mercury last year, this race could be called based\nentirely on the actor\u2019s courage to take on the role of a larger-than-life\nshowbiz personality. But unlike with Malek as Mercury, I\u2019m actually in\nagreement that the resulting performance is Oscar worthy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actor in a Supporting Role<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Hanks for \u201cA Beautiful Day in\nthe Neighborhood\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anthony Hopkins for \u201cThe Two Popes\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Pacino for \u201cThe Irishman\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Pesci for \u201cThe Irishman\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Pitt for \u201cOnce Upon a Time\u2026 in\nHollywood\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is such a boring category,\nwith four actors that have already won an Oscar vying for a second (or third)\nthat they don\u2019t need. Pitt is the outlier, and fortunately he\u2019s also the\nfrontrunner. I didn\u2019t care for his movie (I think it\u2019s Tarantino\u2019s worst), but\nhe\u2019s such a Hollywood darling that he\u2019s bound to win eventually, it might as\nwell be here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actress in a Supporting Role<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kathy Bates for \u201cRichard Jewell\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laura Dern for \u201cMarriage Story\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scarlett Johansson for \u201cJojo\nRabbit\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florence Pugh for \u201cLittle Women\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Margot Robbie for \u201cBombshell\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dern is the frontrunner for playing\ncutthroat divorce lawyer, but I think that has more to do with people wanting\nto recognize her career than the performance itself. Bates is my favorite, but\nshe\u2019s such an awards show mainstay that it\u2019s hard to get excited about her winning\nagain. Pugh\u2019s performance got swallowed up by Saoirse Ronan, Robbie\u2019s by\nCharlize Theron. Johansson is overshadowed by\u2026 Johansson for her lead\nperformance in \u201cMarriage Story\u201d that got much more attention than this\nnoticeably brief appearance. Dern didn\u2019t blow me away, but her manipulative\nperformance (in that she\u2019s good at manipulating other characters, not that\nshe\u2019s unfairly trying to garner sympathy) seems to have voters\u2019 attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come back next week for my thoughts\non the Screenplay and Director categories, as well as Best Picture. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bob Garver \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Super Bowl maybe this coming weekend, but the weekend after is the Super Bowl for movie critics: the 92nd Academy Awards. Here are my thoughts… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":45861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}