Oscars 2018: The Nominees are in
February 2, 2018
Early morning on January 23, Andy Serkis and Tiffany Haddish announced the 2018 Academy Award Nominations. The nominees were ones that audiences expected, ones who were surprises and of course, ones that were snubbed out.
“The Shape of Water” took the lead with 13 nominations. Next was “Dunkirk” with eight, followed by “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” with seven. And there were several underdogs including “Lady Bird” and “Get Out.”
While “The Post” was nominated for a Best Picture award, director Steven Spielberg was not nominated. Spielberg has only won three Academy Awards, which shows inconsistency considering almost all of his movies were nominated. The issue could be that he is too well known or mainstream, so the academy gives it to more indie films and directors.
With “Call Me By Your Name” nominated, there’s a chance the Academy may swing for the fences again — see last year’s Best Picture winner, “Moonlight” — and let the film walk away with the award. However, Guillermo Del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” or Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” are the most likely to win.
“The Shape of Water” fell under the radar when it was first released in December of 2017. However, it quickly gained more speed after the Golden Globes when Guillermo Del Toro won Best Director. Some critics even believe that this film is his masterpiece — which is interesting considering “Pan’s Labyrinth” was Del Toro’s masterpiece for over a decade.
While lesser films like “Lady Bird” and “Darker Hour” received love from the Golden Globes, the Academy didn’t follow through. Considering all Oscar-nominated films are top tier, there has to be a loser, and some of these are looking to be that way. However, the academy may decide to let a female director win with all of the recent sexism and the fact that a woman has never won Best Director or Best Picture.
Some of the more popular films such as “Baby Driver” and “Blade Runner: 2049” didn’t receive Best Picture nominations, but they did win nominations for categories that are considered the “less important” by those who only believe in the major awards. Nonetheless, if they win, they will be considered Academy Award-winning films.
With awards comes snubs and there were quite a few. Many were surprised that “Wonder Woman” didn’t receive any nominations, and audiences seemed to semi-riot. And while “Greatest Showman” did get a nomination for Best Original Song, many were upset that it didn’t receive more.
The 90th Academy Awards are set for 7:30 p.m. March 4. So sit back with a bowl of popcorn and relax while you wait for the most stressful night for film lovers of all ages.
You can view the full list of nominations at the Oscar site.
