Oscar Nominations 2021: 3 of 9

1. The Power of the Dog, Dune, Belfast, and West Side Story

2. King Richard, Drive My Car, Don't Look Up, and Nightmare Alley

 

CODA

3 Nominations

• Picture
• Adapted Screenplay: Siân Heder
• Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur

Director: Heder

Cast: Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Daniel Durant, Kotsur, Marlee Matlin, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Amy Forsyth

Can CODA win Best Picture? I think this is the question everyone is asking. This is a sweet, heartfelt film with a very good cast (except for Eugenio Derbez, if you ask me. I don't know what he's doing with his performance). And I get why this movie has become a kind of sentimental favorite, but the favor it's being shown is much, much more than I think anyone expected. People love this movie. I think its complete lack of irony and total sincerity and earnestness make it a kind of breath of fresh air in this evil world. It's also about a hatred of bureaucracy and a valorization of entrepreneurship, so maybe that has something to do with it. In any case, Troy Kotsur is going to win Best Supporting Actor, and it might be wise to bet on this film winning Best Adapted Screenplay and maybe even Best Picture.

Will Win: Supporting Actor

Could Win: Picture, Adapted Screenplay

My Rating: #31 out of 56

Licorice Pizza

3 Nominations

• Picture
• Director: Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread, There Will Be Blood)
• Original Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson (Inherent Vice, There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, Boogie Nights)

Director: Anderson

Cast: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Skyler Gisondo, Bradley Cooper, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Christine Ebersole, Benny Safdie, Maya Rudolph, John C. Reilly, Will Angarola, Griff Giacchino, James Kelley

This movie is very, very funny and also totally weird and quirky. The Academy loves Paul Thomas Anderson sort of unabashedly now, and I always think it's surprising that they do because his movies all seem so... idiosyncratic. But, I mean, even Inherent Vice got a Best Screenplay nomination! I really enjoyed Licorice Pizza, although I think I never stopped thinking it was weird. This is the portrait of one very eager teenager's childhood, and it's completely charming and very well directed. I really don't have anything negative to say about it except to remark on the overwhelming whiteness of its gaze. Still, it's one of my favorite movies of the year, and it makes sense that Anderson just went full-in on his own memories and his own picture of Los Angeles in the 1970s. It was a very different time in the world, and this film feels like it gets to the truth of that in some fascinating ways. Is this the year for Anderson to win the Original Screenplay Oscar? He doesn't have one yet, and his competition seems thinner than usual. I'm betting on him. 

Will Win: Original Screenplay

Could Win: N/A
My Rating: #10 out of 56

Being the Ricardos

3 Nominations

• Best Actor: Javier Bardem (Biutiful, No Country for Old Men, Before Night Falls)
• Best Actress: Nicole Kidman (Lion, Rabbit Hole, The Hours, Moulin Rouge!)
• Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Director: Aaron Sorkin

Cast: Kidman, Bardem, Simmons, Nina Arianda, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jake Lacy, Clark Gregg, Brian Howe, Jeff Holman, Ronny Cox, Linda Lavin, John Rubinstein

This is one of the worst movies I saw this year, but I think people must like it? J.K. Simmons' nomination was a big surprise, and the fact that he got nominated means that the Academy actually likes the movie a lot more than anyone thought. Indeed, Nicole Kidman ended up taking home the Golden Globe award for Best Actress, so it definitely has some support behind it. But, like, if you're home and need a movie to watch, don't watch this one. It's absurd. And there are actual good movies nominated this year. Kidman could win a second Oscar here, but I don't think she will. I'm hoping everyone has figured out by now that this movie is a mess.
Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #55 out of 56

The Lost Daughter

3 Nominations

• Actress: Olivia Colman (The Father, The Favorite)
• Adapted Screenplay: Maggie Gyllenhaal
• Supporting Actress: Jessie Buckley

Director: Gyllenhaal

Cast: Colman, Dakota Johnson, Buckley, Ed Harris, Paul Mescal, Jack Farthing, Peter Sarsgaard, Dagmara Dominczyk, Oliver Jackson-Cohen

From the ridiculous to the sublime. The Lost Daughter was a total surprise to me. It's beautifully, terrifyingly directed, and its protagonist is a fascinating, incredible character. This movie is scary all the way through – scarier than The Power of the Dog, if you ask me – and the film is very well acted. This is one of my favorite films of the year, and honestly I can't say enough good things about it. It's on Netflix, and if you haven't watched it yet, you really must. Gyllenhaal's adaptation of the Elena Ferrante novel is excellent, and this is a very good movie, even though I don't think it'll take home any statues on Oscar Sunday.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A
My Rating: #9 out of 56

4. The Tragedy of Macbeth, Encanto, No Time to Die, and Flee
5. Tick, Tick... Boom!, Parallel Mothers, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and The Worst Person in the World
6. Cruella, Spencer, The Hand of God, and Lunana: a Yak in the Classroom
7. Cyrano, The Mitchells vs the Machines, Luca, and Raya and the Last Dragon
8. Spider-man: No Way Home, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Free Guy

9. House of Gucci, Coming 2 America, and Four Good Days

Child of Deaf Adults

CODA is a sweet little movie. 

I am not sure why I'm calling it a "little" movie other than maybe it's a movie about high school kid and so in many ways it operates on the level of a high school kid's feelings and decisions and desires. In any case, it's very well acted (Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin are standouts as the main character's parents), and charmingly sentimental.

Whether I think Siân Heder's film is little or not, the Screen Actor's Guild nominated the cast for best ensemble over some pretty powerhouse ensembles including The Power of the Dog's cast, and the Golden Globes nominated it for best picture, so it seems to me that on February 8 CODA is getting an adapted screenplay nomination and a best picture nomination, in addition to the near certainty of Kotsur getting a best supporting actor nomination. And if I think about how sometimes a trailing supporting actress can often get a nomination in a movie that receives unexpected Academy love, Matlin may end up with a surprise nomination too. This would definitely be a surprise, but it really could happen, depending on how the love for this "little" movie surges in the next two weeks.