Jennifer R. Gardner
Staff Writer
Nothing creates a commotion in the media quite like the Oscars. Even though the ceremony isn’t until February 24, students have already voiced their various opinions on the nominations: who is a shoo-in for the win and who will be left to eat the dust.
“My favorite is ‘The Favourite’ I don’t think it’s actually gonna win anything. Maybe it’ll win a screenplay writing award. I’m excited [for] the movie ‘Green book’ because [it is] probably the best movie for families to go see. [it] had the widest appeal [it was] one of the most approachable films. I’m excited about the movie ‘Roma’ just because it brings netflix movies more into the mainstream, [like] the idea that a netflix film could win or be nominated for best picture. I do believe the director of ‘Roma’ won best director so I’m excited about that because it’s changing movies in that it’s not just the big studios that [are winning] the awards,” Media lit sponsor David Vetters said.
Films that swept up most of the nominations, coming in with about ten each, were ‘Roma’ and ‘The Favourite’. ‘Roma’, an autobiography of Alfonso Cuaron’s childhood growing up in Mexico City, is the first Netflix movie that got Oscar nominations and as such, won’t be a part of the Oscar’s usual Best-picture showcase.
“There are a lot of movies nominated [but] I don’t think all of them deserved to be nominated. I haven’t seen all of them but of the ones I have seen, any of the ones I know about, I think ‘BlacKKKlansmen’ has a real chance [and] The Favorite has a real chance. I think ‘Black Panther’ was probably like ‘oh like a welcome to the party throw you a bone’ kinda nomination,” senior Mackenzie Acree said.
A film that will be part of the best picture showcase, however, is Yorgos Lanthimos’‘The Favourite’, set in the 18th century, centers around two cousins trying to gain the favor of Queen Anne to set a place in her court.The film centers around a predominantly female cast with Olivia Colman nominated for Best Actress and Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone for Best Supporting Actress. ‘The Favourite’ has also been nominated for best costume design, a tough competition between, but not limited to, films like ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Mary Queen of Scots’.
“[Mary Queen of Scots] was interesting it was so graphic though I saw it with my 80-year-old grandfather and I did not want to sit through those sex scenes next to him. It really earned the rated R rating. It was a little painful but the movie itself is just so good and Saoirse Ronan’s performance was beautiful,”Acree said.
While some students may not have seen ‘Mary Queen of Scots’ most have either seen or heard of the national blockbuster ‘Black Panther’.
“I thought it was an interesting movie. I do think it was over exaggerated in the way that people [are] basically saying it was the best movie because now young black teenagers can look to a hero but skin color doesn’t really matter.That’s my only gripe about it. That’s not [with] the movie itself but with what people were saying about [it].That’s the only problem it was a good movie though,” sophomore Jack Royer said.
Another nomination that turned a few heads was Sony’s ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ and Wes Anderson’s ‘Isle of Dogs’. Into the Spider-Verse took four years to complete with most of that time going into its unique animation style.
The Isle of Dogs creators took as much care to detail as Spider-Verse with 240 sets and 1,000 handmade puppets.
“Best-animated needs to go to ‘Isle of dogs’. I know it’s not the favorite [and] I know people want it to be ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ but the Oscars are not about popularity the way the Golden Globes are in awhile ‘Spider-Verse’ was more popular ‘Isle of dogs’ was technically more complicated and it’s a better film overall,” Acree said.
While it’s fun to debate about which nomination will go to who, the heavier subject weighing on this year’s Oscars is its host or lack of one. Kevin Hart stepped down from hosting the Oscars due to the controversy surrounding his homophobic tweets from ten years ago.
“I think it’s an unfortunate situation all around. I know that this was a big deal to Kevin Hart. Early on he said it was one of his goals and that he didn’t want to initially apologize because he said he addressed it in the past however when they looked at it he never actually apologized in print until he was called out by the Academy. It was a situation that occurred because the academy didn’t do their research before they selected their host. So part of it’s on the Academy for not doing their homework before they picked their host. I wish it turned out differently because what he said was offensive to some people and it could have been a great teachable moment because Kevin Hart did go out and he did apologize and it was a good apology in my opinion and he has shown growth. I think it could have been a great way to show that people do change and that he is not the person he was when he made those tweets. I understand that he didn’t want the issue to be about him but it was going to be about him anyway. I wish that he had stayed on and that he had addressed it and said ‘yes I made statements that some people found offensive in the past I have grown as a person and I’m not that person anymore’ and make it a positive learning experience. Unfortunately, that’s not how it went and so they’re now without a host,” Film club sponsor Robert Beckwith said.
The category people may not be aware of is the Academy Award for Best Short Film. Last year’s winner, Dear Basketball a short film about Michael Jackson’s retirement from playing basketball, sparked some controversy because many felt it didn’t deserve the award in light of other more complicated and meaningful films.
“I’m excited to go to the Bijou [theater] and watch the animated shorts.That’s a tradition with my family. I was really upset about the animated shorts last year because Dear Basketball was terrible and it didn’t deserve [to win].There were five other shorts that deserved that award more. It only won because it was Michael Jordan,” Acree said.
It’s no secret that many students are excited about movies like ‘Spider-Verse’ and ‘Black Panther’ the only thing is the probability of these films actually winning is slim considering the Academy’s preference for Indie films.
“The Oscars are Elitist. As much as I think it’s important to award achievements in film making, because it really should be appreciated as an art form and it’s not by a lot of people, the Oscars are really elitist.An example of that is Roma which is a very artsy indie film that no one has watched being nominated for like literally everything. I love indie film but that’s indie to a point and it’s a foreign film on top of that. Its elitism and that’s also translatable to important actors getting noticed for parts that are not necessarily the best parts that they’ve had like Christian Bale forVice. It’s important to remember that what wins is not usually the best that came out,”Acree said.