By Anthony Del Vecchio
Assistant A&E Editor
The nominations for the 91st Academy Awards were finally revealed Tuesday Jan. 22, which included many of 2018’s best films, along with many unexpected surprises.
After an impressive outing at the 2019 Golden Globe Awards, Netflix film “Roma” and the Fox Searchlight Film “The Favourite” lead all other films with 10 nominations each.
One of those nominations includes that for Best Picture, where both films will be up against “Black Panther,” “BlacKkKlansman,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “A Star Is Born,” “Vice,” and “Green Book.”
Black Panther also made more history, becoming the first superhero film to be nominated for the Best Picture Award, while also receiving nods in other categories such as production design, costume design, sound editing, sound mixing, original score and original song.
The question of who will win that coveted award along with the other twenty-three categories is what makes this the biggest night in film, and for the first time in a long time there are not many decisive picks.
“I saw both Bohemian Rhapsody and Black Panther and loved them,” said sophomore Shannon Szefinski. “Unfortunately superhero movies never take home Best Picture, even though they look stunning, which leads me to think other films have a better chance”.
There are many factors that are still undecided about this year’s awards, including who the show’s host will be.
Kevin Hart, who was originally chosen for the position, declined just three days after he was announced to host the 2019 Oscars ceremony. This was due to a resurfaced social media post that related to homophobic tweets and comments.
Unpredictability will be the story of this year’s Oscars as it was for the entrainment and film industries. After a year highlighted by focuses on racial tensions, power struggles and sexual abuse scandals, where the Me Too and Times Up movements have gained mainstream attention.
In the wake of this women only look stronger, especially when you look at the nominees for best actress in a leading role which includes; Yalitza Aparicio for “Roma”, Olivia Colman for “The Favourite”, Lady Gaga for “A Star Is Born”, Glenn Close for “The Wife” and Melissa McCarthy in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”.
For Best Supporting Actress, Amy Adams is nominated for” Vice”, Emma Stone for “The Favourite”, Rachel Weisz for “The Favourite”, Marina De Tavira “for Roma” and Regina King, who also won the Golden Globe for Actress in a Drama Film her role in “If Beale Street Could Talk”.
“The reason why we do this is because we understand that our microphones are big and we are speaking for everyone,” said Regina King in her Golden Globe Award acceptance speech. “I challenge you to challenge yourselves and stand with us in solidarity and do the same”.
The award for Best Actor in a Leading Role has heavyweights, Christian Bale for his role as Dick Cheney in “Vice”, Bradley Cooper for “A Star Is Born”, Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh in “At Eternity’s Gate, Rami Malek playing Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Viggo Mortensen for his role in “Green Book”.
While Best Supporting Actor will be a race between nominees Mahershala Ali for “Green Book”, Richard E Grant for “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”, Adam Driver for “Blackkklansman”, Sam Rockwell for his role as George W. Bush in “Vice” and Sam Elliott for A Star Is Born”.
All these great films and actors wouldn’t be on screen without their directors and those nominated for Best Director are, Alfonso Charon for “Roma”, Spike Lee for “BlacKkKlansman”, Adam McKay for “Vice”, Yoro’s Lanthimos for “The Favourite”, and Pawel Malinowski for “Cold War”.
The 91st Academy Awards will not be a normal award show, it’s more than that. This is about the art of filmmaking and where this industry will go in the next decade. What will change in film? Where will we go from here? This will be the night to make a statement.
We’ll have follow the red carpet and tune in to find out, when the Oscars premier live on Feb. 24 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on ABC.
