The Weirdest Oscars Year

Welcome back, friends, to another year in the wonderful world of outstanding movies.  Thank you to all of you who have followed my blog for so many years!  Today, I did a quick check of total views, and in all these years, I've had over 63,000 views, which means that my mother has not had much else to do all this time.

This is an interesting year for movies, given COVID-19 and the sad restrictions placed on movie theaters.  If there is anything I have missed, it's going to movies and talking about them intensely with friends (more on that another time...).  The upside of the downside has been the generosity of the studios in providing their content to streaming services, which means we got to watch all the best films from the comfort of our homes.  All year, in pre-supposing what the Oscars could or would do, I have been jokingly referring to "Best Picture, Sonic the Hedgehog" - the last film I remember being in actual theaters.

God bless the Academy for providing 40 full days to read and review all 56 nominated films, and if you're a fan like me, I know you have already knocked many of the movies nominated off of your "must see" lists.  I'm down to 11 feature films left, and most of the shorts, so I'm ready to get going with this year's Jodi's Oscars Blog! As always, I'm most grateful to those of you who read and share.  I do this because I love it and not for any other reason, so when people read the blog, it means the world to me. (bermanoscarblog.blogspot.com)

A couple of observations about this year's nominees.

1. Oh, you sneaky Academy.  We see that you have combined the Sound Mixing and Sound Editing categories into just one category: Sound.  I'm sure that eliminating that one category is really going to bring the length of the broadcast way down in time.  On the upside, it turns out that last year was the last year that I will ever explain the difference between mixing and editing to my wonderful readers.

2. I'm sure there will be lots and lots of Buzzfeed-type lists about surprises and snubs, but I'm devastated for Regina King, who I think delivered one of the finest directing debuts, and certainly one of the top 5 this year.  I'm thrilled to see more women nominated (should we be celebrating that this is the first time in 93 years that 2 actual women were nominated at the actual same time in this category, or should we just be seriously embarrassed?), but it should have been 3.  Regina, you're the winner in my eyes!

3. Speaking of things to celebrate and be embarrassed about, first time ever an Asian American lead actor has been nominated, and first woman of Asian descent to be nominated for directing.  Yes, to be celebrated but it took 93 years for that to happen?  Are we kidding?

4. Jingle Jangle should have had all the nominations.  Costume, score, song... and it got nothing.  Boo.  Boo, Academy, booooooo.  This would have won my Hidden Gem award, so please go watch it on Netflix.

5. Glenn Close got her 8th nom (never won) and Diane Warren got her 12th nom (never won), and I don't think their unlucky streaks are going to change this year.  It is a little funny that poor Glenn is once again up against Olivia Colman who snatched the gold from her hot little hands in 2019.

Tomorrow, I will start reviewing the Best Picture nominees and to borrow a cliche... HERE WE GO!