Being the Ricardos - 3 nominations

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Nicole Kidman

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Javier Bardem

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role J.K. Simmons

Being the Ricardos imagines a week in the life of Lucy and Desi Arnaz while producing their top-rated hit show, "I Love Lucy."  We see how a Cuban and a woman owned and operated their show, exercised their incredible power, and navigated the racism and sexism of the time.  Alongside this plot, we see a marriage in trouble over cheating rumors, and an embattled Lucy with a past affiliation with the Communist party.  All the while, fretting over every minor comedic detail, we also see how Lucy Arnaz crafted the Lucy Ricardo persona down to the tiniest detail.  In fact, I most believed Kidman as Lucy Ricardo and less as Lucy Arnaz, and I'm wondering if that's because I watched her shows as a child and so thorough fused the two in my mind.  Kidman's reproduction of the Lucy Ricardo voice is impressive. Honestly, I'm a little shocked that Nina Arianda was never in the mix for an Oscar nomination, so beautifully and convincingly playing Vivian Vance in the film.  I found her performance more believable and on point than even Javier Bardem's, whose nomination is my least favorite of the Leading Actor category.

I'm an ardent Sorkenite and his writing style gets me every time.  I thought Being the Ricardos was a truly entertaining film.  Do I consider it Oscars great?  Meh, maybe not.  Do I consider it a fun film for a Saturday night great?  You bet I do.  And that's all the "'splainin'" I got to do.

 

2022 - The Year of Surprises and Snubs

I can't identify the reason that this year's Oscars announcement was more exciting for me than the average year (don't forget, I am an Oscars blogger, it's ALWAYS exciting for me!)  As always, I was up at 5 a.m. ready to take in the big news.

There are several notable nominees, and especially some really fun stuff like:

• Jane Campion is the first woman to be nominated TWICE for Directing
• 2 married couples are both nominated for acting Oscars.  Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos) and Penelope Cruz (Parallel Mothers), and Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog) and Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog)
• Penelope Cruz (Parallel Mothers) is now the first woman to be nominated for 2 roles in something other than the English language
• Troy Katsur (CODA) is the first deaf actor to be nominated for an Oscar (woo hoo!!!!  CODA all the way!)
• Flee pulled off the first trifecta of one movie being nominated for Animated Feature, Documentary, and Foreign Language film
• Encanto tied three other animated films to receive three Oscar nominations
• Diane Warren scored her 13th Oscars nomination with no wins for Best Song (Four Good Days), and she will likely keep up the no win streak this year
• Several films had nominations from the Director's debut film - Maggie Gyllenhall (The Lost Daughter), Questlove (Summer of Soul: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised), Lin Manuel Miranda (tick tick... Boom)
• No Time To Die becomes the 7th James Bond film to have an Original Song nomination (and I bet it will win)
• Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) is likely the first woman to win an Oscar for the same role which another actress won the Oscar 
• Lin Manuel Miranda could (but likely won't) EGOT, having already won an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony (don't worry, LMM, that time will come)

There are some really surprising snubs:

• Starting with GAGA.  When I saw the preview of House of Gucci, I sincerely thought this was going to be her year.  But the film wasn't great, and her performance was good but it was just too hard a category this year.  She already has an Oscar but will certainly win an acting Oscar in the future.
• Denis Villeneuve (Director) wasn't nominated even though his film got 10 nominations.  I think it's much more likely a nomination and a win after Dune 2.
• I really had my fingers crossed for tick tick... Boom for Best Picture.
• Caitriona Balfe (Belfast) seemed like a lock for the nomination in the category that changed "likely to be nominated" almost daily, Actress in a Leading Role
• Ben Affleck (The Tender Bar) was at his level best and I thought this would be a return to the Oscars for him this year.  Instead, The Tender Bar was snubbed completely with zero nominations.
• Ruth Negga (Passing) was phenomenal, but again, when I complain about snubs, I have to ask who I would knock out of the category, and I'm not sure I can pick one (probably Kristen Stewart for Spencer)

AND, after years of talking about it, the Academy finally combined the Sound Mixing and Sound Editing categories into one, Best Sound.  I guess reducing the categories from 24 to 23 will really shorten that broadcast.  (Cue: eye roll)  Though this means that I don't have to explain the difference in the blog this year, I'm sad that this is another way that the technical categories have their value reduced among Oscars enthusiasts.

Overall, wonderful nominations this year, more diversity among the nominees (which means more diverse stories being told), and not many duds among the nominees.  Look for a lot of "I liked it" in this year's blog.  If you're really excited about listening to me talk, don't forget about my podcast "2 Movie Jews," which I co-host with the best Rabbi ever to have gone to film school, Yechiel Hoffman.  Download wherever you get your podcasts.

Now, let's get watching!