The 94th Academy Awards nominations were announced today. On the whole, it’s a fair collection of some great films. This awards ceremony could always use more diversity—they’re still struggling to recognize enough non-white cast and crew—but it’s not a bad year in this sense.

As usual, I’m falling behind on the nominated films that I need to see before the ceremony; I’ve only seen 15% of them so far. I’ve been watching many older films lately and haven’t gotten a chance to see most of what’s on this list. My reluctance to go to the theater the last couple years hasn’t been helping remedy this situation either.

What I need to see, and soon:

I was delighted to see Drive My Car nominated in so many categories: Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Directing, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this film; I want to see it more than nearly anything else on the list. It’s unusual for an international feature film, and a Japanese one at that, to be recognized so broadly—this is the first to ever be nominated for Best Motion Picture.1 They tend to do well in the Best International Feature Film category.

From what I can tell, I would expect Dune and The Power of the Dog to do well, the former especially with its technical nominations. Dune will have a tough time with any of the major categories; the Academy is never favorable toward science fiction. Perennial Oscar favorite, Steven Spielberg, could do it again. If there was ever a film with Oscar bait written all over it, West Side Story would be the one; the original did win big in 1961.

There don’t appear to be any clear standouts among the acting categories. That should make for some exciting and surprising wins. I’m rooting hardest for Kristen Stewart for her work in Spencer. Who else did a better job this last year?

I have a soft spot for cinematography. This category always gets my rapt attention, and this year will be no different. The artistry and originality on display are astonishing, and every single nominee could easily walk away with the statue. It’s such a tough category that I’ll have an impossible time choosing a favorite. I believe Bruno Delbonnel is one of the greatest of all time, though, so make of that what you will…

I’m an unabashed fan of this awards ceremony. It has some salient issues that I believe they’re making an effort to address, albeit slowly. I’ll still be tuning in and celebrating every winner. It’s going to take place on March 27 in the lovely Dolby Theatre.2

  1. The last couple of years have been good to Korean cinema, though. Parasite and Minari have brought that country positive and well-deserved recognition. ↩︎

  2. How they’re going to deal with COVID is anyone’s guess at this point. I don’t think they’ll want to show any empty seats, so they’ll probably be cramming people into that large space. ↩︎