Earlier this morning in Los Angeles, Tiffany Haddish and Andy Serkis announced the nominees for The 90th Academy Awards. Each category was introduced with a short film starring Priyanka Chopra, Rosario Dawson, Gal Gadot, Salma Hayek, and others. Personally, I liked the Gal Gadot one the best, but I like Gal in just about anything.
As for the films nominated, Guillermo del Toro’s lavish fantasy “The Shape of Water” lead the way with 13 nominations, followed by “Dunkirk” with eight, and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” with seven. Other nominated films included Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird,” which scored five nominations, and Jordan Peele’s social thriller “Get Out,” with four.
Below are some of the other nominees, but for the sake of time I’m only mentioning the big categories:
BEST PICTURE
“Call Me By Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Phantom Thread”
“The Post”
“The Shape of Water”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
BEST ACTOR
Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me By Your Name”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread”
Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”
Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour”
Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”
BEST ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”
Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”
Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”
Meryl Streep, “The Post”
BEST DIRECTOR
“Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan
“Get Out,” Jordan Peele
“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig
“Phantom Thread,” Paul Thomas Anderson
“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mary J. Blige, “Mudbound”
Allison Janney, “I, Tonya”
Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread”
Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”
Octavia Spencer, “The Shape of Water”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”
Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water”
Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World”
Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
ORIGINAL SCORE
“Dunkirk”
“Phantom Thread”
“The Shape of Water”
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
VISUAL EFFECTS
“Blade Runner 2049”
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”
“Kong: Skull Island”
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
“War for the Planet of the Apes”
ORIGINAL SONG
“Mighty River,” from “Mudbound”
“Mystery of Love,” from “Call Me By Your Name”
“Remember Me,” from “Coco”
“Stand Up For Something,” from “Marshall”
“This Is Me,” from “The Greatest Showman”
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“The Boss Baby”
“The Breadwinner”
“Coco”
“Ferdinand”
“Loving Vincent”
As usual with the Academy Awards, there were no real surprises. If anything, the surprises were all in who got snubbed. Once again Tom Hanks is out, as is Michelle Williams, and Steven Spielberg.
Perhaps a bigger surprise is the snub for James Franco. He won a Golden Globe for his role in “The Disaster Artist,” and got a SAG Award nomination but, in the last couple of weeks, Franco’s been under a cloud of harassment allegations, which might have played a role in the snub. Then again, maybe the Academy is still pissed he sleep walked through his hosting gig a few years back.
However, the biggest snub for me, was “Wonder Woman.” The film got shut out, not even a nomination in the technical categories. I was really hoping that Gal Gadot would earn a nomination for Best Actress at least. But I am shocked that director Patty Jenkins was not nominated as Best Director. What the hell is wrong with you Academy?
The 90th Academy Awards will air live on ABC on Sunday, March 4.
