UMD students provide insight and reactions to the Oscar Nominees
All the posters for the Best Picture nominees. Retrieved from Goldderby.com
Starting at 7 pm on Sunday, February 9th, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be handing out their annual awards to various groups of workers in the Film Industry, the Oscars. Some film buffs here at UMD provided some reactions and predictions to the nominations.
Cory Knudsen is a Sophomore at UMD who has seen 8 of the 9 nominated films for Best Picture, with “Parasite” being the lone anomaly. When asked about how the year was for film Knudsen said, “I thought last year was a really good year for movies, I thought all the Best Picture nominees were really deserving.”
Knudsen did add that there were some movies from earlier in the year that did not get any recognition, but acknowledged that movies from early in the year rarely get any recognition.
Cole Brainerd is a Sophomore at UMD as well, who has seen 8 of the 9 nominated films for Best Picture as well, except the one he has not seen is “Ford v Ferrari”. Brainerd agreed with the nominations for the most part as well, but felt that “Joker” was not as good as the amount of nominations made it seem.
Something that both Knudsen and Brainerd strongly believe was wrong was the fact that Greta Gerwig, the Director of “Little Women”, was not nominated for Best Director. Brainerd said, “that was a bad decision on their part, and frankly I think it just goes against their whole model of diversity.”
Brainerd admitted “Little Women” and Gerwig’s work on the film were “leaps and bounds” better than “Joker” and Todd Phillips’ nomination in the category.
Knudsen also whole-heartedly agreed, saying “I think it’s kind of disappointing because I mean the movie didn’t make itself… I would take a couple of people out and put her in.” Brainerd believes it is especially disappointing because Gerwig should be in consideration to at the very least, but with her snub, that is not possible.
Gerwig was the most talked about snub by both Brainerd and Knudsen, as well as many other critics and fans from around the industry, but the two UMD students talked about many others as well.
Retrieved from a24films.com
Brainerd was upset about Willem Dafoe’s snub for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in “The Lighthouse”. “That whole performance was just so fun to watch” Brainerd said. The fact that Dafoe has been nominated multiple times before and never won was also upsetting to him as well. Another big snub was the entire cast of “Parasite” according to Brainerd, given that it has consistently been thought of as one of the best movies of the year, with the cast seen as a big reason why.
For Knudsen, the other big snub from the nominations was that Adam Sandler did not get nominated for Best Actor for his role in “Uncut Gems” as “a charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score” according to the film’s site.
Many other film critics have also listed Sandler as one of the biggest snubs from the nominations, with Business Insider saying “Diving headfirst into the wildness that is a Josh and Benny Safdie movie, Sandler put together a performance as a degenerate gambler that made "Uncut Gems" into a movie we will be talking about for years.”
Below is a list of the “major” categories, with predictions on who is going to win, who should win, and then the biggest snub in each category given by Brainerd and Knudsen.
Best Picture
Poster for “1917”, the favorite to win Best Picture. Retrieved from 1917.movie
Nominees:
“Ford v Ferrari”
“The Irishman”
“Jojo Rabbit”
“Joker”
“Little Women”
“Marriage Story”
“1917”
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
“Parasite”
Cory Knudsen:
Who Will Win: “1917”
Who Should Win: “Marriage Story”
Biggest Snub: “Us”
Cole Brainerd:
Who Will Win: “1917”
Who Should Win: “Marriage Story”
Biggest Snub: “The Lighthouse”
“Us” was Knudsen’s favorite movie of the year based on the fact that Jordan Peele is a fantastic director and he pays attention to even the smallest details. “Marriage Story” is however a close second due to the fact that it is so real and authentic, as well as very personal due to the fact that it is about a couple getting a divorce, and Knudsen’s parents went through a divorce as well. “Marriage Story” is available to stream on Netflix. Although “Marriage Story” was Knudsen and Brainerd’s favorite movie of the nominees, they believe “1917” is going to win due to the fact that it has won Best Drama at the Golden Globes as well as the big prize at the Producers Guild Awards (PGA). “The Lighthouse” was an overall snub to Brainerd, with it’s only nomination coming in the Best Cinematography category.
Best Director
Greta Gerwig (Left) on set of “Little Women” with Saoirse Ronan. Retrieved from msn.com.
Nominees:
Martin Scorsese, “The Irishman”
Todd Phillips, “Joker”
Sam Mendes, “1917”
Quentin Tarantino, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
Bong Joon Ho, “Parasite”
Cory Knudsen:
Who Will Win: Mendes
Who Should Win: Tarantino
Biggest Snub: Greta Gerwig, “Little Women”
Cole Brainerd:
Who Will Win: Joon Ho
Who Should Win: Joon Ho
Biggest Snub: Greta Gerwig, “Little Women”
Best Actress
Renee Zellweger portrays the famous actress Judy Garland in “Judy”, who was famous for her role as Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz”. Retrieved from npr.org
Nominees:
Cynthia Erivo, “Harriet”
Scarlett Johansson, “Marriage Story”
Saoirse Ronan, “Little Women”
Charlize Theron, “Bombshell”
Renee Zellweger, “Judy”
Cory Knudsen:
Who Will Win: Zellweger
Who Should Win: Johansson
Biggest Snub: Lupita Nyong’o, “Us”
Cole Brainerd:
Who Will Win: Zellweger
Who Should Win: Johansson
Biggest Snub: None
Best Actor
Joaquin Phoenix gives more of a backstory to the famous villain in “Joker”. Retrieved from looper.com
Nominees:
Antonio Banderas, “Pain and Glory”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
Adam Driver, “Marriage Story”
Joaquin Phoenix, “Joker”
Jonathan Pryce, “The Two Popes”
Cory Knudsen:
Who Will Win: Phoenix
Who Should Win: Driver
Biggest Snub: Adam Sandler, “Uncut Gems”
Cole Brainerd:
Who Will Win: Phoenix
Who Should Win: Driver
Biggest Snub: Robert De Niro, “The Irishman”
Best Supporting Actress
Laura Dern (left) portrays Scarlett Johansson’s divorce lawyer in “Marriage Story”. Retrieved from cinemablend.com
Nominees:
Kathy Bates, “Richard Jewell”
Laura Dern, “Marriage Story”
Scarlett Johansson, “Jojo Rabbit”
Florence Pugh, “Little Women”
Margot Robbie, “Bombshell”
Cory Knudsen:
Who Will Win: Dern
Who Should Win: Dern
Biggest Snub: Jennifer Lopez, “Hustlers”
Cole Brainerd:
Who Will Win: Dern
Who Should Win: Dern
Biggest Snub: None
Best Supporting Actor
Brad Pitt portrays a stuntman for an aged actor in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”. Retrieved from cinemablend.com
Nominees:
Tom Hanks, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”
Anthony Hopkins, “The Two Popes”
Al Pacino, “The Irishman”
Joe Pesci, “The Irishman”
Brad Pitt, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
Cory Knudsen:
Who Will Win: Pitt
Who Should Win: Pitt
Biggest Snub: None
Cole Brainerd:
Who Will Win: Pitt
Who Should Win: Pitt (Dafoe if he was nominated)
Biggest Snub: Willem Dafoe, “The Lighthouse”
A full list of nominees can be found here.