Worst2First: My Top Ten Biggest Oscar Surprises & Snubs

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Worst2First: 
My Top Ten Biggest Oscar Surprises & Snubs
For a cinephile like me, the Oscars are the crowning achievement in cinema.  There's no other awards show I anticipate more than the Academy Awards, and the nominations were just announced this week.  As usual there was a lot I wasn't surprised with, but there were some this year that either made me scratch my head, or make my anticipation all the more greater for when the awards are finally given out.

Here are my top ten Oscar surprises and snubs, Worst2First...


#10
No Nominations for Deadpool

While I wasn't expecting Ryan Reynolds to get a Best Actor nomination, nor a Best Picture nod, I was surely expecting it to garner some nominations in the technical categories (especially for Costume Design and Makeup and Hair Styling), especially after earning several Golden Globe, Writers Guild, Producers Guild and other nominations.  However, the film was entirely shut out, but no doubt Ryan Reynolds will have the last laugh as he's serving as a presenter at the festivities.





#9
Suicide Squad gets an Oscar nomination for Makeup and Hair Styling

Not only did Deadpool not get a nomination here, but Suicide Squad - easily one of the worst films of last year - got a nomination for Makeup and Hair Styling.  Sure, the effects were pretty amazing, especially with Killer Croc, but it was still surprising to see this subpar comic book action movie get a nomination while the much more deserving Deadpool didn't.





#8
No nominations for Elle

Even though it won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film - as well as giving its lead star Isabelle Huppert the surprise Golden Globe win for Best Actress in a Drama - the French film Elle was completely shut out of the Best Foreign Film category.






#7
Mel Gibson nominated for Best Director

After years of being shunned by Hollywood due to his...erratic...nature, Mel Gibson returned true to form with the powerful Hacksaw Ridge, and the Academy decided to award him with a Best Director nomination, edging out other deserving directors like Martin Scorsese (Silence), Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals), Denzel Washington (Fences) and Clint Eastwood (Sully).





#6
No nomination for Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Nocturnal Animals was definitely a one-of-a-kind film, and it's Aaron Taylor-Johnson's performance as the sociopath Ray Marcus that really hit a nerve, so much so it won him the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe.  Many people felt that win would propel him to Oscar nomination status, but he was shut out and instead his fellow Nocturnal Animals actor Michael Shannon (who also deserves the nomination) got the Best Supporting Actor nomination. 





#5
No nomination for Finding Dory

The second highest grossing movie of 2016 - as well as a surprisingly powerful Pixar sequel - was easily a shoe-in for not just a nomination for Best Animated Feature, but easily would win it as well.  At least that's what I thought, until the nominations were announced and Dory was shut out of the Best Animated Feature nomination, and instead they went with Moana.  Pixar has had a stellar record with the Academy, so seeing Dory not nominated here was truly a shock - especially since its predecessor, Finding Nemo, won the Oscar.





#4
No nomination for Taraji P. Henson

Hidden Figures was an extremely delightful, insightful, thought-provoking movie that featured three powerful African American women who helped NASA in its great space race, and rightfully earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Octavia Spencer, but its lead, the ever wonderful Taraji P. Henson, was surprisingly shut out of the Best Actress category.





#3
No nomination for Amy Adams

Amy Adams is an Oscar darling, having been nominated five times in her long, stellar career.  In 2016 she starred in not just one, but two, Oscar-caliber movies (Arrival and Nocturnal Animals).  While no one expected a Nocturnal Animals nomination, I was surprised she wasn't nominated for Best Actress for her powerful performance in Arrival. 





#2
La La Land receives a record 14 nominations

The magical musical La La Land swept the Golden Globes with a record-breaking eight wins, so it comes as no surprise it would be honored by the Academy as well, and the result is fourteen nominations, which ties the record with All About Eve, Titanic, Ben-Hur and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for nominations.  Not only that, but it stands a very good chance of joining the ranks of It Happened One Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Silence of the Lambs in winning the "big 5" - Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress.  Either way, I fully expect La La Land to sweep up some major Oscars this year.





#1
Culturally diverse nominees

The last two years the Oscars was met with criticism after the major categories (Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress) were all white people, leading to the hashtag #oscarssowhite.  This year, seven of the twenty acting nominees are people of color, and it's not just because the Academy Awards wanted to nominate people of different races, but they truly deserved it.  2016 gave some powerfully moving culturally diverse films - from Fences to Hidden Figures to Lion and Moonlight - there was no shortage of actors to pick for the top awards.  Denzel Washington gets his sixth acting nomination, and Ruth Negga earns her first for Loving.  For the Best Supporting categories, there's Mahershala Ali (Moonlight), Naomie Harris (Moonlight), Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) and the frontrunner Viola Davis (Fences).  Not only that, but films that celebrate cultural diverseness were also honored with Best Picture nominations (Fences, Lion, Hidden Figures, Moonlight).  For the Best Documentary Oscar, films such as I Am Not Your Negro, 13th, and OJ: Made in America were honored with nominations, and even those behind the scenes were honored.  Joi McMillion earned an Editing nomination for Moonlight, becoming the first African American woman to be nominated in the editing category, and Bradford Young, the cinematographer behind Arrival, was also nominated.



The 89th Academy Awards will air on ABC on February 26th.  You can bet I'll be watching it!

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