7 take-aways from the 90th Academy Awards nominations
The 90th Oscar nominations offered no shocks or huge surprises on Tuesday morning.
Let's be honest. They were kind of a yawner.
Still, here are seven take-aways:
1. “Get Out” beat the odds.
Jordan Peele's horror-comedy defied Oscar conventions by securing a Best Picture nod, despite opening way, way back in February when Academy voters' memories tend to become a little fuzzy. Plus, horror-comedies aren't a genre beloved by snooty Academy voters. Yet it's unlikely that “Get Out” will follow the lead of Jonathan Demme's 1991 horror thriller “The Silence of the Lambs,” which won Best Picture despite opening on Valentine's Day a year earlier.
2. Another Spielberg snub.
Director Steven Spielberg didn't get a nod despite his movie “The Post” earning nominations for Best Picture and Best Actress (for Meryl Streep, her record-setting 21st nomination). But he's been there before when he was shut out of the 11 nominations for his 1984 drama “The Color Purple,” another Best Picture contender.
3. A disaster for artist Franco.
James Franco had been among the front-runners for a Best Actor nomination until allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denied, hit the media, sinking his nomination and allowing Denzel Washington to take his slot for his work in “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”
4. Need help? Call the Plummer.
Christopher Plummer was properly rewarded with a Supporting Actor nod for his amazing portrait of J. Paul Getty in “All the Money in the World.” He replaced disgraced actor Kevin Spacey only six weeks before the movie's opening date and gave a flawless performance as if he'd had six months of prep time.
5. It only took 90 years.
Three days after the second annual Women's March took place across the globe, “Mudbound” cinematographer Rachel Morrison marched into the Hollywood history books Tuesday by becoming the first female cinematographer to receive an Oscar nomination. Meanwhile, actress/director and mumblecore icon Greta Gerwig became the fifth woman ever nominated for Best Director for her work on the coming-of-age dramatic comedy “Lady Bird.”
6. Diversity arrives slowly.
Charming Thai actress Hong Chau had a shot at a nomination, but failed to snare one for her portrait of a Vietnamese refugee in “Downsizing.” But voters did recognize black actresses Octavia Spencer (“The Shape of Water”) and Mary J. Blige (“Mudbound”) in the Best Supporting category and both Washington and “Get Out” star Daniel Kaluuya in the Best Actor group. Despite the #OscarsSoWhite campaign to diversify the ranks of Academy voters, The New York Times reports the Academy remains 72 percent male and 87 percent white.
7. It's Water Vs. Billboards.
The battle lines for Best Picture are drawn between Guillermo del Toro's “The Shape of Water” with 13 nominations (including Director and Best Actress for Sally Hawkins) and Martin McDonagh's Coen-esque “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” with seven nominations (including Actress for Francis McDormand) plus Golden Globe and SAG wins.
The Oscars will be broadcast live on ABC Sunday, March 4, with second-time host Jimmy Kimmel.