Yearly Archives: 2018

Oscars 2017: Who Should Win

Universal

Universal

Over the last decade, the Oscars have become more unpredictable than ever before.

There are no more “Titanic”-like sweeps. The Best Picture and Best Director prizes are getting split between two movies more and more. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway are reading the wrong winners onstage. And even when they are still getting it right every once in a while (that “Moonlight” surprise win), they still, in their classic way, continue to get it so wrong (in retrospect, “Boyhood” was a much more deserved winner than “Birdman”).

Because of this chaos, I will decline to predict for you who will win. Instead I will share who would be on my ballot, if I were a Hollywood insider who got free screeners and voting privileges:

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Oscars 2017: Who Got Snubbed

Amazon Studios/Lionsgate

Amazon Studios/Lionsgate

I never thought I’d see the day but the Oscars did a solid job this year.

It is a testament to the (extremely) slow progress of the Academy to see movies like “Get Out” and “Ladybird” landing major nominations. Seeing Jordan Peele, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Greta Gerwig’s names in the directing category, I want to root for all of them. And still, there’s room for Academy favorites like Meryl Streep and Steven Spielberg, and the kind of historical biopics (“The Darkest Hour”) that I will probably watch three days before the ceremony.

But as always, a few favorites were left in the dark. Here are the years most egregious Oscar snubs:

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