It has become an annual tradition on the third (or fourth) Tuesday in January: the Academy releases its nominations at 5:37 am Pacific Time, and I release my outrage that evening! Only this year, I'm Naming Names!
Here now are four undeserving nominees, and the deserving people from whom they unfairly stole the spotlight:
1. MERYL STREEP -- it is no surprise that Meryl received her 200th nomination for playing Washington Post publisher Katherine 'Kay' Graham in Steven Spielberg's "The Post." It was a good performance...nothing as bad as her ill-conceived turns in "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Doubt" (Lord have mercy). But to deny a spot to either one of these two exceptional actresses is nothing short of unpatriotic (and probably treasonous): MICHELLE WILLIAMS in "All the Money in the World" and the lovely JESSICA CHASTAIN as Molly Bloom in the under-rated "Molly's Game." To add insult to injury, these two fine films received ONE nomination each compared to "The Post's" TWO!
2. DENZEL WASHINGTON -- a Best Actor nomination for a movie no one saw. Just last year, he was nominated for "Fences." It was a craven move by the Academy, to avoid any possible #MeToo unpleasantness by nominating JAMES FRANCO for his exceptional work in "The Disaster Artist." Craven, aka chicken-sh*t.
3. BEST VISUAL EFFECTS -- I saw three movies this year that were so bad I had to resurrect my occasional "Worst Movies" list. One of those movies was KONG: SKULL ISLAND. For it to receive even one nomination, when all it deserves is eternal scorn, is another outrage. For its schlocky, Grade-B movie visuals to receive recognition instead of the jaw-dropping work in DUNKIRK is laughable.
4. And finally (you knew it was coming) ... JOHN WILLIAMS! Even I cannot be too upset with Mr. Williams receiving his 201st nomination for BEST SCORE for his work on "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." That franchise is his bread-and-butter, after all (unlike the more typical hack-work he mailed-in to "The Post.") It would not be beneath the Oscars to nominate him twice, but what they SHOULD HAVE done was nominate twice the man who produced the two best film scores of the year: HANS ZIMMER, who provided the scores to both DUNKIRK (nominated) and BLADE RUNNER: 2049 (not nominated).
I will still be watching The Oscars, Sunday, March 4th on ABC!
