Five days after the announcement of OSCAR nominees, I am just now posting my annual Outrage! post, and I must admit, my heart is not in it this year.
Sure, the #1 Outrage! is the exclusion of Greta Gerwig as Best Director for the wondrous "Little Women" -- surely one of the Top Five Movies of the Year. It was a Snub to be sure, but not a Surprise. The previous (lesser) award nominations ALL snubbed her in favor of an all-male group -- with the notable exception of the Critic's Choice Awards, which effortlessly has offered a solution to all the Academy's bad press over the years by having SEVEN nominees in a category (!).
But when there are only five slots, who gets bumped in favor of Greta? I can't speak to the merit of Sam Mendes (whose "1917" I have yet to see), but the other four nominees are certainly deserving. (You can't bump Marty Scorsese, even though he sold out to Netflix).
The lack of ethnic diversity in the acting categories likewise doesn't get me worked up: 1) what's new?; 2) I do not see any major snubs here (no doubt influenced by me not seeing "The Farewell" and by my personal dislike of J-Lo and Eddie Murphy).
But tradition being tradition, I must work-up my Outrage! for (yet again) the category of BEST ORIGINAL SCORE ! WTF?
I'm not even outraged anymore by those two hardy perennials RANDY NEWMAN and JOHN (f*ing) WILLIAMS: I get it, they write the same music they've been writing for, what, 44 years? (Star Wars, 1976) , and a nomination is guaranteed.
Again, I cannot comment on Thomas Newman's score for "1917." But the *new* Academy darling in this category is Alexandre Desplat, and his score for the aforementioned "Little Women" is the one glaring flaw in an otherwise great film. YES! It is cloying, insistent and overbearing -- and oftentimes drowns out the real emotion of a scene. Over-scored films often try to hide weaknesses in the script. But in Little Women, there ARE NO WEAKNESSES! Just shut-up and let the scene play out!
IMHO, there is a clear winner in this category : the lovely 37-year old Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir (pictured below). Her Score for "Joker" was bracing, original, and enhanced the tone of the film. If Hildur doesn't win her first Oscar, I WILL be truly Outraged!
HILDUR
