The Oscars released this year’s list of nominees, so now it’s time for a casual moviegoer to pick apart professional opinions.
First off, I have to say the academy did a pretty good job this year with the nominees.
There weren’t too many snubs compared to other years, but there was one big oversight and we’ll get into that later.
The best picture nominees are what you would expect, half are good movies and the other half are designed to specifically win awards.
Nomadland, The Trial of the Chicago Seven, and Mank are this year’s Oscar-bait movies, don’t get me wrong, they’re all well-made movies but they lack the same originality and soul of the other nominees.
Seriously, Mank is about the writing of Citizen Kane, how pretentious can you get?
In my opinion, Sound of Metal, The Father and Minari are the best movies of the year.
Sound of Metal deals with a heavy metal drummer’s downward spiral after he begins to lose his hearing, with an outstanding performance by Riz Ahmed.
The Father also deals with loss, but instead of a man’s hearing, it’s the loss of an elderly man’s memory as he deals with Alzheimer’s. The movie features two absolutely heartbreaking performances by Olivia Coleman and Anthony Hopkins.
Minari focuses on a Korean family moving to Arkansas to pursue the American dream, the movie does a great job of breaking your heart throughout the movie and piecing it back together by the end.
Minari is the only foreign-language film in the running for best picture, as they look to keep the streak going after Parasite’s win last year.
While Nomadland is currently the frontrunner to win (Please don’t do this Oscars, there’s much better movies) Sound of Metal and Judas and the Black Messiah are gaining steam and may come out with the victory.
Now we get to my rant.
What do the Oscars have against Delroy Lindo?
What does this man have to do to get some recognition?
Lindo’s performance in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods was spectacular, it was one of the best displays of acting I’ve seen in years and possibly ever.
Lindo’s performance shows the brutal look of a Vietnam veteran returning to Vietnam while struggling with PTSD and his own guilt and features a Shakespearean style monologue with Lindo looking into the camera that will give you chills.
On Twitter, @RICHARDNEWBY, a freelance movie writer also expressed his frustration with the snub.
“Delroy Lindo’s performance in the Da 5 Bloods is as good as and in a number of cases better than the Best Actor winners of the past decade at least. So great I felt scorched by his performance. Sorry, I’m still not over this egregious snub.”
Same here Richard, I’m also not over this, even though it really doesn’t impact me at all.
The Academy knows they don’t have to nominate Gary Oldman every year, right?
Oldman was good in Mank, but it was the safe pick.
A famous actor, playing a famous writer, who wrote one of the most famous movies of all time, of course that’s going to get a nomination from a group of predominantly old white men patting themselves on the back.
Lindo’s performance was bold, new and powerful, perhaps too powerful for the Academy, who seem contempt to continue praising any movie that’s about Hollywood.
If the Oscars aren’t going to give Lindo the respect he deserves, it’s time everyone else does, because Lindo is a master of acting and it’s time he got more recognition.
Rant over.
