2020 Oscar Nominations / Biggest Surprises and Snubs

I love movies. I love this time of year when some of my favorite movies of the year are recognized at the Academy Awards. However, I am not a huge fan of Oscar-bait movies. I love movies when the director, actors, and crew come together to make a film out of passion, not to win awards. I think awards are just a little extra that filmmakers get for doing a great job. Period piece movies are boring as hell to me. And I hate when I watch a movie trailer and automatically think it is just trying to win an Oscar. It immediately takes me away from that film.

With that being said, I want to talk about the movies I am most excited about at the Academy Awards. I also want to talk about a few snubs and surprises that I was not expecting. I am not going to hit every category from the nomination list, just the ones I want to talk about and/or the ones I enjoy the most. So, let's get into it!!

"Ford v Ferrari"

"The Irishman"

"Jojo Rabbit"

"Joker"

"Little Women"

"Marriage Story"

"1917"

"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"

"Parasite"

I am not surprised by the movies on this list. I expected "Little Women" to get a nomination because it is a period piece movie that seems to fit the criteria. I expected "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", "The Irishman", "1917", and "Marriage Story" to get the nomination because they are beautiful movies by amazing directors. I am most excited to see "Joker" in this mix because that was my favorite movie in 2019.

I think my pick out of all of them would be "Joker" just for the fact that I loved what the cast and crew did with this character and how they made a beautiful looking comic book movie. However, I have not seen "1917" and I have heard great things about that film.

Martin Scorsese ("The Irishman")

Todd Phillips ("Joker")

Sam Mendes ("1917")

Quentin Tarantino ("Once Upon a Time in Hollywood")

Bong Joon Ho ("Parasite")

None of these directors surprised me with their nominations. I expected to see this list right here. I am, once again, most excited about Todd Phillips getting a nomination for "Joker." He surprised me when I first watched the film and I think he deserves this nomination. He is up against some of the best in Hollywood so it will be exciting to see what happens this year at the Academy Awards. I think ti will probably go to Sam Mendes for his work on "1917" just because of how he did something unique in directing that film.

Antonio Banderas ("Pain and Glory")

Leonardo DiCaprio ("Once Upon a Time in Hollywood")

Adam Driver ("Marriage Story")

Joaquin Pheonix ("Joker")

Jonathan Pryce ("The Two Popes")

The only two on this list that came as a shock was Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce. I have not seen "Pain and Glory" or "The Two Popes", however, I felt like there were some other actors that may have been snubbed in this category ( we will talk about that later). I am, of course, super excited about Joaquin Pheonix getting the nomination. This guy is a powerhouse actor and deserves every award he is nominated for. I really think that he has this win in the bag as he was the most transformed actor with his role.

Tom Hanks ("A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood")

Anthony Hopkins ("The Two Popes")

Al Pacino ("The Irishman")

Joe Pesci ("The Irishman")

Brad Pitt ("Once Upon a Time in Hollywood")

As I said before, I have not seen "The Two Popes" yet so I do not know about Anthony Hopkins' role. He is a phenomenal actor so it does not come as a shock that he is being nominated. I am glad to see the nomination for Tom Hanks, though I do not think he will be the winner here. Joe Pesci and Al Pacino are up against the win in the same movie so I do not think they will win there. I am rooting for Brad Pitt for this one because I loved his role in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." He was cool, slick, and funny. He brought so much to the movie that I was not expecting. Brad Pitt for the win, in my opinion.

Cynthia Erivo ("Harriet")

Scarlett Johanson ("Marriage Story")

Saorise Ronan ("Little Women")

Charlize Theron ("Bombshell")

Renee Zellweger ("Judy")

I have not seen most of these movies in which these actresses are nominated for their roles. My main reason is that these movies came off as Oscar-bait to me. One of my favorite actresses working today is Scarlett Johanson. I think she gave a heartfelt and emotional performance in "Marriage Story" so my money is on her to win this year.

Kathy Bates ("Richard Jewell")

Laura Dern ("Marriage Story")

Scarlett Johanson ("Jojo Rabbit")

Florence Pugh ("Little Women")

Margot Robbie ("Bombshell")

Kathy Bates' nomination sticks out like a sore thumb to me because of the only nomination "Richard Jewell" received. However, I have not seen it and I am sure she is great. I have anticipated watching "Jojo Rabbit" but have not had the chance to just yet. I am confident that Scarlett Johanson is great, once again, in her role. She has had a great year in film. Laura Dern was fantastic in "Marriage Story". It might come down to those two actresses for me. Other than that, I have not seen or cared about other performances.

The biggest snub, in my opinion, is Adam Sandler ("Uncut Gems"). He gave a performance of a lifetime. Seeing that he is known for his comedy, to play a role like this deserves more recognition than he got.

Another big snub is Taron Egerton ("Rocketman"). This film was so amazing to me. It felt like a cinematic ride worth watching that did not follow the rules of every other biopic. Rami Malek WON the Oscar in the Best Actor category, so it thought it was set in stone that Egerton would at least be nominated. Nope. His performance was better than Malek's in my opinion.

Another huge snub was "Dolemite is My Name"... for anything. There was great costume design, great directing, great acting, yet no nominations. Eddie Murphey put in a performance that we had never seen but got no recognition. This one was a big let down.

It was my fantasy to see a movie such as "The Peanut Butter Falcon" appear in the nomination list. I did not expect it to be there but I was hopeful. Shia LaBeouf was just one of the great performances in this film. The great writing created in the film a heartfelt story that should be highlighted.

I was surprised that Robert DeNiro did not receive a nomination. Although "The Irishman" was not my favorite film of the year, I seriously enjoyed DeNiro's performance. Since Pesci and Pacino received a nomination, I wonder why DeNiro did not.