The B+ Oscar Ballot: Guide to the 98th Academy Awards
We broke a lot of barriers this year — multiple foreign Best Picture nominees, the overall nominations mark, a brand new category for casting, the highest concentration of nominations among top films. This year has six films with 8+ nominations. I don’t even have to look to know that’s the most there’s ever been.
Which tells me that, ultimately, we’re probably gonna settle into what’s been happening the past few years, which is sweeps at the top, and then a couple of categories that could go in surprising ways near the bottom of the ballot. So… mostly the same as always.
Though this year feels more fun because it feels like at least two acting categories (if not three) can legitimately go multiple ways. Normally we have three locked acting categories and one that feels open. There’s only one locked acting category at the moment. But then, below the line looks fairly locked. So it balances.
This is a year where I revel in focusing on a scorecard than straight winners and losers, because it’s pretty clear what the contenders are. So I don’t really have a horse in the race for what’s gonna win. I’m just gonna let them do what they do and see if I can figure it out. I’m also fortunate that a lot of things I like are going to win, so there’s very little room for disappointment and mostly I’ll just be happy for what wins. (more…)
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