From \u201cArgo\u201d to \u201cThe Artist,\u201d from \u201cChicago\u201d to \u201cShakespeare in Love,\u201d from \u201cAmadeus\u201d to \u201cThe Sound of Music,\u201d from \u201cAnnie Hall\u201d to \u201cWest Side Story,\u201d the Academy has bestowed best picture honors upon myriad films that are either musicals or are about artists and the artistic process.
\u201cLa La Land\u201d is both.
How impressive are the 14 total nominations awarded Tuesday to Damien Chazelle\u2019s triumph? Consider there are 24 main categories, and \u201cLa La Land\u201d was ineligible for seven: foreign language film, documentary, animated film, documentary short, live short, one of the two screenplay awards and animated short. Barring multiple nominations in the acting or song categories, 14 is very close to touching the ceiling on the number of nominations any film will ever get.
For years I\u2019ve railed about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and its tradition of racing through its award nominees at approximately 5:30 a.m. PST, with almost no pomp or circumstance or sense of timing. A couple of familiar faces would read the nominees, we\u2019d hear a smattering applause or startled reactions from the off-camera media \u2014 and that would be that. BORING.
After Tuesday\u2019s presentation, which featured taped interviews with past winners and nominees and Oscar hosts, interspersed with announcements made in the form of black on white graphics accompanied by a disembodied voice that sounded like the virtual reality offspring of Alexa and Siri, I say bring back the boring.
ABC Digital took the blame for posting the inaccurate information and issued an apology \u201cto the Academy, press and fans for any confusion.\u201d
Everybody likes to talk about \u201csurprises\u201d and \u201csnubs\u201d when nominees are announced, but with so many awards shows taking place prior to the Oscars, and so many websites featuring expert analysts that can break it down for you as if they\u2019re handicapping the Kentucky Derby, most of the selections were essentially carved in stone (or at least in engraved envelopes) well before Tuesday morning.
That said, there were some notable moments.
Viola Davis became the first African-American actress to with three Academy Award nominations. Davis, Negga, Denzel Washington, Naomie Harris, Mahershala Ali, Dev Patel and Octavia Spencer received nominations for a total of seven out of 20 nods in the acting categories going to people of color, an all-time record for the Oscars.
This comes after there was a total of zero nominations for minorities out of 40 the last two years, leading to the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite and much talk (and, to be fair, some action) about making the Academy Awards \u2014 and the Oscars themselves \u2014 more diverse.
Here\u2019s hoping we reach the day when we don\u2019t even have to engage in this type of scoreboard watching.
One of the mild surprises was the lack of a nod for Academy favorite Adams, even though \u201cArrival\u201d was nominated in other categories including best picture and best director.
Obviously each and every actor nominated for an Oscar is a talented artist \u2014 but had it been to me (he says with narcissistic assertion), I would have made room for Adams\u2019 work in \u201cArrival,\u201d Taraji P. Henson\u2019s performance in \u201cHidden Figures\u201d and Tom Hanks\u2019 achievement in \u201cSully.\u201d
Hollywood has apparently forgiven Mel Gibson. His \u201cHacksaw Ridge\u201d received a nomination for best picture and for best director, and for Andrew Garfield\u2019s lead performance.
Michael Shannon\u2019s performance in \u201cNocturnal Animals\u201d was one of the best things about the film \u2014 but it was still a bit startling to hear his name called as one of the nominees for best supporting actor, taking the spot most had reserved for Hugh Grant (\u201cFlorence Foster Jenkins\u201d).
And \u201cFinding Dory,\u201d once thought to be a favorite for best animated feature, wasn\u2019t even nominated.
I would given nods to \u201cLights Out\u201d and \u201cZootopia\u201d for best picture \u2014 but horror films are rarely taken seriously come awards time, and as long as there\u2019s a best animated category, it\u2019s going to be exceedingly difficult for a film of that genre to crossover to traditional best picture territory.
The Oscars will be televised on Feb. 26. Given the number of nominations for \u201cLa La Land,\u201d and the Academy\u2019s love for movies that celebrate the art of moviemaking, expect a lot of dancing in the aisles for the cast and the makers of the globally popular musical.<\/p>\n

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Sentiment rank: 3.5<\/div>\n

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