Your points are all valid. Want to write next years piece? I almost guarantee US will be up there in the best picture slot, even though horror films are never given a shot. Is it because all the actors are black? Maybe. I haven’t seen it yet, so I don’t know. But I will be super stoked for Peele regardless of how he gets on that stage. Let’s be 100% clear here, I’m trying to discuss the Academy, and the crazy politics that are involved here, not the racial inequalities of America. And yet, they are all intertwined. And if Peele is able to get attention to smaller, mindjob movies as a result of this tidal wave response to past inequalities, I’ll be all the happier.

Hrm. I should do an 2019 Oscar THiNC. Low Budget List. Maybe it’d look something like this:

Best Editor: Joe Bini (You were never really here)
Best Female Actor: Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place)
Best Male Actor: Nicholas Cage (Mandy)
Best Documentary: American Animals
Best Director: Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)
Best Movie: First Reformed (Or Roma, if I must defer to Shelby, sheesh)

I was just going to write a quick flash in the pan response, and ended up basically writing a real post for THiNC. hehehe. Ah well.
Tay

I think Roma should’ve won Best Picture, and I know a lot of people are upset that Green Book won. I haven’t seen it yet though (and there should be a law that says all films nominated for Best Picture have to set the dvd release date before the Oscars – come on!)

There should be a category for low budget greatness. That would be Upgrade for me. Probably my favorite film of the year.

Black Panther I agree should not have won (and it didn’t) but I understand the desire to nominate it. In terms of a movie, it was decent. But the social impact? HUGE. Name a movie with an almost entirely black cast (which also showed African culture), that was a blockbuster (aka wide-reaching and profitable) AND that people of all types ENJOYED. Black Panther I think was the first. We are now seeing more and more black casts (and thankfully not from Tyler Perry) so I think this is a great thing for our society. We are a diverse nation and our movies should emulate that diversity.

Like I said, I totally understand the sentiment of nominating Black Panther due to the social impact. After all, Best Picture nominations should be movies that we will remember in 50 years. They should have had an impact. This is obviously not always the case (Shakespeare in Love, anyone?) but I think they generally try to get a decent list of nominations.