Hey guys!  Today the Academy released it’s Oscar nominations and here are my reactions:

If you don’t want to watch the video basically I will sum it up.  I don’t get the love for Bridge of Spies.  It was dull, conventional and average.  Particularly the nomination for best screenplay I find baffling but as I seem to be one of the only people I know who feels that way I can’t say I am surprised. At least it isn’t offensive like last year’s baffling nominee and winner Birdman.

I was surprised to see no nomination for Aaron Sorkin for Steve Jobs– especially with how much the liberal Hollywood love his writing. Steve Jobs was way better written than Bridge of Spies.  Come on?  Nice to see Adam McKay get nominated for Best Director for Big Short and was surprised he took Ridley Scott’s spot for The Martian.  There was little love for Quentin Tarantino’s Hateful Eight and that surprised me a little bit.

I’ve actually seen all 8 of the best picture nominations and aside from Bridge of Spies they are fine.  I would have subbed out Creed or Inside Out for Bridge of Spies but again in minority on that one.

I was glad to see Inside Out get a nomination for best original screenplay and Brooklyn for adapted screenplay.

I think the documentary Amy is overrated and uses too much home video.  I didn’t find out anything I didn’t already know.  To me it was kind of shallow but again in minority on that one.

The most absurd nomination of the night is The Revenant for production design.  The whole thing is basically set in the snow!  Are we giving the team credit for designing the snow, forest and river?  Ridiculous.  Brooklyn, Carol, Cinderella, Star Wars: The Force Awakens all had much better production design than The Revenant.

But expect The Revenant and Spotlight to take home big awards come February.  Sylvester Stallone in Creed and Kate Winslet will win supporting actor trophies.

I was glad to see A Bear’s Story, World of Tomorrow and Sanjay’s Super Team all get nominated for Animated Short.  They are all excellent.  World of Tomorrow should win if enough voters have seen.  I don’t even understand it completely but it should win.

And now for the big snub….

No nomination for the Peanuts Movie.  It is ridiculous.  To me it was exactly what a Peanuts movie should be.  If you think about the specials they are about Charlie Brown trying to gain confidence.  The Great Pumpkin is really the only one that has a complex plot.  Think about the Christmas special it is about Charlie Brown worrying about the holidays.  The Thanksgiving special is about him trying to make a meal for his friends.  What were people expecting storywise? I don’t get it!

I at least got exactly what I wanted.  A story about Charlie Brown gaining confidence to talk to the Red Haired Girl.  It was sweet.  It was emotional, and it was funny.  And even if you don’t love the plot the animation was so great.  The use of the hybrid animation with a flat 2D style combined with CG was brilliant and groundbreaking and deserved a nomination.  It really did.

All I know is Boy and the World better be really great.  That came out of nowhere but maybe it will be 2015’s Song of the Sea and it will all make sense after I see it.

For now I’m sad for Peanuts but in the end it’s the Oscars.  They usually get it wrong (Birdman winning over Boyhood…) so I don’t really care.

And we have to listen to Chris Rock host.  Groan.  But I’m sure there will be a few nice moments and at least this year I’ve seen all 8 nominees, so there’s that.

What did you think of the nominations?  Put in the comments section.  Thanks!