Tribune News Service

Awards season is here and it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement. With the Grammys having just wrapped up, “Not Like Us” won multiple awards, becoming the most decorated song in the show’s history. Now, the Oscars are on the horizon, much like the three-hour movie you’ve keep meaning to finally watch.
The moment the nominees dropped, cinephiles reacted and discussed, making predictions like sports fans during March Madness. I’ve been paying less attention each year as the nominations is just a list of movies from last year I need to catch up on. The Oscars rarely reflect the absolute best of that year, often looking like a popularity contest, and that can lead to some picks aging like milk. Several all-time classics have lost to movies most people wouldn’t even recognize.
Despite two of the most celebrated and influential directors in the history of cinema, Stanley Kubrick’s won only one Oscar for visual effects in “2001: A Space Odyssey,”1968 and Alfred Hitchcock, a director known for suspense and groundbreaking cinematography, never won anything.
“How Green Was My Valley,” 1941, by John Ford is often mentioned as the director’s best non-cowboy work. Still, it snagged Best Picture from “The Maltese Falcon,” 1941, by John Houston and “Citizen Kane,” 1941, by Orson Welles. “The Maltese Falcon,” is arguably the most beloved classic-era film noir, and many critics and fans consider “Citizen Kane” to one of the most influential and greatest movies. Ford isn’t safe from a snub either, “The Searchers,” 1956, widely regarded as the defining great American Western, did not get a single nomination.
“Singin’ in the Rain,” 1952, by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, is the most iconic musical from Hollywood’s golden age, and it got a nomination for Supporting Actress and Score of a Musical, neither of which won. I’ve never heard anyone talk about the 1980 film “Ordinary People” by Robert Redford, other than mentioning how it won both Best Director and Best Picture, beating David Lynch’s “Elephant Man” and Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull.”
More recent years also have their fair share of baffling picks. It is hard to complain about Christoph Waltz winning Best Supporting Actor for “Django Unchained,” 2012, by Quentin Taratino, until you remember Samuel L. Jackson, from the same film, was also eligible for the same award. Despite playing the best character in “Django Unchained,” he didn’t even get a nomination.
The Academy did well picking the winners was 2020, especially with “Parasite,” by Bong Joon-ho, which might be the best movie of its decade, However, “Uncut Gems” by Josh and Benny Safdie and “The Lighthouse” by Robert Eggers deserved nominations for Adam Sandler’s and Willem Dafoe’s standout performances. While I’m pleased that “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” 2022, by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan swept the Awards, “Babylon” by Damien Chazelle, was overlooked because it was too scathing and targeted Hollywood’s upper crust.
There have always been unfair gaps in what gets the academy’s attention, as it often favors certain trends and tropes. The term “Oscar bait,” while sometimes overused, exists for a reason. Many kinds of movies don’t get the credit they deserve, but the Horror genre is especially slept on. From his first film, 2015’s “The Witch,” to “The Lighthouse,” 2019, to his new and excellent remake “Nosferatu,” Robert Eggers has never gotten the recognition he deserves, and not a single Ari Aster release (“Hereditary,” 2018, and “Midsommar,” 2019 and “Beau Is Afraid,” 2023) has been nominated. Even classic films everyone now loves can’t be spared from the voters’ elitist gaze.
The slasher sub-genre wouldn’t be the same without “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” 1974, by Tobe Hooper and it got nothing. Because of the nature of midnight movies, it didn’t get the attention it deserved. However, it’s still worth mentioning that award shows are rarely tapped into the cultural cutting edge.
Much less forgivable was the reaction to John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” 1982. I understand how it was too visceral and subversive for the moral busybodies of the Reagan era, but “Poltergeist,” 1982, by Tobe Hooper, an objectively worse looking and less impressive movie getting nominated over it for Best Visual Effects is proof that life was strange in the ‘80s.
Don’t even get me started on “E.T.,” 1992, by Steven Spielberg, also winning the Best Visual Effects category. Comparing the puppetry in both works is like comparing a base model Mustang to a Formula 1 engine. The initial reaction to the “The Shining,” 1980, by Stanley Kubrick is even worse. Nowadays, it’s rightfully seen as a classic because of its harrowing portrayals of domestic abuse. However, when the movie was released, it was widely and ruthlessly panned, earning Kubrick a Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst Director and Shelly Duvall a nomination for Worst Actress.
I don’t say any of this to detract from anyone’s enjoyment or discourage watching the event. It is no different than indulging in YouTuber drama or watching trash Reality TV like “Dance Moms.” It can be a lot of fun.
I’ve succumbed to the hype before and spent time drafting the perfect Oscar predictions and betting against my friends. Some people have family traditions around it.
The Oscars may be dumb, with Hollywood holding all the cards and the filmgoers tiny and powerless. But go ahead and watch the show if you think you’ll have fun and don’t forget to keep your eyes on the prize and remember that none of this matters.