This will be the 95^th Academy Awards that will be airing on Sunday March 12^th on ABC. I have always loved the Oscars. I used to watch the Oscars Preshow on E!. When that would end, I would switch over to ABC to watch their Red Carpet before the show were to begin. Some years were better than others. 2004 was a good one for me. That was the year Lord of the Rings: Return of the King swept the awards. They won all eleven nominations including Best Picture. I thought it was well deserved. I have only missed the Oscars a few times. Once or twice was during college. I don’t remember if it was once or twice. I know it definitely was once. I did not see the Oscars last year because I had work. I also did not watch it afterward. I did DVR it but I decided there was not a point to watch it. The Oscars have always been long. I never had a problem with that. Since I was busy with work, I knew there would not be time to watch it which is why I decided to skip it. I am aware of the Will Smith/Chris Rock slap incident. It was all over the news. As I recall, I think there were not many exciting nominees last year. It has seemed that lately even before the pandemic that the nominees have been less exciting. This is my personal opinion. A lot of the nominations stem from things I have never heard of.

I am not sure if I am going to watch the Oscars this year. I would like to. There are several factors that will determine if this will happen, one including my work schedule. Based on the nominations I am not that excited for the show. There are ten Best Picture nominees. Out of the ten nominees I have only seen two of them. I have seen Avatar: The Way of Water, which I think almost everybody has seen. I also have seen Top Gun: Maverick which I think is another one that almost everybody and their grandmother has seen. Top Gun and Avatar are the two highest grossing films of 2022 which also probably means neither one will win the award. Top Gun: Maverick might have a better shot at winning Best Picture over Avatar but realistically it will go to another film. I have not seen Elvis or Everything Everywhere All At Once. Those are two films I am hoping to try to see before the Oscars. The rest of the movies that are nominated for Best Picture I have no interest in seeing. I have never heard of All Quiet on the Western Front. I am only vaguely familiar with Tar and The Banshees of Inisherin. I know what The Fabelmans is. The trailer was attached to a few movies I went to see in the fall. I heard of Triangle of Sadness in name only. I have no idea what its about. I have also heard of Women Talking. It is not necessary to have seen every single film, but lately it seems the numbers have been dwindling for how many films I have seen. I have not seen any of the films nominated for last year’s Oscars for Best Picture and the same for the year before that. I like all kinds of movies and I will see all kinds of movies. In more recent years it seems the Oscars is a bit more disconnected than usual. A common complaint has been that people have never seen or heard of half of the nominations. That seems to become truer and truer each year.

Animated Feature Film is another category that I have not seen most of the nominations. The nominees are Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Sea Beast, and Turning Red. I have only seen Puss in Boots: The Last Wish which I loved. The only films I will probably see at some point are Turning Red and Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio. Pinocchio looks interesting and I am a fan of stop motion. I love Pixar. At some point I will check out Turning Red. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is the highest grossing film in this category.  

The acting categories, I know who most of the actors are. I have not seen most of the films they are nominated for. That will change if I get to see Elvis and Everything Everywhere All At Once. I did get to see Angela Bassett in Blank Panther: Wakanda Forever which I thought she was amazing in. I think she deserves to be nominated.

Something I was surprised about was the fact Marvel did not land many nominations, even in the typical categories that those films wind up in. Even Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was not able to secure a lot of nominations especially compared to Black Panther which was also nominated for Best Picture. Maybe this years crop of films will have a better shot for next year’s.

I still enjoy the Oscars. I am hoping the Oscars will be a little more open minded in the future. It seems they are still very particular about who gets nominated and who ends up winning. This is similar to the Grammys as well. Avatar: The Way of Water is a huge hit and for the most part audiences enjoyed the movie. I think it is safe to say this will not win Best Picture. Top Gun: Maverick has a better shot but I would not be surprised if Best Picture goes to a film that no one really saw. Top Gun was a huge hit and a crowd pleasure. Elvis also did very well in theaters too. Everything Everywhere All At Once was a surprise hit. It does have a good shot at winning Best Picture. Out of the nominees for Best Picture these would be the four highest grossing nominees. One thing that has made the Oscars great is its unpredictability. It was always a nice surprise when someone wins an award you weren’t expecting. Sometimes there would be the edge of your seat battles in various categories not knowing who will come out as the victor. That does not seem to be much of a factor these days. It seems by the time the Oscars roll around everyone knows for the most part who will win the Oscars. I hope one day the Oscars will become event television again like it once was. Just like the Grammys and live award shows in general, the Oscars have had lower ratings each year. Maybe this year it will pick up a bit. The Grammys did have higher ratings this year than last year. One will have to wait and see.