MOVING PICTURES

‘The Contributor’ Presents: A Moving Pictures Academy Awards Special Spectacular Column

BY JOE NOLAN, FILM CRITIC

The Music City Film Critics Association announced its movie awards on Jan. 25, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its Oscar trophy nominees on Feb. 8. Now that we’ve all had a week to process the stars and stinkers on that list, it’s time to get down to the serious awards season business of sorting through the overrated and the overlooked, defending the honor of cinema art against the self-congratulatory spectacles of the mediocritizing marketplace, and even seeing if we can predict at least a winner or two.

One big parallel between the official Oscar nominations and the MCFCA winners are the two top race-runners: The Power of the Dog was the MCFCA’s top winner with four awards. Dune came in second with three awards. The Academy’s nominations have The Power of the Dog in the lead with 14 and Dune lagging behind at 10. The Power of the Dog won the MCFCA’s Best Picture award and it’s got very good chances here. This movie is deservedly recognized as one of the year’s best, and the optical politics of a subversive western focused on toxic masculinity directed by a woman can’t be ignored when it comes to an Oscar’s stage. That said, The Power of the Dog was a low-budget boutique art film made by the streaming platform Netflix. At a time when Hollywood is panicking about reviving the theatrical audience at the tail end of a pandemic, Dune’s $400 million — so far — box office receipts might be the thing Tinsel Town most wants to celebrate. When it comes to other nominations, Don’t Look Up was one of my favorite comedies of the year, but it’s not a serious Best Picture contender. Licorice Pizza had a great soundtrack and it’s also the most overrated movie of the year. Belfast might sneak into a number of winning columns, but my Best Picture prediction is Dune.

With that in mind, my pick for Best Director is Dune’s Denis Villeneuve because we all know that the Best Director makes the Best Picture. Which is why it's insane that Dune is up for an Oscar, but Villeneuve is not. The shocking snub is one of the biggest stories around the announcement of the official Oscar nominations, but some commentators think that Villeneuve getting overlooked in this category will actually make Dune’s chances at Best Picture even stronger. Of course, Jane Campion might be the main contender in this category, but, again, don’t overlook Kenneth Branagh for Belfast here either. Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza is the worst film he’s made so I’m pretending his nomination doesn’t exist, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car is only going to win Best International Feature Film. I predict Best Director for Campion, who also won the directing award from MCFCA.

The MCFCA awarded Best Actor honors to Nicolas Cage (Pig) and Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye). I don’t always agree with my fellow local film critics, but these two were my top nods and final picks for these awards. Cage didn’t actually get an Oscar nomination because the world is cruel and this is why we can’t have nice things. I’m simply going to pick Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth) because the nominations list had me at “Denzel Washington.” I’d love to see Chastain get a statue and she’s clearly the best of the bunch among other not-terrible nominees: Nicole Kidman stood-down her naysayers with Being the Ricardos, and Penelope Cruz is an imminently watchable actress. That said, Chastain gets my prediction Best Actress at the Oscars.

The 94th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on March 27, 2022.

Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.