The day of the Oscars, which will take place in early March, is by far and away the most exciting day of the year, but I find nominations morning to be a close second. In that moment, you can see someone’s career change forever, and I’m always such a sucker for a well-made presentation. Here are three fast takeaways from this morning’s nods:

On the right side of history

While there’s always work to be done in terms of representation, it seems this Oscar ceremony was a notable step forward for recognizing multiple viewpoints and groups. For whatever reason, many people thought we’d have to choose between Greta Gerwig for “Lady Bird” and Jordan Peele for “Get Out” as Best Director nominees, while both, deservedly, managed to snag nominations.

Additionally, Rachel Morrison, director of photography for “Mudbound,” was the first woman ever nominated for Best Cinematography. Again, there’s a lot of work to be done moving forward, but this represents a step. In the past few years, the Academy has made a sizable effort to expand their membership to a younger, more diverse crowd, and their voices were heard in the nominations this morning.

In addition to representation, there’s the elephant in the room: harassment in Hollywood. The nominations again made a heck of a statement here. There’s no way to know if James Franco would have been nominated or not, had his harassment claims not come out, but the fact of the matter is that they did, and he stands today as an Oscar nominee only for “127 Hours” in 2011.

You can’t help but notice Christopher Plummer’s supporting actor nomination for “All the Money in the World,” where he replaced Kevin Spacey at the very last minute and did about eight days of reshoots. His nomination signals that the industry will reward you for pushing out harassment, while also recognizing Plummer’s industry clout. These nominations will never be perfect in terms of balancing political and artistic needs, but the announcement this morning is as good as you could probably hope to find.

The Orange can write a mean screenplay

Call me a homer, but you know what, a little school spirit never hurt anyone. It’s worth noting that Syracuse University alumni wrote not one, but two of the nominated films for best adapted screenplay. College of Visual and Performing Arts grad Aaron Sorkin is an Oscars regular, with a win for “The Social Network”and a nomination for “Moneyball,” so it’s not particularly surprising that his winter film “Molly’s Game” gained recognition this year.

On the other end of the spectrum though, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumnus Michael H. Weber will be celebrating his first nomination today for “The Disaster Artist,” which chronicles the can’t-be-made-up story of how Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero created “The Room.” “The Disaster Artist” isn’t your typical Oscar film, but Weber’s screenplay, which he co-wrote with Scott Neustadter, is a major reason it works, so the nomination is especially well deserved.

Finally, while we’re talking about screenplays, although not written by a Syracuse alum, but it’s certainly worth noting that “Logan” received a nomination, which is a rather historic feat for a superhero film.

This Best Picture crop is one of the best of all time —and the race is wide open

I love, love, love this group of Best Picture nominees. We have nine movies, and across these nine movies we really get a grasp of modern filmmaking that straddles genres, people and scale. Yes, we had some obvious choices. Your classic World War II biopic? Check it off the list. A Steven Spielberg film about some event in American history? Obviously, check it off the list. Historical war drama? Check it off the list.

The thing is though, it’s hard to argue that these films, while obvious Oscar films, are not deserving. There is room for these films to exist in addition to the more “out there” selections such as “The Shape of Water,” “Lady Bird” and “Get Out.” We have comedies, dramas, war films, big-budget studio films and small indies all on the list here, and I think this will be a special collection of films for years to come.

Now that the final sprint is on, it’s time to start narrowing these nine films down to one. Based on all prior award shows, it appears we’re in a two-man race between “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “The Shape of Water.” Interestingly though, “Three Billboards” director Martin McDonagh did not receive a Best Director nomination, so that could be a huge plus for Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water.”

However, winning Best Picture without a Best Director nod is not unheard of — just ask Ben Affleck, who was famously snubbed for directing “Argo” but had the last laugh with its Best Picture win.

Ultimately, the tune of Hollywood could change in the next month, and one of the other films like “Get Out” or “Lady Bird” could split the middle and take the big prize. It’s too early to say what will happen, other than this will be an extremely fun ride with a deserving group.

Erik Benjamin is a senior television, radio and film major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at ebenjami@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @cokezeriksugar.

Published on January 23, 2018 at 5:34 pm