The Snubby Awards: 2021 Oscars

It's that time again: The Snubby Awards!  For those of you who don't know, the Snubby Awards take a look at all of the Best Picture nominees from a given year and determine if the best film won or if one was snubbed.  If that's the case, they win the coveted Snubby Award!

This time we'll be taking a look at the 2021 Oscars, which was a solid field of movies.  I thought they were all at least good.   The nominees were: The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Mank, Minari, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal, and The Trial of the Chicago 7 with the winner being Nomadland.  Did Nomadland deserve to win or did another movie get snubbed?  Let's find out!

#8. Nomadland

We'll just get this out of the way with, I guess.  No, Nomadland did not deserve to win Best Picture and I'm surprised that it did.  It's a good movie, don't get me wrong, but it's easily the weakest of the 8.  It follows Frances McDormand as she learns to live out of a van and travels the country.  The individual parts of this movie are greater than the whole.  There are some fantastic individual scenes when McDormand stops to talk to other characters.  The cinematography is some of the best I have ever seen and McDormand is great, but large stretches of the movie are a slog to get through.  The arc of the story isn't very interesting.  Like I said, it's good, but Best Picture?  No way.  Another movie definitely got snubbed.

 7/10: Good 

#7. Mank

Mank follows the story of screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, the writer of Citizen Kane.  This is a film directed by David Fincher, so you know it's going to be well directed.  Gary Oldman is fantastic and I like most of the movie.  Like with Nomadland, there are portions of the film I found rather dull.  The story is overall more interesting than Nomadland, but that's not enough to get higher up the rankings.

 8/10: Really Good 

#6. Sound of Metal

Here's where the movies get great.  Sound of Metal follows a metal drummer who starts to lose his hearing.  This movie reminds me a lot of Requiem for a Dream.  They are two of the best movies I will never watch again.  The sound design, while incredible, really got under my skin while watching this film.  I suspect that's the point.  It's effective, but made this movie a really difficult watch for me.  I'm glad I watched this film, but I didn't enjoy the experience.  It's a brutal and tragic tale with an impressive performance from Riz Ahmed.  Definitely worth watching, but's it's not an easy watch.

 9/10: Great 

#5. Judas and the Black Messiah

This film follows the real-life story of Black Panther chairman, Fred Hampton, as he is betrayed by one of his own men and assassinated by the FBI.  This is a very disturbing film with a story that needed to be told.  The performances are incredible across the board, especially by Daniel Kaluuya, who is amazing as Fred Hampton.  This film will upset you, and it should.  

 9/10: Great 

#4. Promising Young Woman

This movie follows a medical school dropout turned vigilante who targets would-be rapists and sexual predators.  This another disturbing film that will and should upset you.  Surprisingly, this movie is also very funny.  A less capable director would have given this film insane tonal whiplash, but Emerald Fennell manages to strike an impressive balance.  With awesome performances by Carey Mulligan and Bo Burnham, Promising Young Woman is an extremely engaging, if unsubtle, story, with one hell of a 3rd act.

 9/10: Great 

#3. The Father

The Father is a movie about a man (Anthony Hopkins) with dementia.  What makes this movie so interesting is that it puts us in the perspective of Hopkins' character, which turns the film into somewhat of a psychological thriller.  We don't exactly know what's real or what's happening.  Hopkins gives a brilliant performance and 100% deserved to win Best Actor.  It's another upsetting film that will make you fear getting old, but it's a fantastic watch.

 9/10: Great 

And now for the Top 2 in no particular order.

Minari

Minari follows a family of Korean immigrants who move to rural Arkansas to start a farm.  I knew the premise of this film going in, but it's not at all what I expected.  This is a family drama.  I was expecting a movie about racism, and while some of that is present, the focus is on the conflict within the family, and what fantastic conflict it is.  The performances are incredible, especially from Youn Yuh-jung, who plays the grandmother.  She's one of the coolest and funniest grandmothers ever captured on film and I'm so happy she won Best Supporting Actress.  The dynamic between the characters is just so fascinating that this ended up being one of my favorites of the year.

 10/10: Amazing

The Trial of the Chicago 7

I'm a huge sucker for courtroom movies.  I can't get enough of them and this one ended up being one of my favorites.  This one is based on the true story of left-wing activists who are subjected to a kangaroo court.  Director Aaron Sorkin does a make great use of non-linear storytelling to slowly piece together what exactly happened.  It's an enraging film thanks to Frank Langella's performance of a corrupt judge.  Mark Rylance, Sacha Baron Cohen, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Michael Keaton are all also excellent.  This is another film that will piss you off, but it's an important story that really sucks you in.  The final scene is a little cheesy, but the rest of the movie is about as perfect as a courtroom drama can be.

 9/10: Great 

And the Snubby Award goes too...!

Minari!   I do think this movie was snubbed from winning Best Picture.  This one had the best balance of drama and comedy with a simple, yet completely engaging story.  Plus Youn Yuh-jung was just incredible.

Next time we'll be looking at the 2006 Oscars.  Did Crash deserve to win or did another movie get snubbed?  Stay tuned!