Oscars® Nominations: 2019

It’s that time of year again – it’s award season, which means its time to start cheering that our favorite movies are being recognized and moaning because other really great movies, and the people who made them, are getting snubbed. With viewership falling every passing year, last year’s rather boring show, and no current host in sight (a little more than a month before the show), this year’s Oscars could be a very big deal in terms of how the show runs itself over the next few years. This year’s list of movies could end up being the most important – or it could be just another year to play it safe. How many have you seen?

The list of ReelTalk reviewed films is included at the end, and the list of Best Picture Nominees will hopefully be finished by Oscar’s airtime on February 24.

I Love You, Pop Culture. Sincerely, Ready Player One.

In all honesty, I was concerned that I would not be a big enough geek to enjoy Ready Player One as it was intended to be enjoyed. My experience with video games was limited to Mario Kart, Kingdom Hearts, and Silent Hill; though I love some eighties films, there are several others that I have yet to get around to watching. So, how can a ‘noob’ (a term used in the film, by the way) enjoy this movie? Well, simply put, because it’s fun. Ready Player One is a movie for gamers, but you can also watch it just for the fun of watching a game unfold. It’s like watching someone play through a game on YouTube – the eyes of the person in charge frame how fun the story can be. It’s all a bit long, that’s true, and sometimes being fun is not enough to stop it from resorting to some textbook Young Adult novel templates, but if you need a good laugh, this is a pretty good bet to give it. And, on a separate note, I’m going to have to ask the world to stop casting T.J. Miller. He just pulls us out of the movie and he’s really not that funny. His character in Ready Player One could have been fun, but as it was, I was doing my best not to roll my eyes every time he opened his mouth.