A Look at Academy Award Nominations That Make Me Happy

Scene from Little Women (2019)

With the recent announcement of The Academy Award nominations, many have already taken to the internet to give criticism for what they have done wrong. Oh, Jennifer Lopez didn't get a nomination for Hustlers, or Greta Gerwig missed Best Director for Little Women. They're all fair criticisms that help prove why the Oscars have remained such an important part of film discourse. However, there is something else to highlight from these crop of nominees: the positive. Yes, for as much as they "got wrong," The Academy got a lot right and introduced a variety of things to be excited about. The following is a quick rundown of nominees that personally make me happy, or come as a pleasant surprise. While there's more that I liked, these are the pleasant surprises that make the season all the more worth supporting year after year.

Review: How "Knives Out" Reinvents the Whodunit is a Clear Success

Scene from Knives Out

The world of Agatha Christie is alive and well in director Rian Johnson's Knives Out. This murder mystery is an original story that pays tribute to the whodunit's of yesteryear while applying a glossy coat of 21st-century idealism over it. With the introduction of detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) out to solve the murder of Harlan Thrombley (Christopher Plummer), the story goes about the journey that makes for one of the most enjoyable films of 2019. On its surface, it's a familiar story where everyone's a suspect and the comedy thrives when people have their own grudges being yelled from across rooms in a form of defense. Their egos will never be put in check, however, so who will go so far as to reveal themselves in this mess? The answer is only part of the reason that this film succeeds as more than a Christie pastiche. It's the story of a modern society coming to terms with its own changing tides, and that elevates the film's relevance to something more than mystery fodder.