Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Adapted Screenplay 2020

The Contenders:

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
The Father (winner)
Nomadland
One Night in Miami
The White Tiger

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actress 2020

The Contenders:

Viola Davis: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Frances McDormand: Nomadland (winner)
Vanessa Kirby: Pieces of a Woman
Carey Mulligan: Promising Young Woman
Andra Day: The United States vs. Billie Holiday

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Director, 2020

The Contenders:

Thomas Vinterberg: Another Round
David Fincher: Mank
Lee Isaac Chung: Minari
Chloe Zhao: Nomadland (winner)
Emerald Fennell: Promising Young Woman

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 2020

The Contenders:

The Father
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
Minari
Nomadland (winner)
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Flight Club

Films: Nomadland
Format: Streaming video from Hulu+ on Fire!

My original plan was to complete the Oscar movies from last year before the end of December, and while I got close, I didn’t quite get there. The original plan involved watching Nomadland, as the winner of three Oscars that I care about including Best Picture, last. But at this point, leaving it to last would genuinely affect the rest of what I’m doing in the next couple of months.

I knew a little about Nomadland going in, but only that Frances McDormand lives out of her van and drives around the country. There honestly didn’t seem like a lot of movie in that, but it is more than just her driving in a van. Nomadland is a film that has a story, but it feels much more like a year-long slice out of someone’s life. There is a sense of conclusion here, but not a complete conclusion. It has an end, but it isn’t “the” end.