Oscar Nominations 2021: 7 Ups & 8 Downs

1. A Predictable Oscar Night Is Set In Stone

The lack of major surprises in the big Oscar categories likely means we're in for an extremely predictable night on April 25th, with Nomadland's (admittedly deserving) path to Best Picture and Best Director glory likely to be unchallenged.

It's dominated so thoroughly on the precursor circuit that there's very little possibility of any other film pulling a Parasite and crashing the party.

Really the only fun and unpredictable major category is Best Supporting Actress, but beyond that there's likely to be little outside the expected.

Given that this year's Oscar race has been distended by an entire two months, it only makes the foregone conclusion feel that much more prolonged and played-out.

But these issues aside, this year's Oscar nominations got a hell of a lot right...