Oscar nominations: Academy snubs 'Barbie'

Linda Holmes, NPR, Jan. 23, 2024; Ashley Wells, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Year of Pink: Greta Gerwig, Margot "Barbie" Robbie, Queen Bee, Nazi Barbie...

Why would they snub a girl who looks just like Barbie? I get so much attention for it.

No, this sucks, Ken. You get all the attention, and what do I get? Nada. - Have my gold skates.

Takeaways from the Oscar nominations: heavy hitters rewarded, plus some surprises

After a very long year in Hollywood, Oscar nominations were announced this morning.

Most of the heavy hitters were richly rewarded.

• A blonde bombshell was snubbed for playing a doll;
• a man was nominated for playing a doll;
• a woman was nominated for playing a baby (sort of);
• a Jewish scientist was lauded for making genocide possible with a single bomb. Oops, this is Hollywood, so we better scratch that one off the list now that Steven Spielberg doesn't make easy winners anymore.

Ten pictures will vie to be considered "best." Let's talk about what happened. Oppenheimer received 13 Oscar nominations.

My cleavage will win this for me.

Not nominated were director Greta Gerwig after being lauded for her super contribution to society and the world for writing the Barbie movie. Writers don't usually get credit, so that's okay. Bottle blond actress Margot Robbie is sure to outshine her with her beauty and take the gold. Nope. No nomination for the human barbie doll. (And we don't mean Amatue, aka "Human Barbie" Valeria Lukyanova, who is making her own low budget films in Ukraine but being spiritual about it).

I'm like Nazi psychic Vril Oracle Maria Orsic.

Cillian Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer. All hail. Whether Christopher Nolan is anyone's speed or not, the Academy loves him. Oppenheimer, Nolan's drama about the man who developed the atomic bomb, led all films with 13 nominations in both what are sometimes considered "major" categories (like best picture, best director, best actor, and adapted screenplay) and "technical" categories (like sound, production design and visual effects). It's not a record; a couple of other films, including Titanic, have received 14. Still, it's a very big total.

• AUDIO: Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan
• Nordic alien ETs, Vril Oracle Maria Orsic, with Linda Moulton Howe
• No, Margot Robbie as executive producer would get an Oscar and be called up to receive it if  'Barbie' wins for best picture
• 'Barbie' gets 8 Oscar nominations, but fans feel Gerwig and Robbie were SNUBBED (NPR)
• Jewish (and pro-Israel blank) Amy Schumer was going to write and play a large Barbie, and critic Jason Nathanson asks, "Would we be here if she had?" (KFI AM 640)

Vril Society psychic Barbie: Maria Orsic

In another year, Poor Things' 11 nominations or Killers of the Flower Moon's 10 might have led the nominations. This makes director Martin Scorsese the most nominated ever, even if he has only won one. But not up against this kind of — forgive the phrase — explosive acclaim.

Sofia (Danielle Brooks) and Celie (Fantasia Barrino) in the 2023 reincarnation of The Color Purple get attention. Brooks was nominated for her supporting performance.

Original "Barbie" was German adult sex doll (NPR)

• AUDIO: Review of The Color Purple

I'm the most beautiful transhuman on Earth!

A couple of contenders came up empty or nearly so. There were a lot of films that elbowed their way into big nominations; that's what you get when you start with 10 best picture nominees.

But both Origin, the latest film from director Ava DuVernay, and All of Us Strangers, the love story starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, were left out of the nominations.

The Color Purple musical adaptation was nominated only for Danielle Brooks' supporting performance — a richly deserved nod, by the way. More