Best Animated Short - 2020 Nominees

As I'm sure you're all aware, the Academy Award was pushed back by over a month as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and so we are getting the nominations now in the middle of March, well after the previous Oscar ceremonies since I've started writing this blog nine years ago. Nevertheless, the nominees have finally arrived, and that means we will see who will contend for the chance to enter the echelons of greatness of being a Best Animated Short winner.

This year I had seen eight of the shortlisted films, since many of them are available on different streaming platforms. This was far greater than how much I usually get to see before nomination day, and if things go right, then I had a shot of having seen all the nominees by the time nominations were announced.

Things did not go right.

I'm sure you can tell from the picture on the top, but the nominees this year are

Burrow
Genius Loci
If Anything Happens I Love You
Opera
Yes People

Of course both of the shortlisted films I have yet to see - Genius Loci and Opera - made the final cast of nominees. I had seen the other three so it's not a total lost. I was a bit surprised to see Out miss the cut, although it may be too soon for an LGBT film to get nominated, even if it is a Pixar SparkShort. The same thing with Kapaemahu which also involves gender issues. The Squid and the Whale was also a fairly common prediction given Magic Light's success in securing a nod in the past, but it's not that big of a miss. Nobody thought To: Gerard would get nominated and it didn't, but it's still a sweet film. 

Anyways, I haven't exactly been up to date on the rest of the nominated films. You'd think with this pandemic I'd have plenty of time to watch movies on all of the streaming services I have, but I've been spending more time watching sports videos and on YouTube and sports documentaries on the other streaming service. There's that and watching The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh on Disney Plus while playing Super Mario Bros. 35. So that means I've seen only seen three of the Best Animated Feature nominees (Onward, Over the Moon, Shaun the Sheep Movie Farmageddon, Soul and Wolfwalkers) even though all of them are on streaming. I've also seen exactly zero of the Best Picture nominees (The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Mank, Minari, Nomadland, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal, and The Trial of the Chicago 7.) 

I suppose I have a lot of catching up to do. But my first priority, of course, is finding a way to watch Genius Loci and Opera.