As the Academy Awards Show grows closer, Bucks students give their take on which movies they’ve seen and which they feel deserve to win.
“Black Panther” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” as well as “A Star is Born,” “BlacKkKlansman,” “Roma,” and “The Incredibles 2” are headlining the Oscars and it so happens that they are the only films that students have seen out of the almost 40 that were nominated all together.
Each student had only seen one or two movies themselves that were on the list of nominees, and some haven’t seen any of them at all.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” is a dramatic biography of the 80s rock band, “Queen” and its late lead singer, Freddie Mercury, was nominated six times, despite low ratings from critics and movie review websites.
20-year-old Grace McCaughey, an art history major from Feasterville, PA, felt that it deserved to win based on how well the acting was in the film.
She shares, “I really love Rami Malek [who is nominated for Best Actor], and I think he did such a great job. It’d be awesome to see him win an Oscar”.
“Black Panther” was also nominated for six different categories and was the first superhero film to ever be nominated for an Academy Award.
Cherry Kivumbi, age 22 and a communications major from Fairless Hills, PA, hasn’t even seen the film and is still rooting for it to win.
“I haven’t watched any of the movies, but I have seen the most praise from “Black Panther” out of any other nominee I’ve heard of.”
For the people who have seen the film, they believe that “Black Panther” deserves every nomination it got.
“It goes to show how excellence can be achieved with such a diverse cast and crew working on a movie,” says 23-year-old business administration major, Doreen Forson from Winneba, Ghana.
She also shares how she respects how they adapted the plot from the original comics the film is based on in a way that is still original and fresh.
“I feel like almost all the films nominated for Oscars are unoriginal and keep cycling through stories that someone else has already thought of.”
The issue of diversity in Oscar nominations is still a hot topic in movie culture, and “Black Panther,” “Roma,” and “BlacKkKlansman” are good examples of how Hollywood is evolving since previous Academy Award shows.
20-year-old Gabriella Morgan, an english major from Robinsville, N.J., praised “BlacKkKlansman” for its storytelling and phenomenal acting.
“[BlackKkKlansman] is a great reminder that racism is still not dead in modern-day America.”
Due to its mainly white and African-American cast, Morgan believes the film, directed by Spike Lee, is great and adds to the growing diversity of Oscar nominations and allows more black actors and actresses to be recognized for their talent.
“It’s outrageous that this is the first time Spike Lee has been nominated for an Oscar. He has done so much amazing work, he should have been nominated a long time ago,” said Doreen Forson
Morgan also is very impressed with the fact that “Roma,” has been nominated for 10 categories including “Best Picture,” despite the fact that it is a Mexican film spoken entirely in Spanish, and she“would love to see it win.”
Students also shared the fact that they don’t go out to see new movies in the theaters very often, which can be accredited to why they hadn’t watched a lot of the movies that have been nominated.
Almost every student revealed that overpriced movie tickets and other inconveniences have stopped them from going to the movie theater.
“Why would I go and spend so much money at the movies if I’m not even sure that I’ll like the movie?” says Zachary Zimmerman, a computer science major from Philadelphia, PA, age 19. “It’s just a waste of money to me.” Zimmerman revealed that he hadn’t seen any of the movies that were nominated, but said that “Bohemian Rhapsody” looked the most entertaining and would be his choice to win.
More than half of students revealed that they would most likely watch this year’s Oscars, though none are fully committed.
Needless to say, an Oscar show without a host and so much diversity should be an interesting time. Hollywood has really shown how much it has evolved in the recent years and this award show will show it to us.
The Academy Awards will premiere Sunday, Feb. 24, at 5 p.m., PST on ABC. All information regarding movie nominees has been obtained from thehollywoodreporter.com.