Do You Try to See the Best Picture Nominees Before the Oscars?

The Oscar nominations for 2018 were announced this morning and I’m always super excited to wake up and check them out every year — whether I end up happy about the nominees or not.

Thanks to a more concerted effort and our recent subscription to MoviePass (an absolute steal; if you don’t have it and you like going to see movies, it’s a must-buy), we have already done really good this year of seeing the nominees, which makes me curious…

For you movie lovers out there who actually care about the Oscars: do you try to see the Best Picture nominees before the awards ceremony? Or, like me, do you try to see all nominees for every category?

Since Titanic came out in December 1997 and dominated that year’s awards circuit, my sister and I have been hooked on the Academy Awards. (Kim has seen every single Best Picture winner and most of the nominees in that category since 1928!) It’s become such an integral part of our family traditions, down to the food we eat while watching the ceremony (chicken strips and wedges from KFC, if possible), that it’s hard to write them off even when they falter. Through all the justifiable face-palming, like Crash beating Brokeback Mountain in 2006 (I’ll never get over it) or the too-many-instances of #OscarsSoWhite, we can’t help ourselves.

While the Academy is far from infallible in their choice of winners (and, often, nominees too), they’ve created — at the very least — a benchmark for discussion around what makes a great film or performance. I disagree often with what the Academy decides, but there are few things I enjoy quite so much as a good debate about movies.

This year, I’m thrilled about many of the nominees, notably outside of the Best Picture category — particularly Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele, who breathe some much-needed life into the notoriously “white male” Director and Writer clubs. (His reaction to finding out he got nominated was hilarious and so sweet!) Netflix film Mudbound offers the first female cinematographer and first black female writer ever to be nominated in their respective categories. And Daniel Day-Lewis, forever my main man, gets an unsurprising and rightful nod for what will purportedly be his final acting performance ever — interestingly, one he has said he will not watch. (He can have all the awards forever as far as I’m concerned.)

Jonathan and I still have several films to see before the awards ceremony on March 4th, but he has already sent me an updated Google Doc laying out a proposed schedule on what movies have to see, plus when, where and how to view each one!

So, will you see them? What are you hoping will win this year? Any movies you are disappointed weren’t nominated or favorites you’re glad were?

Here are the films nominated for Best Picture this year, if you’d like a quick reference:

(Top photo of Saoirse Ronan, also from Lady Bird)