Emilia Pérez Being Tied With 'Oppenheimer', 'Forrest Gump', and 'Gone With The Wind' For The Second Most Oscar Nominations Of All Time Is A Disgrace

When Oscar nominations came out last week and 'Emilia Pérez' topped the list with 13 - we definitely all rolled our eyes together. I don't know anybody who watched that movie and thought it even was half decent, let alone Academy Award worthy, and I'd bet most people are only just hearing about it now because of all the awards buzz, or maybe even because of the controversies surrounding it....

If you're not aware, it's a Netflix musical starring Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldana, and Selena Gomez with the following synopsis: "A Mexican lawyer is offered an unusual job to help a notorious cartel boss retire and transition into living as a woman, fulfilling a long-held desire." Here's the official trailer for it....

I think this is the sort of movie where people's political and personal beliefs could persuade their review of it before they even see it - but all political and personal beliefs aside, pretty much everyone except The Academy agrees that this is a steaming pile of shit. As I mentioned last week, the audience it was made for doesn't even want it, and is actively rejecting it from what I've seen. It's a bad musical at best and a gross cultural misunderstanding at worst - but I digress.

What I didn't realize about 'Emilia Pérez' getting 13 nominations was the unbelievable class of movies it now sits with in the record books, as it's now tied for the SECOND MOST NOMINATIONS IN ACADEMY AWARDS HISTORY with 'Oppenheimer', 'Forrest Gump', and 'Gone With The Wind'. The only movies with more nominations are 'All About Eve', 'Titanic', and 'La La Land' - all with 14 each. Now that is a disgrace. 

I know that because I haven't seen 'Emilia Pérez' beyond a few viral clips, I can't REALLY speak on its quality, but I've never seen 'Gone With The Wind' beyond a few clips either - and they certainly didn't seem as jarringly godawful as this one!

It's all I needed to see to recognize 'Emilia Pérez' is not for me, and definitely not in the 'Oppenheimer'/'Forrest Gump'/'Gone With The Wind' league. What a joke the Oscars can be. Every now and then they get it right, but more often than not, it feels like they swing-and-miss at the worst three pitches you've ever seen in your life. They're basically Aaron Judge in the playoffs.

Two other fun facts about this year's Oscar nominees that I found interesting….

1. 'The Substance' is only the seventh horror movie ever to get nominated for Best Picture after 'The Exorcist', 'Jaws', 'The Silence of the Lambs', 'The Sixth Sense', 'Black Swan', and 'Get Out'; I love it when The Academy acknowledges the horror genre, personally. Bumping Best Picture nominees up from five to ten a few years ago is definitely gonna help that list grow.

2. Fernanda Torres is the second Brazilian actress to be nominated for Best Actress in the history of the Oscars - and the first was her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, for 'Central Station' in 1998. Awesome way to follow in her footsteps.

We discussed all of this (and tons of movie news) in My Mom's Basement this week - check it out below if you're interested….