The Oscars: Spike Lee understandably upset

Cinemark is the local theater complex in eastern Davenport, Iowa

This is the second year I've seen each of the "Best Picture" Academy Award nominations, and it is also the second time I've noticed trends among the films nominated.
Before my journalism career ended, I'd watch the Oscars in February after having seen a few of the films nominated. The last couple of years, however, have been different as I've made a point to both see the films and blog about my reactions.
   Two of the movies nominated this year concern race relations in the United States but approach the topic in different directions. "Green Book," which I argue had the best story of all eight films nominated, won the top Oscar.
   The other, "BlacKkKlansman," was a superb film directed by Spike Lee, and it was understandable that he was upset not to win the category. This film concerns race relations and the Ku Klux Klan.
   Both films are about real people: "Green Book" reveals a story about jazz pianist Don Shirley who took a trip through the Deep South in 1962, in a car driven by a white man who became his friend. Viggo Mortensen plays the muscular driver, Tony Lip, while Mahershala Ali is the pianist, Shirley.
   "BlackKklansman" was about Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer, the first to be hired in Colorado Springs, Colo.  Spike Lee showed his genius in casting the film characters, which included a seemingly intelligent Klansman as well as several scary Klansmen who were gun-happy and violent. Lee also tied the activities of the 1970s Colorado KKK to White Supremacists today.
   In addition to race relations, two nominations were about live music: "Bohemian Rhapsody," my personal choice for Best Picture is a story about Queen's Freddie Mercury and his rise to fame, and "A Star is Born," a remake of two previous films of the same name. The current one is a Bradley Cooper project with Lady Gaga starring as the young, unknown singer and her mentor, played by Cooper.
   "Black Panther" was great fun; we saw this one last summer when it came out. It was the first superhero movie nominated for the top award and I would have been happy had it won.
   As one who has studied British history and the monarchy, I fully enjoyed "The Favourite." Olivia Colman (an Englishwoman who played the real Queen Anne) upset Lady Gaga ("A Star is Born") and Glenn Close ("The Wife") when she won the "Best Actress" Oscar. It appeared on the telecast that Colman was surprised as well, and pleased with the honor.
   "Roma" was special in that it included the first actress with an indigenous background to be nominated. Yalitza Aparicio did a fine job portraying the maid in an upper-class Mexican family.
   The movie "Vice" was especially notable with Christian Bale as former Vice President Dick Cheney, and Amy Adams as his influential wife, Lynne. Both actors were nominated for top acting awards. Strong performances were also offered by Steve Carell, as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and Sam Rockwell, as former President George W. Bush.
   I'm sure this movie did not change any minds, politically, but it was a joy to watch Adams at work.
   I'm a big fan of movies, and it's all kinds of fun to watch the "Best Picture" nominees. Those who nominate the films -- members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences -- must be more like-minded than one would think.