A Discussion on the apparent Oscar-worthiness of "Black Panther"

Most of us remember a time when genre films, i.e. science fiction, horror, fantasy, were regularly dismissed by the Academy Awards as disposable, silly kiddie fare. Those days appear to be at an end, however, as generations of people who grew up on genre movies and books have started influencing the box office in a very different direction. Plus, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done a pretty good job of establishing the comics medium as not only a popular format for adapting to the big screen, it has also proven that quality writing and film making and acting can "elevate" the medium. That word is in quotes because the presumption that comic books needed to be elevated at all is a debatable one.

After nineteen successful movies in its ongoing franchise, the MCU has finally achieved an Oscar nomination with "Black Panther," the massive hit about a secret African nation called Wakanda that was only pretending to be an agro-economy but is actually the most advanced nation on Earth. The Black Panther is the nation's king and he...you know what? If you're clueless enough not to know about this shit a year after it came out, do your own damn research.

Below is the conversation that took place between T&C. We agreed to make this our first discussion post because we disagree about this movie's Oscar worthiness.

T: Did you hear about "Black Panther" being nominated for Oscars?
C: Ridiculous.
T: WHAT!?
C: Ri-cock-ulous?
T: "Black Panther" was awesome. I do believe "Logan" warranted a few nominations but I think "Black Panther" earned the ones listed. I would have a problem if it got nominated for best special effects.
C: Because the effects often looked fake and unfinished or because that's the award they throw at every genre film?
T: The first part.
C: The third act was where that movie's effects really started to shine. Up until then the effects work was very uneven.
T: But the actual nominations are well-deserved.
C: The acting was sub-par,.The writing was uneven. The direction was amateurish. It was an enjoyable movie at best but certainly nowhere near Oscar caliber.
T: Wow.
C: Why are you acting like this is a surprise? We saw it together. I'm sure you could tell how unimpressed I was.
T: True.
C: I didn't want to say anything when we saw it but much of the time I was bored out of my mind even more than I was during "Civil War." This type of film is not Ryan Coogler's thing. Maybe Ridley Scott was right.
*Ridley Scott recently criticized movie studios for giving huge movies to directors with no experience and, in his view, it shows.
T: As far as the acting, I did find Forrest Whitaker annoying and was glad when Kilmonger killed him but I was fine with everybody else. He had the worst accent.
C: Yeah, when the hell did he become such a bad actor? He was one of the greats! I'm thinking of his scenery chewing in "Rogue One."
T: He was annoying in that, too! I was glad glad to see him him die in that as well.
C: Me too.
T: I don't think he's a bad actor, I just believe his acting has a limited range of versatility and both movies were WAAAYYYY beyond his range.
C: If he were here, he'd give you Forrest Whitaker eye.
T: He wouldn't be able to help himself.
C: Getting back to "Black Panther," I felt the movie fell into the same category as "Captain America Civil War" and "Spider-Man: Homecoming." Over-hyped movies that fell short and were a mess on most levels until their respective third acts. Marvel really knows how to make a third act pay off.
T: What!? No.
C:

T: LOL!!!
C: Discussion over?
T: Okay, "Civil War" definitely matches that description. "Spider-Man: Homecoming" gets a borderline "yes" and "Justice League" gets a "hell yes!" Oh, and the theatrical cut of "Batman vs. Superman."
C: Don't bring DC into this, you Marvel Zombie! Although you have a point with Spidey. It would have needed a plot to qualify for that description.
T; I agree. I believe what they were trying to do was get straight to the point and spend as little time on the origin story as possible. It's been told enough times.
C: His and Batman's...and that one guy they names Xmas after.
T: Heathen.
C: Look, "Black Panther: is definitely a film that belongs in the Smithsonian for its cultural significance and all the records it set and having the character as part of the MCU opens up a lot of possibilities. But if I have to judge the award merits based on the film as conceived and produced, I don't feel it deserves a Best picture nomination. "Logan," on the other hand, did and was robbed. Actually, the acting in the X-Men franchise is often vastly superior to the MCU. "Days of Future Past" might be the best acted comic book team movie of all time. Here come the hate comments.
T: Actually, I can't hate you for that one.
C: I didn't mean you.
T: I know.
C: Again, I didn't hate the movie. I enjoyed it overall. Maybe if it had come out ten years earlier, I would've been right there praising it as some cinematic revelation but there's been a lot of competition. I still consider "Winter Solder" the gold standard for MCU films.
T: That's a great choice.
C: You're starting to agree with me, aren't you?
T: Nope!
C: Don't you want to yell, "Wakanda Forever"?
T: I'll wait until it takes home the Best Picture Oscar.
C: That would be amazing. An actual high quality superhero movie could win next time.
T: Dick.