Yesterday’s announcements of short lists weren’t exactly earthshaking. We all know Bong Joon-ho‘s Parasite will win the Best International Feature Oscar…right? And that the Best Doc Oscar will go to either Apollo 11 or American Factory. I’m not feeling the suspense element. Is anyone?

It’s pleasing that six HE faves — Ladj Ly‘s Les Misérables, Pedro Almodóvar‘s Pain and Glory, Mati Dop‘s Atlantics, Kantemir Balagov‘s Beanpole, Jan Komasa‘s Corpus Christi and Václav Marhoul‘s The Painted Bird — were short-listed. Ditto doc faves The Edge of Democracy, One Child Nation, The Biggest Little Farm, The Cave, The Great Hack and especially Knock Down the House.

Continuing HE heartbreak: Once again A.J. Eaton and Cameron Crowe‘s David Crosby: Remember My Name, easily among the strongest and most penetrating docs of the year, has been completely blown off.

The reason for this is that mid-July dustup between Crosby and The Hollywood Reporter‘s Scott Feinberg, which ended with Feinberg throwing up his hands and Crosby walking out.

Wells to Feinberg: “I’m convinced that your Crosby contretemps destroyed the nomination chances of David Crosby: Remember My Name. You did nothing deliberately, of course, but the award-season chances of a really excellent film were nonetheless ruined because Crosby wasn’t adequately prepped about your boilerplate, cover-the-basics approach to podcast interviews. Particularly because you (a) asked Crosby to define the term “harmony” and (b) asked that question about he and Graham Nash having both had romantic relationships with Joni Mitchell.

“There’s no question that Eaton and Crowe’s doc was heads and shoulders above many if not most other 2019 contenders, but Crosby’s show of temper and obstinacy gave people a reason not to vote for it. Obviously Crosby should have held himself in check, but it’s really a shame. Talk about a conversational calamity. Tell me I’m wrong.”