Firstly, yes it’s been a minute. Grief and sickness and trying to stay busy so I don’t fully feel that grief and sickness. Good stuff! I’m still in the process of wrapping up my movie year, but a very important and yet meaningless but very meaningful thing happened this morning: Oscar Nominations!
I have not kept up on the buzziest movies (I only just saw Oppenheimer this past weekend!), but I have been keeping up with the buzz itself.
The nominations were announced this morning by Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid, who were very cute and excited and should probably make a romcom.
Onto the categories. I’m bolding what I HAVE seen, so you can judge whether I know what I’m talking about.
Best Picture
American Fiction (Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers)
Anatomy of a Fall (Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers
Barbie (David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers)
The Holdovers (Mark Johnson, Producer)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers)
Maestro (Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers)
Oppenheimer (Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers)
Past Lives (David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers)
Poor Things (Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers)
The Zone of Interest (James Wilson, Producer)
One of the best lineups in years? Is there an absolute dud in the mix like usual? I don’t think so.
Prediction: Oppenheimer
Best Directing
Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall)
Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)
Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things)
Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)
Disappointed that there’s no Greta Gerwig (Barbie just happened I guess…), but again a good solid lineup.
Prediction: Christopher Nolan (it’s his year, baby)
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper (Maestro)
Colman Domingo (Rustin)
Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers)
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)
Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)
Bradley Cooper getting this nom and not Best Director is pretty silly to me. He’s a much better director than actor in Maestro. Thrilled to see Colman Domingo here. No Zac Efron, no Leo.
Prediction: Paul Giamatti better take it!!!
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening (Nyad)
Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall)
Carey Mulligan (Maestro)
Emma Stone (Poor Things)
Annette Bening over Natalie Portman for May December and Margot Robbie in Barbie is… ummm. Not totally sure if I love Carey Mulligan in this category.
Prediction: Lily Gladstone deserves
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction)
Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)
Ryan Gosling (Barbie)
Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)
No Charles Melton is downright silly. I also thought Dominic Sessa in The Holdovers was a truly incredible performance. I hope they make Gosling sing.
Prediction: It’s Downey, and I don’t hate it!
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer)
Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple)
America Ferrera (Barbie)
Jodie Foster (Nyad)
Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)
Did we really like Nyad? Happy for Danielle Brooks, happy for America Ferrera, and THRILLED for Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who I’ve loved for years! Rachel McAdams, you deserved!
Prediction: Da’Vine is running away with it!
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
American Fiction (Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson)
Barbie (Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach)
Oppenheimer (Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan)
Poor Things (Screenplay by Tony McNamara)
The Zone of Interest (Written by Jonathan Glazer)
I guess I’m glad that Greta Gerwig snuck in somewhere. Pretty shocking that Killers of the Flower Moon didn’t get in here.
Prediction: Oppenheimer
Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
Anatomy of a Fall (Screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari
The Holdovers (Written by David Hemingson)
Maestro (Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer)
May December (Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik)
Past Lives (Written by Celine Song)
May December’s one nomination, sure. I’m really not sure where they’ll go here. I can see The Holdover getting this if Giamatti doesn’t win.
Prediction: The Holdovers?
Best Animated Feature
The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki)
Elemental (Peter Sohn and Denise Ream)
Nimona (Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary)
Robot Dreams (Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal)
Very much hoping for a Miyazaki win, though I loved Across the Spider-verse.
Prediction: The Boy and the Heron
Best Documentary Feature Film
Bobi Wine: The People’s President (Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek)
The Eternal Memory (Nominees to be determined)
Four Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha)
To Kill a Tiger (Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim)
20 Days in Mariupol (Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath)
I’m surprised I don’t have any knowledge of any of these. A little surprised American Symphony didn’t get in here.
Prediction: To Kill A Tiger?
Best International Feature Film
Io Capitano (Italy)
Perfect Days (Japan)
Society of the Snow (Spain)
The Teacher’s Lounge (Germany)
The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom)
Prediction: I think it has to go to Zone of Interest here!
Best Animated Short Film
Letter to a Pig (Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter)
Ninety-Five Senses (Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess)
Our Uniform (Yegane Moghaddam)
Pachyderme (Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius)
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko (Dave Mullins and Brad Booker)
Prediction: Our Uniform - sure why not!
Best Live-Action Short Film
The After (Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham)
Invincible (Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron
Knight of Fortune (Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk)
Red, White and Blue (Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson and Steven Rales)
Prediction: Wes Anderson is winning an Oscar!
Best Documentary Short Film
The ABCs of Book Banning (Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic)
The Barber of Little Rock (John Hoffman and Christine Turner)
Island in Between (S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien)
The Last Repair Shop (Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers)
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Sean Wang and Sam Davis)
Prediction: The ABCs of Book Burning perhaps?
Best Cinematography
El Conde (Edward Lachman)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Rodrigo Prieto)
Maestro (Matthew Libatique)
Oppenheimer (Hoyte van Hoytema)
Poor Things (Robbie Ryan)
I feel like this has to go Oppenheimer, but some contenders in Maestro and KOTM.
Prediction: Oppenheimer
Best Costume Design
Barbie (Jacqueline Durran)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Jacqueline West)
Napoleon (Janty Yates and Dave Crossman)
Oppenheimer (Ellen Mirojnick)
Poor Things (Holly Waddington)
Prediction: Barbie you MUST
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Golda (Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue)
Maestro (Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell)
Oppenheimer (Luisa Abel)
Poor Things (Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston)
Society of the Snow (Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé)
Prediction: Going Maestro for now.
Best Original Song
“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot (Music and Lyric by Diane Warren)
“I’m Just Ken” from Barbie (Music and Lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt)
“It Never Went Away” from American Symphony (Music and Lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson)
“Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon (Music and Lyric by Scott George)
“What Was I Made For?” from Barbie (Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell)
Prediction: “What Was I Made For” makes me WEEP and should win everything.
Best Original Score
American Fiction (Laura Karpman)
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (John Williams)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Robbie Robertson)
Oppenheimer (Ludwig Göransson)
Poor Things (Jerskin Fendrix)
JOHN WILLIAMS JOHN WILLIAM JOHN WILLIAMS I chant until my dying day. Happy to see Robbie Robertson receive this posthumous honor.
Prediction: Goransson - what a score on that movie, wow!
Best Production Design
Barbie (Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis)
Napoleon (Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Elli Griff)
Oppenheimer (Production Design: Ruth De Jong; Set Decoration: Claire Kaufman)
Poor Things (Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek)
Barbie probably wins for MOST production design. I don’t know, maybe an Oppy below the line sweep?
Prediction: Barbie
Best Film Editing
Anatomy of a Fall (Laurent Sénéchal)
The Holdovers (Kevin Tent)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Thelma Schoonmaker)
Oppenheimer (Jennifer Lame)
Poor Things (Yorgos Mavropsaridis)
Thelma, yes girl!!! Would love to see her win here. But I again think it’s Oppenheimer.
Prediction: Oppenheimer
Best Sound
The Creator (Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic)
Maestro (Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic)
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor)
Oppenheimer (Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell)
The Zone of Interest (Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn)
Prediction: Oppenheimer with a bullet
Best Visual Effects
The Creator (Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould)
Godzilla: Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek)
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One (Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould)
Napoleon (Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould)
Prediction: Godzilla Minus One Plus One Oscar
Overall, I was surprised by the Saltburn and Iron Claw shut outs, the lack of May December acting noms, not as many Gretas as we’d like - Gerwig or Lee, and Bradley Cooper’s big miss on Best Director. But a really great year at the movies, y’all.
I have a lot of Oscar homework to do, what a burden!
Thanks for sticking around,
E
I'm really glad to see Anatomy of a Fall, Past Lives, and Four Daughters recognized. (Four Daughters was amazing.) Agree on the failure to nominate Charles Melton.
Disappointed that the stunning Argentine film Trenque Lauquen, which has won acclaim from South America to Europe, did not get a nomination for "Best International Feature Film;" The Delinquents, another Argentine film I loved, was also skipped.
American Fiction is WAY over-represented. It's a decent film, and Sterling K. Brown absolutely deserves that Support Actor nomination, but come on.