Oscar nominations came out yesterday! Some of them got me really excited, a lot absolutely ruined my day! I love the Oscars so I'm very critical of the nominations, but overall there's some great stuff this year to be excited about even if there is a lot to be wary about. I usually would do a top snubs and surprises but honestly I didn't have enough happy surprises so instead I'm doing a category by category breakdown and giving my thoughts. Everything is here except the shorts, nothing against them I just haven't seen any yet so I can't speak on them. Hopefully I'll have seen all of them by the time of the ceremony but for now I just won't speak on something I have no knowledge of. Now, on to the nominees!
Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominees: Jessie Buckley; The Lost Daughter, Ariana Debose; West Side Story, Judi Dench; Belfast, Kirsten Dunst; The Power of the Dog, Aunjanue Ellis; King Richard
This was a category I thought would be easiest to predict, and I wound up only getting 3 right. Debose, Dunst, and Ellis earned nominations as expected, fingers crossed for a Debose win because she is the clear standout out of all these nominees. While I didn't expect Buckley she was a great surprise, this isn't my favourite performance of hers but she is still great and deserves the recognition she is easily one of the most underrated actors working today. Judi Dench should not be here, there is just no reason. She is fine, but she isn't even the best supporting actress in Belfast, as evidenced by Caitroina Balfe getting nominations almost everywhere else. The real bummer here though is Ruth Negga missing out for Passing, one of the best performances of last year and a snub that has left that film without any nominations which is a shame.
Costume
Nominees: Cruella, Cyrano, Dune, Nightmare Alley, West Side Story
I am shocked but in no way upset that House of Gucci missed here. I haven't actually seen Cyrano yet but its costumes look great, and I love the costumes in the rest of these so I'm happy with this category, excited to see what ends up winning.
Sound
Nominees: Belfast, Dune, No Time to Die, The Power of the Dog, West Side Story
Sad to not see Tick...Tick...Boom! here, but really this is where I started getting the feeling that The Power of the Dog was going to make an even bigger mark than I thought. I wish I liked the film more but ultimately I wish other films got a lot of the love that it has, regardless though this is a solid category, Dune for the win please.
Original Score
Nominees: Don't Look Up, Dune, Encanto, Parallel Mothers, The Power of the Dog
I love Nicholas Brittel, but Don't Look Up doesn't need to be here, I don't really think Encanto does either. Spencer deserved to be here as did The French Dispatch, without those this is a pretty weak category that I'm hoping Hans Zimmer steamrolls.
Adapted Screenplay
Nominees: CODA, Drive My Car, Dune, The Lost Daughter, The Power of the Dog
Despite being a masssssive Dune fan I actually didn't expect it here so that was a great surprise, also nice to see a foreign language film in this category in Drive my Car. I'm surprised both of the musicals missed here but it's a solid category.
Original Screenplay
Nominees: Belfast, Don't Look Up, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, The Worst Person in the World
This is the only category all day that got me pumping my fists in excitement. The Worst Person in the World is just amazing and seeing this surprise nomination gave me so much joy, and unfortunately so much hope for more above-the-line nominations for it that just didn't come. Also loved seeing Licorice Pizza here but that was expected. Don't Look Up again has no business being here, especially with elite screenplays like Mass and C'mon C'mon on the outside looking in (both films that were completely shut out which is frankly disgusting), but that one good surprise made this a point of happiness for me.
Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominees: Ciaran Hinds; Belfast, Troy Kotsur; CODA, Jesse Plemons; The Power of the Dog, J.K. Simmons; Being the Ricardos, Kodi Smit-McPhee; The Power of the Dog
On one hand I'm feeling blessed by lil old Jared Leto not being here for his horrid performance in House of Gucci. On the other this category is not good. I love Jesse Plemons and I'm glad he's here but as a whole I'm not super pumped about either Power of the Dog actor. My big issue though is J.K. Simmons, I love the man but I genuinely do not remember him in Being the Ricardos. It's an unmemorable performance in a movie that has no business being anywhere and it's a shame that he's taken a spot that could have gone to Jason Isaacs for Mass, one of the top performances of any film last year. Hyped for Kotsur, disappointed by basically everything else.
Film Editing
Nominees: Don't Look Up, Dune, King Richard, The Power of the Dog, Tick...Tick...Boom!
I know I've been hard on Don't Look Up, but one of my biggest issues with it is its trash editing, but much like nonsense like Vice and Bohemian Rhapsody it manages to let the Academy ignore its god awful editing by just having a lot of it. Licorice Pizza and so many others should be here, I don't really know why King Richard is, but really, Don't Look Up feels like it was cut together by someone playing cookie clicker and I'm embarrassed on behalf of the Oscars for continuing to reward bad editing. Also a pretty big miss for Belfast.
Makeup and Hairstyling
Nominees: Coming 2 America, Cruella, Dune, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, House of Gucci
I honestly have nothing to say, I guess I wish Spencer?
Animated Feature
Nominees: Encanto, Flee, Luca, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Raya and the Last Dragon
This is the only category I predicted right, no surprises or snubs this went how it was supposed to go.
Original Song
Nominees: King Richard, Encanto, Belfast, No Time to Die, Four Good Days
I'm not putting the song names here they're too long and I don't really care. Putting all my hope on No Time to Die 1. because Billie Eilish is dope and 2. because of that one time I saw Dune and Eilish was playing in the theatre beside me so I can count this as a Dune win.
Documentary Feature
Nominees: Ascension, Attica, Flee, Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Writing with Fire
I've only seen two of these, Flee and SoS, which are both great. I would have seen more if The Rescue or The Sparks Brothers made it but this category makes no sense ever so I'm past even calling it on surprises or snubs.
Visual Effects
Nominees: Dune, Free Guy, No Time to Die, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home
HYPED for Free Guy, wish Godzilla vs Kong and The Matrix Resurrections were also here but I guess the Marvel movies are okay too. Not much to say so go Dune!
Cinematography
Nominees: Dune, Nightmare Alley, The Power of the Dog, The Tragedy of Macbeth, West Side Story
This went almost exactly as expected except for Nightmare Alley taking the spot I thought Belfast would. That's honestly a huge upgrade, Belfast is a decent looking movie but Nightmare Alley is straight up gorgeous. All five of these films are gorgeously shot, there's definitely other stuff out there like Spencer that would be deserving but this is a strong lineup.
Production Design
Nominees: Dune, Nightmare Alley, The Power of the Dog, The Tragedy of Macbeth, West Side Story
Exact same nominees as cinematography and again, this is a great lineup. The Power of the Dog doesn't have production design that wows me necessarily but I'm not against it being here and I'm overall happy with it.
International Feature
Nominees: Drive My Car, Flee, The Hand of God, Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, The Worst Person in the World
This is another one of those almost as expected categories, only instead of something like A Hero we have whatever the hell this Yak movie is. I've never heard of it which is kinda fun but also weird as hell. Ultimately I love that The Worst Person in the World is here and the other films are all solid (again can't speak on this Yak thing but I'll try to watch it before the ceremony). The biggest issue here is one that wasn't even on the shortlist, it is downright disgusting that Titane is not here, a film that won Cannes and has gone on to have one of the biggest impacts of any 2021 film and it is nowhere to be seen which is an absolute shame.
Actor in a Leading Role
Nominees: Javier Bardem; Being the Ricardos, Benedict Cumberbatch; The Power of the Dog, Andrew Garfield; Tick...Tick...Boom!, Will Smith; King Richard, Denzel Washington; The Tragedy of Macbeth
Another category that almost went completely as expected. Cumberbatch, Garfield, Smith, and Washington were all expected and deserved. That last spot was really between Bardem, Dicaprio, and Peter Dinklage. I don't think Bardem has any business being here, it just isn't nearly one of his better performances, but honestly there aren't many other great performances in the conversation so I'm not too upset with it.
Actress in a Leading Role
Nominees: Jessica Chastain; The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Olivia Colman; The Lost Daughter, Penelope Cruz; Parallel Mothers, Nicole Kidman; Being the Ricardos, Kristen Stewart; Spencer
I haven't seen Parallel Mothers yet so I won't be speaking on that, but this was a really disappointing category. The original screenplay nomination gave me so much hope that Renate Reinsve would be here for The Worst Person in the World, so I'm heartbroken that didn't happen. I'm equally sad that Alana Haim missed for Licorice Pizza which was seeming like a real possibility. I'm glad Kristen Stewart beat the odds and got it, and I'm happy with Chastain, but Colman and Kidman just didn't wow me and I wish their spots could have been filled by performers with less achievements already to their name. I will say though, I'm glad the Lady Gaga House of Gucci hype train has finally come to a stop, despite the absurd things her fans are tweeting this really isn't that special of a performance and I'm glad someone like Stewart is there instead.
Directing
Nominees: Kenneth Branagh; Belfast, Ryusuke Hamaguchi; Drive My Car, Paul Thomas Anderson; Licorice Pizza, Jane Campion; The Power of the Dog, Steven Spielberg; West Side Story
This was the biggest heartbreaker. Denis Villeneuve is my hero and seeing him miss for what seemed like a guaranteed nomination just really sucks. I thought for a moment that Jane Campion was snubbed and I loved it, but that didn't happen. I mean no disrespect to her, but she's been the no doubter to win for months now and I don't find that fun at all so a snub would have shaken things up a lot, plus my lack of excitement towards the film just makes me kinda down on this category, especially now that Villeneuve is gone. Branagh shouldn't be there, PTA makes me happy, Spielberg I would be okay with or without, and I'm going to wait until I rewatch Drive My Car to speak on Hamaguchi, but overall the lack of Denis just makes this one a big letdown.
Best Picture
Nominees: Belfast, CODA, Don't Look Up, Drive My Car, Dune, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, The Power of the Dog, West Side Story
Best Picture ultimately didn't have too much craziness. Nightmare Alley was expected to be on the outside looking in but managed to be the lone surprise in the category, maybe along with Drive my Car which has built up a lot of steam leading up to today and it has clearly turned out well for the film. Don't Look Up should be nowhere close to this but whatever, I would have loved to see Tick...Tick...Boom! or some more international love (The Worst Person in the World is better than all of these movies), but ultimately this lineup didn't disappoint too much. Don't Look Up still sucks though.
So there we have it, the nominees for the 94th Academy Awards. I'll be counting down the days until March 27th when we get to recognize all these great films!
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