Maestro, The Nominations Are In

This past year saw theatrical moviegoing make something of a return, with two long-awaited sequels setting historic box office records, but with a few exceptions the box office returns have been either feast or famine, and film’s budgets reflect that. There were a few big-budget, original films from beloved filmmakers, but they suffered from being under-marketed and performed poorly or just kinda showed up on a streaming service; oftentimes it was both. To say the business is in a precarious state is an understatement, but this year still gave us a strong slate of films. The movies that have been in contention for awards, and a few that inexplicably haven’t, mostly vary between serviceably good and remarkably great. Hopefully, these nominations do what they have historically done: put great films on the maps of mainstream audiences, and our convoluted streaming infrastructure can make finding these movies easier, not harder.

Let’s see what they’re cooking with this year:

Best Picture:

• The Nominees.

  • All Quiet on the Western Front

  • Avatar: The Way of Water

  • The Banshees of Inisherin

  • Elvis

  • Everything Everywhere All at Once

  • The Fabelmans

  • Tár

  • Top Gun: Maverick

  • Triangle of Sadness

  • Women Talking

• The Snubs.

  • Nope

  • Decision to Leave

  • Armageddon Time

  • Babylon

  • RRR

• The Worst Inclusion.

  • Elvis | I mean it’s fun and campy and a little touching at times but come on.

• The Personal Favorite.

  • Tár | This movie will thrill, challenge, entrance, and puzzle in all the best ways for years to come.

Best Director:

• The Nominees.

  • Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin

  • The Daniels, Everything Everywhere All at Once

  • Steven Spielberg, The Fablemans

  • Todd Field, Tár

  • Ruben Ostlund, Triangle of Sadness

• The Snubs.

  • S.S. Rajamouli, RRR

  • Jordan Peele, Nope

  • Park Chan-Wook, Decision to Leave

• The Worst Inclusion.

  • The Daniels, Everything Everywhere All at Once | While I believe that this movie achieved what it sought out to, and the Daniels are the biggest reason for that, I’m far closer to lukewarm on this movie than it seems a lot of others are.

• The Personal Favorite.

  • Todd Field, Tár | Yeah. Really dug this movie and this guy made it, you know?

Best Actor:

• The Nominees.

  • Austin Butler, Elvis

  • Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin

  • Brendan Fraser, The Whale

  • Paul Mescal, Aftersun

  • Bill Nighy, Living

• The Snubs.

  • Jack Lowden, Benediction

  • Tom Cruise, Top Gun Maverick (let’s have fun!)

  • Alexander Skarsgaard, The Northman (maybe a reach)

• The Worst Inclusion.

  • Brendan Fraser, The Whale | Having only seen two of these nominees, my opinion is nonsense, but this campaign seems to be running purely on love for an actor’s return rather than his performance itself, so I don’t love that.

• The Personal Favorite.

  • Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin | Flanked by fellow nominees donning prosthetics and/or changing their voices – perhaps permanently in the case of Austin Butler – this performance felt the most achingly and heartbreakingly human, though I’m hearing similar things about Mescal’s performance.

Best Actress:

• The Nominees.

  • Cate Blanchett, Tár

  • Ana De Armas, Blonde

  • Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie

  • Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans

  • Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

• The Snubs.

  • Viola Davis, The Woman King

  • Tang Wei, Decision to Leave

  • Danielle Deadwyler, Till

  • Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

  • Margot Robbie, Babylon

• The Worst Inclusion.

  • Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie | I haven’t seen this movie, but at the time of this writing it seems to have only grossed $25,000 so you haven’t either. However, her nomination was likely the result of an “organic” celebrity-led campaign on her behalf, which on the one hand is a cool win for small movies but on the other hand is a white actress coming in late in the race to take a spot that a black actress also deserved. Once again, I despised Blonde but respected De Armas’ performance yet would not have minded her being swapped out in favor of Viola Davis either.

• The Personal Favorite.

  • Cate Blanchett, Tár | This is an all-timer and there’s no two ways about it.

Best Supporting Actor:

• The Nominees.

  • Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin

  • Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway

  • Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans

  • Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin

  • Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once

• The Snubs.

  • Steven Yeun, Nope

  • Paul Dano, The Fabelmans

  • Albrecht Schuch, All Quiet on the Western Front

• The Worst Inclusion.

  • Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans | Love Judd as much as the next guy, but he’s only in this movie for like 10 minutes and does A LOT in that time including explaining the movie’s subtext directly to the main character, something that I hate and something that far too many characters in this movie do. To quote Michael Corleone, it insults my intelligence.

• The Personal Favorite.

  • Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin | He’s just flat-out spectacular in a very difficult part; he is menacing yet pitiable, hard yet occasionally tender.

Best Supporting Actress:

• The Nominees.

  • Angela Basset, Wakanda Forever

  • Hong Chau, The Whale

  • Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin

  • Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once

  • Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once

• The Snubs.

  • Nina Hoss, Tár

  • Thuso Mbedu, The Woman King

  • Lashana Lynch, The Woman King

• The Worst Inclusion.

  • Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once | She’s fine.

• The Personal Favorite.

  • Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin | This movie is packed wall-to-wall with terrific and ranged performances, and this one is no different.

Best Original Screenplay:

• The Nominees.

  • The Banshees of Inisherin

  • Everything Everywhere All at Once

  • The Fabelmans

  • Tár

  • Triangle of Sadness

• The Snubs.

  • Nope

  • Decision to Leave

  • Babylon

• The Worst Inclusion.

  • Everything Everywhere All at Once | Sorry, had to be somebody and I do like all the other movies better.

• The Personal Favorite.

  • The Banshees of Inisherin | The movie’s dialogue absolutely sings, and all the fairytale qualities hiding at the edges of this movie begin here, in the screenplay.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• The Nominees.

• All Quiet on the Western Front

• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

• Living

• Top Gun: Maverick

• Women Talking

• The Worst Inclusion.

  • Living | This movie was already perfectly done 70 years ago.

• The Personal Favorite.

  • Glass Onion | I prefer the original Knives Out, but this one is still so fun!

Under-Nominated Films:

• Nope

  • Nominated for: Nothing

  • Should have been: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Editing

• Decision to Leave

  • Nominated for: Nothing

  • Should have been: Best Picture, Best International Feature, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Actress

• Benediction

  • Nominated for: Nothing

  • Should have been: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Screenplay (IDK which it would qualify for, these categories get downright silly), Best Production Design

• Armageddon Time

  • Nominated for: Nothing

  • Should have been: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography

• The Woman King

  • Nominated for: Nothing

  • Should have been: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design

• RRR

  • Nominated for: Best Original Song

  • Should have been: Best Picture, Best International Picture, Best Director, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects

• The Batman

  • Nominated for: Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Makeup and Hairstyling

  • Should have been: Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Score, Best Editing – this was a technical beast