2023 Academy Award Nominations

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Today is one of the most exciting days for anyone who blogs about movies and Oscars...nomination day! Like every year, there's plenty to like, but also plenty to complain about. Here are a list of the nominees + my thoughts.

Best Picture
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
We really wasted a Best Picture nomination on Avatar, huh? When The Woman King, the Menu, Babylon and Glass Onion exist? Triangle of Sadness is the big surprise here. It was good, but not over the other films I named, in my opinion.

Best Director
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Todd Field – TÁR
Steven Spielberg – The Fabelmans
Ruben Ostlund – Triangle of Sadness
NO women. No Gina Prince-Bythewood? No Sarah Polley? We had back to back women winners the last two years now shut out women again completely? Boring.

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett – TÁR
Ana de Armas – Blonde
Andrea Riseborough – To Leslie 
Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Okay, so a LOT is being made about Andrea Riseborough's nomination, which seemingly came out of nowhere. No one heard about To Leslie until a few weeks ago, but the real problem with this category is Michelle Williams. Her performance in The Fabelmans was AWFUL, and two amazing performances by Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler are missing. I'm not sticking that on Andrea, I'm sticking that on Michelle.

Best Actor
Austin Butler – Elvis
Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser – The Whale
Paul Mescal – Aftersun
Bill Nighy – Living
Paul Mesal is the big surprise in this category. I still need to see Aftersun and Living. I just hope Farrel or Fraser wins. I can't take Butler and his Hilaria Baldwin commitment to the accent any longer. 

​Best Supporting Actress
​​​​Angela Bassett – Black Panther: 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
This category is perfect. 10/10 no notes. (I know Dolly De Leon would've been a nice addition as well, but still)

Best Supporting Actor
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
I can't believe these people watched The Fabelmans and nominated Judd Hirsch's 5 minute performance over Paul Dano's, who gave the best performance in the entire movie. Ridiculous. Happy to se Brian Tyree Henry in here on principle. I will definitely be watching Causeway next week.

Best Original Screenplay
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All At Once
The Fabelmans
TÁR
Triangle of Sadness
This is about what I was expecting. 

Best Adapted Screenplay
All Quiet on the Western Front
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Living
Top Gun: Maverick
Women Talking
Oscar nomination #2 for Rian Johnson! Top Gun: Maverick making it here made me laugh my ass off. I love the movie, it's in my Top 10 of the year, but that screenplay was the weakest bit. 

Best Animated Feature
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The Sea Beast
Turning Red
Guillermo has this in the bag, but I'm just over here rooting for Marcel.

Best Documentary Feature
All That Breathes
All the Beauty And the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
A House Made Of Splinters
​​​Navalny
Fire of Love!! I adore this doc. I still don't get the love for All The Beauty and the Bloodshed.

Best International Feature
All Quiet on the Western Front
Argentina, 1985
Close
EO
The Quiet Girl
The Quiet Girl made it!!! I was so worried it would get snubbed. This might be the first time where I've seen the majority of these nominees before the ceremony. I just need to see Close and EO.

Best Cinematography
​All Quiet on the Western Front
Bardo
Elvis
Empire of Light
TÁR
What the fuck is Bardo? I wish The Quiet Girl was here too. I didn't like Empire of Light very much, but it's gorgeous so I'm happy to see it here at least.

Best Costume Design
Babylon
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
The Woman King could've gone here too. We didn't need Elvis. 

Best Film Editing
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All At Once
TÁR
Top Gun: Maverick
I like it...not so much Elvis but everything else.

Best Makeup & Hairstyling
​​​​​All Quiet on the Western Front
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
The Whale
The Batman deserves to win this award for what they did to Collin Farrell's beautiful face. I was kind of hoping Barbarian would sneak in here but that was such a long shot.

Best Production Design
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
Babylon
Elvis
The Fabelmans
Another wasted nomination on Avatar.

Best Sound
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Elvis
Top Gun: Maverick
Go away Avatar!

Best Visual Effects
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Top Gun: Maverick
Fine, Avatar. I'll let you have this. My condolences to Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Not a great movie, but great visuals. 

Best Original Score
All Quiet on the Western Front
Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All At Once
The Fabelmans
Babylon, my baby. At least you'll win this.

Best Original Song
Tell it Like a Woman – “Applause”
Top Gun: Maverick – “Hold My Hand”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – “Lift Me Up”
RRR – “Naatu Naatu”
Everything Everywhere All At Once – “This Is A Life”
Ludwig and Ryan are nominees for Lift Me Up! India must feel stupid for not submitting RRR in International Film now considering how well loved RRR is. And no Caroline, THANK GOD. Taylor has written better songs for movies. 

Best Animated Short
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse
The Flying Sailor
Ice Merchants
My Year of Dicks
An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It
I have no idea what My Year of Dicks is but it's now my most anticipated film. On to my annual Oscar Short Race!

Best Documentary Short
The Elephant Whisperers
Haulout
How Do You Measure a Year?
The Martha Mitchell Effect
Stranger at the Gate
I haven't seen any of these, but I'm excited to go looking for them.

Best Live-Action Short
An Irish Goodbye
Ivalu
Le Pupille
Night Ride
The Red Suitcase
Ditto, but I love doing my annual short film watches. 

Comments

  1. joel65913January 24, 2023 at 10:56 AM

    Ya know I use to LIVE for Oscar nomination morning and would cram both before and after to see as absolutely much as possible of the nominated films and performances. But distribution is so fragmented now on top of which I'm still not comfortable returning to the cinema and spending a couple of hours surrounded by a crowd who are either chatting throughout the movie (if you want to talk stay home! GRRR!!) or coughing annoyances that I see practically nothing until it's been out a while.

    I've lost my passion for the award show as well which was once a glittering night of a cavalcade of stars. Now since with a few exceptions real STARS don't exist (and the ones that do are rarely called upon to present instead we get a pageant of flash in the pans) it's a slog on bad jokes, meaningless montages and dull musical numbers. Hell even the In Memoriam is usually abrupt, incomplete and focused on whoever is singing rather than the people supposedly being honored! I wish for once they would try and model it on the yearly tribute TCM does which is always dignified, inclusive and respectful.

    That's my long-winded way of saying I have seen next to nothing in contention. I am however delighted that the underrated Colin Farrell finally landed a long overdue nomination. Fraser too, though I don't think he's as skillful an actor as Colin who I would love to see win. Otherwise I really have no dog in any of these fights.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 24, 2023 at 12:42 PM

      lol well I'm always thankful for you coming to visit me and I never think your comments are long-winded! I really want Farrell to win. I think he's better than both Butler and Fraser. I haven't seen the other 2.

      Delete
  2. BirgitJanuary 24, 2023 at 1:42 PM

    I have seen the Fabelmans and Banshees. I hope Colin or Brendan win. I want to see The Whale. I find Michelle Williams over-rated and she annoyed me in that movie. I haven't seenmuch of anything because, like Joel, I do t want to be in a yheatre full of hacking viruses. I wish I had TCM...I would never leave the couch! I still enjoy watching the awards even though they bring out " stars" that I say...Who? I am surprised that Viola Davis wasn't nominated and I am not surprised by Avatar because Cameron will where himself out for anything to get noticed. I hate that jerk. Top Gun is in there just because they made a lot of money..blecchhh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 24, 2023 at 2:02 PM

      Viola Davis getting snubbed is insane. The fact that the Woman King got ZERO nominations is easily the worst thing that happened.

      Delete
  3. thevoid99January 24, 2023 at 4:45 PM

    No women nominees for Best Director. That shit is wrong. I can't believe they nominated Diane Warren again for Best Original Song. Why? She's just meh.... I haven't seen any of the films nominated for Best Picture. This is kind of rare for me at this moment.

    That list for Best Supporting Actress.... anything goes with that one and I have no problem with who should win that as that is a fucking list. I have seen one of the films nominated for Best Live-Action short in Le Pupille as that film is MUST-SEE and is available on Disney+. I thought it was fucking great. I'm rooting for that film.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 25, 2023 at 10:07 AM

      I just watched Le Pupille last night and didn't really care for it. I'm making my way through the shorts now. No women in director is stupid. There were plenty of better directed films by women out there.

      Delete
  4. SJHoneywellJanuary 24, 2023 at 8:24 PM

    As usual, I've seen only a few of these. I'm in agreement with you in places where I've seen the movies in question. And, like you, I am positive that Pinocchio is going to win Animated Feature, but it shouldn't, and as a GDT fanboy, it hurts me to say that. Marcel was perfect, though--the sort of film that would make the world a better place if everyone saw it.

    I'd have loved to see a nomination somewhere for After Yang, and I will be forever salty that Pedro Pascal was ignored for a truly epic performance in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. I am equally salty that the Roku Channel didn't make Weird Oscar-eligible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 25, 2023 at 10:06 AM

      I agree. Marcel is just so special. Honestly, I prefer Turning Red to Pinocchio as well. Roku should've campaigned at the Emmys if they didn't meet Oscar eligibility. I think he would've had a shot there.

      Delete
  5. ChrisJanuary 25, 2023 at 4:11 PM

    Top Gun getting nominated for screenplay is a bit silly, but I’ll take it. What’s confusing to me is how it didn’t get nominated for cinematography though. >.>

    ReplyDelete
  6. Cinema RecallJanuary 27, 2023 at 2:41 AM

    i watched Fire of Love last night really enjoyed that Doc my pick is still Beauty and Bloodshed but I hope the other wins

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    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJanuary 27, 2023 at 9:35 AM

      I really fell in the minority with All The Beauty and the Bloodshed. I just didn't think it meshed well. There was another neon doc too, Three Minutes, A Lengthening that I thought was far better. Fire of Love is still my #1 Though Navaly was really compelling as well.

      Delete

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