Did you toon into the Oscar nominations this morning. Jack Quaid and Zazie Beetz (in particular) did a fine enthusiastic job of announcing the nominations in Oscar's 23 categories. There were surprises and shut-outs and overperformers as per usual. You can see the complete list of nominations at the Oscar Charts Index Page (though the individual charts per category are not yet updated).
Herewith 11 quick obversations about the nominations before we dive in to individual categories.
1. BARBIE FATIGUE (SORT OF)
While America Ferrera nabbed the Oscar nod we predicted for her in Best Supporting Actress (we went 5/5 on that volatile category in our predictions) Barbie received just 8 nominations overall. That's a lot, of course, but it isn't a lot in terms of expectations and how well the film had been performing at precursors...
The most noticeable shut out -- an unfortunately problematic shut-out given the movies stance on how hard it is to be a woman in a patriarchal society -- was the two women who were most responsible for its phenomenal success: Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig who were left off the Best Actress and Best Director list respectively. Nevertheless they were nominated in other categories (as producer for Best Picture and co-writer for Best Adapted Screenplay, respectively)
2. OPPENHEIMER SWEEP INCOMING
Chris Nolan's atomic biopic nabbed exactly the nominations we expected (all 13 of them which is just one nomination shy of the all time record). In fact the only area Oscar stiffed it in was Best Visual Effects as it didn't make the finalist list in that category so it was no longer possible to receive that nomination. It will surely carry home multiple Oscars in March. It's closest competitors in terms of Oscar hauls are Poor Things (11) and Killers of the Flower Moon (10) which both did phenomenally well but missed a nomination or two they were probably close to getting (a second Supporting Actor nod and a Writing nod, respectively)
3. ANATOMY OF A FALL vs THE ZONE OF INTEREST
This would have made for a fascinating "who ever will win?" nailbiting contest in Best International Feature Film had Anatomy been submitted by France (though it might have been disqualified given the amount of English in the film). Nevertheless they both received 4 big nominations including the important double of Best Picture and Best Director. And Best Director in particular was no easy feat! The Zone of Interest will surely win Best International Feature but can Anatomy of a Fall take home any Oscars?
4. BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE CONTINUES TO SURPRISE!
The Best Documentary Feature category is known for shocking snubs that shouldn't be surprising at all given their history of high profile misses. This year American Symphony and Still: A Michael J Fox Movie had been the top performers in this category during precursor season but they both missed the lineup. We predicted the latter missing -- but it was more a hope-diction as we maintain that you shouldn't be eligible at both the Emmys and the Oscars and somehow that film managed to be! Since it's already won 4 Emmys it shouldn't be too disappointed. We're also proud of ourselves for predicting To Kill a Tiger (which had not performed well in precursor season) though we're kicking ourselves for booting Bobi Wine at the last minute since it snagged a nomination, too.
5. SWEETEST SURPRISE
Pablo Berger's Robot Dreams is a true gem and we're shocked and overjoyed that it made Best Animated Feature... if only Suzume had also made the list instead of Elemental it would have been a perfect quintet for the category!
6. FINALLY!
Sir Ian McKellen (Gods and Monsters) is finally no longer alone in the dubious statistic of being the only out LGBTQ performer to be nominated for playing a queer role. This year Colman Domingo (Rustin) and Jodie Foster (Nyad) both join him. (Yes, yes, other LGBTQ actors have been nominated over the years but weren't out in the modern sense pre-nomination)
7. SALTY PLUMMET / NAPOLEONIC SURGE
We were expecting Saltburn (given its sudden popularity) to be the rising film that nabbed the most nominations without a corresponding Best Picture citation -- people were definitely talking about it during the voting week. But that annual honor went to Ridley Scott's Napoleon of all pictures which no one seemed to be talking about. We've yet to meet someone who loves Napoleon. Curious result!
Which brings us to a related point...
8. THE INTERNET IS JUST THE INTERNET AND THE OSCARS ARE JUST THE OSCARS.
If you trust the younger-skewing online chatter, Maestro and Saltburn's fates would have reversed positions in this Oscar race. And it might have been, say, All of Us Strangers and not Nyad to score an Acting Double. It's just the annual reminder that the perpetually online community and the Oscar community have different tastes. Sometimes those tastes converge in fun ways (like the Everything Everywhere All At Once situation where the perpetually online loved it for months before the industry got caught up in the fervor) and other times they never come together in the middle.
9. NO LONGER A MISSION IMPOSSIBLE TO SNAG OSCAR NODS
We didn't predict Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 to receive any Oscar nominations even though it had made a shortlist or two. The reasoning was simple. Oscar has never given a single nod to the franchise, despite its immense popularity and very well executed technical achievements. Funny thing is that the latest installment struggled to make the usual bank at the box office and this is the time Oscar picked to honor it. We're happy for the film which has great sound and visual effects but it's quite an about face for the Academy to finally deem it worthy!
10. LONE NOMINEES
Colman Domingo (Rustin) and Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple) received the only nominations for their films. That's increasingly hard to accomplish in the acting categories (or really any craft category, too) in the expanded Best Picture era when only a dozen or so films appear to be widely watched. So congratulations to both of them for beating the odds!
11. PRECURSORS AREN'T EVERYTHING. ESPECIALLY IN THE SPECIALTY FEATURE CATEGORIES
If you predict solely based on precursors you probably had a rough morning in Best Animated Feature, Best International Feature, and Best Documentary Feature. All three categories did not truly play along with what the Globes, the CCA, and many other organizations suggested to them.
P.S.
My own punditry had its usual success rate with a few perfect categories, lots of close call (4/5), and a few embarrassing failures. This year the extremes were:
Proud Achievements: Perfect scores for Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress... and I'm proud of getting Supporting Actor almost right (my only mistake was placing Dafoe above Ruffalo for Poor Things) and my thinking if not my prediction was correct in Adapted Screenplay where I had Killers of the Floower Moon in 5th vulnerable place with The Zone of Interest in 6th as a potential spoiler. Should have gone with the hunch, there! I also had the correct hunch on Original Song (4/5) that Rustin's would be left out but I chose the wrong replacement as prediction.
Wipeout: Live Action and Animated Shorts (predicting only 2 of 5) and Documentary Short (scoring only 1 of 5 - yikes!). Another reminder that it does not pay to actually see the shorts in question, in terms of punditry! Always glad to have watched them though.
MORE TO COME...