10 Takeaways From The Oscar Nominations
Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 11:40AM by Nathaniel R
If you predicted AVATAR FIRE AND ASH in costumes. Please take the week off in celebration and invest immediately in gambling because you are psychic.
Dear readers, as I recreate the Oscar charts to reflect nominations and add "Reader Choice" polling, consider these 10 off-the-cuff takeaways about this morning's Oscar nominations -- you can see the full list (as well as my prediction score) here. In the meantime I hope you enjoy these takeaways and answer three questions that come to mind...
10 TAKEAWAYS + 4 COMMENT PARTY QUESTIONS
Oscar Voters Can Still Surprise Us!
I really didn't expect to type this. "Surprises" generally being an overstatement when it comes to Oscar results. Even if something happens that isn't widely expected it's usually at least been talked up as a "spoiler" possibility for months. In comes the Costume Design branch to keep us on our toes. Who on Gods Green Earth or Pandora's Blue Oceans saw a Best Costume Design nomination coming for the CGI loincloths and tribal accessories of Avatar Fire and Ash !?
Not I! And we don't even have immense popularity of the film to blame since it wasn't as well reviewed as its predecessors and couldn't even manage Sound or Production Design nominations.
F1: THE DAD MOVIE Stop Underestimating Dad Movies
While people began to predict F1: The Movie at the last minute (after its PGA showing) for most of the year it was regarded as "will probably show up in a couple of craft categories only". It's showing this morning withfour nominations (Picture, Sound, Editing, Visual Effects) reminds us that Dad Movies are often underestimated in punditry but still show up on Nomination Morning. A lesser (and much lower quality) example this year is Nuremberg surprising on some shortlists a month ago though it didn't actually score any nominations.
Leonardo DiCaprio's Amazing Eye for "Future Best Picture"
We've all experienced actors we love choosing badly when it comes to film projects. But nobody who loves Leo really knows what this pain feels like. While the world's biggest prestige movie star could definitely stand to take more risks -- when was the last time he used his massive power to boost an unlikely but worthy project or work with a first time director... or even a mid-career director who wasn't already a major auteur? -- he does have a knack for getting behind films that are going to turn out real well. Should One Battle After Another follow in the footsteps of Titanic (1997) and The Departed (2006) and win Best Picture... he will tie other living legends like Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson (and several late legends like Clark Gable, Diane Keaton, and John Cazale) in the category of "Actor Who Has Appeared in the Most Best Picture Winners". He's only 51 so we're willing to bet that he eventually breaks the long-standing record. If you widen that record to "Actor Who Has Appeared in the Most Best Picture Nominees" his track record is even stronger. It helps of course that Oscar moved to an expanded Best Picture field during his A-List years but he has now starred in an incredible 12 Best Picture Nominees, tying that other Scorsese favourite Robert DeNiro in the process. Only one actor has them beat: the character actor Ward Bond. It would take a lot for other actors to catch DeNiro and DiCaprio -- only two living actors currently feel anything like a threat: Cate Blanchett who has been in 10 BP nominees and Timothee Chalamet who has been famous for less than a decade, has been racking them up with incredible speed and is already at 8 with Marty Supreme.
The Limits of Monopoly / All Hail the New Monopoly!
For much of the year it felt like NEON had little competition in the Best International Feature Film race. In fact, even toward the end it was tempting to predict that they'd entirely own the category (a feat that's never been accomplished) with 100% of the nominations. It wasn't just that their acquistion and development teams have extraordinary taste on the regular. It was also good luck. Many a great film has been snubbed during the shortlisting phase of this category but all five of their buzziest subtitled films (Sentimental Value, The Secret Agent, It Was Just An Accident, No Other Choice, and Sirat) made the 15 film wide cut. It also helped that the other distributors who tend to have. a strong track record in this category (A24, Netflix, SPC, Janus Films) just didn't appear to be trying as hard or pushing as many titles this season. In the end their best submission (No Other Choice) was the one left on the outside lookign in. I'm tremendously sad about that but it probably isn't healthy for one distributor to own an entire Oscar game.
I have NO OTHER CHOICE but to pardon Park Chan Wook and South Korea should they drop a large plant on the heads of Oscar voters
What Does the Academy Have Against South Korea?
Given the Globalization of Oscar (more on that in a minute) it remains strange and (frankly) fucking annoying that Oscar voters keep passing on South Korean films. Parasite is still the only film from South Korea they've ever nominated which is immensely stupid given the generally high quality of the country's submissions and also the fact that Korean cinema is hardly lacking in enthusiasts in the real world. Why can't it penetrate Oscar ballots?
Coattails Will Always Be a Thing
The following is not a judgment! The coattail effect -- i.e. when a very popular thing (usually a Best Picture lock but sometimes an actor) pulls a craft element or performance into contention that otherwise probably wouldn't have been "considered" --doesn't give AF about quality; Sometimes this happens for very worthy achievements and sometimes it helps mediocre efforts. So you decide for yourself the worthiness of the following nominations but they all feel like they surely benefitted from borrowed glory via the immense popularity of their film OR their lead thespian: Blue Moon in Original Screenplay (though sadly coattails didn't help Oscar worthy Andrew Scott in Supporting), Michael B Jordan in Sinners (only the second vampire performance ever nominated and the only previous had more "Oscar" hooks and was decidedly less of a horror movie, Delroy Lindo in Sinners, One Battle After Another's Production Design... what else do you think benefitted?
Wicked For Good's Total Collapse
While I saw it coming -- I'd been predicting Erivo and Grande to miss all year even when people said I was foolish -- I admit that I was surprised to see it go all the way from "assumed contender all over the place" to completely snubbed in just a couple of months time. Missing in Best Song for example feels very pointedly bitchy like "begone... you have no power here" The industry has been moving toward transitioning Movies into Big TV Episodes for a long time with their franchise obsession and we've been worried about the Oscars becoming the Emmys with people nominated multiple times for the very same achievement but we've avoided that terror... for now! Next time maybe don't split your big movie into two movies just to charge people twice!
Delroy Lindo finally gets payback for that snub for DA 5 BLOODS
Category Fraud Already Won the War... But A Few Victories for the Losers (All Supporting Players)
While the precursors and the media have long cemented / cheered on the full colonization of the supporting categories, leaving character actors without the home that was built for them, we must cheer small victories! The Academy rejected Paul Mescal's shameless bid for Supporting (love love love his acting but that was gross) despite playing Shakespeare in a movie about the Shakespeare marriage and replaced him with Delroy Lindo (long seen as a spoiler possibility for this honor though the precursors just weren't biting). Not that there aren't leads in that category. Meanwhile over in Supporting Actress, with Ariane Grande getting ousted at the last moment despite full media support (I predicted no nods for Grande & Erivo all year and people thought I was crazy) we have a full 100% of the supporting actress category going to actual supporting actresses!!! IT'S A CHRISTMAS* MIRACLE. We're glad for these small victories because the way the culture has decided Best Supporting should be retitled Best Lead Spillover is very 21st century 1% worship but obscene. Honestly people (and awards voters!) Category Fraud is like naming your CEO "Employee of the Month". They already have their own Awards opportunities, not to mention other perks that are (mostly) denied supporting actors (Big Fame, Enormous Salaries, Constant Media Fawning, Etc...)
* Oscar nomination morning is our Christmas, don'cha know
Globalization Continues
While we didn't break the barrier of "Most Non-English Language Best Picture Nominees" that many pundits were predicting (It Was Just An Accident stalled out in Picture/Director), subtitled features still did very well. All but one of the Best International Feature Film nominees received at least one nomination outside of that category, too.
All Records Will Eventually Be Broken
When films as seismically successful as Titanic (1997) or as instantly popular as La La Land (2016) couldn't break the 14 nomination record first set by All About Eve (1950) 75 years ago, we figured it just wouldn't happen. We were wrong! Sinners obliterated the record setting a new record of 16. So now "second place" is two nominations less. Of course it helped that the Oscars added a category for the first time in ages (Best Casting). This is all along way of saying that Katharine Hepburn with her seemingly insurmountable four lead acting wins (she's held that record for over 40 years) and Meryl Streep with her most acting nominations ever (she's held the record since 2002's Adaptation and then kept breaking it) had better watch their backs.
4 NEW QUESTIONS
IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT that cinephile pundits got carried away
What happened to It Was Just An Accident?
Was that widely expected Director nomination for Panahi and even a somewhat regularly predicted Best Picture berth just a cinephile fever dream? It didn't do poorly with 2 nominations but it didn't break through in the way it was widely expected to either. Was it Sirat's sudden surge? Neon having more films than they could adequately campaign for... or were voters just not really that into it?
Can Sinners beat One Battle to Best Picture?
It would be wrong to say that any of Sinner's 16 nominations are a shock but ALL of them combined? There is not a single category in which Sinners was eligible that it was not nominated. I am struggling to think of that being true of any other film in history. The same is not true of One Battle (which missed a few it was eligible for). Sinners even scored for its Makeup (despite Oscar voters regularly shunning horror films) and Visual Effects even though it's inarguably more of a Supporting Visual FX movie and this category tends towards "Most" Visual FX). The race for Best Picture might be more intense than precursors suggest.
Coattails didn't help super-worthy Andrew Scott but Ethan Hawke could still win for BLUE MOON
Best Actor: Chalamet or Hawke?
With Blue Moon's mildly surprising entrance into Best Original Screenplay might Hawke have just enough of a boost to win career honors. Oscar voters do LOVE movies about showbiz and biopics. Plus he's been working forever and has great taste and deserves more nominations than he's received. Meanwhile though Chalamet's career is red hot and he's admittedly spectacular in Marty Supreme. I didn't think he'd ever top his Call Me By Your Name performance and I was wrong.
Best Casting - How would you grade their inaugural year?
We haven't had a new Oscar category in decades. What do you make of this first year's results? The finalist list suggested a weird mix of savvy discerning AND totally ignorant of what casting directors even do -- I'm suddenly feeling nice so I'm not going to point out those films by name but how can you take it seriously when they shortlisted one particular film with no casting work (a sequel without new characters) and a film where the performance quality was all over the place with arguably only a single piece of inspiration in casting and otherwise xeroxed from "currently ubiquitous SAG member" alongside films which obviously benefitted enormously from the casting directors savvy eye and a difficult make-or-break assignment. I don't know quite what to make of this or how to grade them. So I want to say "B" -- the nominee list is solid in the end but the longlists suggested the final quintet could fall anywhere from totally amazing to absolute disaster so I don't want to give them too much credit.
YOUR TURN. HOW DID YOUR CHRISTMAS/OSCAR NOMINATION MORNING GO?
Reader Comments (43)
Look, I’m thrilled that Wicked: For Good got nothing—but the idea that the films are radically different in quality is absurd. Both are hideous, both are overlong, both have performances all over the place, neither does anything interesting or sophisticated with the musical’s message and themes. Costumes inconsistent, lighting bad, sets an eyesore, tone a mess—the musical equivalent of the worst Tim Burton dreck.
Those seams and cracks were evident last year in Part 1; People who wanted John M. Chu to be the SECOND COMING OF BOB FOSSE just looked the other way.
It feels like Wicked: For Good is taking the fall for a set of failures no one wanted to acknowledge the first time around.
I'm pleased as punch, despite the lack of love for Hedda and The Testament of Ann Lee (neither of which showed up in any of my predictions, so no surprise).
-I'm not even mad about the annual Diane Warren nomination.
-They clearly HATED Wicked For Good to shun it even in Costumes and Song.
-Sad for Eva Victor. Not even in Screenplay. The Julia Roberts push came too late, sadly.
-Thrilled for Delroy Lindo. Might he even be in contention for the win?
-Wondering if Chase Infiniti campaigned in Supporting if she would have taken Fanning's spot?
-Love seeing Amy Madigan and Kate Hudson get nominations so long after their 1st ones.
"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" is the only other picture to be nominated for every category it was eligible for.
Some initial thoughts:
- Elle Fanning! Yay. Sentimental Value got the love it deserves.
- The Secret Agent getting a lot of love, too.
- No nominations for Wicked. That's just hilarious.
- F1 in Best Picture. Ugh. Fuck off.
- Rose Byrne!
- Sinners being the most nominated movie of all time is just embarrassing. No one, even if you LOVED it, can tell me with a straight face that it deserves to break that record. Get real.
- Delroy Lindo getting nominated over Paul Mescal. Just no. He's fun in the movie, sure, but where is the acting? He says a few jokes and that's it. Where is the character? I don't care about the category fraud. Get rid of Elordi, then. Lindo deserved it for Da 5 Bloods, not this.
- Avatar getting costumes. WHAT?
- Blue Moon getting screenplay over Sorry, Baby. I guess the standing ovation for Julia and her shoutout achieved nothing.I expected Hawke's horrible, cartoonish performance to be in, but not that awful, grating screenplay.
- Marty Supreme is the most overrated film of 2025 after Sinners. I don't want Timmy to win. But I'll take him over Hawke any day.
Ok people I am going to get the moaning out of the way first,Lesley Manville cover your ears.
16 nominations for Sinners is real overkill though.
Lindo is a nice addition as he deserved it 5 years ago but it's not great acting really.
I am sad MBJ took away a spot from 2 better performance by Plemons,Clooney,Edgerton and the one person I have been championing Dylan O'Brien.
Best Actress is better without Chase,she's supporting through and through and to the cinema snobs who sneer at Kate Hudson you can be really great in a fairly basic movie.
Elle Fanning has been building up to this and is good in the film but after SAGand Bafta left her off I thought only Ibsdotter was getting in and the MS ladies would be the 2 from the same film nominated,I think it's a good category which Amy should win but won't.
F1 has been building momentum for weeks now and is a good solid piece of Hollywood filmaking,how many BP nominees has Pitt been in now.
The Mescal snub I saw coming,I just couldn't see anyone being passionate about him and though i'm glad for Lindo who has been brightening up films for years I am sad it wasn't Andrew Scott.
Is this Diane Warren's year or does Sinners take it.
I thought all year long the star power of The Rock,Paltrow,Roberts,Clooney and Sandler would see them sail to nominations,these stars Oscar time has probably passed.
They will never forgive Sandler for the dross he has made and still makes,one or 2 good performances obviously doesn't cut it.
Well done for the del Toro director snub,he really messed that film up outside of Elordi nothing works.
Congratulations Chloe for joining a very small rare club.
Some great original screenplays this year Sorry Baby and Twinless among them.
Sentimental Value for editing I don't get,that film was so mundane and needed some chopping,it just kept repeating the same points,one daughter doesn't get on with her dad and one sorta does,he's an egotist.
Trains Dreams nominations all earned,sad about Joel and William snubbed for their wonderful acting duet.
I don't get Frankenstein's craft noms.
Was Cruise's honorarya little premature,apparently he's out of this world in next years Digger.
Question 1 I don't know,it lost steam and couldn't overcome films with acting potential nominees.
Question 2 I do think Sinners loses Best Picture but wins casting.
Question 3 Chalamet's time,if Hawke wins SAG then we have a race,remember Chastain started to be a threat only once SAG honored her,it's not going to be any of the other 3.
Question 4 They just went with films that were in for the top categories,so no surprises except The Secret Agent,this was place to honor casting and not BP.
@ Sad Man
It could have received 18. #justiceforjackandhailee
My questions
Does Kate Hudson pose any threat to Jessie,is the Mescals nub telling for her..
Is Taylor this years supporting actress winner
Can Diane Warren finally do it.
What was the most upsetting snub.
How well will Frankenstein do in the craft categories.
I must say, I thought Sinners was a bit difficult to watch... Very boring and borderline bad. I haven't understood the hype all year long, but to break the all-time record for most nominations is OVERKILL to say the least. Happy for Delroy Lindo, though, and Wunmi, too.
Happy for Amy Madigan, but Weapons should've also been nominated in Makeup, Screenplay, and Picture. I worry about her chances to win at this point.
So so glad Ariana Grande didn't get nominated. I hated the idea of nominating someone back-to-back for the same performance... And it's NOT supporting. Plus, Cynthia and her felt like a package deal. I'm glad Wicked: For Good got nothing. The two-year press cycle left me exhausted, long before it even ended. They got their rewards last year.
Happy for Jacob Elordi.
Sad for Jesse Plemmons.
Fun to see Kate Hudson back again after so long, especially since after all this time, many thought she'd be a one-time nominee.
@ MrRipley79
There is the Rose Byrne of it all. Let's see who takes BAFTA and SAG.
Lol Rose Byrne is not winning for a prickly movie that got one nomination.
This "race" between Buckley and Byrne the internet has made up is funny to me. Jessie Buckley is in one of the biggest contenders and is a previous nominee, too.
I think the most sewn up acting category is definitely Actress.
About the fraud thing - I have a feeling that it hurt Mescal's campaign. Obviously he was nearly nominated, but I think it positioned him as the less interesting lead, so "vote for him if you're passionate about Hamnet all around." He think he's tremendous, and if they'd elevated him as a lead, on the same level as Buckley, he would have taken Hawke's nomination.
I think this is one of the strongest supporting actress lineups of all time (even without either of the Marty ladies.)
And I'm glad to see Secret Agent show up in multiple categories.
It would be really fun if SAG goes to Hudson and BAFTA goes to Byrne.
Happy to see Lindo in Supporting Actor, even though I'm among those finding the film a tad overrated. I'd like to think we're seeing a backlash to category fraud, with only 2 fraud nominees across both supporting categories, but if Skarsgard is gonna start sweeping towards the win, there's probably not a real backlash.
Supporting Actress seems like the category where there's a real race. I see both frontrunners, Teyana and Madigan, as quite vulnerable, and could see any of the other 3 ladies emerging as the winner.
I think maybe there's a backlash against South Korean culture generally, after a decade of ascendancy. I've seen a number of people lamenting South Korea supplanting Japanese culture, which to them seemed more idiosyncratic, for South Korean cultural products that seem too absorptive of Western culture. Unfortunate as I think Park Chan-wook is a very incisive artist.
DK: You are projecting and I find it very offensive!! WICKED: PART 1 was excellent and many agree - the second part is a major dip in quality!!
RE: Paul Mescal, I loved his performance in HAMNET and would take it any day over Sean Penn's in OBAA. As for category fraud, I actually think this is a closer call than it may seem. Maybe I'm influenced by having read the book, but Will Shakespeare really IS supposed to be a supporting character - the protagonist is, unquestionably, Agnes. Hamnet is her story, that was the whole point of it. That said, I concede the film expands the role of WS rather substantially so that he becomes more of a co-lead. But I don't think this is one of the worse examples of category fraud. I mean, hello, Stellan Skarsgaard? Sean Penn again?
Yaaayyy for Ethan Hawke - he was the one prospective nominee I was "worried" about missing. But also sad for Joel Edgerton, who may have given my favorite male lead performance of the year. Also happy for Wagner Moura and everyone in SENTIMENTAL VALUE.
I'm down with all the SINNERS love. Maybe a bit excessive, but it is still my #1 of 2025.
I don't hate F1 getting into the BP lineup, but let's be real, it's a rerun of TOP GUN MAVERICK. It does what it does very well, but TG:M did it first and better.
A little sad but not shocked at the shutout of TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE and NO OTHER CHOICE. I respect the hell out of both movies, but they are both difficult to love, for different reasons.
Fun facts:
3 entries for SAG+GG but no Oscar: Chase Infiniti, Jesse Plemons, Ariana Grande
1 entry for SAG+GG but got Oscar: Delroy Lindo
And in terms of spreading the wealth among acting nominees, this was a rather lean year, with the 20 acting nominations coming from just 11 films (oddly, the same as 2024 and 2023). The all-time record remains 2007, where 18 films were represented among the 4 acting categories:
18 - 2007
17 - 1992
16 - 1999
16 - 1990
16 - 1989
16 - 1988
16 - 1945
16 - 1938
15 - 2015
15 - 2010
15 - 2005
15 - 1998
15 - 1995
15 - 1984
15 - 1964
15 - 1960
15 - 1955
15 - 1946
15 - 1937
15 - 1936
14 - 2020
14 - 2016
14 - 2011
14 - 2009
14 - 2008
14 - 2006
14 - 2003
14 - 2000
14 - 1997
14 - 1996
14 - 1993
14 - 1987
14 - 1975
14 - 1973
14 - 1971
14 - 1952
14 - 1947
14 - 1941
13 - 2019
13 - 2017
13 - 2014
13 - 2010
13 - 2004
13 - 1994
13 - 1986
13 - 1985
13 - 1983
13 - 1979
13 - 1972
13 - 1970
13 - 1969
13 - 1968
13 - 1965
13 - 1940
12 - 2022
12 - 2021
12 - 2012
12 - 2002
12 - 2001
12 - 1991
12 - 1980
12 - 1978
12 - 1974
12 - 1966
12 - 1963
12 - 1961
12 - 1956
12 - 1954
12 - 1953
12 - 1948
12 - 1942
12 - 1939
11 - 2025 ***** we are here *****
11 - 2024
11 - 2023
11 - 2018
11 - 1982
11 - 1967
11 - 1962
11 - 1959
11 - 1958
11 - 1957
11 - 1950
11 - 1949
11 - 1944
10 - 2013
10 - 1977
10 - 1976
10 - 1951
10 - 1943
9 - 1981
Re: Avatar, there was one human character in Pandora who had a loincloth, and Edie Falco and the military guys were running around the whole time.
Love the Avatar nom in costume design. Oona Chaplin looks amazing.
Could not be happier for Lindo. And Madigan, and Mosaku. Horror had a great year and it's so cool to see the academy's long-standing resistance to the genre finally breaking down, bit by bit. Was also pleasantly surprised to see a well-deserved Makeup & Hair nom for The Ugly Stepsister, a great Norwegian body horror item that I saw on Shudder back in October.
The audience didn’t seem to clap when the first Best original song (Dear Me) was announced. Then there was polite clapping. The reaction was more ‘dear me, another sludgy Diane Warren song.’
The Academy’s newly recruited diverse voters drive really slobbered over Sinners. It will never be considered in the same breath of perfection and quality as All About Eve. If it was going by 1950 available nominations, they’d be down to 14, with no Visual Effects or Casting. If AAE was going for 2025 nominations, they’d be up to 16 with Casting and black & white Hair & Make-up.
I, for one, love that unexpected AVATAR nomination in costumes and can't wait to write more in-depth about that. Your point about the Academy not caring for South Korean cinema beyond PARASITE is very true and immensely sad. And to add insult to injury, this snubbing of NO OTHER CHOICE happens in the same year that the American remake of a South Korean film gets into Best Picture!
I am wary of the glee enthusiastically expressed to see a queer black woman denied an Oscar nomination.
I am old. Back in the day, I don't recall anyone screaming Emmy when Al Pacino got a second Oscar nod for repeating the character of Michael Corleone. Or Paul Newman repeating the character of Fast Eddie Felson to a Best Actor win. Of course, they were men.
As Oscar fans, we have watched snubs of African American artists for years. We are told their films aren't financially successful. We are told their performances are indelible. Have you listened to Cynthia Erivo sing?
I am not particularly interested in debating the quality of Erivo's work over the five nominated actresses. I am objecting to the mean spirited on line chatter that demeans the efforts of a woman of color who already faces so many challenges in an industry that is designed to hinder her success.
I think it would be pretty awesome if Byrne and Madigan both won with their film’s lone nomination.
If only Miles, Hailee, Jack and a second song - it would have been 20!!! ;)
^^^^ I like how your mind works.
@Finbar I don't think the Erivo snub is what people are gleeful about but the greediness in splitting the films into two,a practice only started withing the last 15 years or so.
Back in the 70's Pacino was promoted from supporting in 72 to lead in 74 and The Godfather was not expected to be this giant behomoth like Wicked was and also Newman was nominated 25 years after for the sequel to The Hustler and not the year after like Ariana and Cynthia would have been so your argument holds very little weight.
You could add Sigourney in Aliens as she is another case of playing the same role but it was 7 years after the first film and the role is very different from the first one,infact she is very different in each film.
I doubt anyone here is against Erivo cos she's queer and black,I suspect a lot of people commenting and visiting here fall into the LGBTQ banner anyway and some may just be allies,let''s face it she was allsorts of insufferable promoting these moves the finger holding,the holding space,the synesthasia stuff it was virtue signalling overload.
From what I can see Erivo isn't struggling or lacking in roles or opportunities due to her skin colour or her queerness,so the pity party for her is a little unfair on us who championed her last year and have been singing MosakuTaylor,Hall and Eva Victor's praises all season long..
You have basically called some of us and I don't know if i'm included women haters and this a website mostly devoted to female actresses.
Oh sorry, I didn't realize disliking the Wicked movies represented profound bigotry and abject moral failure; I will try to 👏 do 👏 better in the future. Do you know a good lobotomist who could switch off the "taste" part of my brain?
On another note, thrilled about the Jay Kelly shutout—I want those hours back, too. Some of the right movies were completely ignored this year, which seems to never happen.
I feel like the lack of parity in the nominations was particularly galling this year. The non-best picture nominees managed just 16 noms between them in the non-best pic categories open to general competition. I’m not sure exactly how to easily track that stat, but last year, for example, managed 25 nominations and the year before had 19. We couldn’t find room for Fantastic Four somewhere in the crafts? “The Girl in the Bubble” over Warren’s latest desperate attempt? Recognition of the really incredible sound achievements (that underwater sequence!)
@Finbar I and many others didn't like Sinners,not because of peoples skin colour,I thought it was overhyped unscary and had a weak lead performance and looked quite garish.
Not everything has to be seen through the lens of identity politics,sometimes it's ok not to like something for other reasons,why do people have to twist people opinions to fit their own narratives or to shame people who they know nothing about except their film opinions..
Congratulations to The Ugly Stepsister and Weapons for earning that "Academy Award Nominated" sticker on your next blu-ray cover. Sinners, as well, but with that record breaking nomination number it's a matter of how many trophies, not "look at the horror film get nominated."
Echoing the sadness for Eva Victor. I'll just pretend F1 is code for Sorry, Baby and stay in my delulu era.
The yes: Delroy Lindo (Oscars had such a big debt), supporting actress is category fraud free (but watching recent years the situation has been less tragic than the male category), Del Toro out of directing, No other choice out of best international movie (sorry Park I usually love you a lot), Paul Mescal out of category fraud, the whole best actress and supporting actress line-up (especially the surprises: returning Kate Hudson and first time nominee Elle Fanning), The ugly stepsister in make-up.
The no's: Frankenstein in BP and cinematography, Hind Rajab only in best international movie, the almost absence of The Smashing machine (betterthanmarty, betterthanmarty, betterthanmarty), the shade towards Wicked (this is the gay speaking, not the cinephile).
Here to remember: Father mother sister brother and its cast, Late Shift
@Nathaniel: about "It was just an accident". Of course. It's far from being Panahi's best. It's a Palme d'or winner, so voters probably watched it for real and preferred other stuff.
@FlowersByIrene,I don't get the BetterthanMarty comment about TSM,I enjoyed it too both Johnson and Blunt should have had more of a look in,I persoanally feel Blunt is superior to all but 1 (Amy) of the supporting actress nominees this year.
Question/Comment: I don't understand how the voting works when an actor could be supporting or lead. Do their names appear on both lists? Do voters have write-in options?
So, for example, could the lack of Mescal, Grande, and Infiniti be because some voters put them in lead and some in supporting...And thus they missed both cuts?
@MrRipley-that everyone is like “oh now we know which Safdie brother was the talented one” referring to Josh. I don’t think Mary superior is a bad movie but Benny’s movie for my tatse is extremely superior. More auteur cinema than the oscar baiting Marty. But at least The smashing machine won something in Venice that in my book is > than the Oscars.
@dtsf It's a possibility yes,I'd say moreso with Chase because she was campaigned lead fraudulently some votes may have thought and if I would have voted I would not have placed her as a lead at all.
dtsf -- Oscar voters do not get a list of names under the category like they do in some organizations. for instance at SAG all the names are listed with balloting and you CANNOT vote for someone outside of the category they were submitted in. Emmys is similar in that they get ballots which list the names of the actors under each category. Oscar voters just vote. No rules on where they put the actors. So yes you can miss because people vote for you in both categories. I think this is what happened with little Jacob Tremblay ROOM as he campaigned in supporting but is obviously the lead of the film and scuttlebutt at the time was that some actors were placing him in lead where he belonged (like they did with Keisha Castle Hughes for Whale Rider (though she too campaigned supporting).
Thanks for this idea. Baw
I have to say one of my favorite omissions from yesterday morning is Paul Mescal for Hamnet, even though he was great in it and deserves a nomination. But a nom as the *Lead* and not Supporting. Maybe this will serve as a warning to actors in the future to be more honest about what your role really is. I think if Mescal had made it into Supporting then Delroy Lindo would have been out. And that would have been a shame. Mescal will very likely get more chances for Oscar gold, whereas with Lindo it's def not something to count on. Thanks Nathanial, for that voting info: I had no idea voters could put actors in either eligible category! Seems weird to me but what do I know.
@Paranoid Android
I think your count is off. There are 12 films this year with acting nominations (and interestingly the 10 lead spots went to 10 different films):
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Marty Supreme
Secret Agent
Blue Moon
Sentimental Value
Hamnet
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
Sung Song Blue
Bugonia
then Frankenstein and Weapons got supporting noms.
Just expanding on what Nathaniel and others have said about the voting, it's not like how you vote for, say, the President or for SAG. There isn't a list of names that you can check off your favorite(s) and then have a spot to write in someone who isn't there. There is no multiple choice at all - everything is written in.
It hasn't been mentioned today yet, but I think that is why you get such, frankly, uninspired voting for nominations, and the same movie mentioned over and over again. If things aren't pre-selected with shortlists, then you have all of the possibilities in the world in front of you, and so you default to a movie you have actually seen and liked. It's also why, at least in the past, so much money was spent on campaigning and mailers.
You are correct! My bad. Miscounted somewhere
Question - Does 'The Secret Agent' have a leg up on 'Sentimental Value' in the International Film category? Yes 'Sentimental Value' received acting nominations and a Director nomination, but 'The Secret Agent' received a Best Casting nomination..... just a thought I had. Could it possibly pull ahead by Oscar night??