12 takeaways from this morning's Oscar nominations

In no particular order - see the full list of nominations here.

1. BEST ACTRESS IS, TWO YEARS RUNNING NOW, A CHAOTIC NAIL-BITER
Last season provided us a rare nail-biter as different women kept winning lead actress at the televised shows: Andra Day, Viola Davis, Frances McDormand, Carey Mulligan. This year the nominations themselves have been routinely surprising. In fact the only woman to hit *every* key precursor was Lady Gaga but when the nominations were announced this morning she was the most shocking snub. Meanwhile, Penelope Cruz who'd only won the Volpi Cup and Kristen Stewart, who had struggled in the precursors despite year long "she's going to win!" hoopla both showed up. So we currently have NO idea who is going to win. You can make a case for any of the nominees. And, once again, none of them are in Best Picture nominated films.

2. QUALIFYING RELEASES ARE ALIVE AND WELL (SIGH)
Norway's incredible film The Worst Person in the World scored a surprise nomination in Best Original Screenplay (well deserved) despite only playing for a week unadvertised in theaters to qualify...

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94th Oscars. Nomination Show

COMPLETE LIST OF NOMINATIONS HERE

Hot Links and Leftovers

• Vulture Allison Wilmore makes a good case that Don't Look Up is going to win Best Picture (uh-oh)
• The Daily Beast great far ranging interview with Steven Soderbergh - very exciting quote on the third Magic Mike movie "It’s as close to a full-blown musical as I’m ever going to get." And yes he also talks about superhero movies which all the A list directors are required to talk about now in interviews (sigh)
• Vogue "2022 Hollywood Portfolio" features lots of Oscar hopefuls and also some wildcards having a good year. Alana Haim, Simu Liu, Aunjanue Ellis, Dakota Johnson, Rachel Zegler, Dami Judi Dench, Jodie Comer, etc...

Razzie nominations, Plaza Suite, Mothering Sunday, American Born Chinese and more after the jump...

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Film Bitch Awards ~ Oscar Parallel Categories Complete!

by Nathaniel R

The Oscar-adjacent portion of our annual Film Bitch Awards is complete (i.e. if Nathaniel had a ballot)... 

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‘And Just Like That…’ the end of the line?

by Mark Brinkherhoff

A month into the new year, and we find ourselves already at the end of season one of And Just Like That…, a “new chapter” of Sex and the City. Who among us, TFE readers, has been watching Sex and the City: Redux? A better question perhaps: Who among us hasn’t?   

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