I feel like this past year there haven’t been a lot of clear front runners, which has made the awards race a bit more interesting than usual. Granted, it’s still a familiar group of films, but which would take the win is a bit of a mystery at the moment. I’ve honestly not been paying much attention to a lot of what’s happening out there in that regard, so I was certainly curious to see if there are gonna be some nice surprises and wild cards here. Anyway, I got up to see the announcements earlier, but if you didn’t because you have a life, I got the nominees listed for the 94th Academy Awards listed below. Here we go!
Best Picture
“Belfast”
“CODA”
“Don’t Look Up”
“Drive My Car”
“Dune”
“King Richard”
“Licorice Pizza”
“Nightmare Alley”
“The Power of the Dog”
Best Director
Kenneth Branagh (“Belfast”)
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”)
Paul Thomas Anderson (“Licorice Pizza”)
Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”)
Steven Spielberg (“West Side Story”)
Best Lead Actor
Javier Bardem (“Being the Ricardos”)
Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Power of the Dog”)
Andrew Garfield (“Tick, Tick … Boom!”)
Will Smith (“King Richard”)
Denzel Washington (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”)
Best Lead Actress
Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”)
Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”)
Penélope Cruz (“Parallel Mothers”)
Nicole Kidman (“Being the Ricardos”)
Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”)
Best Supporting Actor
Ciarán Hinds (“Belfast”)
Troy Kotsur (“CODA”)
Jesse Plemons (“The Power of the Dog”)
J.K. Simmons (“Being the Ricardos”)
Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”)
Best Supporting Actress
Jessie Buckley (“The Lost Daughter”)
Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”)
Judi Dench (“Belfast”)
Kirsten Dunst (“The Power of the Dog”)
Aunjanue Ellis (“King Richard”)
Best Adapted Screenplay
“CODA,” Siân Heder
“Drive My Car,” Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
“Dune,” Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth
“The Lost Daughter,” Maggie Gyllenhaal
“The Power of the Dog,” Jane Campion
Best Original Screenplay
“Belfast,” Kenneth Branagh
“Don’t Look Up,” Adam McKay, David Sirota
“King Richard,” Zach Baylin
“Licorice Pizza,” Paul Thomas Anderson
“The Worst Person in the World,” Eskil Vogt, Joachim Troer
Best Cinematography
“Dune,” Greig Fraser
“Nightmare Alley,” Dan Laustsen
“The Power of the Dog,” Ari Wegner
“The Tragedy of Macbeth,” Bruno Delbonnel
“West Side Story,” Janusz Kamiński
Best Animated Feature Film
“Encanto”
“Flee”
“Luca”
“The Mitchells vs. the Machines”
“Raya and the Last Dragon”
Best Animated Short Film
“Affairs of the Art”
“Bestia”
“Boxballet”
“Robin Robin”
“The Windshield Wiper”
Best Costume Design
“Cruella”
“Cyrano”
“Dune”
“Nightmare Alley”
“West Side Story”
Best Original Score
“Don’t Look Up,” Nicholas Britell
“Dune,” Hans Zimmer
“Encanto,” Germaine Franco
“Parallel Mothers,” Alberto Iglesias
“The Power of the Dog,” Jonny Greenwood
Best Sound
“Belfast”
“Dune”
“No Time to Die”
“The Power of the Dog”
“West Side Story”
Best Original Song
“Be Alive” (“King Richard”), Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Dixson
“Dos Oruguitas” (“Encanto”), Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Down to Joy” (“Belfast”), Van Morrison
“No Time to Die” (“No Time to Die”), Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell
“Somehow You Do” (“Four Good Days”), Diane Warren
Best Documentary Feature
“Ascension”
“Attica”
“Flee”
“Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”
“Writing With Fire”
Best Documentary Short Subject
“Audible”
“Lead Me Home”
“The Queen of Basketball”
“Three Songs for Benazir”
“When We Were Bullies”
Best Film Editing
“Don’t Look Up”
“Dune”
“King Richard”
“The Power of the Dog”
“Tick, Tick … Boom!”
Best International Feature Film
“Drive My Car” (Japan)
“Flee” (Denmark)
“The Hand of God” (Italy)
“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” (Bhutan)
“The Worst Person in the World” (Norway)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“Coming 2 America”
“Cruella”
“Dune”
“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
Best Production Design
“Dune”
“Nightmare Alley”
“The Power of the Dog”
“The Tragedy of Macbeth”
“West Side Story”
Best Visual Effects
“Dune”
“Free Guy”
“No Time to Die”
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”
Best Live Action Short Film
“Ala Kachuu – Take and Run”
“The Dress”
“The Long Goodbye”
“On My Mind”
“Please Hold”
And there you have it! Like I said, it’s the same bunch of films that have been getting some hype in the past few months, so the only surprises are whoever gets nominated from each. Like I knew Being The Ricardos would be a bit popular with the Academy, despite it being bad, but Javier Bardem being nominated, while not great, is understandable. I am happy to see Kristen Stewart get nominated, she was an initial front runner but has largely been shutout from the other major awards. I am happy to see Drive My Car get four nods and Flee get three.
It’s still too early for me, my brain is still in the process of waking up here, so I don’t have other major snubs in mind right now, maybe West Side Story for editing, the lack of The Last Duel, and The Green Knight not getting anything even in the technical stuff like Costumes, VFX, and Cinematography, but what about you? Anything you think should have been nominated but wasn’t? Or anything that was nominated that you don’t think deserved it? Feel free to comment below!
Be sure to check out the Oscars when it airs on ABC on Sunday, March 27th. Or don’t, whatever.