The 98th Annual Academy Awards nominations were announced last week (January 22, to be precise). And as usual with the Oscars they didn’t make everyone happy. Remember this is an Academy that has made many blunders in its past. Glenn Close has been nominated eight times without a win. Mia Farrow wasn’t even nominated for Rosemary’s Baby. Stanley Kubrick never won Best Director despite being nominated four times, while Alfred Hitchcock was a five-time runner-up in the same category (He did get a non-competitive Oscar). Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing didn’t get a Best Picture nomination. 1985’s The Color Purple received 11 nominations and came up with goose eggs. And my personal bête noire: Mary Tyler Moore should have won Best Actress for Ordinary People. Sorry, Sissy Spacek.
Fan favorite and over-hyped Wicked: For Good was shut out completely. It proves that zealous marketing something can sometimes produce nada (The promotional tie-ins were a bit much; laundry detergent?). And btw, For Good was just good, not great. Chase Infiniti of One Battle After Another was also shut out. Warner Bros. had placed her in the Best Actress category instead of Best Supporting Actress, which was a mistake. Castmate Teyana Taylor, who sizzles on the screen, did make the cut. As did Delroy Lindo, who got his first nomination at 73 for his role as a blues musician in Sinners. It was long overdue.
Paul Mescal’s nomination for Hamnet was “not to be.” Jesse Plemons was overlooked for his role in the bizarre Bugonia, but co-star and two-time prior winner Emma Stone got the nod. Joel Edgerton missed out for his understated role in the meditative Train Dreams, but it did make the Best Picture cut and received three other nominations. Amanda Seyfried lost out for the Shaker musical The Testament of Ann Lee. Jennifer Lawrence failed to be acknowledged for Die My Love, a film dealing with postpartum depression. And Kate Hudson must have felt “so good, so good, so good” with her surprise nomination for the Neil Diamond tribute band movie Song Sung Blue.
Jay Kelly, the George Clooney “movie star looking back at his life” seriocomedy, was left out in the cold along with Julia Roberts in the intense “he said/she said” After the Hunt. Same with the WWII legal drama Nuremberg, with Rami Malek and especially Russel Crowe being ignored. Director and Oscar-winner Guillermo del Toro also was overlooked, despite his take on Frankenstein garnering nine noms. And Iranian director Jafar Panahi was also (accidentally?) left off that list for It Was Just an Accident, although it did receive nominations for Best International Film and Best Original Screenplay. James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash also received just a pair of noms for Best Visual Effects and Best Costume Design. Guess he’s no longer King of the World.
More than just a horror film, Sinners had a banner day, receiving 16 nominations and breaking by two the record shared by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land. Here’s hopeing Michael B. Jordan will be recognized for his dual role as twins, although at this moment in Awards Season, it looks like Timothée Chalamet has the edge (I was not a fan of Marty Supreme). Wunmi Mosaku received a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress nomination for Sinners, playing a hoodoo practitioner. You could not take your eyes off her when she was on screen.
Amy Madigan stole the horror film Weapons with her portrayal of Aunt Gladys (and became a drag and Halloween staple), but I’m afraid the nomination might just be the reward. Joachim Trier’s Norwegian drama Sentimental Value walked away with nine nominations including Best Picture, the first time a Norwegian film received that honor. And the racing car drama F1 with Brad Pitt also got a Best Picture nod, as did The Secret Agent, a Brazilian political thriller.
The Academy Awards will be hosted by funnyman Conan O’Brien and air on ABC (and streamed on Hulu) starting at 7 P.M. Eastern time on Sunday, March 15. Who are you rooting for? Or who do you think was slighted? Tell us in the comments.