Oscar Nominations 2024

The Academy Award nominations dropped yesterday, and I would be remiss not to cover it. I still have yet to see a lot of these and have asterisked them accordingly, so I'm not going to get too in the weeds on what should and will win. More laments for what was passed over.

Here's the full list, with commentary.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
El Conde, Edward Lachman*
Killers of the Flower Moon, Rodrigo Prieto
Maestro, Matthew Libatique*
Oppenheimer, Hoyte van Hoytema
Poor Things, Robbie Ryan

A running theme of this list is going to be the complete shut-out of John Wick: Chapter 4 and Asteroid City, and I'll just get that started here. Both are beautiful to look at and doing incredible things with the camera. I can take or leave Killers of the Flower Moon here, and while Poor Things often had a wonderful artificial historical fantasy aesthetic, those fish-eye lenses are instantly disqualifying.

COSTUME DESIGN

Barbie, Jacqueline Durran
Killers of the Flower Moon, Jacqueline West
Napoleon, Janty Yates and Dave Crossman*
Oppenheimer, Ellen Mirojnick
Poor Things, Holly Waddington

No arguments here, though historical dramas are such a given that they're kind of a boring choice. Poor Things is a great pick for how they use history as a basis for some wild designs, and Barbie's costumes were crucial to selling its plastic world. Again, though--costumes are not the first or event the fifth thing that comes to mind when considering John Wick, but the suits that Paco Delgado provides Bill Skarsgard do just as much as the actor to sell the Marquis as an untouchable icon of power.

EDITING

Anatomy of a Fall, Laurent Sénéchal*
The Holdovers, Kevin Tent*
Killers of the Flower Moon, Thelma Schoonmaker
Oppenheimer, Jennifer Lame
Poor Things, Yorgos Mavropsaridis

I saw a 10:30 screening of Oppenheimer and expected to fade at some point in its three hours. Reader, I was riveted the whole way through.

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Golda, Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue*
Maestro, Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell*
Oppenheimer, Luisa Abel
Poor Things, Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston
Society of the Snow, Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé*

Bradley Cooper's Maestro nose is a hate crime.

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Barbie, Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
Killers of the Flower Moon, Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis
Napoleon, Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Elli Griff*
Oppenheimer, Production Design: Ruth De Jong; Set Decoration: Claire Kaufman
Poor Things, Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek

These are all good choices, but did any of them have a hotel shaped like a modernist Japanese garden? A Versailles horse stable that looks like a cathedral? A nightclub with waterfalls? John Wick 4 did!

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

American Fiction, Laura Karpman
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, John Williams
Killers of the Flower Moon, Robbie Robertson
Oppenheimer, Ludwig Göransson
Poor Things, Jerskin Fendrix

I'm glad the Academy loosened up their requirements for this category, from 60% original music to 35%, since that has prevented some great work from getting its due. That said, nothing about the last Indiana Jones movie was memorable, and if we're talking iconic franchise themes, Godzilla Minus One is right there.

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

"The Fire Inside," from Flamin' Hot; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
"I'm Just Ken," from Barbie; Music and Lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt
"It Never Went Away," from American Symphony; Music and Lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson
"Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)", from Killers of the Flower Moon; Music and Lyric by Scott George
"What Was I Made For?" from Barbie; Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell

The worst, most pointless category, and they can't even get that right. Jack Black and "Peaches" were the obvious highlight of the otherwise aggressively mediocre Super Mario Bros. Movie, and instead future historians must reckon with Oscar Nominee Flamin' Hot.

DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM*

The ABCs of Book Banning, Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic
The Barber of Little Rock, John Hoffman and Christine Turner
Island in Between, S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien
The Last Repair Shop, Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó, Sean Wang and Sam Davis

ANIMATED SHORT FILM*

Letter to a Pig, Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter
Ninety-Five Senses, Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess
Our Uniform, Yegane Moghaddam
Pachyderme, Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius
War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko, Dave Mullins and Brad Booker

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

The After, Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham*
Invincible, Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron*
Knight of Fortune, Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk*
Red, White and Blue, Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane*
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Wes Anderson and Steven Rales

The only one of these I've seen is Henry Sugar, though that will change once the Oscar shorts packages hit theaters. Henry Sugar is fantastic, though, one of the best motion pictures of 2023. It's on Netflix, so everybody can go and watch it.

SOUND

The Creator, Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic
Maestro, Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic*
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
Oppenheimer, Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O'Connell
The Zone of Interest, Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn*

Nice to see The Creator and Dead Reckoning get their due, but again, Godzilla has the most iconic roar in film, and it is used to terrifying effect.

VISUAL EFFECTS

The Creator, Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould
Godzilla Minus One, Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould
Napoleon, Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould

I actually kind of wish Poor Things had notched a nom here, as the way it mixes CGI along with miniatures and matte paintings gives it a look unlike pretty much anything else. Great to see The Creator and Godzilla Minus One recognized for both their effects and the incredible economy with which they were produced.

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

American Fiction, Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson
Barbie, Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach
Oppenheimer, Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan
Poor Things, Screenplay by Tony McNamara
The Zone of Interest, Written by Jonathan Glazer*

The question of whether Barbie is an original screenplay or an adaptation is less important than why Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret did not make its money back.

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

Anatomy of a Fall, Screenplay - Justine Triet and Arthur Harari*
The Holdovers, Written by David Hemingson*
Maestro, Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer*
May December, Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik*
Past Lives, Written by Celine Song

You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep.

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction
Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things

Obligatory shout-out to Donnie Yen and Bill Skarsgard for John Wick: Chapter 4. Asteroid City is also stacked, and it would have been fun to see Jeffrey Wright nominated for both Lead and Supporting. I'm mostly happy with this category, especially to see Sterling K. Brown in the mix. De Niro really isn't doing anything interesting in Killers of the Flower Moon, though. That is definitely the point, but space could have been made for John Magaro's gutting turn in Past Lives, Holt McCallany's authoritarian patriarch in The Iron Claw, or (hear me out!) Nathan Lane's chipper grieving father in Beau is Afraid.

LEAD ACTOR

Bradley Cooper, Maestro*
Colman Domingo, Rustin*
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers*
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

For real, though, the way Keanu Reeves uses his entire body to play a man with nothing to live for who can't be killed is all-timer stuff. Along those same lines, Zac Efron carries The Iron Claw on his massive, roided-up shoulders.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple*
America Ferrera, Barbie
Jodie Foster, Nyad*
Da'vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers*

Allowing that I haven't seen half of these, this category feels like a huge missed opportunity. Scarlett Johanson as an actress who can't feel but can act like she does in Asteroid City, Rachel McAdams as a woman who wants to help everyone but herself in Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, Tracee Ellis Ross as the sister that was left to hold the family together in American Fiction, Patty Lupone as a projection of self-loathing refracted through an overbearing mother in Beau is Afraid; I would have swapped any of these in for Emily Blunt's fine but stock character or America Ferrera's admittedly valiant attempt at embodying a billboard.

LEAD ACTRESS

Annette Benning, Nyad*
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall*
Carey Mulligan, Maestro*
Emma Stone, Poor Things

Lily Gladstone is the heart of Killers of the Flower Moon, but it is unfortunately not her story, and she should be nominated for Supporting. Greta Lee is incredible playing two sides of the same person in Past Lives, and Abby Ryder Fortson hits the exact right mix of teenage stubbornness and uncertainty in Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM*

Bobi Wine: The People's President, Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek
The Eternal Memory, Maite Alberdi (who is strangely not named on the Oscars page)
Four Daughters, Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha
To Kill a Tiger, Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim
20 Days in Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath

I haven't seen any of these, but I did watch a lot of video essays, some of which are pretty informative and cover important current issues. There are industry and aesthetic reasons to keep internet videos far away from Hollywood, but the sheer reach of some of these pieces suggests a need to recalibrate how we weigh important works, regardless of their target screen size.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

The Boy and the Heron, Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
Elemental, Peter Sohn and Denise Ream*
Nimona, Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary*
Robot Dreams, Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz*
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal

It's surprising that The Super Mario Bros. Movie didn't get nomination for all of its popularity, though I admit to being a little relieved that its laziness was not rewarded. But still, it feels like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem should be here.

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM*

Io Capitano, Italy
Perfect Days, Japan
Society of the Snow, Spain
The Teachers' Lounge, Germany
The Zone of Interest, United Kingdom

The only one of these making it to a theater near me is The Zone of Interest, though hopefully these nominations will change that.

DIRECTING

Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet*
Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese
Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan
Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos
The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer*

On the merits: Gerwig tried to square a circle and transcend Mattel's bloodless commercial imperatives. While the attempt is interesting to watch, I don't think it succeeded, and so I am not bothered by the omission. Especially when there are so many other great movies going unsung: John Wick: Chapter 4, Asteroid City, and Godzilla Minus One are all exceptional in coralling the resources of a film production toward a unified end, and I would trade any of them for Poor Things and possibly even Killers of the Flower Moon, whose vestigial second half keeps it from being consistently great.

BEST PICTURE

American Fiction, Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers
Anatomy of a Fall, Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers*
Barbie, David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers
The Holdovers, Mark Johnson, Producer*
Killers of the Flower Moon, Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers
Maestro, Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers*
Oppenheimer, Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers
Past Lives, David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers
Poor Things, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers
The Zone of Interest, James Wilson, Producer*

There's... not a lot to talk about here? Barbie was a cultural smash, and the Best Picture category was expanded to ten nominees to accommodate such movies after The Dark Knight failed to register. The category is doing as it's supposed to. As for the rest of the slate, I'm pretty satisfied. Take the movies I just mentioned and add The Boy and the Heron and find room for them. I would not have put American Fiction on the list, and I'm almost certainly not going to like Maestro, but otherwise I'm largely okay as far as it meeting the low expectations I have of the Academy.