The Academy Awards announced their nominees for their 92nd ceremony in the past few days, and in great Award Season fashion there are some surprises, and of course some snubs. In terms of quantity it’s The Joker that leads with 11 nominations, followed by Scorsese’s mob epic The Irishman, Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Sam Mendes’ Golden Globe winning war drama 1917. Unsurprisingly all of these films have garnered a Best Director nomination, as well as the biggest award of the night, Best Picture. But in light of these obvious choices here are the rest of the nominations:
BEST PICTURE
- 1917
- Joker
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
- The Irishman
- Little Women
- Ford v Ferrari (Le Mans ’66)
- Jojo Rabbit
- Parasite
- Marriage Story
BEST ACTRESS
- Renee Zellweger – Judy
- Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story
- Saoirse Ronan – Little Women
- Charlize Theron – Bombshell
- Cynthia Erivo – Harriet
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Laura Dern – Marriage Story
- Kathy Bates – Richard Jewell
- Scarlett Johansson – Jojo Rabbit
- Margot Robbie – Bombshell
- Florence Pugh – Little Women
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
- Poland – Corpus Christi
- Spain – Pain and Glory
- South Korea – Parasite
- France – Les Miserables
- Macedonia – Honeyland
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
- Dcera – Daria Kashcheeva
- Hair Love – Matthew A. Cherry
- Kitbull – Rosana Sullivan
- Memorable – Bruno Collet
- Sister – Siqi Song
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- Knives Out – Rian Johnson
- Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach
- 1917 – Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino
- Parasite – Bong Joon-ho, Jin Won Han
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
- American Factory – Julia Rieichert, Steven Bognar
- The Cave – Feras Fayyad
- The Edge of Democracy – Petra Costa
- For Sama – Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts
- Honeyland – Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
- Brotherhood – Meryam Joobeur
- Nefta Football Club – Yves Piat
- The Neighbors’ Window – Marshall Curry
- Saria – Bryan Buckley
- A Sister – Delphine Girard
SOUND MIXING
- Ad Astra
- Ford v Ferrari
- Joker
- 1917
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
ORIGINAL SCORE
- Joker – Hildur Guðnadóttir
- Little Women – Alexandre Desplat
- Marriage Story – Randy Newman
- 1917 – Thomas Newman
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – John Williams
MAKEUP & HAIR
- Bombshell
- Joker
- Judy
- Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
- 1917
VISUAL EFFECTS
- Avengers Endgame
- The Irishman
- 1917
- The Lion King
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
BEST DIRECTOR
- Sam Mendes – 1917
- Todd Phillips – Joker
- Martin Scorsese – The Irishman
- Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
- Boon Jong Ho – Parasite
BEST ACTOR
- Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
- Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory
- Adam Driver – Marriage Story
- Joaquin Phoenix – Joker
- Jonathan Pryce – The Two Popes
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Joe Pesci – The Irishman
- Al Pacino – The Irishman
- Anthony Hopkins – The Two Popes
- Tom Hanks – A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood
- Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
ANIMATED FEATURE
- How to Train Your Dragon: Hidden World
- I Lost My Body
- Toy Story 4
- Klaus
- Missing Link
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- The Irishman – Steve Zaillian
- Jojo Rabbit – Taika Waititi
- Joker – Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
- Little Women – Greta Gerwig
- The Two Popes – Anthony McCarten
CINEMATOGRAPHY
- The Irishman – Rodrigo Prieto
- Joker – Lawrence Sher
- The Lighthouse – Jarin Blaschke
- 1917 – Roger Deakins
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Robert Richardson
BEST DOCUMENTARY – SHORT
- In the Absence – Yi Seung-Jun and Gary Byung-Seok Kam
- Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone – Carol Dysinger
- Life Overtakes Me – Kristine Samuelson and John Haptas
- St. Louis Superman – Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan
- Walk Run Cha-Cha – Laura Nix
FILM EDITING
- Ford v Ferrari – Don Sylvester
- Joker – Alan Robert Murray
- 1917 – Oliver Tarney, Rachel Tate
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Wylie Stateman
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Matthew Wood, David Acord
PRODUCTION DESIGN
- The Irishman – Bob Shaw and Regina Graves
- Jojo Rabbit – Ra Vincent and Nora Sopkova
- 1917 – Dennis Gassner and Lee Sandales
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Barbara Ling and Nancy Haigh
- Parasite – Lee Ha-Jun and Cho Won Woo, Han Ga Ram, and Cho Hee
ORIGINAL SONG
- I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away – Toy Story 4
- I’m Gonna Love Me Again – Rocketman
- I’m Standing With You – Breakthrough
- Into the Unknown – Frozen II
- Stand Up – Harriet
COSTUME DESIGN
- The Irishman – Sandy Powell, Christopher Peterson
- Jojo Rabbit – Mayes C. Rubeo
- Joker – Mark Bridges
- Little Women – Jacqueline Durran
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Arianne Phillips
What was snubbed?
While all the films nominated for the nights big awards seem to relatively strong, they also feel a tad easy. But the snubs really come from the acting category, with Jennifer Lopez being left out of the Supporting Actress race for Hustlers, instead being replaced by Kathy Bates. With numerous nominations across a lot of award shows it seemed that J-Lo’s resurgence was going to gifted with a nomination, but it seems that the Academy weren’t as on board with her as the critics were.
Another big snub comes from a general place, as Lulu Wang’s revered The Farewell doesn’t even get a sniff in any category. While it was never going to be an 11-nomination kind of film, it surprising not to see it among some of the top awards, including a screenplay nomination or even Akwafina, who took home a Golden Globe recently for her work in the film. Joining Lulu Wang in disappointment is fellow A24 film Uncut Gems, who seemed to be crying for some sort of nomination for it’s star Adam Sandler, as well as Olivia Wilde’s debut feature Booksmart that has also received a lot of notice during award season.
While there doesn’t seem to be any contenders other than Parasite to win Best International Feature, it seems surprising that Colombian film Monos and France’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire didn’t even get a nomination despite there fantastic critical reception, and we here at REEL actually put them near the top of our personal 2019 lists respectively.
Other surprises include Taron Edgerton not being nominated for Rocketman, Robert De Niro for The Irishman, Eddie Murphy for Dolemite is My Name and Lupita Nyong’o for her double performance in Jordan Peele’s Us. All great performances that unfortunately didn’t make the cut, and while we take nothing away from the actual nominees, it’s important to give them a mention. Less of a snub and more of a surprise, Frozen II has been left out of the animation race, but we see that more as a welcome exclusion.
It’s safe to say that there are plenty of performances and films that deserve something, that being said the nominees are by no means weak. For the first time in a while it seems that the majority of the awards are up for debate still, with Joaquin Phoenix winning a lot of Actor awards recently he seems to be the favourite, and Parasite continues to rightfully shock the world with it’s wins. Despite the picks seeming safe it’s safe to say there isn’t a predictability to them, and when the night eventually comes we hope for some welcome shocks and surprises.
Check out the highlighted films to read our reviews.
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