We polled the team plus some friends of the site about their Oscar nomination reactions and wanted to share those little blurbs with you! (Here’s the first four of eight questions if you missed those). Today’s questions are…
1. What was your favourite non-acting nomination?
2. Which nomination was the biggest headscratcher?
3. Can anything be done about Diane Warren?
4. The sexiest category is ______
Our answers are after the jump and yours go in the comments…
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE NON-ACTING NOD?
I used all my witchy powers for Sarah Polley in Screenplay and my BELOVED Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. I never doubted you, Ada Harris! -Chels Eichholz
Mrs. Harris DID go to Paris and get that Costume Design nomination. God bless Jenny Beavan. Such great work in a fun movie. – Chris James
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris in Costume Design. Granted, I don’t know that I’d vote for it over Elvis but it’s a fantastic citation, and further reflection has led me to appreciate this as one of the only lone nominees in any of the craft categories (hell, anywhere on this entire ballot). Great work, decided in a spirit I wish Oscar was willing to indulge in more often. – Nick Taylor
I was just so happy that in the Year of the Donkey all three films (Banshees, Triangle of Sadness, EO) were justly honored. But if pressed… Ice Merchants in Best Animated Short which really affected me. Also “Naatu Naatu” in Best Original Song. Yes, it was expected but it’s so rare that this category really embraces songs that are integral parts of their movies. If they did that more often the category would actually hvae a reason to exist! – Nathaniel R
Ice Merchants, both because it’s the best shortlisted Animated Short I’ve seen and because it’s the first Portuguese film ever nominated for an Oscar. We haven’t cracked Best International Film yet, but, at least, we have this. – Claudio Alves
If you’ve seen (and cried) at The Ice Merchants, you’ll understand why I fist-pumped at the film’s inclusion. – Ben Miller
Mandy Walker for Elvis. She becomes only the third woman ever nominated for Cinematography, but I have been following her career ever since Samantha Lang’s The Well in 1996, which is an incredible feat of the camera from Walker so early in her career. A nomination here was never a sure thing so I hope this opens more doors for her. Go watch The Well, people! – Glenn Dunks
I get very nervous about Tony Kushner given how badly he’s been ignored by the Academy in the past, so seeing him and Spielberg get in for The Fabelmans was a relief. – Katey Rich
I genuinely applauded to my laptop screen when The Quiet Girl was nominated for Best International Feature! I’ve rarely seen a film that captured me so thoroughly with its very first image and it only continued to hold me in its delicate, humane spell throughout. Also, it made me look up taking Irish language lessons so look out for me using lots of extra letters soon. – Tom Mizer
TÁR in Film Editing. For a category that can go cut-cut-cut with their picks, a film this deliberately and methodically paced is a delicious pick. – Juan Carlos Ojano
TÁR is such a gripping film given its running time, and its editing is its secret weapon. — Eurocheese
Monika Willi whose bold, adventurous cutting is a huge reason TÁR works as well as it does (which is really, really well). – Ray Lewis
How to Measure a Year in Doc Short. It’s a very fun film in a category that often needs some light and entertainment. – Abe Friedtanzer
Deakins for Empire of Light. Wasn’t expecting a snub or anything, but I’m just glad to see a little bit of respect put on Empire of Light’s name. I thought it was a gem, sorry haters! – Patrick Ball
Sarah Polley for Best Adapted Screenplay with Women Talking. As men dominated the writing and directing categories, it was bittersweet to see her as the lone woman in this category. Her script is also quietly devastating and really shows she’s a master of her craft. – Cortland Jacoby
EO for Best International Film. So happy to see a nearly wordless film with an animal as the lead come this far. It is also a way to honor a greater master of the medium – Jerzy Skolimowski – Ankit Jhunhunwala
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, because I loved this gentle, heartfelt version of a tale I never loved as a child. – Farran Smith Nehme
I know the screenplay nomination for Martin McDonagh was like, as much of a lock as it could be, but as someone who both loves and has performed in one of his plays, it always delights me seeing McDonagh up there. -Kim Rogers
Darius Khondji’s nomination in Cinematography made me squeal with joy. He worked with Inarritu to create so many stunning images in Bardo, and used no lowest-common-denominator tricks to separate the worlds of fantasy and reality, trusting the audience to feel their way through the film. Incredible work from a master. – Eric Blume
Top Gun Maverick for screenplay. It’s obviously a filler nom in a week year for the category, but still, the script is impeccably structured, and I like to see any evidence that we might be moving even slightly beyond “good writing = witty dialogue” as a default assumption. – Tim Brayton
WHICH NOMINATION DID YOU FIND MOST HEADSCRATCHING? …. WHY?
You can’t tell me Top Gun: Maverick had a script. You can’t fool me! -Chels Eichholz
Listen, just because Top Gun: Maverick was far better than it had any right to be doesn’t mean it deserved an adapted screenplay nomination. I’m on board with the other nominations it got, but honestly, did anyone leave the movie talking about the writing? – -Kim Rogers
Top Gun Maverick for Best Adapted Screenplay is a dumbfounding choice, though not entirely unpredictable. Even when they love action blockbusters, the Academy tends to ignore their screenplay (see Titanic and Mad Max Fury Road) so to see this nothing script break the trend feels wrong. – Claudio Alves
There’s a couple nominations I don’t love that you can at least understand, but lord, I just don’t get what’s special about the script for Top Gun: Maverick. I can get recognizing the filmmaking (though I’m not wild about that either), but man, I think giving Maverick and Rooster some fake careerist macho dick-flexing to argue about instead of addressing Goose’s death directly, the wildly underdeveloped supporting players, the wild hubris, then inability to achieve real introspection, the full-throttle jingoism towards an utterly abstract enemy in a preposterous scenario – it all smacks of bullshit to me. On the bright side, maybe the Adapted Screenplay lineup’s now the right combination of actively weak players and impressive non-starters (sorry, Kazuo) to ensure Women Talking runs away with it? – Nick Taylor
Ruben Östlund getting in for director isn’t a huge surprise, but it’s puzzling over All Quiet director Edward Berger. I am still figuring out the taste of this super international directors branch. – Katey Rich
Paul Mescal. I am in the miniscule nope-to-Aftersun minority, but to me he just kind of drifted around, handsomely. – Farran Smith Nehme
Nothing against Judd Hirsch, but Paul Dano was RIGHT THERE! The Oscars have done this in back-to-back years with the Balfe/Dench switch last year. Hirsch has the BIG scene for 5 minutes while Dano has to put in quiet, subtle work for 2+ hours. Baffling. – Ben Miller
Living for adapted screenplay. It’s basically a shot for shot remake of Ikiru but in a different setting. Seems weird to nominate that for screenplay – Rachel Wagner
Banshees is an utter delight, but a showcase for Editing it sure isn’t. — Patrick Ball
Ana de Armas for Blonde. As happy as I am that she’s the Oscar nominee she deserved to be for Knives Out, did it have to be for this? – Matt St Clair
Ana De Armas. Never a huge fan of mimicry performances, but this one especially lacked an inner life for Marilyn. — Eurocheese
Ana de Armas, who, Star Of The Moment or not, led a film that was broadly hated from a distributor that underperfomed this year, on her way to a nomination in a competitive category. They really just cannot pass up “famous person playing a famous person”, can they? – Tim Brayton
THE NOMINATION LEADERS WERE EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, AND ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THIS?
I think these results make it pretty clear that Best Picture is a two-horse race while Germany is coming for that Best International Film Oscar and nobody can stop it. – Claudio Alves
They’ll want to award all three movies with something signifcant (probably EEAAO with Picture and Supporting Actor; Banshees with Actor; All Quiet with International). — Eric Blume
EEAAO is our frontrunner and I feel like Banshees could be our Irishman (no pun intended). Shocked All Quiet got everything BUT Director. -Chels Eichholz
Clearly we all slept on ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. Clearly Netflix slept on it too because with such a tech titan, they missed out on a gimme Best Director nomination in retrospect. – Ankit Jhunhunwala
Everything Everywhere All At Once is the clear front runner for Best Picture. That’s an impressive haul for an atypical movie and getting in surprising nods for Score and Song only shows cross guild strength. Banshees is the most likely challenger, but I don’t see it doing as well on the preferential ballot. Still, that Editing nod makes it competitive. If All Quiet were to be a threat to win, it would’ve shown up in director. – Chris James
Fantastic news for ALL QUIET, which has locked up International Film and probably a couple of tech awards. Terrible news for THE FABELMANS, which is now clearly in third place and will have to watch EEAAO and BANSHEES fight for Picture. – – Tim Brayton
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