My Oscar Nomination Review

Hello all! Happy first day of classes to everyone reading from FIT! My first class was canceled this morning, so I got to sleep in a little more. I have a class directly following my morning class, and that one wasn’t canceled. I am guilty of judging a professor before I even meet them. I always look at Rate My Professor to see what I’m getting myself into. The professor I had today has incredible ratings, so I was looking forward to this class. I did a little more research into her by looking at the class’s Brightspace page. In her bio, the professor wrote: “The Academy Awards are my Super Bowl!” I was first excited that she used those words exactly. I love saying things are like the Super Bowl. I don’t know why, but it’s a great way to say an event is important to you. I love the Super Bowl, so that is my Super Bowl. I’m lucky because I have multiple of my own Super Bowls. The Masters is definitely my favorite. I was also (and more so) excited that she said this because, obviously, I am very excited about the Academy Awards. Since the nominations just came out in the last few days, I wanted to write a little blurb for each of the movies nominated that I have seen. Of course, I’ll also comment on the actors and actresses in the movies. Total transparency: I haven’t seen every movie yet. I will by the time the Academy Awards get here, but I’ve seen most of them! I’m also including some movies that were (in my opinion) snubbed. I’m not going to spoil anything in case you haven’t seen these movies yet. Pure opinions!

Here we go!

Anora

Nominated for: Best Picture, Performance by an actor in a supporting role, Performance by an actress in a leading role, Achievement in directing, Achievement in film editing, and Writing (Original Screenplay)

Seeing Anora was one of the very few times I didn’t look into a movie before I saw it. I usually know the basic outline of a story before seeing the movie. I went into Anora just knowing it won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. My sister, Phoebe, told me I should go see it, so I brought Violet along. I immediately worried Violet would be mad at me after the opening scene. I was really impressed with Anora, and I understand the hype behind it. I thought the first hour or so was like going to an inappropriate Disney World—it was so fun and thrilling. The later half of the movie was a bit slow and dragged out for me. I thought it got a little boring and predictable, but Anora was still full of laughs and uncomfortable scenes. I would definitely recommend it if you haven’t seen it already. Am I surprised by their nominations? No! Not at all! I’m not going to say I think Mikey Madison should win for her nomination, but it is well-deserved. I think this movie will walk home with at least one Oscar win, maybe even multiple!

The Brutalist

Nominated for: Best Picture, Performance by an actor in a leading role, Performance by an actor in a supporting role, Performance by an actress in a supporting role, Achievement in cinematography, Achievement in directing, Achievement in film editing, Original Score, Achievement in production design, and Writing (Original Screenplay)

Hopefully, I didn’t leave out any of the nominations this wonderful movie got! I don’t even know where to start with this movie. I loved it so much and couldn’t recommend it more. This isn’t just one of my favorite movies nominated for multiple awards, but it is one of my favorite movies of all time. I’ve seen this three-hour-and-thirty-minute movie twice already and already have plans to see it twice more. This movie is grand. Grand is the only way to really describe it. You might think it’s a pretentious movie because of Adrien Brody, the length, and the intermission, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Well, maybe it is a bit pretentious, but don’t let that stop you from experiencing this movie. See it in theaters—it isn’t really made for streaming. The emotions you feel throughout are beautiful. You’ll laugh, you’ll want to cry, you’ll root for some of the characters, and of course, you will want some characters to die the whole time. The cinematography and score are perfect. They shake you in your seats. I hope this is the big winner of the night. The criticism of AI usage is propaganda bullshit. I love this movie so much.

A Complete Unknown

Nominated for: Best Picture, Performance by an actor in a leading role, Performance by an actor in a supporting role, Performance by an actress in a supporting role, Achievement in directing, Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Achievement in costume design, and Achievement in sound

I love Timothée Chalamet and his campaigning he’s done so far. This press tour rivals none. It has been near perfect! It is a shame that he faces really tough competition with Adrien Brody. This movie was fun to watch on Christmas Day with my family and Violet. I wish it wasn’t so focused on such a short period of time in Bob Dylan’s life. I wanted a whole-life biopic instead of five-ish years. It felt like the movie was building up to more, and it let me down at the end. I love that the cast did their own singing. That ups the status of the movie, in my opinion. I’m not sure what awards this movie will take home, but I hope it gets some gold.

Dune: Part Two

Nominated for: Best Picture, Achievement in cinematography, Achievement in production design, Achievement in sound, and Achievement in visual effects

It feels like this movie came out nine years ago now. Controversy and all about its score being ineligible, this film deserved more love. It was an all-time movie and didn’t get the respect it deserves from the Academy. It was way better than its predecessor. It was packed full of everything you want in a sci-fi movie. Denis Villeneuve deserves at least a nomination for his directing but was snubbed to all hell!

Emilia Pérez

Nominated for: WAY TOO FUCKING MUCH (Too lazy to write out what awards this shouldn't have been nominated for)

I don’t want to shit on this movie more than people already have, but I hated it. I was begging for it to end the whole time. It is the biggest shock to me that it was nominated in thirteen categories. I made so much fun of this movie before seeing it, so I did my due diligence. I didn’t understand the Zoe Saldana love at all, but after watching the movie, I understand it now. Game recognizes game. I think her being a frontrunner makes sense, but she carried this movie on her back like I’ve never seen before. Watch this if you care about movies, but it is a waste of time. This will win multiple awards, but it deserves to be at the Razzies, not the Academy Awards.

The Substance

Nominated for: Best Picture, Performance by an actress in a leading role, Achievement in directing, Writing (Original Screenplay), and Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

I like weird and creative movies. This movie was very weird and very creative. I knew the basic story of this movie before I started watching it, but I was still shocked by it. I wish I saw it in theaters, but watching it on my TV was good enough. People say this film went on too long, but I disagree. The last twenty-ish minutes were great. I hope this movie wins a few awards. I want Demi Moore to win so badly. She deserves it just as much as anyone. I think Margaret Qualley was snubbed here. The makeup and hairstyling shouldn’t even be a contest here. It was so great that no CGI was used, and they did practical effects. I highly recommend this movie to people, but I’d warn them about what they’re getting themselves into.

Wicked

Nominated for: Best Picture, Performance by an actress in a leading role, Performance by an actress in a supporting role, Achievement in visual effects, Achievement in sound, Achievement in editing, Achievement in production design, Original Score, Achievement in makeup and hairstyling, and Achievement in costume design

This movie wasn’t made for me, but I really enjoyed it. I’ve seen it twice now and might even see it again. It is just a fun movie with very talented actresses. I don’t like that Bowen Yang is in it—it takes away points for me. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande face good competition at the Oscars, but if one of them wins, I’ll be so happy for them. They are so (many more o’s) talented and did a great job. I think Ariana fits her character perfectly and adds that comedic touch Glinda needed. Andre, this one's for you. This movie should win awards, and I hope it does.

A Real Pain

Nominated for: Writing (Original Screenplay) and Performance by an actor in a supporting role

This is up there with one of my favorite movies of the year. I really enjoyed it. I think Kieran Culkin is a force to be reckoned with. I don’t want him to get typecast in roles like this again. It felt like he was playing Roman Roy again. I really hope he wins because he deserves it. The story was well written and fun to watch. I think this movie is an underdog, but it shouldn’t be. I hope to see some gold in either Jesse Eisenberg’s or Kieran’s hands!

Challengers

Nominated for: NOTHING!!!

I think everyone knows what I’m about to say. WHY WASN’T THIS NOMINATED FOR ANYTHING? What the fuckity fuck! At least Best Score, right? I loved this movie. The tension, the energy, everything! Please, Academy, explain yourselves! I take the hate, but Zendaya not getting nominated was a great decision. She wasn’t that good in this! I said it!

The Apprentice

Nominated for: Performance by an actor in a leading role and Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Just because you don’t like Trump doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see a biopic about him! Jesus, this movie received way too much backlash, but if you see it, you’ll know it doesn’t paint a pretty picture. It’s like the scene in Star Wars where Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader. It shows how Trump became such a fucking twat. I really loved this movie, and I think people shouldn’t be scared to address it. Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong face great competition, but a win for either of them is deserved. They should honestly just get it for being involved with such a polarizing movie. Good for them—applause all around!

Inside Out 2

Nominated for: Best Animated Feature Film

I watched this knowing it would get an award nomination or two. It was a box office smash hit. I liked the first movie way more. I hated that the voice actors changed, and that anxiety bitch was annoying me. It paints a good picture of what it is like to grow up, but I’m not really sure about this movie. I haven’t seen its competition yet, so I don’t have any opinions on whether it should win or not.

Nosferatu

Nominated for: Achievement in cinematography, Achievement in production design, Achievement in costume design, and Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

Love this movie all you want, but I couldn’t stand it! It wasn’t impressive, and I hated it. I was laughing the whole time, hoping it would end. I went with Andre and had a good time, but I’m never seeing that shit again. I had such high hopes and was left so short. There were plot holes, and it felt unserious. Awful—but I recognize the costume design was very good. I hope this wins nothing!

Gladiator 2

Nominated for: Achievement in costume design

This movie was like: “How many unnecessary action scenes can we put in a movie?” and Ridley Scott said: “Hold my beer!” It was very fun to watch but wasn’t close to its predecessor. The first movie was brilliant, but this fell short for me. The sharks weren’t needed. I love you, Paul Mescal, but I understand why you weren’t nominated. I think Denzel Washington was a bit of a snub, but again, I understand why he was left out. I’ll be interested to see how this movie does in its one category. I think it should be up for production design too, but you know!