The 2023 Oscar Nominations
It's that time again - Oscars nominations time. In its 95th year, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS or simply The Academy) announced its nominations with the help of actors Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams.
In a year that Academy CEO Bill Kramer touts as the highest voter turnout in Oscar history, A24 comes in first place with 11 nods for Everything Everywhere All at Once, with Netflix trailing closely behind for All Quiet on the Western Front with nine nominations, tying it with Searchlight Pictures’ The Banshees of Inisherin in second place. Everything Everywhere All at Once's success is less than surprising. It has been one of the few films that has stayed on everyone's minds since its world premiere at SXSW 2022. However, significant presence of All Quiet on the Western Front is a headscratcher. People talked about it when it came out, but all discussion died down, so it's a bit of a shock to see it nominated practically in every category. That said, though, the original film from 1930 of the same name did go on to win Best Picture and Best Director, so I should've at least seen it coming.
Sitting in the third and fourth place spots are Elvis and The Fabelmans, with eight and seven nominations, respectively. These two films were all but a lock, but to see Judd Hirsch nominated for Best Supporting Actor over Paul Dano is a bit of a shocker. Speaking of shockers, Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick making it into Best Picture woke me up during the early morning announcement. Furthermore, seeing Top Gun: Maverick get into Adapted Screenplay but not Cinematography is a bit odd, considering that Claudio Miranda's cinematography has been frequently nominated this awards season. That said, franchise fare like The Batman and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever getting into technical categories was a pleasant surprise.
Another surprise was seeing Paul Mescal's Best Actor nomination for Aftersun and Andrea Riseborough's Best Actress nomination for To Leslie. On a bit of a downer note, though, there is a multitude of great films that weren't even mentioned in this year's nominations, like Decision to Leave, RRR (it wasn't submitted, but I'm still counting it as a snub), Nope, Happening, Good Night Oppy, Nothing Compares, Saint Omer, and so on. It's especially egregious considering that no women were nominated for Best Director, not even Sarah Polley for Women Talking - even though The Academy nominated the film for Best Picture.
That said, there are some things to celebrate. For example, one of the reasons for the celebration is that 16 out of the 20 performance slots are first-time nominees. In addition, Best Actor, a typically stacked category of returning nominees, is comprised entirely of first-time nominees, which had not occurred since 1935, back when the category was made up of three nominees. Additionally, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, and Hong Chau's nominations mark a year packed with Asian representation in the Oscar performance categories. Also making Oscars history is John Williams, who beat his own record of the most Oscar nominations for a living person (Walt Disney has him beat by a few) with a total of 53 now that his score for The Fabelmans has been nominated for Original Score.
Read below for the complete nominations list for the 2023 Oscars, and watch the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 12th! In the meantime, you can check out my other awards coverage leading up to Hollywood's biggest night. You can also check out my reviews for the nominated films using the links below.
Best Picture
All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix)
Avatar: The Way of Water (20th Century Studios)
The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight Pictures)
Elvis (Warner Bros)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
The Fabelmans (Universal Pictures)
Tár (Focus Features)
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount Pictures)
Triangle of Sadness (NEON)
Women Talking (United Artists Releasing/Orion Pictures)
Actor in a Leading Role
Austin Butler in Elvis
Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser in The Whale
Paul Mescal in Aftersun
Bill Nighy in Living
Actor in a Supporting Role
Brendan Gleeson in The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry in Causeway
Judd Hirsch in The Fabelmans
Barry Keoghan in The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once
Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett in Tár
Ana de Armas in Blonde
Andrea Riseborough in To Leslie
Michelle Williams in The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once
Actress in a Supporting Role
Angela Bassett in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau in The Whale
Kerry Condon in The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All at Once
Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All at Once
Animated Feature Film
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Netflix)
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (A24)
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Universal Pictures)
The Sea Beast (Netflix)
Turning Red (Walt Disney)
Cinematography
All Quiet on the Western Front
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Elvis
Tár
Costume Design
Babylon
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
Directing
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight Pictures)
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once(A24)
Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans (Universal Pictures)
Todd Field, Tár (Focus Features)
Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness (NEON)
Documentary Feature Film
All That Breathes
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
A House Made of Splinters
Navalny
Documentary Short Film
The Elephant Whisperers
Haulout
How Do You Measure a Year?
The Martha Mitchell Effect
Stranger at the Gate
Film Editing
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
International Feature Film
All Quiet on the Western Front Germany
Argentina, 1985 Argentina
Close Belgium
EO Poland
The Quiet Girl Ireland
Makeup and Hairstyling
All Quiet on the Western Front
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
The Whale
Music (Original Score)
All Quiet on the Western Front
Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Music (Original Song)
"Applause" from Tell It like a Woman
"Hold My Hand" from Top Gun: Maverick
"Lift Me Up" from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
"Naatu Naatu" from RRR
"This Is A Life" from Everything Everywhere All at Once
Production Design
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
Babylon
Elvis
The Fabelmans
Animated Short Film
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse
The Flying Sailor
Ice Merchants
My Year of Dicks
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It
Live Action Short Film
An Irish Goodbye
Ivalu
Le Pupille
Night Ride
The Red Suitcase
Sound
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Elvis
Top Gun: Maverick
Visual Effects
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Top Gun: Maverick
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
All Quiet on the Western Front
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Living
Top Gun: Maverick
Women Talking
Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Tár
Triangle of Sadness
Until next time!
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