98th Oscar Nominations

Let’s start with the top news most people will be hearing, Sinners has set a new record for most nominations in Oscar history, topping the previous record of 14 by two. That means even without the Best Casting category being new, the film would have set the record. Delroy Lindo’s performance in Supporting Actor and the film’s selection Visual Effects pushed it over the edge. It now has to be considered a major contender though it will still compete against One Battle After Another for the top prize. F1 surprised with its inclusion in Best Picture but it isn’t as left-field as expected. I thought about updating my predictions last night to include it as a possibility but didn’t to my chagrin.

Another big storyline is that Wicked: For Good was completely shut out. Not even Production Design or Costume Design were safe for the film and its two original songs were ignored in favor of some very questionable selections. Many of the top categories went as expected with the disability porn performance of Kate Hudson slotting into the all-white slate of Best Actress. Elle Fanning picked up her first nomination giving us two double-nominees from a single film in the supporting category this year, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in a very long time.

While there are two double-digit nominees, Hamnet and Frankenstein got hamstrung in their fight for ten, coming in short though Sentimental Value overperformed with a strong 9 nominations, one short of the record for a non-English language film. Then there’s the bizarre Avatar: Fire and Ash nomination in Costume Design. A very odd choice for something entirely digital. It couldn’t make it in Sound but could get in Costume Design? very strange choice. And once against the documentary and short film categories were all over the place but much of the morning went as expected.

Nominations Tallies

(16) Sinners
(13) One Battle After Another
(9) Frankenstein, Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value
(8) Hamnet
(4) Bugonia, F1, The Secret Agent, Train Dreams
(2) Avatar: Fire and Ash, Blue Moon, It Was Just an Accident, KPop Demon Hunters, Sirât
(1) The Alabama Solution, All the Empty Rooms, Arco, Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, Butcher’s Stain, Butterfly, Children No More: Were and Are Gone, Come See Me in the Good Light, Cutting through Rocks, The Devil Is Busy, Diane Warren: Relentless, Elio, Forevergreen, A Friend of Dorothy, The Girl Who Cried Pearls, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Jane Austen’s Period Drama, Jurassic World Rebirth, Kokuho, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, The Lost Bus, Mr. Nobody against Putin, The Perfect Neighbor, Perfectly a Strangeness, Retirement Plan, The Singers, The Smashing Machine, Song Sung Blue, The Three Sisters, Two People Exchanging Saliva, The Ugly Stepsister, Viva Verdi!, The Voice of Hind Rajab, Weapons, Zootopia 2

The Nominations

Best Picture

Bugonia
F1
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams

Best Animated Feature

Arco
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2

Best Directing

Hamnet – Chloé Zhao
Marty Supreme – Josh Safdie
One Battle After Another – Paul Thomas Anderson
Sentimental Value – Joachim Trier
Sinners – Ryan Coogler

Best Actor

Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan – Sinners
Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent

Best Actress

Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Kate Hudson – Song Sung Blue
Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
Emma Stone – Bugonia

Best Supporting Actor

Benicio Del Toro – One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo – Sinners
Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value

Best Supporting Actress

Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan – Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another

Best Original Screenplay

Blue Moon
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
Sentimental Value
Sinners

Best Adapted Screenplay

Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Train Dreams

Best Casting

Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sinners

Best Original Song

Dear Me – Diane Warren: Relentless
Golden – KPop Demon Hunters
I Lied to You – Sinners
Sweet Dreams of Joy – Viva Verdi!
Train Dreams – Train Dreams

Best Original Score

Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Best Film Editing

F1
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners

Best Cinematography

Frankenstein
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams

Best Production Design

Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Best Costume Design

Avatar: Fire and Ash
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
Sinners

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

Frankenstein
Kokuho
Sinners
The Smashing Machine
The Ugly Stepsister

Best Sound

F1
Frankenstein
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Sirât

Best Visual Effects

Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1
Jurassic World Rebirth
The Lost Bus
Sinners

Best International Feature Film

It Was Just an Accident – France
The Secret Agent – Brazil
Sentimental Value – Norway
Sirât – Spain
The Voice of Hind Rajab – Tunisia

Best Documentary Feature

The Alabama Solution
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cutting through Rocks
Mr. Nobody against Putin
The Perfect Neighbor

Best Documentary Short Subject

All the Empty Rooms
Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
Children No More: Were and Are Gone
The Devil Is Busy
Perfectly a Strangeness