2024 Oscar (96th Academy Awards) Nominations

Cafe Society
1

The 2024 Oscar nominations are out. Any comments? I have seen almost none of these.

96th Academy Awards - Wikipedia

Partial list:

BEST PICTURE

“American Fiction”; “Anatomy of a Fall”; “Barbie”; “The Holdovers”; “Killers of the Flower Moon”; “Maestro”; “Oppenheimer”; “Past Lives”; “Poor Things”; “The Zone of Interest”

BEST ACTRESS

Annette Bening, “Nyad”; Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon”; Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall”; Carey Mulligan, “Maestro”; Emma Stone, “Poor Things”

BEST ACTOR

Bradley Cooper, “Maestro”; Colman Domingo, “Rustin”; Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers”; Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”; Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer.”

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Sterling K. Brown, “American Fiction”; Robert De Niro, “Killers of the Flower Moon”; Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer”; Ryan Gosling, “Barbie”; Mark Ruffalo, “Poor Things”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Emily Blunt, “Oppenheimer”; Danielle Brooks, “The Color Purple”; America Ferrera, “Barbie”; Jodie Foster, “Nyad”; Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”

DIRECTOR

Justine Triet, “Anatomy of a Fall”; Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things”; Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”; Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon”; Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”

ANIMATED FILM

“The Boy and the Heron”; “Elemental”; “Nimona”; “Robot Dreams”; “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

“Four Daughters”; “20 Days in Mariupol”; “Bobi Wine: The People’s President”; “The Eternal Memory”; “To Kill a Tiger.”

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

“Society of the Snow,” (Spain); “The Zone of Interest,” (United Kingdom); “The Teachers’ Lounge” (Germany); “Io Capitano” (Italy) ; “Perfect Days” (Japan)

COSTUME DESIGN

“Barbie”; Killers of the Flower Moon; “Napoleon”; “Oppenheimer”; “Poor Things”

2

I’ve seen every film nominated for Best Picture, and other than Rustin, every film nominated in all the other major categories.

This is a solid group of films, all of which are deserving of their nominations. There really isn’t any of the ten Best Pictures that don’t belong there this year. 2023 was really a stacked year in film! 8/10 are in my top ten of the year and the other two are in my top 20.

3

So soon! Some quick thoughts:

I’ve seen all of the Best Picture Nominees except for Zone of Interest. Of the ones I’ve seen, Past Lives is the movie that has most impressed me. It may be my personal pick as the best picture I saw last year (certainly in the top 3). Of the rest, I would say that I wouldn’t be terribly disappointed if Oppenheimer, Barbie, or Poor Things won instead. Anatomy of a Fall and Killers of the Flower Moon are fine pictures, but I’m not sure I’d want either to be what people remember from 2024. The Holdovers is well made and well acted, but it didn’t take me anywhere I haven’t already been.

I guess I’ll have to go see Zone of Interest. It’s been playing on the Westside forever, which should have been a hint about its nomination odds. Never underestimate the Oscar potential of a good Holocaust movie.

I’ll have to think about the rest, but at first glance Supporting Actress looks like a weak field and where the hell is Greta Gerwig’s nomination for Best Director?

4

I expect Oppenheimer to sweep the major awards though Barbie will win a few.

5

Every year we kind of hold off on seeing potential best picture nominees because we know we’re going to see them in a orgy of movie watching in February or March at one of the theaters that holds events. This year is still a low for me, however, because I only saw Barbie.

In related news, I guess I can see May December now!

6

I’m guessing that Lily Gladstone may lose to Emma Stone, but I really hope not. Robert Downey Jr. is a lock, I figure. Carey Mulligan will win one eventually, I’m certain, but not this year.

Supporting Actress will come down to America Ferrara or Da’Vine Joy Randolph. That category is sometimes the first award given out: if Ferrara is passed over, my suspicion is that it portends a Barbie wipeout (with the possible exception of Adapted Screenplay)…

It would thrill my kaiju-loving heart to no end were Godzilla Minus One to win Best Visual Effects.

I’ve seen so few of the nominated films this year, I’m kind of at a loss otherwise.

7

Is Boy and the Heron the likely winner for best animated movie? I hope so. Miyazaki won, I think, the very first animated film award with Spirited Away.

8

The timing really doesn’t work so well now that most people wait for them to stream. Viewing figures for the Oscars have collapsed over the past decade.

9

If anyone other than Da’Vine Joy Randolph wins it will be one of the biggest upsets ever! Ferrara has no chance.

Best Actress is probably the most contested race right now. It’ll be either Lily Gladstone or Emma Stone, and it really could go either way.

I do wish that All of Us Strangers had been recognized. That’s probably my biggest snub of the awards. I would have included that over Past Lives, and Andrew Scott over Colman Domingo, though as I said they are all very good films.

10

Well, Emma Stone already one Best Actress (for La La Land) so I’d vote for Lily Gladstone. Plus she would be one of the few Native winners.

11

What is the Barbie screenplay adapted from?

12

It was deemed adapted because it was based on existing characters, and this was relatively controversial.

13

The Barbie IP. Even though the actual story is 100% original, it was based on existing IP so it was considered Adapted. A stupid decision IMO, but :man_shrugging:

14

Here’s the Wiki page on this year’s awards, with some explanation on some of the nominations like adapted screenplay.

15

I disagree. Her big, oft-quoted Barbie monologue was an epic crowd-pleaser this past year. On top of that she’s got a long and well-regarded career both in film and television. She’s young enough that it wouldn’t feel like a “Her Turn” thing, and she could well take it.

16

I’ve only seen Oppenheimer, Barbie and Killers. Of the three, I would not choose the latter two for best picture. In fact, I’m not sure why Barbie is even present in this group. Killers needed some serious editing, so it doesn’t make the grade, IMO. Cillian Murphy was excellent in Oppie, but again, I haven’t seen all of the films.

17

Wow, did they really overlook the director of Barbie?

18

That’s seems to be the Snub of the Day. But there are 10 Best Films and only 5 Best Directors, so 5 directors need to get snubbed.

19

I mentioned above that I thought the field for Supporting Actress was weak. It’s not a comment on the actors, it’s a comment on the parts. With the caveat that I haven’t seen two of the films (Nyad and The Color Purple), my list of best supporting performances in female roles would have been something like:

Leslie Uggams (American Fiction)
Rosamund Pike (Saltburn)
Natalie Portman (May December)
Marisa Tomei (She Came To Me)
and Carey Mulligan in Maestro, which I consider more of a supporting role to the central character.

I agree with your assessment on Best Actress. Huller and Bening are in little seen movies and Mulligan’s character is more of a supporting role than a lead role.

I saw All of Us Strangers, and while it is a very good film (probably in my top 20), the one thought I had towards the end was “Now I know what happened to Haley Joel Osment’s character from The Sixth Sense.” :grinning:

20

Sure, but I was hoping for it in Best Foreign Film. I mean, seriously, even if you were to edit out the giant monster entirely, it’d still be most of a good movie (except, without the chance to defeat the monster, the protagonist would never find closure).

As an aside, does anyone else consider the Supporting Actor/Actress awards to be more prestigious than the lead ones? It’s easy to put in a good performance when the movie’s all about you; it’s much harder to support another star.