2022 Oscars

This year's nominations definitely got some buzz going due to its snubs.

PICTURE

NOMINEES: Belfast, Don’t Look Up, Dune, Licorice Pizza, The Power of the Dog, Coda, Drive My Car, King Richard, Nightmare Alley, West Side Story

I was actually pleasantly surprised to find Nightmare Alley on here; that was the best movie I’ve seen from the year.  I’m also thoroughly disappointed by the inclusion of apparent cringefest Don’t Look Up, especially considering some of the snubs.  I can’t believe that got nominated instead of Macbeth, but then again the Oscars is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a taletold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,signifying nothing.  Dune is another movie I felt was overrated.  On the other hand, this category look like a wealth of pontentiall worth-looking-into movies, and that’s the only thing the Academy is really good for.

SNUBS: The Tragedy of Macbeth, In the Earth

 

ACTOR

NOMINEES: Andrew Garfield (tick, tick…BOOM!), Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth), Will Smith (King Richard), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog), Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos)

I haven’t seen King Richard, but I’m rooting for Will Smith.  I like him, and he’s ovedue.  

SNUBS: Bradley Cooper (Nightmare Alley), Dev Patel (Green Knight)

ACTRESS

NOMINEES: Jessica Chastain (They Eyes of Tammy Faye), Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos), Penelope Cruz (Parallel Mothers), Kristen Stewart (Spencer), Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter)

Really disappointed by Frances McDormand’s snub; she was the real start of Macbeth.  I like Nicole Kidman, but Being the Ricardos is the only movie from this category I’ve watched, so I know that she deserved it less.

SNUBS: Frances McDormand (The Tragedy of Macbeth), 

 

DIRECTOR

NOMINEES: Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza), Kenneth Branagh (Belfast), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)

Green Knight would have been a classic if not for its modernist decontructions, but it as a travesty that it was not nominated for this award or for any of the visual categories.  

SNUBS: David Lowery (Green Knight), Guillermo del Toro (Nightmare Alley), Ben Wheatley (In the Earth)

 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

NOMINEES: Sian Heder (Coda), Ryusuke Humaguchi/Takamasa Oe (Drive My Car), Jon Spaihts/Denis Villeneuve/Eric Roth (Dune), Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter), Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)

Not much to say other than I’d be really grumpy if Dune won this for stripping the story of everything that made it interesting. 

 

CINEMATOGRAPHY 

NOMINEES: Greig Fraser (Dune), Dan Laustsen (Nightmare Alley), Ari Wegner (The Power of the Dog), Bruno Delbonnel (The Tragedy of Macbeth), Janusz Kaminski (West Side Story)

Greig Fraser probably deserves this for tricking everybody into thinking that Dune had good production/costume design.  Still, part of me want to see him lose in order to increase the chances of his winning for his apparently brilliant work in The Batman.  The one I’m rooting for is Macbeth.

SNUBS: Andrew Droz Palermo (Green Knight), Linus Sandgren (No Time to Die), Chung-hoon Chung (Last Night in Soho), Florian Hoffmeister (Antlers) 

 

EDITING

NOMINEES: Hank Corwin (Don’t Look Up), Joe Walker (Dune), Pamela Martin (King Richard), Peter Sciberras (The Power of the Dog), Myron Kerstein/Andrew Weisbum (tick, tick…BOOM!)

Hank Corwin’s editing in Don’t Look Up and The Big Short is beyond atrocious.  It’s like the CalArts style of film editing: basically put obviously garbage in peoples’ faces and brazenly act like it’s a good thing.  Dune’s editing is the opposite extreme; the movie was incredibly slow and plodding, and I usually like slow burns.

 

PRODUCTION DESIGN

NOMINEES: Patrice Vermette/Zsuzsanna Sipos (Dune), Tamara Deverell/Shane Vieau (Nightmare Alley), Grant Major/Amber Richards (The Power of the Dog), Stefan Dechant/Nancy Haigh (The Tragedy of Macbeth), Adam Stockhausen/Rena DeAngelo (West Side Story)

Despite having its moments, I found Dune’s design to be uninspired.  I’m rooting for Macbeth for its intriguing half-cinema-half-stage design.  Nightmare Alley is also a worthy choice.

SNUBS: Jade Healy (Green Knight)

 

COSTUME DESIGN

NOMINEES: Jenny Beavan (Cruella), Jacqueline West, Bob Morgan (Dune), Massimo Cantini Parrini/Jacqueline Durran (Cyrano), Luis Sequeira (Nightmare Alley), Paul Tazewell (West Side Story)

Once again, not terribly happy with Dune on here.

SNUBS: Malgosia Turzanska (Green Knight)

 

BEST SCORE

NOMINEES: Nicholas Britell (Don’t Look Up), Hans Zimmer (Dune), Germaine Franco (Encanto), Alberto Iglesias [NSFW image] (Parallel Mothers), Johnny Greenwood (The Power of the Dog)

Looks like it’s an apples and oranges between Hans Zimmer’s atmospheric and bapipe-blessed Dune and the admittedly off-beat and worthy score of Don’t Look Up.

SNUBS: Javier Navarrete (Antlers), Steven Price (Last Night in Soho), Daniel Hart (Green Knight), Clint Mansell (In the Earth), Nathan Johnson (Nightmare Alley)

 

BEST SONG

NOMINEES: “Down to Joy” (Van Morrison, Belfast), “Dos Oruguitas” (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Encanto), “Somehow You Do” (Diane Warren, Four Good Days), “Be Alive” (Beyance/Dixson, King Richard), “No Time to Die” (Billie Eilish)

One of the few positive trends in the Oscars that suggests that they can learn lessons is that they’re finally awarding Bond songs.  "No Time to Die" is what I'm rooting for, but “Somehow You Do” is good, too. I'd be upset if "Down to Joy" or "Be Alive" won.

SNUBS: “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Encanto)

 

ANIMATED FILM

NOMINEES: Encanto, Flee, Luca, Raya and the Last Dragon, The Mitchells vs the Machines

Surprised that Belle was not nominated, but I do think it’s ending was a bit of a copout.  I’ve heard Encantois good, but not so much Raya.  

 

HONORARY AWARDS

Elaine May, Live Ullmann, Samuel L. Jackson

Ah yes, the “Sorry, Our Bad” Awards, and Samuel L. Jackson is definitely overdue for this.