Well, nobody said this race was going to be easy. The Oscar nominations are here, and they have done their best to make this as challenging as possible, even if I managed to go a personal best 90/122 (and 5/5 in Best Actress, Original Screenplay, Sound Editing, and Cinematography). The only thing we know for sure right now is that it’s going to be a wild, unpredictable year.
So let’s start with the things we know for sure. The Shape of Water has earned a whopping 13 nominations, only missing out in Best Visual Effects. Between this level of love, the win at the PGA, and an expected win with the DGA, expect this to be the closest thing to a “frontrunner.” And what happened to the other “frontrunner,” you may ask? Well, that’s a funny story. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri took home seven nominations, including two surprises in Score and Editing (the latter of which it doesn’t really deserve). However, while it seemed poise to be the biggest hit of the awards, it missed out on a key nomination, and one that usually always accompanies ensemble films: Best Director. That’s right, Martin McDonagh was passed over for the sharp, intimate work that Paul Thomas Anderson brought to Phantom Thread (with the masterful work wonderfully overperforming, nominated for Costume Design, Score, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and even Best Picture). While this isn’t a death knell, as Argo proved a few years ago, it does hurt Three Billboards’ chances overall.
The Best Picture field was rounded out by the expected nominees Lady Bird, Get Out, Dunkirk, Call Me By Your Name, and The Post, as well as two shocks in Phantom Thread and Darkest Hour, both of which had been ruled out. However, pretty much every film outside of the Top Two struggled with nominations below the line that they supposedly had locked up, including The Post missing in Score (but at least John Williams got in for Star Wars), Get Out missed out in Editing (but did pull off the wonderful nod for Daniel Kaluuya in Best Actor), and Call Me By Your Name missed out on a nod for Armie Hammer, with his slot going to Woody Harrelson and Christopher Plummer. I get it, but that seems like a real miss. And while we’re on the subject of expected actors, James Franco missed out on an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Tommy Wiseau in The Disaster Artist. It will be impossible to know if he was overlooked because of late-breaking reports of sexual misconduct or because there was no way in hell the older members of the Academy were nominating someone playing Tommy F*cking Wiseau (due to the fact the accusations came out the day before voting ended, I’m leaning towards the latter), but either way, Franco is out, and likely won’t be majorly missed (even if I thought it was a solid performance).
There were also a few other snubs and surprises along the way. Despite missing out for its music (arguably its strongest point), Beauty and the Beast walked away with two nominations: Best Production Design (ehhh) and Best Costume Design (makes sense). Logan has become the first superhero film to be nominated for its writing, earning a nod in Best Adapted Screenplay (I would agree from a story standpoint, not a dialogue standpoint). Kong: Skull Island becomes the worst nominee on the list after earning a nod for Best Visual Effects. And in a shocking decision, the Academy overlooks a wide array of Japanese animated films to make The Boss Baby an Academy Award-nominated film. I don’t know how I feel about this decision. I honestly don’t. It’s too strange even for me. As for snubs, there weren’t too many to be found. The biggest that I can see are the Academy’s shunning of the frontrunners in three categories: Best Animated Short, Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Documentary. Best Animated Short saw the Internet’s favorite film about queer love, In A Heartbeat, overlooked to make Kobé Bryant an Oscar nominee. Frontrunner In the Fade was completely ignored for a strange, upsetting lineup that at least rightfully returns frontrunner status to The Square. And Best Documentary commits the most heinous snub of all by overlooking the wonderful, heartwarming Jane. This is a travesty on their part, but at least they didn’t nominate An Inconvenient Sequel in its place.
So those are your Oscar nominees. A wild, crazy selection that could go any which way before the ceremony this March. Honestly, looking over this list, I can’t help but smile, even if I don’t know what’s going to win. That is a truly wonderful list of nominees. If you can walk away from any year thinking that The Post is the worst nominee on the list, you’ve done something right. There are no nominations as bad as, say, Lion for Best Picture, or (*gag*) American Sniper for six categories. This is a great year, and we are headed for a great Oscars ceremony on March 4th, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. I will see you all then.
Best Picture
- Call Me By Your Name
- Darkest Hour
- Dunkirk
- Get Out
- Lady Bird
- Phantom Thread
- The Post
- The Shape of Water
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Actor
- Timothée Chalamet-Call Me By Your Name
- Daniel Day-Lewis-Phantom Thread
- Daniel Kaluuya-Get Out
- Gary Oldman-Darkest Hour
- Denzel Washington-Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Best Actress
- Sally Hawkins-The Shape of Water
- Frances McDormand-Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Margot Robbie-I, Tonya
- Saoirse Ronan-Lady Bird
- Meryl Streep-The Post
Best Supporting Actor
- Willem Dafoe-The Florida Project
- Woody Harrelson-Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Richard Jenkins-The Shape of Water
- Christopher Plummer-All the Money in the World
- Sam Rockwell-Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Supporting Actress
- Mary J. Blige-Mudbound
- Allison Janney-I, Tonya
- Lesley Manville-Phantom Thread
- Laurie Metcalf-Lady Bird
- Octavia Spencer-The Shape of Water
Best Director
- Christopher Nolan-Dunkirk
- Jordan Peele-Get Out
- Greta Gerwig-Lady Bird
- Paul Thomas Anderson-Phantom Thread
- Guillermo del Toro-The Shape of Water
Best Original Screenplay
- The Big Sick
- Get Out
- Lady Bird
- The Shape of Water
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Adapted Screenplay
- Call Me By Your Name
- The Disaster Artist
- Logan
- Molly’s Game
- Mudbound
Best Animated Film
- The Boss Baby
- The Breadwinner
- Coco
- Ferdinand
- Loving Vincent
Best Documentary Feature
- Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
- Faces Places
- Icarus
- Last Men in Aleppo
- Strong Island
Best Foreign Language Film
- A Fantastic Woman
- The Insult
- Loveless
- On Body and Soul
- The Square
Best Documentary Short
- Edith+Eddie
- Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405
- Heroin(e)
- Knife Skills
- Traffic Stop
Best Live Action Short
- DeKalb Elementary
- The 11:00 O’Clock
- My Nephew Element
- The Silent Child
- Watu Wote/All of Us
Best Animated Short
- Dear Basketball
- Garden Party
- Lou
- Negative Space
- Revolting Rhymes
Best Original Score
- Dunkirk
- Phantom Thread
- The Shape of Water
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Original Song
- Mighty River-Mudbound
- Mystery of Love-Call Me By Your Name
- Remember Me-Coco
- Stand Up For Something-Marshall
- This Is Me-The Greatest Showman
Best Sound Mixing
- Baby Driver
- Blade Runner 2049
- Dunkirk
- The Shape of Water
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Best Sound Editing
- Baby Driver
- Blade Runner 2049
- Dunkirk
- The Shape of Water
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Best Production Design
- Beauty and the Beast
- Blade Runner 2049
- Darkest Hour
- Dunkirk
- The Shape of Water
Best Cinematography
- Blade Runner 2049
- Darkest Hour
- Dunkirk
- Mudbound
- The Shape of Water
Best Costume Design
- Beauty and the Beast
- Darkest Hour
- Phantom Thread
- The Shape of Water
- Victoria and Abdul
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
- Darkest Hour
- Victoria and Abdul
- Wonder
Best Film Editing
- Baby Driver
- Dunkirk
- I, Tonya
- The Shape of Water
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Visual Effects
- Blade Runner 2049
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
- Kong: Skull Island
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- War for the Planet of the Apes
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