The 2024 Oscars Nominations: Thoughts, Opinions, Predictions

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Let’s do this, kittens. Just remember we’ll have MUCH more to say about all of this in our next podcast.

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• • • Bradley Cooper in “Maestro”
    • Colman Domingo in “Rustin”
    • Paul Giamatti in “The Holdovers”
    • Cillian Murphy in “Oppenheimer”
    • Jeffrey Wright in “American Fiction”

No DiCaprio? We’re surprised, but we’re not mad about it. Thrilled for Colman. Cillian seems like a lock, but Paul Giamatti has some momentum.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

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

Sorry to Dominic Sessa, but he’ll have plenty of opportunities ahead of him. We would think RDJ is a lock, but we might see a rally behind the Barbie cast because of one glaring lack of a nomination. Looks like Vili Fualaau had his revenge on Charles Melton.

Performance by an actress in a leading role

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

A little pleasantly surprised to see Bening in there. Of course this is a race between Stone and Gladstone. We have no idea which one will take it, although Academy members might be miffed that Gladstone was ignored by BAFTA and rally for her.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

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

Also pleasantly surprised to see Ferrera here. Not that she doesn’t deserve it, but her name wasn’t bandied about all that much as a frontrunner. Also surprised to see Jodie Foster here. Guess we have to watch Nyad. This is almost certainly coming down to Blunt vs. Randolph and we hope the latter takes it.

Best animated feature film of the year

• • • “The Boy and the Heron” Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
    • “Elemental” Peter Sohn and Denise Ream
    • “Nimona” Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary
    • “Robot Dreams” Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz
    • “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal

We’ve only seen one of these, so… pass.

Achievement in cinematography

• • • “El Conde” Edward Lachman
    • “Killers of the Flower Moon” Rodrigo Prieto
    • “Maestro” Matthew Libatique
    • “Oppenheimer” Hoyte van Hoytema
    • “Poor Things” Robbie Ryan

Oof. Cinematography is always a tough one. As showy as Ryan’s and Libatique’s work was, we think Prieto’s imagery was the richest and most evocative.

Achievement in costume design

• • • “Barbie” Jacqueline Durran
    • “Killers of the Flower Moon” Jacqueline West
    • “Napoleon” Janty Yates and Dave Crossman
    • “Oppenheimer” Ellen Mirojnick
    • “Poor Things” Holly Waddington

Four out of the five nominees were in our picks for favorite costumes of the year, we’re happy to report. This also means we couldn’t possibly pick a winner. Durran, West or Waddington are all potential winners.

Achievement in directing

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

NO GERWIG. FOR SHAME. At least Justine Triet is here to keep it from being a sausagefest. At this point, it seems unlikely that Nolan won’t take it.

Best documentary feature film

• • • “Bobi Wine: The People’s President” Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek
    • “The Eternal Memory” Nominees to be determined
    • “Four Daughters” Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha
    • “To Kill a Tiger” Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim
    • “20 Days in Mariupol” Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath

Best documentary short film

• • • “The ABCs of Book Banning” Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic
    • “The Barber of Little Rock” John Hoffman and Christine Turner
    • “Island in Between” S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien
    • “The Last Repair Shop” Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
    • “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” Sean Wang and Sam Davis

Achievement in film editing

• • • “Anatomy of a Fall” Laurent Sénéchal
    • “The Holdovers” Kevin Tent
    • “Killers of the Flower Moon” Thelma Schoonmaker
    • “Oppenheimer” Jennifer Lame
    • “Poor Things” Yorgos Mavropsaridis

We’re ride-or-die for the legendary Thelma Schoonmaker, but Jennifer Lame did amazing work in Oppenheimer.

Best international feature film of the year

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

The Zone of Interest has the most buzz, so it seems the most likely.

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

• • • “Golda” Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue
    • “Maestro” Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell
    • “Oppenheimer” Luisa Abel
    • “Poor Things” Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston
    • “Society of the Snow” Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé

Again, very surprised to see no Barbie here. We don’t think Golda or Maestro should be getting awards for putting non-Jewish actors in prosthetic noses in order to play famous Jews. This one’s going to Poor Things.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

• • • “American Fiction” Laura Karpman
    • “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” John Williams
    • “Killers of the Flower Moon” Robbie Robertson
    • “Oppenheimer” Ludwig Göransson
    • “Poor Things” Jerskin Fendrix

LOVED Robertson’s work in KotFM. Given his recent death, we’d be surprised if he didn’t win it.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

• • • “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot”
      Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
    • “I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie”
      Music and Lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt
    • “It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony”
      Music and Lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson
    • “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon”
      Music and Lyric by Scott George
    • “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie”
      Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell

It’s a tossup between the two Barbie songs, although we wouldn’t mind at all if the KotFM song came in as a spoiler.

Best motion picture of the year

• • • “American Fiction” Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers
    • “Anatomy of a Fall” Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers
    • “Barbie” David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers
    • “The Holdovers” Mark Johnson, Producer
    • “Killers of the Flower Moon” Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers
    • “Maestro” Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers
    • “Oppenheimer” Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers
    • “Past Lives” David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers
    • “Poor Things” Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers
    • “The Zone of Interest” James Wilson, Producer

WHO TF KNOWS? It’s anyone’s game. We’re just glad Barbie (which evidently directed itself) got the nod.

Achievement in production design

• • • “Barbie” Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
    • “Killers of the Flower Moon” Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis
    • “Napoleon” Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Elli Griff
    • “Oppenheimer” Production Design: Ruth De Jong; Set Decoration: Claire Kaufman
    • “Poor Things” Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek

As much as we loved Poor Things’ design, we think the Barbie team accomplished something unique and unheard-of with their designs.

Best animated short film

• • • “Letter to a Pig” Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter
    • “Ninety-Five Senses” Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess
    • “Our Uniform” Yegane Moghaddam
    • “Pachyderme” Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius
    • “WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko” Dave Mullins and Brad Booker

Best live action short film

• • • “The After” Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham
    • “Invincible” Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron
    • “Knight of Fortune” Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk
    • “Red, White and Blue” Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane
    • “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” Wes Anderson and Steven Rales

Achievement in sound

• • • “The Creator” Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic
    • “Maestro” Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic
    • “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
    • “Oppenheimer” Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell
    • “The Zone of Interest” Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn

It seems impossible to consider that anyone but the Oppenheimer team could take this. The sound design of that film was insane.

Achievement in visual effects

• • • “The Creator” Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould
    • “Godzilla Minus One” Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima
    • “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek
    • “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould
    • “Napoleon” Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould

Adapted screenplay

• • • “American Fiction” Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson
    • “Barbie” Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach
    • “Oppenheimer” Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan
    • “Poor Things” Screenplay by Tony McNamara
    • “The Zone of Interest” Written by Jonathan Glazer

We agreed with putting Barbie in this lineup, which is why we think they should take it, although it will probably go to Oppenheimer.

Original screenplay

• • • “Anatomy of a Fall”Screenplay – Justine Triet and Arthur Harari
    • “The Holdovers”Written by David Hemingson
    • “Maestro”Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer
    • “May December”Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik
    • “Past Lives”Written by Celine Song

Impossible for us to pick or predict. We don’t think it’s worthy, but Maestro might get this one if things don’t go its way for the other nominations.

[Photo Credit: oscars.org]

• Oscars
• Oscars 2024