97th Academy Award Nominations & Thoughts
Lots of good movies, not many surprises.
The 97th Academy Awards are coming, and the nominations have arrived. My main take on these, considering both my initial reaction and now that I’ve had more time to think about it - these are kinda boring. Look, while the awards ultimately only mean nothing in terms of my regard for the films, I enjoy the build-up to the Oscars, and given how many strong films were released in 2024, I wish there was more variety. Still, nothing here truly stands out as an unexpected pick, whether it’s the main categories or the below-the-line awards. Sure, a couple less likely entries made the cut, and there’s certainly plenty of representation in many categories (even if there’s always room for more ways to show the vast array of films and filmmakers out there). Naturally, many films were underrepresented or completely overlooked. That said, I have further thoughts on all these, which I will now go through, category by category.
Here is a quick breakdown of the films with the most nominations:
Emilia Perez - 13, Wicked - 10, The Brutalist -10, A Complete Unknown - 8, Conclave - 8, Anora - 6, Dune: Part Two - 5, The Substance - 5, Nosferatu - 4, I’m Still Here - 3, Sing Sing - 3, The Wild Robot - 3, The Apprentice - 2, Flow - 2, Nickel Boys 2, A Real Pain - 2,
Inevitable or not, films left out of the conversation entirely:
All We Imagine As Light, Babygirl, Between the Temples, Blitz, Challengers, Civil War, Close Your Eyes, Deadpool & Wolverine, Didi, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, The Fire Inside, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Ghostlight, Green Border, Hard Truths, Heretic, His Three Daughters, Hit Man, Hundreds of Beavers, I Saw the TV Glow, Janet Planet, Juror #2, Kneecap, La Chimera, The Last Showgirl, Love Lies Bleeding, Moana 2, Night Bitch, The Order, The Outrun, The Piano Lesson, Queer, The Room Next Door, Saturday Night, Thelma, Transformers One, Unstoppable, We Live In Time, Will & Harper
Best Picture
(Ranked in order of preference - only for this category)
Nickel Boys (Nominees to be determined)
The Brutalist (Nominees to be determined)
Dune: Part Two (Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe and Denis Villeneuve, Producers)
Anora (Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, Producers)
The Substance (Nominees to be determined)
Conclave (Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell and Michael A. Jackman, Producers)
I’m Still Here (Nominees to be determined)
Emilia Pérez (Nominees to be determined)
Wicked (Marc Platt, Producer)
A Complete Unknown (Fred Berger, James Mangold and Alex Heineman, Producers)
While I may not have been stunned by what’s included in any of these categories, I do take some relief in the lack of a genuine frontrunner. Sure, certain films have momentum, but unlike in recent years, there are very few “locks.” With Best Picture, I’m sure The Brutalist is looking like the pick of the litter as of now, but we shall see. Obviously, Nickel Boys, my favorite film of the year, is where I’d be leaning, and I find it a real shame that Sing Sing didn’t end up making the cut. Once again, the international boards show their strength by working to get in not only Emilia Pérez, but I’m Still Here as well. Another note - I like all the films nominated, which is always a nice feeling, so even knowing my favorite movie of 2024 has no real shot of winning, I’m not going to be too upset by nearly any of these other options.
Directing
Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
Sean Baker, Anora
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
James Mangold, A Complete Unknown
Yes, different groups vote for these things, but it is wild to think Wicked could score all these nominations but leave Jon M. Chu out of it. At the same time, Dune: Part Two once again managed to direct itself. I’ll try to cool it on the Nickel Boys talk for now, but I guess good for James Mangold having enough goodwill to land a nom in here. I would have almost thought the international groups would have worked to land Walter Salles here, as well as Best Picture, or even a rogue Mike Leigh nomination, but more on Hard Truths in a bit.
Actor in a Leading Role
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
This went about as expected, with that fifth spot being a toss-up between Stan and Daniel Craig for Queer. Given all the Emilia Pérez love, one would think another LGBTQ+-friendly role would be the way to lean. That said, allowing the Academy to give the finger to a divisive sitting President is not beyond their power either, even if it means nominating Stan for the wrong movie (A Different Man is terrific). Would it have been nice to see Hugh Grant or even Nicholas Hoult surprise everyone with a nom for their strong work? Of course, but it was not to be. Oh, and Colman Domingo is the first Black actor since Denzel to be nominated two years in a row.
Actress in a Leading Role
Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here
Well, despite the strong work by those perpetually online who want to hate all over Emilia Pérez, the film’s regard has allowed it to have the first openly trans performer receive an acting nomination. Once again, especially with Torres catching a wave toward the lead-up, this went as expected. Marianne Jean-Baptiste would be my pick for favorite performance of the year, but it was apparently not to be in terms of Oscar. Nicole Kidman also didn’t manage to pull out stronger for Babygirl. Is Moore the frontrunner here? It's hard to tell, though, despite The Substance being a gross body horror movie, it’s also a Hollywood satire, which the Academy loves, and the critical praise and heavy buzz it’s received since the beginning shouldn’t make its presence in all of its categories much of a surprise.
Actor in a Supporting Role
Yura Borisov, Anora
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
Great to see a lot of first-time nominees here, but I’m still sad Clarence Maclin missed out for his brilliant work in Sing Sing (though he still has a writing nomination). Early on, it seemed like Denzel would run this category for Gladiator II, but that momentum died out quickly. Instead, Kieran Culkin is leading the way unless another film pulls off a sweep. I don’t hold The Apprentice in high regard, but having a Succession rematch between Strong (who is quite good in the film) and Culkin is fun. Stanley Tucci and Jonathan Bailey will just have to sit out until the sequels for their respective films come along (that Pope can’t last forever, right?).
Actress in a Supporting Role
Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande, Wicked
Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Supporting actresses had the most room to see a variety of combinations, but this will do. Saldaña is really a lead performance, but I do think she’s great in the film. Rossellini is a great actress, but I still don’t really see what sort of great impact she had with this performance. That said, I didn’t much care for The Last Showgirl, so seeing others get in over both Anderson and Curtis gave me a sigh of relief. That very much includes Jones, who was seemingly on the bubble to get a nom but managed to pull it off for her terrific work in the second half of The Brutalist. It's a bit of a shame that Moore’s other half, Margaret Qualley, didn’t manage to make the lineup for the sake of sheer entertainment value, but Barbaro and Grande delivering grand musical performances is also nice.
Adapted Screenplay
A Complete Unknown (Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks)
Conclave (Screenplay by Peter Straughan)
Emilia Pérez (Screenplay by Jacques Audiard; In collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi)
Nickel Boys (Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes)
Sing Sing (Screenplay by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John “Divine G” Whitfield)
So Wicked is one of the year's best films, but direction and writing were non-factors? Whatever the case, I am very happy to see Nickel Boys and Sing Sing make the cut. It's sad not to see a bit more fun in this category, with options like Hit Man, The Wild Robot, and Nosferatu just waiting in the wings. Even a nod to Dune: Part Two for creating a towering epic out of the second half of a dense novel would have been great to see.
Original Screenplay
Anora (Written by Sean Baker)
The Brutalist (Written by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold)
A Real Pain (Written by Jesse Eisenberg)
September 5 (Written by Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; Co-Written by Alex David)
The Substance (Written by Coralie Fargeat)
Another category that could have seen some fun options enter such as Challengers, My Old Ass, or Thelma. Instead, we have mostly Best Picture nominees, which is typical, along with September 5. I get that the film is thrilling, though I can’t say it did enough for me to really feel knocked out by the writing, solid character acting aside. It would have been nicer to see the other potential option, All We Imagine as Light, make its way in, especially since India didn’t submit the highly acclaimed film for Best International Feature. Speaking of…
International Feature Film
I’m Still Here (Brazil)
The Girl With the Needle (Denmark)
Emilia Pérez (France)
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany)
Flow (Latvia)
Pour one out for Kneecap, as I guess it wasn’t to be. That said, The Girl with the Needle is my favorite of this grouping, and I’m glad to see it represented. The same goes for the animated Flow, which feels like a nice win for animation. Of course, with two Best Picture nominees in the category, there’s no real chance for anything but those winning, let alone the one with 13 nominations.
Animated Feature Film
Flow (Nominees to be determined)
Inside Out 2 (Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen)
Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot and Liz Kearney)
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Nominees to be determined)
The Wild Robot (Chris Sanders and Jeff Hermann)
Not to be petty, but I’m happy Disney didn’t squeeze Moana 2 in here to continue suggesting Academy members just see the studio and automatically let it pass. Instead, even though I didn’t love all of these, it’s a nice collection of films representing the variety of animation styles to be seen. And obviously, since Wicked was already nominated, there was no reason to add in Transformers One.
Documentary Feature Film
Black Box Diaries (Shiori Ito, Eric Nyari and Hanna Aqvilin)
No Other Land (Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham)
Porcelain War (Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev, Aniela Sidorska and Paula DuPre’ Pesmen)
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Johan Grimonprez, Daan Milius and Rémi Grellety)
Sugarcane (Nominees to be determined)
I still need to catch up with a couple of these, but it’s par for the course in terms of popular and highly acclaimed docs missing over others. In this case, while there’s not a shortage of critically praised documentaries nominated, seeing my favorite doc of 2024, Daughters, miss the cut is pretty sad. Dahomey was undoubtedly among the more interesting approaches to the format. And Will & Harper had such a sweetness, making it doubly a shame that its original song by Kristen Wigg didn’t pick up a nomination. Again, speaking of…
Original Song
“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez (Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard)
“The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight (Music and Lyric by Diane Warren)
“Like a Bird” from Sing Sing (Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada)
“Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez (Music and Lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol)
“Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late (Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin)
Seeing the Disney musical get shut out feels like a reminder that Lin Manuel Miranda was sorely missed in Moana 2 (though Mufasa is nowhere to be seen either). Instead, we have a lineup of songs that are mostly fine. I like the Emilia Pérez songs, but seeing those here is no surprise. Diane Warren’s whatever nomination is of course here, making it the first Tyler Perry movie to be Oscar-nominated in the process. This was another category where Kneecap could have come in, but since the ceremony doesn’t plan to feature musical performances anyway, as the boys would say, screw ‘em!
Original Score
The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg)
Conclave (Volker Bertelmann)
Emilia Pérez (Clément Ducol and Camille)
Wicked (John Powell and Stephen Schwartz)
The Wild Robot (Kris Bowers)
Challengers had the best score of the year, so I have to amount its absence here to the Oscars not wanting to create another John Williams by constantly rewarding Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for being great at their job. All of that said, with all the work to disqualify certain scores, why is Wicked here? Alberto Iglesias continues to be rewarded only so often for his continually great efforts, I guess. All of that said, The Brutalist, Conclave, and The Wild Robot all have fantastic scores.
Cinematography
The Brutalist (Lol Crawley)
Dune: Part Two (Greig Fraser)
Emilia Pérez (Paul Guilhaume)
Maria (Ed Lachman)
Nosferatu (Jarin Blaschke)
My favorite category, and one filled with terrific nominations, is also my saddest to look at this year, as Jomo Fray’s unique and spectacular work on Nickel Boys missed out here. Oh well, he’s relatively new to the game and surely has plenty of chances left in him. As it stands, we were thankfully able to leave out a mixed-looking blockbuster like Wicked in favor of some very visually splendid features. It would have been nice to mix it up even more with something like The Girl with the Needle, which matched its mood with stark black and white photography, or less popular movies like Nawi or All We Imagine as Light. Still, there are so many good options, and I understand having to narrow it down.
Film Editing
Anora (Sean Baker)
The Brutalist (David Jancso)
Conclave (Nick Emerson)
Emilia Pérez (Juliette Welfling)
Wicked (Myron Kerstein)
It’s all Best Picture nominees, which is understandable. Still, the tremendous work done to make Nickel Boys work should have earned more credit. Similarly, taking so much movie when it comes to Dune and compacting it to a riveting 160 minutes is nothing to write off either. Especially given the lack of an action film here (hello, Furiosa), this is one of the tamer sets of nominees for this category in some time.
Makeup and Hairstyling
A Different Man (Mike Marino, David Presto and Crystal Jurado)
Emilia Pérez (Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini)
Nosferatu (David White, Traci Loader and Suzanne Stokes-Munton)
The Substance (Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli)
Wicked (Frances Hannon, Laura Blount and Sarah Nuth)
Another miss for Dune makes me think the film was rewarded so much the first time that it could afford to miss out now. We’ll see what happens whenever the third movie comes along. That said, it's very nice to see A Different Man work its way in here, as it and The Substance are so keenly reliant on clever uses of makeup to really convey major shifts in the narrative. That said, Wicked is actually impeccable in this regard, which speaks to the lived-in nature of that film. Given that so much of Nosferatu rested on the eventual reveal of the creature, that was also nice to see get a nod here.
Costume Design
A Complete Unknown (Arianne Phillips)
Conclave (Lisy Christl)
Gladiator II (Janty Yates and Dave Crossman)
Nosferatu (Linda Muir)
Wicked (Paul Tazewell)
Nothing but period films and one grounded in a modern reality here. Sure, Wicked is a fantasy, and Nosferatu is a gothic horror, but this category didn’t go anywhere wild with something like Furiosa, Dune, or Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (or, if you wanted to truly satisfy me - Hundreds of Beavers). Also a bit surprising - Maria didn’t make the cut. Given its other tech nom, one could think of the beautiful gowns, dresses, and other outfits would have led to a nom here. Alas…
Production Design
The Brutalist (Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Patricia Cuccia)
Conclave (Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Cynthia Sleiter)
Dune: Part Two (Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau)
Nosferatu (Production Design: Craig Lathrop; Set Decoration: Beatrice Brentnerová)
Wicked (Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales)
Pretty standard here, though I would have been delighted by The Substance being among the Best Picture nominees recognized, given the specificity other film. Otherwise, this all makes plenty of sense.
Sound
A Complete Unknown (Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey and David Giammarco)
Dune: Part Two (Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill)
Emilia Pérez (Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta)
Wicked (Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson and John Marquis)
The Wild Robot (Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo and Leff Lefferts)
Nothing to really note here. Breaking things up by adding in an animated feature feels like a win. Given that multiple musical features are in the running, it makes sense to see them here, with the sound categories remaining combined. And yes, the sound in Dune is fantastic.
Visual Effects
Alien: Romulus (Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin and Shane Mahan)
Better Man (Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft and Peter Stubbs)
Dune: Part Two (Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story and Rodney Burke)
Wicked (Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, David Shirk and Paul Corbould)
The one place where things went a little outside the box just by nature of so many genre films being involved. Being an ape paid off this year, as Better Man, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and Wicked all managed to sit in the running here. Alien: Romulus feels like a deserved win for that film, given the variety of elements involved on both the digital and practical side of things. Naturally, Dune is pulling off a real feat of being about as good as it gets for large-scale sci-fi.
Live-Action Short Film
A Lien (Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz)
Anuja (Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai)
I’m Not a Robot (Victoria Warmerdam and Trent)
The Last Ranger (Cindy Lee and Darwin Shaw)
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (Nebojša Slijepčević and Danijel Pek)
Animated Short Film
Beautiful Men (Nicolas Keppens and Brecht Van Elslande)
In the Shadow of the Cypress (Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi)
Magic Candies (Daisuke Nishio and Takashi Washio)
Wander to Wonder (Nina Gantz and Stienette Bosklopper)
Yuck! (Loïc Espuche and Juliette Marquet)
Documentary Short Film
Death by Numbers (Kim A. Snyder and Janique L. Robillard)
I Am Ready, Warden (Smriti Mundhra and Maya Gnyp)
Incident (Bill Morrison and Jamie Kalven)
Instruments of a Beating Heart (Ema Ryan Yamazaki and Eric Nyari)
The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Molly O’Brien and Lisa Remington)
I have not seen all of the short films as of yet, but I look forward to catching up with each of them.
***
Where To Watch:
Anora - Now playing in theaters and available on VOD.
The Apprentice - Now available on Blu-ray and VOD.
A Real Pain - Now streaming on Hulu.
The Brutalist - Now playing in theaters and expanding wider.
A Complete Unknown - Now playing in theaters.
Conlclave - Now streaming on Peacock, and available on Blu-ray and VOD.
Dune: Part Two - Now streaming on Max and Netflix, and available on 4K/Blu-ray/VOD.
Emilia Pérez - Now streaming on Netflix.
Flow - Now playing in theaters.
I’m Still Here - Now playing in theaters and expanding wider.
Nickel Boys - Now playing in theaters and expanding wider.
Nosferatu - Now playing in theaters and available on VOD.
Sing Sing - Now playing in theaters.
The Substance - Now streaming on Mubi, and available on 4K/Blu-ray/VOD.
Wicked - Now playing in theaters, and available on VOD.
The Wild Robot - Now available on 4K/Blu-ray/VOD.
***
That will do it for the nominations and my commentary for now. The 97th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 2, with Conan O’Brien taking on hosting duties for the ceremony. There will be podcasts and possibly more to come on my end!
