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The 2023 Oscar Nominations

It's that time again - Oscars nominations time. In its 95th year, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS or simply The Academy) announced its nominations with the help of actors Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams.

In a year that Academy CEO Bill Kramer touts as the highest voter turnout in Oscar history, A24 comes in first place with 11 nods for Everything Everywhere All at Once, with Netflix trailing closely behind for All Quiet on the Western Front with nine nominations, tying it with Searchlight PicturesThe Banshees of Inisherin in second place. Everything Everywhere All at Once's success is less than surprising. It has been one of the few films that has stayed on everyone's minds since its world premiere at SXSW 2022. However, significant presence of All Quiet on the Western Front is a headscratcher. People talked about it when it came out, but all discussion died down, so it's a bit of a shock to see it nominated practically in every category. That said, though, the original film from 1930 of the same name did go on to win Best Picture and Best Director, so I should've at least seen it coming.

Sitting in the third and fourth place spots are Elvis and The Fabelmans, with eight and seven nominations, respectively. These two films were all but a lock, but to see Judd Hirsch nominated for Best Supporting Actor over Paul Dano is a bit of a shocker. Speaking of shockers, Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick making it into Best Picture woke me up during the early morning announcement. Furthermore, seeing Top Gun: Maverick get into Adapted Screenplay but not Cinematography is a bit odd, considering that Claudio Miranda's cinematography has been frequently nominated this awards season. That said, franchise fare like The Batman and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever getting into technical categories was a pleasant surprise.

Another surprise was seeing Paul Mescal's Best Actor nomination for Aftersun and Andrea Riseborough's Best Actress nomination for To Leslie. On a bit of a downer note, though, there is a multitude of great films that weren't even mentioned in this year's nominations, like Decision to Leave, RRR (it wasn't submitted, but I'm still counting it as a snub), Nope, Happening, Good Night Oppy, Nothing Compares, Saint Omer, and so on. It's especially egregious considering that no women were nominated for Best Director, not even Sarah Polley for Women Talking - even though The Academy nominated the film for Best Picture.

That said, there are some things to celebrate. For example, one of the reasons for the celebration is that 16 out of the 20 performance slots are first-time nominees. In addition, Best Actor, a typically stacked category of returning nominees, is comprised entirely of first-time nominees, which had not occurred since 1935, back when the category was made up of three nominees. Additionally, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, and Hong Chau's nominations mark a year packed with Asian representation in the Oscar performance categories. Also making Oscars history is John Williams, who beat his own record of the most Oscar nominations for a living person (Walt Disney has him beat by a few) with a total of 53 now that his score for The Fabelmans has been nominated for Original Score.

Read below for the complete nominations list for the 2023 Oscars, and watch the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 12th! In the meantime, you can check out my other awards coverage leading up to Hollywood's biggest night. You can also check out my reviews for the nominated films using the links below.

Best Picture

All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix)

Avatar: The Way of Water (20th Century Studios)

The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight Pictures)

Elvis (Warner Bros)

Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)

The Fabelmans (Universal Pictures)

Tár (Focus Features)

Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount Pictures)

Triangle of Sadness (NEON)

Women Talking (United Artists Releasing/Orion Pictures)

Actor in a Leading Role

Austin Butler in Elvis

Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin

Brendan Fraser in The Whale

Paul Mescal in Aftersun

Bill Nighy in Living

Actor in a Supporting Role

Brendan Gleeson in The Banshees of Inisherin

Brian Tyree Henry in Causeway

Judd Hirsch in The Fabelmans

Barry Keoghan in The Banshees of Inisherin

Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once

Actress in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett in Tár

Ana de Armas in Blonde

Andrea Riseborough in To Leslie

Michelle Williams in The Fabelmans

Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once

Actress in a Supporting Role

Angela Bassett in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Hong Chau in The Whale

Kerry Condon in The Banshees of Inisherin

Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All at Once

Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All at Once

Animated Feature Film

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Netflix)

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (A24)

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Universal Pictures)

The Sea Beast (Netflix)

Turning Red (Walt Disney)

Cinematography

All Quiet on the Western Front

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

Elvis

Empire of Light

Tár

Costume Design

Babylon

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

Directing

Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight Pictures)

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once(A24)

Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans (Universal Pictures)

Todd Field, Tár (Focus Features)

Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness (NEON)

Documentary Feature Film

All That Breathes

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Fire of Love

A House Made of Splinters

Navalny

Documentary Short Film

The Elephant Whisperers

Haulout

How Do You Measure a Year?

The Martha Mitchell Effect

Stranger at the Gate

Film Editing

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Tár

Top Gun: Maverick

International Feature Film

All Quiet on the Western Front Germany

Argentina, 1985 Argentina

Close Belgium

EO Poland

The Quiet Girl Ireland

Makeup and Hairstyling

All Quiet on the Western Front

The Batman

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Elvis

The Whale

Music (Original Score)

All Quiet on the Western Front

Babylon

The Banshees of Inisherin

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

Music (Original Song)

"Applause" from Tell It like a Woman

"Hold My Hand" from Top Gun: Maverick

"Lift Me Up" from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

"Naatu Naatu" from RRR

"This Is A Life" from Everything Everywhere All at Once

Production Design

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

Babylon

Elvis

The Fabelmans

Animated Short Film

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse

The Flying Sailor

Ice Merchants

My Year of Dicks

An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It

Live Action Short Film

An Irish Goodbye

Ivalu

Le Pupille

Night Ride

The Red Suitcase

Sound

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Batman

Elvis

Top Gun: Maverick

Visual Effects

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Batman

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Top Gun: Maverick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

All Quiet on the Western Front

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Living

Top Gun: Maverick

Women Talking

Writing (Original Screenplay)

The Banshees of Inisherin

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

Tár

Triangle of Sadness

Until next time!

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