Last reflections on the year in movies before the Oscars tonight. If it were up to me, this is who I would’ve nominated in my favorite categories. Doing this post made me realize how many movies and performances I loved this year, but it also highlighted how many great films I would’ve liked to see get recognized more, or recognized at all.
Best Picture – Right off the bat, I’m making major changes, only keeping about half the nominated films. This is the start of my “yeah, I said it” campaigns for great films that got zero love from the Academy.
Aftersun – I’m so grateful for Paul Mescal’s nomination, because it led me to see this beautiful film. I feel like it should’ve gotten nominated for a lot more, starting at the very top.
The Banshees of Inisherin
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Yes, it was flawed, but I also feel like it pays off more than stumbles.
DC League of Super-Pets – Fight me, I don’t care. I side eyed this movie going in, but it was fantastic. I’m so bummed that it didn’t at least get a Best Animated Feature nod.
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Fire Island – This movie is amazing, why did it get zero attention??? (I mean, besides racism and homophobia.)
Matilda – I’m telling no lies here. Genuinely wonderful movie musicals in the 21st century are all too rare, but Matilda is a slam dunk.
The Woman King – How did The Woman King get shut out? It was sooo good!
Women Talking
Best Leading Actor – The only change here was that I really feel Brendan Gleeson should’ve been up for Leading Actor, not Supporting. That meant someone had to go, and even though it was more the movie’s fault, it wound up being Brendan Fraser.
Austin Butler (Elvis)
Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Paul Mescal (Aftersun)
Bill Nighy (Living)
Best Leading Actress – This wound up being an interesting category, since I didn’t really care for Michelle Williams in The Fabelmans and I didn’t see Blonde or To Leslie. I liked seeing how this one shaped up.
Cate Blanchett (Tár)
Viola Davis (The Woman King) – Okay, so this one was a given.
Rooney Mara (Women Talking) – Arguably, all the actresses in Women Talking could be considered supporting, but if it has a leading actress, it’s probably Mara.
Amber Midthunder (Prey) – Not only is this an excellent performance, it’s also done without human screen partners for long stretches of the film. Impressive!
Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Supporting Actor – Even though I really liked everyone in this category, there were too many other great Supporting Actor performances this year that I had to fit in.
Tenoch Huerta Mejía (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) – Huerta Mejía killed it as Namor! Such a dynamic performance.
Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Conrad Ricamora (Fire Island) – Ricamora is a Colin Firth-level Darcy, I’m telling you. I loved the movie anyway, but Ricamora’s performance kicked everything up a notch.
Ben Whishaw (Women Talking) – I admit that it’s weird to nominate a guy for a movie called Women Talking, but 1) Whishaw is fantastic here and 2) his performance isn’t the only one that made my list.
Best Supporting Actress – A few changes here.
Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Jessie Buckley (Women Talking) – I debated between a few different actresses for this slot, because really, all the women in this movie are great. But I didn’t have room to include more than one, and Buckley rose to the top.
Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Lashana Lynch (The Woman King) – Cards on the table, I seriously considered nominating Lynch for both this film and Matilda. But again, there just wasn’t room, and if I had to go with one, it’s gotta be The Woman King. This, more than anything, is the nomination I wish The Woman King had gotten for real.
Best Director – More shakeups. I’m honestly a little surprised at my list as a whole—I enjoyed the majority of this year’s nominees as I watched them, but when I looked back at all the movies I saw this year, gems kept jumping out at me.
Aftersun – The work here isn’t flashy, but it’s just gorgeously done.
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Matilda – I said what I said. Did you see those production numbers?
The Woman King – Another “what the hell, Oscars?” moment for The Woman King.
Best Adapted Screenplay – I make no apologies.
DC League of Super-Pets – Not gonna lie, I originally kept Living in here, but the heart wants what it wants. There was no reason for this movie to be as good as it is, and it deserves props for that.
Fire Island – On its own, this would be a delightful rom-com. But as an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice? Amazing!
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Matilda – Again I say, do you know how hard it can be to find a genuinely knockout movie musical in the 21st century? Give Matilda all its flowers!
Women Talking
Best Original Screenplay – More changes, although they mainly stick to films that got nominated for other things.
Aftersun – One of my biggest takeaways from this post is how much more recognition Aftersun should’ve gotten.
The Banshees of Inisherin
Bardo – This is another film where I’m glad for the one nomination it got, because it wouldn’t have ended up on my radar otherwise. Wonderfully inventive and heartfelt.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Woman King – Yes, I will keep banging the Woman King drum.
Best Cinematography – Only one change here. Admittedly, this is probably the trickiest category for me to judge, since I’m such a layperson, but to me, this feels like a strong category this year.
Aftersun – Because so much of this story is told between the lines, the camera sometimes reveals things that the dialogue doesn’t. So well done.
Bardo
Elvis
Empire of Light
Tár
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