2024 Oscar Nominations

Okay, let’s get right into it.

The Oscar nominations for this year just came out, and it’s a mix of predictable choice, exciting choices, and disappointing choices. A lot of the major nominations are in line with where predictions had been heading, so for me, there aren’t many “whoa, what?!?” entries on the list.

There are plenty of films I haven’t seen yet, so a lot of my thoughts so far are based more on vibes than informed opinions—we’ll see how things bear out as I check more films off my watch list.

We’ll start with the Best Picture nominees I’m most looking forward to seeing. I’m excited that American Fiction did so well. In addition to a Lead Actor nod for Jeffrey Wright, it also nabbed nominations for Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor for Sterling K. Brown. I’ve heard great things about The Holdovers, which is also up for Original Screenplay, Lead Actor (Paul Giamatti,) and Supporting Actress (Da’Vine Joy Randolph.) And although I haven’t seen Past Lives yet, I’ve heard such excellent things about it that I wish it was recognized more. Beyond its Best Picture nod, it’s only nominated for Original Screenplay.

Anatomy of a Fall has been moving up the ranks in a big way over the last month, which piques my interest in it more. Like The Zone of Interest, it’s a dual Best Picture/International Feature nominee—both films also snagged nominations for Director and Screenplay (original for Anatomy, adapted for Zone,) and Anatomy of a Fall got a Lead Actress nod for Sandra Hüller.

Then there are the “yeah, that makes sense” Best Picture nominees, the big Oscar-bait biopics and historical pieces that did predictably well. Oppenheimer leads the pack, with Killers of the Flower Moon and Maestro not far behind. All three received multiple acting nominations, plus Killers of the Flower Moon is up for Director, Maestro for Screenplay (Original,) and Oppenheimer for both (Adapted for the screenplay.) Even though it’s hardly a surprise, it’s exciting to see Lily Gladstone nominated for Lead Actress.

Next up in Best Picture are the offbeat nominees. Barbie made a good showing, snagging nods for Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor for Ryan Gosling, and Supporting Actress for America Ferrera, the latter of which was a nice surprise. But its nominations are more glaring for what didn’t make the list—I mean, how are you gonna give Barbie a Best Picture nomination and not recognize the actress who played Barbie? Margot Robbie was fantastic, as was Greta Gerwig’s direction. Poor Things managed to nab Director and Adapted Screenplay nods, along with acting nominations for Emma Stone (Lead) and Mark Ruffalo (Supporting.) I always find Yorgos Lanthimos’s work interesting, but it can leave me a little cold at times, but I’ll be interested in what I think of that one.

Finally, let’s look outside the Best Picture category. This was a fantastic year for animated films. With The Boy and the Heron on the scene, I’m not sure what chance any other movie will have, but I’m really happy that Elemental, Nimona, and Across the Spider-Verse also made the list. I’m especially thrilled for Nimona, which is just a remarkable film. I’m really happy that Danielle Brooks (Taystee!) got a Supporting Actress nod for The Color Purple but would’ve liked to see the film get recognized more. And while May December’s nomination for Original Screenplay is well-deserved, it should not have been the film’s only nod. I realized that the Lead Actress category was probably too crowded to fit in both Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, but it’s disappointing that neither of them got in, and I was really rooting for Charles Melton to get a Supporting Actor nomination.