Here are the Oscar nominations with some of my immediate thoughts below each nomination. Overall, this could tilt a lot Quentin’s way (which I’d be very happy with), a lot Bong’s way (which would be deserved, and a win for World Cinema) or 1917 could come along and hijack things like GREEN BOOK did…
Performance by an actor in a leading role nominees:
Antonio Banderas in PAIN AND GLORY
Leonardo DiCaprio in ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Adam Driver in MARRIAGE STORY
Joaquin Phoenix in JOKER
Jonathan Pryce in THE TWO POPES
Nice to see Antonio in there; total bummer Adam Sandler isn’t in there for UNCUT GEMS; race is between Joaquin and Adam Driver.
Performance by an actor in a supporting role nominees:
Tom Hanks in A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Anthony Hopkins in THE TWO POPES
Al Pacino in THE IRISHMAN
Joe Pesci in THE IRISHMAN
Brad Pitt in ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
This is Brad’s all the way.
Performance by an actress in a leading role nominees:
Cynthia Erivo in HARRIET
Scarlett Johansson in MARRIAGE STORY
Saoirse Ronan in LITTLE WOMEN
Charlize Theron in BOMBSHELL
Renée Zellweger in JUDY
I’m still assuming Renée takes it.
Performance by an actress in a supporting role nominees:
Kathy Bates in RICHARD JEWELL
Laura Dern in MARRIAGE STORY
Scarlett Johansson in JOJO RABBIT
Florence Pugh in LITTLE WOMEN
Margot Robbie in BOMBSHELL
This is definitely going to Laura Dern.
Best animated feature film of the year nominees:
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD
Dean DeBlois, Bradford Lewis and Bonnie Arnold
I LOST MY BODY
Jérémy Clapin and Marc du Pontavice
KLAUS
Sergio Pablos, Jinko Gotoh and Marisa Román
MISSING LINK
Chris Butler, Arianne Sutner and Travis Knight
TOY STORY 4
Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera
Let’s take a swing and say it’s going to I LOST MY BODY, since FROZEN 2 isn’t even nominated. Of course, MISSING LINK won the Globe (weirdly).
Achievement in cinematography nominees:
THE IRISHMAN
Rodrigo Prieto
JOKER
Lawrence Sher
THE LIGHTHOUSE
Jarin Blaschke
1917
Roger Deakins
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Robert Richardson
This is going to Roger Deakins. The best thing about 1917 – the only thing, really – is the cinematography.
Achievement in costume design nominees:
THE IRISHMAN
Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson
JOJO RABBIT
Mayes C. Rubeo
JOKER
Mark Bridges
LITTLE WOMEN
Jacqueline Durran
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Arianne Phillips
Wide open. Could be a sneaky win for JOJO?
Achievement in directing nominees:
THE IRISHMAN
Martin Scorsese
JOKER
Todd Phillips
1917
Sam Mendes
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Quentin Tarantino
PARASITE
Bong Joon Ho
Quentin or Bong.
Best documentary feature nominees:
AMERICAN FACTORY
Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert and Jeff Reichert
THE CAVE
Feras Fayyad, Kirstine Barfod and Sigrid Dyekjær
THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY
Petra Costa, Joanna Natasegara, Shane Boris and Tiago Pavan
FOR SAMA
Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts
HONEYLAND
Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska and Atanas Georgiev
It should go to FOR SAMA or THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY but could go to AMERICAN FACTORY.
Best documentary short subject nominees:
IN THE ABSENCE
Yi Seung-Jun and Gary Byung-Seok Kam
LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL)
Carol Dysinger and Elena Andreicheva
LIFE OVERTAKES ME
John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson
ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN
Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan
WALK RUN CHA-CHA
Laura Nix and Colette Sandstedt
Haven’t seen ‘em.
Achievement in film editing nominees:
FORD V FERRARI
Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland
THE IRISHMAN
Thelma Schoonmaker
JOJO RABBIT
Tom Eagles
JOKER
Jeff Groth
PARASITE
Yang Jinmo
PARASITE? JOKER? Hard to say. THE IRISHMAN? Can a three and a half hour picture win Best Editing? It’s nuts and sad that ONCE UPON A TIME isn’t in here. They’ll probably give it to the cars (FORD V FERRARI).
Best international feature film of the year nominees:
CORPUS CHRISTI
Poland
Directed by Jan Komasa
HONEYLAND
North Macedonia
Directed by Ljubo Stefanov and Tamara Kotevksa
LES MISÉRABLES
France
Directed by Ladj Ly
PAIN AND GLORY
Spain
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
PARASITE
South Korea
Directed by Bong Joon Ho
PARASITE, obviously. This is ROMA all over again, except maybe, just maybe, this year PARASITE also takes Best Picture…
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling nominees:
BOMBSHELL
Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker
JOKER
Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou
JUDY
Jeremy Woodhead
MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL
Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten and David White
1917
Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis and Rebecca Cole
What is 1917 doing in there? Anyway, it has to be BOMBSHELL, right? But maybe JOKER.
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) nominees:
JOKER
Hildur Guðnadóttir
LITTLE WOMEN
Alexandre Desplat
MARRIAGE STORY
Randy Newman
1917
Thomas Newman
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
John Williams
This is going to the world’s coolest Icelander, Hildur Guðnadóttir, for JOKER.
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) nominees:
“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from TOY STORY 4
Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from ROCKETMAN
Music by Elton John
Lyric by Bernie Taupin
“I’m Standing With You” from BREAKTHROUGH
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Into The Unknown” from FROZEN II
Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
“Stand Up” from HARRIET
Music and Lyric by Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo
They’re gonna give it to Elton and Bernie because they’re ELTON AND BERNIE.
Best motion picture of the year nominees:
FORD V FERRARI
Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and James Mangold, Producers
THE IRISHMAN
Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Producers
JOJO RABBIT
Carthew Neal and Taika Waititi, Producers
JOKER
Todd Phillips, Bradley Cooper and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Producers
LITTLE WOMEN
Amy Pascal, Producer
MARRIAGE STORY
Noah Baumbach and David Heyman, Producers
1917
Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Jayne-Ann Tenggren and Callum McDougall, Producers
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh and Quentin Tarantino, Producers
PARASITE
Kwak Sin Ae and Bong Joon Ho, Producers
ONCE UPON A TIME or PARASITE. I’m happy with either but as a lifelong Quentin devotee I would love him to win this. It’s his ‘personal’ film, it’s the one that everyone can enjoy, I’ve come to understand why the violence at the end is as it is… this film is brilliant and worthy and I’d love it to win.
I do believe PARASITE has a shot because of the preferential ballot. I suspect PARASITE will be up there among the 1s and 2s on a lot of voting forms while Quentin, who does have some detractors, may be down the list on some, and the preferential ballot favours generally loved films over polarising ones.
UNCUT GEMS should have been here, certainly instead of FORD V FERRARI and JOJO RABBIT and 1917 (but the latter could have a weird sweep, which would be a crying shame, because it’s empty spectacle).
If 1917 takes it, that’s “a GREEN BOOK” as far as I’m concerned.
Achievement in production design nominees:
THE IRISHMAN
Production Design: Bob Shaw
Set Decoration: Regina Graves
JOJO RABBIT
Production Design: Ra Vincent
Set Decoration: Nora Sopková
1917
Production Design: Dennis Gassner
Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Production Design: Barbara Ling
Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
PARASITE
Production Design: Lee Ha Jun
Set Decoration: Cho Won Woo
Wow. Great category. 1917, ONCE UPON A TIME, PARASITE, THE IRISHMAN… all contenders.
Best animated short film nominees:
DCERA (DAUGHTER)
Daria Kashcheeva
HAIR LOVE
Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver
KITBULL
Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson
MEMORABLE
Bruno Collet and Jean-François Le Corre
SISTER
Siqi Song
Haven’t seen ‘em.
Best live action short film nominees:
BROTHERHOOD
Meryam Joobeur and Maria Gracia Turgeon
NEFTA FOOTBALL CLUB
Yves Piat and Damien Megherbi
THE NEIGHBORS’ WINDOW
Marshall Curry
SARIA
Bryan Buckley and Matt Lefebvre
A SISTER
Delphine Girard
Haven’t seen ‘em.
Achievement in sound editing nominees:
FORD V FERRARI
Donald Sylvester
JOKER
Alan Robert Murray
1917
Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Wylie Stateman
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
Matthew Wood and David Acord
FORD V FERRARI, right? The cars, right?
Achievement in sound mixing nominees:
AD ASTRA
Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano
FORD V FERRARI
Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A. Morrow
JOKER
Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic and Tod Maitland
1917
Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler and Mark Ulano
1917, right? Because it’s “immersive”?
Achievement in visual effects nominees:
AVENGERS: ENDGAME
Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken and Dan Sudick
THE IRISHMAN
Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser and Stephane Grabli
THE LION KING
Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman
1917
Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy
If they give this to THE IRISHMAN – for the “de-aging” – that’ll be a laugh. It kind of has to go to THE LION KING, right? But maybe they give it to Marvel (AVENGERS: ENDGAME).
THE IRISHMAN
Screenplay by Steven Zaillian
JOJO RABBIT
Screenplay by Taika Waititi
JOKER
Written by Todd Phillips & Scott Silver
LITTLE WOMEN
Written for the screen by Greta Gerwig
THE TWO POPES
Written by Anthony McCarten
If they give this to JOJO it’ll be a shame, but they might, because it’s got a lot of nominations. It really should go to Steven Zaillian (IRISHMAN) or Greta Gerwig (LITTLE WOMEN).
KNIVES OUT
Written by Rian Johnson
MARRIAGE STORY
Written by Noah Baumbach
1917
Written by Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Written by Quentin Tarantino
PARASITE
Screenplay by Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won
Story by Bong Joon Ho
This is Quentin’s.
Feel free to comment.
CJ