After a strange year in movies for 2022, the Academy has announced the nominees for the 94th Academy Awards. With a shortened eligibility window lasting from March 1st to December 31st, I was somewhat curious to see exactly what was going to get nominated or not. However, by the time the nominees were announced earlier in the day, all I could feel was apathy towards the list.
I mean, there are good movies listed here! I’m having a difficult time thinking of any of them as bad. Underwhelming? Probably. Divisive? Certainly, but not without merit. This is genuinely an okay, if unremarkable, list that I don’t think anyone will find objections to (unless you’re a House of Gucci fan I guess).
The big takeaway from the nominees is that The Power of the Dog leads with 12 nominees, followed by Dune with 10. Other movies have a smattering of support here and there, like a surprising amount of nominees for Don’t Look Up and a sad few nominees for Nightmare Alley, but it’s a good list. I just can’t find any reason to be excited about them despite seeing a majority of these movies. The nominees are as follows:
BEST PICTURE
- “Belfast”
- “CODA”
- “Don’t Look Up”
- “Drive My Car”
- “Dune”
- “King Richard”
- “Licorice Pizza”
- “Nightmare Alley”
- “The Power of the Dog”
- “West Side Story”
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
- Jessie Buckley, “The Lost Daughter”
- Ariana DeBose, “West Side Story”
- Judi Dench, “Belfast”
- Kirsten Dunst, “The Power of the Dog”
- Aunjanue Ellis, “King Richard”
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
- Ciaran Hinds, “Belfast”
- Troy Kotsur, “CODA”
- Jesse Plemons, “The Power of the Dog”
- J.K. Simmons, “Being the Ricardos”
- Kodi Smit-McPhee, “The Power of the Dog”
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
- “Drive My Car”
- “Flee”
- “The Hand of God”
- “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”
- “The Worst Person in the World”
DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
- “Audible”
- “Lead Me Home”
- “The Queen of Basketball”
- “Three Songs for Benazir”
- “When We Were Bullies”
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
- “Ascension”
- “Attica”
- “Flee”
- “Summer of Soul”
- Writing with Fire”
ORIGINAL SONG
- “King Richard” – “Be Alive”
- “Encanto” – “Dos Oruguitas”
- “Belfast” – “Down To Joy”
- “No Time to Die” – “No Time To Die”
- “Four Good Days” – “Somehow You Do”
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
- “Encanto”
- “Flee”
- “Luca”
- “The Mitchells vs. The Machine”
- “Raya and the Last Dragon”
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- “CODA”
- “Drive My Car”
- “Dune”
- “The Lost Daughter”
- “The Power of the Dog”
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- “Belfast”
- “Don’t Look Up”
- “King Richard”
- “Licorice Pizza”
- “The Worst Person in the World”
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
- Javier Bardem, “Being the Ricardos”
- Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Power of the Dog”
- Andrew Garfield, “Tick, Tick… Boom!”
- Will Smith, “King Richard”
- Denzel Washington, “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
- Jessica Chastain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
- Olivia Colman, “The Lost Daughter”
- Penelope Cruz, “Parallel Mothers”
- Nicole Kidman, “Being the Ricardos”
- Kristen Stewart, “Spencer”
DIRECTOR
- Kenneth Branagh, “Belfast”
- Ryusuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car”
- Paul Thomas Anderson, “Licorice Pizza”
- Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”
- Steven Spielberg, “West Side Story”
PRODUCTION DESIGN
- “Dune”
- “Nightmare Alley”
- “The Power of the Dog”
- “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
- “West Side Story”
CINEMATOGRAPHY
- “Dune”
- “Nightmare Alley”
- “The Power of the Dog”
- “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
- “West Side Story”
COSTUME DESIGN
- “Cruella”
- “Cyrano”
- “Dune”
- “Nightmare Alley”
- “Westside Story”
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND
- “Belfast”
- “Dune”
- “No Time to Die”
- “The Power of the Dog”
- “Westside Story”
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
- “Affairs of the Art”
- “Bestia”
- “Boxballet”
- “Robin Robin”
- “The Windshield Wiper”
LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
- “Ala Kachuu — Take and Run”
- “The Dress”
- “The Long Goodbye”
- “On My Mind”
- “Please Hold”
ORIGINAL SCORE
- “Don’t Look Up”
- “Dune”
- “Encanto”
- “Parallel Mothers”
- “The Power of the Dog”
VISUAL EFFECTS
- “Dune”
- “Free Guy”
- “No Time to Die”
- “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”
- “Spider-Man: No Way Home”
FILM EDITING
- “Don’t Look Up”
- “Dune”
- “King Richard”
- “The Power of the Dog”
- “Tick, Tick… Boom!”
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
- “Coming 2 America”
- “Cruella”
- “Dune”
- “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
- “House of Gucci”
