2023 Oscar Nominees

2023 Oscar Nominees Oscars season! I actually made a good dent on most of the films this year, though (as detailed below), I did not catch all of them. But still!



Movies I saw before the Oscar nominations announcement on January 24 are marked in green, and ones I saw after the announcements are marked in blue.

Movies of which I consider myself a conscientious objector are struck through. (No shade, Brendan Fraser and Hong Chau, I'm sure you were great, but nothing I've heard about The Whale makes it sound like anything I want to see. And while I'm sure Women Talking is good, not to mention Ana de Armas's work in Blonde, I try to avoid films that specifically focus on sexual assault.)

I've re-ordered the films according to how I would rank them, and included clips and pics where I felt they were relevant. I opted to just not rank films that I didn't watch for whatever reason.

Best Picture | Best Director | Best Actress | Best Actor | Best Supporting Actor | Best Supporting Actress | Best International Feature Film | Best Cinematography | Best Adapted Screenplay | Best Original Screenplay | Best Animated Feature | Best Visual Effects | Best Editing | Best Production Design | Best Makeup and Hairstyling | Best Costume Design | Best Sound | Best Documentary Feature | Best Documentary Short Subject | Best Live Action Short | Best Animated Short | Best Original Song | Best Original Score

Best Picture

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once (my review)
   
   
   
   
2. The Banshees of Inisherin (my review)
   
   
   
   
3. The Fabelmans (my review)
   
   
   
   
4. Top Gun: Maverick (my review)
   
5. Avatar: The Way of Water (my review)
   
6. All Quiet on the Western Front (my review)
   
7. Elvis (my review)
   
8. Tár (my review)
   
9. Triangle of Sadness (my review)

And technically, at tenth place by default:

Women Talking

Having watched almost all of these films, let me now register my extreme displeasure that neither Wakanda Forever nor Woman King was nominated in this category, WTF. (I haven't even watched Woman King yet, but seriously, Triangle of Sadness? Geez.)

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Best Director

1. Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert ("Everything Everywhere All at Once")
   
   
   
   
2. Steven Spielberg ("The Fabelmans")
   
   
   
   
3. Martin McDonagh ("The Banshees of Inisherin")
   
   
   
   
4. Ruben Östlund ("Triangle of Sadness")
   
   
   
   
5. Todd Field ("TÁR")
   
   
   

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Best Actress

1. Michelle Yeoh ("Everything Everywhere All at Once")
   
   
   
   
2. Michelle Williams ("The Fabelmans")
   
   
   
   
3. Cate Blanchett ("TÁR")
   
   
   

And the remaining two, unranked since I didn't watch them:

• Ana de Armas ("Blonde")
  
• Andrea Riseborough ("To Leslie")
  

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Best Actor

1. Paul Mescal ("Aftersun") (my review)
   
   
   
   
2. Colin Farrell ("The Banshees of Inisherin")
   
   
   
   
3. Austin Butler ("Elvis")
   
   
   

And two unranked:

• Brendan Fraser ("The Whale")
  
• Bill Nighy ("Living")
  

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Best Supporting Actor

1. Ke Huy Quan ("Everything Everywhere All at Once")
   
   
   
   
2. Brian Tyree Henry ("Causeway") (my review)
   
   
   
   
3. Barry Keoghan ("The Banshees of Inisherin")
   
   
   
   
4. Brendan Gleeson ("The Banshees of Inisherin")
   
   
   
   
5. Judd Hirsch ("The Fabelmans")
   
   
   

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Best Supporting Actress

1. Angela Bassett ("Black Panther: Wakanda Forever") (my review)
   
   
   
   
2. Stephanie Hsu ("Everything Everywhere All at Once")
   
   
   
   
3. Kerry Condon ("The Banshees of Inisherin")
   
   
   
   
4. Jamie Lee Curtis ("Everything Everywhere All at Once")
   
   
   

And one unranked:

Hong Chau ("The Whale")

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Best International Feature Film

1. "Close" (Lukas Dhont, Belgium) (my review)
   
   
   
   
2. "All Quiet on the Western Front" (Edward Berger, Germany)
   
   
   
   

And three unranked:

• "Argentina, 1985" (Santiago Mitre, Argentina)
  
• "EO" (Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland)
  
• "The Quiet Girl" (Colm Bairéad, Ireland
  )

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Best Cinematography

1. James Friend ("All Quiet on the Western Front")
   
   
   
   
2. Roger Deakins ("Empire of Light") (my review)
   
   
   
   
3. Mandy Walker ("Elvis")
   
   
   
   
4. Florian Hoffmeister ("Tár")
   
   
   

And one unranked:

Darius Khondji ("Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths")

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Best Adapted Screenplay

1. Rian Johnson ("Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery") (my review)
   
   
   
   
2. Ehren Kruger, Christopher McQuarrie, and Eric Warren Singer ("Top Gun: Maverick")
   
   
   
   
3. Edward Berger, Ian Stokell, and Lesley Paterson ("All Quiet on the Western Front")
   
   
   

And two unranked:

• Kazuo Ishiguro ("Living")
  
• Sarah Polley ("Women Talking")
  

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Best Original Screenplay
Since there are plentiful clips for most of these already, I figure I can safely skip providing them for this category?

1. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert ("Everything Everywhere All at Once")
   
2. Martin McDonagh ("The Banshees of Inisherin")
   
3. Tony Kushner and Steven Spielberg ("The Fabelmans")
   
4. Ruben Östlund ("Triangle of Sadness")
   
5. Todd Field ("TÁR")
   

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Best Animated Feature

1. "Turning Red" (Pixar/Disney) (my review)
   
   
   
   
2. "The Sea Beast" (Netflix) (my review)
   
   
   
   
3. "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On" (A24) (my review)
   
   
   
   
4. "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" (DreamWorks/Universal) (my review)
   
   
   
   
5. "Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio" (ShadowMachine/Netflix) (my review)
   
   
   

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Best Visual Effects

1. "Avatar: The Way of Water" (20th Century/Disney)
   
   
   
   
2. "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" (Disney/Marvel)
   
   
   
   
3. "The Batman" (Warner Bros.) (my review)
   
   
   
   
4. "Top Gun: Maverick" (Paramount)
   
   
   
   
5. "All Quiet on the Western Front" (Netflix)
   
   
   

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Best Editing

1. "Everything Everywhere All at Once" (A24)
   
   
   
   
2. "Top Gun: Maverick" (Paramount)
   
   
   
   
3. "The Banshees of Inisherin" (Searchlight Pictures)
   
4. "TÁR" (Focus Features)
   
5. "Elvis" (Warner Bros.)
   

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Best Production Design

1. "Avatar: The Way of Water" (20th Century Studios/Disney)
   
   
   
2. "All Quiet on the Western Front" (Netflix)
   
   
   
3. "Babylon" (Paramount) (my review)
   
   
   
4. "The Fabelmans" (Universal)
   
   
   
5. "Elvis" (Warner Bros.)
   
   

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Best Makeup and Hairstyling

1. "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" (Marvel/Disney)
   
   
   
2. "All Quiet on the Western Front" (Netflix)
   
   
   
3. "Elvis" (Warner Bros.)
   
   
   
4. "The Batman" (Warner Bros.)
   
   

And one unranked:

"The Whale" (A24)

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Best Costume Design

1. "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" (Marvel/Disney)
   
   
   
2. "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris" (Focus Features) (my review)
   
   
   
3. "Everything Everywhere All at Once" (A24)
   
   
   
4. "Babylon" (Paramount)
   
   
   
5. "Elvis" (Warner Bros.)
   
   

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Best Sound

1. "The Batman" (Warner Bros.)
   
   
   
   
2. "Top Gun: Maverick" (Paramount)
   
   
   
   
3. "Avatar: The Way of Water" (20th Century/Disney)
   
   
   
   
4. "All Quiet on the Western Front" (Netflix)
   
   
   
   
5. "Elvis" (Warner Bros.)
   
   
   

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Best Documentary Feature

1. "Fire of Love" (my review)
   
   
   

And the other four unranked, so, uh, yeah.

• "All That Breathes"
  
• "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed"
  
• "A House Made of Splinters"
  
• "Navalny"
  

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Best Documentary Short Subject

1. "Stranger at the Gate" (on YouTube)
   
   
   
   
2. "Haulout" (on YouTube)
   
   
   
3. "The Elephant Whisperers" (on Netflix)
   
   
   
4. "The Martha Mitchell Effect" (on Netflix)
   
   

And one unranked:

"How Do You Measure a Year?"

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Best Live Action Short

1. "Ivalu" (on Prime Video)
   
   
   
   
2. "Night Ride" (on YouTube)
   
   
   
3. "Le Pupille" (on Disney+)
   
   

And two unranked:

• "An Irish Goodbye"
  
• "The Red Suitcase"
  

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Best Animated Short
I love how diverse this category is--each of these short films is very different from the others, both in style and theme. I liked all of them, but it's sort of hard to compare them--I shuffled around the rankings a lot, but ended up sorting them according to story instead of how much I liked the animation style. Definitely watch this first one, though--it's only eleven minutes, it's free on Vimeo, and it's a comedic version of The Matrix.

1. "An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It" (on Vimeo)
   
   
   
2. "My Year of Dicks" (on Vimeo)
   
   
   
3. "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse" (Apple TV+)
   
   
   
   
4. "Ice Merchants" (on YouTube)
   
   
   
5. "The Flying Sailor" (on YouTube)
   
   

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Best Original Song

1. "Naatu Naatu"— Kaala Bhairava, M.M. Keeravani, and Rahul Sipligunj ("RRR") (my review)
   
   
   
   
2. "Lift Me Up"— Rihanna ("Black Panther: Wakanda Forever")
   
   
   
   
3. "Hold My Hand" — Lady Gaga ("Top Gun: Maverick")
   
   
   
   
4. "This Is a Life"— David Byrne, Ryan Lott, and Mitski ("Everything Everywhere All at Once")
   
   
   

And one unranked--I like it, but since I don't have context for it, I opted not to sort it in:

"Applause"— Diane Warren ("Tell It Like a Woman")
(I know I can just listen to it out of context, but that sort of defeats the purpose, I feel?)



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Best Original Score

1. "Everything Everywhere All at Once," Son Lux
   
   
   
   
2. "Babylon," Justin Hurwitz
   
   
   
   
3. "All Quiet on the Western Front," Volker Bertelmann
   
   
   
   
4. "The Fabelmans," John Williams
   
   
   
   
5. "The Banshees of Inisherin," Carter Burwell
   
   
   

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On one hand, I'd be thrilled if Everything Everywhere All at Once continues its sweep, but there are so many other nominees that I really enjoyed! Like, Banshees of Inisherin is so great, and yet I have not ranked it as number one in any of the categories. Tough, tough year in a lot of ways.