Oscars 2024 Nominations

Oscars time! And man oh man, I honestly owe the number of nominated films I've watched beforehand largely to my Cinemark Movie Club membership, because I have often watched one, if not two, movies per weekend. I've also become a devoted listener of The Big Picture podcast, which has nudged me towards films that weren't showing in theatres in my area yet. (I live SO CLOSE to Seattle, and yet am I willing to drive out there to see films that haven't gone into wide release yet? NOPE.)

As per usual, I have colored the names of films I watched before the nomination announcements on January 24 in green, and films I watched after the nominations in blue. Films I opted not to watch are struck through. (Sorry, Society of Snow, but I'mma skip the trauma and cannibalism.)

Also as per usual, I've re-ordered the films according to how I would rank them, and included clips that I felt were relevant. I opted to just not rank films that I didn't watch for whatever reason. And some of these categories were REALLY HARD, y'all. Just gorgeous stuff all around, I must say.

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

Best Picture

1. American Fiction
   
   
   
   
2. Past Lives
   This scene ruthlessly spoils the film, for the record. But I can't stop thinking about it; it's why I put this second.
   
   
   
   
3. Killers of the Flower Moon
   Yeah, this scene ALSO spoils Killers, but whaddya gonna do?
   
   
   
   
4. Barbie
   
   
   
   
5. Oppenheimer
   
   
   
   
6. Poor Things
   
   
   
   
7. Anatomy of a Fall
   
   
   
   
8. The Holdovers
   
   
   
   
9. Maestro
   
   
   
   

The Zone of Interest: I'm seeing this on Sunday morning, mere HOURS before the ceremony. So technically I'm seeing it beforehand, but I can't really rank it at this time, y'know?

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Best Director

1. Martin Scorsese — Killers of the Flower Moon
   
   
   
   
2. Justine Triet — Anatomy of a Fall
   
   
   
   
3. Christopher Nolan — Oppenheimer
   
   
   
   
4. Yorgos Lanthimos — Poor Things
   
   
   
   

Jonathan Glazer — The Zone of Interest
I know I'm not ranking Zone of Interest, but the NYT "Anatomy of a Scene" vids are so cool.



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Best Actor

1. Cillian Murphy — Oppenheimer
   
   
   
   
2. Jeffrey Wright — American Fiction
   
   
   
   
3. Paul Giamatti — The Holdovers
   
   
   
   
4. Colman Domingo — Rustin
   
   
   
   
5. Bradley Cooper — Maestro
   
   
   

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Best Actress

1. Lily Gladstone — Killers of the Flower Moon
   
   
   
   
2. Emma Stone — Poor Things
   
   
   
   
3. Sandra Hüller — Anatomy of a Fall
   
   
   
   
4. Carey Mulligan — Maestro
   
   
   
   
5. Annette Bening — Nyad
   
   
   
   

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Best Supporting Actor

1. Ryan Gosling — Barbie
   
   
   
   
2. Mark Ruffalo — Poor Things
   I legit could not find any clip that really featured Ruffalo aside from the dancing and "you're in my sun" scene, so here's a trailer? They really did not release a lot of clips of this film, idek.
   
   
   
   
3. Robert Downey Jr. — Oppenheimer
   
   
   
   
4. Sterling K. Brown — American Fiction
   
   
   
   
5. Robert De Niro — Killers of the Flower Moon
   
   
   

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Best Supporting Actress

1. Da’Vine Joy Randolph — The Holdovers
   
   
   
   
2. Jodie Foster — Nyad
   
   
   
   
3. Danielle Brooks — The Color Purple
   
   
   
   
4. America Ferrera — Barbie
   
   
   
   
5. Emily Blunt — Oppenheimer
   
   
   

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Best Adapted Screenplay

1. Barbie
   
   
   
   
2. American Fiction
   
   
   
   
3. Poor Things
   
   
   
   
4. Oppenheimer
   
   
   

The Zone of Interest

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Best Original Screenplay

1. Anatomy of a Fall
   
   
   
   
2. Past Lives
   
   
   
   
3. The Holdovers
   
   
   
   
4. May December
   
   
   
   
5. Maestro
   
   
   
   

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Best Visual Effects

1. The Creator
   
   
   
   
2. Godzilla Minus One
   
   
   
   
3. Napoleon
   
   
   
   
4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
   
   
   
   
5. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One
   
   
   

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Best Costume Design

1. Poor Things
   
   
   
   
2. Killers of the Flower Moon
   
   
   
   
3. Barbie
   
   
   
   
4. Napoleon
   
   
   
   
5. Oppenheimer
   
   
   

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Best Makeup and Hairstyling

1. Poor Things
   
   
   
   
2. Maestro
   
   
   
   
3. Oppenheimer
   
   
   
   
4. Golda
   
   
   

Society of the Snow

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Best Cinematography

1. Killers of the Flower Moon
   
   
   
   
2. Oppenheimer
   
   
   
   
3. El Conde
   
   
   
   
4. Poor Things
   
   
   
   
5. Maestro
   
   
   

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Best Production Design

1. Barbie
   
   
   
   
2. Oppenheimer
   
   
   
   
3. Killers of the Flower Moon
   
   
   
   
4. Napoleon
   
   
   
   
5. Poor Things
   
   
   
   

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Best Sound

1. Oppenheimer
   
   
   
   
2. The Creator
   
   
   
   
3. Maestro
   
   
   
   
4. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One
   
   
   
   

The Zone of Interest
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Best Film Editing

1. Oppenheimer
   
   
   
   
2. Anatomy of a Fall
   
   
   
   
3. Killers of the Flower Moon
   
   
   
   
4. Poor Things
   
   
   
   
5. The Holdovers
   
   
   
   

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Best Original Score

1. Killers of the Flower Moon
   
   
   
   
2. Oppenheimer
   
   
   
   
3. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
   
   
   
   
4. Poor Things
   
   
   
   
5. American Fiction
   
   
   

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Best Original Song

1. “It Never Went Away” — American Symphony
   
   
   
   
2. “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” — Killers of the Flower Moon
   
   
   
   
3. “I’m Just Ken” — Barbie
   
   
   
   
4. “What Was I Made For” — Barbie
   
   
   

“The Fire Inside” — Flamin’ Hot
I know I could have just listened to the song, but the spirit of the category is that the song should be of a piece with the film and, well. I did not make time for Flamin' Hot, I'm sorry(ish) to say.


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Best Animated Short Film

1. Ninety-Five Senses
   
   
   
   
2. Pachyderme
   
   
   
   
3. Letter to a Pig
   
   
   

Our Uniform
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko

Weirdly, though Our Uniform was supposedly rentable online, I couldn't get the platform to work. War Is Over!, meanwhile, wasn't available even though the website for the short film had MULTIPLE featurettes about it. Ah, well.

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Best Live-Action Short Film

1. Knight of Fortune
   
   
   
   
2. Invincible
   
   
   
   
3. Red, White and Blue
   
   
   
   
4. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
   
   
   
   
5. The After
   
   

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Best Documentary Short Film

1. The Last Repair Shop
   
   
   
   
2. The Barber of Little Rock
   
   
   
   
3. Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó
   
   
   
   
4. Island in Between
   
   
   
   
5. The ABCs of Book Banning
   
   
   
   

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Best Documentary Feature Film

1. Four Daughters
   
   
   
   
2. The Eternal Memory
   
   
   
   
3. 20 Days in Mariupol
   
   
   
   
4. Bobi Wine: The People’s President
   
   
   

To Kill a Tiger
While I've heard extremely good things about To Kill a Tiger, I tend to skip films that focus on the trauma of sexual assault.

Best International Feature Film

1. Perfect Days (Japan)
   
   
   Is this ranking by default? I mean, kinda? But watching this film, then looking at the descriptions of the others, I suspect I would have gone with Perfect Days no matter what.
   
   

Io Capitano (Italy)
Society of the Snow (Spain)
The Teachers’ Lounge (Germany)
The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom)

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Best Animated Feature Film

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
   
   
   
   
2. Nimona
   
   
   
   
3. The Boy and the Heron
   
   
   
   
4. Elemental
   
   
   

Robot Dreams
What is this movie? Why can't I see it? ARGH.

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There were SO MANY good movies this past year. What a time, y'all. What a time.