 The iconic director returns with his first narrative feature in five years. Martin Scorsese. Over the course of the director’s long and storied career, he’s made a habit of exploring subjects with intense thematic weight, his prolific filmography ever-so-steadily setting the stage for a late-career reflection upon those very subjects. The tone of these explorations varies wildly at points – satire, black comedy, somber melodrama. Yet he often returns to the same themes, over and over again, developing his trademarks as steadily as his craft. From his earliest dives into the psyches of broken men to his escalation in interrogating broken ways of life and then broken systems, Scorsese continues to prod us with the questions of “how,” “who,” “why,” and finally, “what happens now?” But these are not questions answered by the stories he tells; they’re questions for the audience, with no clear or easy answers on the other side. Or, if there are clear or easy answers, they are meant to make us uneasy, force us to reflect. In the case of Killers of the Flower Moon, these questions seem clear-cut at the beginning; by the end, they take on an entirely new form, and their answers bear a crushing, soul-shaking weight.
The Osage. Both subject and object of the story being told. Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) returns from World War I to Fairfax in Osage County, Oklahoma in order to work for his uncle Bill Hale (Robert De Niro). The Osage who live in the area have become rich after having found oil on their land, though there are certain restrictions placed upon some Osages’ wealth by “sponsors” whose job it is to deem how fit they are to spend their money and how much of it. Upon finding work as a chauffeur – one of the only jobs he can perform due to a wartime injury – Ernest begins to drive around Mollie Kyle, a member of a wealthy Osage family, and Hale takes notice of their proximity to one another, suggesting to Ernest that if he were to pursue Mollie, her estate money would come to them. Ernest and Mollie strike up a bond, marrying soon after their relationship begins. Meanwhile, the Osage begin to die off, one by one, with little or no investigation from the authorities as to what or who may have been the cause of death. Over the next three hours and twenty-six minutes, Scorsese investigates not only what came to be known as the Osage Reign of Terror, but crucially its architects, its enablers, and offers the ultimate rebuke of how stories like it are treated. From a storytelling and craft perspective, Killers of the Flower Moon is an astonishing piece, a great film at first blush which only improves the more time one spends with it. Like all of the director's great works, it almost requires a second viewing to fully appreciate everything it's doing, even if one does pick up on most of it the first time around. There are certainly times in which the film lulls, but it never truly drags, a testament both to editing legend Thelma Schoonmaker's immense and enduring talents, especially paired with Scorsese’s deft storytelling hand; not every minute feels crucial, per se, but every last one of them feels essential nonetheless. Schoonmaker’s work here in particular here could – and probably should – net her yet another Oscar win (this would make it her fourth) and it still wouldn't cover all she's contributed to cinema. That’s to say nothing of the immaculate cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto, whose camera is still when it needs to be, but sweeping in all the right places, as well as the late Robbie Robertson’s final and brilliant score. Robertson’s music is designed specifically to lull the viewer into believing that Killers may be yet another gangster crime movie from Scorsese, but soon gives way to something much more sinister: a case study of evil, racial violence, greed, and complicity. It is, without doubt, one of the best scores of the year. Beyond the technical mastery present around every frame, the film also boasts some of the year’s best work by its towering ensemble cast. (In fact, between this film and Oppenheimer, 2023’s character actor heat sheet is so chock full of great stuff in every margin, it’s difficult to decide which film has the better ensemble overall.) There are any number of great turns, from Jason Isbell to William Belleau to Scott Sheperd to Cara Jade Myers to Louis Cancelmi to Tatanka Means to Tommy Schultz to John Lithgow to Brendan Fraser. But they all rest on the shoulders of the towering three: a top-of-his-game Leonardo DiCaprio, an insidiously sinister Robert De Niro, and a revelatory Lily Gladstone. Of these three lead performances, in fact, DiCaprio comes out in third to my mind, with De Niro’s cold, calculated agent of evil proving the man still knows how to act when he’s put in the right hands. It’s Gladstone who runs away with the film, though; the Native American actress is one of the few performers I’ve ever witnessed who’s able to share scenes with DiCaprio’s alluring star persona and sap all the attention away from him with a single look. Her expressive, weary eyes carry every scene she’s in, and it’s her resilience as Mollie Burkhart that gives the film its great heart and its great tragedy. One scene in particular at the end of the film may contain the single most heartbreaking moment of performance I’ve seen in a movie this year. What truly sets Killers of the Flower Moon apart, though, beyond the technical craft and array of spectacular performances, is its startling ending, a remarkably powerful reflection upon everything we just witnessed and a confrontation of how we’ll move forward from having witnessed it. Without spoiling the specifics of how they are asked, the questions posed by the film’s finale focus on who's telling the story, critiquing how audiences often chew up and spit out true crime tales like it rather than sitting with and digesting what it can teach us, and even rebuking the story’s teller for being the one to do the telling, rather than those whose story this actually is. It’s almost as if Scorsese is asking us: “why am I the one telling this story? Why can’t we give Native filmmakers and storytellers the same chances I’ve had to tell their stories themselves?” Your milage may vary on how sincere those questions actually are coming from an 80-year-old white man who’s one of the most respected names in American filmmaking, but given how respectfully the film treats its subject matter, I’m more than willing to bet that he’s also considered those things, and that if there had been a way for an Osage filmmaker to tell this story with the same level of access, budget, and manpower Scorsese was allowed, the director would have rather they told the story. In the film’s final moments, the audience is confronted with the idea that American institutions often co-opt true crime narratives to fold them into fascinating tales for entertainment’s sake, without actually considering the toll these violent acts have taken on the communities they take place in. Scorsese has been grappling with this concept more and more as he ages, as evidenced by his reflection on early romanticizations on gangster life in The Irishman and questions of faith’s true nature in Silence. In this particular case, he interrogates how Native histories have been twisted in order to prop up those same institutions which did nothing to prevent these atrocities from happening in the first place. The true evil here, beyond the violence itself, is how normal and uninteresting everything about these horrible crimes was to those in power, those who could have actually done something about it, and how we as audiences could possibly expect entertainment from stories like this. In the end, Killers of the Flower Moon is ultimately a movie about complicity, both in times of racial violence, and in the recollection of that violence within a collective psyche. While there are no definitive answers or solutions to these confrontations, there are avenues for change, beginning with the idea that not all crime stories need be entertaining, nor should any Native stories of racial violence be turned a blind eye. And although I’m unsure how this film in particular will pair with the rest of Scorsese’s immense collection of stories, I know that there’s a reason he chose this story now, and I know that it will be sticking with me for a long, long time. I’m giving “Killers of the Flower Moon” a 9.2/10 - The Friendly Film Fan
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 The Friendly Film Fan Recounts the 95th Academy Awards Winners. Well, here we are the day after the 95th Academy Awards, and it has been a historic moment for Everything Everywhere All at Once as the night’s crowning feature, not only as the film with the most Oscar wins since 2014, securing 7 victories across 11 nominations, but also as the film with the most above-the-line Oscar wins ever and the most-awarded single film ever made across an awards season, raking in a whopping record of 165 total wins and decimating the previous record held by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at 101. The success of the Daniels’ second feature with A24 is unprecedented in the modern era, and it will surely go down (at least in our book) as one of the most deserving and all-time greatest Best Picture winners of its era.
Netflix and Edward Berger’s recent adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front enjoyed a modicum of success as well, as the film took home 4 awards, including Best International Feature, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and one it was not widely expected to win, Best Production Design. The Whale brought Brendan Fraser his long-awaited comeback Oscar as well as winning the Best Makeup & Hairstyling award, leaving just 3 movies total with multi-category victories, although there were some unexpected surprises and close saves in other areas. Ruth Carter was victorious once again for her Costume Design work on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (a deserved win nonetheless) and Sarah Polley manages to pull off a sole win for Women Talking in Best Adapted Screenplay despite the dominance of All Quiet below-the-line. There were a few losses that stung, such as Babylon going winless and no less than five of the Best Picture nominees going home empty handed, including The Banshees of Inisherin, The Fabelmans, and TÁR (Elvis and Triangle of Sadness losses don’t hurt as much), but apart from that, the night went largely as expected. The ceremony itself was lively, celebratory, and apart from an In Memoriam segment which feels more and more gross the more one considers that a lot of deceased creators were reduced to a QR code in the interest of keeping the show moving (including Best Picture nominee Triangle of Sadness star Charlbi Dean), it all went off largely without a hitch. Jimmy Kimmel had some solid moments of genuine support for the film industry, as well as appropriately told and timed jokes (even the “slap” ones were mostly all un-exhausting), and while the show did run a bit long, none of it felt as if anyone didn’t want to be there. Overall, it was a successful night in many senses (we went 19 for 23 on our predicted winners), and it gives me hope that the future of the Academy is as bright as EEAAO’s star has been throughout the awards season. I’m very much looking forward to next year. A full recap of 2023’s Oscar winners is below. Best Picture: Everything Everywhere All at Once Best Director: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once Best Actor: Brendan Fraser, The Whale Best Supporting Actress: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once Best Animated Feature: Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio Best International Feature: All Quiet on the Western Front Best Documentary Feature: Navalny Best Cinematography: James Friend, All Quiet on the Western Front Best Film Editing: Paul Rogers, Everything Everywhere All at Once Best Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck, All Quiet on the Western Front Best Costume Design: Ruth E. Carter, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Best Makeup & Hairstyling: Adrien Morot, Judy Chin, and Annamarie Bradley, The Whale Best Original Score: Volker Bertelmann, All Quiet on the Western Front Best Original Song: “Naatu Naatu,” RRR Best Adapted Screenplay: Sarah Polley, Women Talking Best Original Screenplay: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once Best Visual Effects: Avatar: The Way of Water Best Sound: Top Gun: Maverick Best Live-Action Short: An Irish Goodbye Best Animated Short: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Best Documentary Short: The Elephant Whisperers What were your favorite Oscar wins of the night? Any particularly stinging losses? What’s your take on the overall ceremony? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for keeping up with The Friendly Film Fan through 2022. Keep an eye out for our awards victors, announced on March 31! - The Friendly Film Fan  The Friendly Film Fan Makes Our FINAL Predictions for What Will Win on Oscar Sunday. Well, here we finally are. After another long but largely fruitful year at the movies, the moment has arrived for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to crown who they believe were the true champions of moviemaking in 2022, and with all the guilds and pre-cursors – including SAG, DGA, PGA, WGA, BAFTA, and Indie Spirit Awards – now out of the way, it’s also time for The Friendly Film Fan to make out predictions as to who will be taking home those golden statues. As with every year, there are plenty of films and there is an immeasurable amount of work that went unrecognized by the Academy in regards to the nominations listed in this piece, such as Park Chan-wook’s stellar direction of Decision to Leave or the fabulous lead performance in Till by Danielle Deadwyler, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t infinitely valuable, nor does it lessen the value or presence of any nomination that is given to a film here either. Simply put, there will always be snubs, surprises, unexpected surges, and deflated campaigns to talk about for as long as there are Oscars ceremonies. But let’s not waste any more time on semantics. It’s time – category by category – to give you our FINAL predictions for the 2023 Academy Award winners. BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
Will Win: The Elephant Whisperers Dark Horse: Haulout Could Steal: Stranger at the Gate Should Have Been Nominated: N/A Admittedly, I haven’t gotten to see all of the Documentary Shorts this year, as the film How Do You Measure a Year? has eluded my eyes, and since Shorts TV doesn’t usually put this category into their programming for theaters during Oscar week, it’s unlikely the film will ever find them before Oscar night. That said, I have seen the other four, and The Elephant Whisperers is the most worthy candidate of those. Not enough people are paying attention to Haulout, however, which may not have the same kind of big studio backing Elephant Whisperers does, but could be every bit as engaging to Oscar voters. As long as Stranger at the Gate doesn’t win, I’ll be satisfied. BEST ANIMATED SHORT:
Will Win: Ice Merchants Dark Horse: An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It Could Steal: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Should Have Been Nominated: N/A Apple TV+’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse has the advantage going into the night, but this category has always been about underdogs at the Oscars, so I’m putting my chips on the gorgeously-animated Ice Merchants to take the win here. Plus, I ignored my instincts on The Windshield Wiper last year and that was the only category I got wrong, so I’ll go where they tell me to this time. That said, don’t underestimate Ostrich here, which simultaneously doubles as a cheeky meta-existentialist comedy and a demonstration of just how hard stop-motion animators work when bringing their films to life; that sounds like something that could appeal to the craftspeople in the Academy enough to surprise for a win to me. BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT:
Will Win: An Irish Goodbye Dark Horse: Night Ride Could Steal: Le Pupille Should Have Been Nominated: N/A Of the three of these I did get to see, Le Pupille is most poised for success, having multi-time Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón in its corner as a producer, and the sway he holds with the Academy should not be underestimated. With that in mind though, this category seems to be pointing towards a win for An Irish Goodbye, which I have not managed to see, and I’m sure it’s plenty worthy as well. As far as the three I’ve seen, Ivalu is definitely the best-looking, but thematically doesn’t really even reveal what’s up with itself until the tail end, so it doesn’t seem to quite make its point hard enough for Oscar voters to really value it beyond the cinematography. BEST SOUND:
Will Win: Top Gun: Maverick Dark Horse: Elvis Could Steal: All Quiet on the Western Front Should Have Been Nominated: Nope If you were in a movie theater at any point in 2022, odds are you saw Avatar: The Way of Water or Top Gun: Maverick, or both, and most likely went back to see the latter of them again and again. You also would have experienced the stellar sound work present in both films, but as Avatar is poised to take a cakewalk with another category, and so much of Maverick’s movie magic hinges on the audience feeling the roars of the F-18s fighter engines as they use flares to dodge radar-guided SAMs, it’s safe to say that Top Gun takes a slice of gold home here. BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
Will Win: Avatar: The Way of Water Dark Horse: All Quiet on the Western Front Could Steal: N/A Should Have Been Nominated: Nope You don’t need me – or anyone else – to help you predict this category. Avatar walks. BEST ORIGNAL SCREENPLAY:
Will Win: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once Dark Horse: Tony Kushner and Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans Could Steal: Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin Should Have Been Nominated: Charlotte Wells, Aftersun or Park Chan-wook, Decision to Leave or Jordan Peele, Nope While there are certainly plenty of other original screenplays like Aftersun or Decision to Leave that probably should have been nominated here, this is one of the most solid Original Screenplay lineups in some time, which makes picking a winner more difficult than predicting one. For a while it seemed like this win could go to Martin McDonagh’s great work on The Banshees of Inisherin, but as awards season has continued and the guilds have come and gone, another narrative has taken shape; given its prevalence in the nominations and the significant love the Academy clearly has for it, Everything Everywhere All at Once is most likely to win this category. That said, the award really should be going to Todd Field for his astounding work on TÁR. If your screenplay is so lived-in and knowledgeable that it manages to convince entire throngs of critics that your lead character must have been a real person, you should win something for it, at least in my view. BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Will Win: Sarah Polley, Women Talking Dark Horse: Rian Johnson, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Could Steal: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell, All Quiet on the Western Front Should Have Been Nominated: Rebecca Lenkiewicz, She Said Adapted Screenplay may seem easy to predict considering how weak of a category it is this time around, but with All Quiet on the Western Front picking up nine nominations, it shouldn’t be underestimated as a potential upset winner in this race, even if the adaptation element of it is what everyone who’s read the book claims is the weakest of its many facets. With that in mind, of its two nominations, this is the only one that Women Talking is likely to win, and with Sarah Polley not appearing in Best Director, the Academy could be looking at this as a way to “make up” for not nominating her in that category. BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
Will Win: “Naatu Naatu,” RRR Dark Horse: “Applause,” Tell It Like a Woman Could Steal: “Lift Me Up,” Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Should Have Been Nominated/Shortlisted: “The Songcord,” Avatar: The Way of Water Original Song is a weird category. Here’s a collection of music written for movies, but only one of which is an essential piece of that film’s narrative momentum, and most of which don’t appear in the movies themselves. Remember what I said earlier about the two biggest movies of the year being Avatar and Top Gun? Well, in a manner of speaking, RRR is just as big as those two, just not financially. But pop into a screening of the Indian smash hit at any repertory theater in any major city, and you are sure to find a crowd just as into this movie as you’re likely to be, one of its key moments being the performance of “Naatu Naatu,” which is both my personal choice and my prediction for this category. There simply isn’t a better time musically to have at the movies, and it’s unlikely we’ll get a song that so takes the movie world by storm like this one has. BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Will Win: Volker Bertelmann, All Quiet on the Western Front Dark Horse: Son Lux, Everything Everywhere All at Once Could Steal: Justin Hurwitz, Babylon Should Have Been Nominated/Shortlisted: Michael Giacchino, The Batman Babylon is the best score of the year, hands down, and should easily be winning this category…but something tells me that All Quiet on the Western Front had just enough momentum going into the voting rounds to edge out Justin Hurwitz’ phenomenal work, and with Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio and Women Talking absent the nominations in favor of a surprise inclusion for Everything Everywhere All at Once, there’s not a lot it has to compete with. The real question of this category is: how does anyone in their right mind leave Michael Giacchino’s fantastic score for The Batman off the shortlist? Unconscionable. BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING:
Will Win: Elvis Dark Horse: All Quiet on the Western Front Could Steal: The Whale Should Have Been Nominated: Everything Everywhere All at Once or The Woman King I may not have been the biggest fan of Elvis as a movie, but it does feature some phenomenal craftwork to help viewers stay engaged. The Academy loves a well-worn prosthetic, but while the one Brendan Fraser wears in The Whale might be harder to make, the ethics of fat suits in movies like it have come under heavy fire recently, and Tom Hanks’ neck is sitting right there anyway, so it’s less of a risk to give it to that film. (And it doesn’t hurt that they nailed Austin Butler’s hair looking a certain way as Elvis goes through the eras either.) BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
Will Win: Elvis Dark Horse: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Could Steal: Elvis Should Have Been Nominated: The Woman King This is one of the trickier categories to predict, not because so many things are in contention or because there’s a tight divide between two nominees; there just hasn’t been an out-and-out frontrunner here, even if Babylon and Elvis are the two most likely to take it. For my money, Elvis is where this will go, but I could easily see myself getting that one incorrect, and it’s not one I’d be upset about. BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:
Will Win: Babylon Dark Horse: The Fabelmans Could Steal: Elvis Should Have Been Nominated: Everything Everywhere All at Once The most-nominated movie this year missed out on Production Design, but since Hollywood loves when you can make them look like themselves, Babylon has the edge here by a decent stretch. Don’t underestimate Elvis, though. With all the craftwork in that movie being nominated, a win here could easily top off a design category win streak. BEST FILM EDITING:
Will Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once Dark Horse: TÁR Could Steal: Top Gun: Maverick Should Have Been Nominated: Decision to Leave For the past two years, it’s been true that if you win Best Sound, you win Best Film Editing. It’s also been said that the Academy loves to reward the film with the most editing in this space, rather than the best, but two years doesn’t make a habit, and the momentum behind Everything Everywhere All at Once right now indicates that Top Gun will not be landing the plane here this time around. Plus, the editing in EEAAO is key to ensuring that the audience understands what’s going on at all amongst all the noise; the story is made by the editing, whereas with Top Gun, the editing is more about making sure the whole ride flows smoothly even though its frankly underrated script is doing most of the legwork in helping us understand its intense stakes. That said, it could still win here; my instincts are just saying otherwise. BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Will Win: James Friend, All Quiet on the Western Front Dark Horse: Florian Hoffmeister, TÁR Could Steal: N/A Should Have Been Nominated: Greig Fraser, The Batman and Claudio Miranda, Top Gun: Maverick One could feel the collective gasp in the air when TÁR was announced as the last of the Best Cinematography nominees and we all realized seconds later that Top Gun: Maverick, the favorite in the race since the beginning and the most winning film in the category up to that point, had missed out on a slot for these nominations entirely. Even more shocking was the fact that the film which took its place wasn’t expected to acquire a nomination here at all. Sure, The Batman wasn’t exactly a long shot and absolutely deserved to be there, but Bardo was always fighting tooth and nail with that film for a Cinematography nod and try as they might, the Academy just can’t resist the way Iñárritu’s movies look (even if it’s more distracting than inviting) and giving into genre bias. Top Gun wasn’t expected to have any such problem, but that then left open the most obvious second place finisher to walk with the gold in All Quiet on the Western Front. Everything else feels more like a formality. (TÁR was an inspired choice, though. I’ll give them props on that.) BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Will Win: Navalny Dark Horse: All That Breathes Could Steal: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Should Have Been Nominated: The Territory For a minute, it seemed as if All the Beauty and the Bloodshed might take this category, but now that the guilds have largely given it to Navalny, there’s not much indication of that momentum changing. The film does contain one of the stand-out scenes in any movie last year with the phone call where Alexei Navalny manages to get one of Putin’s operatives to admit trying to kill him via poisoning, so it’s not hard to see why it went over well with so many voters during awards season, especially as the Ukraine/Russia war entered its second year mere days ago. It is a shame, though, that The Territory was so shut out of landing a nomination here, as it’s probably my favorite documentary of the year; of course Fire of Love was NatGeo’s best bid, but it wouldn’t have hurt to spread the love around a little. BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM:
Will Win: All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany) Dark Horse: The Quiet Girl (Ireland) Could Steal: N/A Should Have Been Nominated: Decision to Leave (South Korea) Easily the most egregious snub of the Oscar nominations, it is borderline criminal that Decision to Leave did not make the International Feature nominations despite its widespread acclaim, well-respected director, and powerhouse performances and writing. If that were nominated, another film could be in trouble here, but as happens in every instance in which this occurs, if you want to know what’s winning Best International Feature, look to see if any of them are nominated for Best Picture. All Quiet on the Western Front has this in the bag. BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
Will Win: Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio Dark Horse: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Could Steal: N/A Should Have Been Nominated: N/A I didn’t get to see as many animated films this past year as the year before, at least not in theaters, but I am fairly satisfied with how the nominations turned out. Having not seen The Sea Beast, I can’t personally speak to whether or not it deserves to be there, but with Lightyear being a disappointment and Wendell & Wild frankly not being very good, there weren’t a ton of places for this category to go than towards the expected four (even if a Mad God nomination would have blown the doors off). For me, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is the category’s best work this year, but it does contain some live-action elements that may ultimately disqualify it from many voters’ personal picks, whereas Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio – also a lovely film – actually is entirely animated through stunning stop-motion. The mere fact that Pinocchio was also gunning for some other nominations in different categories, and the fact that it’s won everywhere else, is nothing if not a guaranteed indicator that it wins here too. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Will Win: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once Dark Horse: Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin Could Steal: N/A Should Have Been Nominated: Paul Dano, The Fabelmans Apart from perhaps Best Visual Effects, this should be the easiest award of the night to predict. Barry Keoghan BAFTA win aside, there’s not one guild or critics group that hasn’t fallen for Ke Huy Quan’s enormous heart and emotional speeches every time he wins for Everything Everywhere All at Once, a movie in which his comeback performance is as much the star of the show as Michelle Yeoh. There’s a reason lines like “In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you” hit so close to home and it’s because of how Ke Huy Quan delivers them so expertly for maximum heartbreak and depth. And that’s BEFORE we get into all the stunt work he does in those fanny pack fight scenes. The Oscars love a comeback narrative, mostly to strike down, but this one they’ll be celebrating with all the rest of us. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Will Win: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once Dark Horse: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once Could Steal: Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Should Have Been Nominated: Jessie Buckley or Claire Foy, Women Talking I’m definitely not the first to say this and surely won’t be the last, but it is odd that a film with performances as good as Women Talking – which is made up almost entirely of supporting performances – couldn’t land a single acting nomination in a category where they should have had at least two. In fact, due to that and a few other factors, there’s not really a front-runner in this category either. Angela Bassett (who did the thing) won the Globe, Condon has the BAFTA, and the SAG went to Jamie Lee Curtis, whose performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once most pundits agree is the lesser of the two nominated Supporting Actress performances. That said, I can’t see the Academy – with its genre bias and still largely old, white, and male voting body – wanting to reward an MCU performance even if it does figure into the legacy Oscar question, so any legacy votes will probably fall to the subtle but steady approach of Jamie Lee Curtis, and unfortunately, that legacy question is too powerful amongst Academy voters to underestimate, especially as EEAAO is poised to dominate the ceremony as it’s dominated the awards season wholesale. If Banshees is poised to win anything on Oscar night, this is the most likely spot for them to make it happen, but I have a sinking feeling that even here, McDonagh’s Irish fable goes winless. BEST ACTOR:
Will Win: Brendan Fraser, The Whale Dark Horse: N/A Could Steal: Austin Butler, Elvis Should Have Been Nominated: Daniel Kaluuya, Nope I’ve gone back and forth on this category for months, but over time, the race has become crystal clear: it’s Butler vs. Fraser. Whichever of those two triumphs on Oscar night will be a worthy winner in my book, but with the actors branch of the Academy being its largest, and Fraser walking away with the SAG win, the path to victory is starting to look just clear enough for him to pull ahead. Then again, the Oscars do love to do the bare minimum with historical and comeback narratives (remember how Parasite got 0 acting nominations and Glenn Close lost a sure thing?), , and they clearly love Elvis, so I’m still trepidatious at best in this category. BEST ACTRESS:
Will Win: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once Dark Horse: Ana de Armas, Blonde Could Steal: Cate Blanchett, TÁR Should Have Been Nominated: Danielle Deadwyler, Till and Tang Wei, Decision to Leave As with Best Actor, this is most likely a case of the SAG win over Cate Blanchett indicating a path to victory for Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once, but it’s even less of a sure thing because Cate Blanchett in TÁR is really that astounding. Part of what makes Lydia Tár feel like a real person that existed is in the screenplay, yes, but the other part of it is in how Blanchett delivers her dialogue with such ease and comfortability. Even now I’m doubting that Yeoh will have enough support to pull Blanchett away from a third win, but the EEAAO love is strong, and that SAG win has to count for something. BEST DIRECTOR:
Will Win: Daniels, Everything Everywhere All at Once Dark Horse: Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness Could Steal: Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans Should Have Been Nominated: Park Chan-wook, Decision to Leave Ah, the old early frontrunner fallout. It happens every year to a film that’s pegged as the “awards favorite” until the tide starts to turn because people got tired of hearing that narrative being churned out too early. The Fabelmans fell victim to that in almost every category apart from Best Director for a while, until the Daniels began picking up wins and Spielberg’s chances vanished as they came. Imagine telling someone in 1996 that Steven Spielberg would lose Best Director to two guys who made a movie about a farting corpse and a multiversal nihilist bagel. Still, the Daniels have been racking up wins everywhere they go, and there’s no indication they’ll stop now. BEST PICTURE:
Will Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once Dark Horse: TÁR Could Steal: The Banshees of Inisherin Should Have Been Nominated: Babylon When (not if) Everything Everywhere All at Once wins Best Picture, it will have been the earliest film released since The Silence of the Lambs to go the distance. That’s right, since 1991, no movie that’s released in the first quarter of the year has managed to win Best Picture, but with just how many guild awards EEAAO has picked up, it would be foolish to bet against it now. PGA, DGA, WGA, SAG all gave it their highest award, even when they didn’t have to as with PGA. That’s the kind of support that doesn’t come along very often, and unlike CODA’s surge last year, which managed to vault it over The Power of the Dog at the last minute, EEAAO has been enjoying that love for its entire run across theater runs, VOD, streaming, and a theatrical re-release. Even during its second time releasing in theaters as the Oscar nominations were announced, it was one of the highest-grossing re-releases of the year (not that anything was touching Top Gun: Maverick). People love this movie, they want to support it, and no other film on the list takes elements as disparate as these and creates a narrative that only moves but delights. The Oscars love a feel-good ending, but what they love the most is a feel-good ending that shouldn’t work when it does. And that is why Everything Everywhere All at Once will be your winner for Best Picture. And those are our FINAL predictions for the winners at the 2023 Oscars! What/who do you think will be snagging statuettes at this year’s ceremony? Are you hoping for any upsets or surprises in particular? Let us know in the comments section below, and we’ll see you back here for our winners recap on March 13th!
- The Friendly Film Fan  The 95th Academy Award Nominees Are Unveiled. And here they are! After being announced Tuesday morning by Allison Williams and Riz Ahmed, we finally have our full list of nominees for the 95th Annual Academy Awards, and I have to say, it’s largely a pretty solid field. Most of the expected nominees made it through, with Everything Everywhere All at Once leading the pack at 11 nominations, followed closely by All Quiet on the Western Front and The Banshees of Inisherin, which have 9 each. There were also, as always, some genuine surprises and shocking snubs. On the former side, Top Gun: Maverick landed an unexpected spot in the Adapted Screenplay category and the grassroots campaign to get Andrea Riseborough a Best Actress nomination for To Leslie seems to have yielded a victory, while on the latter, Decision to Leave was inexcusably left out of Best International Feature and Danielle Deadwyler was absent from the Best Actress lineup for her phenomenal work in Till. I’ll be doing a winner predictions piece closer to the actual ceremony where I break down the nominations category-by-category, but for now, it’s enough just to have them all in one place. The full list of nominations for the 95th Academy Awards is below, as well as a breakdown of each Best Picture nominee’s total nomination count. BEST PICTURE:
BEST DIRECTOR:
BEST ACTRESS:
BEST ACTOR:
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM:
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
BEST FILM EDITING:
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:
BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING:
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
BEST ORIGNAL SCREENPLAY:
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
BEST SOUND:
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT:
BEST ANIMATED SHORT:
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
So, what do you all think of these nominations? Are there any snubs that upset you? Any surprises that delighted you? Let me know in the comments section below, and thanks for reading! - The Friendly Film Fan Best Picture Nominee Total Nomination Tallies Across All Categories:
Everything Everywhere All at Once – 11 All Quiet on the Western Front – 9 The Banshees of Inisherin – 9 Elvis – 8 The Fabelmans – 7 TÁR – 6 Top Gun: Maverick – 6 Avatar: The Way of Water – 4 Triangle of Sadness – 3 Women Talking – 2 2022 Oscars Review: “CODA” Sweeps for Best Picture, and That Will Smith Moment (Full Winners List)3/28/2022  The Friendly Film Fan recaps the 94th Academy Awards.  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held their 94th Annual Awards ceremony on Sunday night, honoring the best in film from the year 2021, and what a night it was. Before diving into the winners list, as well as the ceremony itself, let’s start with the one thing everyone is talking about, because it can’t not be addressed, the most infamous Oscars moment since the La La Land/Moonlight switcheroo: Will Smith slapping Chris Rock across the face after Rock made a poor-taste jab at Jada Pinkett-Smith’s health condition, a moment which stunned audiences and spawned every conceivable form of meme. Was this justified? Did Chris Rock deserve it? Did Will Smith go too far? My answer to all of this is that I have no definitive answer. I can condemn Smith for reacting in a violent manner towards words that I also recognize were deeply insensitive, but Black men have always been condemned for even the smallest of violent altercations when white men have been making movies about and celebrating those things for as long as the Academy has been around. Then again, far worse “jokes” have been made at the expense of Academy members and Oscars attendees (largely by white men), and none of the people who made those got slapped at all, even if they deserved to be (we don’t need to go into the Ricky Gervais or Seth McFarlane conversations here though). Unprofessional though it may have been, the Will Smith moment was seemingly fueled by a need to “protect” and “stand up for the honor” of someone who didn’t need defending (even as, in many ways, the Black woman in the United States is often the one most denied defense or protection), and many victims of domestic violence hear the same justifications for the heinous things that happen to them. The truth is, it’s not for me to say whether it should have happened or not. It did. And there’s nothing that can change the fact that it happened, live, and now it overshadows everything that the night was supposed to be about. Smith himself has apologized for the incident to Chris Rock and the Academy, as one can read about in this IndieWire article, and noted that it soiled the journey of the evening, but the damage is done and there is no changing the fact that what could have been a night about the Oscars turned into a night about a beef between attendees.  Now, I’d like to take a (brief) moment to discuss the Academy’s insinuation that they may ask Will Smith for his Oscar back, given what transpired, as well as its condemnation of “violence in any form”: this is bullshit. No, it’s not bullshit that the Academy has opened a review into an incident of assault on their stage, or that they condemned Smith’s actions – that makes sense for them to do, given the circumstances. What’s bullshit is the “in any form” part; how often did this body celebrate and recognize films which promoted violent racists in heroic fashion? American Sniper was nominated for six Oscars and nearly won some of them. And it's not as if the Academy genuinely has much of a problem with scandal tarnishing a film industry worker’s brand; Harvey Weinstein, Roman Polanski, Casey Affleck, and Mel Gibson all still have their Oscars, and some of those were won quite recently, Polanski’s (who drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl) as recently as 2002 (Polanski won Best Director for The Pianist). If the Academy is genuinely attempting to get better at recognizing unprofessionalism at inopportune moments, then fine, but it is ridiculous to claim that the Will Smith moment was the awards’ darkest – as many online have been doing – when Native American Sacheen Littlefeather was publicly booed by Academy members in 1973 (as John Wayne was attempting to assault her with six security guards holding him back) after deigning to ask that the film industry not portray her people in brutalist fashions and the publicly mocked at the same ceremony and the following year by Clint Eastwood on the same stage. If the Will Smith moment is truly the Academy’s darkest, they must take a good look at why they’re considering that, and not the bevvy of darker moments staining their history, as their top choice. And Smith, unprofessional behavior or not, should not have to give his Oscar back. Now, let’s all please move on.  Several months ago, the Academy made the decision to cut eight of their categories for time, deciding instead to present them during the red carpet segment of the night, record the footage, and stitch them into the broadcast later on, edited for time. (Those categories were: Best Production Design, Best Original Score, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound, Best Live-Action Short, Best Animated Short, and Best Documentary Short.) This, for many reasons, didn’t work at all, and was a terrible move by Academy President David Rubin in a bid to get the show to end by 11 p.m., which we all know did not happen. Compounding the issue further was the fact that this Oscars attempted to bring a more populist audience to its viewership and boost its record-low ratings by including things like Fan Favorite Twitter campaigns which immediately became jokes in and of themselves, a frankly bizarre performance of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” – which was not nominated for Best Original Song nor submitted by Lin Manuel-Miranda, who wrote the music for eventual Best Animated Feature winner Encanto – and some three-host bit segments that became even less successful as the night wore on. This move was supposedly brought on by pressure from ABC (which Disney owns), a move I’ve already talked about the ickiness of, which feels even ickier when one considers the only real movie-related advertisement viewers got – beyond James Bond and Godfather tributes and a second awkward In Memoriam segment – was for Lightyear, which Chris Evans was asked to present. Lightyear, notably, is Disney and Pixar’s next release. (Side note: the ad was just the second trailer for the film, which had already been released.)  More importantly, however, the move meant that viewers were robbed of seeing Dune win the first four of its eventual six Oscar victories (Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Original Score, and Best Sound) during this time, and the most unnecessary category in the whole affair – Best Original Song – took up most of the ceremony’s time again, even if seeing Billi Eilish be excited about winning was one of the night’s more adorable moments. We waited decades to see Hans Zimmer win a second Oscar, and he had to accept it in a bathrobe from across the ocean because it didn’t matter if he was there or not! Searchlight’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye also won in the Makeup & Hairstyling category, during which ABC bizarrely tried to convince people that she was being interviewed on the red carpet live, despite the fact that Chastain herself said she would be in the Dolby theater as her team was being celebrated. And of course, the shorts were presented during this time, the winners of which were The Long Goodbye for Live-Action Short, The Queen of Basketball for Documentary Short, and The Windshield Wiper for Animated Short, the only shortfall on my Oscars ballot. (Humble brag, I went 22 for 23. But it was also one of the most predictable years ever, so maybe it’s not that impressive.)  Moving on to the live portion of the show, some bits worked and some definitely did not. The opener of Beyonce singing her great song “Be Alive” live from Compton with all the costuming involved was great, and the show was going well for the first ten minutes or so…until it wasn’t. Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall didn’t seem to work very well together as Oscar hosts, although it was also by no means a disaster when they presented as a group, even if the movie costumes bit started strong but just got worse as it went on (the Spider-Man Schumer moment was amusing but didn’t make much sense). In all truth, Schumer ended up being the funniest and most successful of the hosts in her individual bits relative to the laughs she got and the lightness of her comedy (the ridiculous Kirsten Dunst bit and needless disrespect of animated films notwithstanding). I mean, come on, the movie flops joke? The “Melissa McCarthy said no” moment? The “Being the Ricardos wasn’t funny” material? Hilarious! Then the night turned straight-up weird when Regina Hall wouldn’t stop talking about how horny she was, even for men as young as Jacob Elordi and John David Washington, even going so far as to ask Denzel where his son was, which was gross and uncomfortable. Wanda Sykes had a few zingers like The Last Duel flop joke and her pretty good Academy Museum bit, but largely seemed there only for bits after a while, which wore thin about halfway through. West Side Story star Rachel Zegler’s joke about not having been invited to the Oscars initially was great, though, so you win some, you lose some. And, as noted, the cutting in of the pre-taped awards wasn’t a total disaster, but didn’t help the show in any meaningful way either (apparently the transcribed nominees’ speeches on the Academy’s website are, in fact, the edited versions cut together for broadcast and not the full thing).  As far as the winners are concerned, the night went largely as expected, with the safest and occasionally most boring choices winning the night. Dune added Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects to its total of six wins for the night (all of which it deserved and all the recipients of which made sure to single out Denis Villeneuve’s iconic direction of the film), and the two least interesting winners in both Screenplay categories took home their Oscars too, those being Belfast in Original Screenplay – its only win of the night – and CODA in Adapted Screenplay. Will Smith and Jessica Chastain won their first Oscars for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively, and Ariana DeBose finished her clean sweep in Best Supporting Actress by winning for playing Anita in West Side Story, making her the first openly queer Black woman to win an Oscar and the third person to win an Oscar for playing an updated version of a character which had won an Oscar before (those being Don Vito in The Godfather/The Godfather Part II and the Joker in The Dark Knight/Joker). Troy Kotsur became the first deaf man to win an acting Oscar by taking home the award for Best Supporting Actor, and the film for which he won – CODA – succeeded in a clean sweep, going three for three on winning all its nominations to be crowned Best Picture at the end of the night, which it achieved without a Best Director or Best Editing nomination, breaking decades worth of tried-and-true Oscars stats (no film has done this since Grand Hotel in 1933). Unfortunately, The Power of the Dog – my #1 film of the year and the more deserving Best Picture winner – went one for twelve on its nomination-to-win translations, with its only win going to Best Director victor Jane Campion, making it the second-worst win streak in Oscars history. That said, I did really love CODA, so its win here is more of an underdog’s tale I’m happy to root for than a genuinely bad choice (it’s no Green Book over Roma, that’s for sure).  To wrap things up on the recap, Questlove won an Oscar for his great documentary Summer of Soul (that’s the moment the whole Will Smith thing overshadowed), Encanto won for Best Animated Feature (a good movie, but not better than Flee or The Mitchells vs. the Machines), “No Time to Die” won Best Original Song (Billi Eilish is an Oscar winner y’all!), and Jenny Beavan won her third Costume Design Oscar for her stellar work on Cruella (Beavan had previously won for A Room with a View and Mad Max: Fury Road), with The Eyes of Tammy Faye taking home the award for Makeup and Hairstyling.  It certainly was a night to remember, but given everything that transpired, how it was all put together, and frankly how dull the whole affair was in retrospect (minus that one moment), it probably should be one of the most forgettable. To cap it all off, I’m afraid the Academy will learn all the wrong lessons from their miniscule ratings uptick and try to do the dumb Fan Favorite Twitter polls again (which themselves got hilariously and embarrassingly gamed by the chronically online Snyder-Heads), thinking that’s the cause of increased viewership instead of the fact that people just saw way more movies in 2021 – with available vaccinations, moderately increased theater attendance, more streaming options for viewers at home, and mask mandates/revamped cleaning protocols – than they did in 2020 when the pandemic era was still just getting started and theaters were shut down for several months at a time. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen, and movies are in a better spot next year, but the next time I see Ryan Reynolds at the Academy Awards, it better not be for Free Guy 2’s Fan Favorite Awards campaign. A full list of the night’s winners (and nominees) is below.  Best Picture:
So, what did you think of the Oscars this past weekend? Are you excited by any of these wins? How well did you do on your ballot? Let me know in the comments section below, and thanks for reading!
- The Friendly Film Fan  The full list of nominations for the 94th Annual Academy Awards. Well, the 2022 Oscar Nominations are here and boy oh boy, is there a…decent amount to talk about. There certainly were some snubs and surprises, which we’ll get to in a second, but first let’s talk about the bulk of nominations which were largely expected and predicted. Does being expected make a nominations list boring? Not to me, but to some, it certainly may seem that way. After all, it’s not as if anyone thought Belfast was going to miss a Best Picture nomination, but think of what would’ve happened if it did, and something like The Worst Person in the World showed up in the category. In any case, this year’s crop of nominees, while certainly largely deserving and unsurprising, seems to be one of the less compelling entries in the history of the Academy. Some of this may be due to this year’s crop of films being fairly spread out and left over from 2020 (some 2020 releases still haven’t come out), but another reason may be that the Academy is sticking to tradition where innovation must abound. That’s not to say that innovation isn’t present here – well, okay, visual effects has like one nominee that’s actually all that innovative but whatever – it’s simply that the majority of selections in categories that need to embrace change…haven’t. Almost all of the Best Picture nominees received a theatrical release in a year where many people still aren’t going back to movie theaters, and there’s very little experimentation present in a number of major categories (looking at you, Animated Feature). If the Academy wants to be relevant to the cultural conversation again – apart from when your drunk uncle complains about them being “too political” – they need to embrace change and find a way to both nominate great films and embrace the direction that movies are heading in, for better or worse. Let’s talk the good, the bad, and the ugly. The Good/Surprises Hey, look at that, Kristen Stewart made it into Best Actress after all! In fact, the whole category is a huge shakeup from the expected five. Gone is Lady Gaga, with Penélope Cruz scoring a nomination for her brilliant work in Parallel Mothers, with the rest of the expected five also absent of Alana Haim, whose momentum has been building in recent weeks. Also, hello Academy Award Nominees Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons, finally recognized for their work in The Lost Daughter and The Power of the Dog respectively, after both turning in career-bests in Charlie Kaufman’s i’m thinking of ending things in 2020. In other categories, Flee managed to score all 3 of its best-chance nominations in International, Documentary, and Animated Feature, a first for any production, let alone an international film, and that makes Riz Ahmed – a producer on the movie – a now four-time Oscar nominee in the span of two years. The Worst Person in the World also managed a surprise nomination in the Original Screenplay category, besting longtime Oscar veteran Aaron Sorkin’s script for Being the Ricardos in a huge upset. The Worst Person in the World is a brilliant movie with a brilliant script, so naturally, I’m very happy about that. And, like a chump, I ignored my instincts about the Academy and took Nightmare Alley out of Best Picture at the last minute, instead of believing as I originally did that filmmakers and craftspeople loved Del Toro enough to nominated his work and not have to give Netflix three Best Picture slots (R.I.P. Tick, Tick…Boom!). There are some smaller surprises, like The French Dispatch going nomination-less and A Hero being left out of International Feature, but the rest of the nominations are mostly good…now let’s get into the other stuff. The Bad/Surprises Not that his performance isn’t good in the movie or that he doesn’t deserve the world otherwise, but why is J.K. Simmons here? Why not Jason Isaacs or Anders Danielsen Lie or Bradley Cooper or Mike Faist? Simmons’ nod is not a bad nomination on its face, it’s just an inherently boring one in a year chock-full of spectacular supporting male performances that could have otherwise filled that spot. In other negative news, National Geographic’s The Rescue was snubbed in Documentary Feature, though the nomination for Attica is certainly not offensive by any stretch (it’s a fantastic documentary). It’s simply that The Rescue was able to re-create an event so vividly that planned sequences became indistinguishable from raw footage, a feat few documentaries manage to actually achieve to the trained eye. Plus Free Guy made a visual effects nomination with little-to-no actual innovation in the effects-making, and C’mon C’mon and Mass went nomination-less. Not unexpected for any of these candidates, but it still sucks. The Ugly (The SNUB) And of course, there is one snub everyone is talking about that will go down in history as one of the worst trades in Best Director history. Denis Villeneuve, a visionary with a control over Dune that you cannot watch that movie without feeling, was passed over for Best Director in favor of Kenneth Branagh for his largely respectable but off-hand approach to the pretty good Belfast. This is a mistake on par with not nominating Amy Adams for Best Actress in Arrival (ironically, a Denis Villeneuve movie), and now the Academy has done both. There was bound to be a shake-up in this category, but that was meant to be Ryûsuke Hamaguchi knocking out Branagh, not one of the expected top 3 contenders. Of course, it doesn’t get under my skin the way it did when they outright ignored Bradley Cooper in 2018 for A Star Is Born – Branagh was still a dark horse candidate in this category – but it is easily the worst snub of the year for the Oscars to have made. Best Picture:
Obviously there were some unexpected surprises and definite snubs, but overall, this list of nominees is about what I expected, and I’m largely in favor of it. Regardless of what happens in the winners circle, it’s always fun to see what gets close enough to taste victory. What do you think of these nominations? Are there some surprises you’re ecstatic about? Snubs that pissed you off? Let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!
The Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 27th. - The Friendly Film Fan  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have revealed their annual shortlists in 10 categories for the 2022 Oscars. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to The Friendly Film Fan! Boy, it has been a crazy time in the movie world recently. Spider-Man: No Way Home shattered both pandemic and pre-pandemic box office records to become the #2 highest-grossing opening weekend earner of all time at the domestic box office, with a whopping total of $260 million (you can read our review here). No matter how one feels about the film itself, that is a staggering achievement, unlikely to be surpassed by anyone any time soon. But Spidey’s web-bound success wasn’t the only news that dropped in the movie world over the past few days; as you may have guessed by the title, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also revealed their shortlists for the 2022 Oscar nominations in 10 categories. The reveal of these shortlists is an annual tradition that film critics and Oscar fans the world over anticipate highly at the start of every awards season, and now the 2022 version has arrived. All three Short Film categories are given shortlists as part of the announcement, but most of the time, people are really looking for the more obvious categories. This year, those categories are “International Feature Film,” “Documentary Feature Film,” “Makeup & Hairstyling,” “Original Score,” “Original Song,” “Sound,” and “Visual Effects.” These shortlists provide a guide to where the Oscar nominations might be heading by revealing not just what made the cut, but what didn’t. The most egregious absence amongst all shortlists is the absence of Julia Ducournau’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Titane, not only one of the best movies of the year but one of the boldest in its narrative and its direction. This could mean, giving the risk it was to submit the film, that France sees the lack of a nomination as an excuse to only submit the safer films they have available as future entries for the International Feature race. And although it was always an up-in-the-air question as to whether Titane could actually pull off a nomination in this field, its absence from the shortlist entirely feels like a gross misstep on the part of AMPAS. There are a few absences from other lists that are also notable, however (though none as boneheaded as that one). The Harder They Fall, despite being a sleeper hit in the predictions surrounding the Sound category, has missed that category entirely, although the Netflix western did nab two other shortlist spots in Original Score and Original Song. Edgar Wright’s Sparks Brothers documentary, as well as Morgan Neville’s Anthony Bourdain film, Roadrunner, both missed the cut in Documentary Feature, The Green Knight missed the Makeup & Hairstyling category, and as tough as it is to sit with, James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad did not make it to the shortlist for Visual Effects. Apart from that, there were also a few pleasant surprises. Scores for Candyman, Encanto, The Green Knight, and The Harder They Fall all cracked the list, and not just one or two but all four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films released this year made the cut for Visual Effects (Spider-Man even made it into Sound as well). Other than those, the rest of these shortlists are filled with most of the expected material, and at the unexpected material in some categories does make sense given how those competitions look. For a full rundown of all the 2022 Oscars shortlists, see below. Best International Feature Film:
Best Documentary Feature:
Best Makeup & Hairstyling:
Best Original Score:
Best Original Song:
Best Visual Effects:
Best Sound:
Best Live-Action Short:
Best Animated Short:
Best Documentary Short:
So, what do you think of these new 2022 Oscars shortlists? Do you see anything that surprised you? Frustrated you? Do any of these change what your predictions are now going to look like? Let me know in the comments section below, and thanks for reading!
- The Friendly Film Fan  “Nomadland” takes home 3 awards, including Best Picture, and a dramatic category order switch leads to an anti-climactic tailspin of a finish. Hello, all, and welcome back to The Friendly Film Fan! Well, the Oscars have finally happened, and the winners have been announced in what I can only describe as the most baffling and anti-climactic finish to an Oscars show that I have ever seen in my lifetime, one that made me angry, upset, and flabbergasted in its production choices and deliberate messiness, the only reason for which did not end up happening at all. To get it right out of the way up front, Chadwick Boseman lost what would have been a posthumous win in the Best Actor category for his career-best work in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom to Anthony Hopkins for his equally brilliant performance in The Father. Hopkins gave a short speech this morning thanking the Academy, as well as paying tribute to the late Boseman, because Hopkins is a class act all the way around and a genuinely good human being. The win itself was not something with which I took issue; in fact, I somewhat hoped Hopkins could pull off the upset, as his was my favorite of all the performances given in 2020. But the way the moment was handled was nothing short of infuriating. For those who did not watch the ceremony live, the Oscars (of which Steven Soderbergh was a co-producer) decided to give out the award for Best Picture (which went to Nomadland) before giving out Best Actress, and then finally Best Actor, presumably so that when Boseman won, they would be able to honor him with the final award of the night. Except Boseman then lost, and Joaquin Phoenix – who announced the award and seemed very uncomfortable with it – peaced-out immediately, as Hopkins was not there to receive the statuette. I’m also learning after the fact that Olivia Colman, who was also nominated in Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Father, was meant to accept the award on Hopkins’ behalf, but was unable to because the ceremony was cut short so quickly after the announcement. Dragging Boseman’s widow into a live awards show during a pandemic, changing the awards order to chase some big dramatic finish with his posthumous win, playing soul music as Phoenix walked out to announce the category, only for Boseman to lose to someone who wasn’t there (through no fault of his own) will forever be remembered as not just one of the most dramatic endings the Oscars has ever had, but one of the worst endings it ever will. The production decisions made in the last 15 minutes of the ceremony were atrocious, and I desperately hope that the Oscars never tries to put Best Picture in any place but last ever again, especially because of how that switch of orders played out. All that being said, there were plenty of other pleasant surprises in store for this Oscars, some historic wins, and some close races that came down to the wire, where I think the right decision was made (even if it significantly messed up my ballot). Chloé Zhao’s brilliant, humanistic Nomadland ultimately took home 3 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director for Zhao – who is the first-ever woman of color to receive the award and only the second woman ever – and a semi-surprise win for Best Actress Frances McDormand, cementing her in the elite club of people who now have 3 acting Oscars to their names (McDormand also won a Best Picture Oscar as a producer on the film). The only other actress to win as many Best Lead Actress Oscars or more is Kathrine Hepburn, whose count numbers 4. In other news, The Father also secured a win for Best Adapted Screenplay following a surge of momentum, and the wonderful Sound of Metal managed to best The Trial of the Chicago 7 in Best Editing (it also won Best Sound), rendering the latter film completely Oscar-less by the close of the ceremony. Erik Messerschmidt pulled off the upset to double Mank’s Oscar take by giving it Best Cinematography in addition to the expected Best Production Design, and “Fight for You” from Judas and the Black Messiah pulled off a dark horse triumph winning Best Original Song. The documentary short film, Collette, also managed to pull off an upset win, making this one of the most unpredictable Oscars in quite some time, with only one movie (Nomadland) winning more than 2 Oscars total. I won’t speak on every single winner, but it is also important to note that two thirds of the makeup team for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson), recognized for the first time in any category, are the first pair of Black stylists to win that award, which they shared with fellow nominee Sergio Lopez-Rivera. As well, Yuh-Jung Youn, who pulled off a win for Best Supporting Actress in the achingly beautiful Minari, is the first Asian actor to win a performance Oscar since The Killing Fields in 1984. In truth, every winner selection – even the upsets and unexpected ones – were great choices. It’s just unfortunate that the ceremony itself turned so sour so quickly, practically snuffing out in seconds any real excitement one could have felt at the prospect of any remaining upset wins. That being said, it is just one show, and I’m sure next year will seem a drastic improvement in the aftermath. Here is your full list of winners for the 93rd Annual Academy Awards!  Best Picture: Nomadland  Best Director: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland  Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins, The Father  Best Actress: Frances McDormand, Nomadland  Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah  Best Supporting Actress: Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari  Best International Feature: Another Round  Best Animated Feature: Soul  Best Documentary Feature: My Octopus Teacher  Best Cinematography: Erik Messerschmidt, Mank  Best Film Editing: Mikkel E.G. Nielsen, Sound of Metal  Best Production Design: Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale, Mank  Best Costume Design: Ann Roth, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom  Best Makeup & Hairstyling: Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal, and Jamika Wilson, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom  Best Original Score: Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross, Soul  Best Original Song: “Fight for You,” Judas and the Black Messiah  Best Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller, The Father  Best Original Screenplay: Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman  Best Visual Effects: Tenet  Best Sound: Sound of Metal  Best Live-Action Short: Two Distant Strangers  Best Animated Short: If Anything Happens I Love You  Best Documentary Short: Collette What did you think of the Academy Awards this year? Did you predict any of the upsets correctly? How well did you do down the ballot? Let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!
- The Friendly Film Fan |
