At 5:30 a.m. Thursday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its 98th annual Oscar nominations.
With 16 nominations, Ryan Coogler's "Sinners'" made Oscar history, breaking the previous record of 14 held by "All About Eve," "Titanic" and "La La Land."
While I am thrilled by the Academy's recognition of "Sinners's" high quality, I hope the Academy does not consider this honor enough and opts to give the actual awards elsewhere. In past years, the screenplay award has often felt like a consolation prize for Black directors — see Barry Jenkins' win for "Moonlight" and Jordan Peele's for "Get Out."
I've witnessed "Green Book" beating Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman," and "Driving Miss Daisy" winning Best Picture while Lee's "Do the Right Thing" wasn't even nominated. And seriously, who is watching "Driving Miss Daisy" now?
With that track record, "One Battle After Another" looks poised to take the top Oscar. It features prominent Black characters that allow the Academy to feel good about itself for celebrating diversity, but the film does not offer a Black point of view like "Sinners" does.
"Sinners" basically has three strikes against it, and only one involves the race of its director. The other two are that it is a horror film (a rich, nuanced horror film, but still a genre flick) and that Coogler negotiated a deal giving him creative control — which terrifies studios. How dare any artist do that?
But I am hoping the Academy will prove me wrong. Nothing could make me happier.
This year marked the first time in 25 years that a new category was introduced: Best Achievement in Casting. This recognizes the role and importance of casting directors, who can find new talent, resurrect old talent and assemble ensembles that work magic. I think it is that sense of ensemble that is really being acknowledged here. But still, we're waiting for the best stunt category — reportedly coming at the 100th Oscars. Yay!
Biggest snubs: "Wicked For Good," "Superman" and "No Other Choice" were completely shut out. Paul Mescal ("Hamnet"), Jennifer Lawrence ("Die My Love"), Eva Victor ("Sorry Baby") and Jack O'Connell ("Sinners") all missed acting nominations. And Guillermo Del Toro was left out of Best Director.
Biggest surprises: "F1" getting a Best Picture nomination over Jafar Panahi's "It Was Just an Accident," and Kate Hudson snagging a Best Actress nomination for "Song Sung Blue."
My favorite nominations were for Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo, two amazing actors who delivered compelling, humane work in "Sinners." Mosaku stood in stark contrast to Teyana Taylor's nomination for "One Battle After Another." Both actresses are wildly talented, but while Coogler let Wunmi challenge stereotypes about Black women, Paul Thomas Anderson's camera hypersexualized Taylor. Yes, it reflected how Sean Penn's character viewed her, but it did not need to exaggerate it.
And speaking of Penn, if I could remove any nomination, it would be his. I am surprised any scenery survived his performance. However, Amy Madigan's flamboyant turn in "Weapons" earned her a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress nod. Here, over-the-top was exactly what the film needed.
And actually, one more nomination I would remove: Best Visual Effects for "Avatar: Fire and Ash." State-of-the-art effects in a film that is otherwise unwatchable should not count. I know it crossed $1 billion at the box office, but it's the same plot recycled from the previous two films. I would have loved to see "Superman" take its place. Not only did "Superman" give us Krypto, but it was a comic book movie with genuine heart and soul, directly commenting on our current social crisis and moral bankruptcy. But James Gunn hails from the outer regions of Troma and is not really considered a Hollywood insider, so his film got snubbed. Fatigue over comic book movies probably played a role, too. But I loved it.
The 98th Annual Academy Awards will be presented on March 15 and televised on ABC.
A full list of this year’s Oscar nominees follows.
Best Picture
"Bugonia" (Focus Features)
"F1" (Apple)
"Frankenstein" (Netflix)
"Hamnet" (Focus Features)
"Marty Supreme" (A24)
"One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.)
"The Secret Agent" (Neon)
"Sentimental Value" (Neon)
"Sinners" (Warner Bros.)
"Train Dreams" (Netflix)
Best Director
Chloé Zhao, "Hamnet" (Focus Features)
Josh Safdie, "Marty Supreme" (A24)
Paul Thomas Anderson, "One Battle after Another" (Warner Bros.)
Joachim Trier, "Sentimental Value" (Neon)
Ryan Coogler, "Sinners" (Warner Bros.)
Best Actor
Timothée Chalamet in "Marty Supreme" (A24)
Leonardo DiCaprio in "One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.)
Ethan Hawke in "Blue Moon" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Michael B. Jordan in "Sinners" (Warner Bros.)
Wagner Moura in "The Secret Agent" (Neon)
Best Actress
Jessie Buckley in "Hamnet" (Focus Features)
Rose Byrne in "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You" (A24)
Kate Hudson in "Song Sung Blue" (Focus Features)
Renate Reinsve in "Sentimental Value" (Neon)
Emma Stone in "Bugonia" (Focus Features)
Best Supporting Actor
Benicio Del Toro in "One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.)
Jacob Elordi in "Frankenstein" (Netflix)
Delroy Lindo in "Sinners" (Warner Bros.)
Sean Penn in "One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.)
Stellan Skarsgård in "Sentimental Value" (Neon)
Best Supporting Actress
Elle Fanning in "Sentimental Value" (Neon)
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in "Sentimental Value" (Neon)
Amy Madigan in "Weapons" (Warner Bros.)
Wunmi Mosaku in "Sinners" (Warner Bros.)
Teyana Taylor in "One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.)
Best Adapted Screenplay
"Bugonia" (Focus Features); Screenplay by Will Tracy
"Frankenstein" (Netflix); Written for the Screen by Guillermo del Toro
"Hamnet" (Focus Features); Screenplay by Chloé Zhao & Maggie O'Farrell
"One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.); Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
"Train Dreams" (Netflix); Screenplay by Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar
Best Original Screenplay
"Blue Moon" (Sony Pictures Classics); Written by Robert Kaplow
"It Was Just an Accident" (Neon); Written by Jafar Panahi, Script collaborators - Nader Saïvar, Shadmehr Rastin, Mehdi Mahmoudian
"Marty Supreme" (A24); Written by Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie
"Sentimental Value" (Neon); Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
"Sinners" (Warner Bros.); Written by Ryan Coogler
Best Animated Feature
"Arco" (Neon)
"Elio" (Walt Disney)
"KPop Demon Hunters" (Netflix)
"Little Amélie or the Character of Rain" (GKIDS)
"Zootopia 2" (Walt Disney)
Best International Feature
"The Secret Agent" (Brazil)
"It Was Just an Accident" (France)
"Sentimental Value" (Norway)
"Sirāt" (Spain)
"The Voice of Hind Rajab" (Tunisia)
Best Documentary Feature
"The Alabama Solution" (HBO Documentary Films)
"Come See Me in the Good Light" (Apple)
"Cutting Through Rocks" (Inmaat Productions)
"Mr. Nobody Against Putin" (PINK)
"The Perfect Neighbor" (Netflix)
Best Animated Short
"Butterfly" (Sacrebleu Productions)
"Forevergreen"
"The Girl Who Cried Pearls" (National Film Board of Canada)
"Retirement Plan"
"The Three Sisters" (Polydont Films/Rymanco Ventures)
Best Casting (new category)
"Hamnet" (Focus Features), Nina Gold
"Marty Supreme" (A24), Jennifer Venditti
"One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.), Cassandra Kulukundis
"The Secret Agent" (Neon), Gabriel Domingues
"Sinners" (Warner Bros.), Francine Maisler
Best Cinematography
"Frankenstein" (Netflix), Dan Laustsen
"Marty Supreme" (A24), Darius Khondji
"One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.), Michael Bauman
"Sinners" (Warner Bros.), Autumn Durald Arkapaw
"Train Dreams" (Netflix), Adolpho Veloso
Best Costume Design
"Avatar: Fire and Ash" (Walt Disney), Deborah L. Scott
"Frankenstein" (Netflix), Kate Hawley
"Hamnet" (Focus Features) ,Malgosia Turzanska
"Marty Supreme" (A24), Miyako Bellizzi
"Sinners" (Warner Bros.), Ruth E. Carter
Best Documentary Short
"All the Empty Rooms" (Netflix)
"Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud" (HBO)
"Children No More: "Were and Are Gone"" (Sky)
"The Devil Is Busy" (HBO)
"Perfectly a Strangeness" (Second Sight Pictures) Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones
Best Film Editing
"F1" (Apple) Stephen Mirrione
"Marty Supreme" (A24)
"One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.)
"Sentimental Value" (Neon)
"Sinners" (Warner Bros.)
Best Live-Action Short
"Butcher's Stain" (Tel Aviv University Steve Tisch School of Film and Television)
"A Friend of Dorothy"
"Jane Austen's Period Drama"
"The Singers" (Netflix)
"Two People Exchanging Saliva" (Canal+/The New Yorker)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
"Frankenstein" (Netflix)
"Kokuho" (GKIDS)
"Sinners" (Warner Bros.)
"The Smashing Machine" (A24)
"The Ugly Stepsister" (Independent Film Company/Shudder)
Best Original Score
"Bugonia" (Focus Features), Jerskin Fendrix
"Frankenstein" (Netflix), Alexandre Desplat
"Hamnet" (Focus Features), Max Richter
"One Battle after Another" (Warner Bros.), Jonny Greenwood
"Sinners" (Warner Bros.), Ludwig Goransson
Best Original Song
"Dear Me" from "Diane Warren: Relentless" (MasterClass/Greenwich Entertainment)
"Golden" from "KPop Demon Hunters" (Netflix)
"I Lied to You" from "Sinners" (Warner Bros.)
"Sweet Dreams of Joy" from "Viva Verdi!" (Viva Verdi!)
"Train Dreams" from "Train Dreams" (Netflix)
Best Production Design
"Frankenstein" (Netflix)
"Hamnet" (Focus Features)
"Marty Supreme" (A24)
"One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.)
"Sinners" (Warner Bros.)
Best Sound
"F1" (Apple)
"Frankenstein" (Netflix)
"One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.)
"Sinners" (Warner Bros.)
"Sirāt" (Neon)
Best Visual Effects
"Avatar: Fire and Ash" (Walt Disney)
"F1" (Apple)
"Jurassic World Rebirth" (Universal)
"The Lost Bus" (Apple)
"Sinners" (Warner Bros.)
