Award season has been heating up since October and the final flame has just been lit with the Academy releasing the nominations for the 97th Annual Oscars. Major categories such as Best Actress, Actor, Director, and Picture have all been up for discussion with some snubs and angry critics. Personally, I think the list is expected, however, there are a few surprises that caught my attention.
The Best Actress race has always been one of the most exciting parts to watch from the show. This year I think that Demi Moore will win for her role in “The Substance” due to the momentum she has gained since the Golden Globes, racking up all awards that come her away. While I want Mikey Madison to win for “Anora,” I think Moore is a well-deserved winner with her incredible performance, and “The Substance” is a movie to perfection. This category, known for its controversies, continues to be an area of conflict. Notably, Angelia Jolie and Nicole Kidman were snubbed in the list of nominees. Jolie in “Maria” was a personal favorite performance of mine for 2024 and would have liked to see her be nominated. I think that her role as Maria Callas was better than Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, but the latter still was great.
One thing that caught my mind was the lack of “Dune: Part Two” and “Challengers” nominations. To me, it seems the Academy forgot about these movies. While “Dune” received five nods it was missing Best Director, and Denis Villeneuve neither was nominated for the first installment of the franchise, which to me is still unbelievable. I would have preferred Villeneuve over Jacques Audiard (“Emilia Pérez”) in this category. For “Challengers,” I didn’t think it would receive any acting or directing nominations. I did think it was deserving of Original Score, Film Editing and Cinematography. “Challengers” won the Best Soundtrack at the Golden Globes earlier this month, so for it to not receive a nomination surprised me.
The movie that has the most nominations is ‘Emilia Pérez” with 13–the same amount as “Oppenheimer.” This caught me entirely by surprise as I was not impressed with the film and thought it was overrated. Despite my criticism, I think that the movie will lead the pack for wins and take home Best Picture.
For other major awards, I think that Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”) will win Best Actor, Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”) Best Supporting Actor, Zoe Saldaña (“Emilia Pérez”) Best Supporting Actress and Brady Colbert (“The Brutalist”) Best Director. They have been consistently winning at award shows, even though I would prefer other actors, such as Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”) for Best Actor. The 97th Oscars will take place on Sun. March 2., and while I don’t agree with all the nominees, 2024 was a great year for film and the show will celebrate the hard work of the thousands of people it takes to make a great production.
