Oscar Nominations 2022: 2 of 9

This year's nominees:

The Fabelmans

7 Nominations

• Picture
• Director: Steven Spielberg (West Side Story, Lincoln, Munich, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
• Actress: Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea, My Week with Marilyn, Blue Valentine, Brokeback Mountain)
• Original Screenplay: Tony Kushner (Lincoln, Munich) & Steven Spielberg
• Supporting Actor: Judd Hirsch (Ordinary People)
• Production Design: Rick Carter (Lincoln, War Horse, Avatar, Forrest Gump) & Karen O'Hara (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Alice in Wonderland, The Color of Money)
• Score: John Williams (Star Wars: Episode IX – the Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars: Episode VIII – the Last Jedi, Star Wars: Episode VII – the Force Awakens, The Book Thief, Lincoln, War Horse, The Adventures of Tintin, Munich, Memoirs of a Geisha, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Catch Me If You Can, Artificial Intelligence: A.I., Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, The Patriot, Angela's Ashes, Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, Sleepers, Nixon, Sabrina, Schindler's List, JFK, Home Alone, Born on the Fourth of July, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Accidental Tourist, Empire of the Sun, The Witches of Eastwick, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The River, Return of the Jedi, E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws, The Towering Inferno, Tom Sawyer, Cinderella Liberty, Images, The Poseidon Adventure, Fiddler on the Roof, The Reivers, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Valley of the Dolls)

Director: Spielberg

Cast: Williams, Paul Dano, Gabriel LaBelle, Seth Rogen, Hirsch, Mateo Zoryan, Keeley Karsten, Julia Butters, Alina Brace, Birdie Borria, Robin Bartlett, Sam Rechner, Oakes Fegley, Chloe East

This is a very strange movie. Obviously Spielberg understands that some wonderful directors – Paolo Sorrentino, Alfonso Cuarón, Paul Thomas Anderson, James Grey – are mining their own childhoods for important stories right now, and so Spielberg tries his hand at this too. Except that he co-wrote the story of his own childhood with Tony Kushner. The thing is that Spielberg isn't really very good at mining anything for meaning or nuance. He's very good at a particular kind of movie shallowness. The Fabelmans is, accordingly, a very shallow exploration of something that might perhaps have deserved depth. What we come away from this film with is something like "the power of film" or "the magic of a boy and his camera" or somesuch business. Platitudes, in other words, rather than depth; clichés rather than insight. I was skeptical, as soon as I saw the trailer, of Michelle Williams' questionable accent, but the performance is actually so much worse. It's just an odd, odd, performance for which I don't really have words. I am not sure what she's doing or why anyone let it continue without talking to her about it. Mind you, now she has been nominated for best actress, so... I guess it was successful? I loved Paul Dano in this movie, though. I will say that. And Gabriel LaBelle and Judd Hirsch are good too. One more thing to say about Michelle Williams: props to her for not committing category fraud like Ke Huy Quan and so many other actors. They could easily have run her as a supporting actress, since she's a mother character, but she chose to run in the lead category, and she's top billed. So that's exactly what should have happened.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #33 out of 63

Tár

6 Nominations

• Picture
• Director: Todd Field
• Actress: Cate Blanchett (Carol, Blue Jasmine, Elizabeth: the Golden Age, I'm Not There., Notes on a Scandal, The Aviator, Elizabeth)
• Original Screenplay: Todd Field (Little Children, In the Bedroom)
• Film Editing: Monika Willi
• Cinematography: Florian Hoffmeister

Director: Field

Cast: Blanchett, Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant, Sophie, Kauer, Sylvia Flote, Mark Strong, Zethphan Smith-Gneist, Nicolas Hopchet 

I loved this. I've written about it here, so I won't say too much more about how exquisitely crafted this film is, but it is worth repeating how finely made Tár is, how haunting and difficult and mysterious. It's a gripping modern Greek tragedy, and it works beautifully (at least until the very last sequence). I'm betting against Blanchett here. She already has two Oscars (this is her eighth nomination) and Michelle Yeoh doesn't have any. To me, that means that Michelle Yeoh deserves the Oscar no matter how good Blanchett is. Blanchett will be nominated many more times. She gives Oscar-worthy performances every year (last year she was the best thing about Nightmare Alley). My prediction means that I'm suggesting that Tár won't win any awards, though, and that doesn't seem right. So if you're filling out your own Oscar pool at work, you might still want to bet on Blanchett.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: Director, Actress, Original Screenplay, Cinematography
My Rating: #5 out of 63

Top Gun: Maverick

6 Nominations

• Picture
• Adapted Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects), Eric Warren Singer (American Hustle), Peter Craig, Ehren Kruger & Justin Marks
• Film Editing: Eddie Hamilton
• Sound
• Visual Effects
• Song: Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born, The Hunting Ground) & BloodPop

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Cast: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Val Kilmer, Bashir Salahuddin, Jon Hamm, Charles Parnell, Monica Barbaro, Glenn Powell, Ed Harris, Lyliana Ray, Jay Ellis, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Jack Schumacher, Manny Jacinto, Greg Tarzan Davis, Kara Wang, Raymond Lee, Jake Picking

This movie saved theatrical distribution. Everyone says so. Steven Spielberg said it to Tom Cruise at the Academy nominees luncheon just this week. This is because it's true. So, you know what? Throw every Oscar at this thing. I mean it. It does not deserve its adapted screenplay nomination – that is absurd – and I wouldn't have nominated it for best director either, but it definitely deserves its best picture nod, and it probably deserved more than this: score and cinematography; I wouldn't even have been mad at best actor. Cruise is great in this. His scene with Val Kilmer is incredible. Jennifer Connelly is great. Miles Teller's star is undimmed. The whole thing is wonderfully made and it fucking delivers. The screenplay bugged me throughout, and it unnecessarily repeats one of its third-act moves, but other than that, this movie is completely good fun. I expect it to win many Oscars.
Will Win: Film Editing, Sound, Visual Effects, Song

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #20 out of 63

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

5 Nominations

• Supporting Actress: Angela Bassett (What's Love Got to Do With It)
• Costume Design: Ruth E. Carter (Black Panther, Amistad, Malcolm X)
• Visual Effects
• Make-up & Hairstyling
• Song: Ryan Coogler, Ludwing Goransson, Rihanna & Tems

Director: Coogler

Cast: Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Bassett, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Dominique Thorne, Martin Freeman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michaela Coel, Michael B. Jordan

This is a pretty good action movie with a superb villain, wonderfully played by Tenoch Huerta Mejía. There is a trouble at the center of this Black Panther sequel, however. It's a bit more self-important than it needs to be; it lacks the fun and discovery of the first film. This is, of course, demanded by the loss of Black Panther's magnetic and brilliant star, Chadwick Boseman, and it's dealt with very smartly by Ryan Coogler. But the film positively dwells in its frustration and difficulties. This is, in fact, a plot point: who will be the next black panther is the film's central question. Unfortunately, the answer is a grim one. The next black panther is T'challa's sister, played by Letitia Wright, and Wright is not a movie star. She's outshined by everyone else in the movie, and she looks small next to all of the other actresses in the movie – Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong'o, and Danai Gurira. Things get better in her scenes with Huerta Mejía, but she's just not up to carrying a movie this big on her shoulders. As for Oscars, Bassett is going to win, hands down, and I'm happy about it. She's a superb actress, and she's overdue for an Oscar. I expect Ruth Carter to win too, and she deserves it. But I do wish the Academy would start paying attention to Carter's design work in non-Marvel films. She should have been nominated for last year's Coming 2 America and the fact that she wasn't nominated for 2019's Dolemite Is My Name is a crime. We should all be banging the drum for Ruth Carter. Her work is incredible every time she makes a movie. 

Will Win: Supporting Actress, Costume Design

Could Win: Visual Effects, Make-up & Hairstyling, Song
My Rating: #32 out of 63

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Banshees of Inisherin, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Elvis

More posts coming soon:

3. Avatar: the Way of Water, Triangle of Sadness, The Whale, and Babylon
4. The Batman, Women Talking, Living, and Aftersun
5. Blonde, To Leslie, Glass Onion, and Causeway
6. Argentina, 1985, Close, Eo, and The Quiet Girl
7. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Pinocchio, Puss in Boots: the Last Wish, Turning Red, and The Sea Beast
8. Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, Empire of Light, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, RRR, and Tell It like a Woman

Check out my new book Love Is Love Is Love – out March 24!