The 95th Academy Awards Nominations Snubs & Surprises

The 95th Academy Awards Nominations
Snubs & Surprises

 One of my most favorite times of the year has arrived, and that's the nominations for the 95th Academy Awards. While there's been a lot of news about how viewership is declining, I'm a firm believer in the fact that the Oscars aren't meant for a broad audience, otherwise it would include the likes of "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" or "Thor: Love and Thunder" as Best Picture contenders. Rather, the Academy honors the best films of the year, most of which aren't watched by a larger audience due to their limited release and the fact that theaters are trying to keep a profit, and they do that by supplying fresh, action-filled blockbusters to get butts in the seats. As they try to pander to a broader audience, however, the Academy loses what makes it special, and turns it into a laughingstock (like how they tried last year to give out "fan voted" awards that basically just went to Zack Snyder abominations), so they need to lean in more on the prestige that the awards holds rather than get their ratings up.

All that to say the nominations announced today was filled with surprises and snubs, and here are the ten biggest snubs and surprises I found from today's nominations:

SURPRISE:
All is NOT Quiet on the Western Front

"All Quiet on the Western Front" garnering 9 nominations

The German-led remake of the 1930 film (which itself won five Oscars including Best Picture) was a strong contender for the Best Picture nominations this year, but no one expected it to garner nine nominations - the second most nominations of any movie this year. Worthy of all the accolades, it was still a surprise since the film was a straight-to-Netflix release.

SNUB:
The Academy made the decision to leave "Decision to Leave"

"Decision to Leave" received 0 nominations

"Oldboy" director Park Chan-wook's "Decision to Leave" was a stunning, hypnotic romantic thriller about a detective investigating a woman for a mysterious murder and ends up falling in love with her, and the film earned the director the coveted directing prize at Cannes. Industry insiders felt confident that at the very least the film would earn a nomination for Best International Film (and Chan-wook for Best Director wasn't outside the realm of possibility), but instead the film got snubbed in every way possible, which is a crime in and of itself.

SURPRISE:
Henry and Hirsch hone in on Best Supporting Actor

Brian Tyree Henry and Judd Hirsch earn
Best Supporting Actor nominations

"The Fabelmans" was filled with Oscar-worthy performances, but instead of Paul Dano (more on him later), the Academy decided to nominate veteran actor Judd Hirsch for his role as the cantankerous great-uncle of Sammy Fabelman in the Best Supporting Actor category despite only being in the film for five minutes - even though those five minutes are absolutely stunning and proof that you don't have to be Supporting for the whole film to get recognition. Meanwhile, Brian Tyree Henry is better known for his supporting roles in films like "Bullet Train," "Eternals," and a very, very small role in "Joker," but it was his supporting work in the Apple+ film "Causeway" that earned the actor his first Oscar nomination despite being overlooked by pretty much every other awards ceremonies this year.

SNUB:
Tom Cruise flies high, but not for his performance

Tom Cruise snubbed from Best Actor,
but received a nomination for Producer for "Top Gun: Maverick"

The Academy doesn't have a long track record for recognizing big-budget action spectacles, much less sequels to those spectacles over thirty years later, so it wasn't fully a surprise that Tom Cruise would get snubbed from the Best Actor category, but it was still a little bit of a surprise considering the film itself earned six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture - so he's still a nominee, but for Producer rather than Actor.

SURPRISE:
Mescal basks in the "After"glow

Paul Mescal earns a Best Actor nomination

"Aftersun," the simply profound debut film from Charlotte Wells, is a stunning tale of memory, loss, and depression, and at the heart of it all is Paul Mescal's transcendent performance as a single father who wants to do right for his daughter but struggles with his own insecurities and doubts. At twenty-six, he's one of the youngest actors nominated for Best Actor, and his nomination is very much deserved (fun fact: all the actors nominated for Best Actor this year are first-time nominees).

SNUB:
Da no love for Dano

Paul Dano snubbed from Best Supporting Actor

Paul Dano is constantly one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood. From "Little Miss Sunshine" to "There Will be Blood" to "Prisoners" and "Swiss Army Man," Dano has always transformed himself into his roles and gives unique, compelling performances. 2022 saw the actor in two of his strongest roles: first as a new incarnation of the Riddler in Matt Reeves' "The Batman" and then as patriarch Burt Fableman in "The Fabelmans" - the latter finding the actor in the crosshairs of the Academy - but instead of him getting the nomination, it went to Judd Hirsch instead, finding the underrated actor again seen as terribly underrated.

SURPRISE:
Ostund's Triangle of Happiness

Ruben Ostlund earns a Best Director nomination

Swedish director Ruben Oslund is better known for his international films "The Square" and "Force Majeure," but his first American-led film "Triangle of Sadness" hit Oscar heights by earning three nominations - Best Original Screenplay (which he co-wrote), Best Picture, and Best Director, beating out the likes of James Cameron, Park Chan-wook, and Sarah Polley.

SNUB:
Cameron is not King of the Oscar world

James Cameron snubbed from Best Director

2009's "Avatar" was nominated for nine Academy Awards and winning three, but not for Best Director which Cameron was nominated for. 2022's "Avatar: The Way of Water" is nominated for four Oscars, but this time Cameron isn't finding his name alongside the Best Director list, getting snubbed in favor of the likes of Ruben Ostlund.

SURPRISE:
From worst to first and Riseborough rises the ranks

Ana de Armas and Andrea Riseborough
receive surprising Best Actress nominations

When the Best Actress nominations were announced, people expected a couple different names than were mentioned, two of them hardly anyone expected was Ana de Armas and Andrea Riseborough. de Armas received her nomination as Marilyn Monroe in the Netflix-backed "Blonde" came as a surprise mostly because the film is so derived it received the most Razzie ("honoring" the worst in film) nominations this year, even though she gave a commanding performance. Likewise no one outside the cinephile community has even heard of "To Leslie," so when Andrea Riseborough received her nomination it came as a total surprise, except for those big-named actors (such as Academy voters Amy Adams and Gwyneth Paltrow) who campaigned hard for her nomination.

SNUB:
Davis is not King, and Deadwyler is dead in the water

Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler
left out of Best Actress nominations

Instead of hearing Danielle Deadwyler and Viola Davis as Best Actress nominees, we got Ana de Armas and Andrea Riseborough instead, and while their performances should also be recognized, it's a shame that the Academy glossed over these two African American leading ladies and their impactful roles. Davis is Hollywood royalty who won an Oscar for her work in "Fences" and everyone thought she was a shoe-in for a nomination for her transformation into an action heroine in the (mostly) true story "The Woman King," but not only was she snubbed, the film itself earned zero nominations. Likewise, rising star Danielle Deadwyler's transformative performance as Mamie Till-Bradley in "Till" seemed to be a lock since she played the real-life mother who used her son Emmett's lynching as a way to shed light on racism in America. Yet, much like "The Woman King," not only was she snubbed from the Best Actress category, but the film itself also earned a shocking zero nominations.