2022 Oscar Nominations

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Free Use Image Courtesy of Flickr.

A couple of weeks ago, the Academy Awards announced its nominations for the major film awards, such as Best Picture, Best Actor/Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actor/Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Animated Feature Film, Best Cinematography, Best Directing, Best Documentary, Best Editing, Best International Film, and Best Music.

Leading the pack was The Power of the Dog, which was nominated for twelve Oscars. Close behind was Dune with ten nominations and Belfast with seven. All three were nominated for Best Picture.

One controversial Best Picture choice was Don’t Look Up, receiving only 56% on Rotten Tomatoes, while the rest of the nominations had an average of 90%. The other nominations included Coda, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, and West Side Story. An early favorite to take the award is The Power of the Dog.

Nominees for other popular awards included Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog), Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick … Boom!), Will Smith (King Richard), and Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth) for Best Actor. Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter), Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers), Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos), and Kristen Stewart (Spencer) were nominated for Best Actress. Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza), Kenneth Branagh (Belfast), Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), and Steven Spielberg (West Side Story) were nominated for Best Director.

One popular film that received zero nominations was The French Dispatch, directed by Wes Anderson. Another snub was Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor in Don’t Look Up

With his nomination for West Side Story, Steven Spielberg is the first director to receive nominations in six separate decades (1970s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 10s, and now 20s). Jane Campion, director of The Power of the Dog, is the first woman to earn two career Best Director nominations after she received her second this year. Ari Wegner, the cinematographer for The Power of the Dog, is now the second woman ever to be nominated for Best Cinematography.

The 94th Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on March 27th at 8 PM EST, and they will be televised on ABC.