The most coveted prize in film, the Academy Awards also known as the Oscars has released its nominations for 2023.
It was announced yesterday by Allison Williams and Riz Ahmed and my only surprise is that AVATAR made it. “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” a twisty sci-fi adventure, led the nominations, picking up 11 nods. Followed by “All Quiet on the Western Front,” a World War I epic, and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” a darkly comic look at friendship with 9 nominations.
The best picture race contains the two highest-grossing films of the year, “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” along with “Elvis,” other contenders include Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical “The Fabelmans”;”Tár”; “Women Talking,” and “Triangle of Sadness”.
I am very happy for Brendan Fraser, and his first nomination for ‘Best Actor’, he had struggled in the past and I felt he had given up. Also, one of my favorite childhood characters Ke Huy Quan (Goonies; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) who like Brenden had also given up on acting, has also been nominated for his first Oscar. Before I forget, our girl Tems was nominated, for “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, kudos to her.
This year the number of women, in the ‘Best Director’ category and the number of people of color, in the highest categories are not a lot, but we continue to hope, that change will come.
Here are the nominees for the most popular categories according to Xplorenollywood:
Best Picture
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- Elvis
- Everything Everywhere All at Once
- The Fabelmans
- TÁR
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Triangle of Sadness
- Women Talking
Best Director
- Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
- Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
- Todd Field, TÁR
- Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness
Best Actor
- Austin Butler, Elvis
- Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
- Brendan Fraser, The Whale
- Paul Mescal, Aftersun
- Bill Nighy, Living
Best Actress
- Cate Blanchett, TÁR
- Ana de Armas, Blonde
- Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie
- Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans
- Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Supporting Actor
- Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
- Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway
- Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans
- Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
- Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Supporting Actress
- Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Hong Chau, The Whale
- Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
- Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
- Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell, All Quiet on the Western Front
- Rian Johnson, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
- Kazuo Ishiguro, Living
- Screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie, story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks, Top Gun: Maverick
- Sarah Polley, Women Talking
Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
- Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
- Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, The Fabelmans
- Todd Field, TÁR
- Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness
Best Animated Feature Film
- Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
- Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
- Puss In Boots: The Last Wish
- The Sea Beast
- Turning Red
Best Film Editing
- Mikkel E.G. Nielsen, The Banshees of Inisherin
- Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond, Elvis
- Paul Rogers, Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Monika Willi, TÁR
- Eddie Hamilton, Top Gun: Maverick
Best Cinematography
- James Friend, All Quiet on the Western Front
- Darius Khondji, Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
- Mandy Walker, Elvis
- Roger Deakins, Empire of Light
- Florian Hoffmeister, TÁR
Best Costume Design
- Mary Zophres, Babylon
- Ruth E. Carter, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Catherine Martin, Elvis
- Shirley Kurata, Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Jenny Beavan, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
Best Music (Original Song)
- “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman, music and lyrics by Dianne Warren
- “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick, music and lyrics by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
- “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, music and lyrics by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, and Ludwig Goransson
- “Naatu Naatu” from RRR, music by M.M. Keeravaani, lyrics by Chandrabose
- “This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once, music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne, and Mitski, lyrics by Ryan Lott
Best Visual Effects
- Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank, and Kamil Jafar, All Quiet on the Western Front
- Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett, Avatar: The Way of Water
- Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands, and Dominic Tuohy, The Batman
- Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White, and Dan Sudick, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, and Scott R. Fisher, Top Gun: Maverick
What films or people are you rooting for? Tell me in the comments section.
The 95th Academy Awards will air Sunday, March 12, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC.
