And the Nominees Are ...

 

For whatever it may be worth (probably not much) the 2024 Oscar nominees have been announced. The list is below of the six categories that I care about.

Unfortunately, I have only seen four of the 10 Best Picture Nominees. In former days, when I went to the movies much more often, I might have seen most of them by now and would have certainly made a point of trying to see all of them by the date of the awards. This year, I have only seen Barbie, The Holdovers, Maestro, and Oppenheimer. All of them belong on that list in m opinion, and all of them, I believe, would have qualified if the Academy were still using the traditional five-film list, instead of the newfangled 10. All four, I believe, deserve Best Picture. I would be happy for any one of them to win. My prediction is that Oppenheimer will probably get the Oscar.

For Best Actor, of the three that I have seen, I would go with Paul Giamatti, although I think the other two (Bradley Cooper and Cilllian Murray) are comparably deserving. For Best Actress, the only one I have seen is Maestro's Carey Mulligan. So I can express neither preference not prediction.

For Best Supporting Actor, I have only seen Robert Downey, Jr., and Ryan Gosling, both of whom I rate about equally. My personal preference would probably go to Ryan Gosling; my prediction to Robert Downey, Jr. For Best Supporting Actress, having seen only two of them, I will go with Oppenheimer's Emily Blunt.

Finally, for Best Director, the only one I can comment on is Christopher Nolan, who I predict will win. I do, however, note the truly shocking absence of Barbie's Brett Gerwig, which seems hard to justify.

Best picture:

“American Fiction”                                                                                                            “Anatomy of a Fall”                                                                                                           “Barbie”                                                                                                                                 “The Holdovers”                                                                                                                        “Killers of the Flower Moon”                                                                                          “Maestro”                                                                                                         “Oppenheimer”                                                                                                                  “Past Lives”                                                                                                                     “Poor Things”                                                                                                                  “Zone of Interest”

Best actor in a leading role:

Bradley Cooper, “Maestro”                                                                                              Colman Domingo, “Rustin”                                                                                                      Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers”                                                                                      Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”                                                                                        Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”

Best actress in a leading role:                                                                                               Annette Bening, “Nyad”                                                                                                                 Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon”                                                                           Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall”                                                                                          Carey Mulligan, “Maestro”

Emma Stone, “Poor Things”

Best actor in a supporting role:                                                                                                  Sterling K. Brown, “American Fiction”                                                                               Robert De Niro, “Killers of the Flower Moon”                                                                     Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer”

Ryan Gosling, “Barbie”                                                                                                        Mark Ruffalo, “Poor Things”

Best actress in a supporting role:

Emily Blunt, “Oppenheimer”                                                                                          Danielle Brooks, “The Color Purple”                                                                                   America Ferrera, “Barbie”                                                                                                    Jodie Foster, “Nyad”                                                                                                            Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”

Best director:

Justine Triet, “Anatomy of a Fall”                                                                                    Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon"                                                            Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”                                                                                   Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things”                                                                                   Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”