The 98th Academy Awards, scheduled for March 15, released its list of nominees on Thursday, sparking both solidarity and disagreement among film fanatics.
Fans mostly agree on who deserves the award for categories like directing and acting. While these categories seem like a no-brainer, others are harder to predict, like the coveted “Best Picture” award.
“The way that I like to look at the Oscars is less as some objective measure of quality, but as a good opportunity to take the temperature each year regarding what the industry values,” said Landon Palmer, an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and Creative Media.
“Sinners” broke the record of most nominations in Oscar history, in the running for 16 awards. Many viewers agree it is a top contender for the “Best Picture” award due to its original vision being executed well in spite of the risks the film took.
“There were a lot of industry prognosticators who were saying, ‘This movie is probably not going to be a success,’ ‘It’s probably not going to play internationally,’ so on and so forth,” Palmer said. “This has been the movie of the year that could. It stayed at the box office and a lot of people saw it.”
Other strong possibilities for Best Picture include “One Battle After Another,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and “Marty Supreme,” featuring Timothée Chalamet.
Reese Gabrielson, a first-year graduate student studying philosophy, hopes that the Academy will appreciate “Marty Supreme” and its unique portrayal of table tennis as a sport.
“It’s just a sports movie like no one’s ever seen,” Gabrielson said. “I think this is the year for different types of sports movies.”
Meanwhile, Brayden Wells, a freshman majoring in neuroscience, predicts “One Battle After Another” will win “Best Picture” as a celebration of its director, Paul Thomas Anderson, saying he thinks it will be a “big night” for him.
To that end, many viewers predict Anderson will take home the award for “Best Directing,” beating out opponents Chloe Zhao, Josh Safdie, Joaquim Trier and Ryan Coogler.
“I don’t think that’s a competitive one,” Palmer said. “There’s this idea with the Academy Awards of people being due for their award. I think there have been folks who have felt that about Paul Thomas Anderson for a while.”
“Best Actor in a Leading Role,” a race between Chalamet, DiCaprio, Ethan Hawke, Michael B. Jordan and Wagner Moura, is another category many fans agree on.
“I’d say it’s probably Timothée Chalamet’s Oscar to lose at this point,” Wells said. “He’s won all the precursor awards leading up to it. You can tell he really cares about not just winning, but also bringing the best to his performance.”
Viewers also agree that part of the success of Chalamet’s film “Marty Supreme” is due to his stardom and appeal to a younger audience.
“I think that the industry wants to be able to recognize somebody whose persona operates more like an old school star while they’re bringing younger people to go see movies they might not otherwise see,” Palmer said.
As for actresses, many fans hope for a win by Amy Madigan for her supporting role in “Weapons.” Gabrielson said her unique portrayal of the character “really sold it” to him.
Palmer applauded Madigan’s performance while also acknowledging the competitiveness of the “Supporting Actress” category.
“Madigan fits the definition of what a supporting role is supposed to do. She doesn’t have that much screen time, but she makes an impression.” Palmer said. “But you can say the same thing about Teyana Taylor in ‘One Battle After Another.’ Her presence is felt throughout the rest of the film.”
Many popular films received no nominations despite their high profile campaigns, including “The Long Walk,” “28 Years Later” and “Wicked: For Good.”
“I would have loved for ‘The Long Walk’ or ‘28 Years Later’ to be nominated,” said Henry Gilliam, a sophomore majoring in creative media. “I feel like they had really stellar scripts and stellar acting.”
Fans were also surprised to see no nominations for “Wicked: For Good” after its predecessor received 10 nominations last year. Viewers speculate it is perhaps due to its weaker box office presence and original songs that fell flat.
“Sequels are harder to sell. Especially the year after ‘Wicked’ had a huge night at the Oscars, it’s going to be harder to sell it,” Wells said.
Despite many disappointments, viewers appreciate a remarkable growth in international membership at this year’s Academy Awards.
“I think it’s cool that there’s so much international representation because that’s not what you would have seen in the Oscar ceremonies that I watched growing up,” Palmer said. “For any readers who haven’t seen any of the movies that are nominated, go check them out. I think it’s a pretty good slate this year.”
