OnScreen Blog Reacts to The 2023 Oscar Nominations

OnScreen Blog Staff

The nominations for the 2023 Oscars were announced today, and, the OnScreen Blog team all wanted to answer some questions on the biggest surprises, the biggest travesties, the movies they are rooting for, some early predictions on the category winners., and more

Reacting to the nominations are:

Ken Jones, OnScreen Blog Chief Film Critic

Greg Ehrhardt, OnScreen Blog Columnist

Chris Peterson, OnScreen Blog Contributor and OnStage Blog Founder

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST SURPRISE coming out of THE NOMINATIONS THIS YEAR?

Ken: I think there are two big pleasant surprises in the Supporting categories with first time nominees Stephanie Hsu and Brian Tyree Henry. Hsu was a delight and I really wanted her to be nominated ever since I saw EEAAO back in April. I’ve been a fan of Henry’s since the start of Atlanta, and he’s taken a lot of diverse film roles, so I’m happy to see him get some recognition as he’s been doing high quality work for several years now.

Greg: It has to be Stephanie Hsu being nominated. I was pretty certain Jaime Lee Curtis was going to be the only supporting actress nominee from Everything Everywhere All At Once, and this would have been a bit of a travesty for two reasons. One, while Curtis was a lot of fun in the movie, I did not think it was a serious enough performance to be Oscar worthy. Two, if only Curtis got the nomination, there should have been justifiable cries of white favoritism for a movie with significant Asian representation because Shu was way more deserving for her performance. I’m concerned neither will win because both received nominations and may split the vote, but either way, it is a win for both of them, so that is an acceptable compromise

Chris: Brian Tyree Henry was the biggest surprise. It was an excellent performance, I did not see an Oscar nod for him, but I am glad for him. If I had to buy stock in an actor right now, I would be putting a ton into his career. This is just the beginning for him.

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST SNUB of this year’s oscars?

Ken: Easily, the biggest snub to me is that Decision To Leave received zero nominations. I thought it was a shoe in for Best International Feature Film, perhaps Park Chan-wook had an outside shot at Best Director or maybe it snagged a Cinematography nod. It was one of the best pure cinematic experiences of the year, it was prominently featured on many critics year end lists, it was #6 for me personally, so for it to be completely ignored by the Academy is pretty shocking.

Greg: I do not understand how Top Gun Maverick wasn’t nominated for best original score. Hans Zimmer’s work here was his best in years, and that’s saying something considering his resume. Listen to the soundtrack here and tell me you don’t get chills during every track even on the 100th listen. It’s on my shortlist of best scores of the 21st century.

Chris: Tom Cruise not getting an Oscar nod. Sometimes a performance is worthy of a nomination for being more than just an acting performance. There is no doubt that Tom Cruise put every fiber of his being into Top Gun: Maverick. I would have loved to have seen him get recognized for this.

What Movie Or Person Are You Rooting For to win?

Ken: Everything Everywhere All At Once was my #1 movie of the year, and has made its way into my personal Top 10, so I am rooting for every nominee attached to it, but none more than Ke Huy Quan. The child actor who played Short Round and Data in the 80s returned to acting after quitting about two decades ago. He had serious FOMO after seeing Crazy Rich Asians, and this was the first role he got after deciding to give acting a go again. Everything about his comeback makes me weirdly emotional and proud for him. He absolutely deserves all the love he’s getting.

Greg: I’m rooting for Top Gun Maverick to win all of the awards for a couple reasons. One, Top Gun has a chance to be the 9th movie to ever sell 20 million tickets, have a 90% or better Rotten Tomato score, and win 5 Oscars, aka the 2095 club. That is seriously elite company, and I want to see history made. Two, Hollywood is in serious trouble of going all in on Superhero IP and low budget Oscar bait, and if Top Gun Maverick wins, maybe, just maybe, it tells Hollywood to make more feel-good movies with naturally awesome special effects.

Chris: Everything Everywhere All At Once. As an Asian American, it has been wonderful to see this wave of representation on screen. Everything Everywhere All At Once is the pinnacle of this movement. It’s one of the more innovative films I’ve seen in quite a while that packs such an emotional punch. It is impossible for me not to cheer for it.

What’s the most intriguing Category this year?

Ken: When the nominees were being read off, the one category that stood out to me, was Original Screenplay. I think you could make a compelling case for all five nominees; there isn’t a weak spot in the bunch, and I don’t think there is an obvious frontrunner in the category. None of these films winning would surprise me.

Greg: I think Best Actress is going to be fascinating. Its a 2 person race between Cate Blanchett and Michelle Yeoh, and both performances are great not just for this year, but for the last 10 years at least. Blanchett to me is the one that should win, but Yeoh has a great story, a great performance, and the public and certain factions of the Academy are going to be pushing hard for her to win.

Chris: Surprisingly, Best Costume Design. It’s an interesting mix because you have legends such as Ruth E. Carter and Catherine Martin going up against newcomers. It’s also rare that a film that is set in the 1800s or older, is not nominated. I don’t see a clear front runner here, so it will be interesting to see if the popularity of certain movies carry the vote as opposed to artistic achievement.

did the academy get all of the best picture nominees correct?

Ken: Glancing at my Top 20 Films of 2022, I had 7 of the 10 nominees on my list: EEAAO, Tar, The Banshees of Inisherin, Women Talking, Top Gun: Maverick, The Fabelmans, and Triangle of Sadness. Of the other three, I have yet to see All Quiet on the Western Front, but I’ve heard very positive things. However, I don’t think Avatar: The Way of Water or Elvis have any business being in this category. I had Elvis ranked at the very bottom of the year alongside the likes of Blonde and Morbius. Frankly, Elvis is a laughable Best Picture contender and is easily the 10th ranked movie in this category.

Greg: They didn’t leave any deserving movie out, but there should have been only 7 nominees. Avatar: The Way of Water and Women Talking were not nearly good enough to deserve nominations, and Elvis, with a 77% Rotten Tomato score? Come on. That was a shameless inclusion to generate more eyeballs to the screen and nothing more.

Chris: Avatar: The Way of Water shouldn’t have been in the mix. I would have loved to have seen See How They Run or the Matilda movie musical get some recognition here.

What Movie Do You Think Should Win Best Picture?

Ken: I want EEAAO to win. And I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I actually like its chances. I think it might even be the slight favorite. Which means I’ll spend the next two months tempering my expectations, because it’s never a good idea to get your hopes up with the Oscars.

Greg: Top Gun Maverick, no joke. I wrote at length about its qualifications here, although I did say the one movie that beats it in qualifications is Everything Everywhere All At Once. I have since re-watched Top Gun Maverick, and while EEAAO was a very difficult movie to pull off the way Daniels did, it was an even bigger accomplishment for Top Gun Maverick to pull off all of its practical stunts the way they did and make a movie going experience as awesome as it was, all while generating over $700 million domestic box office dollars. Difficulty of achievement should be given serious weight in the movies, and, in a year where all of the serious nominees failed to generate any audience interest at the theaters, Maverick was the one who pulled off being great while smashing the box office.

Chris: Everything Everywhere All At Once. It’s the favorite. It’s also one of my favorite films of the last decade. Simple storylines with incredible visuals. It also features some of the best editing and individual performances of the past year. As an Asian American, I’ve never been so proud.

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