Reaction: Oscars Nominations 2022

If I have said it before I will say it again. I love the Oscars, but I hate the academy. This year like every year there are a lot of snubs. No one will ever be 100% satisfied by the nominations. I honestly haven’t had the chance to see the majority of the films up for the Oscars and that will be my plan for the next upcoming weeks leading up to the Oscars. This year I just hope the viewership goes up, given last year's lowest viewership in the history of the event. I find I am always the only person I know who gets excited to watch the Oscars. So if you are reading this, please watch the Oscars and support the films that you enjoy watching.


I am so happy to see Dune’s 10 nominations. Dune is such an amazing film, but because it's a sci-fi film it was hard to figure out just where it would stand in nominations. It is no secret that the academy hates sci-fi films, they have done it every single year…and I get mad every single year. Would I have loved to see Oscar Isaac or Jason Mamoa nominated for best-supporting Actor, Timothee Chalamet for Best Actor, and Rebecca Ferguson up for Best Supporting Actress… of course but we all can’t get what we want and I knew that was more on the unlikely side. However, I also think the Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor categories are a little messy.


The biggest snub of the Oscars for me was Denis Velineuve not getting nominated for Best Director. He is so talented and the work he did on this film is truly inspiring and innovative. I can’t believe that Steven Spielberg was nominated for Best Director. It goes to show that at the end of the day it's really just a popularity contest and who has prestige. Steven Spielberg directed a remake. A remake to end all remakes. I liked West Side Story but are you seriously going to tell me that he was a better Director in West Side Story than Denis Villeneuve in Dune. I feel like this category should be about someone who changes the game, does something different and Steven Spielberg brought nothing new to the table and directed the same way he has for the past few decades. 

In terms of the Best Actor category, for the most part, I think they did pretty well here. I am very excited for Andrew Garfield for his role in Tick Tick Boom. I think his portrayal of Jonathan Larson is amazing and very true to who Jonathan Larson was. I loved Tick Tick Boom and it didn’t get as many nominations as I thought it would, but this one is very well deserved. I’ll definitely be rooting for him this award season.


A weird one that I don't understand how it is nominated for anything - Don't Look Up. I just don't see what people like about this movie. I don’t know what I missed that made this movie one of the best for the year. I do not get any of the hype for this movie. It is up for so many Oscars and the one that really sticks out to me is Film Editing. What. What about that film's editing was above and beyond. 

Best Visual Effects is a fun one this year, every film on this list I would love to see win it, except for maybe No Time to Die. I am also pleasantly surprised to see Free Guy even though I don't think it will win. Otherwise, you have DUNE, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Spider-Man No Way which I think are all very deserving to win. This will be a really interesting category to see play out. 


And now for Best Picture, I am honestly pretty content about this one because my favourites are all up there. Except I can’t figure out what people like about Don’t Look Up. Another one up there that I don’t really get is Nightmare Alley. I didn’t think it was THAT good. It was pretty average and honestly quite boring. There was nothing that really stood out about that film for me, definitely did not think it would be on the Best Picture list. Otherwise, I have a good feeling about the rest of the nominee list. 


A few films I saw this year that I wish got some more notice and nominations are The French Dispatch, House of Gucci, and Last Night in Soho. I loved these movies and thought they were better than a lot of the films in the Best Picture category. I saw Last Night in Soho at TIFF and thought it was amazing (and terrifying), the cinematography, lighting, use of colour, everything was stunning. So going into the Oscars I can’t believe it's not there. That has to be the snub of the Best Picture Category for me.


Wrapping this up, I know the Oscars have really gone downhill - especially last year. I still love getting excited about the Oscars. It is fun and I am so excited to see who hosts, presents, and of course, wins. A celebration of the films of this crazy weird year of film.