This morning, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominees for the 94^th Academy Awards. Some films performed as expected while there were some snubs, particularly in the acting categories.

FIB’s film of the year 2021, “The Power of the Dog”, leads total Oscar nominations with twelve. The impressive Jane Campion film garners nods in writing (adapted screenplay), acting (both supporting and main), direction and the best picture categories. This is of little surprise, given the film’s quality. The Academy may also make history if Campion wins. It will be the first time that two women have won the best director Oscar back-to-back after Chloe Zhao last year for “Nomadland”.

Another top contender is Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune”, picking up 10 nominations. It dominates mainly in the technical categories; so expect the film to net itself a few awards during the ceremony. The biggest surprise, perhaps, is Villeneuve not making the cut for the Best Director category. Will Smith also has the potential to walk away with two Oscars, having been nominated in the best actor category for King Richard. He also produced (meaning he would also get a statue were it to win for best picture).

Snubs & Shocks

While there weren’t as many snubs or shock nominations as some recent years, the nominations still had their share. The House of Gucci only secured one nomination, for Best Make-up and Hairstyling, despite many believing that both Lady Gaga and Jared Leto’s performances warranted a closer look – especially in Gaga’s case, as she has been nominated in most awards during the lead-up.

While many expected a nomination for Nicole Kidman for her work as Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos, perhaps more surprising is the respective nominations for Javier Bardem and J.K. Simmons for their work in the film. The Best Actress category is shaping up to be one of the most competitive, with Kidman going up against Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter) and Kristen Stewart (Spencer).’

2022 will mark the ceremony itself returning to having a dedicated host after three years without one. Comedian Kevin Hart was scheduled to host the 2019 ceremony until some homophobic tweets resurfaced and the Academy cancelled his appearance. Since then the ceremony has been hostless, but this year will see a return to that format. To put in my two cents, bring back Billy Crystal.

List of Oscar Nominees

Here is a complete list of the nominees for the 2022 Academy Awards (via The Hollywood Reporter).

OSCAR, BEST PICTURE

Belfast (Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas, Producers)

CODA (Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, Producers)

Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers)

Drive My Car (Teruhisa Yamamoto, Producer)

Dune (Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter, Producers)

King Richard (Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith, Producers)

Licorice Pizza (Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers)

Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper, Producers)

The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier, Producers)

West Side Story (Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers)

OSCAR, BEST DIRECTOR

Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)

Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)

Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car)

Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)

OSCAR, BEST ACTOR

Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos)

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog)

Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick … Boom!)

Will Smith (King Richard)

Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

OSCAR, BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter)

Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)

Judi Dench (Belfast)

Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog)

Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)

OSCAR, BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Ciarán Hinds (Belfast)

Troy Kotsur (CODA)

Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog)

J.K. Simmons (Being the Ricardos)

Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)

OSCAR, BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Cruella (Jenny Beavan)

Cyrano (Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran)

Dune (Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan)

Nightmare Alley (Luis Sequeira)

West Side Story (Paul Tazewell)

OSCAR, BEST SOUND

Belfast (Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri)

Dune (Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett)

No Time to Die (Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor)

The Power of the Dog (Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb)

West Side Story (Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy)

OSCAR, BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Don’t Look Up (Nicholas Britell)

Dune (Hans Zimmer)

Encanto (Germaine Franco)

Parallel Mothers (Alberto Iglesias)

The Power of the Dog (Jonny Greenwood)

OSCAR, BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

CODA (screenplay by Siân Heder)

Drive My Car (screenplay by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe)

Dune (screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth)

The Lost Daughter (written by Maggie Gyllenhaal)

The Power of the Dog (written by Jane Campion)

OSCAR, BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Belfast (written by Kenneth Branagh)

Don’t Look Up (screenplay by Adam McKay; story by Adam McKay & David Sirota)

King Richard (written by Zach Baylin)

Licorice Pizza (written by Paul Thomas Anderson)

The Worst Person in the World (written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier)

OSCAR, BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Affairs of the Art (Joanna Quinn and Les Mills)

Bestia (Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz)

Boxballet (Anton Dyakov)

Robin Robin (Dan Ojari and Mikey Please)

The Windshield Wiper (Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez)

OSCAR, BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

Ala Kachuu — Take and Run (Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger)

The Dress (Tadeusz Lysiak and Maciej Ślesicki)

The Long Goodbye (Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed)

On My Mind (Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson)

Please Hold (K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse)

OSCAR, BEST FILM EDITING

Don’t Look Up (Hank Corwin)

Dune (Joe Walker)

King Richard (Pamela Martin)

The Power of the Dog (Peter Sciberras)

Tick, Tick … Boom! (Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum)

OSCAR, BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Coming 2 America (Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer)

Cruella (Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon)

Dune (Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr)

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh)

House of Gucci (Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras)

OSCAR, BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Encanto (Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer)

Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie)

Luca (Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren)

The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht)

Raya and the Last Dragon (Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho)

OSCAR, BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Ascension (Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell)

Attica (Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry)

Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sorensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie)

Summer of Soul (Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein)

Writing With Fire (Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh)

OSCAR, BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Audible (Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean)

Lead Me Home (Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk)

The Queen of Basketball (Ben Proudfoot)

Three Songs for Benazir (Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei)

When We Were Bullies (Jay Rosenblatt)

OSCAR, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Dune (Greig Fraser)

Nightmare Alley (Dan Laustsen)

The Power of the Dog (Ari Wegner)

The Tragedy of Macbeth (Bruno Delbonnel)

West Side Story (Janusz Kaminski)

OSCAR, BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

Drive My Car (Japan)

Flee (Denmark)

The Hand of God (Italy)

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan)

The Worst Person in the World (Norway)

OSCAR, BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Dune (production design: Patrice Vermette; set decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos)

Nightmare Alley (production design: Tamara Deverell; set decoration: Shane Vieau)

The Power of the Dog (production design: Grant Major; set decoration: Amber Richards)

The Tragedy of Macbeth (production design: Stefan Dechant; set decoration: Nancy Haigh)

West Side Story (production design: Adam Stockhausen; set decoration: Rena DeAngelo)

OSCAR, BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Dune (Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer)

Free Guy (Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick)

No Time to Die (Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver)

Spider-Man: No Way Home (Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick)

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