Knock on Wood

Another year, another round of Oscar nominations to over-analyze until the glorious cycle repeats itself next awards season. Let us embark on this journey together as we discuss ten snubs, surprises, musings, and takeaways from the 2024 Oscar nominations.

1. Best Picture is Oppenheimer’s award to lose.

As if there was any doubt, Tuesday morning’s Oscar nominations solidified Oppenheimer’s status as the untouchable awards season juggernaut. Leading the pack with a humble 13 nominations, Oppenheimer is poised to take home Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Score, and Best Sound with a more than fighting chance at taking home Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.

2. No love for All of Us Strangers, Asteroid City, or The Iron Claw.

Whether it be the heartfelt performances in All of Us Strangers, the immaculate production design in Asteroid City, or The Iron Claw’s tender screenplay, these three films stand out amongst the pack of films completely shunned by the Academy. Awards season has always been a political game, but it remains a shame that so many of the most deserving films get overlooked by awards bodies whose sole job it is to award such films on artistic merit.

3. Wes Anderson may finally win his Oscar… for a short film.

To say Anderson is long overdue for an Academy Award would be an understatement. Any cast or crew member who had even the faintest involvement with a masterpiece like The Grand Budapest Hotel deserves five million Oscars, eternal life, and the secret to happiness. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar might be an unexpected means for Anderson to finally receive the recognition he deserves, but if the Academy refuses to recognize Asteroid City, who are we to complain if they wish to apologize in the form of an Oscar for Best Live Action Short?

4. The Academy nominates America Ferrara, but not Barbie herself, Margot Robbie.

Look, Ferrara is wonderful in Barbie, and Supporting Actress is an admittedly less competitive category than Lead Actress. However, for a commercial film that has performed far better than expected in the awards circuit, it is frustrating that Robbie is the backbone of the film and yet is not recognized as such. The salt is rubbed even further into the wound when one remembers that this is the second consecutive year the Academy has snubbed Robbie after her phenomenal work in last year’s Babylon, a film that once again could not succeed at all without a performance as strong as Robbie’s at its center.

5. Oscar nominees Sterling K. Brown, Cillian Murphy, and Jeffrey Wright. Finally.

For all the snubs, the true joy of the awards season is seeing actors like Brown, Murphy, and Wright finally recognized for their consistently excellent work. It can be fun to welcome actors on the rise like Lily Gladstone or Da’Vine Joy Randolph, but there is a special sort of satisfaction that comes from awarding an actor like Murphy who has been quietly putting in exceptional film and television work for decades.

6. Two nominations for Past Lives, but is it enough?

It is hard to complain about the lack of recognition for Celine Song’s Past Lives when it garnered nominations for both Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, but somehow it feels underwhelming for one of the best, most beautifully constructed films of the year. The Oscars have always been a popularity contest, and perhaps the film’s small scale and less mainstream cast held Past Lives back from even greater success, but one would hope that the Academy could rise above such barriers for the sake of great art.

7. No screenplay nomination for Killers of the Flower Moon!

One of the most shocking omissions of the year is Killers of the Flower Moon in Best Adapted Screenplay, a nomination that most awards season pundits assumed would be a shoo-in. Though The Zone of Interest is an incredibly welcome addition to this year’s adapted screenplay line-up, something doesn’t feel quite right about a film like Barbie getting recognized for its screenwriting over such a passionate, considered film as Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

8. Oscar nominee Flamin’ Hot.

I’ve got nothing to add here, it’s just fun to say — try it, it’s fun! “Oscar nominee Flamin’ Hot.”

9. No acting nominations for May December.

A controversial film to some, but the performances in May December are some of the best of the year. Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton could easily have been frontrunners in any other year, but the Academy’s preference for more obvious (for lack of a better term) performances unfortunately reigns supreme.

10. Best Original Score: At least we’ve got Oppenheimer, Poor Things, and Killers of the Flower Moon, I suppose.

Perhaps the most frustrating and baffling snub of the night is Daniel Pemberton’s score for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. After performing well at awards shows throughout the entire season, and after Pemberton’s supposedly “epic” performance of his score at the Academy Museum last month, this omission is a true head-scratcher. Is it snobbery? Stupidity? Ignorance? Across the Spider-Verse is a film that is propelled forward by its genuinely innovative music written by one of the most uniquely talented composers around. Must we really offer John Williams his 54th Oscar nomination for a score he could have written in his sleep?

Well, we’ve made it. The cinephile’s burden is not an easy one to bear as we angrily type away our feelings on which wealthy celebrities most deserve a little, golden trophy. We laughed, we cried, and we sang ourselves a sad little song in remembrance of all the potential nominees we lost along the way.

The Academy Awards will air live on ABC on Sunday, March 10 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.