2022 Oscar Nominations: Notables, Surprises, Snubs, and An Analysis of The Academy Awards

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With the Academy Awards finally arriving on March 27, 2022, we look back at the most noteworthy films and nominations for this year’s Oscars. This past year highlighted a plethora of groundbreaking Cinema, and features a list of nominations that quite possibly could be the most diverse and controversial in the award show’s history. With heavy favorites like ‘Power of the Dog’ directed by Jane Champion and ‘Dune’ directed by Denis Villeneuve, which are featured in multiple categories for this year’s Oscars, the Academy Awards undertakes the incredible challenge of recognizing not only 2021’s biggest blockbuster hits, but truly avant-garde Cinema such as ‘Drive My Car,’ directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, ‘Belfast,’ directed by Kenneth Branagh, and ‘Licorice Pizza,’ directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Featuring an eclectic collection of unique films, the 2022 Academy Awards exhibits a multitude of this year’s highest-quality films. Although, more noticeably it fails to recognize some of 2021’s greatest movies and performances given by their respective actors and actresses. Still, while considering the Academy Awards’ failure to recognize some of this year’s top films and casts, the 2022 Oscars features a number of superb films that are nothing short of deserving of both critical esteem and widespread public appreciation.

Noteworthy 2022 Oscar Nominations

‘Power of the Dog,’ directed by Jane Campion, captures the essence of the toxic macho-istic culture that defined early life as a cowboy in America. It is the heavy favorite for this year’s Academy Awards show going into March 27 with a staggering number of twelve nominations. The epic sci-fi novel adaptation ‘Dune,’ is the runner-up with a sizable ten nods. Both films feature superb acting, and are up for Best Picture along with the notable films, ‘Belfast,’ ‘CODA,’ ‘Don’t Look Up,’ ‘Drive My Car,’ ‘King Richard,’ ‘Licorice Pizza,’ ‘Nightmare Alley,’ and ‘Westside Story.’ Of these films, ‘King Richard’ directed by Tim White, tells the outstanding story of tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams, as well as that of their father Richard, who they can credit their incredible success to.

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King Richard is played by acting titan, Will Smith and he delivers a stellar performance, which has him nominated for Best Actor. ‘Westside Story,’ directed by Steven Spielberg, and ‘Belfast,’ directed by Kenneth Branagh, both received seven nominations this year and are favorites to win in the categories they were selected for. For his film ‘Belfast,’ “Branagh became the first person to earn seven Oscar nominations in seven different categories. He was nominated for directing, producing, and writing the original screenplay for the film.” Steven Spielberg, Kenneth Branagh, and Jane Campion are all nominated to win Best Director, along with Ryûsuke Hamaguchi for ‘Drive My Car,’ “a three-hour examination of grief and art,” and Paul Thomas Anderson for ‘Licorice Pizza’ an inexplicable coming of age/dark comedy about the relationship between a 15-year-old boy and a 25-year-old woman. Though due to the pandemic this year, “‘West Side Story,’ ‘Belfast’ and ‘Nightmare Alley’ were among the many films that failed to convert critical raves into ticket sales.”

The nominations for Best Actor in a leading role include, Benedict Cumberbatch (‘Power of the Dog’) featuring his superlative American-accent, Andrew Garfield playing Jonathan Larson the creator of the musical ‘Rent,’(‘Tick, Tick… Boom!’), Javier Bardem as Ricky Ricardo (‘Being the Ricardos’), Will Smith (‘King Richard’), and Denzel Washington in the world-famous Shakespearean tale (‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’). The women nominated for Best Actress in a leading role include, Jessica Chastain as the famed televangelist, Tammy Faye (‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’), Olivia Colman, playing a grieving mother, Leda, (‘The Lost Daughter’), Penélope Cruz as Janice, a photographer (‘Parallel Mothers’), Kristin Stewart as the iconic Princess Diana (‘Spencer’), and Nicole Kidman playing the renowned comedian, Lucille Ball (‘Being the Ricardos’).

A few notable nominations for best-supporting actor and actress consist of J.K. Simmons as William Frawley (‘Being the Ricardos’), Kirsten Dunst in her excellent portrayal as Rose Gordon (‘Power of the Dog’) in contrast to Benedict Cumberbatch, Ariana DeBose playing Anita in Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ remake, and Troy Kotsur as Frank Rossi (‘CODA’) making as history as the first deaf male actor to ever win an Oscar nomination.

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Surprises and Snubs: Academy Awards Bumbles

While it may seem impossible that Spiderman: No Way Home, which definitively was the biggest blockbuster of the 2021 year, did not receive a nomination from the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, or any other category besides Best Visuals. This fact is shamefully and appallingly true. Spiderman: No Way Home which has to date made over 1.69 billion dollars, making it the sixth highest-grossing film of all time, and has raised numerous and never-ending appraisal from both critics and the public alike. Jaw-droppingly, that was not enough to earn it a spot in any other category, other than Best Visuals for this year’s Academy Awards.

This snub is the biggest surprise and mistake by the Academy Awards this season and questions the very credibility that the Oscars “stands upon.” Other shocking spurns by the 2022 Academy Awards was Lady Gaga’s publicly and widely commended performance in ‘House of Gucci,’ a film by Ridley Scott which was all but shut out of Oscar nominations, Nicole Kidman’s portrayal of Lucille Ball in ‘Being the Ricardos,’ which was “considered a lock by many Oscar prognosticators,” Bradley Cooper’s failure to be recognized for his sublime role in ‘Licorice Pizza,’ and Ben Affleck with his “comedic” take on Count Pierre d’Alençon in Ridley Scott’s ‘The Last Duel.’ More notably was the Academy Awards’ entire failure to recognize the outstanding film, ‘The Last Duel’ and its legendary director, Ridley Scott, in any category.

The whole cast: Matt Damon, Jodie Comer, and Adam Driver, all delivered excellent performances, but were looked over by this year’s Oscars nominations which refused to acknowledge any of them. Another unexpected and unexplainable snub was the lack of nomination for Denis Villeneuve, whose work and adaptation of ‘Dune,’ was nominated for ten Academy Awards and yet the Oscars felt as if the film’s director was not fit to be nominated for Best Director.

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While the Academy Awards were anything but lacking in snubs this year, in any sense of the word, there were still some pleasantly unexpected surprises among the 2022 nominations. Both Javier Bardem and J.K. Simmons, were welcome surprises for their exceptional performances in ‘Being the Ricardos,’ despite Simon Rex expected to have been nominated over Bardem for his work in ‘Red Rocket,’ and Bradley Cooper predicted to be nominated before Simmons for his role in ‘Licorice Pizza.” Although admittedly the Best Supporting Actor category was viewed as a “bit of a toss-up this year.” A huge surprise concerning the Best Actress in a leading role category was Kristen Stewart’s nomination for her performance as Princess Diana in ‘Spencer.’ This nod appeared highly unlikely as neither the SAG awards nor the BAFTA’s nominated Stewart for her acting in ‘Spencer.’

This will be Kristen Stewart’s first Oscar nomination. Further astonishing surprises this year regarding role and film nominations are Jessie Buckley in her rare performance as the younger Leda, in ‘The Lost Daughter,’ ‘Drive My Car,’ which was expected to be listed in the international film category “but managed to break through and claim one of the coveted spots on the best picture list,” and ‘Flee,’ which has been nominated for three major categories: Animated, Documentary, and International Feature. This marks the first time in almost a century that a film has been nominated simultaneously for all three of these categories.

Critical Analysis of The Oscars (2022)

As the ninety-fourth anniversary of the Academy Awards approaches, this year’s Oscars nominations provide a rare insight into the inner workings of an awards show that is considered by many as the most elite and distinguished of all film award ceremonies. Last year at the ninety-third Academy Awards show in 2021, the Oscars featured the lowest viewings and ratings that the ceremony has ever seen before. Granted that this show took place at the full height of the pandemic, that has little to do with the atrocious ratings that this awards ceremony exhibited this previous year. Absolutely nothing was keeping people from streaming this award’s show from the comfort of their own homes if that’s what they had wanted to do. The abysmal reviews signified more than the lack of connection to the Oscars by Americans and the world due to the extent of the pandemic.

It reflected a sign of the times; the Academy Awards is out of touch with the very people and films that it commits itself to cover and recognize. The Academy is disconnected from the very views and opinions of the people it aims to attract. While all of the Academy’s decisions aren’t completely incorrect or even wrong, their failure to adapt to change and select films that represent the sentiments of the ordinary people represents the beginning of their downfall. If the 2021 Oscars is any indication of the values of this year’s Academy Awards, which I suggest it is, based on their blind and unexplainable selections for this year’s nominations and their outrageous snubs of 2022. It will soon be the downfall of the awards show that boasts the title of being the most “prestigious” in the world.

Full List of 2022 Oscar Nominations:

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

Best Director

Kenneth Branagh (‘Belfast’)

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (‘Drive My Car’)

Paul Thomas Anderson (‘Licorice Pizza’)

Jane Campion (‘The Power of the Dog’)

Steven Spielberg (‘West Side Story’)

Best Lead 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’)

Best Lead Actress

Jessica Chastain (‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’)

Olivia Colman (‘The Lost Daughter’)

Penélope Cruz (‘Parallel Mothers’)

Nicole Kidman (‘Being the Ricardos’)

Kristen Stewart (‘Spencer’)

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’)

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’)

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

Best Original Screenplay

‘Belfast,’ written by Kenneth Branagh

‘Don’t Look Up,’ screenplay by Adam McKay; story by Adam McKay and 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

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

Best Animated Feature Film

‘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

Best Animated Short Film

‘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

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

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

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

Best Original Song

“Be Alive” from ‘King Richard,’ Music and Lyric by Dixson and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter

“Dos Oruguitas” from ‘Encanto,’ Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

“Down To Joy” from ‘Belfast,’ Music and Lyric by Van Morrison

“No Time To Die” from ‘No Time to Die,’ Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell

“Somehow You Do” from ‘Four Good Days,’ Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

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 Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie

‘Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised),’ Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein

‘Writing With Fire,’ Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh

Best Documentary Short Subject

‘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

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

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Best International Feature Film

‘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)

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

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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

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

Best Live Action Short Film

‘Ala Kachuu – Take and Run,’ Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger

‘The Dress,’ Tadeusz Łysiak 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

Good luck to all the nominees!

By Thomas Jacobs

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Thomas Jacobs

Thomas Jacobs is an avid writer, Cinema aficionado, and filmmaker. He graduated with Dean’s Honors from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a major in Film and Digital Media. His passion is directly tied to the appreciation and creation of film and television, and this fact is reflected in his intent to be a writer for the acclaimed entertainment journal, The Hollywood Insider. His beliefs mirror the core goals and mission statement of The Hollywood Insider by sharing an admiration for quality entertainment as well as bolstering a sense of positivity and equality among all humans. Thomas believes that Cinema is an advantageous promoter of civil and social empowerment, and he shares a mutual societal view with The Hollywood Insider, that people should not be judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character.

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2022 Oscar Nominations: Notables, Surprises, Snubs, and An Analysis of The Academy Awards

Noteworthy 2022 Oscar Nominations

All Best Actor/Actress Speeches From The Beginning Of Oscars 1929-2019

Oscar Snubs: The Top 10 Actors Ignored By Oscars for Best Actor & Best Actress Awards

Surprises and Snubs: Academy Awards Bumbles

The Importance of Awards: A Reminder That Awards Aren’t God | Oscars, BAFTA, Golden Globes, Emmys

Critical Analysis of The Oscars (2022)

Full List of 2022 Oscar Nominations:

Best Picture

Best Director

Best Lead Actor

Best Lead Actress

Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actress

Best Adapted Screenplay

Best Original Screenplay

Best Cinematography

Best Animated Feature Film

Best Animated Short Film

Best Costume Design

Best Original Score

Best Sound

Best Original Song

Best Documentary Feature

Best Documentary Short Subject

Best Film Editing

Best International Feature Film

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Best Production Design

Best Visual Effects

Best Live Action Short Film

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