How to Sound Smart Talking About the 2024 Oscars (Even if You Didn’t Watch Everything)
Have you seen every film nominated for a major Academy Award this year? Whether you (somehow) did or not, we want to help you impress everyone you talk to about the Oscars, which will air on March 10. And we can do that because we really did watch every film nominated for either best picture, director, or acting. So if you want to sound smart discussing the nominees, snubs, surprises, favorites, and more of the six most prestigious categories, this in-depth guide to the 96th Academy Awards will let you do just that.
Jump To (Best Picture and Best Director): Best Picture Nominees // What to Say About Best Picture Films // Best Picture Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Picture // Who Should Win Best Picture // Best Director Nominees // What to Say About Best Directors // Best Director Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Director // Who Should Win Best Director
Jump To (Best Actor and Actress Awards): Best Actress in Leading Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actress in Leading Role // Best Actress Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Actress in Leading Role // Who Should Win Best Actress in Leading Role // Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actor in a Leading Role // Best Actor Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Actor in a Leading Role // Who Should Win Best Actor in a Leading Role // Best Actress in Supporting Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actress in Supporting Role // Best Supporting Actress Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Supporting Actress // Who Should Win Best Supporting Actress // Best Actor in Supporting Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actor in Supporting Role // Best Supporting Actor Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Supporting Actor // Who Should Win Best Supporting Actor
BEST PICTURE
Nominees
What You Need to Know About the Oscar Nominees for Best Picture
Oppenheimer is the overwhelming favorite, and with a leading 13-nominations it’ll likely already have a lot of statues before the night’s biggest trophy is handed out. What makes the seeming inevitability of its victory even more impressive is that this is a loaded category. The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Past Lives, Poor Things, and The Zone of Interest would all be worthy winners. And American Fiction, Barbie, and Anatomy of a Fall are excellent movies worthy of their nominations.
If Maestro wins we’re looking at the biggest bribery scandal in human history.
How To Sound Smart Talking About Every Nominee
American Fiction: Considering our current reality, it’s hard to create good satire anymore. Yet somehow American Fiction’s Cord Jefferson created great satire in his directorial debut with his incredible adaptation of Percival Everett’s Erasure. The story of Thelonious “Monk” Ellison—a respected but struggling Black author whose anonymous joke novel parodying how white people think of Black Americans becomes a massive hit—is funny, moving, and incredibly insightful. It’s one of 2023’s most re-watchable films, too.
Anatomy of A Fall: Did Sandra Voyter murder her husband or did he leap to his death? It’s a great question that makes for a compelling mystery, but that’s not what makes Anatomy of a Fall great. It’s the way the film uses our own conceptions and biases against us, leading us to think Sandra is definitely innocent one moment and definitely guilty the next. It’s also a human story that offers meaningful reflection on the nature of truth, relationships, self, and culpability. This is a movie that stays with you. Unfortunately that freaking song stays with you, too.
Barbie: Somehow Greta Gerwig made a movie about an iconic toy under the watchful eye of the toy’s owner, and it not only didn’t suck, it was both a record-setting box office smash and critical darling. How?! How was Barbie this good, this funny, this moving, and this poignant when it probably should have been nothing more than an expensive commercial? It’s basically a movie miracle.
The Holdovers: This might be the best acted movie of the year, as it’s three leads are all operating at the highest level. But not enough people have talked about how The Holdovers is also one of the best movies ever made about class in America. Maybe that’s because its a character study that does so many things well it’s easy to overlook that important element. Alexander Payne’s laugh-out-loud period film meticulously peels away its many layers, revealing unexpected depths. You can’t fully appreciate what it’s about until it’s over, in what stands as a masterclass of storytelling in every way.
Killers of The Flower Moon: Maybe the greatest American director ever created a masterpiece about the banality of evil, in a true story of an attempted genocide, and somehow no one thinks Killers of the Flower Moon is going to win Best Picture. We’re spoiled. Time will help us realize just how good this movie really is, especially its innovative final scene which reminds us we’re to all responsible for how peoples’ painful pasts are bastardized for profit and entertainment.
Maestro: One thing you have to give Maestro credit for is that it made every single viewer under 40 who go online to find out why Leonard Bernstein was such an important artist. By not even attempting to answer that question Bradley Cooper did wonders for search engines everywhere.
Oppenheimer: What more could you want or expect from a movie? Oppenheimer tells the story of arguably the most consequential person in human history (hopefully he is not!), with a story that is equally entertaining and insightful, epic and intimate. It’s a visual marvel, yet rooted in a painfully human tale of success, ambition, and regret. It’s haunting, reflective, and hard to forget. It also has has a new famous actor show up unexpectedly every five minutes. Can’t overlook that.
Past Lives: Past Lives is proof that the most interesting thing that ever happens in life is simply living it. First-time writer-director Celine Song’s absolutely gorgeous movie about the choices we make and how we must deal with them after is mostly just two people talking. But it’s everything they aren’t saying that carries so much weight in a quiet, meditative piece on relationships and who we are. Past Lives is stunning, heartbreaking, and absolutely captivating. Even though almost nothing technically happens everything does.
Poor Things: Poor Things is the most unique nominee for Best Picture. It’s also arguably the category’s most visually engaging contender. But that only scratches the surface of why this ended up with the second most nominations this year (11). Smart, strange, and unflinching, this feminist tale turns a Frankenstein--esque creation into a living treatise on sexuality, family, patriarchy, and female empowerment. It’s also really freaking funny.
The Zone of Interest: Classics Professor Laura Swift wrote ancient Greek dramatists thought not showing violence onstage “forced their audience to imagine the horrors for themselves,” and “the power of imagination can do far more than any stage gore.” The Zone of Interest is a haunting work of art that exemplifies how true that is. It takes place outside the walls of Auschwitz, with a story about how seemingly otherwise regular people have the capacity for unimaginable evil. The film doesn’t merely implicate our ancestors for their past failures, though. It forces us to face our responsibility for fighting back against those forces now. It’s tough to watch, but impossible to look away from.
Who Got Robbed of an Oscar Nomination for Best Picture
All of Us Strangers—which somehow got shut out entirely from the Oscars—is the most obvious snub. Less obvious but no less deserving is Godzilla Minus One. It’s a spectacle with real depth.
Something Interesting You Can Say That No One Can Disprove
“Someday people will realize Oppenheimer and Barbie should have shared this award because together they saved movie theaters for another generation.”
“The dog’s affection for her removed any ambiguity from Anatomy of a Fall.”
Hot Take to Spice Things Up
“Maestro should win Best Picture.”
Kidding. This is supposed to be a hot take to “spice things up,” not burn down your credibility forever. Here’s a real hot take you can use: “Without the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon The Zone of Interest would definitely win Best Picture.”
Who Will Win Best Picture at the 2024 Oscars?
Easy: Oppenheimer.
Who Should Win Best Picture at the 2024 Oscars?
Not quite as easy considering how many amazing movies are nominated, but still Oppenheimer. It’s a remarkable film in every way. From its script, direction, themes, and subject matter to sound, visual effects, and acting, it’s a total powerhouse of a theatrical experience and deserves Hollywood’s biggest recognition. In a lot of other years Past Lives, Killers of the Flower Moon, or The Zone of Interest would easily win.
Jump To (Best Picture and Best Director): Best Picture Nominees // What to Say About Best Picture Films // Best Picture Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Picture // Who Should Win Best Picture // Best Director Nominees // What to Say About Best Directors // Best Director Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Director // Who Should Win Best Director
Jump To (Best Actor and Actress Awards): Best Actress in Leading Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actress in Leading Role // Best Actress Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Actress in Leading Role // Who Should Win Best Actress in Leading Role // Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actor in a Leading Role // Best Actor Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Actor in a Leading Role // Who Should Win Best Actor in a Leading Role // Best Actress in Supporting Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actress in Supporting Role // Best Supporting Actress Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Supporting Actress // Who Should Win Best Supporting Actress // Best Actor in Supporting Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actor in Supporting Role // Best Supporting Actor Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Supporting Actor // Who Should Win Best Supporting Actor
BEST DIRECTOR
Nominees
What You Need to Know About the Oscar Nominees for Best Director
Overwhelming favorite Christopher Nolan is almost certainly joining the list of Oscar-winning directors. Betting markets give the other four nominees the same general long-shot odds. If one of them had emerged as the most obvious “second” choice by now they might have a slim chance at a late upset, but hearing any name other than Nolan’s called for Best Director would be a genuinely shocking outcome.
How To Sound Smart Talking About Every Nominee
Justine Triet: Triet was a no-brainer nomination. She got amazing performances out of everyone in her cast, and with a deft hand managed to make just a couple of otherwise normal locations (a home and a courtroom) feel like dynamic places that somehow felt both enormous and stifling.
Christopher Nolan: Oppenheimer, which is equal parts grand spectacle and poignant human drama, is the culmination of Christopher Nolan’s entire career. It’s the film where he truly mastered all of his skills to create something that stands above his other movies (which is really saying something considering his past works). Oppenheimer is a world class director at his absolute apex.
Martin Scorsese: If Marty Scorsese stopped making movies when he turned 70, he might still be the greatest American director in history. Instead he went ahead and delivered one of his best, most important, most impressive works of art in his freaking 80s. And Killers of the Flower Moon’s incredible final scene, which reframed the entire film, is one of the best cappers to any movie ever.
Yorgos Lanthimos: Poor Things is a visual feast, a series of moving paintings of a fascinating world filled by fascinating characters. It’s also incredibly funny thanks in large part to Yorgos Lanthimos’s ability to mine humor with his camera. From the way he brings us inside a brothel to how long he lingers on a mad scientist burping a giant gas bubble, Lanthimos’ hands are all over this unusual movie, but in the best way. You never see him pulling the proverbial strings, you just feel what they’re doing.
Jonathan Glazer: Considering its subject matter, The Zone of Interest might have had the highest level of difficulty of any 2023 film. Jonathan Glazer didn’t just pull it off, though, he made something outstanding. His stylistic approach, impeccable framing, and acute sense of time and place turned every scene into a living work of twisted art. He captured the inherent evil of his story entirely with his camera.
Who Got Robbed of an Oscar Nomination for Best Director
What more did Greta Gerwig need to do as a director to earn a nomination? No, we’re actually asking because we’d like to know. Same for Celine Song. Past Lives is a powerhouse of a film and her deft direction is a big reason why.
Something Interesting You Can Say That No One Can Disprove
“If Best Director is supposed to reward a director’s efforts and nothing else, than Chad Stahelski should have been nominated for John Wick: Chapter 4. He filmed four of the greatest action sequences ever in a single movie!”
Hot Take to Spice Things Up
“Nolan winning for Oppenheimer is nothing more than a make-up Oscar for Tenet.”
Who Will Win Best Director at the 2024 Oscars?
Christopher Nolan, and by extension people who inexplicably love to be really weird talking about Christopher Nolan.
Who Should Win Best Director at the 2024 Oscars?
Nolan, but we don’t fault anyone who thinks Glazer should edge him out.
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Nominees
What You Need to Know About the Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominees
Of the six major categories this is the closest race according to the betting odds. Previous winner Emma Stone (La La Land) and Lily Gladstone, the first Native American actress ever nominated for Best Actress, are vying for the win. This is also Bening’s fifth acting nomination.
How To Sound Smart Talking About Every Nominee
Emma Stone: What made Emma Stone’s performance, which was as physically taxing as it was emotionally draining, so incredible is that she managed to make Bella feel real when the character easily could have seemed like a cartoon. Stone delivered a one-of-one performance in a nearly impossible part.
Lily Gladstone: Lily Gladstone is the heart of Killers of the Flower Moon, which asks so much of her even though the film’s plot doesn’t revolve around her. She carries the emotional weight and pain of so many people, which she does with a moving, authentic performance that stays with you long after the movie ends.
Annette Bening: What makes Bening so good in Nyad is that she never caves into the temptation to make her character seem likable. Her Diana is grating, selfish, and frequently unpleasant to be around. Not everyone would be willing to come across like that on screen, but that’s why Bening is such a standout.
Carey Mulligan: Carey Mulligan is far and away the best part of Maestro (and we don’t mean that as feint praise) as actress Felicia Montealegre, Leonard Bernstein’s wife. It’s a performance that is equally evocative during the character’s understated moments as it is in scenes where Felicia can no longer hide her emotions. Mulligan is so good she even pulls off a Mid-Atlantic accent without sounding like she’s doing a bit. Now that’s impressive!
Sandra Hüller: For much of Anatomy of a Fall Sandra Hüller is asked to be the most German German who ever German’d. She plays a reserved, nearly stoic wife and mother accused of her husband’s murder. And she’s absolutely riveting the whole time. But what turns a great performance into a special one is when her character Sandra Voyter unleashes all her pent-up emotions. It’s like seeing a volcano thought dormant completely erupt.
Who Got Robbed of an Oscar Nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role?
Margot Robbie’s omission for Barbie is obvious as it is absurd. She gave one of the year’s best performances in an extremely difficult role she seems to have been dinged for making look easy. Past Lives’s Greta Lee was also as deserving of a Best Actress nomination as anyone.
Something Interesting You Can Say That No One Can Disprove
“I actually think Sandra Hüller was even better in The Zone of Interest than she was in Anatomy of a Fall.”
“History will judge the Academy poorly for overlooking Cailee Spaeny in Priscilla.”
Hot Take to Spice Things Up
“Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore both should have been nominated for playing such interesting sociopaths in May December.”
Who Will Win Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 2024 Oscars?
For a month the oddsmakers had Stone winning a very, very close race over Gladstone, but it now looks like a true coin flip. We’ll say it comes up Stone, who gets her second Oscar.
Who Should Win Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 2024 Oscars?
This one is really hard, but we’ll go with Emma Stone. Her Bella Baxter was a marvel when she could have been an annoying disaster in even slightly lesser hands.
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Nominees
What You Need to Know About the Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominees
This is really a battle between two of Hollywood’s best actors without an Oscar. Either Cillian Murphy or Paul Giamatti will no longer be a part of that club by night’s end. A late surge of support for Murphy has him as the favorite, but he’s not a lock. Meanwhile, Bradley Cooper was actually nominated for “Most Acting,” but when the Academy remembered that category doesn’t exist they moved him into this one.
How To Sound Smart Talking About Every Nominee
Jeffrey Wright: It’s one thing to give a great performance in a movie that can only be as good as its leading man. It’s another to give a flawless performance in such a part. That’s exactly what Jeffrey Wright provides in American Fiction. He makes an icy a**hole wholly sympathetic and likable, as his Monk is funny, frustrating, and way too smart for his own good.
Paul Giamatti: It’s impossible to have a better pairing of role and performer than Giamatti’s turn as curmudgeon Paul Hunham. He’s absolutely perfect as a strict, lonely teacher, as Giamatti is both hilarious and heartbreaking in a part that requires an incredible depth of character work. Literally no one else would have been as good playing Hunham.
Bradley Cooper: Uh…that big conducting sequence was worth all the work Bradley Cooper put into it making his performance authentic. That was cool.
Cillian Murphy: It’s easy to overrate a leading performance in a great movie. It’s also easy to confuse the “size” of a part with quality of acting. Anyone who suggests either of those things is why Murphy is the favorite to go home with this award didn’t see Oppenheimer. He had the single most challenging, most comprehensive part of the year and all he did was give a staggering performance. Without him, Oppenheimer wouldn’t be winning Best Picture.
Colman Domingo: This nomination is only shocking because Rustin seemed like the type of movie the Academy would overlook. But anyone who saw this biopic knows Domingo more than deserves this recognition. He’s outstanding as gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, in role that requires Domingo to be both full of joy and full of pain, as well as flashy and quietly self-reflective.
Who Got Robbed of an Oscar Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role?
Past Lives’ Teo Yoo. Not only does he give a moving, quiet performance, he transforms in such a way it’s almost as though another actor tales over the part when his character ages. Andrew Scott also has more than a legitimate gripe for not getting a nod.
Something Interesting You Can Say That No One Can Disprove
“Colman Domingo easily could have pulled off the Scarlett Johanneson and had two acting nominations this year. He’s that good in The Color Purple in a very different role from Rustin.”
“In a few years we’ll all realize we didn’t really appreciate Christian Friedel’s terrifying performance in The Zone of Interest enough.”
Hot Take to Spice Things Up
“Paul Giamatti gives the third best performance in The Holdovers.”
Who Will Win Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 2024 Oscars?
Cillian Murphy will be among the many on the night who take home an Oscar for Oppenheimer.
Who Should Win Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 2024 Oscars?
Oppenheimer is a masterpiece that rests entirely on the back of Murphy, who is in roughly 137% of its scenes. It’s the performance of a lifetime and he deserves to win even if Giamatti is more than worthy of finally getting a long overdue Oscar.
Jump To (Best Picture and Best Director): Best Picture Nominees // What to Say About Best Picture Films // Best Picture Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Picture // Who Should Win Best Picture // Best Director Nominees // What to Say About Best Directors // Best Director Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Director // Who Should Win Best Director
Jump To (Best Actor and Actress Awards): Best Actress in Leading Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actress in Leading Role // Best Actress Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Actress in Leading Role // Who Should Win Best Actress in Leading Role // Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actor in a Leading Role // Best Actor Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Actor in a Leading Role // Who Should Win Best Actor in a Leading Role // Best Actress in Supporting Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actress in Supporting Role // Best Supporting Actress Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Supporting Actress // Who Should Win Best Supporting Actress // Best Actor in Supporting Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actor in Supporting Role // Best Supporting Actor Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Supporting Actor // Who Should Win Best Supporting Actor
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Nominees
What You Need to Know the Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominees
Da’vine Joy Randolph has won roughly a gazillion pre-Oscars awards and there’s no reason to think she won’t also nab Hollywood’s biggest trophy. If Academy voters want to find a way to honor Barbie, though, America Ferrera might pull off the upset. And you can’t entirely rule out an Oppenheimer wave carrying Emily Blunt to victory.
How To Sound Smart Talking About Every Nominee
America Ferrera: Ferrera’s nomination is about far more than just her all-time great Barbie monologue, even if that scene alone made her deserving of one. She was hilarious, compassionate, heartbreaking, and, mostly importantly, wonderfully human in a story set in a fantasy world.
Danielle Brooks: The Color Purple is a movie full of excellent performances, but no one in the film commands the screen quite like Danielle Brooks. She’s a force of nature whether she’s taking charge or facing the brutal reality of an unjust world that wants to keep her quiet.
Da’vine Joy Randolph: The hardest thing an actor can do is create a character that feels entirely real. Not many people, even the best, can give a performance so authentic you forget they’re playing a fictional person in a story. That’s what Randolph accomplishes in her honest, moving portrayal of a grieving mother. You can’t overstate how incredible she is in The Holdovers.
Jodie Foster: Foster’s role as the best friend of an overly obnoxious, self-centered, ambitious swimmer isn’t showy, but the movie only works because of Foster’s understated performance. She offers the perfect counterpoint to Bening. It’s no surprise Jodie freaking Foster is great, but it is surprising the Academy noticed that greatness in the type of part it often takes for granted.
Emily Blunt: Oppenheimer has two scenes where the movie turns on a dime. One is the Trinity Test where they set off the first-ever nuclear bomb. The other is Emily Blunt’s testimony during her husband’s clearance hearing. In a movie featuring roughly 9,000 great actors, it’s Blunt who steals an entire scene in a way no one else does.
Who Got Robbed of an Oscar Nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role?
Penélope Cruz for Ferrari. She gives one of the best performances of her life as a grieving mother, bitter wife, and shrewd business woman. Also, Taraji P. Henson just as easily could have grabbed a supporting spot alongside her The Color of Purple co-star.
Something Interesting You Can Say That No One Can Disprove
“The only reason Rosamund Pike didn’t get nominated is because everyone hated the big twist in Saltburn.”
Hot Take to Spice Things Up
“A long simmering anti-Tom Cruise sentiment from some Academy voters prevented Vanessa Kirby from being recognized for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.”
Who Will Win Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 2024 Oscars?
Only people who don’t like money will bet against Da’Vine Joy Randolph, but of the six major categories Best Supporting Actress tends to have the most surprise winners. If that happens this year, it’ll be Ferrera holding an Oscar.
Who Should Win Best Actress in a Supporting Role?
We’d celebrate a surprise Ferrera win, but Randolph deserves this.
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Nominees
What You Need to Know About the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Nominees
Robert Downey Jr. earned his first Oscar nomination in 1993 for Chaplin. He’s fully expected to get his Oscar win in 2024. His victory would included defeating his fellow Marvel Avenger, Mark Ruffalo. He’d also be besting two-time Academy winner Robert De Niro, who took home this exact statue in 1975 for The Godfather Part Two. Also, people are really upset Ken got nominated when Barbie didn’t, including Ryan Gosling himself.
How To Sound Smart Talking About Every Nominee
Sterling K. Brown: Brown’s recently out, cocaine-loving brother of Monk shows you can have a total blast playing a part while still making your character feel grounded. This surprise nomination is the good kind of Oscars surprise.
Ryan Gosling: Getting an Oscars acting nomination for a comedic role isn’t technically impossible, it’s just nearly impossible. Gosling was simply too good in Barbie for the Academy to deny him a spot. Plus he gave us “I’m Just Ken.” He should get a second nomination for that alone.
Robert De Niro: It’s easy to take another amazing performance from a living legend for granted, but what Robert De Niro did in Killers of the Flower Moon should not be overlooked. He’s absolutely chilling as the personification of the film’s main theme. He conveys a depth of evil with nothing more than a slight look or a small lilt of his head. It’s not just his best performance in years, it stands among his best ever.
Robert Downey Jr.: Somehow turning an obscure comic book character into an iconic movie figure, all while anchoring the most successful movie franchise ever, made some people forget Robert Downey Jr. is a tremendous actor. Oppenheimer more than reminded him. He’s captivating and elusive, and only in totality can you appreciate what he achieves in his role as the disgraced Lewis Strauss.
Mark Ruffalo: Is Mark Ruffalo over-the-top as a cocky and debased rogue in Poor Things? Yes. Is he so ridiculous he’s essentially playing a cartoon character? Also yes. That’s exactly why he’s nominated. He gives the exact kind of memorable performance the film needed from him.
Who Got Robbed of an Oscar Nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role?
May December‘s Charles Melton should call the Oscars police. (They’re based inside an abandoned movie theater in the Valley.) He wasn’t just robbed of a nomination, he might have been robbed of the win. Same goes for The Holdovers‘ Dominic Sessa, who is just as good as his two fellow nominated co-stars.
Something Interesting You Can Say That No One Can Disprove
“If Warner Bros. put Gosling up for Lead Actor where he actually belongs Michael Cera would have rightfully earned a supporting nom for Barbie. Classic Allan, really.”
Hot Take to Spice Things Up
“Mark Ruffalo got the Poor Thing slot that should have went to his co-star Willem Dafoe, but the Academy was afraid of showing the mad scientist’s face in the montage video.”
Who Will Win Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the 2024 Oscars?
Downey is genuinely great on those merits alone he’d likely win. But it doesn’t hurt he’s also Hollywood royalty, both because of his family and the billions he’s helped the industry pull in.
Who Should Win Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the 2024 Oscars?
We saved our toughest choice for last.
….Gosling. Ask us a week from now and we very well might say Downey, whose performance seems strangely underrated at this point. But what Gosling did in an equally important movie feels singular. Who else could have played that part as well? The movie had like 500 Kens and they couldn’t.
If he does win, for the rest of the night they should rename the Dolby Theater the Mojo Dojo Casa Theater. If you don’t know what that means then you will definitely want to rely on this piece when trying to sound smart at your Oscars party. Cleary you’re still far behind on what happened in theaters last year.
Jump To (Best Picture and Best Director): Best Picture Nominees // What to Say About Best Picture Films // Best Picture Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Picture // Who Should Win Best Picture // Best Director Nominees // What to Say About Best Directors // Best Director Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Director // Who Should Win Best Director
Jump To (Best Actor and Actress Awards): Best Actress in Leading Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actress in Leading Role // Best Actress Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Actress in Leading Role // Who Should Win Best Actress in Leading Role // Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actor in a Leading Role // Best Actor Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Actor in a Leading Role // Who Should Win Best Actor in a Leading Role // Best Actress in Supporting Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actress in Supporting Role // Best Supporting Actress Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Supporting Actress // Who Should Win Best Supporting Actress // Best Actor in Supporting Role Nominees // What to Say About Best Actor in Supporting Role // Best Supporting Actor Hot Take // Who Will Win Best Supporting Actor // Who Should Win Best Supporting Actor
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
