Hey, guys!

Recently, the nominees for this year’s Academy Awards were announced. The list of movies and people definitely held some surprises. The beyond hyped up second part of Wicked, for example, ended up with zero nominations – which to me is no big loss, to be honest. However, there are some names I would have expected to see on the list (or at least would have liked to see them there, even though I know they were unlikely to make it). So, let’s talk about who got snubbed this year!

Best Actor

Nominees:
Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

While we have some great nominees in this category, there are quite a few I could think of that I would have loved to get more recognition. First of all, Jeremy Allen White. Granted, I wasn’t impressed with the Bruce Springsteen movie (Deliver Me From Nowhere) overall, but White’s performance was impressive and nuanced. Up next, we have Brendan Fraser. I think we can all agree that he is an incredibly talented actor, and I still get chills thinking about The Whale. Quite recently, Rental Family came to theatres over here. This is a movie I had heard zero press about, not even a trailer was screened any time I was at the cinema. As expected, Fraser nailed it once more, and this film really should not be flying under the radar. Bugonia is nominated in a few categories, but I am surprised that Jesse Plemons didn’t get listed. Sure, Emma Stone was great, but he was stellar. Next up, I want to talk about Daniel Craig. He starred in the latest Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man. To be fair, I didn’t have any grand hopes this film would crop up anywhere in the list of nominations, but Craig is an utter delight in this role, and I want him to get more praise for it. I didn’t expect to put Hugh Jackman on my list. When the nominees were announced, I hadn’t yet seen Song Sung Blue, only the trailer. Based on that, I was surprised to see Kate Hudson nominated – the trailer didn’t seem like that much. But yesterday I went to see precisely that movie and was floored by both their performances. Hudson definitely deserves her nomination but Jackman would have deserved one too. Finally, and I can’t believe I’m writing this, Dwayne Johnson. Here we are in the boat with Jeremy Allen White. The Smashing Machine was a messy film that could have been much better, but Johnson gave a performance so much better than anything I would have thought him capable of.

Missing:
Jeremy Allen White, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
Brendan Fraser, Rental Family
Jesse Plemons, Bugonia
Daniel Craig, Wake Up Dead Man
Hugh Jackman, Song Sung Blue
Dwayne Johnson, The Smashing Machine

Best Actress

Nominees:
Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue
Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value
Emma Stone, Bugonia

Overall, the list of nominees in this category is pretty darn good, but I have two additions I’d love to mention. First of all, Jennifer Lawrence. I didn’t particularly enjoy Die My Love, but she was so intense in it. Sally Hawkins creeped me out to no end with her performance in Bring Her Back, and I was thinking about that for quite a while after. So, definitely two leading ladies who deserve more recognition.

Missing:
Jennifer Lawrence, Die My Love
Sally Hawkins, Bring Her Back