My Thoughts on the 2020 Oscar Nominations

This morning, the 92nd annual Oscar Nominations were announced, and I've listed them all below for your convenience. Like always, there were plenty of snubs and odd surprises. But there were also plenty of nominations that I'm delighted to see. Yesterday, I published My 2020 Oscar Nominee Picks & Predictions, where I put forth my hypothetical ballots and predictions for what would be announced this morning. I've put the nominees I correctly predicted in bold, gold text, and the ones I picked in my ballot that were actually nominated in red text. For those curious, I predicted 7 categories accurately, and all but one or two of the nominees in 12 different categories.

My Thoughts

I'll begin by saying this year's nominees are a substantial improvement over last year. I don't agree with everything, of course, but that rarely happens anyway. There were plenty of films I was unsure would land a nomination in specific categories that did. So I'm pleased by those inclusions. Were there some snubs I was disappointed by? Absolutely. But again, there were pleasant surprises for every misstep. Namely, Rian Johnson scoring an Original Screenplay nod for Knives Out and Parasite landing a Production Design mention. This year, I'm going to make an effort to watch everything I haven't seen already before the ceremony. Thankfully, I've seen a vast majority of the nominees, so I'll mostly be focusing on the shorts, documentaries, and international films. All in all, I'm pleased with the nominations.

Surprises: Joker leading the nominations with 11 total mentions, Scarlett Johansson landing double acting nominations, The Lighthouse for Cinematography, Frozen II missing Animated Feature in favor of animated films I preferred, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil for Makeup and Hairstyling, and Ad Astra for Sound Mixing.

Snubs: Marriage Story for Best Film Editing, Adam Sandler, Taron Egerton, and Robert DeNiro for Best Actor, Awkwafina and Lupita Nyong'o for Best Actress, Jennifer Lopez and Zhao Shuzen for Best Supporting Actress, the Parasite cast for any of the acting categories, Apollo 11 for Best Documentary Feature, Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig, Marielle Heller, Lulu Wang, and Céline Sciamma for Best Director, and lastly A Hidden Life, Booksmart, The Farewell, Honey Boy, Hustlers, Luce, Portrait of A Lady On Fire, The Peanut Butter Falcon, Uncut Gems, Us, and Waves across the board for netting 0 nominations (There are probably others I forgot).

Nominations

*Best Picture*

"1917"
"Ford v Ferrari"
"The Irishman"
"Jojo Rabbit"
"Joker"
"Little Women"
"Marriage Story"
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"
"Parasite"

Best Director

Bong Joon-Ho, "Parasite"
Martin Scorsese, "The Irishman"
Quentin Tarantino, "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"
Sam Mendes, "1917"

Todd Phillips, "Joker"

Best Actor

Adam Driver, "Marriage Story"
Antonio Banderas, "Pain and Glory"
Joaquin Phoenix, "Joker"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"
Jonathan Pryce, "The Two Popes"

Best Actress

Cynthia Erivo, "Harriet"
Charlize Theron, "Bombshell"

Renée Zellweger, "Judy"
Saoirse Ronan, "Little Women"

Scarlett Johansson, "Marriage Story"

*Best Supporting Actor*

Al Pacino, "The Irishman"
Anthony Hopkins, "The Two Popes"
Brad Pitt, "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"
Joe Pesci, "The Irishman"
Tom Hanks, "A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood"

Best Supporting Actress

Florence Pugh, "Little Women"
Kathy Bates, "Richard Jewell"
Laura Dern, "Marriage Story"
Margot Robbie, "Bombshell"
Scarlett Johansson, "Jojo Rabbit"

*Best Original Screenplay*

"1917"
"Knives Out"
"Marriage Story"
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"
"Parasite"

*Best Adapted Screenplay*

"The Irishman"
"Jojo Rabbit"
"Joker"
"Little Women"
"The Two Popes" 

Best Film Editing

"Ford v Ferrari"
"The Irishman"
"Jojo Rabbit"
"Joker"
"Parasite"

Best Cinematography

"1917"
"The Irishman"
"Joker"
"The Lighthouse"
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"

Best Costume Design

"The Irishman"
"Jojo Rabbit"
"Joker"
"Little Women"
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

"1917"
"Bombshell"
"Joker"
"Judy"

"Maleficent: Mistress of Evil"

*Best Production Design*

"1917"
"The Irishman"
"Jojo Rabbit"
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"
"Parasite"

*Best Visual Effects*

"1917"
"Avengers: Endgame"
"The Irishman"
"The Lion King"
"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker"

Best Sound Editing

"1917"
"Ford v Ferrari"
"Joker"
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"
"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker"

Best Sound Mixing

"1917"
"Ad Astra"
"Ford v Ferrari"
"Joker"
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"

Best Original Song

"I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away" from "Toy Story 4"
"(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" from "Rocketman"
"I'm Standing With You" from "Breakthrough"
"Into The Unknown" from "Frozen II"
"Stand Up" from "Harriet"

*Best Original Score*

"1917"
"Joker"
"Little Women"
"Marriage Story"
"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker"

Best Animated Feature

"How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World"
"I Lost My Body"
"Klaus"
"Missing Link"
"Toy Story 4"

Best Short Film, Live Action 

"Brotherhood"
"Nefta Football Club"
"The Neighbors' Window"
"Saria"
"A Sister"

Best Short Film, Animated

"Dcera (Daughter)"
"Hair Love"
"Kitbull"
"Memorable"
"Sister"

Best Documentary Feature

"American Factory"
"The Cave"
"The Edge of Democracy"
"For Sama"
"Honeyland"

Best Documentary, Short Subject

"In The Absence"
"Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're A Girl)"
"Life Overtakes Me"
"St. Louis Superman"
"Walk Run Cha-Cha"

Best International Feature Film

"Corpus Christi"
"Honeyland"
"Les Misérables"
"Pain and Glory"
"Parasite"