Sci-fi and war-themed blockbusters top the 95th Academy Awards list.
Last year’s indie sci-fi hit “Everything Everywhere All at Once” has come out on top of the nominations list for the 95th Academy Awards, after the contenders for the Oscars were announced on Tuesday.
Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan’s multiverse-hopping thriller scored a total of 11 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Michelle Yeoh, marking the first time an Asian actress has been nominated for the award.
“Everything…” was followed closely by “All Quiet on the Western Front,” a World War I epic, and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” a dark comedy set during the Irish civil war. Both films scored nine nominations, including Best Picture nods.
This year’s best picture race also includes the highest grossing films of the year: “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” as well as the musical biopic “Elvis.” The list also includes Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans”, Todd Field’s “Tár”, Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness” and Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking.”
Despite being widely credited with bringing moviegoers back to cinemas last year with his “Top Gun” sequel, which scored seven nominations, Tom Cruise failed to make the latest Best Actors list. Instead, the list featured the likes of Austin Butler for his portrayal of the late king of rock and roll Elvis Presley, Brendan Fraser for his comeback role in “The Whale”, as well as Colin Farrell and Bill Nighy for “Banshees” and “Living”, respectively.
Candidates for the 95th best actress award include Ana de Armas for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in “Blonde”, Cate Blanchett for her leading role as an abusive orchestra conductor in “Tar”, Michelle Williams for “The Fabelmans” and Andrea Riseborough for “To Leslie”.
Other notable nominations included Netflix’s “Glass Onion” for Best Writing, Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” for Best Animated Feature Film and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” for best supporting actress, costume design, makeup, music and visual effects.
Canadian filmmaker Daniel Roher also scored a Best Documentary nomination for the CNN Films-produced “Navalny”, which followed the life of currently jailed Russian opposition figure and Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny.
The Academy Awards ceremony will be hosted for a third time by late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and take place on March 12 at the Dolby Theater in LA. The ceremony will be televised live on ABC.
Brendan Fraser and Sir Ian McKellen in God’s and Monsters.
Awesome movie. Brendan Fraser has been largely underated as a serious actor. Nice to hear he’s receiving some recognition. Silly movies like George of the Jungle would not have helped!