2023 Oscar Nominations: The Most Suspicious Nods and Egregious Snubs

Women Talking was nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, so you know which woman shouldn’t be talking? Me. However. My colleague has decided to lambast (I mean, thoughtfully critique) these nominations, so I’m going to counter that Women Talking should’ve also garnered Best Supporting noms for Claire Foy and/or Jessie Buckley, as well as a Best Director nom for Sarah Polley (especially considering the previous discussion of this particularly cursed category). The acting, the camera shots, the script, the costumes…everything here worked to make me actually want to watch women talk—patiently and emotively and intimately—about men doing bad things. I had been burned out on all that, to the point where I almost didn’t watch this film. I’m immensely glad that I did. —Sarah Rense

Look, Don’t Worry Darling was not haute cinema; it was a juicy thriller with a somewhat try-hard message tacked on. But it had a well-executed twist, some deeply impressive performances from Florence Pugh and Gemma Chan, meticulously appointed sets, and a makeup department that pulled off the impossible (making Harry Styles look ugly). As critics continue to lament the State of Film, and when it feels like only sequels get greenlit these days (two of which, Avatar: The Way of the Water and Top Gun: Maverick, were nominated for Best Picture), Don’t Worry Darling gave viewers something different and truly felt like a capital M Movie.

I wonder how much the gossip that surrounded that film (and often overshadowed the actual discussions of its merits) put Academy voters off. I also wonder if it simply wasn’t on their radar, given its September release date. Either way, I wish someone or something involved in the project had been nominated, if only so we could see Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde’s reunion at the ceremony. —Nora Biette-Timmons

Andrea Riseborough snagged a nomination for lead actress for her performance in, To Leslie: a film about a single mother who wins the Texas lottery only to quickly and irresponsibly squander it all. If you’re scratching your head, thinking, “Andrea Who?” or “What Leslie?,” that is completely understandable. Her name and this film have seemingly only emerged in the past few weeks. At the helm of this PR Hail Mary are dozens of celebrities who’ve tweeted in the last month about her incredible performance. Susan Sarandon called it a “beautiful, lil gem of a film;” Melanie Lynskey wrote that “even for her this is next level;” and Mira Sorvino said it was “absolutely stunning, wrenching and beautiful.”

Jennifer Aniston, Charlize Theron, and Ed Norton also all reportedly hosted watch parties for To Leslie, and those watch parties have all conveniently been written up. It’s certainly surprising hype for a movie that came out in March 2022 and received almost no attention until this month.

I haven’t seen the film so I can’t speak to Riseborough’s performance, though I do like her as an actor and am sure she is talented in it. But this last-minute “grassroots” celeb-backed hype reads as a popularity contest. Also, given Hollywood’s tendency to fawn over stories about the white working class, it’s giving me, as the teens say, “the ick.” —Kady Ruth Ashcraft

NOPE received just as few nominations as its name unfortunately suggests. So here’s a short summary of the film with “(NOPE)” behind every thing or person I think was snubbed.

Daniel Kaluuya (NOPE) plays a shy horse handler who is trying to save his family’s horse ranch after the gory-yet-mysterious death of his father, played by Keith David Williams (NOPE). His sister, the esteemed Keke Palmer (NOPE), returns to the ranch just as a bunch of otherworldly shit starts going down. The pair is rightly confused and cautious about the extraterrestrials (NOPE) that are seemingly coming to the ranch—and desperate to save their horses (NOPE). Next door is Steven Yeun’s Ricky “Jupe” Park (NOPE) who owns a shitty and suspicious theme park. Like any carnival barker, Park is trying to profit off the likely ETs. Utter chaos ensues. It’s one of those movies that feels like you’re inside a short story that had me constantly saying to my girlfriend, “Jordan Peele’s MIND.” (Don’t watch movies with me, but also here’s one last (NOPE) because it should have gotten a screenwriting nom.) —Caitlin Cruz

While James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, scored a best picture nomination along with noms for production design, sound, and visual effects, Cameron didn’t receive a nomination for best director—a snub in the eyes of his many fans. Personally, Cameron’s exclusion sounds about right to me; the list of those nominated for best director is already almost as white and male as it gets. And however genuinely fun and entertaining The Way of Water was, the last thing I’m particularly interested in seeing is another white guy on the list—especially one as controversial as Cameron. The man devoted a chunk of this press tour to disparaging female superheroes who aren’t pregnant, all while Indigenous critics—who gave plenty of feedback re: the first Avatar’s white savior problems—said Avatar 2 was also an offensive, reductive rendering of their history. So, it’s not much of a “snub” to me! —KC

Technically, Taylor was snubbed when the short list of potential contenders was released in December sans All Too Well: The Short Film (also commonly referred to as a “music video” lol). So we already knew 2023 wasn’t going to be the year we got to add “Oscar Winner” to Dr. Taylor Allison Swift’s resume. But still—as a longtime, dedicated fan, I can’t help but feel like not only was I, personally, robbed of an Oscar, but I was also robbed of another Swift acceptance speech wherein she announces a new album or that she’s finally established her own country or something. —LT