Not with the actual nominations themselves. They are fine for the most part. I’ll be honest, this awards season feels kind of boring. I saw Sinners early last year and didn’t think another movie could come close.
And I was right. Sinners is still THE movie of the 2026 Oscar season for me. It’s the whole packet of chips. Plus, this morning, it set a record for the most Academy Award nominations for a single film, ever in history. Yeah, it’s that good.
And there are some other good movies this year. I loved Marty Surpreme and was really kind of taken with The Long Walk. A few movies I know I’ll love haven’t come out near me yet, so I was rooting for them too, albeit blindly.
- If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You, starring Rose Byrne, whom I love in all the things.
- She got the Best Actress nomination I was expecting.
- Hamnet, starring whoever (Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal), with music by my (current) favorite composer, Max Richter.
- He scored his first Oscar Nomination for Original Score this morning.
- No Other Choice, Park Chan-wook’s newest dark comedy/thriller, just looks GOOD and ORIGINAL, and I NEED THAT.
- Thought it was a lock for Best International Feature. It was not. It didn’t get a single nomination. I can’t wait to watch it anyway.
Then there are the two awards I was holding out hope for:
- Boys Go To Jupiter for Best Animated Feature
- Odessa A’zion for Best Supporting Actress in Marty Supreme
Neither happened. That’s okay, though. These are both super young talents. I think they’ll get nominated soon, Julian Glander (BGTJ) in particular. I think their vision is so strong and fresh and there is totally room for noms int he future… if they want it. I’m still pulling for (and voting for) Boys Go To Jupiter to win the Independent Spirit Award this year.
There were also some surprises like Delroy Lindo and Wunmi Mosaku for Sinners (both wholly deserved) and Kate Hudson’s nod for Song Sung Blue.
And an annoyance at Diane Warren having her friends grab her another nomination, that she’d better not win.
None of this is why I’m annoyed at the announcement of the nominees, though.
My Annoyance
My annoyance is not just at this morning’s announcement, but moreso of the entirety of the awards shows.
Why don’t all the nominees get their names read with the nominations?
Think about it.
When they do the Acting awards, the actors are named.
When a Directing award is given away, the names of the ACTUAL HUMANS who were nominated are read.
A Screenwriter is nominated, and it’s time for their category, the presenter will 100% say their name along with their nomination.
This is not the case with the more artistic categories, and it really pisses me off. I notice this often during awards shows, but today I noticed it during the Academy Awards Nomination Announcement. In particular, during the Best Costume Design Announcement, I noticed all the nominees were women, and I was excited to tell my costume designer friend, Aubrey!
I didn’t hear their names read, but read them myself on the nominee announcement screen:
- Deborah L. Scott
- Avatar: Fire and Ash
- Kate Hawley
- Frankenstein
- Malgosia Turzanska
- Hamnet
- Miyako Bellizzi
- Marty Supreme
- Ruth E. Carter
- Sinners
The presenters (Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman) just read the movie titles and didn’t say the names of the people who did the actual work. Now, I know this isn’t their fault; they are just doing what the producers tell them to do.
But I think it should be different. I loved MOVIES when I was growing up. Like, the making of them. But, it was the 80s and 90s, so folks always thought I wanted to be an actor. There weren’t many female writers or directors who were talked about in rural Georgia, so folks thought if Jacki likes movies, she must want to be an actress.
I did not. I didn’t have my walls plastered with movie posters for films that didn’t exist so that someone else could write them.
When women started showing up more and more often in the writing categories, I was thrilled and continue to be as more show up. I am glad my daughter doesn’t have the same limitations (in that regard) that I do. She’s seen women be nominated for and win these awards. Not nearly enough, but it happens. She got to hear their names read when they got nominated.
And I guess that’s because it’s a “big enough” category for the full treatment.
Actor, Director, and Screenwriter are all acceptable aspirational career goals for kids when they are growing up. You don’t hear many folks say, “I want to be a Costume Designer” or “Man, I can’t wait ot grow up and be a Composer” or “Sound Editing is my dream job”.
And, I think that’s because they aren’t celebrated in the same way publicly. I’ve always sought out the names of these creative people because I want to follow their work. I do this with tiny acting roles, too.
My favorite musicians of the past five years have been composers. Max Richter (first time nominee this yearrrrrrrrr!), Jeff Russo, Cristobal Tapia De Veer, Lia Ouyang Rusli, Nicholas Brittel. I love movie music, y’all. The best composers can put you right back in the movie without seeing a thing. At least, they do that for me on the regular.
But this year (and other years, I’m sure), the Oscar-nominated composers didn’t get their names read aloud like their screenwriting or directing counterparts. So here they are:
- Jerskin Fendrix
- Bugonia
- Alexandre Desplat
- Frankenstein
- Max Richter
- Hamnet
- Jonny Greenwood
- One Battle after Another
- Ludwig Goransson
- Sinners
If you’re a Community fan like I am, you’ll be happy to know that Sinners composer Ludwig Goransson was also the composer for that show. I love seeing folks I love shine brighter than before, and Ludwig just keeps doing that. I think he’s only a T away from an EGOT, but get him a Broadway show, and he’ll win immediately.
So, before I wrap up this rant, I want to say this… these are the only categories that got both the Film Name AND Artist Name read aloud in this morning’s announcement.
- Best Supporting Actress
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Original Screenplay
- Best Adapted Screenplay
- Best Director
- Best Picture
Why are these names the only ones important enough to be read?
YES, Best Picture, and that one annoys me the most. Because, in my mind, the main argument for not reading the artist names in the other categories is time constraints.
So then, riddle me this, Academy, why are you reading ALL OF THE PRODUCERS’ NAMES in the Best Picture category? Of all the categories, this is the most team player one… just let the movie exist on its own.
I frankly do not care who the producers were. They aren’t the artists who make the art.
But I guess they are the egos who spend the money to be near the art. And they gotta have proof they were involved, I guess.
Do you have a favorite behind-the-scenes creative? Tell me all about them. I love learning about new things!
