We had two big nomination announcements, leading to a whole bunch of points: the DiscussingFilm Critics Nominations and the International Press Academy Satellite Awards Nominations, the latter earning two points for each of its nominees. We saw a lot of draft picks earn their first points of the season at least one of these, including first round pick Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans) and others like Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin), Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale), Diego Calva (Babylon), Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans), Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron (Avatar: The Way of Water), Hans Zimmer (Top Gun: Maverick) and John Williams (The Fabelmans).
There were plenty of surprises and plenty of snubs, but let’s take a look at the state of the fantasy race after these two plentiful point distributors.
The Best Supporting Actress race is wide open
Duh, right? I honestly can’t remember a recent year where an acting race was this wide open. Yes, it’s still early in the season, but how wide open is this race? Remember the three winners, four if you count Kerrie Hayes (Blue Jean) at BIFA, for supporting actress? Carey Mulligan (She Said) won at Sunset Circle, Keke Palmer (Nope) won at New York, and Janelle Monáe (Glass Onion) won at Atlanta. Those three (four) were completely shut out at DiscussingFilm, which is somewhat surprising for Keke Palmer given their affinity for other horror nominations, while only Janelle Monáe earned a nomination at Satellite, but for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical, not even for Best Supporting Actress. Kerry Condon, Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness), and Claire Foy (Women Talking) earned nominations at both these nomination announcements with only Claire Foy earning a nomination elsewhere (Sunset Circle). No one is a lock for Best Supporting Actress at this point in the race. At least last year, we were fairly certain Kristen Stewart (Spencer) was gonna get an Oscar nominations for the wide open Best Actress race, which I’ve written earlier is most similar to this year’s Best Supporting Actress race. Now, I’m certain of exactly zero actresses who will get a Supporting Actress nomination.
I love nominations out of left field
It seems that every single nomination announcement has at least one nomination completely out of left field. Nominations are not a zero sum game, so any left field nominations means a “safer” nomination didn’t happen, which means a team manager missed out on points because of the left field nomination, which means that team manager is questioning why they joined a film awards fantasy league. If you do fantasy football, it’s like when a team is on the goal line and some no-name defensive lineman gets subbed in to take the ball and poach a touchdown from your starting running back. It’s frustrating, but admittedly what makes fantasy sports intriguing and unpredictable.
So what left field nominations am I talking about? DiscussingFilm didn’t really have any, but Satellite did:
- Mark Wahlberg (Father Stu) to the chagrin of Paul Mescal (Aftersun) owners
- Juliana Barreto Barreto (A Love Song) to the chagrin of any PD owners who didn’t get a nomination, maybe most of all Hannah Beachler (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) owners
- War Sailor to the chagrin of Saint Omer owners
- And Maybe Inu-Oh to the chagrin of Strange World and Lightyear owners
There will be others. Good luck.
Babylon is making some noise, especially for tech nominations
Damien Chazelle films tend to do well during awards season, and Babylon appears to be no different. Linus Sandgren (CIN), Florencia Martin (PD), Justin Hurwitz (SCORE), Mary Zophres (CD), Tom Cross (EDIT), VFX, and SOUND have all earned points so far. Notably, Damien Chazelle himself has not earned any points yet. Other films with a heavy tech presence include Elvis, Top Gun: Maverick, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Woman King, and Avatar: The Way of Water.
Glass Onion snagging Ensemble nominations
When Knives Out was released, it quite valuable as it was at least nominated at pretty much all ceremonies that awarded a Best Ensemble prize. Glass Onion was the lone winner at the Satellite Awards nominations announcement, earning it a whopping four points. Glass Onion, like its predecessor, seems poised to be a regular season value for Best Ensemble points and becomes my first waiver wire suggestion for this matchup.
Leave a Reply