As is usual with the annual announcement of Oscar nominations, The Academy’s list of nominees was published Jan. 24 with many obvious contenders, snubs, and usual conversation starters.

“My family watches the Oscars every year,” said sophomore Lisa Swers. “When I saw that the nominations came out, I immediately texted my mom and we talked about who we were excited to see nominated.”

The 10 Best Picture nominees range in popularity and genre. Leading the pack is possibly the most talked about movie of the year, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Avatar: The Way of Water, Top Gun: Maverick, Elvis, The Fabelmans, Tar and several other movies are also nominated.

“I would be kind of disappointed if the new Avatar won, but I doubt that’s gonna happen. I wouldn’t be mad, though,” said senior James Beggs. “I’m very happy Everything Everywhere All at Once is nominated. I’m happy about Tar. I feel like it’s a very well rounded year.”

Notable Best Actor nominees for the upcoming award show include Brendan Fraser for The Whale, Austin Butler in Elvis, and Paul Mescal as the newcomer in Aftersun. It is, however, the race for Best Supporting Actor that people feel more passionately about.

“I’m rooting for Ke Huy Quan for Best Supporting Actor. This is his first time acting since he was a child and he did a phenomenal job,” Film Club president Ella Newton said. “His character made me sob.”

Michelle Yeah is nominated for best actress for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Other nominees in this category are Cate Blanchett for Tar, Michelle Williams for The Fabelmans, Andrea Riseborough for To Leslie, and quite controversially, Ana de Armas for Blonde.

“Blonde is an embarrassment. Although it’s not her fault, Ana de Armas was awful,” Beggs said. “There were numerous times in the movie where her accent kept peeking in.”

The Best Animated Feature category will be a fight between animation powerhouses, represented by Turning Red and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and more experimental films like Guillermo del Toro’s Pinnochio and Marcel the Shell with Shoes on.

“I’m rooting for Puss in Boots to win. I didn’t see any of the other movies that were nominated for best animated movie except Turning Red, but Puss in Boots was amazing,” Swers said.
Steven Spielberg is nominated for Best Director of The Fabelmans and is joined in the category by Todd Field, Martin McDonagh, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheniart, and Ruben Ostlund. Notably, no female directors were nominated this year.

“I was surprised that Charlotte Wells wasn’t nominated for Aftersun. I think incorporating more female voices into the awards is good,” Beggs said.

Many agree that Wells was snubbed of a directing nomination. She wasn’t the only person who people thought deserved a nomination and didn’t get one.

“I think Nope should’ve been nominated for visual effects. I thought that was a missed opportunity,” Beggs said. “The Northman should have definitely gotten costumes and cinematography nominations, they did fantastically.”

Everything Everywhere All at Once leads with 11 nominations, including for Best Supporting Actor and Actress, Costumes and more. Other popular movies also garnered recognition—Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, Angela Bassett garnered a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Babylon is in the running for Best Production Design. For a complete list of nominations, click here.

“It’s the Oscars! A lot of the movies are actually pretty good this year. I’m excited to see who actually wins,” Newton said.

The Oscars will be March 12 at 9 pm on ABC, so tune in to find out the true winners.

“I’m just super excited to watch the Oscars this year,” Swers said. “I love seeing all the celebrities and the red carpet, plus I really have no idea who will win this year, so I’m eager to find out.