The 97th Oscar Nominations Have Been Announced!

A big day for Hollywood today, as the nominations were revealed for the 97th Academy Awards, which will be held live on March 2nd.

It was, as usual, a morning where some nominations were expected, and there were a few surprises as well.

Here is a look at some of the most nominated films:

“Anora!”

The much-deserved winner of the best film at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the coverted “Palme d’Or”, this incredible film tells the story of Ani, a Prostitute who married the son of a Russian Oligarch – is is NOT happy about that fact and sends hit men to “annul” the wedding.

Here is the VERY “redband” trailer – meaning some bad language is used but no nudity:

Mikey Madison gives a “once in a lifetime” performance and was nominated in the Best Actress category – along with nominations for Director Sean Baker, Supporting Actor Yurui Borisov, Best Picture Of The Year and more!

At this point, “Anora” is battling it out as my favorite film of 2024 as well…you will read about the other two in contention below:

“A Complete Unknown”

This incredible bio-pic of Singer Bob Dylan is also one of the very best films of the year – with a revelatory performance by Timothee Chalamet as the brooding, not always very nice Icon as he stepped into the spotlight, never to leave it.

Here is the trailer:

“A Complete Unknown” scored nominations for Chalamet, as well as Edward Norton in the Best Supporting Actor category and Monica Babaro in Supporting Actress – and Best Picture and Best Director as well…

Here is the other film vying for the best film of 2024 on my list:

“Sing Sing” Soars!

I love this film! It’s based on the true story of the “Rehabilitation Through the Arts” (RTA) program at Sing Sing Prison in upstate New York. The film follows inmates who form a theater troupe and create a stage show called “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code.”

Here is the trailer:

Colman Domingo is, once again, mesmerizing as inmate John “Divine G” Whitfield – who is involved in the theater troupe that gives inmates a way to deal with being in prison.

Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin co-stars and gives an incredibly raw and honest performance – because at 58, Clarence is the formerly incarcerated stage performer turned movie actor has spent decades honing his chops. In Director Greg Kwedar’s film “Sing Sing,” which Maclin co-wrote, he plays a character based on himself — which is not to say he plays himself, exactly.

It is raw, honest and uplifting – one of the very best films of 2024! Sadly, the film only scored a nomination for Colman in the Acting category, plus Maclin in the Adapted Screenplay category..

Here’s another film that scored multiple nominations this year:

“Conclave” is the story of the behind-the-scenes machinations as a new Pope is chosen for the Catholic Church….fascinating, dramatic and insightful, the film scored multiple nominations, including Best Picture and Director…

“Conclave” is a terrific, engrossing film!

Now, how about one of the most creative films of the year:

“The Substance!”

Wow. Just WOW. Demi Moore scores an Oscar nomination for her fearless portrayal of an Actress who will do ANYTHING to stay young…including taking “the substance.” Here is the trailer for this provocative gem:

This is a wild wild film so be warned – but Moore’s performance is one of the best of her career! The film also scored Best Picture and Director nominations as well!

Here’a another film that is on my “best of the year” list:

“A Real Pain” is a labor of love for Actor Jesse Eisenberg, who wrote and directed the film: a personal story of cousins who travel to Poland to visit the family home taken from them by Nazis in WW2…

Here is the trailer:

Eisenberg scored a Best Original Screenplay nomination…and Kieren Culkin is widely considered the frontrunner in the Best Supporting Actor category.

However, the film was overlooked in the Best Picture race.

One of the year’s most popular films scored ten total nominations:

“Wicked” is part one of the origin story of the Wicked Witch in “The Wizard Of Oz” – it scored expected nominations for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress Ariana Grande and Best Actress Olivia Erivo…but no directing or writing nominations.

“The Brutalist” received nominations for Best Picture and Director, as well as Best Actor Adian Brody, Best Supporting Actor Guy Pearce, and Best Supporting Actress Felicity Jones.

The film has been dogged by controversy lately as it was revealed that AI was used to re-record some Hungarian dialogue…in a year where there is no clear frontrunner, this news has cast a bit of a cloud over the film.

“Emila Perez” scored the most nominations of any film this year: 13! However, it is also controversial: it’s the story of a Mobster who transitions and tries to start their life over…it’s very dark, very violent – and a musical!

It received multiple nominations for Best Picture, Director, Actress, Screenplay and Zoe Saldana in the Best Supporting Actress category as well.

Oscar’s Early Morning Surprises!

Few and far between actually…most nominees were expected, as the frontrunners began taking shape last month with the “year end” awards from various organizations.

“The Wild Robot” was a surprise, receiving multiple nominations across technical categories, best song and animated feature as well.

Both Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong were nominated in Acting and Supporting Acting for “The Apprentice”, a bit of a surprise – although both had been critically acclaimed.

“I’m Still Here” was a bit of a surprise in the Best Picture category.

Snubs!

Pamela Anderson staged a comeback with “The Last Showgirl” but that didn’t make the cut, nor did Jamie Lee Curtis’s supporting role – and Angelina Jolie also missed out for her role in “Maria.”

Nicole Kidman’s humiliating performance in “Babygirl” was wisely overlooked, as was Amy Adams in “Nightbitch.” I think it proves you can go too far trying to be shocking.

Denzel Washington’s scene-chewing performance in “Gladiator II” was overlooked as was the film itself in the all of the major categories.

“Sing Sing” was overlooked for Best Picture, as was “A Real Pain” – both films in my top five for the year.

Here is a list of all of this year’s nominees:

https://deadline.com/2025/01/2025-oscars-nominations-list-1236264399/

I mentioned that “Anora” won the coveted “Palme d’Or” award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival:

The world’s most prestigious film festival happened every year in May – I’ve been lucky enough to attend on 12 separate occasions…here is a look at some of the adventures I had there:

I got to hang out with some big stars in Cannes – like the time my Host Michael Castner was interviewing Arnold Schwarzenegger:

That’s me in the orange shirt on the left…you can click here to see the entire story of Arnold’s interview, with one of the funniest moments with the Superstar ever!

Another highlight of that time was interviewing Jim Carrey on the Croisette as well:

He was hilarious, about to become a superstar thanks to “The Mask” – and we got to interview his new co-star Cameron Diaz as well…check out the video:

You can read the whole story here:

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Congratulations to all of this year’s Oscar nominees – and if you like this story please share on social media – thanks!

Categories: Academy Awards, Action Films, Art, Awards, Cult Movies, Film Fight Club, Great Films, Hollywood, Movies, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities

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