The 2022 Oscar nominations have been announced! A few surprises in the mix. Despite a lot of buzz,  Rachel Zegler is nowhere to be found in the Best Actress category for her energetic turn in WEST SIDE STORY. Additionally, Ruth Negga didn’t garner a nom for her praised turn in PASSING. I’m most disappointed (but not at all surprised) that Nicolas Cage was overlooked for some of the best work of his career in the independent gem, PIG. No love for Bradley Cooper in NIGHTMARE ALLEY either. His final scene in that movie warranted a nomination alone. It would have been great to see Edgar Wright’s high-energy THE SPARKS BROTHERS in the documentary category but alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

On the blockbuster front, despite massive box-office appeal, SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME was nowhere to be found aside from an expected Visual Effects nomination. Meanwhile, even with the inclusion of a brand new U2 song (a subpar one at that), SING 2 was shut out. While I enjoyed both of those films just fine, I’m not at all surprised that they were virtually ignored.

Beyond that, much-talked-about imports such as DRIVE MY CAR, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, and FLEE garnered multiple noms while expected titles such as WEST SIDE STORY, DUNE, KING RICHARD, BELFAST, LICORICE PIZZA, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH, BEING THE RICARDOS, and CODA made strong showings as well. Nice to see NIGHTMARE ALLEY in a handful of categories, too. THE POWER OF THE DOG leads the pack with a whopping 12 nominations. Extraordinary, particularly for a Netflix movie.

Who will come out on top in terms of wins? We’ll find out in a couple of months when the 94th Academy Awards are handed out on March 27th, 2022.

Here’s a look at the nominations;

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE;

CIARÁN HINDS

Belfast

TROY KOTSUR

CODA

JESSE PLEMONS

The Power of the Dog

J.K. SIMMONS

Being the Ricardos

KODI SMIT-MCPHEE

The Power of the Dog

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE;

JESSICA CHASTAIN

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

OLIVIA COLMAN

The Lost Daughter

PENÉLOPE CRUZ

Parallel Mothers

NICOLE KIDMAN

Being the Ricardos

KRISTEN STEWART

Spencer

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE;

JESSIE BUCKLEY

The Lost Daughter

ARIANA DEBOSE

West Side Story

JUDI DENCH

Belfast

KIRSTEN DUNST

The Power of the Dog

AUNJANUE ELLIS

King Richard

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM;

ENCANTO

Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer

FLEE

Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie

LUCA

Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren

THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES

Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht

RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON

Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho

CINEMATOGRAPHY;

DUNE

Greig Fraser

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Dan Laustsen

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Ari Wegner

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

Bruno Delbonnel

WEST SIDE STORY

Janusz Kaminski

COSTUME DESIGN;

CRUELLA

Jenny Beavan

CYRANO

Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran

DUNE

Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Luis Sequeira

WEST SIDE STORY

Paul Tazewell

DIRECTING;

BELFAST

Kenneth Branagh

DRIVE MY CAR

Ryusuke Hamaguchi

LICORICE PIZZA

Paul Thomas Anderson

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Jane Campion

WEST SIDE STORY

Steven Spielberg

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE);

ASCENSION

Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell

ATTICA

Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry

FLEE

Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie

SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein

WRITING WITH FIRE

Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT);

AUDIBLE

Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean

LEAD ME HOME

Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk

THE QUEEN OF BASKETBALL

Ben Proudfoot

THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR

Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei

WHEN WE WERE BULLIES

Jay Rosenblatt

FILM EDITING;

DON’T LOOK UP

Hank Corwin

DUNE

Joe Walker

KING RICHARD

Pamela Martin

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Peter Sciberras

TICK, TICK…BOOM!

Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM;

DRIVE MY CAR

Japan

FLEE

Denmark

THE HAND OF GOD

Italy

LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM

Bhutan

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

Norway

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING;

COMING 2 AMERICA

Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer

CRUELLA

Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon

DUNE

Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr

THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE

Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh

HOUSE OF GUCCI

Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE);

DON’T LOOK UP

Nicholas Britell

DUNE

Hans Zimmer

ENCANTO

Germaine Franco

PARALLEL MOTHERS

Alberto Iglesias

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Jonny Greenwood

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG);

BE ALIVE

from King Richard; Music and Lyric by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter

DOS ORUGUITAS

from Encanto; Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

DOWN TO JOY

from Belfast; Music and Lyric by Van Morrison

NO TIME TO DIE

from No Time to Die; Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell

SOMEHOW YOU DO

from Four Good Days; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

BEST PICTURE;

BELFAST

Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas, Producers

CODA

Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, Producers

DON’T LOOK UP

Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers

DRIVE MY CAR

Teruhisa Yamamoto, Producer

DUNE

Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter, Producers

KING RICHARD

Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith, Producers

LICORICE PIZZA

Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper, Producers

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier, Producers

WEST SIDE STORY

Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

PRODUCTION DESIGN;

DUNE

Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Production Design: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Amber Richards

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

Production Design: Stefan Dechant; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

WEST SIDE STORY

Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED);

AFFAIRS OF THE ART

Joanna Quinn and Les Mills

BESTIA

Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz

BOXBALLET

Anton Dyakov

ROBIN ROBIN

Dan Ojari and Mikey Please

THE WINDSHIELD WIPER

Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION);

ALA KACHUU – TAKE AND RUN

Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger

THE DRESS

Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki

THE LONG GOODBYE

Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed

ON MY MIND

Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson

PLEASE HOLD

K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse

SOUND;

BELFAST

Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri

DUNE

Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett

NO TIME TO DIE

Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb

WEST SIDE STORY

Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy

VISUAL EFFECTS;

DUNE

Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer

FREE GUY

Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick

NO TIME TO DIE

Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY);

CODA

Screenplay by Siân Heder

DRIVE MY CAR

Screenplay by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe

DUNE

Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth

THE LOST DAUGHTER

Written by Maggie Gyllenhaal

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Written by Jane Campion