The nominations for the 97th Annual Academy Awards are out. Besides arguing over who will win, who should win and who got snubbed (no love for Hugh Grant in Heretic?). And speaking of snubs, it’s 2025, we’ll still waiting for the Old-scars to honour the stunt community. (We’ll leave that to Vulture to recognise the stunt performers’ contributions.)
What’s there left to say about the Class of 2025 that hasn’t already been said? Honestly, I’ve been slacking off: of the 10 Best Picture nominees, I’ve only seen Dune: Part Two (Timothee Chalamet’s hair) and The Substance (that f***ing ending). Let’s face it, TV is just too good to lure me back into the cinemas.
Anyhoo, I’m looking forward to Emilia Perez, a musical crime film about a Mexican drug lord (Karla Sofía Gascón) who hires a lawyer (Zoe Saldaña) to fake her death and undergo gender-confirming surgery. The Spanish-language, French-made Netflix film landed the most nominations of 13, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress (Gascón makes history as the first openly trans actor nominated for an Oscar). The epic immigration drama The Brutalist (10 nominations) is also on my watch list.
If you know your Oscars, they’re pretty predictable. Just close pay attention to the Directors Guild Awards and Producers Guild Awards (Feb 8), Writers Guild Awards (Feb 15), and Screen Actors Guild Awards (Feb 24). These groups share the same voters as the Academy, so their respective outcomes will decide who walks away with Best Director, Best Picture, Screenplay (Original and Adapted), Best Actor/Actress and Best Supporting Actor/Actress.
So many movies, so little time. What to do? If you like me have a lot of movies to catch up, I hope this guide will let you in on where to start.
The 97th Annual Academy Awards will air live on Mediacorp Channel 5 and mewatch on Mar 3, from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. Red carpet kicks off at 7.30am with the main show starting from 8am. Catch the same-day encore at 6.30pm and 10.30pm for the Red Carpet and main show, respectively. With Conan O’Brien as host.