Best Picture 2022? Summary of all Ten Best Picture Nominees.
- Rating
Since the Academy Awards increased the number of movies nominated for Best Picture from five to ten, this is the first time FrankMovieReviews has seen all the nominees. So, here’s what FrankMovieReviews thinks of all ten Best Pictures nominees. Unfortunately, I believe The Power of the Dog will win the best picture; not my favorite film, but a well-written and executed story. However, I hope my favorite, Belfast, wins.
There is a list of all nominees at the end.
- Drive My Car, a three-hour movie, can and does take 40 minutes of introduction before the opening credits run. The long introduction establishes the central relationship to better understand and experience Kafuku’s loss. Kafuku’s driver, the somber Misaki, does spend a lot of time driving Kafuku around in his red Saab 900. While driving, he is practicing lines for the Chekov play he is directing, and they both spend a lot of time learning about life through stories so they can then spend a lot of time processing their grief. It is a quiet and complex story with several branches showing how people deal with life, suffering, and the past. The other long slough, The Power of the Dog, at least had beautiful scenery.
- The Power of the Dog is the type of movie that ends, and half the people say, what happened? Did anything happen? After some thought, the sexual repression and revenge dawn on you, and you say, “Oh yeah, cool.” It is such a subtle film – you must pay close attention – which is difficult when it is a slowly unwinding story. The Power of the Dog is the favorite to win Best Picture. Frank Movie Reviews also thinks it will win Best Picture. The ceiling-breaker Jane Campion wrote a superb screenplay and directed the film. In 1994, she won a Best Screenplay Oscar and a nomination for Best Director. This year is the 94th year for the Oscars, and only two women have ever been nominated for Best Director. It is time Jane Campion wins Best Director and Best Picture. Cinematography, also by a woman (Ari Wegner), may win the Best Cinematography Oscar.
- Belfast. My favorite to win the Oscar for Best Picture, not just because I enjoyed the ride, but it contained the best acting throughout. Ciarán Hinds, Judy Dench, Caitríona Balfe, and the little kid Buddy, Jude Hill, are excellent. Ciarán Hinds should win for Best Supporting Actor. Depicts the pain and suffering of a family in Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the beginning of the low-grade war, The Troubles, that continued in Northern Ireland for thirty years.
- West Side Story. If you enjoy musicals, West Side Story is a perfect movie. This film would win the Oscar for Best Picture if it were a new movie. But even an excellent remake of the 1961 original movie probably will not be picked. Spielberg kept all the original songs but reimagined a few songs and added new dialogue, making West Side Story even better than the original. For example, my least favorite song in the original is “Cool” (Boy, boy, crazy boy, get cool, boy). Cool’s choreography is changed in the Spielberg version, improving the song, and turning Cool into a pivotal scene in the movie.
- Dune is another well-done remake. However, it is just another remake, better technically than the 1984 movie, but the same story. I also think the sandworms are too large; the sandworms are plausible on a green screen but not credible in the “real” world.
- CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) is the most heartwarming film of the ten nominees. However, a few laughs, goosebumps, and happy tears do not win an Oscar. Several films this year aroused those same emotions, and CODA is not original or different enough to win an Oscar. It may win a people’s favorite award.
- Licorice Pizza, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, is a slightly quirky, charming movie. Paul Thomas appears to have fallen in love with the Haim family, so he has the three Haim sisters and the parents in the film. But the star of Licorice Pizza is the youngest of the sisters, Alana Haim. Licorice Pizza is the first movie for Alana Haim and her co-star Cooper Hoffman, son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. Using vignettes of various situations, Licorice Pizza tells the story of two young people looking for a future. Charming won’t get an Oscar; I wonder if Alana Haim is awarded for her excellent natural performance.
- Don’t Look Up, I believe, is nominated as a political statement, as a final slap against the previous Administration. The premise is not original, since half the country is already doing what they did in the movie, ignoring major problems. It is a good film, but not a great piece of filmmaking.
- King Richard is a biography about Selena and Venus’s father and their upbringing. Will Smith was good, but the film bored me a bit. I’m not a fan of sports films, so maybe I’m not giving the movie my full attention.
- Nightmare Alley is a film by another well-respected Director, Guillermo del Toro. But del Toro won recently for Shape of Water, so he does not deserve another Best Picture for Nightmare Alley. Nightmare Alley is an interesting story, an excellent period piece, but it is a letdown at the end, sort of a sad meh ending.
Here is a full list of Oscars nominations for 2022 which was unveiled on 8th February.
1- BEST PICTURE
- Belfast- Produced by Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik, and Tamar Thomas
- CODA – Produced by Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi, and Patrick Wachsberger
- Don’t Look Up- Produced by Adam McKay and Kevin Messick
- Drive My Car – Produced by Teruhisa Yamamoto
- Dune – Produced by Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve, and Cale Boyter
- King Richard- Produced by Tim White, Trevor White, and Will Smith
- Licorice Pizza Produced by- Sara Murphy, Adam Somner, and Paul Thomas Anderson
- Nightmare Alley Produced by- Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale, and Bradley Cooper
- The Power of the Dog Produced by -Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, and Roger Frappier
- West Side Story- Produced by Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger
2- BEST DIRECTOR
- Paul Thomas Anderson -Licorice Pizza
- Kenneth Branagh- Belfast
- Jane Campion- The Power of the Dog
- Ryûsuke Hamaguchi -Drive My Car
- Steven Spielberg -West Side Story
3- BEST ACTOR
- Javier Bardem for Being the Ricardos
- Benedict Cumberbatch for The Power of the Dog
- Andrew Garfield for Tick, Tick … Boom!
- Will Smith for King Richard
- Denzel Washington for The Tragedy of Macbeth
4- BEST ACTRESS
- Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye
- Olivia Colman -The Lost Daughter
- Penélope Cruz- Parallel Mothers
- Nicole Kidman -Being the Ricardos
- Kristen Stewart – Spencer
5- BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- 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
6- BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Jessie Buckley for The Lost Daughter
- Ariana DeBose for West Side Story
- Judi Dench for Belfast
- Kirsten Dunst for The Power of the Dog
- Aunjanue Ellis for King Richard
7- BEST 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)
8- BEST 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
9- BEST 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
10- BEST 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
11- BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- Belfast -written by Kenneth Branagh
- Don’t Look Up – screenplay by Adam McKay; Story by Adam McKay & David Sirota
- King Richard -written by Zach Baylin
- Licorice Pizza -written by Paul Thomas Anderson
- The Worst Person in the World -written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
12- BEST ANIMATED SHORT
- 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)
13- BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
- Ala Kachuu — Take and Run (Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger)
- The Dress (Tadeusz Lysiak 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)
14- BEST 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)
15- BEST 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)
16- BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
- 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)
17- BEST 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 Sorensen, and Charlotte De La Gournerie)
- Summer of Soul (Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent, and David Dinerstein)
- Writing With Fire (Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh)
18- BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
- 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)
19- BEST ORIGINAL SONG
- “Be Alive” — music and lyrics by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (King Richard)
- “Dos Oruguitas” — music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Encanto)
- “Down to Joy” — music and lyrics by Van Morrison (Belfast)
- “No Time to Die” — music and lyrics by Billie Eilish and Finneas
- O’Connell (No Time to Die)
- “Somehow You Do” — music and lyrics by Diane Warren (Four Good Days)
20- BEST 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)
21- BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
- 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)
22- BEST 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)
23- BEST 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)