Oscar season is steadily approaching. Nominations were announced on February 8th and it brought the usual amount of shock with who was nominated. Leading the pack with 19 nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director is The Power of the Dog. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 93% on the Tomatometer. It has been highly praised by critics for the striking performance given by lead actor Benedict Cumberbatch. 

The Oscars usually televise 23 awards. This year, in efforts to help ratings and shorten the time of the event, 8 categories will be removed from the live broadcast. The 8 categories are Film Editing, Makeup/hairstyling, Original Score, Production Design, Sound, Documentary Short, Animated Short, and live-action short. When these categories were cut #PresentAll23 on Twitter started to trend. The thing fans loved about the Oscars was how people other than the big A-list Hollywood stars were being recognized for their talents. In recent years, the Oscars have been struggling to stay relevant. This choice by the academy might have the opposite effect  Another move they are making is introducing a new category, the #OscarsFanFavorite. That award is being voted on by fans on Twitter. 

The biggest award of the night is Best Picture. Some of this year’s nominees come as no surprise like Denis Villenueves’ Dune, Stephen Spielberg’s West Side Story, and Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up were all expected to be nominated for the big award. Notable surprises have been Licorice Pizza, Drive My Car, and Nightmare Alley. Those movies barely made a sound when they were being released, however, critics were raving about them. That led to its nomination. Other nominees include King Richard, Belfast, CODA, and The Power of The Dog. A notable omission from the category is Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci. It is a shock because the cast was stacked with former Golden Globe and Oscar winners. 

Two other big awards of the night are Best Actor and Actress. This year for best actor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Garfield, Javier Bardem, Will Smith, and Denzel Washington are all nominated.For best actress Jessica Chastain, Olivia Colman, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, and first-time nominee for her performance as Princess Diana, Kristen Stewart. Critics have raved all of them for their performances. Kristen Stewert and Andrew Garfield both received praise for the way they portrayed Johnathan Larson and Princess Diana. Their raw performances are what allowed them to be nominated and not their movies for best picture.