The Oscar Nominations at Empire's Collapse

The good: Oppenheimer with 13.

The bad: does anyone even care?

The ugly — here is the statement by the director of the ABCs of Book Banning, after its inevitable nomination. The film is pure propaganda for the Democrats. It is a lie for two reasons. First, they do not tell the other side of the story, where parents are terrified by what is happening to their kids in elementary schools. Second, they do not tell the story of “cancel culture” and censorship from their side - it is as though it never happened. Why, because the real goal here is to push the ideology. The best way to do that is to shame those who are trying to protect their children from a fundamentalist cult.

Winning an award moves the needle for the Democrats. Nothing more, nothing less.

The Oscars are mostly interesting to the hive mind online. They have very little impact on the broader culture. They used to exist as a way to drive hype to bring people out to the box office. Now, they exist to confirm the ideology of those who exist in the same ideological bubble.

Barbenheimer held Hollywood afloat yet the director, Greta Gerwig, was snubbed to nominate a French director for the movie Anatomy of a Fall. The pats on the head, however, are coming fast and furiously as people talk about how women direct three films up for Best Picture for the first time ever. Me, I stopped counting heads because what is left? The bottom has dropped out.

The three films by Barack Obama’s production company were mostly shut out, including the documentary American Symphony. The other two movies were Rustin and Leave the World Behind. The only nomination the three films received was Best Actor for Colman Domingo for Rustin.

The film Poor Things earned 11 nominations. It’s a film about a pregnant woman who attempts suicide, is rescued by a Dr. Frankenstein-type figure who takes her baby’s brain and puts it in her adult body, then sends her out on a journey of “sensual pleasures.” It’s kind of like Deep Throat decorated with art by Maxfield Parrish. Truly end-empire stuff.

Disney now owns Searchlight, which used to be owned by Fox, so any controversy aimed at Poor Things (and there will be) will land on Disney’s doorstep, a headache they don’t need.

Here are the nominations, in case you are interested. I did very poorly with my predictions.

Nominations for the 96th Academy Awards

Oppenheimer leads with 13.

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Bradley Cooper in "Maestro"

• Colman Domingo in "Rustin"

• Paul Giamatti in "The Holdovers"

• Cillian Murphy in "Oppenheimer"

• Jeffrey Wright in "American Fiction"

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Sterling K. Brown in "American Fiction"

• Robert De Niro in "Killers of the Flower Moon"

• Robert Downey Jr. in "Oppenheimer"

• Ryan Gosling in "Barbie"

• Mark Ruffalo in "Poor Things"

Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Annette Bening in "Nyad"

• Lily Gladstone in "Killers of the Flower Moon"

• Sandra Hüller in "Anatomy of a Fall"

• Carey Mulligan in "Maestro"

• Emma Stone in "Poor Things"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Emily Blunt in "Oppenheimer"

• Danielle Brooks in "The Color Purple"

• America Ferrera in "Barbie"

• Jodie Foster in "Nyad"

• Da'Vine Joy Randolph in "The Holdovers"

Best animated feature film of the year

• "The Boy and the Heron" Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki

• "Elemental" Peter Sohn and Denise Ream

• "Nimona" Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary

• "Robot Dreams" Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz

• "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal

Achievement in cinematography

• "El Conde" Edward Lachman

• "Killers of the Flower Moon" Rodrigo Prieto

• "Maestro" Matthew Libatique

• "Oppenheimer" Hoyte van Hoytema

• "Poor Things" Robbie Ryan

Achievement in costume design

• "Barbie" Jacqueline Durran

• "Killers of the Flower Moon" Jacqueline West

• "Napoleon" Janty Yates and Dave Crossman

• "Oppenheimer" Ellen Mirojnick

• "Poor Things" Holly Waddington

Achievement in directing

• "Anatomy of a Fall" Justine Triet

• "Killers of the Flower Moon" Martin Scorsese

• "Oppenheimer" Christopher Nolan

• "Poor Things" Yorgos Lanthimos

• "The Zone of Interest" Jonathan Glazer

Best documentary feature film

• "Bobi Wine: The People's President" Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek

• "The Eternal Memory" Nominees to be determined

• "Four Daughters" Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha

• "To Kill a Tiger" Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim

• "20 Days in Mariupol" Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath

Best documentary short film

• "The ABCs of Book Banning" Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic

• "The Barber of Little Rock" John Hoffman and Christine Turner

• "Island in Between" S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien

• "The Last Repair Shop" Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers

• "Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó" Sean Wang and Sam Davis

Achievement in film editing

• "Anatomy of a Fall" Laurent Sénéchal

• "The Holdovers" Kevin Tent

• "Killers of the Flower Moon" Thelma Schoonmaker

• "Oppenheimer" Jennifer Lame

• "Poor Things" Yorgos Mavropsaridis

Best international feature film of the year

• "Io Capitano" Italy

• "Perfect Days" Japan

• "Society of the Snow" Spain

• "The Teachers' Lounge" Germany

• "The Zone of Interest" United Kingdom

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

• "Golda" Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue

• "Maestro" Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell

• "Oppenheimer" Luisa Abel

• "Poor Things" Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston

• "Society of the Snow" Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

• "American Fiction" Laura Karpman

• "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" John Williams

• "Killers of the Flower Moon" Robbie Robertson

• "Oppenheimer" Ludwig Göransson

• "Poor Things" Jerskin Fendrix

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

• "The Fire Inside" from "Flamin' Hot"
  Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

• "I'm Just Ken" from "Barbie"
  Music and Lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt

• "It Never Went Away" from "American Symphony"
  Music and Lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson

• "Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)" from "Killers of the Flower Moon"
  Music and Lyric by Scott George

• "What Was I Made For?" from "Barbie"
  Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell

Best motion picture of the year

• "American Fiction" Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers

• "Anatomy of a Fall" Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers

• "Barbie" David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers

• "The Holdovers" Mark Johnson, Producer

• "Killers of the Flower Moon" Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers

• "Maestro" Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

• "Oppenheimer" Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers

• "Past Lives" David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers

• "Poor Things" Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers

• "The Zone of Interest" James Wilson, Producer

Achievement in production design

• "Barbie" Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer

• "Killers of the Flower Moon" Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis

• "Napoleon" Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Elli Griff

• "Oppenheimer" Production Design: Ruth De Jong; Set Decoration: Claire Kaufman

• "Poor Things" Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek

Best animated short film

• "Letter to a Pig" Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter

• "Ninety-Five Senses" Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess

• "Our Uniform" Yegane Moghaddam

• "Pachyderme" Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius

• "WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko" Dave Mullins and Brad Booker

Best live action short film

• "The After" Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham

• "Invincible" Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron

• "Knight of Fortune" Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk

• "Red, White and Blue" Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane

• "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" Wes Anderson and Steven Rales

Achievement in sound

• "The Creator" Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic

• "Maestro" Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic

• "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

• "Oppenheimer" Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O'Connell

• "The Zone of Interest" Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn

Achievement in visual effects

• "The Creator" Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould

• "Godzilla Minus One" Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima

• "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek

• "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould

• "Napoleon" Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould

Adapted screenplay

• "American Fiction" Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson

• "Barbie" Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach

• "Oppenheimer" Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan

• "Poor Things" Screenplay by Tony McNamara

• "The Zone of Interest" Written by Jonathan Glazer

Original screenplay

• "Anatomy of a Fall"Screenplay - Justine Triet and Arthur Harari

• "The Holdovers"Written by David Hemingson

• "Maestro"Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer

• "May December"Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik

• "Past Lives"Written by Celine Song