Viola Davis, Tom Cruise, Steven Yeun, and more

Yeun’s role in Nope as child star-turned-exhibitionist/theme park owner Jupe was originally written for Jesse Plemons, but damn if Steven Yeun didn’t make this role 100% his own. He’s not even in the movie a ton, but there aren’t many monologues you’ll hear better than Jupe explaining his childhood memory of Gordy the monkey. —Evan Romano

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Jenna Ortega got a lot of praise in 2022 for becoming a new genre scream queen (and between Scream, X, and Wednesday, she certainly deserves it), but we’ve got to give some praise to her X co-star Mia Goth, who anchored not one but two connected A24 horror films in X and Pearl. Goth plays dual roles—protagonist and antagonist—in X, before dialing it back for the prequel Pearl to show us how the evil came to be. Goth gives some of the best horror acting you’ll ever see, including a stunning monologue and some truly unique facial expressions. She’ll complete the trilogy next year with maXXXine, but if the Academy wasn’t constantly gatekeeping horror, Goth would’ve nailed a nomination for her efforts. —ER

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Viola Davis didn’t train her body past its limits and go on to portray the most badass warrior of 2022 for the Best Actress nomination to elude her. Davis’s portrayal of General Nanisca, leader of an all-female group of warriors, the Agojie, in The Woman King drew near-instant praise and placement near the early frontrunners for Oscar nominations. Davis has always been virtually unmatched at deriving strength from sorrow, and Nanisca slays colonizers with a steely gaze that looks like tears frozen over. There’s rarely a year Davis doesn’t deserve a Best Actress nomination, and this wasn’t one of them. —Keith Nelson

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Paul Dano has been turning heads with consistently stellar work for more than two decades at this point, but 2022 may have been his best year yet. As the scientific-minded father figure in Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical The Fabelmans, Dano is warm and tender in a flawed way; it’s almost unfathomable to realize that it’s the same guy we all saw as the updated quasi-incel Riddler in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. And while your gut may tell you that The Batman isn’t an “Oscar” movie—and for some reason, this year, it wasn’t—The Dark Knight and Joker would suggest otherwise. Dano has been snubbed before—for There Will Be Blood particularly, but he also could’ve gotten some love for movies like Little Miss Sunshine, Prisoners, and Okja, just to name a few—but he certainly deserved a nomination to congratulate a special year. —ER

Watch The Fabelmans Here

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The Oscars tend to ignore genre movies. That said, 2022’s Nope had an unforgettable performance from Keke Palmer. Although horror is more often snubbed than not, Palmer’s role as Emerald Hayes, the fast-talking, charismatic sister to Daniel Kaluuya’s OJ is a breath of fresh air in a genre where characters are often one-note and simply stressed or scared. Palmer adds depth to a character who, with the wrong actress, could have ended up a terribly miscast attempt at comedy relief. The Oscars seriously messed up here. —Milan Polk

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We don’t have to spell this one out. It is a wild, unique ride that takes a bit out of the Psycho playbook, but largely just does something very unique and very fun. Zach Cregger—previously known for his sketch comedy bonafides—killed it with this one. —ER

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Maybe Jordan Peele—and Nope as a whole, which astoundingly came away with zero nominations even on the technical side—got ignored this year because the voters figured that his Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Get Out was enough. Guess what? It wasn’t. Peele scaled his production up with Nope, transitioning to a Spielbergian, Jaws-ian, blockbuster epic. The man has proven to be a master screenwriter who can create tension with the best of them—but Nope manages to once again be something entirely original. Peele is one of the best filmmakers working right now, making films that reward paying close attention and that reward viewers who take a minute to think about the themes that connect the film. Peele being shut out from the awards conversation this year was 100% nonsensical. —ER

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Justin Long isn’t even in the first half of Zach Cregger’s Barbarian but from his very first moments on screen it becomes clear quite quickly that he’s going to own this movie. No disrespect to Georgina Campbell or Bill Skarsgård, who are both also great in their roles, but Long has earned a reputation as a Scream King for good reason—and he plays his decidedly not singular character in Barbarian to perfection. —ER

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Cate Blanchett isn’t the only one doing top-notch work in Tár. In showing the kind of damage that a self-absorbed and selfish person like Lydia Tár can have, director Todd Field also gives actresses Noémie Merlant (as Lydia’s assistant and potential protégé) and Nina Hoss (as Lydia’s way-more-dutiful-than-she-has-any-business-being partner) some incredible material to work with, and both are up to the task. Either of these women would’ve been exceptional nominees (and great winners!) but the Academy instead chose to snub them both. —ER

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Janelle Monáe is just good at whatever it is she chooses to do. While we’re still patiently waiting for the follow-up to her excellent 2018 album Dirty Computer, we get to see her put some great performances to screen. We won’t ruin Glass Onion, in case you’re one of the four people alive who still hasn’t seen it, but Monáe plays a character of much importance to perfection. —ER

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Take your pick between X and Pearl; as a slasher fan, I personally feel great love in my soul for X. But director/writer/producer/editor Ti West deserved accolades for the work he did making these two films from stretch. In particular, the “Landslide” scene that marks the midpoint of “X” is an impressive feat both on a technical and character-building level. —ER

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Standing out in an ensemble cast of Oscar nominees and winners is daunting, especially when your character isn’t one of the three most essential to the plot. But Dave Bautista turned Joe Rogan wannabe Duke Cody from an egotistical comedic punching bag to a broken man sacrificing whatever he can to feel whole. He deserved a bit more recognition for the role that established him as the best wrestler turned actor (sorry, Dwayne). —KN

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Best Original Song is a category representing the most show-stopping tunes, which leave you with a warm feeling as the credits roll. The Oscars missed out on a worthy nomination in “Nobody Like You,” an irresistible pop song from Turning Red’s fictional boy band 4Town. Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell (O’Connell is also one of the performers in the fictional group) created the original music for the film, so it’s no wonder the music is as catchy as it is. One of the U.S.’s cultural touchstones is a love of boy bands. “Nobody Like You” is nostalgia for adults who put posters of pop artists on their teenage bedroom walls, but also a reminder that no matter what generation you’re in, nothing beats a really good pop jam. — MP

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Daniel Kaluuya gives one of the more understated performances of the year in Nope—and his work is brilliant. In order to match the energy and enthusiasm that Keke Palmer brings to her role, Kaluuya tones it way down, going stoic to play a man grieving the man he’s named for (Otis Jr.). Kaluuya has been nominated for a Jordan Peele movie before (Get Out) and won two years ago for playing Fred Hampton (in Judas and the Black Messiah), but it would’ve been nice to see a purposefully understated performance get some love for once. —ER

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Nothing against John Leguizamo, Janet McTeer, the unnerving Hong Chau, and the rest of The Menu, but Fiennes sucked the attention out of every scene he spoke in. Chef Julian Slowik is driven to murder because the art he serves is consumed by people drawn to it for every reason but the actual food. He’s lost his love of cooking, and Fiennes plays him like a silent storm with a quiet power he lets out in toxic morsels. Fiennes was haunting without being purely evil, with rage not devoid of empathy. Few performances in 2022 made you wonder why you were laughing and terrified at the same time like Fiennes, who could’ve run away with this category. —KN

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The Academy missed a golden opportunity to show the world it supports the future of filmmaking by bestowing Devotion director J.D. Dillard with a Best Director nomination for the third film he’s made in his young career. Dillard wasn’t deserving because of optics. He deserved it because the remarkable film about the U.S. Navy’s first Black aviator Jesse Brown (Jonathan Majors) doesn’t allow viewers to escape the claustrophobic intensity of the aerial battles. Nor can you avoid the arresting honesty of Brown’s silent battles with himself that roared out in his tears. Dillard won’t let us as he transports us to a life seldom spoken of and makes it feel like one that should never be forgotten. That’s the mark of an Oscar-level talent. — KN

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Despite all the praise Decision to Leave received at Cannes and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the Oscars somehow weren’t impressed. Co-writer, producer, and director Park Chan–Wook has a solid filmography (Thirst, Oldboy, The Handmaiden) so it’s difficult to believe a dramatic and suspenseful film like Decision to Leave wouldn’t even land a nomination for Best International Feature—some even had hopes and expectations that it could crack the Best Picture lineup. The director has proven time and time again that he knows how to craft entertaining and thoughtful films that garner international acclaim. It’s high time his work received recognition from the Oscars too. —MP

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Top Gun: Maverick earned well-deserved nominations for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay (among others), but if we want to be real for a moment: there’s no Top Gun: Maverick without Tom Cruise. On top of the intrinsic value he brings to the project, let’s also draw attention to the hug he shares with Miles Teller’s Rooster at the end of the film. I have watched this movie three times, and at that exact moment, have cried all three times. —ER

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