My Reactions To The 2017 Oscar Nominations

By Matt Neglia

Now that the dust has settled and the nominations for the 2017 Oscars have been announced, it is now time to take a look at each category and reflect on nominations.

​Click below to see my reactions.

All available reviews are highlighted in yellow.

BEST PICTURE
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell Or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester By The Sea
Moonlight

- The expected PGA 10 minus Deadpool as many predicted. I personally thought we would have 8 and as a result, I left off Fences but I seriously cannot complain about this lineup. Also it should be mentioned that Warner Bros. did not get a single nomination here in Best Picture for the first time I think ever (?)

BEST DIRECTOR
Denis Villeneuve - Arrival
Mel Gibson - Hacksaw Ridge
Damien Chazelle - La La Land
Kenneth Lonergan - Manchester By The Sea
Barry Jenkins - Moonlight

- I had predicted Scorsese would make it in here for Silence with the smaller voting body of the Director's branch but they instead went with a shocker and put Mel Gibson here officially putting him back in Hollywood's good graces and completing his comeback narrative for 2016.

BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck - Manchester By The Sea
Andrew Garfield - Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling - La La Land
Viggo Mortensen - Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington - Fences

- The same five as SAG. Still very happy to see Viggo Mortensen get represented for his work in Captain Fantastic.

BEST ACTRESS
Isabelle Huppert - Elle
Ruth Negga - Loving
Natalie Portman - Jackie
Emma Stone - La La Land
Meryl Streep - Florence Foster Jenkins

- And here is where everyone screamed. We always knew this category was going to break hearts. Look at the ladies who were left off: Emily Blunt's excellent work in the critically panned The Girl On The Train, Jessica Chastain's fierce work in Miss Sloane, Annette Bening's terrific performance in 20th Century Women. However it was Amy Adams's snub for Arrival which hurt the most this morning as she got everywhere she needed to all season. She is now officially this year's Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips. Also huge congratulations to Ruth Negga for making it in for Loving after missing SAG & BAFTA. Most of us had written off her chances so to see her crack the lineup was a nice surprise, even if it came at the expense of Adams.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali - Moonlight
Jeff Bridges - Hell Or High Water
Lucas Hedges - Manchester By The Sea
Dev Patel - Lion
Michael Shannon - Nocturnal Animals

- After winning the Golden Globe Award and getting nominated by BAFTA, many were predicting Aaron Taylor Johnson to get in over Michael Shannon. I'm very happy that Shannon was able to pull out the nomination and find representation for Nocturnal Animals. However, it came at a cost. Poor Hugh Grant who was predicted by many all season, unfortunately missed out for his career best work in Florence Foster Jenkins. That first Oscar nomination still eludes him.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis - Fences
Naomie Harris - Moonlight
Nicole Kidman - Lion
Octavia Spencer - Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams - Manchester By The Sea

- SAG & Golden Globe 5 for 5. No surprises here.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Arrival
Fences
Hidden Figures
Lion
Moonlight

- Many thought that Fences could miss here due to its almost literal adaptation from the stage play. A lot of people felt that Nocturnal Animals or Hacksaw Ridge could find some love here (Some were even predicting Deadpool...don't ask me why) but it was not meant to be.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Hell Or High Water
La La Land
The Lobster
Manchester By The Sea
20th Century Women

- I CALLED IT!! In fact I was the only person I knew who called that 20th Century Women's sole nomination would come here. The rest were all expected but that last slot was tricky.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Kubo & The Two Strings
Moana
My Life As A Zucchini
The Red Turtle
Zootopia

- Many predicted these 5 even though I foolishly predicted My Life As A Zucchini for Foreign Language Film instead of Animated Film. In its place I had Your Name...bad decision.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Fire At Sea
​I Am Not Your Negro
Life Animated
OJ: Made In America
13th

- Some felt that the Academy would not nominate 3 films all dealing with the same subject matter but OJ: Made In America, 13th & I Am Not Your Negro all made it in over some very tough competition. One of the hardest categories to call. Congratulations to whoever got 5/5.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Land Of Mine
A Man Called Ove
The Salesman
Tanna
Toni Erdmann

- Another easy category to call.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Arrival
La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Silence

- No surprises here as well since the ASC 5 matched with these here. I'm especially happy for Bradford Young who is now officially the first African American nominated cinematographer in the history of the Oscars for his work on Arrival. So deserved. Also this category marked the one place where Silence got a nomination and even though it is deserved, it's still a shame that the film was so criminally overlooked in many other areas.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Allied
Fantastic Beats & Where To Find Them
Florence Foster Jenkins
Jackie
La La Land

- Many felt that Allied's chances in this category were done after its lackluster performance both financially and critically. However, the work spoke for itself and it certainly deserves to be here.

BEST FILM EDITING
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell Or High Water
La La Land
Moonlight

- It was always either going to be Lion, Hell Or High Water or Manchester By The Sea for the final slot in film editing and the Academy recognized the tight work on Hell Or High Water which is so dserved because when you watch that film, it makes everything feel so effortless. Good for them!

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
A Man Called Ove
Star Trek Beyond
Suicide Squad

- Once again, the most embarrassing category of the year is the Makeup category. Once the shortlist was announced and left off many of the best and critically acclaimed films of the year, we all pretty much knew this category was a joke. Not only did they not nominated Florence Foster Jenkins here but they also left off Deadpool, making it the first ever PGA nominated film to not receive a single Oscar nomination.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Arrival
Fantastic Beats & Where To Find Them
Hail, Caesar!
La La Land
Passengers

- Passengers surprised many with two nominations. One of them came here and I cannot say that the work is not deserved, for as much as I hated the film, the Production Design and Score (More on that in a moment) are its two best elements.

BEST SOUND EDITING
Arrival
Deepwater Horizon
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Sully

- There is always one lone sound editing nomination every year and this year it went to Clint Eastwood's Sully. However, that is not the big story here. Instead, the big story is that La La Land, despite all odds and naysayers (Yours truly) managed to get an undeserved (In my opinion) nomination here and thus tied the all time nomination record for any film at the Oscars with 14. I would rather have seen that nomination go to Peter Berg's excellent film Patriot's Day which went home empty handed with not a single nomination.

BEST SOUND MIXING
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi

- Those who predicted 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi here were very smart when word went out that screeners had gone to only the sound branch for this film. I failed to predict it in either but many thought it would land in Sound Editing rather than Mixing. Either way, good job to those who saw this coming.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Deepwater Horizon
Doctor Strange
The Jungle Book
Kubo & The Two Strings
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

- With Arrival missing here, there is not a single Best Picture nominated film in this category. Kubo & The Two Strings also joins a small club along with the Nightmare Before Christmas becoming only the second animated film to every be nominated in Best Visual Effects.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Jackie
La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Passengers

- We all knew this branch would not nominated 5 totally new nominees. This is a very private club who tend to nominate the same composers year in and year out. Many felt that nominee would be John Williams for The BFG because well...he's John Williams. Instead they went with Thomas Newman who will unfortunately have to add another loss to his record when Justin Hurwitz wins this category for La La Land.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Audition - La La Land
Can't Stop The Feeling - Trolls
City Of Stars - La La Land
The Empty Chair - Jim: The James Foley Story 
How Far I'll Go - Moana

- La La Land was able to nab two nominations here while The Empty Chair becomes the WTF song nominee of the year, beating out anything from Hidden Figures and most unfortunately "Drive It Like You Stole It" from Sing Street.

So that will just about do it for this year's Oscar nominations. What were you most surprised by? How did you do in your predictions? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.

You can follow Matt and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars and Film on Twitter at @NextBestPicture