Oscar Nominations 2023: 8 Ups & 9 Downs

Downs...

9. Elvis Gets WAY Too Much Love

Though it wasn't exactly a huge surprise to see Elvis get so much support from the Academy, the industry's season-long love affair with Baz Luhrmann's aggressively middling musical biopic remains completely baffling.

While Austin Butler's superb performance in the lead role was absolutely worthy of a Best Actor nomination, and there are reasonable arguments to be made for its Best Sound, Production Design, and Costume Design nominations, did it really deserve eight nominations in total?

First and foremost, a Best Picture nod when the likes of Aftersun and Glass Onion are right there seems outrageous.

Furthermore, it's a bit head-scratching that so much of the industry was enamoured enough with the film's chaotic editing, at times sludge-like cinematography, and frankly distracting makeup job on Tom Hanks to deem them nomination-worthy.

While Elvis has little chance of winning many awards beyond the technical categories, it's still a bizarre over-performance which stole slots away from numerous superior films. Speaking of which...