CELEBRATING THE OSCARS: PAST AND PRESENT

By Jeff Pfeiffer

It’s a big month for Hollywood as awards season culminates with the 95th Oscars ceremony, airing live March 12 on ABC. The event honors the best films of 2022, and leading the field is Everything Everywhere All at Once, with 11 nominations. It’s followed by All Quiet on the Western Front and The Banshees of Inisherin with nine nods each, Elvis with eight, The Fabelmans with seven, and Tár and Top Gun: Maverick with six apiece. Among notable nominees, Michelle Yeoh is the first Malaysian actress nominated in the Best Actress category (Everything Everywhere All at Once); Best Supporting Actress nominee Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) is the first actor in a Marvel movie to be nominated for an Oscar; and Best Original Score nominee John Williams (The Fabelmans) adds to his dominating reign as the Oscars’ most-nominated living person (he’s now at 53).

Jimmy Kimmel returns to host (he previously hosted in 2017 and 2018), and he quipped that “being invited to host the Oscars for a third time is either a great honor or a trap. Either way, I am grateful to the Academy for asking me so quickly after everyone good said ‘no.’”

March will also see a celebration of previous Oscar winners and nominees, thanks to the return of Turner Classic Movies’ 31 Days of Oscar programming event. All month long, beginning early March 1 and continuing through early April 1, TCM will offer a nonstop lineup of Oscar-winning and -nominated films from throughout cinema history.

This year, titles in 31 Days of Oscar are grouped into themed genre blocks, with one or two themes spotlighted each day. For example, March 1 begins with a daytime “Family Ties” theme and an evening “Adventure” theme. Making their TCM premieres during this year’s 31 Days of Oscar are Lost in Translation (2003, late-night March 5), Gangs of New York (2002, late-night March 8) and The Fog of War (2003, March 29).