As of January 24, the 2023 Oscar nominations are here! The following are nominations from Urban’s faculty and staff. The nominations agree with already previous nominations and add onto the nominations from this year: 

MICHELLE YEOH FOR BEST ACTRESS:

“I love Michelle Yeoh. I think she’s amazing. I feel like she’s been snubbed so many times. She is a combat queen. If you have ever seen her do stunts, [from] ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ to ‘Star Trek’, she’s an amazing performer and an amazing stunt performer. I think her work is so emotionally resonant. I’m very much on Team Michelle Yeoh [for her role in] ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once.’” 

– Maya Herbsman, theater teacher

Michellle Yeoh at Cannes in 2000. Used under creative commons license. Photographer: Rita Molnár.

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE FOR BEST PICTURE: 

“‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ is just so good. It nails the multiverse, it nails this weirdness, it nails this concept of success, value and existentialism. It’s everything good about a movie. It nails family and relationships with mothers. What fun to have a movie that does so many amazing things and has these storied characters. My dad is the Asian American person in my family and, straight up, he wouldn’t have to dress up for Halloween to look like Waylon. Somebody was talking about being Asian tourists, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s how my dad dresses every day.’ I don’t think I’ve ever seen [someone like] my dad in a movie that was predominantly in English, so that was really cool. ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ should win all the things.” 

– Kristjiana Gong, history & service learning teacher

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” now available on multiple streaming services!

TOP GUN: MAVERICK FOR BEST PICTURE:

“It surprised me to see ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ in the list of best pictures. Fun movie, cool cinematography and techniques for filming, it was a well made film, but it’s mind boggling to me that that’s a Best Picture nomination. I think the Best Picture has got something to do with accessibility and meaningfulness, but also something around advancing the art form… So I was surprised to see Top Gun up there, but I love a great action movie and I love the original. It’s tragic in ways, but still super fun. Planes are cool, planes are sick. And [‘Top Gun’] is basically perfection.” 

– Riley Maddox, class of 2023 dean & math teacher

“Top Gun: Maverick” now available on multiple streaming services!

DANIELLE DEADWYLER FOR BEST ACTRESS: 

“Danielle Deadwyler is so good in ‘Till’, a movie I wouldn’t usually watch because I’m not really into the Black pain movie, but she does such a good job. I’m really into that and really disappointed that she did not get nominated. Then you get Andrea Riseborough (nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for ‘To Leslie’) who has been working so long and is a white woman who has a lot of connections. That is not something that Danielle Deadwyler has access to nor would be able to do. So trust actors, trust creators, trust creators of color and Black creators to give a nuanced performance and give joy, and give things that are not just pain and suffering. I think that’s what Danielle Deadwyler does which is so remarkable in the film, it’s so textured and you can really see the pain, but also the hope, and what she is trying to do.” 

– Julian Morris, english teacher

Danielle Deadwyler in “Till”.

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS FOR BEST PICTURE:

“‘The Triangle of Sadness.’ It’s very funny. It’s a very, very offbeat movie, but there’s parts of it that are just so funny, that just really make fun of people with a lot of money who are entitled, it just skewers them. I’m actually kind of surprised that it got recognized for best picture, but it obviously stayed with me. And that’s the other thing, there are so many movies that you see and afterwards it’s kind of like, so what? or you forget that you saw the movie and to me that says something. If you forget that you saw it, it doesn’t stay with you. But there are some movies, if it stays with you that says something. It touched you in some way.” 

– Anna Lee, director of development

“Triangle of Sadness” now available on multiple streaming services!