The 2023 Academy Award nominations were revealed Tuesday, Jan. 24. With these nominations came great reason for celebration, but not without its fair share of bitter disappointments. With 2022 earning a spot next to the golden years for film, here is a deep dive into the year’s best contenders.

The best picture nomination is a coveted one for feature-length films. The 10 films in this year’s line-up remain mostly uncontested by audiences. James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” and Joseph Kosinski’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” the most mainstream of the films on the list, have received some pushback. However, general audiences agree that all three deliver on entertainment to the masses in a way an arthouse or independent film may not, and in that way, have earned their nominations.

Some notable exclusions include Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave” and Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon.” “Babylon” can be noted as this season’s biggest snub, having received no acting nominations or a director nomination. The highly contested film did not follow in the footsteps of its predecessors, “La La Land” and “Whiplash,” and could only hope to take home awards for production design, costume design and music (original score).

The best director category once again boasts no female contenders, though Charlotte Wells’s directorial debut “Aftersun” was in talks to earn her a nomination. 

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” swept with 11 nominations, including three in the supporting actor categories, one lead actress nomination for Michelle Yeoh and the coveted best picture nomination among them.

Many fans of the Indian Telugu-language film “RRR” were surprised not to find it among the ranks for International feature film. While the film certainly could stand up against the category’s contenders, the academy allows only one submission from each country into the category. India instead chose Pan Nalin’s “Chhello Show” for submission, though it did not receive a nomination.