The 90th Academy Awards are going down next Sunday night, so here’s my uneducated predictions for the non-acting awards. I have seen a couple of these movies, so I will still mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth with just a little bit of personal experience.
Best Original Screenplay
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor, The Shape Of Water
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
I’ve actually seen three of these films, and, while I would love for Emily and Kumail to win, my money is going on Jordan Peele for Get Out.
Best Adapted Screenplay
James Ivory, Call Me By Your Name
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, The Disaster Artist
Scott Frank, James Mangold, and Michael Green, Logan
Aaron Sorkin, Molly’s Game
Virgil Williams and Dee Rees, Mudbound
I’ve only seen one of these, but my guess is that the legend behind the story of The Disaster Artist will earn it the nod.
Best Animated Feature
The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent
I’ve only heard of two of these, one of which is from the good folks at Pixar, so I’ll go with that.
Best Cinematography
Roger A. Deakins, Blade Runner 2049
Bruno Delbonnel, Darkest Hour
Hoyte van Hoytema, Dunkirk
Rachel Morrison, Mudbound
Dan Laustsen, The Shape Of Water
Well, again I’ve seen none of these, so I will go with the war epic Dunkirk.
Best Costume Design
Jacqueline Durran, Beauty And The Beast
Jacqueline Durran, Darkest Hour
Mark Bridges, Phantom Thread
Luis Sequeira, The Shape Of Water
Consolata Boyle, Victoria & Abdul
Another category where I’m at a loss, so I’ll go with the live action Disney hit.
Best Documentary Feature
Abacus: Small Enough To Jail
Faces Places
Icarus
Last Men In Aleppo
Strong Island
I’ve only really heard of one of these, so this is just a stab in the dark.
Best Documentary Short Subject
Edith+Eddie
Heaven Is A Traffic Jam On The 405
Heroin(e)
Knife Skills
Traffic Stop
This is a total guess for a category that I know nothing about.
Achievement in Film Editing
Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos, Baby Driver
Lee Smith, Dunkirk
Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya
Sidney Wolinsky, The Shape Of Water
Jon Gregory, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Film editing seems like an award that a sweeping war epic should win, so I’m going with Lee Smith.
Best Foreign Language Film
A Fantastic Woman, Chile
The Insult, Lebanon
Loveless, Russia
On Body And Soul, Hungary
The Square, Sweden
A group of films that I have never, and will never, see, so I’m picking one at random.
Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick, Darkest Hour
Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard, Victoria & Abdul
Arjen Tuiten, Wonder
Just a guess at this point.
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
Dunkirk, Hans Zimmer
Phantom Thread, Jonny Greenwood
The Shape Of Water, Alexandre Desplat
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, John Williams
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Carter Burwell
I’m going again with John Williams to win once again.
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
Mighty River from Mudbound, Music and Lyrics by Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq and Taura Stinson
Mystery Of Love from Call Me By Your Name, Music and Lyrics by Sufjan Stevens
Remember Me from Coco, Music and Lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
Stand Up For Something from Marshall, Music by Diane Warren, Lyrics by Common and Diane Warren
This Is Me from The Greatest Showman, Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
I haven’t heard any of these, but my guess is the one from Pixar.
Achievement in Production Design
Beauty And The Beast, Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
Blade Runner 2049, Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Alessandra Querzola
Darkest Hour, Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
Dunkirk, Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
The Shape Of Water, Production Design: Paul Denham Austerberry; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin
I’m going with Beauty And the Beast, for no particular reason.
Best Animated Short Film
Dear Basketball, Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant
Garden Party, Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon
Lou, Dave Mullins and Dana Murray
Negative Space, Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata
Revolting Rhymes, Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer
Best Live Action Short Film
DeKalb Elementary, Reed Van Dyk
The Eleven O’Clock, Derin Seale and Josh Lawson
My Nephew Emmett, Kevin Wilson Jr.
The Silent Child, Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton
Watu Wote/All Of Us, Katja Benrath and Tobias Rosen
These picks are based on nothing but pure alchemy.
Achievement in Sound Editing
Baby Driver, Julian Slater
Blade Runner 2049, Mark Mangini and Theo Green
Dunkirk, Richard King and Alex Gibson
The Shape Of Water, Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Matthew Wood and Ren Klyce
I’m going to go with Star Wars for the win.
Achievement in Sound Mixing
Baby Driver, Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin and Mary H. Ellis
Blade Runner 2049, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill and Mac Ruth
Dunkirk, Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A. Rizzo
The Shape Of Water, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern and Glen Gauthier
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Stuart Wilson
Once again, Star Wars.
Achievement in Visual Effects
Blade Runner 2049, John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner and Dan Sudick
Kong: Skull Island, Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza and Mike Meinardus
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould
War For The Planet Of The Apes, Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon and Joel Whist
Having seen three of these films, I’m going with the more surprising one for the win.