And The Academy Award Goes To…

side_oscarAs they finish polishing up the statues for Sunday’s awards ceremony, it’s time to finish up our predictions, which are based on not having seen any of the nominated films, with a look at the acting categories and the big one:

Best Picture

Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester By The Sea
Moonlight

Not having seen any of these films, my guess is that the love letter to Hollywood that is La La Land will lead it to glory.

Best Actor

Casey Affleck, Manchester By The Sea
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences

While La La Land figures to be the night’s big winner, I’m guessing Denzel Washington pulls out the upset here.

Best Actress

Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

With nothing really to base it on, I’m going back to the La La Land well to give the statue to Emma Stone.

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Predicting Those Non-Acting Oscars

side_oscarThe 89th Academy Awards are going down next Sunday night, so here’s my uneducated predictions for the non-acting awards. I likely have seen very few of these movies, so I will mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth rather than personal experience.

Best Original Screenplay

Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou, The Lobster
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester By The Sea
Mike Mills, 20th Century Women

I haven’t seen any of these films yet, but I do know that there is nothing Hollywood likes more than a love letter to Hollywood, which is pretty much what I’ve been led to believe La La Land is.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Eric Heisserer, Arrival
August Wilson, Fences
Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi, Hidden Figures
Luke Davies, Lion
Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, Moonlight

Another category where I have not seen any of the nominated work. I’m guessing, based on very little, that Moonlight will win this one.

Best Animated Feature

Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life As A Zucchini
The Red Turtle
Zootopia

I’ve only heard of two of these, neither of which I can see taking home an Oscar.  So, I’m going out on a ledge here and going with The Red Turtle.

Best Cinematography

Bradford Young, Arrival
Linus Sandgren, La La Land
Greig Fraser, Lion
James Laxton, Moonlight
Rodrigo Prieto, Silence

Well, again I’ve seen none of these, so I will once again go with La La Land, though Arrival may be a strong contender.

Best Costume Design

Joanna Johnston, Allied
Colleen Atwood, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
Consolata Boyle, Florence Foster Jenkins
Madeline Fontaine, Jackie
Mary Zophres, La La Land

Another category where I’m at a loss, so I’ll stick with my theme so far and go with Mary Zophres for her work on La La Land.

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