And The Oscar Goes To

side_oscarAs they finish polishing up the statues for tomorrow’s awards ceremony, it’s time to finish up our predictions with the major categories.  So, without further ado, we begin with:

Best Picture

All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fablemans
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Triangle of Sadness
Women Talking

I’ve seen a grand total of one of these, but that one isn’t going to win so I’ll go with Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Best Actor

Austin Butler, Elvis
Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Paul Mescal, Aftersun
Bill Nighy, Living

Having seen none of these, I’ll hop on board the Brendan Fraser comeback bandwagon.

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, Tár
Ana de Armas, Blonde
Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie
Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Again, I’ve seen none of these, so I’ll take a stab in the dark and pick Michelle Yeoh.

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And The Nominees Are

side_oscarThe 95th Academy Awards are going down Sunday night and, after a year break, my woeful predictions are back.  I don’t know that I’ve heard of many of these movies let alone seen them, so, with less basis in fact than most years, here’s my uneducated predictions for the non-acting awards.

Best Original Screenplay

Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Steven Spielberg and Tony Kusher, The Fablemans
Todd Field, Tár
Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness

I’ve seen none of these films, but Everything Everywhere All at Once seems to be the hot property, so I’m going to go with that.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell, All Quiet on the Western Front
Rian Johnson, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Kazuo Ishiguro, Living
Screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks, Top Gun: Maverick
Sarah Polley, Women Talking

Who doesn’t love a good war movie?

Best Animated Feature

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio 
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The Sea Beast
Turning Red

My best guess, having seen none of these fine films, is that Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio wins the day.

Best Cinematography

James Friend, All Quiet on the Western Front
Darius Khondji, Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Mandy Walker, Elvis
Roger Deakins, Empire of Light
Florian Hoffmeister, Tár

Seems like I’m going all in with the war movie.

Best Costume Design

Mary Zophres, Babylon
Ruth Carter, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Catherine Martin, Elvis
Shirley Kurata, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Jenny Beavan, Mrs. Hamm Goes to Paris

Well, I’ve seen one of these films, so let’s go with that one.

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Oscar Night

As they finish polishing up the statues for tonight’s awards ceremony, it’s time to finish up our predictions with a look at the acting categories and the big one:

Best Picture

Amour

Argo

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Django Unchained

Les Miserables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

The early money was on either Lincoln or Zero Dark Thirty taking home the big prize, but Argo has been raking up Best Picture wins starting with the Golden Globes and has momentum on its side.

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables

Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Denzel Washington, Flight

While Lincoln may have fallen out of favor in the Best Picture race, this is still Daniel Day-Lewis’ trophy to lose.

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Naomi Watts, The Impossible

In my mind, this comes down to Jessica Chastain or Jennifer Lawrence. Not having seen either performance, my gut tells me that the backlash against Zero Dark Thirty hurts Chastain here and that Jennifer Lawrence brings home the Oscar.

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