Final Oscar Predictions

Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Lily Gladstone,
Cillian Murphy

With the viewing of The Color Purple on Max, I've seen all the Oscar acting nominees, plus the Best Picture candidates and almost all those in the running for the major categories. (I tried to watch Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning on Paramount +, but I was bored out of my mind after 30 minutes. I couldn't bring myself to care about any of these people.) Here are my predictions for the winners which will be handed out tomorrow night.

Best Picture: Oppenheimer

Best Actor: Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer

Best Actress: Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Supporting Actor: Robert Downey, Jr., Oppenheimer

Best Supporting Actress: Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Best Director: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

Best Original Screenplay: Anatomy of a Fall (Though I would vote for Past Lives)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Barbie (a consolation prize from Greta Gerwig being snubbed in the Director Category)

Best International Feature: The Zone of Interest

Best Documentary Feature: 20 Days in Mariupol

Best Animated Feature: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (I would go with The Boy and the Heron, but Spidey is getting more buzz including winning at the Annie Awards)

Best Editing, Sound, Cinematography, Original Score: Oppenheimer

Best Costume Design, Production Design: Barbie

Best Original Song: "What Was I Made For?" from Barbie

Best Make-up and Hairstyling: Maestro

Best Visual Effects: Godzilla Minus One (This is the only one in the category I haven't seen yet--apart from the remaining two hours and ten mins. of Mission Impossible. But everyone seems to be predicting the Japanese monster to roll over the competition.)

Best Live-Action Short: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Best Animated Short: War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko (My preference is Ninety-Five Senses but this cloying pacifist message short won at the Annie Awards.) 

Best Documentary Short: The ABCs of Book Banning (This one sends the proper liberal message, but it's kinda dull. If I were voting, I'd go with The Last Repair Shop or Nai Nai and Wai Po)

Oscar Nomination Reaction and Early Predix

Barbieheimer dominated the
Oscar nominations.

The Oscar nominations held few surprises--Oppenheimer and Barbie, the two blockbusters of last summer which brought audiences back into the theaters following the pandemic, reaped the most nominations. Oppenheimer is the probable Oscar champ--a big, three-hour epic of an historical personage. There has been some grousing about Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie being overlooked for Best Director and Actress, but they have received nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and as a producer for a Best Picture candidate respectively. 

This movie year has been an exciting one because I've been able to see most of the nominated films before the nominations came out. It was easier this year because big films reaped many nominations in multiple categories. In previous years, the field was dominated by smaller films like Nomadland, CODA, and Parasite which got fewer citations. Plus many of the acting categories featured performers whose nominations were the only ones for their films--I still haven't seen some of last year's nominees. 

Golden Globes Reaction; Oscar Films Update

Oppenheimer was the big winner at the 86th annual Golden Globes Awards, winning five awards including Best Picture--Drama, Best Actor in a Drama (Cillian Murphy), Supporting Actor (Robert Downey, Jr.), Director (Christopher Nolan), and Score. The GGs were duller than usual with an unfunny host (Jo Koy, who spent too much time blaming his bad jokes and delivery on the writers) and an unsuccessful attempt to be more serious. The GGs had always been a big ratings grabber because the attending celebs had access to free booze and tended to let their hair down. But this year, the awards were given a reboot. Dick Clark Productions bought out and disbanded the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, reorganized the electorate to hopefully reflect more diversity and avoid the scandals of the past (such as awarding Pia Zadora an award because her millionaire husband gave the membership some expensive gifts.)

Barbie won the new, made-up category of Cinema and Box Office Achievement, so that Poor Things could triumph in the Comedy Picture category.

Side note: Evidently there was yet ANOTHER award ceremony the night before the GGs in Tinseltown. The Astra Awards presented by the Hollywood Creative Alliance honored Barbie with 8 wins. Oppenheimer got 4. The Hollywood Creative Alliance was founded in 2016 as the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society and renamed in 2019 to Hollywood Critics Association. In 2023, the organization changed its name a second time, and rebranded its awards as the Astra Awards. These accolades are not to be confused with the Critics Choice Awards, the SAGs, or the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. And what about the Golden Sattelites? Do they still exist?