I mean, pretty adorable, amiright?
Lots of reliably good wine to talk about, let’s get right to it!
All good stuff as usual!
Next up: another winery that rarely disappoints: Black Hills!
For the second time this trip, we visit a winery for the first time since one of our BC Wine friends passed away. Kane Morgan, who was Rust’s 1st employee, and their General Manager, passed suddenly in a car accident in December of 2023. It was a huge blow to his family and the winery, of course.
He took excellent care of us every time we visited and whenever I emailed him with a question or concern, and he will be missed. He is honored at the winery with a huge portrait that hangs behind the front desk, a mural on the second floor, and the name of the road up to the winery has been renamed Kane Morgan Way. Lovely tribute for a good human gone way too soon.
We are greeted with a lovely glass of wine, and are seated outside where Loki is made to feel as welcome as we are. We introduce Loki to some other visiting dogs, who are all friendly and curious. After all the bums have been sniffed, we sit down for our tasting.
They had library Zinfandel for sale; we ended up leaving the winery with 6 bottls of Zinfandel: 2 from 2014, 2 from 2019, and 2 current vintage. Here’s a bit of a bonus review, as we opened up both bottles of the 2014 Zinfandel that we purchased this weekend. Definitely slightly past their peak, but still a lovely experience. I had reviewed this wine upon our original tasting of it in 2017 and it was better then, (scored it 92 points) but still very good now.
Thus ends ‘Day 1′ of the trip; after a good night’s sleep, up and at ’em the next morning starting at Burrowing Owl!
I always find it remarkable that winemaker Severine Pinte can craft such lovely wines in a very French style at Le Vieux Pin, then head down the road and make wines of similar quality in a very Italian style at La Stella. We are never disappointed here, and today’s tasting was no exception.
I’m not going to get too in detail about how their vines did, as it’s already getting repetitive. For the rest of this trip report, let’s just assume that everyone’s vines got decimated during the 2024 frost.
To the wine!
That’s it for now, another great tasting! We are off to Rust Wine Co. next!
This has long been one of our favorite wineries, but this visit was so odd; not because of anything that happened there, but it was our first visit since the untimely passing of our friend, Alex Russo. Alex was their wine club concierge and did everything for us while we were club members, and even after we had left their clubs. He was one of the good ones, and I know he is missed every day.
We get to taste in their Barrell Room, as we have done before, and it’s a lovely experience as always. They have a new staff member who is wonderful; I’m embarrassed to say I’ve forgotten her name. As with many of the wineries we are visiting this trip, they lost a large part of their crop in 2024, and they have had to source some of their grapes from Washington State.
One of the interesting side effects of the loss of their crops is the opportunity to try some new things; winemaker Severine Pinte is a big fan of the Languedoc region of France and has sourced some Cinsault from Washington to make the 2024 rosé, and it was such a success that they’ve decided to plant some of their own Cinsault! It will be very interesting to see how that varietal does in the Okanagan.
Let’s start the reviews with that rosé!
As always, a wonderful experience!
Next up: Down the road to their sister winery, La Stella!
Our first trip to the Okanagan in three years sees us start our journey with a tasting at Painted Rock. Lots of changes in our lives since our last trip, including adding this lovely fellow to the family.
This is Loki. He’s the definition of a Very Good Boy. Except when he’s eating everything, which is always.
You could say he was named after the Marvel villain, but also the Norse God of Mischief. He’s aptly named, for sure.
We are joined on this trip by two friends who are not into wine; but they are very good sports, trying as much as they can handle, and their company is especially appreciated on Day 2 when my wife wasn’t feeling well and stayed home at the resort to rest!
On to the wine!
As always, nothing but great stuff from this producer!
As with many/most of the wineries in the Okanagan, the “Great Frost of 2024” was a disaster for them. Actually, they were luckier than most in that they didn’t lose quite as much of their crop as many did, but it was still devastating. They decided to put all of their surviving red grapes into their 2024 Rosé. There is so little of it that they limited it to 6-bottles per wine club member. I was lucky enough to get some, and I’ll taste that soon and report back!
Next up! Down to Oliver and a tasting at Le Vieux Pin!
Every year we endeavor to see every single film nominated for an Oscar, and every year we fail…but generally get pretty close. This year was no exception.
Any film highlighted in red below we did not get to see.
Let’s get to it!
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice
Who will win and who SHOULD win: Brody, who delivered a powerful performance without which this movie would have fallen apart
Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice
Who will win: Culkin, who has won everything so far this season and gives a terrific performance
Who SHOULD win: Borisov, who was my hero in Anora. If you haven’t seen it yet, he’ll become yours too.
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance
Fernanda Torres – I’m Still Here
Who will win and who SHOULD win: Madison. I know that Demi Moore is getting some bizarre love for her ridiculous performance in the worst movie of the year (quite frankly, one of the worst movies ever made), but I just have to believe that the Academy hasn’t lost their collective freaking minds.
Monica Barbaro – A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande – Wicked
Felicity Jones – The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez
Who will win and who SHOULD win: Saldana. This one doesn’t even seem close, also Rossellini was wonderful and might have been a bigger contender with more screen time. Ariana Grande was also terrific in her film debut.
Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
Who will win: The Wild Robot. When I saw this movie, I was sure I was watching the best Animated film on the year. And then I saw….
Who SHOULD win: …..Flow. What a treat. It has a chance, but I think the total lack of dialogue will turn off some voters.
Beautiful Men
In the Shadow of the Cypress
Magic Candies
Wander to Wonder
Yuck!
Not even going to guess here, as these were impossible to find this year. The one we saw probably shouldn’t win, it was nothing special.
The Brutalist – Lol Crawley
Dune: Part Two – Greig Fraser
Emilia Pérez – Paul Guilhaume
Maria – Ed Lachman
Nosferatu – Jarin Blaschke
Who will win and SHOULD win: Dune: Part Two. It’s a great film and it looks incredible in every way.
A Complete Unknown – Arianne Phillips
Conclave – Lisy Christl
Gladiator II – Janty Yates and Dave Crossman
Nosferatu – Linda Muir
Wicked – Paul Tazewell
Who will win and who SHOULD win: Wicked. Costumes are probably the strongest part of this beloved film.
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet
A Complete Unknown – James Mangold
Emilia Pérez – Jacques Audiard
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat
Who will win and who should win: Sean Baker. He has a style all his own and it shines here, and this movie succeeded greatly because of his direction.
Black Box Diaries – Shiori Ito, Eric Nyari and Hanna Aqvilin
No Other Land – Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham
Porcelain War – Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev, Aniela Sidorska and Paula DuPre’ Pesmen
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat – Johan Grimonprez, Daan Milius, and Rémi Grellety
Sugarcane – Nominees to be determined
Who will win: By all accounts, No Other Land is a heavy favorite.
Who SHOULD win: Black Box Diaries is one of the best Documentaries I’ve ever seen; it is probably the first one I’ve ever given a perfect 5* rating to.
Death by Numbers – Kim A. Snyder and Janique L. Robillard
I Am Ready, Warden – Smriti Mundhra and Maya Gnyp
Incident – Bill Morrison and Jamie Kalven
Instruments of a Beating Heart – Ema Ryan Yamazaki and Eric Nyari
The Only Girl in the Orchestra – Molly O’Brien and Lisa Remington
Who will win and who SHOULD win: Incident. It’s topical, it’s relevant, and it’s powerful.
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – David Jancso
Conclave – Nick Emerson
Emilia Pérez – Juliette Welfling
Wicked – Myron Kerstein
Will win: The Brutalist, although I think it actually needed MORE editing
SHOULD win: Conclave
Brazil – I’m Still Here
Denmark – The Girl with the Needle
France – Emilia Pérez
Germany – The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Latvia – Flow
Who will win and who SHOULD win: Emilia Perez. This was a fait accompli until the controversy around Karla Sofia Garcon’s old tweets, and if that turned enough voters off then I’m Still Here is a possibility. Wish I had been able to see that one.
A Different Man – Mike Marino, David Presto and Crystal Jurado
Emilia Pérez – Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini
Nosferatu – David White, Traci Loader, and Suzanne Stokes-Munton
The Substance – Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli
Wicked – Frances Hannon, Laura Blount, and Sarah Nuth
Who will win and who SHOULD win: Wicked. See my costume comments.
The Brutalist – Daniel Blumberg
Conclave – Volker Bertelmann
Emilia Pérez – Clément Ducol and Camille
Wicked – John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
The Wild Robot – Kris Bowers
Who will win: Wicked, if only for Defying Gravity (although this isn’t about a specific song).
Who SHOULD win: Emilia Perez. Without the music, this film doesn’t exist.
“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez; Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard
“The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Like A Bird” from Sing Sing; Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada
“Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez; Music and Lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol
“Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late; Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt, and Bernie Taupin
Who will win and who SHOULD win: El Mal. It’s the defining song of a musical.
Anora – Alex Coco, Samantha Qua,n and Sean Baker, Producers
The Brutalist – Nominees to be determined
A Complete Unknown – Fred Berger, James Mangold, and Alex Heineman, Producers
Conclave – Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, and Michael A. Jackman, Producers
Dune: Part Two – Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe, and Denis Villeneuve, Producers
Emilia Pérez – Nominees to be determined
I’m Still Here – Nominees to be determined
Nickel Boys – Nominees to be determined
The Substance – Nominees to be determined
Wicked – Marc Platt, Producer
Who will win and who SHOULD win: Anora. It’s the best film of the year, it had all the momentum until Conclave’s surprise win at the SAG awards, and although SAG members make up the majority of the Oscar voters, they are savvy enough to know the difference between “Best Cast” (the SAG awards) and “Best Picture”.
The Brutalist – Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Patricia Cuccia
Conclave – Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Cynthia Sleiter
Dune: Part Two – Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau
Nosferatu – Production Design: Craig Lathrop; Set Decoration: Beatrice Brentnerová
Wicked – Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
Will win and SHOULD win: Dune: Part Two. Same comments I made for it above.
A Lien – Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz
Anuja – Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai
I’m Not a Robot – Victoria Warmerdam and Trent
The Last Ranger – Cindy Lee and Darwin Shaw
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent – Nebojša Slijepčević and Danijel Pek
The two we saw were really good, but I’m not going to make a guess based just on those.
A Complete Unknown – Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey and David Giammarco
Dune: Part Two – Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill
Emilia Pérez – Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta
Wicked – Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson, and John Marquis
The Wild Robot – Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo, and Leff Lefferts
Who will win: Dune: Part Two
Who SHOULD win: A Complete Unknown; it’s not just about Dylan’s music, but that’s a pretty big part of it.
Alien: Romulus – Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin and Shane Mahan
Better Man – Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft and Peter Stubbs
Dune: Part Two – Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, and Gerd Nefzer
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes – Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story and Rodney Burke
Wicked – Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, David Shirk and Paul Corbould
Who will win and who SHOULD win: Dune: Part Two. Seems like it’s going to be a technical sweep and that’s not undeserved.
A Complete Unknown – Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks
Conclave – Screenplay by Peter Straughan
Emilia Pérez – Screenplay by Jacques Audiard; In collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius, and Nicolas Livecchi
Nickel Boys – Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes
Sing Sing – Screenplay by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John “Divine G” Whitfield
Who will win: Conclave isn’t going home with nothing tonight, and the screenplay is a big part of the movie’s success.
Who SHOULD win: Emilia Perez
Anora – Written by Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Written by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold
A Real Pain – Written by Jesse Eisenberg
September 5 – Written by Moritz Binder and Tim Fehlbaum; Co-Written by Alex David
The Substance – Written by Coralie Fargeat
Who will win and who SHOULD win: Anora. Another movie that doesn’t succeed without the brilliantly written dialogue, intriguing story and well-developed characters. If any of those one items is less than, this movie falls apart.
What I’m rooting for:
Every year there is something that would make me really, really happy. Usually it’s a bit of an underdog that doesn’t have much of a chance to win that I think is worthy. This year, I’m going to go negative, and the one thing that will make me most happy is Demi Moore NOT winning Best Actress for that horrific abomination of a movie. So I guess that would mean I’m really cheering for Mikey Madison, who should win it anyway, but at this point, I’ll just be happy that it’s ANYONE but Moore. Just thinking about that movie makes me need a shower.
My second choice would be Black Box Diaries winning Best Documentary. What a powerful acknowledgment that would be to the brave victim/filmmaker.
Enjoy the show!!!
We opened up a big boy last night, and it certainly didn’t disappoint!
SOOOOOO good. And so much life left in it. What a treat!
And, some other stuff we’ve been enjoying over the last few months, which I have not yet published:
Some stuff you might have seen if you’ve been watching the vlogs, but I’ve never published them here:
That’s it for today! Lots more to catch up on, and my first 2023 Rosé vlog (and subsequent blog) is coming up soon. Stay tuned!
No mint julips here, no sir. Truth be told, we tried them last year and they were just meh, so we decided we’d celebrate Derby day with our favorite beverage: wine!
Days like this are few and far between recently; with my wonderful wife having some health issues limiting her alcohol consumption to special occasions, we don’t indulge like this very often. But we’ll consider this a good “warm-up” for our upcoming trip to Las Vegas!
We started off with an old favorite, and I am pretty sure this is the best vintage of this one ever. I’ve never scored this easy drinking wine this high before.
Next up, a strange little Chardonnay blend from a wonderfully reliable producer from the South of France.
To finish it off, a truly spectacular wine that was really vibrant and fruity, masking it’s 15-year old status.
Given how badly we did betting on the races, this turned into a very expensive day, but well worth it!
Next up: I have some serious catching up to do, and recently discovered a bunch of reviews that I’ve never posted from the last year and a half, so stay tuned!
It’s Xmas morning for Cinemaphiles like me, the 96th Academy Awards go live tonight at 4PM Pacific Time.
As always, we did our best to see all of the nominated films (or in the case of Best Original Song, we listened to the songs if we didn’t see the movie). Actually, that’s not true: for the first time ever, there was one film we didn’t even seek out:
Godzilla Minus One – Best Visual Effects
I love movies, but I don’t love them THAT much.
Anyway, we were less successful than we would have liked; two of the five nominated Animated Features, including the very possible winner, weren’t available anywhere for us to watch them. One of the International Features has been “Available for pre-order” for weeks but I don’t want to pre-order it, dammit, I want to watch it BEFORE tonight’s show; to be honest, there is zero chance it wins anyway, and I don’t have to see it to know that. One of the films nominated in the International Feature category is also nominated for Best Picture, so that’s a mortal lock to win the International award.
We were able to find all of the live action shorts, but missed out on finding two of the animated shorts. It seemed like this year they were tougher to find, without driving into Vancouver for a film festival.
Anyway, here they are: All of the nominees, with my predictions on who is going to win, and my choices for who SHOULD win.
If a movie is highlighted in red, we didn’t see it.
AMERICAN FICTION
Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers
ANATOMY OF A FALL
Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers
BARBIE
David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers
THE HOLDOVERS
Mark Johnson, Producer
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers
MAESTRO
Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers
OPPENHEIMER
Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers
PAST LIVES
David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers
POOR THINGS
Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
James Wilson, Producer
WILL win: Oppenheimer. It’s worthy, it’s a great film, #2 on my list, and it’s been winning everything. It would be a MAJOR shock if this isn’t the final name called this evening.
SHOULD win: Past Lives. It’s a perfect movie. It’s real. It’s wonderful. If it had been released in December, rather than June, I believe it would have a real shot here.
Bradley Cooper in MAESTRO
Colman Domingo in RUSTIN
Paul Giamatti in THE HOLDOVERS
Cillian Murphy in OPPENHEIMER
Jeffrey Wright in AMERICAN FICTION
WILL win: This will probably determine just how dominant Oppenheimer will be tonight. It’s a two horse race between Murphy and Giamatti, and I just feel like the Oppenheimer train won’t be derailed at all tonight. Murphy.
SHOULD win: Paul Giamatti
Sterling K. Brown in AMERICAN FICTION
Robert De Niro in KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Robert Downey Jr. in OPPENHEIMER
Ryan Gosling in BARBIE
Mark Ruffalo in POOR THINGS
WILL win: Great performances all around, but this is Downey Jr’s night.
SHOULD win: Downey Jr. was brilliant.
Annette Bening in NYAD
Lily Gladstone in KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Sandra Hüller in ANATOMY OF A FALL
Carey Mulligan in MAESTRO
Emma Stone in POOR THINGS
WILL win: Lily Gladstone has won just about everything she’s been eligible for, no reason to think that ends here.
SHOULD win: The inexplicable exclusion of Greta Lee (Past Lives) notwithstanding, Gladstone gave my 2nd favorite performance of the year, and is very deserving to be the first Indigenous Oscar winner in history.
Emily Blunt in OPPENHEIMER
Danielle Brooks in THE COLOR PURPLE
America Ferrera in BARBIE
Jodie Foster in NYAD
Da’Vine Joy Randolph in THE HOLDOVERS
WILL win: Randolph. See my comments about Gladstone.
SHOULD win: OK, we walked out of The Holdovers talking about what a powerful performance that Randolph gave, and she will be a very worth winner. However, if you’ve seen Barbie, or just seen that one monologue that Ferrera gave about the perils of just trying to be a woman existing in this world, it’s a pretty perfect performance. I’d pick Ferrera in a photo finish.
Side note; This might be the only award that Oppenheimer is nominated for that it has little chance of winning, IMO. Blunt was good, but not up to the others. If she wins, you can count on an Oppenheimer sweep.
THE BOY AND THE HERON
Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
ELEMENTAL
Peter Sohn and Denise Ream
NIMONA
Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary
ROBOT DREAMS
Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE
Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal
WILL win: Tough category given that I didn’t see 40% of the nominees (Robot Dreams isn’t even premiering here until this Summer!), but I’m going to say the Academy rewards the fine lifelong work of Hayao Miyazaki here, and by all accounts The Boy and the Heron is terrific filmmaking.
SHOULD win: Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
EL CONDE
Edward Lachman
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Rodrigo Prieto
MAESTRO
Matthew Libatique
OPPENHEIMER
Hoyte van Hoytema
POOR THINGS
Robbie Ryan
WILL win: Oppenheimer
SHOULD win: Killers of the Flower Moon
BARBIE
Jacqueline Durran
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Jacqueline West
NAPOLEON
Janty Yates and Dave Crossman
OPPENHEIMER
Ellen Mirojnick
POOR THINGS
Holly Waddington
WILL win: Barbie has to win SOMETHING, right? This might be it’s only chance other than Best Song.
SHOULD win: Killers of the Flower Moon
ANATOMY OF A FALL
Justine Triet
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Martin Scorsese
OPPENHEIMER
Christopher Nolan
POOR THINGS
Yorgos Lanthimos
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
Jonathan Glazer
WILL win: Nolan for Oppenheimer. Put it in the bank.
SHOULD win: Well, Celine Song should certainly be at least nominated for Past Lives, but it’s tough to overlook Nolan here. It really was a fabulous film.
BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT
Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek
THE ETERNAL MEMORY
Maite Alberdi
FOUR DAUGHTERS
Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha
TO KILL A TIGER
Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim
20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL
Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath
WILL win: Three really great films here, but given the circumstances in the world, I think the Academy recognizes the incredible risks the filmmakers took in documenting the atrocities going on in Ukraine. 20 Days in Mariupol (note: Four Daughters won this prize at the Spirit Awards recently, so it’s a possibility).
SHOULD win: Mariupol is very worthy, but To Kill a Tiger, the story of how a village in India tried to cover up the gang rape of a 12-year old girl, made me so damn angry. And that was the point.
THE ABCS OF BOOK BANNING
Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic
THE BARBER OF LITTLE ROCK
John Hoffman and Christine Turner
ISLAND IN BETWEEN
S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien
THE LAST REPAIR SHOP
Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
NǎI NAI & WàI Pó
Sean Wang and Sam Davis
WILL win: All good films. The Barber of Little Rock is my choice to win.
SHOULD win: The Last Repair Shop
ANATOMY OF A FALL
Laurent Sénéchal
THE HOLDOVERS
Kevin Tent
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Thelma Schoonmaker
OPPENHEIMER
Jennifer Lame
POOR THINGS
Yorgos Mavropsaridis
WILL win: Oppenheimer
SHOULD win: Oppenheimer
IO CAPITANO
Italy
PERFECT DAYS
Japan
SOCIETY OF THE SNOW
Spain
THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE
Germany
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
United Kingdom
WILL win: You don’t get nominated for Best Picture and then lose this one. The overrated The Zone of Interest is a lock here.
SHOULD win: Perfect Days.
GOLDA
Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue
MAESTRO
Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell
OPPENHEIMER
Luisa Abel
POOR THINGS
Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston
SOCIETY OF THE SNOW
Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé
WILL win: Oppenheimer (upset alert: Society of the Snow)
SHOULD win: Poor Things
AMERICAN FICTION
Laura Karpman
INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY
John Williams
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Robbie Robertson
OPPENHEIMER
Ludwig Göransson
POOR THINGS
Jerskin Fendrix
WILL win: Does the Academy want to posthumously reward the great contributions of Robbie Robertson? It wouldn’t shock me; but I’ll stick with the powerhouse and say this one also goes to Oppenheimer.
SHOULD win: Robertson.
“The Fire Inside” from FLAMIN’ HOT
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“I’m Just Ken” from BARBIE
Music and Lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt
“It Never Went Away” from AMERICAN SYMPHONY
Music and Lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson
“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Music and Lyric by Scott George
“What Was I Made For?” from BARBIE
Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
WILL win: Unless the Barbie voters somehow split the vote, Eilish and O’Connell are going to prevail here.
SHOULD win: Jon Batiste’s song is freaking terrific, but What Was I Made For is a beautiful song and fits the movie perfectly.
BARBIE
Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis
NAPOLEON
Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Elli Griff
OPPENHEIMER
Production Design: Ruth De Jong; Set Decoration: Claire Kaufman
POOR THINGS
Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek
WILL win: Oppenheimer
SHOULD win: Oppenheimer
LETTER TO A PIG
Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter
NINETY-FIVE SENSES
Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess
OUR UNIFORM
Yegane Moghaddam
PACHYDERME
Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius
WAR IS OVER! INSPIRED BY THE MUSIC OF JOHN & YOKO
Dave Mullins and Brad Booker
WILL win: War is Over! I’ve only seen a short trailer, but it looks great and it has some name recogniation.
SHOULD win: Of the three we saw, Pachyderme.
THE AFTER
Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham
INVINCIBLE
Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron
KNIGHT OF FORTUNE
Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk
RED, WHITE AND BLUE
Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane
THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR
Wes Anderson and Steven Rales
WILL win: Red, White and Blue is one of the great shorts I’ve ever seen.
SHOULD win: RED, WHITE and BLUE . This is a great category this year, and all of these except the ridiculous Wes Anderson short would be worthy winners.
THE CREATOR
Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic
MAESTRO
Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE
Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
OPPENHEIMER
Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn
WILL win: Oppenheimer
SHOULD win: The sound from The Zone of Interest was the best part of the movie, and it was the most pivotal to the film. It was a character in itself.
THE CREATOR
Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould
GODZILLA MINUS ONE
Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3
Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE
Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould
NAPOLEON
Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould
WILL win: Mission Impossible. These were next level visuals.
SHOULD win: Mission Impossible
AMERICAN FICTION
Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson
BARBIE
Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach
OPPENHEIMER
Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan
POOR THINGS
Screenplay by Tony McNamara
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
Written by Jonathan Glazer
WILL win: Oppenheimer
SHOULD win: Oppenheimer
ANATOMY OF A FALL
Screenplay – Justine Triet and Arthur Harari
THE HOLDOVERS
Written by David Hemingson
MAESTRO
Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer
MAY DECEMBER
Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik
PAST LIVES
Written by Celine Song
WILL win: This is where Anatomy of a Fall, a great film, gets it’s recognition.
SHOULD win: Past Lives. Duh.
So there they are, my thoughts on tonight’s Oscars. But let’s talk about one more thing: What do I really WANT to happen? What will make me cheer out loud and jump out of my chair?
Well, if Past Lives wins Best Picture, I will not only cheer out loud, I’ll scream from the rooftops and probably burst into tears. But let’s get real, that’s just not going to happen. So let’s keep it realistic. What will I cheer for that might actually happen? There are two.
Best Original Screenplay – Celine Song (Past Lives)
Actress in a Supporting Role – America Ferrera (Barbie)
Here’s hoping.
Enjoy the show!
Confessions of a Huge Wine-R 