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!
Actor in a Leading Role
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
Actor in a Supporting Role
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.
Actress in a Leading Role
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.
Actress in a Supporting Role
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.
Animated Feature Film
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.
Animated Short Film
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.
Cinematography
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.
Costume Design
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.
Directing
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.
Documentary Feature Film
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.
Documentary Short Film
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.
Film Editing
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
International Feature Film
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.
Makeup and Hairstyling
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.
Music (Original Score)
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.
Music (Original Song)
“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.
Best Picture
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”.
Production Design
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.
Live Action Short Film
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.
Sound
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.
Visual Effects
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.
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
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
Writing (Original Screenplay)
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!!!
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