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INT. MY HOUSE-NIGHT.
DAVID works on the computer, typing on Blogger, one of about two dozens windows opened at once. He turns to the TV behind hime, where the Roku screensaver blinks 3:300am.
DAVID I better go to bed.
David gets up and exits the living room.
(5:05am)
Alarm clocks rings. David gets up. Presses snooze button. Goes back to sleep.
(5;14am)
David gets up.
DAVID Alright, I'm up; I know what day it is.
Davis enters the living room and sits down in front of the TV.
DAVID Let's put the Oscar noms on.
(7:45am)
David scares himself awake!
DAVID Aw f***!
Alright, I overslept. Sorry, I've been busy and trying lately, and somehow my Eagles are in the Super Bowl, so I'N distracted movie-wise. But, I'm awake and typing now. Let's get to it. Oscar nominations announcements and analysis!
Oh-kay, what the hell is this? So, they've decided to have Andy Serkis and Tiffany Haddish host the thing: (In my best Clive Anderson/Drew Carey/Aisha Tyler, take you pick, voice) in the style of,... hosting the Children's Miracle Network telethon. (Sigh, headslap) Ac-Academy, why do you insist on making these things so complicated?. Just-, just announce the nominees. Fine, this is better than whatever Cheryl Boone-Isaacs demented ideas were for this thing, but c'mon. Wake up two Academy members everybody knows, put them behind the podium in front of the biggest TV screen you can find, and just announce the damn thing. I know you have younger voters now, but you're not young and you're not cool, this is the ninetieth of these things you've done! You never were cool, you're never gonna be cool; please stop trying to be.
Okay, getting who I'm fairly certain was Salma Hayak to do the Costume Design video was cool, but honestly, these sort of the video clips would be cool on the Oscars show itself, you know? They're not really cool at 5:30am when only the press are groggily awake. Yeah, I'm going through this as I watch this year. I'll go through each category at the end and give you some thoughts and brag or hide in shame depending on how well I predicted a category or not.
What? Rebel Wilson as a diner waitress, Katrina and the Waves' "Walking on Sunshine," this is the Animation opening? Okay, see, this is exactly what I'm talking about when I say to just keep it simple and don't do anything stupid, so you don't put yourself out there for criticsm; literally, what does any of that have to do with animation? Literally, name one of those elements and explain how that's intricately linked with animation? Don't do shit like this, and you won't open yourself to criticisms, okay! I mean, if this was on the show before the category, we'd say, "Okay, that was weird, but cool," but here..., you're asking for this. At least pick a song from an animated movie, why "Walking on Sunshine?" that has nothing to do with any movie! Congratulations on wasting $200,000 for the rights for that.
Also, if you're gonna use the big screen, show something more than just the text when they're announcing. I'm not seeing anything, I'm just listening Andy Serkis and Tiffany Haddish talk, like c'mon, where's the Graphics Department, show a still of the movie as they mention it. I don't get this, why are you making all these expensive shorts and then going cheap here?
(elongated yawn)
Alright, Serkis and Haddish stumbled through this well enough, let's get to the big stories. Stars represent went I got a prediction correct, and you can see my predictions, at the links below: http://davidbaruffi.blogspot.com/2018/01/my-official-2017-oscar-nominations.html http://www.ageofthenerd.com/2018/01/davids-official-2017-oscar-nomination-predictions/
BEST PICTURE *Call Me By Your Name 1/2*Darkest Hour *Dunkirk *Get Out *Lady Bird Phantom Thread *The Post *The Shape of Water *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Wow, "Phantom Thread" came up on the outside and stole "I, Tonya" slot at the last second. That's a bit of a shock 'cause "I, Tonya" had gotten in everywhere and I'm guessing the older voters who remember the damn thing, were just too sick of this constant reliving the tabloid journalism of the early nineties after all the O.J. stuff last year. (Which, by the way, if you don't know this story or wasn't alive for the whole Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding thing, little advice, don't mention you don't know, and look the damn thing up, NOW! I'm declaring that, the line in which you are two young to be alive. [And yes, readers my age and older, I've run into people, into people who were a little saddened that the movie was "spoiled" for them! And it wasn't for irony purposes either, like when we were young and we criticized "Titanic", by claiming that we knew was the ship was gonna sink, they did not know this story!] Seriously, we've lived through it, we've barely gotten over the PTSD we have over the whole thing, go do your research, please. I can still spell Gillooly correctly, without looking it up; this is recent history to us!...-)
(Several deep calming breaths)
Sorry, I went to a dark place there. Um, where was I? Right, they went back to nine this year, so it's a bit more of a divided field than we probably thought, although "Phantom Thread" is the only real shock and it turns out they like that one. Hang on though, there's some shockers coming in the big categories.
DIRECTING Paul Thomas Anderson-"Phantom Thread" *Guillermo Del Toro-"The Shape of Water" *Greta Gerwig-"Lady Bird" *Christopher Nolan-"Dunkirk" *Jordan Peele-"Get Out"
Anyway congratulation to Jordan Peele, becoming only the fifth Black man, to get nominated for Directing, and fourth African-American, let's run through the rest, John Singleton, "Boyz in the Hood", Lee Daniels for "Precious....", Steve McQueen for "12 Years a Slave" and of course, last year Barry Jenkins for "Moonlight". Huh, wow the last two of those won Best Picture. I wonder if that's a trend I should pay attention to....
Also, Greta Gerwig, fifth woman, ever nominated, after Lina Wertmuller for "Seven Beauties" back in the seventies and then Jane Campion for "The Piano", Sofia Coppola for "Lost in Translation', and of course, the only female winner Kathryn Bigelow, who won for "The Hurt Locker".
And yet, the biggest snub of the night is Martin McDonagh, not getting in for "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and boy was it shocking to hear Paul Thomas Anderson's name; I don't know anybody with him in their predictions, and I did a huge, "Wait, who's out!" wail when I heard that name. McDonagh's lack of a nomination is interesting though. Of course, you don't need one a Directing nomination to win, although it's really rare, Ben Affleck for "Argo" the most famous recent one, although earlier you can go back to "Driving Miss Daisy" which was a huge upset at the time, winning despite Bruce Beresford not getting nominated. Before that, you gotta go back to like the earliest Oscars to see it. It's weird though, 'cause it did great, everywhere else and where it was supposed to, and then a Directing snub. Sure, it is one of those film's that's more of a Writing picture, McDonagh for those who don't know is a renowned playwright, mainly, he was nominated once before for Writing "In Bruges" and actually he has an Oscar already; he won for a short film called "Six Shooter" awhile back, he also did "Seven Psychopaths" his other famous big film project, but he is more known as writer than a director. Which is also weird 'cause P.T. Anderson, I'll get to it in a bit, but was snubbed in Writing, and usually when they honor him, it's in the Writing category, not necessarily in Directing. Also, "The Shape of Water" looks like the favorite, but it doesn't have the SAG Ensemble nomination, that's the snub that foreshadowed "La La Land" losing last year and no film has won Best Picture without that nomination since "Braveheart" and that was the SAG Awards first year in existence (and a notoriously goofy Awards season in general where every prognosticator got it wrong it seems)., and it was "Three Billboards..." that won the SAG Ensemble this year, so, this particular snub is throwing everything off right now. LEADING ACTOR *Timothee Chalamet-"Call Me By Your Name" *Daniel Day-Lewis-"Phantom Thread" *Daniel Kaluuya-"Get Out" *Gary Oldman-"Darkest Hour" Denzel Washington-"Roman J. Israel, Esq."
Okay, that's the last time I ignore Denzel Washington when he's got a shot. I did the same thing with "Flight" years ago, I didn't believe it and I just disregarded him completely as a possibility despite some obvious signs he was getting in...., but the big snub, James Franco, let's talk about this. The allegations against him, I think helped, even though it was really late in the voting, there was a few days left, although I was honestly a bit shocked, that he was getting in everywhere until now.
Look, I haven't seen "The Disaster Artist", or read the book, it looks funny and good, and I haven't seen "The Room" yet, I probably will soon, 'cause apparently, it's the kind of thing I need to see now, but I've seen enough Youtube reviews of "The Room", to know about it, and I do not get the fascination with Tommy Wiseau. He made a bad movie, and apparently he's a little weird, so? Seriously, I don't get it. Some people are really obsessed with him, and I can kinda get that, 'cause I've gotten that, "How are you even a thing look" a lot, 'cause there's a lot about me that's really weird. I mean, I've been known to headbang and throw up the devil horns to Lisa Loeb songs, I get it, but if that's the whole thing, that he's weird, and that's the joke...- then I don't need him or the people obsessed with him. I got told I was shit-posting when I made a joke on Twitter during the Golden Globes about how I didn't want to see Tonya Harding onstage, and said, "... I already went through WISEAU, I can't deal with HARDING." and somebody accused me of "shitposting" because of that. Eh, okay maybe, from everything I've heard he sounds like a untalented weird prick though, and that's fine, and apparently there's a bunch of people out there, trying to make off him being an untalented, weird prick, and I'm a little less fine about that, because that's just the joke, "He's so weird, let's laugh!" I'm not getting that. So..., yeah, I can't say I'm disappointed in this snub. Whether it was the Globes fiasco, or the accusations against Franco that came later, thank Ally Sheedy for getting the ball rolling by the way, and why do you have an Acting School anyway Mr. Franco....? Little surprised that there was enough pull to snub him, very surprised it was Denzel, who's the only nomination for a film that hasn't gotten the greatest reviews, but, like I said, I should've learned after "Flight". Denzel is the male Meryl Streep, no matter what it is, if he's got any awards buzz at all for it, he's getting for it. Speaking of Meryl....
LEADING ACTRESS *Sally Hawkins-"The Shape of Water" *Frances McDormand-"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" *Margot Robbie-"I, Tonya" *Saiorse Ronan-"Lady Bird" *Meryl Streep-"The Post"
Yeah, nothing really surprising here. It looked scary for a bit because "Victoria & Abdul" over-performed in the technical categories so Judi Dench looked like a possibility. Nothing really shocking, Frances McDormand looks to be favorite to win her second, look out for Hawkins, Robbie or Ronan who could sneak in, and the count on Meryl Streep, this is her 21st Oscar nomination, everybody. Remember, the old record for a female was twelve by Katherine Hepburn. By the way this and Picture were "The Post"'s only nominations. Last time a film got those two and only those categories, "The Blind Side". Weird. SUPPORTING ACTOR *Willem Dafoe-"The Florida Project" *Woody Harrelson-"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" *Richard Jenkins-"The Shape Of Water" Christopher Plummer-"All the Money in the World" *Sam Rockwell-"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
I really did not buy the Christopher Plummer thing; I had Michael Stuhlbarg in, and "All in the Money in the World" didn't get anything else, and this, at age 88, makes him the oldest acting nominee of all-time by the way; I think he's already the oldest person to ever win an Oscar, winning six years ago for "Beginners", which was that film's only nomination as well. So, it's possible that he breaks his own record, but I'm doubting it. For those who don't know, "All the Money in the World" originally starred Kevin Spacey but after the sexual allegations against him, became public knowledge, all his scenes were re-shot with Christopher Plummer in the role instead, those re-shoots have stirred some of their own controversy in fact, regarding the actors fees for it among other things, so this is basically an anti-Kevin Spacey vote to me. (Shrugs) I personally kinda almost wish they go and strip his two Oscars instead, but it is Christopher Plummer, he's probably incredible in the film, I'm shocked he got in. I really didn't buy in even after the Globes and the surprise BAFTA nomination he got, although the BAFTAs like the film way more than the Academy did. Nothing else surprising, although you have to go back a long time to see two actors nominated from the same movie in this category. last time that happened was 1990 when Harvey Keitel and Ben Kingsley were both nominated for "Bugsy". SUPPORTING ACTRESS Mary J. Blige-"Mudbound" *Allison Janney-"I, Tonya" Lesley Manville-"Phantom Thread" *Laurie Metcalf-"Lady Bird" *Octavia Spencer-"The Shape of Water"
The big snub here is Holly Hunter for "The Big Sick", replaced by Lesley Manville, finally getting her first career nomination, for "Phantom Thread", that's the movie we've all underestimated here apparently. Mary J. Blige's nomination for "Mudbound", she's actually twice nominated, she got into Best Song for the film as well, and she's also the first actor to be nominated for a film that was directed an African-American woman, so congrats for that and great to see Dee Rees nominated in Screenplay as well. I had Hong Chau for "Downsizing" with the last slot; I should've known better on that one, 'cause that was a performance that garnered some controversy. First time in awhile that somebody whose more famous as a singer got in for acting. The last one I believe was, well- in this category, it was Jennifer Hudson winning for "Dreamgirls". It's also proof that-eh, the Academy officially has a Netflix membership and not just for the documentaries, so floodgates are open now there.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY *Call Me By Your Name-James Ivory *The Disaster Artist-Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber *Logan-Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green; Story: James Mangold *Molly's Game-Aaron Sorkin *Mudbound-Virgil Williams and Dee Rees
Hey superhero fans! Why aren't you guys celebrating, you got into Writing this year! Yeah, with "Logan", this marks the first ever Oscar nomination for a superhero movie! Okay live-action superhero movie, technically "The Incredibles" was nominated for Original Screenplay but first for a comic book movie however. And I called it, I'm proud of this one, most people had "Wonder" getting in here.
This is a weird year in both writing categories by the way, the only film in this category nominated for Best Picture is "Call Me By Your Name", which I suspect is the favorite with "Mudbound" or "Molly's Game" being the strong second choice, an in total only five of the nine Best Picture nomiees, got a writing nomination. That's really rare. Since 2009, when they expanded the Best Picture category only one other time has that few Best Picture nominees gotten into Writing. It was 2011, when, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close", "The Help", "The Tree of Life" and "War Horse" all got Best Picture but missed Screenplay, interestingly that was a nine film year too.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY The Big Sick-Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani *Get Out-Jordan Peele *Lady Bird-Greta Gerwig *The Shape of Water-Guillermo Del Toro & Vanessa Taylor *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri-Martin McDonagh
This is what really makes P.T. Anderson's directing nomination so shocking, not only did he not get into an admittedly crowded Original Screenplay category, he got snubbed by "The Big Sick" strangely enough, and that's that movie's only nomination; it didn't even get Holly Hunter in. I thought it was surely out to, "I, Tonya", but logically, if you asked me what did P.T. Anderson get a nomination for "Phantom Thread" for, I would've thought he got in here instead. Anyway, congratulations to Jordan Peele, he is the third person to ever get nominated for Producing, Directing and Writing, for his directorial debut. I had too look this one up by the way, even I didn't know this one, the other two, Warren Beatty for "Heaven Can Wait" and James L. Brooks for "Terms of Endearment". This is an uber-competitive category this year, I said that Writing might be the new Editing category that predicts the Best Picture winner, this year might be the test for that. It's been five years since a Best Picture winner did not win Writing, and the four frontrunners are in this category. I'll call it now, whoever wins this category, probably wins Best Picture. ANIMATED FEATURE The Boss Baby-Tom McGrath and Ramsey Naito *The Breadwinner-Nora Twomey and Anthony Leo *Coco-Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson Ferdinand-Carlos Saldanha *Loving Vincent-Dorota Kabiela, Hugh Welchman and Ivan MacTaggart
Well, I noticed after I made my predictions that I had four non-American films in my predictions and this was the year that the Academy opened up the voting in this category to everyone and not just the Animation branch, so, yeah, I probably shouldn't be surprised by "The Boss Baby" got in. Actually, I don't get why that film keeps getting made fun of. Okay, I haven't seen it yet, maybe when I do, it'll become clear, but I don't get it. I've never understood why that premise is so ridiculous and mockable. You ever had to take care of a Baby? They seem demanding like a mob boss to me, so... Eh, this category is "Coco", and four others happy to be nominated and that was always gonna be what it was, so.... (Shrugs) (POST-SCRIPT NOTE: Oh, apparently a lot of people who are pissed/saddened by "The LEGO Batman Movie", not getting in here, um... reallly? I didn't have it in. They didn't like the first "The LEGO Movie" and this year, there were two lesser LEGO films to choose between; honestly I didn't even remotely consider that one, and I liked the film but that I'm kinda shocked some of you took that as a serious contender.) DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Abacus: Small Enough to Jail-Steve James, Mark Mitten and Julie Goldman *Faces Places-Agnes Varda, JR and Rosalie Varda *Icarus-Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan Last Men in Aleppo-Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed and Soren Steen Jespersen Strong Island-Yance Ford and Joslyn Barnes
Whoa! The Documentary branch went way off than what most were predicting. Okay, congratulations Yance Ford, I believe the first Trans filmmaker to get a nomination, at least as a director, for "Strong Island" which doesn't surprise me, although I didn't predict it, 'cause I wasn't as thrilled with it as others were, but, kudos to her. It is an impressive movie by the way, very haunting. "Jane" was shutout, most had that film as the favorite, and I had "City of Ghosts" instead of "Last Men in Aleppo", I knew there was gonna be at least one film about Syria getting in, but forget the chimps and forget the Syrians, we got to talk about "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail" getting in, 'cause this is a shocker to me.
Not because of the film, but the fact that the Steve James finally broke into Documentary Feature. If you don't know this story, I won't go over it entirely, but he's guy who directed "Hoop Dreams" which famously was snubbed by the Academy and controversially so, 'cause apparently the fix was in, and it caused an entire restructuring of the Documentary Branch of the Academy, and he's been screwed by them ever since, including not getting in for "Life Itself" the great documentary about Roger Ebert, which everybody thought was the frontrunner to win easily that year and like "Hoop Dreams" it should've been nominated. I didn't even bother predicting him; I just assumed he was getting left off again, but it's his first nomination in the category, about damn time.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM *A Fantastic Woman-Sebastian Lelio(Chile) The Insult-Ziad Doueiri(Lebanon) *Loveless-Andrey Zvyagintsev(Russia) On Body and Soul-Ildiko Enyedi(Hungary) *The Square-Ruben Ostlund(Sweden)
I guess the really big shock here is "In the Fade" Fatin Akin's feature, he's the one big-named director who was on the shortlist that didn't get in here, and that's a shame 'cause he's somebody who usually has trouble getting into this category cause he's from Germany I believe but he's of Turkish descent. (There's a big Turkish community in large German cities, it's a long story) and so, a lot of his movies, usually are co-productions from two or three different countries, but the Academy only allows one film per country to be submitted, 'cause people think it's the director's that are nominated for Foreign Language film, they're not technically however, it's the country that's nominated. It's a weird thing involving Oscar selecting groups in each country,- but the directors aren't technically nominated, it's the country. I know, it's stupid and they absolutely need to change this, like yesterday, but anyway, usually his films, it's hard to even tell what country they're from not only cause he makes movies in both/several countries, but also the funding matters for this category. You have to have local funding, this has disqualified a few films over the years, most notably a film from Uruguay couple decades ago, cause most of it's funding came from Brazil. Anyway, Akin, he always has a hard time finding a country for this, for some of those reasons, and I was hoping to see him here. Especially since it had a big star in it like Diane Kruger that's known here. Real shock him not getting in.
Um, other than that, I almost predicted "The Insult", I should've gone with my instinct there. I think it's between "Loveless" and "The Square" currently, in a very close race.
CINEMATOGRAPHY *Blade Runner 2049-Roger Deakins *Darkest Hour-Bruno Delbonnel *Dunkirk-Hoyte van Hoytema *Mudbound-Rachel Morrison *The Shape of Water-Dan Lautsen
Thank Christ! Congratulations Rachel Morrison, the first female ever nominated for Outstanding Cinematography, which was indeed, the only category left, outside of Actor and Supporting Actor of course where a woman hadn't been nominated, and that was indeed ridiculous. I have no idea how that lasted so long, but that's it. Anyway, I don't think there was any real shocker here, "Call Me By Your Name" was the only film that I think that was a serious contender that was left. And, yes, poor Roger Deakins, we all think this is his year, it's his 14th nomination, he's never won, he's one of the greats, hopefully it's his year.
COSTUME DESIGN *Beauty and the Beast-Jacqueline Durran Darkest Hour-Jacqueline Durran *Phantom Thread-Mark Bridges The Shape of Water-Luis Sequeira Victoria & Abdul-Consolata Boyle
Wow, I really missed this category entirely. Well, I was wrong Jacqueline Durran did get in twice, um, "Victoria & Abdul" really over-perform getting some impressive craft nominations; I almost predicted it for Makeup & Hair, I remember, but didn't have it for Costumes. "The Shape of Water", just ran through the craft, it ended up with 13 nominations, that's one shy of tying the record. I'm not sure who the favorite for this category would be, although I'm leaning towards Mark Bridges 'cause of how big a part the costumes play in that film, so....
FILM EDITING *Baby Driver-Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos *Dunkirk-Lee Smith I, Tonya-Tatiana S. Reigel *The Shape of Water-Sidney Wolinsky *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri-Jon Gregory
Edgar Wright fans can rejoice, they finally honored his Editing and Sound work that his films are known for and don't think that film's out of the running for the win "Baby Driver"'s got a lot of chasing and a lot of editing to music, literally the two toughest things for editors to edit, and the two things that win Oscars for Editing. This is a strange category though, 'cause "I, Tonya" was snubbed for Picture, so it's appearance here is a bit weird, normally this is the best prognosticator of a Best Picture winner, and maybe it still is, if you go by that logic than "Dunkirk", "The Shape of Water" and "Three Billboards..." are the Oscar frontrunners, and only "Birdman..." won without an Editing nomination, and that film had very little editing in it, and before that, you gotta go back to "Ordinary People" being the last film to win. Although, good news for "Lady Bird" and "Get Out" fans, the last one before "Ordinary People" to win without the Editing nomination, of course, and very famously won without it, "Annie Hall", so, maybe a comedy doesn't need it to win....? MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING *Darkest Hour-Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick Victoria & Abdul-Daniel Phillip and Lou Sheppard Wonder-Arjen Tuiten
Ouch. Well, at least I didn't completely miss this category up. Um, I wanted to pick "Victoria & Abdul" 'cause I did look through that trailer and really loved the makeup, but I thought it was a longshot at best. Really surprised "Wonder" got in, I don't know why, the Makeup Branch...- Well, I think I start a sentence nearly every year with "I don't know why the Makeup Branch...", cause they do a lot of weird things, but they keep nominating, these films with only one big makeup job, like "Wonder", for instance. They did this for "A Man Called Ove", for "Bad Grandpa" famously, I don't quite get it. They already only nominate three, why focus in on, like the one big makeup job, when something like "Cloud Atlas" for instance has lots of different kinds of elaborate make up on all it's cast and it might not even get on the shortlist. BTW, spoilers, this is the only nomination for any film with "Wonder" in the title. ORIGINAL SCORE *Dunkirk-Hans Zimmer *Phantom Thread-Jonny Greenwood *The Shape of Water-Alexandre Desplat Star Wars: The Last Jedi-John Williams *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri-Carter Burwell
They really didn't care for "The Post" did they. Oh well, John Williams got in but not for that, he got in for "Star Wars...", so I had the nominees right but I just had the films wrong. Um, I don't know who's favorite though, I suspect it's between Hans Zimmer 'cause I've been hearing a lot of people thinking that's the best and Jonny Greenwood for "Phantom Thread". He's the great guitarist for Radiohead, and he's been doing P.T. Anderson's scores for a little while now, and he isn't always eligible for one reason or another until now. The music branch is anal about how much is has to be Orignal in an Original Score but he finally got in here. Good for him. ORIGINAL SONG "Mystery of Love"-Call Me By Your Name-Sufjan Stevens *"Remember Me"-Coco-Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez *"This is Me"-The Greatest Showman-Benj Pasek and Justin Paul *"Stand Up for Something"-Marshall-Diane Warren and Lonnie R. 'Common' Lynn "Mighty River"-Mudbound-Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq and Taura Stinson
(Shrugs) I was gambling on my other two predictions I had in this category, so this is about the five most suspected. Um, little surprised "Call Me By Your Name" got in, 'cause it had two songs in consideration, and normally if something has multiple eligible songs, if they don't get two in they don't get either, so, that actually leads me to think that it might be the favorite, even though I know some people are pissed that it's other song "Visions of Gidion" didn't get in instead. That said, tough category. You got the Lopez's who won before and he's an EGOT winner, you have the same crew behind "La La Land" in for "The Greatest Showman" song, which was an upset winner at the Globes. Common is back, and this time with Diane Warren who, I've been cheering for, for years now, this is her ninth nomination now,- she's getting into Randy Newman territory at this point, and she's never won this award. If you don't know-, you probably know dozens of her songs just don't know the name, she's the quintessential pop songwriter, sometimes to her detriment admittedly, but you can go through the list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_written_by_Diane_Warren
You'll recognize so many songs, it's ridiculous how much she's written and all the artists she's written for or with. I'd like to see her finally win. She should've won a couple years ago for the with the song Lady Gaga was nominated for, and also Mary J. Blige maybe has her best shot at a win here.
PRODUCTION DESIGN *Beauty and the Beast-Pro.: Sarah Greenwood; Set: Katie Spencer *Blade Runner 2049-Pro.: Dennis Gassner; Set: Alessandra Querzola Darkest Hour-Pro.: Sarah Greenwood; Set: Katie Spencer *Dunkirk-Pro.: Nathan Crowley; Set: Gary Fettis *The Shape of Water-Pro.: Paul Denham Austerberry; Set: Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin
Ooh, Jacqueline Durran's not the only person up against herself this year, kudos, Sarah Greenwood. I underestimated "Darkest Hour", not across the board, but-eh, I thought it would be a little sparer. I had "The Post" sneaking in, instead. Hmm tough category to predict right now. "Darkest Hour", I suspect is a longshot, but any of the others I can easily see winning this. And none of the nominees are former winners in this category, that's interesting.
SOUND EDITING Baby Driver-Julian Slater *Blade Runner 2049-Mark Mangini and Theo Green *Dunkirk-Richard King and Alex Gibson *The Shape of Water-Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira Star Wars: The Last Jedi-Matthew Wood and Ren Klyce
Eh, I woke up late and I'm past deadline, let's do both of these at once! SOUND MIXING *Baby Driver-Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin and Mary H. Ellis Blade Runner 2049-Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill *Dunkirk-Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A. Rizzo *The Shape of Water-Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern and Glen Gauthier Star Wars: The Last Jedi-David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Stuart Wilson
Well, no technical difference between these categories this year. and I got the same amount wrong. (Shrugs) Last year, these categories really behaved erratically most everybody missed both of them, and it led to Kevin O'Connell, on his 20th nomination, finally winning his first Oscar for "Hacksaw Ridge". We also Greg P. Russel, a 17-time nominee, disqualified for some illegal campaigning for "13 Hours...", (And based on the reason for his disqualification; I don't get why the whole wasn't disqualified. He was in contention for the "Transformers..." film this year, so-eh, I have no reason to force myself through that, so Kudos's Academy. Eh, just as a rule, Sound Editing, go with the War movie, that could be either "Dunkirk" or "Star Wars", and Sound Mixing, if all else fails, go with the musical, eh..., ooh, that makes "Baby Driver" interesting in that category....
VISUAL EFFECTS *Blade Runner 2049-John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover *Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2-Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner and Dan Sudick Kong: Skull Island-Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza and Mike Meinardus *Star Wars: The Last Jedi-Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan and Chris Carbould *War for the Planet of the Apes-Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon and Joel Whist
Wow, a shocking omission for "The Shape of Water"- (I called "Guardians..." over "Dunkirk", Visual Effects don't like period war movies, remember that) means that there's no Best Picture nominee in this category. I suspect that means "Blade Runner 2049", is the early favorite, it's the most nominated of the bunch, but since they know Roger Deakins will likely win for that, I wonder if "War for the Planet of the Apes" might finally win one here. Huh, I just realized we two different Simians competing with each other here. King Kong vs. Planet of the Apes, huh. Will the apes cancel each other out? ANIMATED SHORT FILM Dear Basketball-Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant *Garden Party-Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon *Lou-Dave Mullins and Dana Murray Negative Space-Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata *Revolting Rhymes-Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer
You really had to invade the film world, Kobe Bryant? All those championships weren't enough for ya? All-star awards, MVPs, that time you scored eighty-one in a game? (Sigh) Well, I missed that one, and Negative Space. Uh, look out for "Garden Party" and "Revolting Rhymes" those are two big sleepers in this category. It's not a runaway for "Lou" and Pixar, once the voters see the nominees, this can get interesting.
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT *Edith+Eddie-Laura Checkoway *Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405-Frank Stiefel *Heroin(e)-Elaine McMillion Sheldon and Kerrin Sheldon *Knife Skills-Thomas Lennon Traffic Stop-Kate Davis and David Heilbroner
Ah! I almost got it. I went against "Traffic Stop" even though that one's been streaming on HBO for awhile; I should've thought about that one a second. Actually New York Times didn't get any in, which is a real shock to me. I had "Ten Meter Tower", in at least. Well, if it's availabillity probably "Heroin(e)', that's on Netflix, but-eh, "Edith+Eddie" and "Knife Skills" I suspect are just as strong.
LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM *DeKalb Elementary-Reed Van Dyk The Eleven O'Clock-Darin Seale and Josh Lawson My Nephew Emmett-Kevin Wilson, Jr. *The Silent Child-Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton *Watu Wote/All of Us-Katja Benrath and Tobias Rosen
I knew I was tempting fate going against Emmit Till in anything awards related, and I'm really shocked "Rise of a Star" got snubbed especially with such a big star like Catherine Deneuve in that one. That's a shocker to me. Eh, I'm debating but I think it's either "DeKalb Elementary" or the Student Oscar winner "Watu Wote..." winning this. That'd be a rare African film to win as well.
Alright, hope you all enjoyed this. I'm way-past deadline, somebody else can look up my percentage; the Oscar are the first Sunday in March this year, yeah, no more February Oscars, please, yeah! Glad their back to March. This Oscar season just got interesting and strange. And I need a break from it, so I'm gonna go catch up on the "This Is Us" episodes I missed.
I'm David Baruffi, and when it comes to the Oscars, I always get the last word.
(David gets off computer, and sits down in the living room chair, turns on his Roku, and immediately falls asleep before putting his show on.)
Every year, I go through the traditional process of trying to make accurate Oscar nomination predictions, usually I just do this on my blog, but this year, I'm trying to get this done in order for it to be re-posted on "Age of the Nerd", so this is gonna be a little unusual here because, while they've posted several of my pieces already, this is the first time I'll be writing something that's intended to be posted on multiple sites. This'll be a challenge, especially considering how I usually do this, 'cause I try to make this pilgrimage as extensive as I can, and I go through all 24 categories like this, so, (nervous deep breath) for my usual audience this is nothing new, but those of you experiencing this for the first time, buckle up; this is will take a while, and it doesn't help that this is particular strange Oscars year.
Now, I haven't seen most of these movies yet, sorry, and yeah, that helps, although from what I can tell, that if you have a good enough sense of what to look for, this won't be that big an issue. It's like the guy that wins the March Madness pool every year who knows nothing about college basketball, except I'm aiming to make slightly more educated guesses, but still.... don't worry, it's not all the voters watch the films either. The goal is always to try get this right, perfectly predict all 24 categories nominees. In reality, I'll be happy if maybe two or three particular predictions that I'm going out on a limb on come true and I'll just rewrite history afterwards to say that I correctly predicted every category afterwords, but this is still the Oscars, we're still film people, and this is the industry, the people who make movies telling us what they consider to be the best at their job. I think that's valuable information and why the Oscars moreso than some of the other awards, actually has value, even if we don't necessarily agree. I mean, in happens in every line of work. You go through town, you find five random chefs and ask them who's the greatest chef alive and working today, I guarantee you'll get five different answers and as long as they are talented and knowledgeable chefs, none of them would be wrong, and substitute that practice with any other job or profession and you'd get the same thing.
But it's still to take a poll and celebrate those who win, or even those who get nominated. So, I'm going through each category one-by-one, and I'll giving a list of potential nominees for each category, sometimes it's an Oscar shortlist they've made public for certain categories, sometimes it's a longlist that I've made out from keeping track of other major awards from Critics, Guilds and elsewhere and I'll also be using some of Gold Derby's odds as well. If you're not familiar with Gold Derby, they're the people who originally first started setting up betting odds for the Oscars, and they are Hollywood's go-to website and organization when it comes to all things awards; I'll probably post one of their most recent Editors chats where they discuss some of their thoughts and opinions, and you can also make predictions on the site and there's some points system of betting you can participate in, I recommend them; it's fun, and also they don't just do Oscars they do every awards, most reality TV shows, etc. Anything like that. (In case you're wondering, while they do figure out odds, I don't believe you can actually place a bet on the Oscars in most states or at most sportsbooks; I know you can't in Nevada where I'm at, and if you're wondering why that is, it's because technically you can't bet on anything where somebody knows the result ahead of time, so..., but that's not the law everywhere.) Anyway, I make the list, I'll give any thoughts and trends I might see based on some of the other awards prognosticators that have come out, and whether or not any of those are helpful to me, and.... basically, I'm in the pundit here. Again, nothing new, everybody does it to some extent.
Anyway, let's go through this wonderful annual ritual of pretending I can predict the future. We'll start with the big eight races, Picture, Director, Acting categories, Writing categories, followed by Animation, Documentary Feature and Foreign Language feature, and for the rest of the technical awards we're gonna go alphabetical, until we get to those dreaded shorts at the end. Hope you enjoy it.
BEST PICTURE (Possibles, longlist)
"All the Money in the World"
"Baby Driver"
"Battle of the Sexes"
"The Big Sick"
"Blade Runner 2049"
"BPM (Beats Per Minute)"
"Brigsby Bear"
"Call Me By Your Name"
"Coco"
"Colossal"
"Crown Heights"
"Darkest Hour"
"Detroit"
"The Disaster Artist"
"Downsizing"
"Dunkirk"
"First They Killed My Father"
"The Florida Project"
"Get Out"
"A Ghost Story"
"Girls Trip"
"Good Time"
"Gook"
"The Greatest Showman"
"I, Tonya"
"In the Fade"
"Lady Bird"
"Lady MacBeth"
"Last Flag Flying"
"Logan"
"The Lost City of Z"
"Loveless"
"Marshall"
"Molly's Game"
"Mudbound"
"Personal Shopper"
"Phantom Thread"
"The Post"
"Professor Marston & the Wonder Women"
"Roman J. Israel, Esq."
"The Shape of Water"
"Split"
"The Square"
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi"
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
"Wind River"
"Wonder Woman"
"Wonderstruck"
Okay, Best Picture is always tricky 'cause were never sure exactly how many films they'll nominate, it can be anywhere from five to ten, so you I'm gonna predict which ones I think will get in and if there's more than, I'll throw in those movies. They also slant this category to the preferential ballot, which means that instead of selecting just five-to-ten movies or whatever, voters rank the movies in order of preference, so what we're really counting here, is which movies are gonna get a high enough percentage of number one votes to get the nomination, and short of that, who gets twos and three and whatnot. This is a bigger issue when it comes to who wins, but it's come up in the nomination field before. "Foxcatcher"'s lack of a Best Picture nomination, despite Bennett Miller getting into Directing comes to mind; that movie probably had a lot of 3rd and 4th place votes on a lot of ballots and because the other films were counted first, that one just missed out despite eight films getting nominated. So, guaranteed in, I think it's safe to say, "Dunkirk", "Get Out', "Lady Bird" , "The Shape of Water" and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri", are probably in already. and I suspect "Call Me By Your Name" has a passion vote behind it, "I, Tonya"'s coming up strong and if I continue with the recent trend of eight movies getting in, I think the last vote is probably between "Darkest Hour", "The Post", "The Florida Project" and "Mudbound". I can't immediately see a scenario where anything else gets in at this point; maybe long outside shots for "Blade Runner 2049" and "BPM (Beats Per Minute)", but I'm not really seeing that push. I was considering throwing in "The Disaster Artist" for awhile but that has so consistently missed Best Picture categories, that I'm just settled on leaving it out now and James Franco recent controversy doesn't help. PGA which is a little weird 'cause they're the only other Guild that uses a Preferential ballot, actually threw in, "Molly's Game", "Wonder Woman", and most intriguingly "The Big Sick" into their nominations; that's one I might be worried about, 'cause it's gotten into things like SAG Ensemble, and the Critics Choice Awards Picture list; I saw that one and admired it greatly but I'm having a hard time seeing how that gets in despite everything.
Predictions: BEST PICTURE Call Me By Your Name Dunkirk Get Out I, Tonya Lady Bird The Post The Shape of Water Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri *(9th) Darkest Hour *(10th) The Florida Project I'm gonna say "The Post" gets in, if for no other reason than it's Spielberg. Sure, the Pentagon Papers story has to help too, but if anybody can Weinstein's place, at least in terms of having a film that suddenly pops into Best Picture out of nowhere with just consistent marketing and campaigning and in no other way replace Weinstein, it's probably Spielberg. I think "Darkest Hour", despite doing well at BAFTA is probably on the outside looking in, and I think it's between "The Florida Project" and "Mudbound" for the last passion vote potential nominee, *if they get to ten, then I'm gonna bet on "The Florida Project". Until we've seen the Netflix approach actually get something into a non-documentary category; I think it's just playing safe to not presume it in.
BEST DIRECTOR (Possibles, longlist)
Paul Thomas Anderson-"Phantom Thread"
Darren Aronofsky-"mother!"
Sean Baker-"The Florida Project"
Maggie Betts-"Novitiate"
Kathryn Bigelow-"Detroit"
Bill Condon-"Beauty and the Beast"
Sofia Coppola-"The Beguiled"
Guillermo Del Toro-"The Shape of Water"
James Franco-"The Disaster Artist"
Greta Gerwig-"Lady Bird"
Craig Gillespie-"I, Tonya"
Luca Guadagnino-"Call Me By Your Name"
Geremy Jasper-"Patti Cake$"
Patty Jenkins-"Wonder Woman"
Angelina Jolie-"First They Killed My Father"
Kogonada-"Columbus"
Yorgos Lanthimos-"The Killing of a Sacred Deer"
Malcolm D. Lee-"Girls Trip"
James Mangold-"Logan"
Stella Meghie-"Everything, Everything"
Martin McDonagh-"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Christopher Nolan-"Dunkirk"
William Oldroyd-"Lady MacBeth"
Ruben Ostlund-"The Square"
Alexander Payne-"Downsizing"
Jordan Peele-"Get Out"
Reginald Hudling-"Marshall"
Dee Rees-"Mudbound"
Matt Reeves-"War for the Planet of the Apes"
Benny & Josh Safdie-"Good Time"
Taylor Sheridan-"Wind River"
Ridley Scott-"All the Money in the World"
Aaron Sorkin-"Molly's Game"
Steven Spielberg-"The Post"
Lee Unkrich-"Coco"
Denis Villeneuve-"Blade Runner 2049"
Joshua Z. Weinstein-"Menashe"
Edgar Wright-"Baby Driver"
Joe Wright-"Darkest Hour"
Andrey Zvyagintsev-"Loveless"
When it comes to the Directing Oscar, there's usually always one name that gets in DGA that probably won't make it to the Oscars, and the idea is to try and figure out which one that is and who that nominee might be. You'd think that would be easy, but the Academy's been a little more fickle than people realize with this. Hell, a couple years ago, I completely missed Lenny Abrahmson on my shortlist and he got in for "Room" that year. And yet, a first look at the DGA group, Del Toro, Gerwig, McDonagh, Nolan, and Peele, that feels right. Luca Guadagnino feels like the most likely number six name that could sneak in, with perhaps Dee Rees, Denis Villeneuve and Joe Wright, and of course, let's not leave out Steven Spielberg, being the most likely names to come up and sneak into the category. Del Toro's due, McDonaugh's BP favorite, Gerwig and Peele both have outside influences and popularity reasons to get in, oddly, I think Christopher Nolan's the weak link. He's also due, but the directors' in the Academy have never particularly liked him; even in years when it seemed obvious he should get in, he somehow got left out.
Predictions: BEST DIRECTOR Guillermo Del Toro-"The Shape of Water" Greta Gerwig-"Lady Bird" Martin McDonagh-"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" Christopher Nolan-"Dunkirk" Jordan Peele-"Get Out"
If I were to predict somebody else getting in, it'd probably be Luca Guadagnino getting in instead of Christopher Nolan, but I went back over and checked all the precursor's I could find. Rarely did Nolan's name not show up as a Director nominee and the few times he didn't Guadagnino's name didn't show up either. I'm gonna say the DGA got the nominees right this year.
BEST ACTOR (Possibles, longlist)
Claes Bang-"The Square"
Javier Bardem-"mother!"
Jamie Bell-"Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool"
Chadwick Boseman-"Marshall"
Steve Carell-"Battle of the Sexes"
Timothee Chalamet-"Call Me By Your Name"
Tom Cruise-"American Made"
Matt Damon-"Downsizing"
Daniel Day-Lewis-"Phantom Thread"
Willem Dafoe-"The Florida Project"
Idris Elba-"The Mountain Between Us'
Ansel Elgort-"Baby Driver"
Colin Farrell-"The Killing of a Sacred Deer"
Ali Fazel-"Victoria and Abdul"
James Franco-"The Disaster Artist"
Andrew Garfield-"Breathe"
Jake Gyllenhaal-"Stronger"
Chris Hemsworth-"Thor: Ragnarok"
Hugh Jackman-"The Greatest Showman"
Hugh Jackman-"Logan"
Daniel Kaluuya-"Get Out"
Tom Hanks-"The Post"
James McAvoy-"Split"
Kumail Nanjani-"The Big Sick"
Gary Oldman-"Darkest Hour"
Gary Oldman-"The Space Between Us"
Robert Pattinson-"Good Time"
Nahuel Perez Biscayart-"BPM (Beats Per Minute)"
Jeremy Renner-"Wind River"
Adam Sandler-"The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)"
Andy Serkis-"War for the Planet of the Apes"
Albee Smith-"Detroit"
Harry Dean Stanton-"Lucky"
Miles Teller-"Thank You For Your Service"
Jacob Tremblay-"Wonder"
Jean-Louis Trintignant-"Happy End"
Denzel Washington-"Roman J. Israel, Esq."
When it comes to the Acting categories, generally, the rule of thumb is that the SAG Award will get somewhere between 15 and 17 names right. That would leave Denzel Washington the most likely out to me. "Roman J. Israel, Esq." has just not caught on, anywhere, except for Denzel, so I'm looking for a name that's maybe getting in at other awards, that the actors like, that maybe his film might've screened too late for the SAG voters, and is from a film that's a probable threat elsewhere. This could match a couple people, but I think it's between Daniel Day-Lewis and Tom Hanks for that last spot. Maybe, I can see some votes slip in for the late Harry Dean Stanton, but I don't think it's gonna be enough. I can maybe see a scenario where either Steve Carell or Willem Dafoe get lead actor votes but I doubt that very much too.
Predictions BEST ACTOR Timothee Chalamet-"Call Me By Your Name" Daniel Day-Lewis-"Phantom Thread" James Franco-"The Disaster Artist" Daniel Kaluuya-"Get Out" Gary Oldman-"Darkest Hour" In case you're wondering if maybe I'm underestimating James Franco's recent scandal, it's possible, but I'm suspecting that most of the voting was done before then and I'm doubting that it's gonna have the effect anyway that it would have for say, other potential nominees.
BEST ACTRESS (Possibles, Longlist)
Annette Bening-"Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool"
Jessica Chastain-"Molly's Game"
Judi Dench-"Victoria & Abdul"
Jane Fonda-"Our Souls at Night"
Gal Gadot-"Wonder Woman"
Sally Hawkins-"Maudie"
Sally Hawkins-"The Shape of Water"
Isabelle Huppert-"Happy End"
Zoe Kazan-"The Big Sick"
Nicole Kidman-"The Beguiled"
Nicole Kidman-"The Killing of a Sacred Deer"
Vicky Krieps-"Phantom Thread"
Diane Kruger-"In the Fade"
Brie Larson-"The Glass Castle"
Jennifer Lawrence-"mother!"
Frances McDormand-"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Helen Mirren-"The Leisure Seeker"
Cynthia Nixon-"A Quiet Passion"
Elisabeth Olson-"Wind River"
Natalie Paul-"Crown Heights"
Brooklynn Prince-"The Florida Project"
Florence Pugh-"Lady MacBeth"
Haley Lu Richardson-"Columbus"
Julia Roberts-"Wonder"
Margot Robbie-"I, Tonya"
Saoirse Ronan-"Lady Bird"
Lois Smith-"Marjorie Prime"
Octavia Spencer-"Gifted"
Kristen Stewart-"Personal Shopper"
Emma Stone-"Battle of the Sexes"
Maryl Streep-"The Post"
Daniela Vega-"A Fantastic Woman"
Michelle Williams-"All the Money in the World"
Michelle Williams-"The Greatest Showman"
Debra Winger-"The Lovers"
Kate Winslet-"Wonder Wheel"
Just on an initial glimpse at SAG, it looks like the one left out would be, Judi Dench. Yikes; there's a bet I don't want to make. Well, obvious response is obvious, next one up would be Meryl Streep. Let's take a second look here anyway though. A kid actor sneaking in wouldn't be so outside-the-box, maybe Brooklynn Prince. Perhaps Jessica Chastain for "Molly's Game", she's shown up in a few places and that movie seems to be picking up momentum. Diane Kruger for "In the Fade" shouldn't be overlooked, the Academy likes it when an actor who they knows works primarily in English will take a foreign language role. I wouldn't throw away Emma Stone either, that one checks a lot of boxes, and the Academy's willing to nominate last year's winners even when it seemed unlikely, for instance, Eddie Redmayne's "The Danish Girl" nomination that was a surprise. Actually, now I'm seriously considering Emma Stone now that I say it out loud, that actually makes a lot of sense. Also, I'm probably the only one throwing out Cynthia Nixon's name for "A Quiet Passion", I know that's a real longshot, but respected in the industry, real life person, and btw, she's an Oscar away from an EGOT. Seriously, look it up, she has the Grammy already which would've been the real tough one for her, and she's been the one I've paid attention to figuring she might be the surprise next EGOT winner. I'm not predicting it, I'm not going that far out on a limb, not this year anyway, but she's shown up in a few Critics' lists; if I really taking a shot at somebody real long, she's somebody I'd be keeping in the back of my head if I were you.
Prediction: BEST ACTRESS Sally Hawkins-"The Shape of Water" Frances McDormand-"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" Margot Robbie-"I, Tonya" Saorise Ronan-"Lady Bird" Meryl Streep-"The Post" I'm really worried that I'm missing an obvious choice by not taking Emma Stone here, but this would require relying on the Actors Branch of the Academy to overlook Meryl Streep. They may overlook Judi Dench, they may pass over Spielberg occasionally, but I can't remember the last time they didn't bend over backwards for Meryl.
SUPPORTING ACTOR (Possibles, longlist)
Nnamdi Asomugha-"Crown Heights"
Kenneth Branagh-"Dunkirk"
Sterling K. Brown-"Marshall"
Steve Carell-"Battle of the Sexes"
Daniel Craig-"Logan Lucky"
Bryan Cranston-"Last Flag Flying"
William Dafoe-"The Florida Project"
Idris Elba-"Molly's Game"
Idris Elba-"Thor: Ragnarok"
Colin Farrell-"The Beguiled"
Laurence Fishburne-"Last Flag Flying"
Harrison Ford-"Blade Runner 2049"
Armie Hammer-"Call Me By Your Name"
Tom Hardy-"Dunkirk"
Woody Harrelson-"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Ed Harris-"mother!"
Ethan Hawke-"Maudie"
Dustin Hoffman-"The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)"
Lil Rel Howery-"Get Out"
Oscar Isaac-"Suburbicon"
Richard Jenkins-"The Shape of Water"
Doug Jones-"The Shape of Water"
Barry Keoghan-"The Killing of a Sacred Deer"
Ben Mendelsohn-"Darkest Hour"
Jason Mitchell-"Mudbound"
Charlie Plummer-"All the Money in the World"
Christopher Plummer-"All the Money in the World"
Will Poulter-"Detroit'
Sam Rockwell-"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Ray Romano-"The Big Sick"
Mark Rylance-"Dunkirk"
Benny Safdie-"Good Time"
Michael Shannon-"The Shape of Water"
Sebastian Stan-"I, Tonya"
Patrick Stewart-"Logan"
Ben Stiller-"The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)"
Michael Stuhlbarg-"Call Me By Your Name"
Justin Timberlake-"Wonder Wheel"
Jean-Louis Tringnant-"Happy End"
Bradley Whitford-"Get Out"
Steve Carell snuck into SAG here for "Battle of the Sexes" kinda surprisingly. (Shrugs) Maybe, but is such a loaded category this year, that I'm having trouble figuring out where he fits in. Both Harrelson and Rockwell got in for "Three Billboards..." also, and that's a bit rare, but not impossible to see. I've also seen several different pushes for both "Call Me By Your Name"'s Armie Hammer and Michael Stuhlbarg heavily out there. Patrick Stewart's also a real possibility, Michael Shannon got in last year with a predecessor either, so can't throw that one out. It's also "Dunkirk"'s best shot at an acting nomination with Mark Rylance. There's also a late push for Christopher Plummer; I'm really skeptical on that one. Sure, it's a nice story, and who doesn't want to honor Christopher Plummer when they get a chance, but the Academy has not been kind to Ridley Scott's work lately, and to be honest, I'm typically in agreement with them on that. I haven't seen "All the Money...", so I'm not judging that one, but I don't know, I think sneaking into the Golden Globes isn't enough here. If there's name I'd be really happy to see, it'd be Jason Mitchell for "Mudbound", which-, well, I'll spoil my thoughts here, even with the Netflix factor, I'm not understanding why Mary J. Blige is a serious Oscar contender for that film, but Jason Mitchell's performance; I thought was amazing and was the one I most remembered, so, if he can sneak, I'd be happy with that.
Predictions: BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Willem Dafoe-"The Florida Project" Woody Harrelson-"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Richard Jenkins-"The Shape of Water" Sam Rockwell-"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" Michael Stuhlbarg-"Call Me By Your Name"
Part of me is just, taking a look at who the big favorie critically-acclaimed supporting actor names are and nominating the ones that never win, but yeah, I think that's how it's gonna play out here. If Armie Hammer can get in for "Call Me By Your Name" and Stuhlbarg, look out for Guadagnino's name at Director. It's been way too long since two actors from two different movies got into the same category in a year for me to predict that happening here unfortunately.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Possibles, longlist)
Naomi Ackie-"Lady MacBeth
Mary J. Blige-"Mudbound"
Hong Chau-"Downsizing"
Abbie Cornish-"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Judi Dench-"Murder on the Orient Express"
Kirsten Dunst-"The Beguiled"
Carrie Fisher-"Star Wars: The Last Jedi"
Tiffany Haddish-"Girls Trip"
Regina Hall-"Girls Trip"
Holly Hunter-"The Big Sick"
Allison Janney-"I, Tonya"
Dafne Keen-"Logan"
Catherine Keener-"Get Out"
Riley Keough-"Logan Lucky"
Nicole Kidman-"The Killing of a Sacred Deer"
Melissa Leo-"Novitiate"
Lelsey Manville-"Phantom Thread"
Tatiana Maslany-"Stronger"
Audra McDonald-"Beauty and the Beast"
Kelly MacDonald-"Goodbye Christopher Robin"
Laurie Metcalf-"Lady Bird"
Julianne Moore-"Suburbicon"
Julianne Moore-"Wonderstruck"
Carey Mulligan-"Mudbound"
Sarah Paulsen-"The Post"
Michelle Pfieffer-"mother!"
Rosamund Pike-"Hostiles"
Brooklynn Prince-"The Florida Project"
Andrea Riseborough-"
Margot Robbie-"Goodbye Christopher Robin"
Julia Roberts-"Wonder"
Keesha Sharp-"Marshall"
Lois Smith-"Marjorie Prime"
Octavia Spencer-"The Shape of Water"
Tilda Swinton-"Okja"
Juno Temple-"Wonder Wheel"
Kristin Scott Thomas-"Darkest Hour"
Tessa Thompson-"Thor: Ragnarok"
Erin Vinaite-"The Florida Project"
Julie Walters-"Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool"
Naomi Watts-"The Glass Castle"
Allison Williams-"Get Out"
Michelle Williams-"The Greatest Showman"
Yeah, I'm not sure I get the Mary J. Blige thing; I loved "Mudbound", but it wasn't that performance that stuck out to me, at all and that, and overcoming the Netflix thing, feels like too much for me. This feels like the category I'm looking out for some shockers here. We all know Metcalf and Janney are safe, but the last three are really up in the air. I'm going out to put Hong Chau in, Holly Hunter I think is in, but I'm skeptical of that one, and that leaves one more, Octavia Specer makes the most sense, but there's also Tiffany Haddish out there; she's been losing steam, but I can't ignore her entirely. Lesley Manville's out there, so it Kristin Scott Thomas, if I didn't think Catherine Keener and Allison Williams would be siphoning each other's votes, I might seriously consider either of them this year, especially Allison Williams; I think her performance in "Get Out" has really gotten overlooked.
Predictions: BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Hong Chau-"Downsizing" Holly Hunter-"The Big Sick" Allison Janney-"I, Tonya" Laurie Metcalf-"Lady Bird" Octavia Spencer-"The Shape of Water"
Look out for Lesley Manville and/or Tiffany Haddish to sneak in though. Really worried about them, sneaking in here. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't see Mary J. Blige here. Tough, loaded category this year.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"American Made"-Gary Spinelli
"Baby Driver"-Edgar Wright
"Battle of the Sexes"-Simon Beaufoy
"Beatriz at Dinner"-Mike White
"The Big Sick"-Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani
"Brad's Status"-Mike White
"Coco"-Story & Screenplay: Adrian Molina & Matthew Aldrich; Story: Lee Unkrich & Jason Katz
"Columbus"-Kogonada
"Darkest Hour"-Anthony McCarten
"Detroit"-Mark Boal
"Downsizing"-Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor
"Dunkirk"-Christopher Nolan
"The Florida Project"-Sean Baker & Chris Bergoch
"Get Out"-Jordan Peele
"I, Tonya"-Steve Rogers
"Ingrid Goes West"-David Branson Smith and Matt Spicer
"The Killing of a Sacred Deer"-Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthimis Filippou
"Lady Bird"-Greta Gerwig
"Logan Lucky"-Rebecca Blunt
"Loveless"-Oleg Negin and Andrey Zvyagintsev
"The Lovers"-Azazel Jacobs
"The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)"-Noah Baumbach
"mother!"-Darren Aronofsky
"Phantom Thread"-Paul Thomas Anderson
"The Post"-Liz Hannah and Josh Singer
"The Shape of Water"-Guillermo Del Toro & Vanessa Taylor
"The Square"-Ruben Ostlund
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Misouri-Martin McDonagh
"Wind River"-Taylor Sheridan
Now, it's a little tricky with the Writing Categories 'cause the Writers' Guild Award are a bit limiting, so while they're accurate enough to get a decent idea, you have to remember to look a little outside them for the whole five, 'cause there's a usually a film or two out there that's nomination-worthy, but the writer isn't a member of the Guild, so it would've been ineligible for them. That said, in terms of Original Screenplay, they've got "The Big Sick", "Get Out", "I Tonya," , "Lady Bird" and "The Shape of Water", those are pretty reasonable picks. That said, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri", is conspicuously absent. So is "Phantom Thread". Also, animated films aren't DGA eligible, so "Coco", is in consideration here. So is, "Dunkirk" even, which is particularly noteworthy, since Nolan is usually admired by writers, and I think he is in the WGA so...., and more importantly than that, I've noticed a trend lately where I suspect Writing is actually a bigger category in terms of Best Picture prognostication than even Directing lately. I mean, look at it recently. "La La Land" didn't win writing, that went to "Moonlight", "Mad Max..." and "The Revenant" weren't nominated in Writing, "Spotlight" only won Writing, but then won Best Picture. "Birdman..." upset "Boyhood" in Writing, and then won Picture, there's some recent precedents that indicate that we're going into an era where Writing is more valued than even Directing. Hell, in the last fifteen years, we've had Peter Jackson, The Coen Brothers and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, manage to win Writing, Directing and Picture in the same year for the same film. You know that only happened once beforehand, with Billy Wilder pulling over that trio for "The Apartment"? We're trending towards Writer/Director's more, but we're also trending towards Writers a lot more and that needs to be kept in mind.
Predictions: Get Out-Jordan Peele I, Tonya-Steven Rogers Lady Bird-Greta Gerwig The Shape of Water-Guillermo Del Toro & Vanessa Taylor Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri-Martin McDonagh
Look, I love "The Big Sick", I'd be happy to see it get in here, but I'm just not seeing it. Honestly, I'm worried I'm underestimating "Phantom Thread" a bit, but "The Master" was a P.T. Anderson film that got three acting nominations and he didn't get into Writing that year, so I think it's possible, and while "The Post"'s not getting in, in a bit suspicious, I suspect with everything being equal, they're gonna look for the most innovative script, and to me, that's "I, Tonya", clearly sticks out. I could see, maybe, "The Florida Project," sneaking in late, but it'd have to break everywhere and I don't think it's doing that.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"All the Money in the World"-David Scarpa
"The Beguiled"-Sofia Coppola
"Beauty and the Beast"-Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spillotopoulos
"Blade Runner 2049"-Hampton Fancher and Michael Green
"Call Me By Your Name"-James Ivory
"The Disaster Artist"-Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
"Donald Cried"-Kristopher Avedisian
"Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool"-Matt Greenhalgh
"It"-Chase Palmer & Cary Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman
"Lady MacBeth"-Alice Birch
"Last Flag Flying"-Richard Linklater and Darryl Ponicsan
"Logan"-Scott Frank, James Mangold and Michael Green
"The Lost City of Z"-James Gray"
"Marjorie Prime"-Michael Almereyda
"Molly's Game"-Aaron Sorkin
"Mudbound"-Dee Rees and Virgil Williams
"Stronger"-John Pollono
"Their Finest"-Caby Chiappe
"Victoria & Adbul"-Lee Hall
"Wonder"-Jack Thorne, Steve Conrad, Stephen Chbosky
"Wonder Woman"-Jason Fuchs & Allan Heinberg
"Wonderstruck"-Brian Selznick
Interestingly, it's the Adapted Screenplay that's a little more up in the air, 'cause there really hasn't been too many Adapted films that have broken through as true Best Picture contenders. "Call Me By Your Name" is probably the only I legitimately think could win Best Picture. WGA went with that, "The Disaster Artist", "Logan", interestingly enough, as well as "Molly's Game" and the really intriguing one "Mudbound". Netflix getting into Writing I think would be just as huge as getting into Picture for them. Other things that could sneak in, I can see "The Lost City of Z", Amazon does have a Writing win, last year with "Manchester by the Sea" remember, I could see "Victoria & Abdul", I could see "All the Money in the World" getting honored, and maybe "Blade Runner 2049", but- they're gonna honor that for technical awards; I don't think they're in a pressing need to honor that in the major awards. Outside-looking-in, maybe "Marjorie Prime" and maybe, any of the movies with "Wonder" in the title. (Man, how did that happen this year, there was five of them, and they're all in award consideration somewhere. Weird.) Actually currently, "Wonder" is fifth on Gold Derby's list, which, kinda surprises me a bit actually. Also, this is maybe the one category where "The Beguiled" might be relevant but I'm struggling to put it in.
Predictions: Call Me By Your Name-James Ivory The Disaster Artist-Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber Logan-Scott Frank, James Mangold and Michael Green Molly's Game-Aaron Sorkin Mudbound-Virgil Williams Dee Rees
I'm gonna go paint with WGA here. Um, the only reason I give is that, I've seen "Logan" so I do know how good that script is, but also, if I were a voter and a better, I'd bet that the writers would honor the best in the business and Scott Frank in particular, has been a great working screenwriter for a long time now and he has only once been nominated for an Oscar and that was for "Out of Sight" and sure, there's a dud or two here or there in his resume but go through his IMDB page and a wide-range of really beloved movies he's worked on and written, so I think, that's where I would lean as a writer, so that's where I think the voters will lean too.
ANIMATED FEATURE (Shortlist)
"The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales"
"Birdboy: The Forgotten Children"
"The Boss Baby"
"The Breadwinner"
"Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie"
"Cars 3"
"Cinderella the Cat"
"Coco"
"Despicable Me 3"
"The Emoji Movie"
"Ethel & Ernest"
"Ferdinand"
"The Girl Without Hands"
"In This Corner of the World"
"The LEGO Batman Movie"
"The LEGO Ninjago Movie"
"Loving Vincent"
"Mary and the Witch's Flower"
"Moomins and the Winter Wonderland"
"My Entire High School Singing into the Sea"
"Napping Princess"
"A Silent Voice"
"Smurfs: The Lost Village"
"The Star"
"Sword Art Online: The Movie--Ordinal Scale"
"Window Horses The Poetic Persian Epiphant of Rosie Ming"
So, in a bit of a twist, this year all Academy voters will vote on the nominees, which is a bit scary. We're used to seeing nominees from, all over the world in some cases, since the Animation Branch usually selected the nominees but now,- well, I don't think "The Emoji Movie" is getting in, but I suspect the more well-known titles might have the advantage. We almost certainly know "Coco" is getting in, and I suspect "The Breadwinner" and "Loving Vincent" are most likely in. That leaves two spots. Quick check of the Annie Awards, leans towards "The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales", which makes sense, that's from the same people who made "Ernest & Celestine" which got nominated a few years ago. Eh, also from "Birdboy: The Forgotten Children" has several awards over there, including the Goya, which is Spain's Oscar equivalent. "Ethel & Ernest" is based on a beloved graphic novel and is a British film from the guy who made, "The Snowman", which is a popular Christmas short over there, so I suspect that's got some British votes, although curiously that missed out on BAFTA, which went with, "Coco", "Loving Vincent" and-eh, "My Life as a Zucchini", which got translated to "My Life as a Courgette" there. How does that happen sometimes? Like, how come in Britain it's "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in England, but "...Sorcerer's Stone" here? Like, we have philosophers here, that's not an unusual word in America. That's an English-to-English translation like, how did that happen?!
(Sigh)
Alright, I went off-track there. Um, I can see "The Girl Without Hands", sneak in, that looks like it's good. There's also some anime, "In This Corner of the World", is based on a popular Manga; it's not a Studio Ghibli film, which is a bit of a detriment, there hasn't been another Japanese studio breakthrough at the Oscars yet. Another one from Japan is "Napping Princess", which looks interesting, but I think is a longshot, it's from a guy more well-known for TV anime than films, most notably, "East of Eden", "Cyborg" and "Ghost in the Shell" series. (I am trying to learn more about anime, than Studio Ghibli, bear with me though, I'm still flying blind when it comes to OVAs.) From Madman Studios, I could also see Naoko Yamada's "A Silent Voice" sneaking in; that's an anime from a female director, which is something I don't come across too often, and the story sounds somewhat interesting, they also have a really experimental piece of animation called "Sword Art Online: The Movie--Ordinal Scale"; I don't know, that one looks divisive as Hell to me. Now "Mary and the Witch's Flower" is a Studio Panac film, which is interesting 'cause that's a studio that was formed from some former Ghibli animators, as was made by Hiromasa Yonabayshi, who was nominated for "When Marnie Was Here". That seems like a strong pick here. Whoever was in charge of "Moomins and the Winter Wonderland"'s trailer needs to be fired, 'cause their trailer is eight minutes long! Including a five-and-a-half post-trailer scene. Nope, not thinking that's in. If there's some dark twisted people in the Academt, "My Entire High School is Sinking Into the Sea" might show up. I'm doubting it, since they've had some opportunities lately like-eh, "Sausage Party" and passed them up, although this movie looks better than that one. "Window Horses..." I've heard about, it's a Canadian film that's popped up on their critics lists and awards, that could be a spoiler. Reminds me a little bit of "Persepolis" in the style and the story narrative. Despite everything I just said about everything else, I'm a little concerned I'm underestimating "The Boss Baby". That thing did pretty well at the Annie Awards so....
Predictions: BEST ANIMATED FEATURE The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales The Breadwinner Coco Loving Vincent Mary and the Witch's Flower I'm worried I'm overlooking, say, "The Boss Baby" or "Captain Underpants..."; I could see them, making going with "The LEGO Batman Movie" as a makeup for not nominating "The LEGO Movie", but I don't know; I think they want room for something Miyazaki-adjacent and something that's classic, but also fun and good, and that leads me to think "The Big Bad Fox" and "Mary..." get in. DOCUMENTARY FEATURE (Shortlist)
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Chasing Coral
City of Ghosts
Ex Libris--The New Your Public Library
Faces Places
Human Flow
Icarus
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
Jane
LA 92
Last me in Aleppo
Long Strange Trip
One of Us
Strong Island
Unrest
I've seen a couple of these, "Strong Island" is pretty solid, albeit one-sided but that's fine. "Chasing Coral" I'm gonna write a review for that in the future, I'm not sure if it'll be posted on Age of the Nerd or not, but-uh, I have some issues with that movie that really bothered me. Little surprised to see it here honest. Well, I suspect "Faces Places" is easily in, that and "Jane" have been alternating awards all season. I suspect "Icarus", is in, especially considering the news lately. After that, I'm a little unsure. My gut says "Strong Island". "Ex Libris"-, like, I'd be shocked. I don't thing the Documentary branch really Frederick Weisman that much. I love him, but he's tough to take. There's a couple on the Middle East war, I loved "City of Ghosts", I think that's in, and I've also seen "LA 92", pop up in a lot of places. It's L.A., the L.A. riots; I mean, if weren't sick enough to not give it to an O.J. Simpson documentary last year, than I think something about the riots will catch on. I'm also hard-pressed to rule out, "An Inconvenient Sequel...". It didn't catch like the original, but forget the original had a slow climb as well. That wasn't a breakout doc right away, and there was tough competition that year, so it kinda slip up the pack until it's triumph at the Oscars that year, so the sequel could do the same. Predictions: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE City of Ghosts Faces Places Icarus Jane LA 92 Yeah, "Strong Island" is powerful, but it's a bit of a confrontational, slow watch. I've heard good things about most of these, so I wouldn't be shocked by any of these titles getting in. So it's a good bunch of critically-acclaimed and honored films here, I think there's a lot of toss-ups being done by the Documentary Branch on this one, so we'll see. If all else fails here, look for the important subjects and the ones getting a lot of awards praise and buzz, and I would say overlook the Steve James one, but they already did that, so.... (Shrugs)
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FEATURE (Shortlist)
"A Fantastic Woman" (Chile)
"Felicite" (Senegal)
"Foxtrot" (Israel)
"In the Fade" (Germany)
"The Insult" (Lebanon)
"Loveless" (Russia)
"On Body and Soul" (Hungary)
"The Square" (Sweden)
"The Wound" (South Africa)
Obviously with the Academy there's always gonna be a few left out that probably shouldn't be; the most notable one absent is probably "BPM (Beats Per Minute)", which I think in a weaker year would've had an outside shot at a Screenplay nomination. Still, this looks like a decent list; there still some big names here. "Loveless" is the same director as "Leviathan", so his film should probably get in. "In the Fade", is from one of my favorite directors Fatih Akin, the Turkish/German filmmaker, plus his film has Diane Kruger, that a star America know; I suspect he's getting in. Also, "The Square", Ruben Ostlund, that might be a makeup for him not getting in for "Force Majeure", but that's also a film with some American actors in it, most notably Elisabeth Moss, so for that reason alone it's in consideration. "A Fantastic Woman" has some foreign backing that's known in America as well.
I'm always a little distrustful of Gold Derby on this category, because it's always the more mysterious ones that will trip you up. The only one I haven't seen pop up elsewhere, was "The Insult". I'm also debating whether or not any of the African films get in; I tend to think the Academy wants to spread to as many continents as possible, so Senegalese and South African films, just on that level seem intriguing; we could get four continents represented in the category, but I don't think they consider that too much unfortunately.
Predictions: A Fantastic Woman (Chile) In the Fade (Germany) Loveless (Russia) The Square (Sweden) The Wound (South Africa) I was tempted to throw in "The Insult" instead of "The Wound", 'cause I like that director Ziad Doueiri, he made a film called "Lebanon" awhile back that took place entirely inside a tank; worth seeking out, but-um, just based on the trailers "The Wound" looks the powerful of those two. "Foxtrot", "In the Fade" and "A Fantastic Woman" are all about grief, and I can't imagine three of those getting; that'd be depressing. "Felicite" looks interesting, might be the orange in the basket of apples, but I just don't think there's enough space this year. Even without some big films, this looks like a crowded year at the top of the foreign language category. CINEMATOGRAPHY (Possibles, longlist)
"Beach Rats"-Helene Louvart
"Beauty and the Beast"-Tobias A. Schliessler
"The Beguiled"-Philippe Le Sourd
"Blade Runner 2049"-Roger Deakins
"Call Me By Your Name"-Sayombhu Mukdeeprom
"Columbus"-Elisha Christian
"Darkest Hour"-Bruno Delbonnel
"Detroit"-Barry Ackroyd
"Dunkirk"-Hoyte Van Hoytema
"The Florida Project"-Alexis Zabe
"Get Out"-Toby Oliver
"The Greatest Showman"-Seamus McGarvey
"Hostiles"-Masanobu Takaynagi
"The Killing of a Sacred Deer"-Thimios Bakatakis
"Lady Bird"-Sam Levy
"Lady MacBeth"-Ari Wegner
"Logan"-John Mathieson
"The Lost City of Z"-Darius Khondji
"Loveless"-Mikhail Krichman
"mother!"-Matthew Libatique
"Mudbound"-Rachel Morrison
"Murder on the Orient Express"-Haris Zambarloukos
"Personal Shopper"-Yorick Le Saux
"Phantom Thread"-
"The Post"-Janusz Kaminski
"The Shape of Water"-Dan Lautsen
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi"-Steve Ledlin
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"-Ben Davis
"War for the Planet of the Apes"-Michael Seresin
"Wind River"-Ben Richardson
"Wonder"-Don Burgess
"Wonder Wheel"-Vittorio Storaro
"Wonder Woman"-Matthew Jensen
"Wonderstruck"-Ed Lachmann
Loaded category this year. We'll start with the obvious, if you don't know who Roger Deakins is..., basically for like two years, I've been hearing people and cinematographers excited about him working on "Blade Runner 2049", and hoping he will finally win his Oscar. He's been nominated, some ridiculous number, um, (Checks IMDB), 13 times, and has never won. His first nomination was for "The Shawshank Redemption" so you can do the math from there. He's way overdue, and Hollywood is forcing this, maybe as hard as Weinstein forced the Best Score Oscar for Ennio Morricone for "The Hateful Eight" a couple years ago. It's that big a push, so, if anybody else wins, it's an upset, and it's just figuring out who else is nominated. The one everybody's hoping for to get nominated is "Mudbound", which along with "Dunkirk", "Darkest Hour" and "The Shape of Water", and the reason we're caring about "Mudbound"; that film's cinematographer is Rachel Morrison, she is only woman ever nominated by the Guild, and there has never been a woman nominated for Best Cinematography at the Oscar, ever! It's the only non-gender specific category that's happened with. So if "Mudbound" has a shot anywhere, I'd bet on Cinematography, partly she deserves it, but mostly 'cause that's embarrassing. I don't know why this field in particular has been so, male-centric but it's time for that to end. Elsewise, keep outside the nominations, I'm trying to figure out how much the Academy likes "Darkest Hour", I think Bruno Delbonnel is in, but it's close. "Darkest Hour" hasn't shown up everywhere it was suspected of showing up, so there's some outliers we gotta look at. Gold Derby's got "Call Me By Your Name" sneaking in, I'm a little surprised "The Post", Janusz Kaminski isn't getting more votes. Spielberg's DPs usually get in, even when it's not one of his better films. Even "War Horse" got in that year. It's not even on Gold Derby's longlist, but if I were gonna go out on a limb, and I'm kinda thinking seriously about this one, "Loveless". It's a Russian film from the same guy who did "Leviathan" a couple years ago. They nominated "Ida" a few years ago, they have to lean towards a well-made foreign film occasionally. That's the one where I'm think if no one's paying attention, that could sneak in.
Predictions: CINEMATOGRAPHY Blade Runner 2049-Roger Deakins Darkest Hour-Bruno Delbonnel Dunkirk-Hoyte van Hoytema Mudbound-Rachel Morrison The Shape of Water-Dan Lautsen
I'm going paint with the ASC Awards. Part of me's thinking "Loveless" could sneak, part of me's wondering if I'm just hoping too much for "Mudbound", I'm a little worried on "Call Me By Your Name", but I can't figure who I'd take out for them.
COSTUME DESIGN (Possibles, longlist)
"All the Money in the World"-Jenny Yates
"Battle of the Sexes"-Mary Zophres
"Beauty and the Beast"-Jacqueline Durran
"The Beguiled"-Stacey Battat
"Blade Runner 2049"-Renee April
"Call Me By Your Name"-Guilia Piersanti
"Darkest Hour"-Jacqueline Durran
"Dunkirk"-Jeffrey Kurland
"Get Out"-Nadine Haders
"The Greatest Showman"-Ellen Mirojnick
"Hostiles"-Jenny Eagen
"I, Tonya"-Jennifer Johnson
"Kingsman: The Golden Circle"-Arianne Phillips
"Lady Bird"-April Napier
"Lady MacBeth"-Holly Waddington
"Logan"-Daniel Orlandi
"The Lost City of Z"-Sonia Grande
"Mudbound"-Michael T. Boyd
"Murder on the Orient Express"-Alexandra Byrne
"My Cousin Rachel"-Dinah Collin
"Phantom Thread"-Mark Bridges
"The Post"-Ann Roth
"The Shape of Water"-Luis Sequeira
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi"-Michael Kaplan
"Thor: Ragnarok"-Mayes C. Rubea
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"-Melissa Toth
"Victoria and Abdul"-Consolata Boyle
"Wonder Woman"-Lindy Hemming
"Wonderstruck"-Sandy Powell
The Costume Designers Guild always a fun Awards, 'cause they separate by genre, so we get more nominees and sometimes some interesting ones too. Still though, it's usually sci-fi and period films that get the most attention, although, there's a few interesting ones in the contemporary category. I can't imagine recreating ice skating outfits was easy for Jennifer Johnson, so "I, Tonya" doesn't seem that odd a pick to me, and Arianne Phillips has been honored by the Academy a few times, I suspect people are underestimating "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" a little bit in these craft categories. (Also, I wouldn't be shocked by "Lady Bird" showing up here either) That said, this is where "Beauty and the Beast" will show up,- (I don't think Jacqueline Durran's getting in twice, sorry "Darkest hour", and this is also where "Murder on the Orient Express" can come in. You gotta like stuff that's about the clothes as well, so "Phantom Thread" looks right here. "The Shape of Water", I'm debating on. The other kinda interesting one out there is "Wonder Woman", especially considering the controversy with the costuming regarding the character in some of the DC movies, that would be an interesting pick.
Predictions: BEST COSTUME DESIGN Beauty and the Beast-Jacqueline Durran The Greatest Showman-Ellen Mirojnick I, Tonya-Jennifer Johnson Murder on the Orient Express-Alexandra Byrne Phantom Thread-Mark Bridges
Everything else is basically paint based on film and name recognition, (Yes, "Murder on the Orient Express' is getting in, Alexandra Byrne's too big a name to leave out and that movie is all costume design) and I'm gonna take a shot on "I, Tonya" sneaking in. Little worried about "Wonder Woman" and maybe "Star Wars...", they have a good history with this category, but I think they've also had forty years of films to base their looks on, so...
FILM EDITING (Possibles, longlist)
"All the Money in the World"-Claire Simpson
"Baby Driver"-Paul Machliss & Jonathan Amos
"Blade Runner 2049"-Joe Walker
"BPM (Beats Per Minute)"-Robin Campillo
"Call Me By Your Name"-Walter Fasano
"Coco"-Steve Bloom
"Cries from Syria"-Aaron I. Butler
"Darkest Hour"-Valerio Bonelli
"Dawson City: Frozen Time"-Bill Morrison
"Detroit"-William Goldenberg
"Dunkirk"-Lee Smith
"The Florida Project"-Sean Baker
"Get Out"-Gregory Plotkin"
"A Ghost Story"-David Lowery
"Good Time"-Ronny Bronstein and Benny Safdie
"The Greatest Showman"-Tom Cross, Robert Duffy, Joe Hutshing, Michael McCusker Jon Poll and Spencer Susser
"I, Tonya"-Tatiana S. Riegel
"Jane"-Joe Beshenkoysky, Will Znidaric, Brett Morgen
"Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold"-Ann Collins
"LA 92"-TJ Martin, Scott Stevenson and Dan Lindsay
"Lady Bird"-Nick Houy
"Logan"-Michael McCusker
"Long Strange Trip"-Keith Frasse
"Molly's Game"-Alam Baumgarten, Josh Schaeffer & Elliot Graham
"mother!"-Andrew Weisblum
"Murder on the Orient Express"-Mick Audsley
"Phantom Thread"-Dylan Tichenor
"The Post"-Michael Broshar
"The Shape of Water"-Sidney Wolinsky
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi"-Bob Ducsay
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"-Jon Gregory
"Victoria & Abdul"-Melanie Oliver
"War for the Planet of the Apes"-William Hoy
"Wonder Woman"-Martin Walsh
By far, the most consistent predictor of Best Picture is getting an Editing nomination. You don't have to win but you almost certainly need to get in. The last to film to win without one was "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" and that film didn't really have editing, and before that you go back to "Ordinary People" winning. So if you think, "Get Out" or "Three Billboards..." or "Lady Bird" is a Best Picture favorite, you better put them in here. It doesn't always match up though and there are exceptions. My rule is to look around for movies that involve a lot of chases. Every editor you ever know will tell you that the toughest thing to edit is a chase scene. So, action movies with a lot of chasing. The ACE Eddies are a big help here, they also separate into genres so, "Blade Runner 2049", "Dunkirk" and "The Shape of Water" got into Drama with "The Post", which, Michael Kahn, he could play spoiler, and "Molly's Game" was a surprise nominee there. Comedy though, "Baby Driver" got in with "Get Out", "I, Tonya", "Lady Bird" and "Three Billboards...". "I, Tonya"'s got some interesting editing too, I can definitely see that getting in here.
Predictions: BEST FILM EDITING Baby Driver-Jonathan Amos & Paul Machliss Dunkirk-Lee Smith Get Out-Gregory Plotkin The Shape of Water-Sidney Wolinsky Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri-Jon Gregory
I had "I, Tonya" in here for a bit, and I am fairly worried that I'm underestimating that film here, so I went back to double comparing the Best Director winners with the Editing, 'cause I how wondered how often a Best Director winner won without an Editing nomination; not counting the "Birdman..." year, the last time that happened was 2005 with "Brokeback Mountain", and before that, you gotta go back to "Ordinary People". It's not impossible, but I'm not certain it's likely enough for me to go against it. I'm a little concerned that I'm overestimating "Baby Driver", but it's shown up everywhere, I'm gonna put it in. Yeah, I'm sticking with these five; nervously sticking with them, but stickin' with them.
MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING (Shortlist)
Bright
Darkest Hour
Ghost in the Shell
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2
I, Tonya
Victoria & Abdul
Wonder
Usually, as may have noticed by now, the Guilds are typically the best place to look, at least they are and have been for me, in determining your predictions. If there's one big exception to this, it's probably Makeup & Hairstyling. In facts the MUAHS Awards, (Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Guild; get it, MUAH, like a kiss? It's actually a clever name.) are basically useless. Far and away I usually do better predicting this award by just going on Youtube and watching the trailers and just, determining whether or not the makeup seems impressive enough to me. And the Makeup Branch of the Academy, is still weird despite this. I have no idea why they only honor three nominees every year, it's a stupid rule, most of the Academy thinks it's a stupid rule, but that's the Branch's prerogative for some reason, so, it's three, after they shortlist it from seven. Other than that, I check to see if any of Rick Baker's work is potentially up, and it's not this year, make sure there's no ridiculous what-the-hell-is-that nominee, usually from some obscure foreign film nobody's heard about, and there's not this year. Time to check out the trailers for the makeup.
(20 minutes later)
Ironically, I think I am going a bit paint with the guild here, but-eh, the clear favorite are "Darkest Hour" and "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2", and after that, I'm not 100% sure. My gut instinct is "I, Tonya". It's the most likely Best Picture candidate in the group, and the makeup is critical (BTW, the only film here that didn't get a MUAH nomination was "Victoria & Abdul", which usually means I should probably vote for that, and it does look impressive, but it looks like there's more interesting nominees out there.) I'm worrying about "Wonder", 'cause usually a nominee I might eliminate since it's only one major makeup job, but eh, that's usually when this branch would screw me over. Remember this branch nominated "Bad Grandpa" a few years back. They do not care about quality of film. I guess it's a toss-up between "Ghost in the Shell" and "I, Tonya" for the last spot. (Grabs a coin, flips it.)
Predictions: MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING Darkest Hour Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 I, Tonya ORIGINAL SCORE (Possibles, Longlist)
"Beauty and the Beast"-Alan Menken
"Blade Runner 2049"-Benjamin Wallfisch
"Brimstone & Glory"-Dan Romer and Benh Zeriman
"Coco"-Michael Giacchino
"Darkest Hour"-Dario Marianelli
"Dunkirk"-Hans Zimmer
"Get Out"-Michael Abels
"Good Time"-Daniel Lopatin
"Goodbye Christopher Robin"-Carter Burwell
"Jane"-Philip Glass
"Lady Bird"-Jon Brion
"Logan"-Marco Beltrami
"Murder on the Orient Express"-Patrick Doyle
"Phantom Thread"-Jonny Greenwood
"The Post"-John Williams
"The Shape of Water"-Alexandre Desplat
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi"-John Williams
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"-Carter Burwell
"Victoria & Abdul"-Thomas Newman
"War for the Planet of the Apes"-Michael Giacchino
"Wind River"-Nick Cave and Warren Ellis
"Wonderstruck"-Carter Burwell
"Wonder Woman"-Rupert Gregson-Williams
The music categories are always difficult. There's not really an established Guild that gives out awards for them and especially when it comes to Original Song, the Academy doesn't have a good history behind it, especially recently. If you can listen to all these scores, you might want to do that, but that takes time. That said, there's a few scattered clues out there. "Dunkirk" seems like a particular lock, having shown up everywhere it needs to, and gotten into the Grammys comparable category which combines with television, so that's a good standard. "Phantom Thread" has also shown up everywhere and I can't imagine a scenario where that's not getting in.Carter Burwell's names has shown up a few times here, he seems like a lock for, at least one of his movies. I've also seen Michael Giacchino's name pop up a few time, for "...Planet of the Apes"; I'm a little skeptical of that one, but that's an interesting pick. John Williams is of course, almost perennially a nominee and he's got a real shot at being a double-nominee again.
Predictions PREDICTIONS: Dunkirk Phantom Thread The Post The Shape of Water Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri I had "War for the Planet of the Apes" in for awhile here, and then I just couldn't force myself to imagine the Academy not nominating John Williams when they have a couple shots at it. ORIGINAL SONG (Possible, longlist) "Love and Lies"-"Band Aid" "If I Dare"-"Battle of the Sexes"* "Evermore"-"Beauty and the Beast"* "How Does a Moment Last Forever"-"Beauty and the Beast" "She"-"Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story" "Your Hand I Will Never Let It Go"-"The Book of Henry" "Buddy's Business"-"Brawl in Cell Block 99"* "The Crown Sleeps"-"The Breadwinner" "World Gone Mad'-"Bright" "Mystery of Love"-"Call Me By Your Name"* "Visions of Gidion"-"Call Me By Your Name"* "Captain Underpants Theme Song"-"Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie"* "Ride"-"Cars 3"* "Run That Race"-"Cars 3"* "Tell Me How Long"-"Chasing Coral" "Remember Me"-"Coco"*
"Prayers for the World"-"Cries from Syria"* "There's Something Special"-"Despicable Me 3" "It Ain't Fair"-"Detroit"* "Can't Hold Out On Love"-"Father Figures" "Home"-"Ferdinand"* "I Don't Want to Live Forever"-"Fifty Shades Darker"* "You Shouldn't Look at Me That Way"-"Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool"* "I Get Overwhelmed"-"A Ghost Story"* "This is Us"-"The Greatest Showman"*
"This is How You Walk On"-"Gifted" "The Pure and the Damned"-"Good Time" "How Should a Sparrow Fly"-"Hostiles" "Truth to Power"-"An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power" "Next Stop, the Stars"-"Kepler's Dream" "We'll Party All Night"-"Lake of Fire" "Friends are Family"-"The LEGO Batman Movie" "Found My Place"-"The LEGO Ninjago Movie" "Stand Up for Something"-"Marshall"* "Longing for Summer"-"Moomins and the Winter Wonderland" "Rain"-"Mary and the Witch's Flower" "Mighty River"-"Mudbound"* "Never Forget"-"Murder on the Orient Express"* "Hold the Light"-"Only the Brave" "PBNJ"-"Patti Cake$" "Tuff Love (Finale)"-"Patti Cake$" "How a Heart Unbreaks"-"Pitch Perfect 3" "The Promise"-"The Promise"* "Stubborn Angels"-"Same Kind of Different As Me" "Dancing Through the Wreckage"-"Served Like a Girl" "Keep Your Eyes on Me"-"The Shack" "The Star"-"The Star"* "Jump"-"Step"
I also have the same approach to Original Song, only I actually do listen to every song if I can. So, I went streaming and if I can find somewhere than I listened to it. I also should mention that, this category in particular has a bad recent history of lazinesss and corruption within the voting. One song was even disqualified shortly after getting nominated in recent years after illegal campaign tactics involving of the members of the Board of Governors was discovered. That's not to mention that fact that there have been some seriously questionably nominations in recent years. Not last year, that year the category was so loaded that they would've really had to try to screw that up; this year, eh, I think it's a bit more slim pickens here. There's some decent songs here but great songs? Few and far between and if the branch made any logical sense, this would be easy to figure out."If", big word ,two letters," as my Uncle would say.
One troubling issue is that some of better songs are from film's with multiple nominations. You'd think that wouldn't be an issue, but normally that's a death-stroke for a possible nominee splitting the votes. It's either the death blow, or like "La La Land" last year, it's such a juggernaut that it'll sneak two songs in. (Current Academy rules state that only two songs per movie are allowed to be nominated, a dumb rule that was also the result of a history of lazy voting from the Academy) So, I've listed any song that has some hypothetical chance at getting nominated, like a name attached that's actually noteworthy, or just something that sorta decency sounds like a good song,- (Sigh) This category's impossible to predict. After "Alone but Not Alone" got nominated I lost all hope with this category. There's enough good here that there shouldn't be an excuse for anything utterly shitty getting in this year, but, hmm...., we'll see. Do your best.
Predictions: "Captain Underpants Theme Song"-"Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie" "Remember Me"-Coco "This is Me"-"The Greatest Showman" "Truth to Power"-"An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power" "Stand Up for Something"-Marshall
I'm fairly confident on the songs from "Coco", "The Greatest Showman" and "Marshall" getting in, personally I wouldn't mind seeing, maybe "Dancing Through the Wreckage" from "Served Like a Girl" or "Ride" from "Cars 3" or especially "You Shouldn't Look at Me That Way" from "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool", but I'm gonna say that some documentary gets in, and with an unusual lack of a J. Ralph connection among the shortlist this year, I'll take going back into the "An Inconvenient Truth" well again. And-eh, what the hell, I went with "Captain Underpants...", I really think the Academy is just twisted enough to do that. And-, c'mon, who wouldn't want to see the show interrupted by a Weird Al performance? He gets screwed over everywhere else, let's throw a nomination his way, why not?
PRODUCTION DESIGN (Possibles, longlist)
"Baby Driver"
"Beauty and the Beast"
"The Beguiled"
"Blade Runner 2049"
"Call Me By Your Name"
"Coco"
"Darkest Hour"
"The Disaster Artist"
"Downsizing"
"Dunkirk"
"Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool"
"The Florida Project"
"Get Out"
"Goodbye Christopher Robin"
"The Greatest Showman"
"I, Tonya"
"Lady Bird"
"Lady MacBeth"
"The LEGO Batman Movie"
"Logan"
"Loving Vincent"
"Mudbound"
"mother!"
"Murder on the Orient Express"
"Phantom Thread"
"The Post"
"The Shape of Water"
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi"
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
"Victoria & Abdul"
"War for the Planet of the Apes"
"Wonder Woman"
"Wonderstruck"
The ADG Awards (Art Directors' Guild) also goes by genre so we got a few choices here. "Beauty and the Beast" has been a small favorite, basically since day one in this category, it got into fantasy with "Blade Runner 2049", which is also a heavy favorite, "Star Wars..", "War for the Planet of the Apes" and "Wonder Woman". Interesting list, but the Period Film nominations, "Darkest Hour", "Dunkirk", "Murder on the Orient Express", "The Post" and "The Shape of Water". Those are ten interesting choices to select between. There's also a contemporary film genre, that has some of the presumed Best Picture nods, but it has, one intriguing nomination though with "Downsizing". The last movie that I remembered that did something similar with the Production Design was "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids"; I double-checked, it did win a BAFTA for Special Visual Effect, but it didn't get a nomination for it's Production Design, anywhere, including the Oscar, so I'm gonna presume that's out of the running, and there's else obvious in the Contemporary Film category, so we're picking from the Fantasy and Period Films here. Gold Derby's listing "Phantom Thread" and "The Greatest Showman" as possibles pretty high, but if they couldn't get into the Guild, I'm leaving them out just to be safe.
Predictions: Beauty and the Beast Blade Runner 2049 Dunkirk The Post The Shape of Water "The Post" might be a little surprising to some, but Spielberg films do well in this category, 'cause he's great at getting really specific details down. I'm still kicking myself for not predicting "Lincoln" in this category years ago, even though I knew they actually acquired a lot of Lincoln's real items for the film. Also, stylized journalism movies, actually have some success in this category, most notably, "All the President's Men", but "Good Night, and Good Luck." also got into this category, so there's a lot of precedent here. SOUND EDITING
"All the Money in the World"
"Baby Driver"
"Battle of the Sexes"
"Beauty and the Beast"
"Blade Runner 2049"
"Breathe"
"Cars 3"
"Coco"
"Darkest Hour"
"Despicable Me 3"
"Detroit"
"Dunkirk"
"Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars"
"Ferdinand"
"Gaga: Five Feet Two"
"Get Out"
"The Greatest Showman"
"Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2"
"I, Tonya"
"An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power"
"It"
"Jane"
"Justice League"
"Kong: Skull Island"
"Lady Bird"
"The LEGO Batman Movie"
"Logan"
"Long Strange Trip"
"Okja"
"Only the Brave"
"The Post"
"The Shape of Water"
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi"
"Thor: Ragnarok"
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
"Transformers: The Last Knight"
"War for the Planet of the Apes"
"Wonder Woman"
"Wonderstruck"
For reasons I have never fully understood, the MPSE Golden Reel Award Nominations, (Motion Picture Sound Editors Guild) traditionally never announce their Guild's nomination the day before the Oscars do, so I'm a bit of a disadvantage here. So fair warning, predictions subject to change on this category. Let's start with traditional thing to remind ourselves of the difference, Sound Editing is the recording and creation of the sounds, Sound Mixing is the people who take those sounds and place them in the movie and also adjusts which sounds and what levels and volumes they're present in the film, and that also includes the music and score, so Mixing is where Musicals tend to do better than Editing. For more detail check out this Variety article:
Alright, that said, these are two distinct skills that are so intricately linked that many people even in the industry struggle with the difference, so generally if you can figure out what gets nominated for one, they're probably likely choices to get nominated for the second category. This is also where, generally action and war movies do best, so "Dunkirk", "Star Wars...", "Blade Runner 2049", the BAFTAs included all three of them. (BAFTAs only give out one sound award) It's not the most assured precedent out there, but it's a good one. They also included "Baby Driver", and "The Shape of Water". "The Shape of Water" didn't make the Sound Mixers Guild oddly enough, the others did however. That sorta makes sense though, since "The Shape of Water" probably has more impressive Sound Editing instead of Sound Mixing. I think might be better for "Baby Driver", especially considering that film's use of music, so part of me's thinking that's the one that's off. If it is, I have some choices. "War of the Planet of the Apes" actually has more votes on Gold Derby than "The Shape of Water" right now, despite "The Shape of Water" having better odd. The big sleepers I'm wondering about are "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2" and also, "Coco". Sound, has a tendency to honor animation more than most other crafts, which makes sense since they often have a lot more work than for just a live-action film.
Predictions: BEST SOUND EDITING Blade Runner 2049 Dunkirk Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 The Shape of Water War of the Planet of the Apes I'm playing a hunch here and I think "Baby Driver" has a better shot at Mixing. I'm a little worried about "Wonder Woman" and "Star Wars..." but "Guardians..." did win the Hollywood Film Award for Sound, which, isn't much, in fact it's very little and I hate those awards, but without any other guidance I think we're underestimating them, and "War of the Planet of the Apes", might make sense to fill in that animated slot instead of "Coco'.
SOUND MIXING
"All the Money in the World"
"Baby Driver"
"Battle of the Sexes"
"Beauty and the Beast"
"Blade Runner 2049"
"Breathe"
"Cars 3"
"Coco"
"Darkest Hour"
"Despicable Me 3"
"Detroit"
"Dunkirk"
"Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars"
"Ferdinand"
"Gaga: Five Feet Two"
"Get Out"
"The Greatest Showman"
"Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2"
"I, Tonya"
"An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power"
"It"
"Jane"
"Justice League"
"Kong: Skull Island"
"Lady Bird"
"The LEGO Batman Movie"
"Logan"
"Long Strange Trip"
"Okja"
"Only the Brave"
"The Post"
"The Shape of Water"
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi"
"Thor: Ragnarok"
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
"Transformers: The Last Knight"
"War for the Planet of the Apes"
"Wonder Woman"
"Wonderstruck"
Okay, so the CAS Awards did come out on time, (Cinema Audio Society, the Sound Mixers Guild) so I have a little help here. Now interesting, they didn't go for one of the presume favorites in the category, "Blade Runner 2049". Could be something, could be nothing, but I suspect it's out for Mixing. This would fill up the "Baby Driver", is there anything else I need to reconsider? Hmm...
Predictions:
BEST SOUND MIXING
Baby Driver
Dunkirk
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 2
The Shape of Water
War of the Planet of the Apes
I debated over whether to throw "The Greatest Showman" in here, eh, it might show up, but I don't really suspect it's a musical big enough to breakthrough even to sound, and frankly, music's so important to "Baby Driver" and "Guardians..." that I don't think they're gonna need a musical in here.
VISUAL EFFECTS (Shortlist)
Alien: Covenant
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Kong: Skull Island
Okja
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
War for the Planet of the Apes
You'll have to bare with a bit, I'm only now getting around to the VES Awards (Visual Effects Society, not technically a Guild, but close enough the Visual Effects people get.) "Blade Runner 2049" was big there, so was "War of the Planet of the Apes" so was "Star Wars", uh, after that, eh, "Kong: Skull Island" got some stuff. Curiously, "The Shape of Water" was shutout here. That's a bit of a shocker. "Alien..." people will mention that that franchise usually if they make it this far in the voting they ultimately get in; I'm not as sold on that. I think "Valerian..." got a rouge Annie Award nomination, that about the only thing I've heard from them, but that looks hard to ignore craft-wise. There also some votes out there for "Okja", Bong Joon-ho's latest WTF film, um, eh, they might be impressed, but I'm thinking there's other things that might impress them more.
Predictions:
Blade Runner 2049
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
War for the Planet of the Apes
I was gonna leave out "The Shape of Water" and put "Dunkirk" in there, but I did some research; the last time a straight period war picture even got into Special Effects, was "Pearl Harbor," and that lost to "Lord of the Rings..." which is legitimately one of the few times I thought "Lord of the Rings" was the better choice. (Not that much better though, "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" was up that year too, that should've won.) Going further back, this category doesn't like that genre. I assumed "Saving Private Ryan" at least was nominated; it wasn't, You have to go back to 1970, when "Tora! Tora! Tora!" beat "Patton" in the category, to find a war movie that won, and against the only other period war film I can find that's ever gotten nominated. So, I don't like "Dunkirk"'s chances. In fact, the big one I'm worried about is "Valerian...". That feels like I should be considering and paying more attention to, but I think I'd have to throw out "The Shape of Water" for that. Eh, maybe, but I better play it safe.
ANIMATED SHORT FILM (Shortlist)
"Cradle"
"Dear Basketball"
"Fox and the Whale"
"Garden Party"
"In a Heartbeat"
"Life Smartphone"
"Lost Property Office"
"Lou"
"Negative Space"
"Revolting Rhymes"
I actually managed to watch, most of these, I couldn't get "Lost Propert Office" of "Life Smartphone" and I couldn't get to "Negative Space", the rest I got around to. "Lou" is the Pixar one that might be familiar to most of you, and it's suspect it will get in. "Dear Basketball" was written and narrated by Kobe Bryant and is about his life-long love with basketball and how he grew up to live of boyhood dream of being a Los Angeles Laker and lead the team to several championship and accolades. Good for him, I say. Good for him, I say, glad you always dreamed and imagined yourself as a Laker, you Philly-born-and-raised athlete. (Annoyed sigh, biting lip in anger) Yeah, I didn't care much for that one, either as a short and especially as a Sixers fan. (Deep seething breath) Anyway....
Predictions;
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Cradle
Garden Party
In a Heartbeat
Lou
Revolting Rhymes
I just went with the ones that impressed or touched me the most. "Revolving Rhymes" is interesting as it's actually one of two shorts that adapt some Roald Dahl stories quite well. Really loved "Garden Party" that's my favorite, the animation and storytelling was wonderful. "Cradle" and "In a Heartbreak" are also great. I'm a little worried about "Life Smartphone" a Chinese short that looks funny, although a bit smug, but funny. That said, I'll stick with these. My rule is, if I don't see the whole thing, the animation in the trailer has to be stellar to predict is; I saw nice animation; I didn't see stellar unfortunately.
DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM (Shortlist)
"116 Cameras"
"Alone"
"Edith+Eddie"
"Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405"
"Heroin(e)"
"Kayayo"
"Knife Skills"
"Ram Dass, Going Hom"
"Ten Meter Tower"
"Traffic Stop"
The documentary short category has been competitive lately, and I'm trying to get through all of them, but I'm already passed deadline and I still got a category to go. Anyway, the big new winner in this category is the New York Times, who have in recent years started to dominate this category. Netflix and HBO of course also have some say in the category, but as well as others but pay attention to the New York Times Op-Docs, they're showing up a lot here. "Alone", "116 Cameras" "Ten Meter Tower" are NYT films.
Predictions
DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
Edith+Eddie
Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405
Heroin(e)
Knife Skills
Ten Meter Tower
I'm just going here by reputation mostly. Actually, I've a lot more of these selections show up elsewhere than I usually see, there's some consistency with the category, and as a prognosticator I like that. Subject matter, matters a bit, entertainment values helps though; that's usually how and when the upsets come in, so the other four have picked up some things, and I decided to throw "Knife Skills" in there because it looked like the most fun. I liked "Alone" quite a bit, and "Traffic Stop" and "Kayayo" worry me a bit. We'll see
LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM (Shortlist)
"DeKalb Elementary"
"The Eleven O'Clock"
"Facing Mecca"
"Icebox"
"Lost Face"
"My Nephew Emmett"
"Rise of a Star"
"The Silent Child"
"Watu Wote/All of Us"
"Witnesses"
Alright, final category. Live-Action short. Alright, good rules of thumb, if there's anybody remotely famous in these, just put it in whether it's good or not. Same goes for anybody behind the camera. Look up a director's name or two and see if it sound's familiar; it easily could be somebody who's struggle to get an Award elsewise and decided to try the short film route as an easy option. (Don't laugh, it's happened before). After that, look at subject matter, but look at the trailers if a film has one and just judge the quality of the filmmaking, just an easy test. If it really looks like impressive filmmaking, like a lot of filmmaking craft is involved, that's usually a big hint.
Predictions:
LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
DeKalb Elementary
Lost Face
Rise of a Star
The Silent Child
Watu Wote/All of Us
I'm taking a bit of a shot here by not putting in "My Nephew Emmett", um, I won't go into too much detail with that one, but Emmett's last name is Till....- lost yeah, I'm taking a chance here, but I think "Lost Face" could be a spoiler. It's based on a Jack London short and has a lot Native American actors in it; I'd like to see that get in. "Rise of a Star" has Catherine Deneuve in it, "Watu Wote..." is a Kenyan film that actually won the Student Academy Award this year, and "The Silent Child" is basically a new version of the Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan, and it looks like a good one. "DeKalb Elementary" is probably the favorite though.
