Wednesday, February 9, 2022

MY ANNUAL OSCAR NOMINATIONS ANALYSES! Can we please just go back to normal announcements in front of a TV screen next year?! Please!?!?!?!?!?

(Long sighing yawn, deep breath)

Alright. I set my alarm for five, and right on schedule, I'm awake and ten a.m. Time to hear the Oscar nominations announcement. I hope they don't do something too ridiculous for the announcement ceremony this time; I'm really not a big fan of how they've done these lately. Call me a traditionalist or whatever, I like a couple on stage reading the name with accompanying televisions behind them. It looks clean, it feels official, every time they try to be more creative then that, I just feel annoyed. Like, give us a second to breathe when you announce a surprise LaKeith Stanfield nomination in a wrong category and then move on, don't give us dumb small talk.

Alright, let's push play....

(Sigh)

Isn't "Movie Lovers Unite" the theme to every Oscars? Next year Oscars' theme should be, "Movies Under the Sea: In Space!", try something that's actually different, y'know? 


(One excruciating hour later)

Oh Jesus Christ, that was the worst one yet!!! God, why do they keep overthinking this shit. I like Tracee Ellis Ross, but Jesus, she is just so ear-gratingly cheerful this early in the morning, and now you're pairing her WITH Leslie Jordan?! Like-, you couldn't wake up any former nominees or somebody I think of and think movies?! I like these two, I don't want to wake up to them doing their daytime news show schtick at five a.m., or whatever time I actually woke up at, but like, they're television people in my mind, and they're not exactly the easiest to listen to naturally.

But a million times worst then that, why are you interviewing a "Movie fan"-! WHO IS NOT A MOVIE FAN!? Where are these people who are like, "No, we prefer only paintings!" or whatever, everyone's a movie fan! It's announcements, please just, show the announcement and stop trying to win a Short-Form Emmy. you're very bad at it Oscars! 

Why are we checking back in on this guy later?! Good lord, just announce the nominees.  

(Frustration Sigh) 

Academy, it's a fucking press statement. I know, it's filmed and it's aired, but it's a press statement. The most important thing, is getting the info to the people who need it. Not just me, the press who have actual deadlines and don't give a shit about some nerdy movie fan, and to everybody else who's waiting for the announcements to be announced. Just, announce the damn nominees! I don't want to hear from an Oscar/movie fan, no matter how good or bad their observations are, (And I actually think they weren't terrible, but still, I don't need to hear from them.) I don't need to hear from WWE wrestlers, or firemen, or students, or nurses-, or-, okay, actually I do need to hear from Phylicia Rashad, I'll give you that one,- (Actually, can we just have Phylicia Rashad all the time, announcing this, I would be in favor of that!) but Jesus Christ, this got worst and worst as it went on. 

(Sigh)

Alright, bad mood aside 'cause of how badly they keep botching the simplest damn thing, let's see who got in and who didn't, and see how I did in my predictions. 

BEST PICTURE 
*Belfast
    Producers:Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas
*CODA
    Producers: Philippe Rousselet Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger
*Don't Look Up
    Producers: Adam McKay and Kevin Messic
*Drive My Car
    Producer: Teruhisa YAMAMOTO
*Dune
    Producers: Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter
*King Richard
    Producers: Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith
*Licorice Pizza
    Producers: Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson
Nightmare Alley
    Producers: Guillermo Del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper
*The Power of the Dog
    Producers: Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier
*West Side Story
    Producers: Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger

Goddamn! I was so close to getting all ten. "Nightmare Alley" sneaking in really surprised me; that film overperformed in general. I had disregarded that one, did not hear much buzz about it at all, and mostly thought it was at best, a crafts movie, and it was but-eh, well, I guess I gotta recalculate that one. Other then that, about what I expected, nothing from DGA got snubbed, only "tick, tick...BOOM!" and "Being the Ricardos" got snubbed from PGA. "The Power of the Dog" looks like the heavy favorite right now, with "Belfast" a close second. Glad to see "Drive My Car" and "Don't Look Up" getting in.


BEST DIRECTOR
*Paul Thomas Anderson-"Licorice Pizza"
*Kenneth Branagh-"Belfast"
*Jane Campion-"The Power of the Dog"
*Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI-"Drive My Car"
*Steven Spielberg-"West Side Story"

NAILED IT! 5 for 5! 

Alexa play my happy music

I called Denis Villeneuve getting snubbed in favor of Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI. I think they had him in, but people were trying to knock out Branagh or Spielberg, but technical achievement for a big budget sci-fi blockbuster doesn't always equal a directing nod; I learned that lesson well. It they piss off Nolan fans, they'll piss off Villeneuve fans. Oh, and Spielberg's now been nominated for Best Director, in OMG, six different decades! F**k!


ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Javier Bardem-"Being the Ricardos"
*Benedict Cumberbatch-"The Power of the Dog"
*Andrew Garfield-"tick, tick...BOOM!"
*Will Smith-"King Richard"
*Denzel Washington-"The Tragedy of Macbeth"

I'm always underestimating Javier Bardem in this category; I really gotta stop doing that. "Being the Ricardos" I knew would get snubbed for Best Picture, but the movie still got three acting nominations. That's pretty rare to see three acting nods without a Best Picture and got nothing else; you gotta go back to "The Master" to see that. The entire acting group of nominees are just odd. I'd have to do more research to see how odd for some of them. Like, in a field of ten Best Picture nominees, the Lead Actors only show up in two of them. That's really low, it hasn't been that low since 2015 when only DiCaprio for "The Revenant" and Matt Damon for "The Martian" were up. 


ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Jessica Chastain-"The Eyes of Tammy Faye"
*Olivia Colman-"The Lost Daughter"
Penelope Cruz-"Parallel Mothers"
*Nicole Kidman-"Being the Ricardos"
*Kristen Stewart-"Spencer"

I'm glad I stuck by Kristen Stewart, but the big shocker here is Lady Gaga's omission. She literally was the only actress who showed up at the SAG, Globes, Critics and BAFTA; getting all those four and not getting into an acting category is not unprecedented; there's usually at least one a year, but not when you're the only one to have done it at all this year! Jesus. Also, no Best Picture nominees here. That's unfortunately a little less unusual in Lead Actress then it is in Lead Actor, but it hasn't happened in a while either. (Typically, the academy and Hollywood in general are more masculine in their approaches to filmmaking and voting, so less leading roles, and more male voting blocks, lead to more male-centered movies in Best Picture, and female-centered movies, ending up more in Actress only) Last time this category had zero Best Picture nominees was 2005 when Reese Witherspoon won for "Walk the Line" against Judi Dench for "Mrs. Henderson Presents", Felicity Huffman for "Transamerica", Keira Knightley for "Pride & Prejudice" and Charlize Theron for "North Country". As to this bunch of nominees, I had Gaga, and I also had Jennifer Hudson in for "Respect," I think I somewhat knew wasn't gonna happen, but I've been burned leaving her off before..., and I figured SAG would be more accurate then it was. Instead Jessica Chastain comes back in, she was my last cut, and Penelope Cruz does it again. This makes her one of the five actresses to be nominated twice for a foreign language role, between this and her nomination in "Volver", and I think the only one who's done if for two Spanish movie roles. Yeah, Liv Ullmann, was nominated twice for Swedish roles, Sophia Loren, twice for Italian roles, and Marion Cotillard and Isabelle Adjani were for French films, so she's the most successful Spanish-born and Spanish-language actor... I think, yeah, 'cause Javier Bardem, only been nominated for Spanish once, for Biutiful. Unless, we count "Before Night Falls" as Spanish? Thats's- that's about 50/50 English-Spanish. I don't think it counts.... Eh, tricky. Anyway, they're the Spanish power couple of our day, and I should clearly have known that they were too powerful not to be nominated together. 


ACTOR IN  A SUPPORTING ROLE
*Ciaran Hinds-"Belfast"
*Troy Kotsur-"CODA"
*Jesse Plemons-"The Power of the Dog"
J.K. Simmons-"Being the Ricardos"
*Kodi Smit-McPhee-"The Power of the Dog"

This one pisses me off, 'cause I knew there was buzz for J.K. Simmons and I know I should've predicted him and I backed out. I put in Jesse Plemons, 'cause I had Bradley Cooper in for "Licorice Pizza", which, stunningly got nothing in acting. Alana Haim missed out for Actress as well. I guess it's not unprecedented but yikes, a BP-nominated P.T. Anderson film not getting into any acting at all! WOW! Congratulations to Troy Kotsur, he's become the second deaf performer to be nominated for an Oscar, after of course, his "CODA" co-star Marlee Matlin, who won lead actress for "Children of a Lesser God" back in '86 for "Children of a Lesser God". Kodi-Smit McPhee btw, who I consider the favorite right now, is 25, and this stat shocked the hell out of me when I heard this, but apparently he would be, the second-youngest winner in the Best Supporting Actor category ever. The only one younger was Timothy Hutton for "Ordinary People" back in 1980, which- yeah, I guess that's right. All the winners that have been younger, were little girls in the category. No little boys; that surprises me. Didn't the kid from "The Yearling" win at least? I could've sworn... (Google search) Oh, it was an Juvenile Oscar; I always forget that those existed. 


ACTRESS IN  A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jessie Buckley-"The Lost Daughter"
*Ariana DeBose-"West Side Story"
Judi Dench-"Belfast"
*Kirsten Dunst-"The Power of the Dog"
*Aunjanue Ellis-"King Richard"

(Sigh) Every time I think Judi Dench,- as much as I truly do love her, every time I think it's okay to forget she's in anything and it's okay to ignore her, presume that's she getting in again, look who sneaks in again, the grand ole dame herself. The damnedest thing is in this case, she took a nomination from her castmate as most projected Caitriona Balfe getting in from "Belfast" instead. Jessie Buckley, who I'm happy to see get in, took the slot Ruth Negga was favorite to get, which I'm sad to see. "Passing" missed everything unfortunately. That's sad; it was a big player early on it seemed. Nice to see "The Lost Daughter" though. Those were the two big indy, female-directed indy feature, and directed by great female actors as well. It's actually kinda funny for me, 'cause Maggie Gyllenhaal got nominated years ago for "Crazy Heart", which is one of my all-time favorite correct predictions I ever made, 'cause she got literally nothing before that Oscar nomination, and I called her getting in for that, and now she directed and wrote "The Lost Daughter" and now Jessie Buckley, sneaks in, with a similar nomination. A film that got only 2 acting nomination and something else, low-budget, indy and mainly it's the lead that's being pushed, and the supporting female, who only barely showed up occasionally on the awards circuit, gets in as well. That's some good symmetry there. 


ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
CODA-Sian Heder
*Drive My Car-Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI, Takamasa OE
*Dune-Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth
*The Lost Daughter-Maggie Gyllenhaal
*The Power of the Dog-Jane Campion

You know, this is another one I just- grrmmm I looked into Tony Kushner's Oscar history, and I thought,- I know it seems like he's always in, but that's not really entirely true; I knew he could easily get snubbed, but I just didn't see it.... I totally forgot though, that there's a long history of the Writing branch, just, not liking musicals. None of the musicals from this year got nominated. Not counting "A Star is Born" a few years ago, and even then, that film's only debatably a musical, you gotta go back to "Chicago" to see a musical in the category at all and you gotta go back to "Gigi" to see the last one that won. I also underestimated "CODA" pretty badly; I guess it always showed up at precursors, but never showed up a lot; I'm happy I at least called it for Picture at least. Nothing else shocking here for me; I guess no "The Tragedy of Macbeth" although Shakespeare hadn't been nominated since Branagh's five hour "Hamlet" film, so I didn't throw that in. No "Passing", no "House of Gucci", no "Nightmare Alley" which only got Picture outside of crafts. Mostly an as-expected, even "Drive My Car" getting in was a pretty easy call if you were paying attention.


ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
*Belfast-Kenneth Branagh
*Don't Look Up-Adam McKay, Story by Adam McKay and David Sirota
*King Richard-Zach Baylin
*Licorice Pizza-Paul Thomas Anderson
The Worst Person in the World-Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier

Ooh, a shocking late inclusion for a second foreign language film to get a Writing nomination, and it wasn't for "Parallel Mothers"...- That's surprising. "The Worst Person in the World" has been building up steam; it was an easy call for International feature, and it's filmmakers, especially Joachim Trier, have been making some really good films for the last decade and a half since "Reprise". I still haven't gotten to his last two films, "Louder than Bombs" and "Thelma', so this makes sense and it's nice to see them get in here. I would've thought "Parallel Mothers" would've gotten in instead here, especially since that wasn't Spain's submission to the International Feature Oscar, and that's Almodovar, I would've thought that would've gotten in if anything. I didn't predict that either, I had "Being the Ricardos", 'cause I kept seeing it enough that I thought, maybe the backlash against Sorkin had to have another backlash the other way, but I guess not. Only acting for the film. Weird. I'm still looking up how unusual it is for a film to get three nominations, all in acting and nothing else, but it's gotta be a low number. 


ANIMATED FEATURE FILM 
*Encanto
    Directors: Jared Bush, Byron Howard
    Producers: Yvett Merino, Clark Spencer
*Flee
    Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
    Producers: Monica Hellstrom, Signe Byrge Sorensen, Charlotte Le Gournerie
*Luca
    Director: Enrico Casarosa
    Producer: Andrea Warren
*The Mitchells vs. the Machines
    Director: Michael Rianda
    Producers: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, Kurt Albrecht
*Raya and the Last Dragon
    Directors: Don Hall, Carlos Lopez Estrada
    Producers: Peter Del Vecho, Osnat Shurer

Alright, got all five here. The only one I was somewhat concerned about was "Flee", in the past movies usually only got Animated or Documentary, rarely, if ever, both, "Waltz with Bashir" being the big one that got snubbed in animation years ago. However, similar trends with docs had been changing, especially foreign docs, and "Flee", and this led to "Flee" making history. The first film to get nominated for Animated Feature, Documentary Feature and International Feature. And it's a well-earned honor, a good movie that deserves that kind of honor. Don't know if it'll win any of them, but the nominations are it's prize. As for this category, I have "Encanto" right now leading, with "The Mitchells vs. the Machines" as the possible spoiler.


DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Ascension
    Director/Producer: Jessica Kingdon
    Producers: Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell
Attica
    Director/Producers: Traci Curry, Stanley Nelson
*Flee
    Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
    Producers: Monica Hellstrom, Signe Byrge Sorensen, Charlotte Le Gournerie
*Summer of Soul (...Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
    Director: Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson
    Producers: Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent, David Dinerstein
Writing with Fire
    Director/Producers: Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh

I said the documentary category was notoriously unpredictable, and I meant it. The big one that I think everybody missed was "The Rescue", especially the way they'd been loving the more elaborate filmmaking in recent years, that seemed like the easy pick, but it's out. "Ascension" was probably in my sixth slot, but the other I had as longshots to get in, but this is what you get with a juried category, especially when it's within a branch, less predictability, more unusual nominees and winners that don't correlate with the common zeitgeist; isn't that right, BAFTA!!!!! GRRRR. Anyway, I have "Summer of Soul..." in the lead at the moment, seems like the most fun one, and mostly it's been "Summer of Soul..." vs. "Flee" in most other critics awards, so, seems likely at the moment.


INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
*Drive My Car (Japan)
*Flee (Denmark)
*The Hand of God (Italy)
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan)
*The Worst Person in the World (Norway)

Well, that's a shocker. Congratulations, Bhutan, on that country's first ever nomination in this category. And you likely knocked out Asghar Farhadi's "A Hero" to get in; he's a beloved Academy favorite who's films have won this award twice. Not bad. Especially considering that you've submitted this film before.... Yeah, this is unusual, Bhutan actually submitted "Lunana..." for last year's Oscars, but it was disqualified for consideration on a technicality that there wasn't an established Academy-recognized selection committee for the nation. This is one of those weird technicalities that people don't realize, this award doesn't go to the filmmakers; it actually goes to the country that submitted it, and more specifically to that nation committee that's recognized by the Academy, and Bhutan hadn't submitted a film in over 20 years and the committee wasn't organized and/or recognized by the Academy at the time. Now it is. so they resubmitted, got eligible, made the shortlist and now we can add the tiny Himalayan country to the list of nations that have received a nomination. Are they gonna play spoiler to three films that got nominated in other categories? Eh, probably not, but I've seen it before, let's not immediately overlook it. Nice story though.


CINEMATOGRAPHY
*Dune-Greig Fraser
Nightmare Alley-Dan Laustsen
*The Power of the Dog-Ari Wegner
*The Tragedy of Macbeth-Bruno Delbonnel
*West Side Story-Janusz Kaminski

Well, I got Kaminski getting in despite missing the ASC nomination, but I had "Belfast" in and took out "Nightmare Alley". Nothing surprising here, although congrats to Ari Wegner; she's only the second woman to ever be nominated in this category. Yeah, I know, cinematography is worst then Director; I'm not sure why, but she could be the first to win. That'd be exciting. 


COSTUME DESIGN
*Cruella-Jenny Beavan
Cyrano-Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran
*Dune-Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan
*Nightmare Alley-Luis Sequeira
*West Side Story-Paul Tazewell

This was the one category that I did predict "Nightmare Alley" is, so I'm glad I got that right at least. (Oh, wait, I got it right in Production Design too. Okay, so I went 2 for 2 of the ones I picked with them anyway) I had "House of Gucci" getting in, instead of "Cyrano", which, really how the hell did this sneak in here? I mean, I know how, Jacqueline Durran's an automatic in no matter what, and it did get into CDG so it's not a completely out-of-nowhere getting nothing in the Guilds nod like "Little Women" was, but "Cyrano" getting into Costumes and nothing else is just odd. That movie should've been more of a player; I had Peter Dinklage as a possible Best Actor nominee not too long ago before it was clear he wasn't getting in, but they apparently had a really bad and late rollout for that film; I'm impressed and somewhat baffled that it got in here. Not that costumes have always cared that much; they've got their own bit of Makeup & Hairstyling don't-give-a-fuck-ness to them, but this was still odd.


FILM EDITING
Don't Look Up-Hank Corwin
*Dune-Joe Walker
King Richard-Pamela Martin
*The Power of the Dog-Peter Sciberras
tick, tick...BOOM!-Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum

OUCH! I did terrible in this category. Well, "Belfast" not getting in, is a very bad sign for Best Picture. I still have it number two, but this is a bad very bad sign; only "Birdman..." in recent years has won Best Picture without an Editing nomination, and that movie didn't have much editing. I guess "King Richard' makes sense; I took a shot on "Licorice Pizza" instead, but I did note that I had "King Richard" sixth, and I mentioned "Don't Look Up" as having a good shot being a comedy. However, apparently the editors just did not like "West Side Story". They nominated "tick, tick...BOOM!" at the Eddie, instead of "West Side Story" and they nominated it here. It's the film's only other nomination after Andrew Garfield. It's not unprecedented for something that's not in Best Picture to win, but a musical, without a Best Picture nomination.... good lord, eh... I mean, "Chicago" was the last musical to win the category, but that won Best Picture, but last time one even got in with a Best Picture nominations was-eh...- (Google search) I guess "The Commitments" in '91! Man, that's thirty. And winning the Editing Oscar without a BP nomination, for a musical, ummm, yeah,  that's never happened. 


MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING 
*Coming 2 America-Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer
Cruella-Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon
*Dune-Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
*The Eyes of Tammy Faye-Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh
*House of Gucci-Goran Lundstron, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras

So, this is where "House of Gucci" got in, makeup? (Shrugs) Whatever, this Oscar season has just been strange all around. Sorry Gaga. At least your hairstylist got nominated; she's only the second Asian to be nominated in the category, really?! Wow! Just Frederic Aspiras and Kazuhiro!? Wow. Anyway, I did predict it, and I had "Coming 2 America", 'cause Eddie Murphy movies get in here,- I thought "Cruella" might've been stronger in Costumes then Makeup, so I went with "The Suicide Squad" instead, which, eh, that was hubris on my part. I've just been angry that I got talked out of nominated it back when it won. Like, seriously people, if it's a worthy craft nomination, don't act like it's an embarrassment, even if the movie is that frickin' terrible, for getting nominated. Save that anger for undeserved nominations. As far as I can tell, this all seems pretty solid. I don't know who the favorite is right now; I imagine "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" seem like the obvious pick, but we'll see. The Makeup and Hair people, don't give a fuck and we love them for it. 


ORIGINAL SCORE
*Don't Look Up-Nicholas Britell
*Dune-Hans Zimmer
*Encanto-Germaine Franco
Parallel Mothers-Alberto Iglesias
*The Power of the Dog-Jonny Greenwood

Another one I'm kinda kicking myself on, 'cause I thought about "Parallel Mothers" for a minute, but I couldn't see it getting in, without seeing it get into other categories, and once I decided to leave Penelope Cruz and more importantly, Almodovar out for any of his categories, I just decided to go with "The French Dispatch..." instead. I guess, not the biggest surprise here, but eh, I had given it a little more thought.... I don't know who the favorite is here, it's basically been Hans Zimmer and Jonny Greenwood alternating wins for most of award season. I have Zimmer right now, but I could see it going either way, with Nicholas Britell as a possible spoiler. Did you know Zimmer hasn't won since "The Lion King"? I don't know why that stuns me, but it does.


ORIGINAL SONG 
"Down to Joy"-Belfast
    Music/Lyrics: Van Morrison
*"Dos Oruguitas"-Encanto
    Music/Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda
"Somehow You Do"-Four Good Days
    
*"Be Alive"-King Richard
    Music/Lyrics: DIXSON and Beyonce Knowles-Carter
*"No Time to Die"-No Time to Die
    Music/Lyrics: Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell

Oh boy, a lot to unpack here. Let's start with Beyonce getting in, but not Jay-Z or Kid Cudi. Cudi had a couple chances, and personally Jay-Z's song "Guns Go Bang" from "The Harder They Fall" was my favorite of the shortlist and I thought would get in. Beyonce does get her first nomination and to be fair, it's one of her better songs. She's not the favorite necessarily though, we got some tough competition. The James Bond them "No Time to Die" from Billie Eilish is up and that nomination was expected, and I would say she's the current favorite, especially since the song from "Encanto" isn't that "We Don't Talk About Bruno" one that apparently is like a huge hit. I do like the song that did get nominated, it's entirely in Spanish, which isn't unprecedented by the way, the title track to "Never on Sunday" won and that song was in Greek, and as for Spanish, the song "Al Otro Lado Del Rio" won for "The Motorcycle Diaries", so Lin-Manuel could win, and if he does, that would give him the EGOT. He's only the Oscar short; he didn't win for the song from "Moana" a few years ago. I doubt this'll be his only opportunity, and hell, he directed "tick...tick...BOOM!" which is up for a couple award. Man, the guy's like, responsible for basically bringing back the musical, isn't he?! So, I had those three, I missed the Jay-Z song, and I also had the song from "Don't Look Up" getting in, which, would've given Ariana Grande a nomination, but instead, eh, well, they went a different direction, and we gotta talk about both of these. 
(Deep breath)
Okay, so "Down to Joy" from "Belfast" got in, and earned the legendary, great Northern Irish soul singer Van Morrison his first ever Oscar nominations. Now normally, I would be happy. It's a really good song that I would've had as the sixth choice, he's a rock and roll Hall of Famer responsible for some of the best music of the twentieth century. (And "Astral Weeks" is one of the greatest albums ever made) However, in the last couple years, he's become an anti-vax Covid conspiracist who's been recording right-wing conspiracy songs with Eric Clapton, and seems to have just gone completely off-the-rocker in his old age. So, this is gonna be very interesting in whatever they decide to do with the performances. It's also quite depressing; you hear this about the guy and suddenly, you don't want to dance to "Crazy Love" at weddings anymore. 

The thing is though, this is a good song, and technically, on the basis of merits, a very good nomination. The other nominee though...- "Somehow You Do", from "Four Good Days"? I heard this song, and despite the fact that it did pop in a few important pre-cursors, I immediately put it at the bottom of the shortlist. The version I heard was by Reba McEntire, and she's a good singer, but this was a very boring and forgettable performance from a movie that-, what movie even is this? Is this another one of those religious movies I have to watch now? (IMDB search) Oh, Rodrigo Garcia directed this? I like him. Mila Kunis, Glenn Close,- this actually looks pretty good,- well, now I'm wondering what I haven't heard of this movie, but nonetheless, a movie no one's heard of. How did this piece get nominated!? Who wrote this slow, slithering, droll of a pseudo-inspirational ballad anyway?! I forgot to list it earlier.... (Oscar search)

Music/Lyrics: Diane Warren

(Sigh)

Of course it was hers. Congratulation Ms. Warren, you will lose for a 13th time at these Oscars. God, you are the most aggravating songwriter of all-time! If you don't know her work, well you do, but you just don't know it's her; she's been writing hit songs for, literally everybody, for like, the last 40 years, and she is either the most amazing pop song writer of all-time, or the most bland, generic and annoying songwriter of all-time, depending on what song of hers you're listening to. (And sometimes and often, it can be the same exact song that's both of these things) I think this is among her worst. I'm still cheering for her, but I don't agree with this one. It's probably the worst song she's been nominated for honestly. It's still not awful, but...- I don't know, maybe I just don't like Reba singing it. Maybe somebody else. Anybody else take a crack at this song?

  

Oh, dear Christ!!!!! 

Nevermind, let's move on.


PRODUCTION DESIGN
*Dune
    Production Design: Patrice Vermette
    Set Decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos
*Nightmare Alley
    Production Design: Tamara Deverell
    Set Decoration: Shane Vieau
The Power of the Dog
    Production Design: Grant Major
    Set Decoration: Amber Richards
*The Tragedy of Macbeth
    Production Design: Stefan Dechant
    Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
*West Side Story
    Production Design: Adam Stockhausen
    Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo

Boy they did not like "The French Dispatch..."; I thought it was the favorite to win this category. That, and they really must like "The Power of the Dog"; that didn't even get in at ADG. The Set Decorators nominated it, but yeah, if that could get in here, then they just like the movie, and it's more evidence that this is the Best Picture favorite.


SOUND
Belfast-Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri
*Dune-Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett
*No Time to Die-Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor
The Power of the Dog-Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie, Tara Webb
*West Side Story-Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy

Well, I had "Belfast" out because that missed the CAS, the Sound Editors, but it got in at the Sound Mixers. BTW, I'm still not loving how we've shoved Sound Editing and Sound Mixing back together; I mean, I get it, but I don't really get it. I guess that's pretty beloved, and so is "The Power of the Dog". The other one I missed on was "A Quiet Place Part II", which eh,- well that got three noms at the Golden Reels, but it did miss the CASs, which, kinda makes sense now that I think about it. Of course, the mixers would hate it, it's mostly ambience. Eh, I should've thought that one through. 


VISUAL EFFECTS 
*Dune-Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer
Free Guy-Swen Gillberg, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick
No Time to Die-Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould
*Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings-Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver
*Spider-Man: No Way Home-Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick

I don't have much to say on this one. Dan Sudick's got two nominations, which give him 12 overall, but he's yet to win, so that's something. He's nominated for "Free Guy" and "Spider-Man...". Some people are apparently upset that "Spider-Man..." didn't get into Best Picture, because of how popular it was and how much money it made, and apparently the word is that it's a good movie. I haven't seen it yet, but-eh, well, maybe it is. Based on my experiences with the previous Spider-Man films, all, 47 of them I think they've made, I seriously doubt it, but who knows. Maybe they did something different for this one. I hope they didn't try to regurgitate elements from the previous ones though; that would really suck. Um, anyway, eh, James Bond, two Marvel films, um, what sounds like they accidentally nominated a video game, and a Best Picture nominee. Yeah, "Dune" is probably winning this. Except for that weird "Ex Machina" year, the BP, or the film most likely to have been a BP nominated-feature in the category is usually the winner. 


ANIMATED SHORT FILM
*Affairs of the Art-Joanna Quinn and Les Mills
Bestia-Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Diaz
Boxballet-Anton Dyakov
*Robin Robin-Dan Ojari and Mikey Please
The Windshield Wiper-Albert Mielgo and Leo Sanchez

(Sigh) I hate when I screw up the shorts. It's not entirely my fault, I didn't see three of these nominees, "Affairs of the Art", although I did predict that one, "Bestia" and "Boxballet", which I had in originally, and took it out later; dammit. Also, I'm annoyed that I didn't trust my instinct on "The Windshield Wiper" which was my favorite of the ones I did see. I had "Us Again", which was the Pixar submission, that was a shocking miss, "The Musician" and "Step Into the River", which, eh, "The Musician" I probably should've rethought; "Step Into the River" I liked. I gotta go back to trusting my instincts on the best animated ones in the future.


DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Audible-Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean
*Lead Me Home-Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk
*The Queen of Basketball-Ben Proudfoot
Three Songs for Benazir-Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei
*When We Were Bullies-Jay Rosenblatt

Despite getting three of these, I feel like I did lousy on this one. Basically, I bet on the New York Times over Netflix. I had three from the Times getting in, taking "The Queen of Basketball" along with "Day of Rage" which, I'm- well, I guess I get why that wasn't nominated, but I still kinda wish it was, and "Takeover" which I think got robbed. Netflix, on top of "Lead Me Home", which I think was the best they had, got in "Audible", which was interesting and "Three Songs for Benazir", which I thought was one of the weakest of the shortlist myself. Maybe I'm just a New York Times intellectual though. I mean, I am in a few Times-based FB groups. 
(Shrugs)


LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
*Ala Kachuu-Take and Run-Maria Brendle and Nadine Luchinger
The Dress-Tadeusz Lysiak and Maciej Slesicki
*The Long Goodbye-Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed
On My Mind-Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson
Please Hold-K.D. Davila and Levin Menekse

Another time where I decided to just go against my instincts. I thought "The Dress" was one of the best of the shortlist, left it off anyway; that was dumb. I'm glad I called "Ala Kachuu..." though; that was not a favorite on Gold Derby, I got 37-1 odds predicting that one. (With that and 54-1 on "Affairs of the Art" in animation, that helped my scores, not as much as I needed though. We'll get to that in a minute.) "The Long Goodbye" gives Riz Ahmed a nomination, and, there's a history of- well, it's not entirely 100%, Kenneth Branagh for instance, once lost this category for a short, but-eh, usually if there's a big Hollywood person, not even nominated, but just remotely attached to a project in this category, it'll get in and likely win, so I have that as the favorite right now.


Alright, how'd I do? Well, I went, 85/120, so, not bad, 70%. Well, it's better then normal, so I'm settling for that this year. Alright, the Oscars are on March 27th, they're hosted this year by, um, somebody named TBA? Never heard of him. Hopefully it's a good show this year. 


Tuesday, February 8, 2022

MY OFFICAL BARELY-UNDER-THE-WIRE-AS-USUAL ANNUAL OSCAR PREDICTIONS! Happy Oscar Nomination Day Tomo-, well, tod-, in a few hours.... (Sigh)


It's Pandemic Oscars Part II: The Sequel!

(Sigh) 

I never know what to write for this opening anymore every year. Every time I try to think of what to say or how to open my Oscar predictions, I usually end up feeling like I have to justify the Oscars continuous existence, 'cause I know, sure as hell, someone will comment on my FB post about how someone doesn't care about them, or that they don't matter, or "they don't the right film", or the ones they've seen and heard of,... or whatever their dumb, petty reasons are. 

I don't want to have to deal with those idiot buzzkills anymore, but it's always in the back of my mind. Not that they'll read this anyway but, here, just for them. 

Do the Oscars matter? 
NOOO!

Are they always right?
NOOOOO!

Are they a barometer of quality?
NO!

Why should I care?
WHAT THE- NOBODY'S FORCING YOU OR TELLING YOU to CARE! If you don't care, fine.

Are their many legitimate problems/issues with the Oscars and the Academy?
YES! MANY OF THEM!

Do I think any of these arguments are a good reason to be so vehemently anti-Oscars (and/or awards in general) that you should take a moment of your life to comment your frustration on mine, or anyone else's Oscar posts?
N-...- Actually to be fair, their might be one or two good reasons... but mostly NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!  

Do I care at all about any of this from you?
That's a firm, NnnnnO!

I've never heard a good anti-Oscars argument, bet even if I did, who cares? It's just the Oscars, have fun! Don't take any of this so seriously, we don't! And who knows, maybe this year, your favorite movie with the word "Spider-Man" in the title will win this year? 

Will it?!
No. 

But there's other good films out there and hopefully they'll honor some of them. 

(Singing)
It's-a won-derful, da-aaaay,  for OSCAR! Oscar! Oscar! Who will-

(Tries to keep singing, but falters)
eh, be-Nom, in-ate-ed? (Ugh, that doesn't sound so good as the regular lyrics, does it?!)

Well, we'll find out who's nominated soon enough, but let me put my Carnac hat on and let's see if I can call them anyway. 

(Puts on Carnac hat.)

Let's go.


BEST PICTURE (Possibles, longlist) 
"Annette"
"Ascension"
"Being the Ricardos"
"Blue Bayou"
"Bruised"
"C'mon C'mon"
"The Card Counter"
"CODA"
"The Courier"
"Cruella"
"Cry Macho"
"Cyrano"
"Dear Evan Hansen"
"Don't Look Up"
"Drive My Car"
"Dune"
"East of the Moutains"
"Electrical Life of Louis Wain"
"Encanto"
"Encounter"
"Eternals"
"Everybody's Talking About Jamie"
"The Eyes of Tammy Faye"
"Finch"
"The First Wave"
"Flag Day"
"Flee"
"The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
"The Green Knight"
"The Guilty"
"The Hand of God"
"The Harder They Fall"
"A Hero"
"House of Gucci"
"The Humans"
"In the Heights"
"In the Same Breath"
"Jockey"
"Joe Bell"
"A Journal for Jordan"
"The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain"
"The Killing of Two Lovers"
"King Richard"
"The Last Duel"
"Last Night in Soho"
"Licorice Pizza"
"The Lost Daughter"
"Luca"
"The Many Saints of Neward"
"Mass"
"Memoria"
"The Mitchells vs. the Machine"
"Mothering Sunday"
"Nightmare Alley"
"Nine Days"
"No Time to Die"
"Nobody"
"Official Competition"
"Parallel Mothers"
"Passing"
"Petite Maman"
"Pig"
"The Power of the Dog"
"A Quiet Place Part II"
"Raya and the Last Dragon"
"Red Rocket"
"The Rescue"
"Respect"
"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"
"Shiva Baby"
"Sing 2"
"The Sparks Brothers"
"Spencer"
"Spider-Man: No Way Home"
"Stillwater"
"Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)"
"Swan Song"
"The Tender Bar"
"Test Pattern"
"tick, tick...BOOM!"
"Titane"
"The Tragedy of Macbeth"
"The Unforgivable"
"Violet"
"West Side Story"
"Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America
"The Woman in the Window"
"The Worst Person in the World"

One of these years, I'm gonna remember, at least for Best Picture, that I can just, put a link to the Academy's Reminder List of eligible films. Stupid me, making everything complicated. Well, the counting of the Best Picture votes isn't as complicated this year, btw; for now, we're back to a Top Ten nominees, no more mysterious number between 5 and 10, that was just always, 8 or 9. Now, they're still using the preferential voting method for the category, so we still have to consider movies that are getting the most number one and number two and three votes more. That said, PGA's ballot seems pretty reasonable here. Usually there's at least one blockbuster, like a "Star Trek" or something, that's never a BP competitor but gets in because it's the producers and they like the money they make. This time, around.... Well, let's get the big ones out of the way, "The Power of the Dog" is in, "Belfast" is in, well, all five of the DGA's I suspect are in. That's not always a guarantee, but I think that's solid here. (And they're the top five on GD's rankings.) In terms of passion vote, "Don't Look Up" and "Drive My Car" I feel are in. The weird one here is "CODA", which, looks a lot like it's gonna get in and be "The Blind Side" or "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" this year. That one weird movie that gets into Picture in a ten-film field that may only get one other nomination. Well, that and "tick, tick...BOOM!" like, eh,... I think there's passion for it. Andrew Garfield keeps popping us consistently, but not a lot else. I'm gonna throw "The Tragedy of Macbeth" in there; they're technically listed as a longshot, but it's Shakespeare and it's the Coens, if that doesn't bring in enough actor voters, and the actors being the branch with the most members, which btw, more voters this year then ever before apparently, according to the A.M.P.A.S., then I don't know what will. That leaves one spot left, and I'm debating between "Being the Ricardos", "CODA" and "tick, tick...BOOM!". I'm gonna toss out the latter, 'cause I think the other two have the best chance at winning something. So, is Nicole more likely to win, or is Troy Kotsur more likely to win.... Hmmm.... They've snubbed Sorkin before, they can snub him again.

BEST PICTURE (PREDICTIONS)
Belfast
CODA
Don't Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story



BEST DIRECTOR (Possibles, longlist)
Paul Thomas Anderson-"Licorice Pizza"
Wes Anderson-"The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
Frano Bailey-Bond-"Censor"
Sean Baker-"Red Rocket"
Justine Bateman-"Violet"
Clint Bentley-"Jockey"
Halle Berry-"Bruised"
Jessica Beshir-"Faya Dayi"
Kenneth Branagh-"Belfast"
Janicz Bravo-"Zola"
Jonathan Butterell-"Everybody's Talking About Jamie"
Jane Campion-"The Power of the Dog"
Leos Carax-"Annette"
Elizabeht Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin-"The Rescue"
Justin Chon-"Blue Bayou"
Jon M. Chu-"In the Heights"
Benjamin Cleary-"Swan Song"
George Clooney-"The Tender Bar"
Joel Coen-"The Tragedy of Macbeth"
Mariano Cohn, Gaston Duprat-"Official Competition"
Dominic Cooke-"The Courier"
Nia DaCosta-"Candyman"
Guillermo Del Toro-"Nightmare Alley"
Julia DuCournau-"Titane"
Clint Eastwood-"Cry Macho"
Asghar Farhadi-"A Hero"
Nora Fingscheidt-"The Unforgivable"
Shatara Michelle Ford-"Test Pattern"
Cary Joji Fukunaga-"No Time to Die"
Antoine Fuqua-"The Guilty"
Liz Garbus-"Becoming Cousteau"
Reinaldo Marcus Green-"King Richard"
Maggie Gyllenhaal-"The Lost Daughter"
Lauren Hadaway-"The Novice"
Rebecca Hall-"Passing"
Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI-"Drive My Car"
Sian Heder-"CODA"
Joanna Hogg-"The Souvenir Part II"
Tatiana Huezo-"Prayers for the Stolen"
Eva Husson-"Mothering Sunday"
Stephen Karam-"The Humans"
Jessica Kingdon-"Ascension"
Fran Kranz-"Mass"
John Krasinski-"A Quiet Place Part II"
Pablo Larrain-"Spencer"
David Lowery-"The Green Knight"
Tom McCarthy-"Stillwater"
John Michael McDonaugh-"The Forgiven"
Theodore Melfi-"The Starling"
Mike Mills-"C'mon C'mon"
Lin-Manuel Miranda-"tick, tick...BOOM!"
Stanley Nelson, Traci Curry-"Attica"
Pablo Larrain-"Spencer"
Edson Oda-"Nine Days"
Sean Penn-"Flag Day"
Questlove-"Summer of Love (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)"
Johas Poher Rasmussen-"Flee"
Michael Rianda-"The Mitchells vs. the Machine"
Jeymes Samuel-"The Harder They Fall"
Miguel Sapochnik-"Finch"
Michael Sarnoski-"Pig"
Michael Showalter-"The Eyes of Tammy Faye"
Paul Schrader-"The Card Counter"
Celine Sciamma-"Petite Maman
Ridley Scott-"House of Gucci"
Ridley Scott-"The Last Duel"
Emma Seligman-"Shiva Baby"
Will Shapre-"Electrical Life of Louis Wain"
Aaron Sorkin-"Being the Ricardos"
Paolo Sorrentino-"The Hand of God"
Steven Spielberg-"West Side Story"
Liesl Tommy-"Respect"
Joachim Trier-"The Worst Person in the World"
Denis Villeneuve-"Dune"
Denzel Washington-"A Journal for Jordan"
Apichatpong Weerasethakul-"Memoria"
Edgar Wright-"The Sparks Brothers"
Joe Wright-"Cyrano"
Joe Wright-"The Woman in the Window"
Chloe ZHAO-"Eternals"

If Kenneth Branagh gets nominated here and as a producer for Best Picture, he'll set the record by being the first person to be nominated for an Oscar in seven different categories. (Currently George Clooney holds the record with six). "Belfast" is trending, as it got the DGA nod along with P.T. Anderson, Jane Campion, who's the heavy favorite at the moment, Spielberg, and Denis Villeneuve. This is the safe bet, but certainly not the only possibility. Joel Coen, Adam McKay, Wes Anderson, and maybe Maggie Gyllenhaal, depending on the push and passion for their respective films, could squeak in, however if there's really a safe bet for a new nominee from DGA, it's Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI for "Drive My Car". Directors are more known then other categories to look foreign for a surprise nominee here, and this one seems almost assured to get in, the only question is who's slipping out. BAFTA's not the best barometer this year, but they did leave off Spielberg, Branagh, and the name I'm suspecting we're overrating, Villeneuve. "Dune" feels a lot like this year's "Inception", and that film won four Oscars in craft, got eight overall, no acting nominations, and most importantly, missed Director, in a year where everyone thought he was a lock. Campion, Branagh and Anderson seem to be on the up-and-up, "Dune" came out awhile ago, and I can definitely see the Academy thinking, "It's been a few years now, it seems like it's time to nominate Spielberg again, right?"

BEST DIRECTOR (PREDICTIONS)
Paul Thomas Anderson-"Licorice Pizza"
Kenneth Branagh-"Belfast"
Jane Campion-"The Power of the Dog"
Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI-"Drive My Car"
Steven Spielberg-"West Side Story"



BEST ACTOR (Possibles, longlist)
Riz Ahmed-"Encounter"
Mahershala Ali-"Swan Song"
Javier Bardem-"Being the Ricardos"
Tim Blake-Nelson-"Old Henry"
Yuriy Borisov-"Compartment No. 6"
Jim Broadbent-"The Duke"
Nicholas Cage-"Pig"
Timothee Chalamet-"Dune"
Justin Chon-"Blue Bayou"
Clifton Collins, Jr.-"Jockey"
Bradley Cooper-"Nightmare Alley"
Clayne Crawford-"The Killing of Two Lovers"
Daniel Craig-"No Time to Die"
Benedict Cumberbatch-"The Courier"
Benedict Cumberbatch-"The Electrical Life of Louis Wain"
Benedict Cumberbatch-"The Power of the Dog"
Matt Damon-"Stillwater"
Leonardo DiCaprio-"Don't Look Up"
Peter Dinklage-"Cyrano"
Adam Driver-"Annette"
Adam Driver-"House of Gucci"
Winston Duke-"Nine Days"
Clint Eastwood-"Cry Macho"
Ansel Elgort-"West Side Story"
Frankie Faison-"The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain"
Michael Gandolfini-"The Many Saints of Newark"
Andrew Garfield-"tick, tick...BOOM!"
Jake Gyllenhaal-"The Guilty"
Tom Hanks-"Finch"
Max Harwood-"Everybody's Talking About Jamie"
Jude Hill-"Belfast"
Cooper Hoffman-"Licorice Pizza"
Oscar Isaac-"The Card Counter"
Jason Isaacs-"Mass"
Amir Jadidi-"A Hero"
Michael B. Jordan-"A Journal for Jordan"
Harvey Keitel-"Lansky"
Udo Kier-"Swan Song"
Vincent Lindon-"Titane"
Simu LIU-"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"
Jonathan Majors-"The Harder They Fall"
Mads Mikkelsen-"Riders of Justice"
Hidetomi NISHIJIMA-"Drive My Car"
Alessandro Nivola-"The Many Saints of Newark"
Josh O'Connor-"Mothering Sunday"
Bob Odenkirk-"Nobody"
Dev Patel-"The Green Knight"
Sean Penn-"Flag Day"
Ben Platt-"Dear Evan Hansen"
Joaquin Phoenix-"C'mon C'mon"
Anthony Ramos-"In the Heights"
Simon Rex-"Red Rocket"
Fillippo Scotti-"The Hand of God"
Tom Skerritt-"East of the Mountains"
Will Smith-"King Richard"
Mark Wahlberg-"Joe Bell"
Denzel Washington-"The Tragedy of Macbeth"
Steven YEUN-"The Humans"

SAG went a little off-the-beaten track by throwing in Javier Bardem into the mix with Cumberbatch, Garfield, Smith and Washington. Those latter four, have pretty much shown up everywhere, with the last spot being the one that is slightly difficult for anybody to agree on. Critics Choice took Nicolas Cage and Peter Dinklage in their last two spots. BAFTA left off Garfield curiously enough, but put in DiCaprio, as well as Mahershala Ali, which the Globes also added. Joaquin Phoenix, Simon Rex, Oscar Isaac and Hidetomi NISHIJIMA seem the most likely to play potential spoilers unless they go way off like Chalamet or Dev Patel or jake Gyllenhaal, or either of Adam Driver's performances. Personally, I don't think "Being the Ricardos" is getting that much love, and I suspect those nominees from SAG won't hold up, but then you gotta figure out who's in instead. Gold Derby has Dinklage and DiCaprio in those last spots. with Nicolas Cage being the only other person under 100-1, and only barely at that. Part of me really wants to take a shot on NISHIJIMA getting that last spot. If "Drive My Car" is potential a BP spoiler, then it's gotta get something other else, right? Director, Writing, probably, but maybe it can get an acting nod. Hmmm.... I can see DiCaprio getting that late surge nomination for a divisive comedic film again like he did for "The Wolf of Wall Street" many years ago, but this movie feels even more divided then that one. It did get into SAG Ensemble, can it carry an actor into it? Personally, I want to throw Dinklage in there, but that BAFTA snub where DiCaprio hit...- now, BAFTA's differently then they have in the past, but "Cyrano" got into Best British Film, but still missed out on Actor after that.... Yikes. I don't know, "Cyrano" hasn't done that well across the Guilds either, but I don't think there's the passion for DiCaprio to get in again, or for Cage either.... Screw it, I'm gonna gamble on a passion vote here.

BEST ACTOR (PREDICTIONS)
Benedict Cumberbatch-"The Power of the Dog"
Andrew Garfield-"tick, tick...BOOM!"
Hidetoshi NISHIJIMA-"Drive My Car"
Will Smith-"King Richard"
Denzel Washington-"The Tragedy of Macbeth"



BEST ACTRESS (Possibles, longlist)
Amy Adams-"The Woman in the Window"
Niamh Algar-"Censor"
Melissa Barrera-"In the Heights"
Zazie Beets-"The Harder They Fall"
Sandra Bullock-"The Unforgivable"
Rose Byrne-"Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway"
Jessica Chastain-"The Eyes of Tammy Faye"
Jessica Chastain-"The Forgiven"
Olivia Colman-"The Lost Daughter"
Jodie Comer-"The Last Duel"
Marion Cotillard-"Annette"
Penelope Cruz-"Official Competition"
Penelope Cruz-"Parallel Mothers"
Virginia Efira-"Benedetta"
Bernie Feldstein-"The Humans"
Isabelle Fuhrman-"The Novice"
Lady Gaga-"House of Gucci"
Seidi Haarla-"Compartment No. 6"
Alana Haim-"Licorice Pizza"
Brittany S. Hall-"Test Pattern"
Naomie Harris-"Swan Song"
Patti Harrison-"Together Together"
Jennifer Hudson-"Respect"
Scarlett Johansson-"Black Widow"
Angelina Jolie-"Eternals"
Emilia Jones-"CODA"
Nicole Kidman-"Being the Ricardos"
Jennifer Lawrence-"Don't Look Up"
Rooney Mara-"Nightmare Alley"
Melissa McCarthy-"The Starling"
Frances McDormand-"The Tragedy of Macbeth"
Thomasin McKenzie-"Last Night in Soho"
Helen Mirren-"The Duke"
Olivia Munn-"Violet"
Genevieve O'Reilly-"The Dry"
Taylour Paige-"Zola"
Noomi Rapace-"Lamb"
Renate Reinsve-"The Worst Person in the World"
Kali Reis-"Catch the Fair One"
Agatha Rousselle-"Titane"
Rachel Sennott-"Shiva Baby"
Millicent Simmonds-"A Quiet Place Part II"
Kristen Stewart-"Spencer"
Emma Stone-"Cruella"
Tilda Swinton-"Memoria"
Tessa Thompson-"Passing"
Rachel Zegler-"West Side Story"

This has been a rough and confusing Best Actress season to follow. The name everybody thought was gonna be the easy winner, Kristen Stewart has missed almost everything. Missed, SAG, missed BAFTA, got in at Critics; she didn't even win at the Globes, losing to Nicole Kidman, of all people. Hell, she missed the BAFTA shortlist, which, eh, take with a grain of salt 'cause BAFTA's been weird for the last two years in general, but "Spencer" hasn't been showing up at most places in general were we'd think it'd show up. Some think it might just be Diana overload; I mean, this would be the second time, if the odds hold up, where Olivia Colman would win a major award over a performer playing Princess Di. Honestly, I can't blame them for that; I'm fairly sick of all the '90s nostalgia all over my entertainment myself. (I am so dreading having to watch that damn "Pam and Tommy" miniseries) So, Colman's ahead, Stewart's hanging on by a thread, Nicole Kidman is soaring towards the top, and who's the only person who got in at SAG, Critics Choice, BAFTA and the Globes? Lady Gaga! Okay, so she's one getting in, who else? Well, SAG went with Jennifer Hudson, but that's and the Globes are the only place she's shown up. They also picked Jessica Chastain, who missed BAFTA, but, ehh, she's playing a very American character, and I don't know if anybody expected her to get in there. (Although the film got in for Makeup, the BAFTA knew that much about her...) Kidman, missed BAFTA, won at Globes, and is in at Critics. Colman, also missed BAFTA. Making BAFTA, Globes and Critics, but missing SAG was Alana Haim, I want to say that that might be just the group missing "Licorice Pizza", but they did nominate Bradley Cooper. This is why everybody's looking off-the-board, and the name that's jumped up that missed everything is Penelope Cruz. It does make sense, she's been a lone nominee for an Almodovar film before, that was a surprise nomination, it's often the foreign actress in the more down-to-earth role, and well, there's a lot of famous people in this category. Except for Colman and Haim, every major name I've listed so far, is from a biopic. Academy members could be trying to pick from Lucille Ball, Tammy Faye Baker, Aretha frickin' Franklin!, Lady Di, and Patricia Reggiani! Oh, and if you want to throw in Rachel Zegler, who won for a musical at the Globes, Maria!!!!!!! Oh, and like, in place in the odds right now, Frances McDormand as LADY MACBETH!!!!!!!!!! 
No wonder nobody can pick this category. UGH! I will genuinely be happy, if I somehow get two of these right in this category!

BEST ACTRESS (PREDICTIONS)
Olivia Colman-"The Lost Daughter"
Lady Gaga-"House of Gucci"
Jennifer Hudson-"Respect"
Nicole Kidman-"Being the Ricardos"
Kristen Stewart-"Spencer"


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Possibles, longlist)
Moises Arias-"Jockey"
Richard Ayoade-"The Souvenir Part II"
Javier Bardem-"Dune"
Joe Bernthal-"King Richard"
Joe Bernthal-"The Many Saints of Newark"
Reed Birney-"Mass"
Adrian Brody-"The French Dispatch for the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
Josh Brolin-"Dune"
Josh Brolin-"Flag Day"
Timothee Chalamet-"Don't Look Up"
Timothee Chalamet-"The French Dispatch for the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
Bradley Cooper-"House of Gucci"
Bradley Cooper-"Licorice Pizza"
Vincent D'Onofrio-"The Eyes of Tammy Faye"
Vincent D'Onofrio-"The Unforgivable"
Willem Dafoe-"The Card Counter"
Willem Dafoe-"Nightmare Alley"
Willem Dafoe-"Spider-Man: No Way Home"
Robin de Jesus-"tick, tick...BOOM!"
Benicio Del Toro-"The French Dispatch for the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
Eugenio Derbez-"CODA"
Gregory Diaz IV-"In the Heights"
Colman Domingo-"Zola"
Jamie Dornan-"Belfast"
Daniel Durant-"CODA"
Idris Elba-"The Harder They Fall"
Mike Faist-"West Side Story"
Colin Firth-"Mothering Sunday"
Andrew Garfield-"The Eyes of Tammy Faye"
Brendan Gleeson-"The Tragedy of Macbeth"
Richard E. Grant-"Everybody's Talking About Jamie"
Kit Harrington-"Eternals"
Ed Harris-"The Lost Daughter"
Kelvin Harrison, Jr.-"Cyrano"
Paul Walter Hauser-"Cruella"
Corey Hawkins-"The Tragedy of Macbeth"
Simon Helberg-"Annette"
Jonah Hill-"Don't Look Up"
Ciaran Hinds-"Belfast"
Andre Holland-"Passing"
Jeremy irons-"House of Gucci"
Oscar Isaac-"Dune"
Jason Isaacs-"Mass"
Brian D'Arcy James-"West Side Story"
Richard Jenkins-"The Humans"
Richard Jenkins-"Nightmare Alley"
Caleb Landry Jones-"Finch"
Nikolaj Lie Kaas-"Riders of Justice"
Delroy Lindo-"The Harder They Fall"
Barry Keoghan-"The Green Knight"
Troy Kotsur-"CODA"
Jared Leto-"House of Gucci"
Anders Danielsen Lie-"The Worst Person in the World"
Vincent Lindon-"Titane"
Ray Liotta-"The Many Saints of Newark"
Richard Madden-"Eternals"
Billy Magnussen-"The Many Saints of Newark"
Rami Malek-"No Time to Die"
Ben Mendehlson-"Cyrano"
Paul Mescal-"The Lost Daughter"
Reid Miller-"Joe Bell"
Rob Morgan-"Don't Look Up"
Cillian Murphy-"A Quiet Place Part II"
Bill Murray-"The French Dispatch for the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
Alessandro Nivola-"The Many Saints of Newark
Woody Norman-"C'mon C'mon"
Mark O'Brien-"Blue Bayou"
Chris O'Dowd-"The Starling"
Leslie Odom, Jr.-"The Many Saints of Newark"
Masaki OKADA-"Drive My Car"
Timothy Olyphant-"The Starling"
Al Pacino-"House of Gucci"
Sean Penn-"Licorice Pizza"
Jesse Plemons-"The Power of the Dog"
Daniel Ranieri-"The Tender Bar"
Mark Rylance-"Don't Look Up"
Benny Safdie-"Licorice Pizza"
Peter Sarsgaard-"The Lost Daughter"
Toni Servillo-"The Hand of God"
Tye Sheridan-"The Card Counter"
J.K. Simmons-"Being the Ricardos"
Gary Sinise-"Joe Bell"
Stellan Skarsgard-"Dune"
Kodi Smit-McPhee-"The Power of the Dog"
Jimmy Smits "In the Heights"
Timothy Spall-"Spencer"
LaKeith Stanfield-"The Harder They Fall"
Corey Stoll-"The Many Saints of Newark"
Corey Stoll-"West Side Story"
David Straitharn-"Nightmare Alley"
Marlon Wayans-"Respect"
Bradley Whitford-"tick, tick...BOOM!"
Owen Wilson-"The French Dispatch for the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
Alex Wolff-"Pig"
Benedict WONG-"Nine Days"
Jeffrey Wright-"The French Dispatch for the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"

Gold Derby seriously put a line on way too many people for this category. Anyway, I'm not terribly trusting of SAG here. I'm sure Ben Affleck is good in "The Tender Bar", but that seems like a longshot at best. I gotta imagine at least somebody from "Belfast" is getting in here and Ciaran Hinds has shown up the most, and he's pretty beloved; they've been waiting for an excuse to give him a nomination. That leaves Jared Leto for "House of Gucci". I-eh, I don't know what to make of that one; to me this feels like last year when he kept getting in for "The Little Things" which not too many people liked. "House of Gucci" is a little more popular, but most everything I hear about it is how great Lady Gaga is, and it's always just weird to see his name keep popping up. He got in Critics so I don't think it's a fluke. "House of Gucci" did do really well at SAG, but there's always one Ensemble nominee that doesn't translate across to the other awards. If it's not him though, who's getting in? Could it be Affleck? Another actor from "Belfast" or "The Power of the Dog"? Maybe, I can see them finally deciding to honor Jesse Plemons here. I can also see them go off-the-board and take J.K. Simmons or someone like that. Or maybe they really like "West Side Story" and Mike Faist gets in. One name that was big at the beginning but stopped showing up was Jeffrey Wright; I'm kinda shocked he's never been nominated, but is "The French Dispatch..." one of Wes Anderson's more beloved ones? It's been losing steam most award season. (Sigh) I hate doing this, but I'm gonna go to the BAFTA tiebreaker standby.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (PREDICTIONS
Bradley Cooper-"Licorice Pizza"
Ciaran Hinds-"Belfast"
Troy Kotsur-"CODA"
Jesse Plemons-"The Power of the Dog"
Kodi Smit-McPhee-"The Power of the Dog"


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Possibles, longlist)
Amy Adams-"Dear Evan Hansen"
Nina Arianda-"Being the Ricardos"
Awkwafina-"Swan Song"
Caitriona Balfe-"Belfast"
Haley Bennett-"Cyrano"
Cate Blanchett-"Don't Look Up"
Cate Blanchett-"Nightmare Alley"
Mary J. Blige-"Respect"
Emily Blunt-"A Quiet Place Part II"
Abigail Breslin-"Stillwater"
Connie Britton-"Joe Bell"
Rachel Brosnahan-"The Courier"
Jessie Buckley-"The Courier"
Jessie Buckley-"The Lost Daughter"
Gemma Chan-"Eternals"
Glenn Close-"Swan Song"
Toni Collette-"Nightmare Alley"
Olivia Colman-"Mothering Sunday"
Jodie Comer-"The Last Duel"
Camille Cottin-"Stillwater"
Viola Davis-"The Unforgivable"
Danielle Deadwyler-"The Harder They Fall"
Ariana DeBose-"West Side Story"
Judi Dench-"Belfast"
Ann Dowd-"Mass"
Kirsten Dunst-"The Power of the Dog"
Aunjanue Ellis-"King Richard"
Vera Farmiga-"The Many Saints of Newark"
Rebecca Ferguson-"Dune"
Amy Forsyth-"The Novice"
Claire Foy-"Electrical Life of Louis Wain"
Leslie Grace-"In the Heights"
Judy Greer-"Halloween Kills"
Tiffany Haddish-"The Card Counter"
Laura Harrier-"Finch"
Sally Hawkins-"Spencer"
Salma Hayek-"Eternals"
Salma Hayek-"House of Gucci"
Gaby Hoffman-"C'mon C'mon"
Jayne Houdyshell-"The Humans"
Vanessa Hudgens-"tick, tick...BOOM!"
Kathryn Hunter-"The Tragedy of Macbeth"
Dakota Johnson-"The Lost Daughter"
Cherry Jones-"The Eyes of Tammy Faye"
Riley Keough-"Zola"
Regina King-"Flag Day'
Regina King-"The Harder They Fall"
Marlee Matlin-"CODA"
Audra MacDonald-"Respect"
Frances McDormand-"The French Dispatch for the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
Frances McDormand-"The Tragedy of Macbeth"
Thomasin McKenzie-"The Power of the Dog"
Olga Merediz-"In the Heights"
Julianne Moore-"Dear Evan Hansen"
Toko MIURA-"Drive My Car"
Rita Moreno-"West Side Story"
Ruth Negga-"Passing"
Tig Notaro-"Army of the Dead"
Lauren Patel-"Everybody's Talking About Jamie"
Dylan Penn-"Flag Day"
Linh Dan Pham-"Blue Bayou"
Martha Plimpton-"Mass"
Charlotte Rampling-"Dune"
Lauren Ridloff-"Eternals"
Diana Rigg-"Last Night in Soho"
Andrea Riseborough-"Electrical Life of Louis Wain"
Alexandra Shipp-"tick, tick...BOOM!"
Saniyya Sidney-"King Richard"
Demi Singleton-"King Richard"
Milena Smit-"Parallel Mothers"
Suzanna Son-"Red Rocket"
Tilda Swinton-"The French Dispatch for the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
Miranda Tapsell-"The Dry"
Anya Taylor-Joy-"Last Night in Soho"
Emma Thompson-"Cruella"
Tamara Tunie-"A Journal for Jordan"
Alicia Vikander-"Blue Bayou"
Harriet Walter-"The Last Duel"
Samira Wiley-"Finch"
Kathryn Winnick-"Flag Day"
Zendaya-"Dune"

I'm a little worried about Cate Blanchett. It doesn't seem like "Nightmare Alley" is gonna gain any late momentum, but she got into SAG and I've been burned underestimating her before. (I still can't believe she got in for the "Elizabeth" sequel that time...- I don't know how that happened, but I'm sure Weinstein had something to do with it...) That said, this seems set. I was hoping Marlee Matlin for "CODA" would make a run, but it doesn't seem like it, she's the 6th choice on Gold Derby and she's 33-1 and nobody else is 50-1. Including Rita Moreno, which would've been nice, but she doesn't really need it. Maybe Jessie Buckley, if they like "The Lost Daughter" more then we realize, maybe Ann Dowd, but...- ugh, I'm not expecting a big surprise here. Ruth Negga's the last one in for "Passing"; she's been in before when she's the film's only nominee... Yeah, I'm going paint with everybody else here. I can't make a convincing argument for anyone else and this five sounds the most right anyway.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (PREDICTIONS)
Caitriona Balfe-"Belfast"
Ariana DeBose-"West Side Story"
Kirsten Dunst-"The Power of the Dog"
Aunjanue Ellis-"King Richard"
Ruth Negga-"Passing"


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY (Possibles, longlist)
"CODA"
"Cruella"
"Cry Macho"
"Cyrano"
"Dear Evan Hansen"
"Drive My Car"
"The Dry"
"Dune"
"East of the Mountains"
"Electrical Life of Louis Wain"
"Eternals"
"Everybody's Talking About Jamie"
"The Eyes of Tammy Faye"
"Flag Day"
"The Forgiven"
"The Green Knight"
"The Guilty"
"House of Gucci"
"The Humans'
"In the Heights"
"A Journal for Jordan"
"The Last Duel"
"The Lost Daughter"
"The Many Saints of Newark"
"Mothering Sunday"
"Nightmare Alley"
"No Time to Die"
"Passing"
"Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway"
"A Quiet Place Part II"
"The Power of the Dog"
"Spider-Man: No Way Home"
"The Tender Bar"
"tick, tick...BOOM!"
"The Tragedy of Macbeth"
"The Unforgivable"
"West Side Story"
"Zola"

Well, the notoriously unreliable WGA, went with "CODA", "Dune", "Nightmare Alley", "tick, tick...BOOM!", and "West Side Story". Both musicals, interestingly enough. Probably not the best standard though, the WGA rules for nominations are pretty limiting. The USC Scripter Award might be a little more accurate; they also went with "Dune", but instead went with "The Lost Daughter", "Passing", "The Power of the Dog", and "The Tragedy of Macbeth". That's also closer in line to the Critics Choice, who went with "West Side Story", over "...Macbeth" oddly enough. I also, three "Spider-Man: No Way Home" into the mix, just because I'll get somebody yelling that I didn't include it. (Sorry, it wasn't on any critics list I'm come across yet, or even on Gold Derby's options.) GD does have something else high, "Drive My Car" in the sixth position odds-wise. That did, show up at BAFTA; they knocked "...Macbeth" and "West Side Story" for it. This is tricky, 'cause are two writers, Joel Coen and Tony Kushner, who don't typically get snubbed by the Academy. Hell, in Coen's case, he tends to sneak in when we're not expecting him, but that's also usually with his brother and this is his first solo effort screenplay. I do think "Drive My Car" is gonna over-perform, but I tend to think Directing only, although the film that I'm comparing that film to a lot, "Red", got in for both unexpectedly. I don't want to trust BAFTA with their new voting system, but maybe they're onto something here? Personally, I kinda want to say "Dune" is a stretch, but it's the only one that's gotten in everywhere. I'll tell ya somewhere "CODA" missed where it really shoulda hit, the Spirit Awards. That was, and is, in this case, a really early award this year, but they remembered Kotsur, and it missed Picture and Screenplay; there's not a 100% correlation, but that might be enough to keep it out. And it probably was harder to adapt "West Side Story" then it would be, "...Macbeth"

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY (PREDICTIONS)
Drive My Car-Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI and Takamasa OE
Dune-Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth
The Lost Daughter-Maggie Gyllenhaal
The Power of the Dog-Jane Campion
West Side Story-Tony Kushner


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (Possibles, longlist)
"Annette"
"Becoming Cousteau"
"Belfast"
"Being the Ricardos"
"Blue Bayou"
"Bruised"
"The Card Counter"
"C'mon C'mon"
"The Courier"
"Don't Look Up"
"El Planeta"
"Encounter"
"Exposing Muybridge"
"Finch"
"The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
"The Hand of God"
"The Harder They Fall"
"A Hero"
"Joe Bell"
"King Richard"
"Last Night in Soho"
"Licorice Pizza"
"Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres
"Mass"
"Memoria"
"The Mitchells vs. the Machines"
"Nine Days"
"Official Competition"
"Parallel Mothers"
"Pig"
"Red Rocket"
"Respect"
"Shiva Baby"
"Spencer"
"The Starling"
"Stillwater"
"Swan Song"
"Test Pattern"
"Titane"
"Together Together"
"Violet"
"The Woman in the Window"
"The Worst Person in the World"

WGA, seems a little more likely here then I suspect they are with Adapted. They took "Being the Ricardos", "Don't Look Up", "The French Dispatch...", "King Richard" and "Licorice Pizza" which seems to be the likely favorite. The one notable absent name is "Belfast", which, probably wasn't eligible, and/or is only catching on late here. Both Critics and BAFTA basically have the same lineup, with "Belfast" knocking out "The French Dispatch...", interestingly enough.  In fact, despite getting WGA, it's at 100/1 amongst the longshots on GD, with "Mass" and "Parallel Mothers" being the only two outside of the top five at 50-1 or better. I can see this going either way, both Pedro Almodovar have shown up and been snubbed for their writing here in the past, even while their films garnered critical acclaim and likely acting nominations. "Parallel Mothers" also wasn't submitted by Spain for the International Film category, so, this or Penelope Cruz are probably the most likely places they would get in, if the Academy wants to honor the film. Hmmm... I don't know, I want to pick Almodovar, but I think he would've showed up at BAFTA or Critics.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (PREDICTIONS)
Being the Ricardos-Aaron Sorkin
Belfast-Kenneth Branagh
Don't Look Up-Adam McKay & David Sirota; Story by Adam McKay
King Richard-Zach Baylin
Licorice Pizza-Paul Thomas Anderson


BEST ANIMATED FILM (Eligibles)
The Addams Family 2
The Ape Star
Back to the Outback
Belle
Bob Spit - We Do not Like People
The Boss Baby: Family Business
Cryptozoo
Encanto
Flee
Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish
The Laws of the Universe - The Age of Elohim
Luca
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
My Sunny Maad
Paw Patrol: The Movie
Pompo the Cinephile
Poupelle of Chimney Town
Raya and the Last Dragon
Ron's Gone Wrong
Sing 2
The Spine of Night
The Summit of the Gods
Vivo
Wish Drago

I think pretty much everybody has the "Encanto", "The Mitchells vs. the Machines" and probably "Raya and the Last Dragon". "Encanto" and "The Mitchells", with "Luca" probably win, despite not being particularly good, because Pixar. The last spot, I suspect most people are putting "Flee", which makes sense, except a documentary has never been nominated in this category before. I don't know how much the animation branch regards the film. They've had opportunities, like "Waltz with Bashir", but that underperformed severely everywhere. I think the question however is, if not "Flee" then what? (Shrugs) Well, "Sing 2" might be the most obvious, but I don't remember the original being particularly beloved; that hasn't stopped the Academy before, "Despicable Me 2" got nominated after "Despicable Me" didn't, but is the "Sing" franchise that big? I think "Vivo" could play a small spoiler, but I think all it's votes are going to "Encanto." So, maybe an anime like "Belle", but going over the past list, there hasn't been in anime nominated since "When Marnie Was There", that's a long time. European anime has done a lot better. Also the Academy has doubled up docs in other categories like Foreign Language film in recent years, and "Flee" could even triple up this year. I'm gonna play the category safe.

ANIMATED FEATURE (PREDICTIONS)
Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs. the Machine
Raya and the Last Dragon


DOCUMENTARY FEATURE (Shortlist) 
"Ascension"
"Attica"
"Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry"
"Faya Dayi"
"Flee"
"In the Same Breath"
"Julia"
"President"
"Procession"
"The Rescue"
"Simple as Water"
"Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)"
"The Velvet Underground"
"Writing with Fire"

The notorious unpredictability of the Documentary category is one thing, but the damnedest thing is how, pretty universally, it seems like they just nailed this category. I've seen every title show up on awards results somewhere so far at least once, and most of these, multiple times each. This category is severely overloaded, and I'm not overlooking any possibility of any of these films getting in; a good argument can be made for any of them. All eight PGA nominees are in this group. All but one of the DGA nominees are here. The cinematographers got "Faya Dayi" in their guild, and if you've noticed with recent winners, filmmaking, particularly the quality of the look of the film, and the skill involved in the cinematography has been a key factor is the winners lately. (This is probably why I suspect both, "Free Solo" and "My Octopus Teacher" won this category in recent years). There are a few who have constantly stood out though, "Flee" the animated doc from Denmark that could sneak into Animated, Documentary and International Feature in the same year, (Which would be a first) and "Summer of Soul..." Questlove's debut feature that got a big boost at BAFTA by getting into Editing as well. After that, it's a bit of a game of pick-your-poison. If "Summer of Soul" doesn't knock out the music nominees, "...The World's a Little Blurry" and "The Velvet Underground" are likely spoilers. "The First Wave" and "In the Same Breath" documents the beginning of our recent/current pandemic, so that's got timeliness on it's side. If we're going with, difficulty filming, "The Rescue", National Geographic's submission this years, is a very likely candidate. If we're talking subject matter, on top of the COVID ones, there's the Catholic priests abuse film, there's the historical prison riot film, there's the Syrian war film, there's the documenting modern politics film.... There's something for everybody in this category, and this is the most crapshoot the nomination predictions have been for this category in a while. I have a feeling this year will be regarded as one of the all-time greats for documentaries, and not just because we've spent the last couple years stuck inside streaming them all the time.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE (PREDICTIONS)
Flee
In the Same Breath
Procession
The Rescue
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)


INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM (shortlist)
Austria-"Great Freedom"
Belgium-"Playground"
Bhutan-"Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom"
Denmark-"Flee"
Finland-"Compartment No. 6"
Iceland-"Lamb"
Iran-"A Hero"
Italy-"The Hand of God"
Japan-"Drive My Car"
Kosovo-"Hive"
Mexico-"Prayers for the Stolen"
Norway-"The Worst Person in the World"
Panama-"Plaza Catedral"
Spain-"The Good Boss"

This is always an unpredictable category from the shortlist. But there's been some clues. "Flee" feels like it's in, especially after "Honeyland" and "Collective" pulled off the double nominees for International and Documentary feature. If "Drive My Car" isn't a lock, then I don't know what is; it could get into Best Picture. The only real obvious omission here seems to be "Titane", but there's a decent collection here. "A Hero" seems like it's in, that's Asghar Farhadi, probably the best filmmaker here of the bunch. "The Hand of God" is Paolo Sorrentino's feature, he won this category a few years ago for "The Great Beauty", so he's got a decent shot. "The Worst Person in the World" also seems like it's likely in, that's Joachim Trier's film; he's one of the bigger Norwegian filmmakers around; he made, "Thelma", "Reprise", "Oslo, August 31", he's overdue for a nomination and this seems like his most popular film yet. That should be the five, but there's some spoilers here. "The Good Boss" stars Javier Bardem, and that film got the Spain submission over Pedro Almodovar's "Parallel Mothers", which stars, ironically, his wife, Penelope Cruz, and that's a potential spoiler, and that film's got a good director too, Fernando Leon de Aronoa; he made "Barrio" and "Amador". The guy who directed "Lamb" is actually fairly well-known behind-the-scenes in Hollywood for his special effects work, and that movie stars Noomi Rapace who's fairly well-known and beloved actress, but I don't know if that will translate to votes though. I've seen "Compartment No. 6" and "Prayers for the Stolen" also pop up on the awards circuit enough to give me pause as well. I hate to go paint with this category, because there's always some spoiler, but I'm not sure I see it. I think Kosovo, Panama and Bhutan will have to wait another year for their countries to get represented in this category.

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM (PREDICTIONS)
Drive My Car [Japan]
Flee [Denmark]
The Hand of God [Italy]
A Hero [Iran]
The Worst Person in the World [Norway]


CINEMATOGRAPHY (possibles, longlist)
"Annette"
"Ascension"
"Being the Ricardos"
"Belfast"
"Black Widow"
"Blue Bayou"
"Bruised"
"C'mon C'mon"
"The Card Counter"
"CODA"
"A Cop Movie"
"Cry Macho"
"Cusp"
"Cyrano"
"Dear Evan Hansen"
"Don't Look Up"
"Dune"
"Electrical Life of Louis Wain"
"Encanto"
"Encounter"
"Eternals"
"Everybody's Talking About Jamie"
"The Eyes of Tammy Faye"
"Faya Dayi"
"Finch"
"The First Wave"
"The Forgiven"
"The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
"Ghostbusters: Afterlife"
"Godzilla vs. Kong"
"The Green Knight"
"The Hand of God"
"The Harder They Fall"
"A Hero"
"House of Gucci"
"The Humans"
"In the Heights"
"Jockey"
"A Journal for Jordan"
"King Richard"
"The Last Duel"
"Last Night in Soho"
"Licorice Pizza"
"The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52"
"The Lost Daughter"
"The Lost Leonardo"
"The Many Saints of Newark"
"Mass"
"The Matrix Resurrections"
"Memoria"
"Mothering Sunday"
"Nightmare Alley"
"Nine Days"
"No Time to Die"
"Official Competition"
"Old"
"Parallel Mothers"
"Passing"
"Pig"
"The Power of the Dog"
"A Quiet Place Part II"
"Raya and the Last Dragon"
"Red Rocket"
"The Rescue"
"Respect"
"Shang-Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings"
"Spencer"
"Spider-Man: No Way Home"
"Stillwater"
"Swan Song"
"The Tender Bar"
"tick, tick...BOOM!"
"Titane"
"The Tragedy of Macbeth"
"The Unforgivable"
"West Side Story"
"The Worst Person in the World"
"Zola"

The American Society of Cinematographers Guild, or the ASC's have been a pretty accurate barometer over the years in the category. They went with "Belfast", "Dune", "Nightmare Alley", "The Power of the Dog" and "The Tragedy of Macbeth" in their main award with some supplemental honors going to "Jockey", "Pig", "Titane", "Cusp" and "Faya Dayi". Those latter two are documentaries which don't ever get nominated in this category, but "Titane" is an interesting potential spoiler. However, off the board, the film that has been singled out a lot by critics and other awards in the category has been "The Green Knight". That's a tempting one to throw in there. So is "West Side Story", which a lot of people thought was snubbed by the Guild, and it is a bit; not nominating Janusz Kaminski seems a little odd for them. He's missed before and gotten in, and he's also been nominated and missed, so it might just be a mood thing with them, depending on whether or not they like the Spielberg film that year. Gut instinct, I gotta think it's in. I have "Dune", "The Power of the Dog" and "The Tragedy of Macbeth" basically locked in. That leaves, "Belfast", "Nightmare Alley" and maybe a spoiler or two out there. I'm worried about underestimating "Titane"; it wouldn't be the first time this category in recent years has gone completely off the board. I do think they like "Belfast" too much. "Nightmare Alley" just seems like an odd one out here; I know they like Del Toro's cinematographers when he's got a good film, but "Nightmare Alley" just seems to be floundering out there right now. I was thinking going go off the board and take "Titane" and I still think that could happen, but after rewatching the trailers for all these films, boy is it hard to go against Kaminski.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY (PREDICTIONS)
Belfast-Haris Zambarloukos
Dune-Greig Fraser
The Power of the Dog-Ari Wegner
The Tragedy of Macbeth-Bruno Delbonnel
West Side Story-Janusz Kaminski


COSTUME DESIGN (Possibles, longlists) 
"Annette"
"Belfast"
"Black Widow"
"Blue Bayou"
"Bruised"
"C'mon C'mon"
"The Card Counter"
"CODA"
"Coming 2 America"
"Cruella"
"Cry Macho"
"Cyrano"
"Dear Evan Hansen"
"Don't Look Up"
"The Dry"
"Dune"
"Electrical Life of Louis Wain"
"Encounter"
"Eternals"
"Everybody's Talkin' About Jamie"
"The Eyes of Tammy Faye"
"Finch"
"Free Guy"
"The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
"Ghostbusters: Afterlife"
"The Green Knight"
"The Hand of God"
"The Harder They Fall"
"A Hero"
"House of Gucci"
"The Humans"
"In the Heights"
"Jockey"
"A Journal for Jordan"
"Jungle Cruise"
"King Richard"
"Lansky"
"The Last Duel"
"Last Night in Soho"
"Licorice Pizza"
"The Lost Daughter"
"The Many Saints of Newark"
"Mass"
"The Matrix Resurrections"
"Memoria"
"Mortal Kombat"
"Mothering Sunday"
"Nightmare Alley"
"Nine Days"
"No Time to Die"
"Official Competiton"
"Parallel Mothers"
"Passing"
"Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway"
"The Power of the Dog"
"A Quiet Place Part II"
"Red Rocket"
"Respect"
"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"
"Space Jam: A New Legacy"
"Spencer"
"Spider-Man: No Way Home"
"Stillwater"
"The Suicide Squad"
"Swan Song"
"The Tender Bar"
"tick, tick...BOOM!"
"Titane"
"The Tomorrow War"
"The Tragedy of Macbeth"
"The Unforgivable"
"Venom: Let There Be Carnage"
"West Side story"
"The Worst Person in the World"
"Zola"

I was killed last year sticking with the CDG's last year with "Little Women" winning the Oscar despite the lack of a Guild nomination. I've learned since then that, there's a lot of costume designers around who utterly despised Jacqueline Durran winning that Oscar and really felt like that was quite a bad job from her. (Shrugs) I'm gonna to defer to them in general; they worked for me, but y'know, yeah, I guess some people thought her choices were more questionable, after having it pointed out to me, I can see that. (I would also argue that her depiction of a somewhat anachronistic use of more modern costuming in "Little Women" better reflected Gerwig's vision of the story..., but yeah, ultimately, I do think the anti-Durran's Oscar for "Little Women" crowd, have a slightly better argument. Anyway, Durran does have a film out this year, with "Cyrano" which got in at CDGs. That could get in, I guess, but that movie doesn't seem to be picking up any traction. In that category, Period Film, the Guild picked "Cruella", "House of Gucci", which, yes, very much seem like obvious picks, "Nightmare Alley" and "West Side Story". Contemporary film went with "Don't Look Up", "In the Heights", "No Time to Die" and "Zola", all good nominees but I don't think any of them are really in competition for nomination, except for the fifth nominee strangely enough, "Coming 2 America". Ruth E. Carter, and yeah, Eddie Murphy movies,- usually they have a way to sneaking into makeup, but they also have a history of sneaking into Costume. Sci-Fi/Fantasy nominees, went to six films, and they included "Dune", "The Green Knight", "Shang-Chi...", "Spider-Man..." and "The Suicide Squad". "Dune" seems to be the most obvious one here, and "The Green Knight", I think could sneak in as well. The one big name that's missing from the Guild, but ranks high on GD is "Spencer", and wouldn't you know, that's a Jacqueline Durran film. "Spencer" and "Cyrano" are 6th and 7th in the voting. I gotta think that if one of them gets in, it's probably "Spencer", it would likely have to knock out "Nightmare Alley" or "West Side Story". Eh, if the Critics and BAFTA can ignore her as well, then I think the Academy can. Look out for "The French Dispatch..." for spoiler though.

COSTUME DESIGN (PREDICTIONS) 
Cruella-Jenny Beavan
Dune-Jacqueline West & Robert Morgan
House of Gucci-Mitchell Travers
Nightmare Alley-Luis Sequeria
West Side Story-Paul Tazewell


FILM EDITING (possibles, longlist)
"Annette"
"Ascension"
"Before the Ricardos"
"Belfast"
"Black Widow"
"Blue Bayou"
"Bruised"
"C'mon C'mon"
"The Card Counter"
"CODA"
"Cruella"
"Cyrano"
"Dear Evan Hansen"
"Don't Look Up"
"Drive My Car"
"The Dry"
"Dune"
"Electrical Life of Louis Wain"
"Encanto"
"Encounter"
"Eternals"
"The Eyes of Tammy Faye"
"Finch"
"The First Wave"
"Flee"
"The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
"The Forgiven"
"Ghostbusters: Afterlife"
"The Green Knight"
"The Hand of God"
"The Harder They Fall"
"A Hero"
"Homeroom"
"The Humans"
"In the Heights"
"Jockey"
"A Journal for Jordan"
"The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain"
"King Richard"
"The Last Duel"
"Last Night in Soho"
"Licorice Pizza"
"Luca"
"The Many Saints of Newark"
"Mass"
"The Matrix Resurrections"
"Memoria"
"The Mitchells vs. the Machines"
"Mothering Sunday"
"Nine Days"
"No Time to Die"
"The Novice"
"The Nowhere Inn"
"Official Competition"
"Parallel Mothers"
"Passing"
"Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway"
"The Power of the Dog"
"Procession"
"A Quiet Place Part II"
"Raya and the Last Dragon"
"The Real Charlie Chaplin"
"Red Rocket"
"The Rescue"
"Respect"
"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"
"Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)"
"Spencer"
"Spider-Man: No Way Home"
"Stillwater"
"Swan Song"
"The Tender Bar"
"tick, tick...BOOM!"
"Titane"
"Val"
"The Velvet Underground"
"West Side Story"
"The Worst Person in the World"
"Zola"

A nomination for Editing is the single biggest correlation to a potential Best Picture win, outside of Director, so everybody pays attention to this category. It's certainly the most accurate barometer for the last 40 years with only "Ordinary People" and "Birdman..." managing to win Best Picture without an Editing nod. The first thing I'm looking for with the Eddies are the BP films that are in, and yeah, there's a bunch. No, the second thing you look for, are action movies, particularly action movies, that heavily involve chases. Any editor worth their grain of salt will tell you that chase scenes are the hardest things to edit. There is a second thing that's hard to edit, and that's music, and there is one noticeable film missing from the Eddies. "West Side Story" missed and the editors instead went with "tick, tick...BOOM!" in the comedy category. Now, Spielberg is the one director who could overcome an Eddie snub in editing, especially with his editor Michael Kahn, being, literally one of the guys who wrote the book on editing. (It was him, and another editor that worked for Spielberg, Walter Murch.) Gold Derby knows this, "West Side Story" is still in their top 5, along with "Dune," "Belfast", "The Power of the Dog" and "Licorice Pizza". There's some spoilers out there though, "Don't Look Up" is a comedy and editors know that comedies are, maybe the hardest thing to edit, and I gotta imagine there's a lot of editing in that. But-eh, there was something else nominated at the Eddies. Remember what I said about action and chase scenes....

BEST FILM EDITING (PREDICTIONS)
Dune-Joe Walker
Licorice Pizza-Andy Jurgensen
No Time to Die-Tom Cross, Elliot Graham
The Power of the Dog-Peter Sciberras
West Side Story-Sarah Broshar, Michael Kahn


MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING (shortlist)
"Coming 2 America'
"Cruella"
"Cyrano"
"Dune"
"The Eyes of Tammy Faye"
"House of Gucci"
"Nightmare Alley"
"No Time to Die"
"The Suicide Squad"
"West Side Story"

I'm a little more trusting the Makeup Guild then I have been in the past since they extended the category to five nominees, but there's still some possibility of this category going completely off the rails. "Cyrano" and "Nightmare Alley" got nothing from the MUAHs while, but "Cyrano" showed up at the BAFTAs and "Nightmare Alley" at the Critics Choice. Still, the Guild is key and "Coming 2 America", "The Eyes of Tammy Faye", "House of Gucci", and "The Suicide Squad" got three nominations each, and those are hard to knock out. And Eddie Murphy comedy is right the alley of the Makeup people, and "Suicide Squad" won the category a couple years ago, and yeah, Tammy Faye in a makeup competition, yeah, that's getting in and "House of Gucci" has, Gucci and stars Lady Gaga. It probably has a safer shot at costumes, for the moment, I'm assuming it's in. What's the last spot? Well, "West Side Story" only got in for Hair, so I think that's a bad sign. "Dune" was the fifth nominee at HUAHs for the Prosthetics category, with the aforementioned four with three nominations, so that makes sense. "Cruella" got two, but it's stronger in costumes. "No Time to Die" is the most contemporary one here. "Cyrano", is a "Cyrano de Bergerac" story, without a prosthetic nose, so that's not getting in. "Nightmare Alley" is Guillermo Del Toro's film, but it's not like it's a "Hellboy" or anything, so...- ehhh. I'm tempted, but I'm sticking with the Guild here, and when all else is equal, go with the most makeup and go with science-fiction. 

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING (PREDICTIONS)
Coming 2 America
Dune
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
House of Gucci
The Suicide Squad


ORIGINAL SCORE
"Being the Ricardos"
"Candyman"
"Don't Look Up"
"Dune"
"Encanto"
"The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
"The Green Knight"
"The Harder They Fall"
"King Richard"
"The Last Duel"
"No Time to Die"
"Parallel Mothers"
"The Power of the Dog"
"Raya and the Last Dragon"
"Spencer"
"The Tragedy of Macbeth"

This is a category where the Guild is so young and new when it comes to being an Oscar prognosticator that I don't exactly suspect they're the most accurate, but they're definitely a good place to start. The SCL's have ten nominations for Outstanding Score, and eight of their nominees are here, "Don't Look Up", "Dune", "Encanto", "The French Dispatch..." and "The Power of the Dog" got in for a Studio Film, while "The Green Knight", "Parallel Mothers" and "Spencer" got in for independent films. This puts Jonny Greenwood in the interesting position of possibly being nominated twice, for "The Power of the Dog" and "Spencer" and that's probably likely, one and often both have popped up regularly at most critics and awards that offer a Best Score category. The one that's kinda throwing me is "Encanto". Score is a good place for an animated film to get a secondary nomination somewhere, and the music is definitely becoming the signature part of the movie. However, the song from the movie that's shortlisted is so I can see the nomination in Score as much as a consolation prize since, I suspect the Song award will ultimately go to something else....  Looking off-the-board, "The Harder They Fall" is the non-guild shortlisted titles that's popped up most everywhere else. I also can see Alberto Iglesias getting in for "Parallel Mothers"; that's be a little weird though. Not counting "Minari", "Babel" or "The Passion of the Christ", the last time a foreign language feature got nominated here was...- holy hell, 2000! Longer then I thought, that's when "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" won and "Malena" got nominated. That's weird, in the '90s, foreign language films were nominated and won all the time in the category; I don't know why that shifted so drastically.... (Shrugs) I'm wondering if I keep "Encanto" does Greenwood only get the one, and "Spencer" gets kicked out? "Spencer" has underperformed all along here; this is the only Guild Award it got in for.... It might miss everything here.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (PREDICTIONS)
Don't Look Up-Nicholas Britell
Dune-Hans Zimmer
Encanto-Germaine Franco
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun-Alexandre Desplat
The Power of the Dog-Jonny Greenwood


ORIGINAL SONG (shortlist)
"So May We Start?"-"Annette"
"Down to Joy"-"Belfast"
"Right Where I Belong"-"Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road"
"Automatic Woman"-"Bruised"
"Dream Girl"-"Cinderella"
"Beyond the Shore"-"CODA"
"The Anonymous Ones"-"Dear Evan Hansen"
"Just Look Up"-"Don't Look Up"
"Dos Oruguitas"-"Encanto"
"Somehow You Do"-"Four Good Days"
"Guns Go Bang"-"The Harder They Fall"
"Be Alive"-"King Richard"
"No Time to Die"-"No Time to Die"
"Here I Am (Singing My Way Home)"-"Respect"
"Your Song Saved My Life"-"Sing 2"

Okay, I've gotten through all of the songs, and for the most part, this is a really good shortlist. I wish they didn't do a shortlist for this category (Or, at least, release the longlist, anyway, Academy!?!?!?!") Anyway, no, this is mostly a good batch, and I get why this is a difficult category this year. I mean, I never ever heard of this new "Cinderella" film, but "Dream Girl", is a great song for a "Cinderella" movie. And sung by Idina Menzel! Good, lord! That's not even really in the discussion. There's interesting dilemmas here though. The "Encanto" song that's eligible, is not "We Don't Talk About Bruno", but a Spanish-language song called "Dos Oruguitas", and it's a good song that will get nominated, but, eh, I think the fact that it's arguably not the best song in the movie is gonna hurt it. The two big disappointments for me that I could see get nominated are "Here I Am..." from "Respect," which is written by Carole King among others, and it's sung well, but it's not a great song. Compared to Billie Eilish's "No Time to Die", which is also a song that's very much about the story of the movie it's in, it really lacks. Also, U2's song from "Sing 2", is just, awful! Man, I love U2, and I do want them to win an Oscar eventually; they've lost twice before with really good songs, but holy god, at least the version I listened to sounded terrible and it's just a really uninteresting and lazy song; I don't want to say that it's basically just a far weaker version of Elton John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", it's not that technically, there are real nuanced differences, despite the words seeming similar in their titles, and they sound a little alike, but yeah, I couldn't not think that in the moment. I guess it wasn't awful, but when a Van Morrison and Brian Wilson song can't make the cut, I'm grading on an extreme curb. Even the Beyonce song from "King Richard" is one of my favorites from hers, and, hell, Jay-Z's song from "The Harder They Fall" might've been my favorite of the group. It's nice to see this category so competive.

ORIGINAL SONG (PREDICTIONS)
"Just Look Up"-Don't Look Up
"Dos Oruguitas"-Encanto
"Guns Go Bang"-The Harder They Fall
"Be Alive"-King Richard
"No Time to Die"-No Time to Die


PRODUCTION DESIGN (possibles, longlist)
"Annette"
"Being the Ricardos"
"Belle"
"Belfast"
"Candyman"
"Cruella"
"Cyrano"
"Don't Look Up"
"Dune"
"Encanto"
"The French Dispatch for the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
"Ghostbusters: Afterlife"
"The Green Knight"
"The Hand of God"
"The Harder They Fall"
"House of Gucci"
"In the Heights"
"The King's Man"
"The Last Duel"
"Last Night in Soho"
"Licorice Pizza"
"The Lost Daughter"
"Luca"
"The Matrix Resurrections"
"The Mitchells vs. the Machines"
"Mortal Kombat"
"Nightmare Alley"
"No Time to Die"
"Passing"
"Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway"
"The Power of the Dog"
"Raya and the Last Dragon"
"Ron's Gone Wrong"
"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"
"Spider-Man: No Way Home"
"tick, tick...BOOM!"
"The Tragedy of Macbeth"
"Sing 2"
"Spencer"
"Vivo"
"West Side Story"

I keep forgetting that we have two Guild for this category, the ADG, Art Directors, and the SDG, the Set Decorators. The latter is newer. It also leads to difference because the ADG separate more by a movie's setting, while the SDG separates by genre. The films that got nominated by both are "The French Dispatch...", "Licorice Pizza", "Nightmare Alley", "The Tragedy of MacBeth", "West Side Story", "Cruella", "Dune", "Don't Look Up", "The Lost Daughter" and "No Time to Die". "Cruella" and "Dune" were in the Fantasy category at ADG, and I suspect one of them at least gets in, and probably "Dune". "Don't Look Up", "The Lost Daughter' and "No Time to Die" were up in Contemporary Film, so, I don't think they're in the mix, although "Don't Look Up" or "No Time to Die" wouldn't surprise me. What period film is out though? (Scratches head shrugs) Honestly, I think I would prefer to put the five period films in, the production design wasn't something I liked from "Dune", but... (Sigh) I think the voters are gonna presume that "Licorice Pizza" might've been the easiest of them to replicate, even though I don't think that, but....-

PRODUCTION DESIGN (PREDICTIONS)
Dune
The French Dispatch for the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun
Nightmare Alley
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story


SOUND (shortlist)
"Belfast"
"Dune"
"Last Night in Soho"
"The Matrix Resurrections"
"No Time to Die"
"The Power of the Dog"
"A Quiet Place Part II"
"Spider-Man: No Way Home"
"tick, tick...BOOM!"
"West Side Story"

The re-combining of the Sound Mixing and Sound Editing categories has made this a very difficult category to predict. Going by the Guilds, "Dune", looks like the only sure thing. CAS, the Sound Mixers also nominated, "No Time to Die", "The Power of the Dog", "Spider-Man..." and "West Side Story", which is what makes this category, difficult. Musicals. "West Side Story" along with "tick, tick...BOOM!" are wild cards compared to the rest of the shortlist which are either action films, and/or just potential BP winners. The rest of the nominees got, at least something from the Golden Reels, with "Dune", "The Matrix Resurrections" and "A Quiet Place Part II", being the only films that showed up in each of their three main feature categories. "The Matrix" missed BAFTA, but I'm gonna assume they're in anyway. Gotta figure "West Side Story" gets in, as it's shown up more often in more categories across most of the major awards. The last spot I think is between "No Time to Die" and "Last Night in Soho", both got into BAFTA, but "No Time to Die" got more Guilds. It's an Edgar Wright, and it's also music-heavy; I could see it spoil a la "Baby Driver"'s nominations in these categories a few years ago. Kinda hard to go against a James Bond though.

SOUND (PREDICTIONS)
Dune
The Matrix Resurrections
No Time to Die
A Quiet Place Part II
West Side Story


VISUAL EFFECTS (shortlist) 
"Black Widow"
"Dune"
"Eternals"
"Free Guy"
"Ghostbusters: Afterlife"
"Godzilla vs. Kong"
"The Matrix Resurrections"
"No Time to Die"
"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"
"Spider-Man: No Way Home"

Well, I'd be tempted to throw out "Free Guy" and "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" right away, since they didn't get anything from the VES Awards, but "1917" won the Oscar two years ago, and it barely got a mention from them as well. Also both have been sneaking into Visual Effects awards at other shows; both of them getting into BAFTA has gotten me a bit nervous. Neither seem to be particularly beloved though. This is easily where "Spider-Man..." and "Shang-Chi..." will show up, both did very well behind "Dune" who, is pretty much running away with the VESs and the Oscar. It's tricky, 'cause for their main category, the Guild had six nominees instead of five,  "The Matrix Resurrections", "No Time to Die" and "Godzilla vs. Kong". None of their second-tier category, "Supporting Visual Effects" are on the shortlist, so unless something weird happens, it's pretty much, trying to pick the right 5 out of the 6 here. 

VISUAL EFFECTS (PREDICTIONS)
Dune
Godzilla vs. Kong
The Matrix Resurrections
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Seven Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home"


ANIMATED SHORT FILM
"Affairs of the Art"
"Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman's Apprentice"
"Bad Seeds"
"Bestia"
"Boxballet"
"Flowing Home"
"Mum Is Pouring Rain"
"The Musician"
"Namoo"
"Only a Child"
"Robin Robin"
"Souvenir Souvenir"
"Step into the River"
"Us Again"
"The Windshield Wiper"

I got around to watching ten of these shorts, my favorite of the bunch was "The Windshield Wiper" which is up there high in the Gold Derby rankings, but I'm not sure it's getting in. I can see some people ranting on it for just being a bunch of images as opposed to a story. I didn't see "Affair of the Art", but that one got into BAFTA, and I generally think if something gets in there, then it'll probably get in here. After that, I think "Us Again" and "Robin Robin" are easy ins. One's Disney/Pixar, the other's on Netflix, and it's a 1/2 hour epic one with music and lots of animation. That's not always a guarantee in, but if there is something's that fairly elaborate, like a "Peter and the Wolf" from '06, which was a 1/2 hour long, you can usually expect that to get in if it's even remotely entertaining. "Only a Child" has me worried, 'cause while I like it a little better then it, it reminded me a lot of "Love, Basketball", which- sorry Kobe fans, I hated, but I can see that getting in. The animation is a bit lacking though. The morbid part of me wants to see "Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman's Apprentice" get in, just to have to see whoever's announcing the nominees this year have to try to pronounce it. Who is it announcing them anyway? 

(Google search)

Tracee Ellis Ross and Leslie Jordan? Well, Ross has done it before, and I'm- not entirely sure why Leslie Jordan is suddenly everywhere lately, but okay. The academy's just had weird decision with this lately; I wish they'd just go back to waking up past nominees/winners and bring back the multiple TV behind them. It looked and felt so much more official.  Oh, right, I gotta make some predictions here....

ANIMATED SHORT FILM (PREDICTIONS)
Affair of the Art
The Musician
Robin Robin
Step Into the River
Us Again


LIVE-ACTION SHORT
"Ala Kachuu - Take and Run"
"Censor of Dreams"
"The Criminals"
"Distances"
"The Dress"
"Frimas"
"Les Grandes Claques"
"The Long Goodbye"
"On My Mind"
"Please Hold"
"Stenofonen"
"Tala'vision"
"Under the Heavens"
"When the Sun Sets"
"You're Dead Helen"

I watched more of these then I thought I would, but that doesn't necessarily help me. "The Long Goodbye" is Riz Ahmed's short film, and it's pretty powerful, even if it's simplistic in it's Chaplinesque directness. Of the ones I liked the most that I saw, I enjoyed "Stenofonen" and "The Dress", despite the rough ending of that one. I saw the trailers for the rest and just based on those, "You're Dead, Helen" and "Frimas" seem like safer bets for me then some of the favorites, "You're Dead, Helen"'s the fun one, "Frimas" will have the emotional pull. "Tala'Vision" has the time period, and the issue with Syria on it, "The Long Goodbye" has the Hollywood backing, and that last one, I'm debating between "When the Sun Sets", the GD co-favorite and "Ala Kachuu...". Basically, it's Apartheid, vs. forced marriage, which tradition is/was worst? "When the Sun Sets" has an Academy Student Oscar scholarship winner attached as director, but I don't know if that always tips the scale. Eh, there's not a bad one in this bunch either, so...., let's take a chance.

LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM (PREDICTIONS)
Ala Kachuu-Take and Run
Frimas
The Long Goodbye
Tala'Vision
You're Dead, Helen



DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
"Aguilas"
"Audible"
"A Broken House"
"Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis"
"Coded: The Hidden Love of J.C. Leyendecker"
"Day of Rage"
"The Facility"
"Lead Me Home"
"Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day"
"The Queen of Basketball"
"Sophie & the Baron"
"Takeover"
"Terror Contagion"
"Three Songs for Benazir"
"When We Were Bullies"

I managed to watch all but two of these, "Sophie and the Baron" and "When We Were Bullies". Both of them have shots at getting in, "Sophie..." has Courtney Cox's name attached as a producer believe it or not, and "When We Were Bullies",- well, I can easily see that getting in by the trailer. The Nazi entry is "Camp Confidential..." this year, and that's actually an odd one. Most of these are the New York Times vs. Netflix, and surprisingly enough, vs. Paramount Plus, which has three titles here. The best of the NYT is "Day of Rage" to me, which is also about the Insurrection, so it's timely, but "The Queen of Basketball" is a wonderfully fun little biodoc, that I'm sure will get votes. "Terror Contagion" is by Laura Poitras, the great documentarian behind "CitizenFour", so there's a decent shot she could get in by recognition. Paramount Plus's best entry, in my mind, is "Lynching Postcards..." but Gold Derby has "Coded..." in a higher position. I liked both of those a lot; but I think this is a NYT vs. Netflix matchup. I don't buy most of the favorites on this one, and since I've seen most of them, I'm going with my gut and take one from Netflix, one I didn't see, and the rest are the best from the Times. 

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT (PREDICTIONS)
Day of Rage
Lead Me Home
The Queen of Basketball
Takeover
When We Were Bullies


Well, there we go folks, my Oscar predictions. And I only missed my deadline by six hours, and barely got it in before all these prognostications gets laughed at for being so incredibly wrong. 

Happy Oscar Nomination Day Everyone! I'll be back analyzing what did get nominated sooner then later, I promise.

Oh, and here, for no reason in particular, Scott Hamilton skating to Aerosmith. Enjoy.