Recently Watched Movies (Jan 2025 - )

Priest (Bird, 1995) - B-

Pump Up the Volume (Moyle, 1990) - B

Dancer In the Dark (von Trier, 2000) - B+

Kiss of the Spider Woman (Babenco, 1985) - B+

28 Years Later (Boyle, 2025) - B+

Materialists (Song, 2025) - B

Small Time Crooks (Allen, 2000) - B

George Washington (Green, 2000) - A-

The Friend (McGehee & Siegel, 2025) - C+

This Is Spinal Tap (Reiner, 1984) - B+

The Beach (Boyle, 2000) - C

How To Train Your Dragon (DeBlois, 2025) - C

Dangerous Animals (Byrne, 2025) - B

The Life of Chuck (Flanagan, 2025) - C+

Europa Europa (Holland, 1990) - B+

Casino (Scorsese, 1995) - B+

Rebel Without a Cause (Ray, 1955) - A-

The Phoenician Scheme (Anderson, 2025) - B-

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (Wiseman, 2025) - B-

Bring Her Back (Danny and Michael Philippou, 2025) - C+

Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980) - A

Breathless (Godard, 1960) - A-

28 Weeks Later (Fresndillo, 2007) - B+

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (McQuarrie, 2025) - C+

Karate Kid: Legends (Entwistle, 2025) - C

Tornado (Maclean, 2025) - B

Lilo & Stitch (Fleischer-Camp, 2025) - C

Friendship (DeYoung, 2025) - B

The Last Rodeo (Avnet, 2025) - C-

28 Days Later (Boyle, 2003) - A-

The New World (Malick, 2005 - Theatrical Cut) - A

The Underneath (Soderbergh, 1995) - B+

Hackers (Softley, 1995) - C

Cinderella (Geronimi, Jackson & Luske, 1950) - A

The Aristocats (Reitherman, 1970) - B

La Femme Nikita (Besson, 1990) - B

Sense and Sensibility (Lee, 1995) - B+

Pocahontas (Gabriel & Goldberg, 1995) - B

American Gigolo (Schrader, 1980) - B

Apollo 13 (Howard, 1995) - B+

Virtuosity (Leonard, 1995) - D+

Final Destination: Bloodlines (Lipovsky & Stein, 2025) - B

Hurry Up Tomorrow (Shults, 2025) - C-

Lady and the Tramp (Geronimi, Jackson & Luske, 1955) - A-

The Hunt For Red October (McTiernan, 1990) - B-

Carrington (Hampton, 1995) - C

Shadow Force (Carnahan, 2025) - C-

Clown in a Cornfield (Craig, 2025) - B

Thirteen Days (Donaldson, 2000) - C

How To Make an American Quilt (Moorhouse, 1995) - C

The Surfer (Finnegan, 2025) - C+

Sinners (Coogler, 2025) - B+

Until Dawn (Sandberg, 2025) - C-

Rosario (Vargas, 2025) - C-

Thunderbolts* (Schreier, 2025) - B-

Patton (Schaffner, 1970) - B+

Lilo & Stitch (DeBlois & Sanders, 2002) - B

Caddyshack (Ramis, 1980) - B

On Swift Horses (Minahan, 2025) - C+

The Accountant 2 (O'Connor, 2025) - C

In the Mood for Love (Wong, 2001) - A-

To Catch a Thief (Hitchcock, 1955) - A-

The Order (Kurzel, 2024) - B+

The Running Man (Glaser, 1987) - B

The Legend of Ochi (Saxon, 2025) - B

Warfare (Garland & Mendoza, 2025) - B

The Wedding Banquet (Ahn, 2025) - B-

The King of Kings (Jang, 2025) - C

Night Moves (Penn, 1975) - A-

Juror No. 2 (Eastwood, 2024) - B

Maximum Overdrive (King, 1986) - C

Blow Out (De Palma, 1981) - B+

Drop (Landon, 2025) - B-

The Amateur (Hawes, 2025) - C+

Empire Records (Moyle, 1995) - B

A Minecraft Movie (Hess, 2025) - C-

A Working Man (Ayer, 2025) - C-

Death of a Unicorn (Scharfman, 2025) - C

Leave the World Behind (Esmail, 2023) - B-

The Forty-Year-Old Version (Blank, 2020) - B

Airplane! (Abrahams, Zucker & Zucker, 1980) - B+

How To Have Sex (Manning-Walker, 2024) - B+

The Penguin Lessons (Cattaneo, 2025) - B-

The Woman In the Yard (Collet-Serra, 2025) - C-

The Alto Knights (Levinson, 2025) - C-

La Haine (Kassovitz, 1995) - C+

Nowhere (Araki, 1997) - C-

Alphaville (Godard, 1965) - B+

Memphis Belle (Caton-Jones, 1990) - C

Le Cercle Rouge (Melville, 1970) - A-

Cast Away (Zemeckis, 2000) - B+

Witness (Weir, 1985) - B

Snow White (Webb, 2025) - C+

Magazine Dreams (Bynum, 2025) - B

Black Bag (Soderbergh, 2025) - B+

The Doom Generation (Araki, 1995) - B

Used Cars (Zemeckis, 1980) - B+

Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990) - A-

Mickey 17 (Bong, 2025) - C+

Opus (Green, 2025) - C-

Friday (Gray, 1995) - B-

Bamboozled (Lee, 2000) - B+

Rule Breakers (Guttentag, 2025) - B-

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (Browngardt, 2025) - B-

The Rule of Jenny Pen (Ashcroft, 2025) - C+

The Monkey (Perkins, 2025) - C

In the Lost Lands (Anderson, 2025) - C-

Nashville (Altman, 1975) - A

Oddity (McCarthy, 2024) - B+

Boys on the Side (Ross, 1995) - B-

Dog Day Afternoon (Lumet, 1975) - A

The Way Back (Weir, 2010) - B-

Your Lucky Day (Brown, 2023) - B-

The Apartment (Wilder, 1960) - A-

Kids (Clark, 1995) - B-

Last Breath (Parkinson, 2025) - B-

The Unbreakable Boy (Gunn, 2025) - C

Heart Eyes (Ruben, 2025) - C+

The Six Triple Eight (Perry, 2024) - C-

September 5 (Fehlbaum, 2024) - B-

Cry-Baby (Waters, 1990) - B-

The Trouble With Harry (Hitchcock, 1955) - B

Paddington In Peru (Wilson, 2025) - B-

Captain America: Brave New World (Onah, 2025) - C-

I'm Still Here (Salles, 2024) - B+

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Forman, 1975) - A-

Queer (Guadagnino, 2024) - C+

Hard Truths (Leigh, 2024) - B

The Outrun (Fingscheidt, 2024) - B-

I Saw the TV Glow (Schoenbrun, 2024) - B

Bring Them Down (Andrews, 2025) - B-

Love Hurts (Eusebio, 2025) - C-

Your Monster (Lindy, 2024) - B-

Eating Raoul (Bartel, 1982) - B+

Sing Sing (Kwedar, 2024) - B+

Tuesday (Pusić, 2024) - C+

Dog Man (Hastings, 2025) - B

Companion (Hancock, 2025) - B

Janet Planet (Baker, 2024) - B

Problemista (Torres, 2024) - B

Scarlet Street (Lang, 1945) - B+

Apartment 7A (James, 2024) - C-

The Return (Pasolini, 2024) - C+

Elevation (Nolfi, 2024) - C+

The Ladykillers (Mackendrick, 1955) - B

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (Gudegast, 2025) - B-

The Brutalist (Corbet, 2024) - A-

Nickel Boys (Ross, 2024) - B+

Presence (Soderbergh, 2025) - C+

Flight Risk (Gibson, 2025) - C-

Drive, He Said (Nicholson, 1971) - C+

The Yards (Gray, 2000) - B-

Five Easy Pieces (Rafelson, 1970) - B+

Sugarcane (Kassie & NoiceCat, 2024) - B+

One Of Them Days (Lamont, 2025) - B-

Wolf Man (Whannell, 2025) - C

The Room Next Door (Almodóvar, 2024) - C+

Girlfight (Kusama, 2000) - B

The Claim (Winterbottom, 2000) - B

Cutthroat Island (Harlin, 1995) - C

The End We Start From (Belo, 2024) - B+

Out of Africa (Pollack, 1985) - B+

Flow (Zilbalodis, 2024) - B

The Last Showgirl (Coppola, 2024) - B-

Nosferatu (Eggers, 2024) - B-

Better Man (Gracey, 2024) - C

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande (Hyde, 2022) - B+

Silent Bite (Martin, 2024) - D

Den of Thieves (Gudegast, 2018) - B

Fresh (Cave, 2022) - B-

Femme (Freeman & Ping, 2024) - B+

The Damned (Palsson, 2025) - B

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Fowler, 2024) - C

The Piano Lesson (Washington, 2024) - C+

The Substance (Fargeat, 2024) - B+

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Crossingham & Park, 2024) - B-

The Virgin Suicides (Coppola, 2000) - B+

A Different Man (Schimberg, 2024) - B+

The Fire Inside (Morrison, 2024) - C

A Complete Unknown (Mangold, 2024) - B-

Kneecap (Peppiatt, 2024) - B

Lee (Kuras, 2024) - C

A Love Song (Walker-Silverman, 2022) - B+

Last year I focused on a revisit of 1999. I think this year I'm gonna try as many from 1995 as I can. That's really the year that my movie watching took off.

Ranking the Last 10 Oscar Winners...

I've wanted to do this for awhile...

Best Picture:

1. Parasite

2. Moonlight

3. Nomadland

4. The Shape of Water

5. Everything Everywhere All At Once

6. Oppenheimer

7. Anora

8. Spotlight

9. CODA

10. Green Book

Best Directing:

1. Bong Joon Ho - Parasite

2. Chloé Zhao - Nomadland

3. Jane Campion - The Power of the Dog

4. Damien Chazelle - La La Land

5. Guillermo del Toro - The Shape of Water

6. The Daniels - Everything Everywhere All At Once

7. Christopher Nolan - Oppenheimer

8. Alfonso Cuarón - Roma

9. Sean Baker - Anora

10. Alejandro González Iñárritu - The Revenant

Best Actor In a Leading Role:

1. Casey Affleck - Manchester by the Sea

2. Anthony Hopkins - The Father

3. Adrien Brody - The Brutalist

4. Joaquin Phoenix - Joker

5. Cillian Murphy - Oppenheimer

6. Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour

7. Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant

8. Will Smith - King Richard

9. Rami Malek - Bohemian Rhapsody

10. Brendan Fraser - The Whale

Best Actress in a Leading Role:

1. Olivia Colman - The Favourite

2. Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All At Once

3. Emma Stone - Poor Things

4. Frances McDormand - Nomadland

5. Mikey Madison - Anora

6. Renée Zellweger - Judy

7. Brie Larson - Room

8. Emma Stone - La La Land

9. Jessica Chastain - The Eyes of Tammy Faye

10. Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

1. Daniel Kaluuya - Judas and the Black Messiah

2. Kieran Culkin - A Real Pain

3. Mahershala Ali - Moonlight

4. Mark Rylance - Bridge of Spies

5. Ke Huy Quan - Everything Everywhere All At Once

6. Robert Downey Jr - Oppenheimer

7. Troy Kotsur - CODA

8. Brad Pitt - Once Upon a Time In Hollywood...

9. Mahershala Ali - Green Book

10. Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

1. Viola Davis - Fences

2. Da'Vine Joy Randolph - The Holdovers

3. Youn Yuh-jung - Minari

4. Regina King - If Beale Street Could Talk

5. Zoe Saldaña - Emilia Pérez

6. Ariana DeBose - West Side Story

7. Alicia Vikander - The Danish Girl

8. Laura Dern - Marriage Story

9. Allison Janney - I, Tonya

10. Jamie Lee Curtis - Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Original Screenplay:

1. Parasite

2. Everything Everywhere All At Once

3. Get Out

4. Promising Young Woman

5. Anatomy of a Fall

6. Anora

7. Manchester By the Sea

8. Belfast

9. Spotlight

10. Green Book

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1. Moonlight

2. Call Me By Your Name

3. Blackkklansman

4. Women Talking

5. Conclave

6. The Father

7. American Fiction

8. The Big Short

9. Jojo Rabbit

10. CODA

Best International Feature:

1. Parasite

2. Drive My Car

3. The Zone of Interest

4. I'm Still Here

5. A Fantastic Woman

6. Roma

7. All Quiet on the Western Front

8. Son of Saul

9. The Salesman

10. Another Round

Best Animated Feature:

1. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

3. Inside Out

4. Soul

5. Coco

6. Flow

7. The Boy and the Heron

8. Zootopia

9. Encanto

10. Toy Story 4

I've only seen 4 of the recent Best Documentary nominees, sadly. 

The 75th American Cinema Editors - The Eddies! - Winners

Best Edited Feature Film (Drama, Theatrical)

Emilia Pérez - Juliette Welfling

Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy, Theatrical)

Wicked - Myron Kerstein

Best Edited Animated Feature Film

The Wild Robot - Mary Blee

Best Edited Documentary Feature

Will & Harper - Monique Zavistovski

Shame these couldn't have come before the Oscars as they would have made that category even more unpredictable, but I appreciate them doing their own thing. Worth nothing that the voting actually closed in early January before the fires, so that might explain Emilia winning.

97th Oscars Wrap Up

THE 97TH ACADEMY AWARDS

Host: Conan O'Brien

Winners: Anora, Sean Baker, Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Kieran Culkin, and Zoe Saldaña

Notable Occurrences/Trivia:

+Sean Baker ties Walt Disney with the record for most wins in a single night: four.

+The show begins with a tribute to LA, devastated after the recent fires. It, like many recent award shows, showcases some of the county's firefighters. 

+Third year in a row that a film won 4 (or more) above the line Oscars, along with editing. 

+Anora becomes the third Palme d'Or Cannes winner to win Best Picture following Marty and Parasite. 

+Adrien Brody broke Greer Garson's record for longest acceptance speech by a few seconds. 

+No Other Land, the Documentary winner, did not have a US distributor. 

The Good:

+Conan was a great host. He knows how to work the crowd, and most of the bits killed. The Karla/Anora joke was an all-timer. 

+The LA tribute that opened the show was moving, and could have been longer. There's a lot more films than La La Land for the city, though. 

+Getting the firefighters to not just stand there, but make jokes was a good choice. The Joker 2 joke, followed by Monica Barbaro looking frozen in fear was aces. 

+Cynthia and Ariana killed it. 

+I know the 5-presenter thing has its fans and its haters, and I've been one of its defenders here several times. I thought the tributes for Costume Design and Cinematography were good. Adding that connection and having a co-star of the movie do it was perhaps what was missing. I hope they do this every year for 2-3 categories. In the cinematography showcase, they had images in the split screen. I think they should make more use of the split screen in ceremony. This also keeps some of the presenters relevant to the nominated films. 

+Most of the category presentations were good. At least it wasn't just trailer excerpts. 

+June Squibb being a sprightly comic performer on that stage. "I'm Bill Skarsgaard." Gold. 

+The banter between presenters was decent. Nothing too cringe. In fact, that word came up in the Costume Design presentation. 

+Morgan Freeman's intro to Gene Hackman and the In Memoriam was touching. I thought that segment was mostly well done. Some did not. More on that later.

+The Best Picture clips coming back from the commercial breaks is still a smart move. They added voiceover this year. I don't think they did that the past two years. 

+Margaret Qualley may have stolen the Bond musical number. 

+I liked the hug between Fernanda Torres and Edward Norton after I'm Still Here won. 

+Lots of standing ovations. I like to see it.

+Happy to see the warm reception to No Other Land.  

+Sean Baker pointing out the connection of Mikey when Quentin presented Directing. Whoever cast Once Upon a Time In Hollywood should be proud of themselves.

+Nick Offerman did a good job as announcer. Certainly better than what the Globes did this year. 

+I love love love the shoutout to movie theaters: Conan's bit advertising a place you can go to stream movies and Sean's plee for the theatrical window (something he has done all season). As someone who spent way too much of his life working at one, I know everything that can go wrong in a theater. But when its at its best, its one of life's best pleasures. 

+"When you have a chance of being an Oscar winner for the rest of your life, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." That was smooth, Billy. 

The Bad:

+The severe lack of starpower, yet again. I love When Harry Met Sally and appreciate Billy and Meg presenting, but they should have done one of the screenplays instead of Picture. Love Amy Poehler, but she's also not a big enough name to do 2 of the top 8 awards. I just think maybe the people producing the show don't have the connections those people who produced the show twenty or thirty years ago did. Or maybe all the A-listers are off filming that Christopher Nolan movie. Also, again, more past winners presenting, please. I was watching the red carpet to the Vanity Fair party, and there were people there who were much more relevant to the current film world than Daryl Hannah, Miley Cyrus, and Mark Hamill. 

+Please explain why Bowen Yang and Ethan Slater were in the front row but Mikey Madison and Fernanda Torres were in the third row. (I have no idea where Karla was sitting. LOL) In fact, I can't think of a time the Best Actress winner was not in the front row. The seating is very odd. Why were half of The Brutalist ensemble (Nivola, Martin, Cassidy) on the opposite side of the auditorium as the nominated cast/director? I know its all a big puzzle, but just odd. And Zoe wasn't anywhere near the rest of the Emilia crew?

+As much as I loved Conan, his opening was way too long. Then bringing in Adam Sandler for a bit that mostly seemed confusing, then the musical number about wasting time. 

+Pace the show better. Again, great opening, but the first award wasn't presented until almost half an hour into the show. And only about 4 awards for the first hour??

+Yeah, just jettison the In Memoriam into the sun. So many names left out again, and people online are never happy about these exclusions. In fact, it seems like the media always makes a big deal about who is left off. Just make a little movie like TCM does and put a link to it or play the big names during the red carpet. 

+Outside of the LA montage that opened the show, very little sense of history. I get that a lot of the Academy's history is considered problematic now, but its still worth showcasing some film history. 

+That Original Song clip package lasted forever. 

+Too many winners towards the end getting played off. Lots of small things could have been cut to give them more time. 

+The acting presentations need to go back to the traditional way. I don't have a problem with the last winner in the category presenting the next one instead of the gender swap. I'm sure some of this change was due to them being afraid Karla would get booed or something. Robert and Da'Vine did their best to sell the supporting nominees, but the writing was lacklaster. 

+Please tell me that's the last Bond tribute. Halle Berry presented a Bond musical number 12 years ago, and we saw it happen last night. The Oscars should not be a rerun. I didn't dislike the performance like most did. I'm all for a gaudy Oscar production number, but those performers aren't big enough names and Bond isn't really relevant this year. I think they keep doing these because it feels like its all leading into the living Bonds all being on stage together. And it never happens! I did enjoy how when it ended the camera cut to Bond alumni Ralph Fiennes and Ana de Armas being like "...okay?". 

+Speaking of reruns, how many times can we see Cruz present International Film?

+OMG wrap it up, Adrien.

+Look, I'm a petty bitch. I won't deny it. So I'll say this: I will never forgive Chalamet for being the one who got a K********n to the front row of the Oscars. Fuck him forever. 

Best Dressed:

Really liked Halle Berry, Whoopi Goldberg, Demi Moore, and Jeremy Strong. 

Loved...

Felicity Jones is my runner-up.

Selena Gomez is #1, and gets a special mention for being so well dressed throughout the season.

Another award season down. I've decided I need to finally do the "Rank the Last 10 Winners" things. I've been saying I would do it for awhile, but it's overdue. I also want to do a big post with past scores so I have that as a reference point. 

Go see a movie this week! Go see a movie every week!

The 97th ACADEMY AWARDS Winners!

BEST PICTURE

ANORA

BEST DIRECTING

SEAN BAKER - ANORA

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

ADRIEN BRODY - THE BRUTALIST

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

MIKEY MADISON - ANORA

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

KIERAN CULKIN - A REAL PAIN

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

ZOE SALDAÑA - EMILIA PÉREZ

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

SEAN BAKER - ANORA

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

PETER STRAUGHAN - CONCLAVE

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

FLOW

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

NO OTHER LAND

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

I'M STILL HERE

BEST FILM EDITING

ANORA

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

THE BRUTALIST

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

WICKED

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

WICKED

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

THE SUBSTANCE

BEST MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE

THE BRUTALIST

BEST MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG

"EL MAL" - EMILIA PÉREZ

BEST SOUND

DUNE: PART 2

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

DUNE: PART 2

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

I'M NOT A ROBOT

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

IN THE SHADOW OF THE CYPRUS

BEST DOCUMENTARY - SHORT SUBJECT

THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ORCHESTRA

17/23 (+4 alts)

FIRST GHOSTFACE TO WIN AN OSCAR!!! Like I wasn't going to begin with that little trivia?

Decent winners, okay show. It was severely lacking in star power (I'm still LOLing at Daryl Hannah???), and I'm baffled why we keep getting these Bond tributes. The musical performances themselves were okay, though. Also, the inconsistency with how the acting categories are presented is getting annoying. Obviously, more on all that in my wrap up. I feel bad for Demi. Hopefully, some great directors will hire her. But I've been firmly in Mikey's court since Better Things. 

Conan was great, though. The Karla/Anora joke was an all-timer. 

Sean Baker's rallying call for movie theaters = hell yeah. Neon, listen to him. Give Anora a big theatrical push this coming weekend. He also made history with those four wins. Sean Baker and Walt Disney, lol. Oh, Oscars.

Watch the Oscars!

Depp sinks her teeth into an Oscar

The 97th Academy Awards airs tomorrow, March 2, at 7PM Eastern on ABC and Hulu. This is the second year in a row they've gone with the earlier time slot. Official red carpet starts on that network at 6:30PM. E! will start coverage at 2PM. I'm a bit disappointed ABC isn't doing its coverage earlier in the day like they've done for the past half decade or so. That usually had a lot of archival footage and getting-to-know-the-nominees clips. 

Conan O'Brien will make his debut as host for this ceremony. He's long been someone many, including myself, have wanted to get the masters or ceremony gig.

Presenters will include Joe Alwyn, Dave Bautista, Halle Berry, Sterling K. Brown, Penélope Cruz, Miley Cyrus, Willem Dafoe, Ana de Armas, Lily-Rose Depp, Robert Downey Jr, Elle Fanning, Gal Gadot, Andrew Garfield, Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, Mark Hamill, Goldie Hawn, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow, Cillian Murphy, Connie Nielsen, Amy Poehler, Margaret Qualley, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Alba Rohrwacher, Zoe Saldaña, June Squibb, Ben Stiller, Emma Stone, Miles Teller, Oprah Winfrey, Bowen Yang, and Rachel Zegler. The producers of the show have promised a few surprise guests, as well. 

Goldie and Andrew get ready for some banter

Oprah and Whoopi. Last names not required. 

June and Scarlett plug their upcoming film

The Original Song nominees will not be performed on the telecast. Instead, it's rumored we will see performances that will honor the City of Los Angeles, the late Quincy Jones, a Bond musical tribute, and a medley of Wicked numbers. Performers include Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande; Doja Cat, Lisa of Blackpink, and Raye; and Queen Latifah. 

I felt that the past two ceremonies were quite good, and hopefully this keeps the trend going. 

Enjoy the show!

If I Picked the Winners...

Only voting in categories where I've seen everything. 

Visual Effects: Dune: Part 2

Sound: Dune: Part 2

Makeup and Hairstyling: The Substance

Production Design: The Brutalist

Costume Design: Wicked

Original Score: The Brutalist

Cinematography: The Brutalist

Film Editing: Eh...Conclave?

Animated Feature: Memoir of a Snail - one of my favorites of the year! Wish it had a chance at a win. 

Adapted Screenplay: Sing Sing

Original Screenplay: A Real Pain

Supporting Actor: I love all these performances and will be happy to see any of them win, but Culkin is a lead. If I were a voter, I'd vote for Pearce. 

(ranked)

1. Kieran Culkin - A Real Pain

2. Guy Pearce - The Brutalist

3. Jeremy Strong - The Apprentice

4. Edward Norton - A Complete Unknown

5. Yura Borisov - Anora

Supporting Actress: Again, I wouldn't vote for Zoe or Ariana as they are leads. I'd vote for Isabella also for a career win.

1. Zoe Saldaña - Emilia Pérez

2. Isabella Rossellini - Conclave

3. Felicity Jones - The Brutalist

4. Ariana Grande - Wicked

5. Monica Barbaro - A Complete Unknown

Leading Actor: If Star were nominated for A Different Man, I'd vote for that. 

1. Adrien Brody - The Brutalist

2. Colman Domingo - Sing Sing

3. Sebastian Stan - The Apprentice

4. Ralph Fiennes - Conclave

5. Timothée Chalamet - A Complete Unknown

Leading Actress:

1. Fernanda Torres - I'm Still Here

2. Demi Moore - The Substance

3. Mikey Madison - Anora

4. Cynthia Erivo - Wicked

5. Karla Sofía Gascón - Emilia Pérez

Directing: Brady Corbet - The Brutalist

BEST PICTURE:

1. The Brutalist

2. Nickel Boys

3. I'm Still Here

4. The Substance

5. Dune: Part 2

6. Anora

7. Conclave

8. A Complete Unknown

9. Emilia Pérez

10. Wicked

97th Oscars Winner Predix

I'll be back tomorrow with my choices for who I'd vote for. (I am not an Academy member. I've been informed of this via very sternly worded legal letters.) Quite a few close races this year, so should be an exciting show in that regard. The story of this whole season has to be Emilia Pérez going from potential Picture winner to film that might get completely blanked. I don't think I've ever seen a bigger crash during award season (including, well, Crash). While I wasn't a huge fan of that film (I gave it a B-), but the way the industry rallied around it before the controversy was very odd. It fit the mold of a typical White Liberals Love This nominee, I suppose. I think one of the overall narratives of the past decade might be the slow disappearance of the standard Oscar bait. Sure, we have A Complete Unknown and Conclave. But there's also The Substance and Anora, two films that would've struggled to get a single nomination back in the Weinstein heyday. Anyways, on to the predictions...

VISUAL EFFECTS:

Alien: Romulus - Better Man - Dune: Part 2 - Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - Wicked

Despite some primate competition, DUNE: PART 2 will win. 

SOUND:

A Complete Unknown - Dune: Part 2 - Emilia Pérez  - Wicked - The Wild Robot

Despite some musical competition, DUNE: PART 2 will win, but watch out for the Dylan biopic. 

ORIGINAL SONG:

"El Mal" - Emilia Pérez

"The Journey" - The Six Triple Eight

"Like a Bird" - Sing Sing"

"Mi Camino" - Emilia Pérez

"Never Too Late" - Elton John: Never Too Late

How much damage did Karla do to the Emilia campaign? Well, not enough to derail a win here. Probably. "EL MAL" wins, but Elton John and Diane Warren are waiting in the wings. 

ORIGINAL SCORE:

The Brutalist - Conclave - Emilia Pérez - Wicked - The Wild Robot

This category could be an indication of Conclave's strength, but THE BRUTALIST will take it. 

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING:

A Different Man - Emilia Pérez - Nosferatu - The Substance - Wicked

Monstro ElisaSue wins with THE SUBSTANCE.

PRODUCTION DESIGN:

The Brutalist - Conclave - Dune: Part 2 - Nosferatu - Wicked

I think you could make a case for any of these, but WICKED should bewitch the competition. 

COSTUME DESIGN:

A Complete Unknown - Conclave - Gladiator II - Nosferatu - Wicked

Dune: Part 2 should be here and probably should have won. Something WICKED this way comes...to the Oscar stage. 

FILM EDITING:

Anora - The Brutalist - Conclave - Emilia Pérez - Wicked

One of the telltale categories to watch, I'd say this is a threeway race between Anora, Conclave, and Wicked. Going with CONCLAVE. I just can't see Sean Baker winning 4 in one night. 

CINEMATOGRAPHY:

The Brutalist - Dune: Part 2 - Emilia Pérez - Maria - Nosferatu

Nosferatu will put up a good fight, but THE BRUTALIST takes it. 

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE:

Emilia Pérez - Flow - The Girl With the Needle - I'm Still Here - The Seed of the Sacred Fig

And here is exactly where we will see the damage done. As of now, I'M STILL HERE looks to be the winner. 

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

Black Box Diaries - No Other Land - Porcelain War - Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat - Sugarcane

I know the internet would love nothing more than a NO OTHER LAND victory, but I'm not certain. Going for it, there's just no clear alternative. 

ANIMATED FEATURE:

Flow - Inside Out 2 - Memoir of a Snail - Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl - The Wild Robot

Flow has put up a real fight all season, and Wallace won at BAFTA, but I think THE WILD ROBOT is just barely ahead. 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

A Complete Unknown - Conclave - Emilia Pérez - Nickel Boys - Sing Sing

CONCLAVE wins. 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Anora - The Brutalist - A Real Pain - September 5 - The Substance

Pain keeps winning these, but no screenplay has won without a Picture nomination since the field expanded to 10. ANORA wins. 

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

Yura Borisov - Anora

Kieran Culkin - A Real Pain

Edward Norton - A Complete Unknown

Guy Pearce - The Brutalist

Jeremy Strong - The Apprentice

KIERAN CULKIN will complete his sweep. 

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

Monica Barbaro - A Complete Unknown

Ariana Grande - Wicked

Felicity Jones - The Brutalist

Isabella Rossellini - Conclave

Zoe Saldaña - Emilia Pérez

ZOE SALDAÑA survives the curse and completes her sweep. 

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:

Adrien Brody - The Brutalist

Timothée Chalamet - A Complete Unknown

Colman Domingo - Sing Sing

Ralph Fiennes - Conclave

Sebastian Stan - The Apprentice

Chalamet will probably be a strong #2 for people who didn't care for The Brutalist or don't want Brody to be a two-time winner. That said, ADRIEN BRODY wins. 

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:

Cynthia Erivo - Wicked

Karla Sofía Gascón - Emilia Pérez

Mikey Madison - Anora

Demi Moore - The Substance

Fernanda Torres - I'm Still Here

Globe win aside, Fernanda missed SAG & Bafta noms. Only two Oscar winners this century have won after missing them, and both of those were well known character actresses. It's between Mikey & Demi. Demi has been nailing the speeches and won SAG, while Mikey has BAFTA and is probably the lead of the Best Picture winner. That seems odd, but they did it to Michael Keaton 10 years ago. I'll go with DEMI MOORE.

DIRECTING:

Sean Baker - Anora

Brady Corbet - The Brutalist

James Mangold - A Complete Unknown

Jacques Audiard - Emilia Pérez

Coralie Fargeat - The Substance

Brady seemed like a lock early in the season, but then he lost DGA and his film is pretty divisive. SEAN BAKER wins, despite certain sections of the internet screaming "But his Twitter likes!"

BEST PICTURE

Anora

The Brutalist

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Dune: Part 2

Emilia Pérez

I'm Still Here

Nickel Boys

The Substance

Wicked

Conclave has a very strong chance of upsetting, but ANORA is probably just far enough ahead. 

DARREN'S FINAL OSCAR PREDICTIONS

Best Documentary Short: Incident

(alt: The Only Girl In the Orchestra)

Best Short Film - Animated: Wander to Wonder

(alt: Yuck!)

Best Short Film - Live Action: The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent

(alt: Anuja)

Best Visual Effects: Dune: Part 2

(alt: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes)

Best Sound: Dune: Part 2

(alt: A Complete Unknown)

Best Original Song: "El Mal" - Emilia Pérez

(alt: "The Journey" - The Six Triple Eight)

Best Original Score: The Brutalist

(alt: Conclave)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: The Substance

(alt: Wicked)

Best Production Design: Wicked

(alt: The Brutalist)

Best Costume Design: Wicked

(alt: Nosferatu)

Best Film Editing: Conclave

(alt: Anora)

Best Cinematography: The Brutalist

(alt: Nosferatu)

Best International Feature: I'm Still Here

(alt: Emilia Pérez)

Best Documentary Feature: No Other Land

(alt: Porcelain War)

Best Animated Feature: The Wild Robot

(alt: Flow)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Conclave

(alt: Nickel Boys)

Best Original Screenplay: Anora

(alt: A Real Pain)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Kieran Culkin - A Real Pain

(alt: Edward Norton - A Complete Unknown)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Zoe Saldaña - Emilia Pérez

(alt: Isabella Rossellini - Conclave)

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Adrien Brody - The Brutalist

(alt: Timothée Chalamet - A Complete Unknown)

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Demi Moore - The Substance

(alt: Mikey Madison - Anora)

Best Directing: Sean Baker - Anora

(alt: Brady Corbet - The Brutalist)

Best Picture: Anora

(alt: Conclave)

WINS:

Anora - 3

The Brutalist - 3

Conclave - 2

Dune: Part 2 - 2

Emilia Pérez - 2

The Substance - 2

Wicked - 2