Happy Oscars Sunday! The culmination of awards season is finally here! With many races currently too close to call, it should make for an exciting evening of celebrating cinema.
While I didn’t manage to keep up with my regular awards season coverage this year, I still tuned into the “key precursors” to see how things were shaping up. As I mentioned up top, there are races–I would even include Best Picture in the mix–that are too close to call. Personally, I love it. I still appreciate the element of surprise during these shows, and the 95th Oscars potentially is going to have it in spades.
Of note, returning this year is Jimmy Kimmel as the show’s singular host. If anyone can handle surprise and potential chaos, he’s certainly proven his mettle. The show is also returning to televising all 23 categories live. And, on top of that, Rihanna is scheduled to perform Best Original Song nominee, “Lift Me Up”!
I’m excited–I hope you’re excited too!
Per tradition around these parts, I am sharing both my personal picks and predictions for the 95th Oscars. Be sure to tune into tonight’s live awards ceremony at 5 p.m. (PT) on ABC!
Please note: Nominated films that I didn’t get a chance to see are denoted with an asterisk(*).
Best Motion Picture of the Year
All Quiet on the Western Front Malte Grunert, Producer
*Avatar: The Way of Water James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
The Banshees of Inisherin Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, and Martin McDonagh, Producers
Elvis Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick, and Schuyler Weiss, Producers
Everything Everywhere All at Once Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, and Jonathan Wang, Producers
The Fabelmans Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, Producers
Tár Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan, and Scott Lambert, Producers
Top Gun: Maverick Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison, and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers
Triangle of Sadness Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers
Women Talking Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Frances McDormand, Producers
KC pick: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Will win: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett in Tár
*Ana de Armas in Blonde
Andrea Riseborough in To Leslie
Michelle Williams in The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once
KC pick: Michelle Yeoh
Will win: Michelle Yeoh
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Austin Butler in Elvis
Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser in The Whale
Paul Mescal in Aftersun
*Bill Nighy in Living
KC pick: Austin Butler
Will win: Austin Butler
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Angela Bassett in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau in The Whale
Kerry Condon in The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All at Once
Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All at Once
KC pick: Stephanie Hsu
Will win: Jamie Lee Curtis
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Brendan Gleeson in The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry in Causeway
Judd Hirsch in The Fabelmans
Barry Keoghan in The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once
KC pick: Brian Tyree Henry
Will win: Ke Huy Quan
Achievement in Directing
The Banshees of Inisherin Martin McDonagh
Everything Everywhere All at Once Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (aka The Daniels)
The Fabelmans Steven Spielberg
Tár Todd Field
Triangle of Sadness Ruben Östlund
KC pick: The Daniels
Will win: The Daniels
Original Screenplay
The Banshees of Inisherin Written by Martin McDonagh
Everything Everywhere All at Once Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
The Fabelmans Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
Tár Written by Todd Field
Triangle of Sadness Written by Ruben Östlund
KC pick: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Will win: The Banshees of Inisherin
Adapted Screenplay
All Quiet on the Western Front Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Written by Rian Johnson
*Living Written by Kazuo Ishiguro
Top Gun: Maverick Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
Women Talking Screenplay by Sarah Polley
KC pick: Women Talking
Will win: All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
*Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar, and Alex Bulkley
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan, and Paul Mezey
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Joel Crawford and Mark Swift
*The Sea Beast Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger
Turning Red Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins
KC pick: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Will win: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Best Documentary Feature
All That Breathes Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann, and Teddy Leifer
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin, and Yoni Golijov
*Fire of Love Sara Dosa, Shane Boris, and Ina Fichman
A House Made of Splinters Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström
Navalny Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, and Shane Boris
KC pick: Navalny
Will win: Navalny
Best International Film of the Year
All Quiet on the Western Front Germany
*Argentina, 1985 Argentina
Close Belgium
*EO Poland
*The Quiet Girl Ireland
KC pick: Abstaining from making a personal pick, as I’ve not seen the majority of the films in this category.
Will win: All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Animated Short Film
*The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud
*The Flying Sailor Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
*Ice Merchants João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano
My Year of Dicks Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon
*An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It Lachlan Pendragon
KC pick: Abstaining from making a personal pick, as I’ve not seen the majority of the films in this category.
Will win: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Best Documentary Short Subject
*The Elephant Whisperers Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga
*Haulout Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev
*How Do You Measure a Year? Jay Rosenblatt
*The Martha Mitchell Effect Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison
*Stranger at the Gate Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones
KC pick: Abstaining from making a personal pick, as I’ve not seen any of the films in this category.
Will win: The Martha Mitchell Effect
Best Live Action Short Film
*An Irish Goodbye Tom Berkeley and Ross White
*Ivalu Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan
*Le Pupille Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
*Night Ride Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen
*The Red Suitcase Cyrus Neshvad
KC pick: Abstaining from making a personal pick, as I’ve not seen any of the films in this category.
Will win: Le Pupille
Achievement in Cinematography
All Quiet on the Western Front James Friend
*Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths Darius Khondji
Elvis Mandy Walker
Empire of Light Roger Deakins
Tár Florian Hoffmeister
KC pick: Elvis
Will win: All Quiet on the Western Front
Achievement in Film Editing
The Banshees of Inisherin Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
Elvis Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
Everything Everywhere All at Once Paul Rogers
Tár Monika Willi
Top Gun: Maverick Eddie Hamilton
KC pick: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Will win: Top Gun: Maverick
Achievement in Production Design
All Quiet on the Western Front Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper
*Avatar: The Way of Water Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole
*Babylon Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino
Elvis Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn
The Fabelmans Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara
KC pick: Elvis
Will win: Babylon
Achievement in Sound
All Quiet on the Western Front Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel, and Stefan Korte
*Avatar: The Way of Water Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, and Michael Hedges
The Batman Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray, and Andy Nelson
Elvis David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson, and Michael Keller
Top Gun: Maverick Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
KC pick: Elvis
Will win: Top Gun: Maverick
Achievement in Visual Effects
All Quiet on the Western Front Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank, and Kamil Jafar
*Avatar: The Way of Water Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett
The Batman Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands, and Dominic Tuohy
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White, and Dan Sudick
Top Gun: Maverick Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, and Scott R. Fisher
KC pick: The Batman
Will win: Avatar: The Way of Water
Achievement in Costume Design
Babylon Mary Zophres
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Ruth Carter
Elvis Catherine Martin
Everything Everywhere All at Once Shirley Kurata
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris Jenny Beavan
KC pick: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Will win: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
All Quiet on the Western Front Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
The Batman Naomi Donne, Mike Marino, and Mike Fontaine
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
Elvis Mark Coulier, Jason Baird, and Aldo Signoretti
The Whale Adrien Morot, Judy Chin, and Anne Marie Bradley
KC pick: Elvis
Will win: Elvis
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
All Quiet on the Western Front Volker Bertelmann
*Babylon Justin Hurwitz
The Banshees of Inisherin Carter Burwell
Everything Everywhere All at Once Son Lux
The Fabelmans John Williams
KC pick: All Quiet on the Western Front
Will win: The Fablemans
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
“Applause“ from *Tell It like a Woman
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick
Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
“Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler
“Naatu Naatu” from *RRR
Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose
“This Is A Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once
Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne, and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne
KC pick: “Lift Me Up”
Will win: “Naatu Naatu”
Probably at the Movies 