“And the Oscar Goes To…”

Upsets, Snubs and Big Winners.

And+the+Oscar+Goes+To...

Matt Hinspeter, Contributing Author

It’s that time of the year again, the time when you hear about the Oscar nominations once go “I wonder who will win” then proceed to never think about the Oscars again until the day after the ceremony when you see who won by chance while browsing the internet and think “Oh I guess that’s who won”. To be honest I don’t blame you, I don’t really care about the Oscars either, but you know what I do care about? That’s right, it’s owning the out of print Criterion Collection special edition Blu-Ray for Wong Kar-Wai’s 1994 masterpiece, “Chungking Express”. Oh and movies, I care about movies too.  So with that, in the spirit of the movies and an attempt to clickbait people into reading my article, here are my picks for each Oscar Category, my predictions for each Oscar Category and finally some movies that I thought got snubbed. I have not seen every movie/short nominated for an Oscar (although I have seen most) so for each category I will italicize any movie/short I have not seen and bold the movies I have seen. Given that this article is likely to be very long since I’m going over all of the awards, just Ctrl F and type in the award you’re most interested in reading about.

 

Best Visual Effects

The nominees:

 

  • Avengers: Endgame – Dan DeLeeuw, Matt Aitken, Russell Earl and Dan Sudick
  • The Irishman – Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Stephane Grabli, and Nelson Sepulveda
  • The Lion King – Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman
  • 1917 – Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler, and Dominic Tuohy
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy

 

 

My Pick: The Irishman – Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Stephane Grabli, and Nelson Sepulveda

The Irishman takes visual effects to the next level with its revolutionary de-aging of its 3 main actors Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Joe Peschi. While the effect is somewhat noticeable when it first appears it soon fades into the background and is barely noticeable. The other effects such as blood and other things aren’t as stand out but the deaging was the make or break element of the film in my opinion and it was pulled off perfectly.

 

 

My Prediction: 1917 – Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler, and Dominic Tuohy

 

You’ll see a trend throughout this article of me predicting 1917 will win when it is nominated, that’s because I think it’s going to be the Academy’s favorite movie this year. It checks all the boxes of a successful Oscar bait movie perfectly. 1. It is a period piece taking place in WWI, 2. It is a visual and technical spectacle which the academy will love 3. The score is beautiful and very manipulative of one’s emotions and 4. It’s marketing is very obviously geared towards getting oscars.

 

Best Film Editing 

 

  • Ford v Ferrari – Andrew Buckland and Michael McCusker
  • The Irishman – Thelma Schoonmaker
  • Jojo Rabbit – Tom Eagles
  • Joker – Jeff Groth
  • Parasite – Yang Jin-mo

 

 

My Pick: Parasite – Yang Jin-mo

Parasite is a South Korean thriller, heist, comedy, suspense, and horror, film. It’s also my second favorite movie of the year, and in my opinion, a masterpiece. But I’ll delve into what makes Parasite great later, for now I’ll talk about one scene in particular, the scene that’s the reason Parasite is my pick for Best Film editing. Now for all of those who haven’t seen Parasite, I suggest you move onto the part of the article where I give my prediction for Best film editing because major spoilers for Parasite follow. Ok everyone who hasn’t seen the movie gone? Yes? Ok good. My favorite scene in Parasite is the closing scene of the first act.. At this point in the movie the titular family of the Kims have successfully infiltrated the Park’s house as paid tutors and in the father’s case as a driver. However, one family member has not been hired by the Park family and that is the Mrs.Kim. This is where things get interesting. The Kim’s develop a daring plan to get the old housekeeper of the Park’s fired and have Mrs.Kim hired in her place. What follows is a 5 minute montage of the Kim’s plan unraveling. We start in the Park’s house with footage of the Housekeeper while the main characters Chung-sook and Ki-Woo voice-over talking about the Housekeeper’s legacy and how it will be hard to get rid of her, each shot moves in a way where each cut flow naturallys into the next shot like water winding down each curve of a river . After this we cut to the Kim’s apartment where Chung-sook and Ki-woo explain the need for a master plan to get rid of the housekeeper. From here we learn about the key ingredient to the Kim’s plan peaches through a series of crucial shots. In just 8 shots we learn that the housekeeper is allergic to peaches through dialogue given in voiceover and by a member of the Park family, and while we are hearing the voiceover we see Chung-sook use this knowledge to collect peach dust and spread it near the housekeeper, forcing her to go to the hospital. We don’t need Chung-Sook to explain what he’s going to do with the information he has found out, we literally see his realization and execution of the information in 8 shots! 8 shots! That is good editing. I would describe the rest of the scene but this has already gotten too long. I recommend Nerdwriter1’s video if you’re interested in a more thorough analysis of the scene.  Bn 

 

My Prediction: The Irishman – Thelma Schoonmaker

The Irishman, the newest film by Martin Scorcese is a great movie, no doubt, but it’s also a very long movie at 209 minutes (3.5 hours). The editing for this movie is good, but not the best at times, however I think the academy is more likely to go with the Irishman as it’s editing prowess comes more in the fact that it manages to be a tight movie with no wasted scenes… while also being 3 and a half hours long. This is an amazing editing achievement and I think the academy will value this more then the overall quality of the shot to shot editing of scenes which I feel can be good but not great at times.

 

Best costume design: 

 

  • The Irishman – Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson
  • Jojo Rabbit – Mayes C. Rubeo
  • Joker – Mark Bridges
  • Little Women – Jacqueline Durran
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Arianne Phillips

 

 

My Pick: Little Women – Jacqueline Durran

 

Greta Gerwig’s Little women is a movie I did not expect to enjoy as much as I did going in. But alas it’s one of my favorite movies of the year. Little women’s costume design is absolutely brilliant, each of the girls has dresses which are magnificent to look at, and Laurie’s Tuxedos and casual wear define him as a character as well. Everything is period accurate and it all really helps encapture the world the movie takes place in. I don’t have much more to say. Go see Little Women, it’s still in theaters and is pretty great.

 

My Prediction: Little Women – Jacqueline Durran

Usually period piece movies win Best Costume design from my experience, it’s either this or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood which also has great costume design, but in my opinion, Little Women is probably more fresh in the voters minds which means it has a better chance at winning.

 

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

 

  • Bombshell – Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker
  • Joker – Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou
  • Judy – Jeremy Woodhead
  • Maleficent: Mistress of Evil – Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten and David White
  • 1917 – Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis and Rebecca Cole

 

 

My Pick: Joker – Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiu

Out of the two movies I saw from this category I would say Joker has better makeup and hairstyling for obvious reasons . Being serious though for a moment I think the Joker makeup and hair is done really well for the most part, it’s certainly done better than for Jared leto’s Joker, *shudder*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Prediction: Joker – Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiu

Given the fact I don’t think many academy voters care much about this category I think Joker will win for obvious reasons. Prove me wrong academy, your move.

 

Best Cinematography: 

 

  • The Irishman – Rodrigo Prieto
  • Joker – Lawrence Sher
  • The Lighthouse – Jarin Blaschke
  • 1917 – Roger Deakins
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Robert Richardson

 

 

My Pick: The Lighthouse – Jarin Blaschke

The Lighthouse is my favorite movie of the year, I saw it twice in theaters and once at home when I got it on Blu-Ray, unfortunately this best Cinematography nomination was the only Oscar nod it got. But I really shouldn’t be complaining, it could be worse *cough*. Anywayyy, The Lighthouse’s cinematography is truly breathtaking, shot on Black and White film and presented in a unique 1:19:1 aspect ratio The Lighthouse captures the time period it’s in (Late 1800s) perfectly. The attention to detail is amazing and director Robert Eggers and Cinematographer Jarin Blaschke frame every shot perfectly within the cramped 1:19:1 space they have allowed themselves. A fun fact about the movie’s cinematography I learned while watching the Blu-Ray’s special features is that a special cyan filter was used to get the look of orthochromatic film, this means red light was eliminated from entering the camera which in Egger’s words “makes The Lighthouse almost feel like an early ethnographic film. With the filter, things that have a lot of red in them, like skin tones, we’ll record much darker. You see every pore and blood vessel. That helps to make Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe look more like salty seamen.” All of this work comes together to create a brilliant almost Eraserhead esque look. All in all I think The Lighthouse deserves to win best cinematography, Jarin Blaschke and Robert Egger’s commitment to the look of the film is quite impressive. Instead of putting a poster here I’m gonna put some shots that really capture this movie’s atmosphere. 

My Prediction: 1917 – Roger Deakins

As I mentioned earlier, I think 1917 is going to be the Favorite movie of the Academy this year, this along with the technical feat of presenting the movie as one continuous shot should be enough for it to win the Oscar for best Cinematography. I really can’t complain as 1917 really does have great cinematography, but at the same time I really would like the Lighthouse to win because of its unique cinematographic look.

 

Best Production Design:

 

  • The Irishman – Production Design: Bob Shaw; Set Decoration: Regina Graves
  • Jojo Rabbit – Production Design: Ra Vincent; Set Decoration: Nora Sopková
  • 1917 – Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Production Design: Barbara Ling; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
  • Parasite – Production Design: Lee Ha-joon; Set Decoration: Cho Won-woo

 

 

My Pick: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Production Design: Barbara Ling; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

 

This category was the hardest one to pick my favorite. I love the production design on all 4 of the movies I saw a lot. But ultimately the production design on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was what made me fall in love with the film and one of the driving factors in me getting the Blu-Ray when it came out. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is set in 1969 during the golden age of Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino really committed to making the movie feel like it was shot in 1969. From the cars, to the props, everything in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood feels straight out of the 60s. Quentin Tarantino literally shut down an entire road in LA, and paid all the shop owners to transform their storefront into how it would’ve looked in 1969, that is dedication, and the result is magnificent, Brad Pitt driving Leo Dicaprio down Hollywood Boulevard during dusk as California Dreaming plays in the background may be my favorite scene of 2019.

 

Prediction: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Production Design: Barbara Ling; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Hollywood loves movies about Hollywood. 1917 isn’t about Hollywood. 

 

Best Sound Mixing:

 

  • Ad Astra – Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano
  • Ford v Ferrari – Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A. Morrow
  • Joker – Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic and Tod Maitland
  • 1917 – Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler and Mark Ulano

 

 

My Pick: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Wylie Stateman

 

Car sound cool. When dog food can hit Charles Manson intruder it goes thump, flamethrower sounds like flamethrower, is not cool, is warm. (This pick brought to you by my hatred of sound mixing, Audacity is still a recurring character in my nightmares, I will never sleep peacefully again)

 

Prediction: Ford v Ferrari – Donal Sylvester

 

Car sound cool. Christian bale makes funny noises when driving haha.

 

Best Sound Editing: 

 

  • Ford v Ferrari – Donald Sylvester
  • Joker – Alan Robert Murray
  • 1917 – Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Wylie Stateman
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Matthew Wood and David Acord

 

 

My Pick: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Wylie Stateman

Car sounds cool. When dog food can hit Charles Manson intruder it goes thump, flamethrower sounds like flamethrower, is not cool, is warm. (This pick brought to you by my hatred of sound editing, Audacity is still a recurring character in my nightmares, I will never sleep peacefully again)

 

Prediction: Ford v Ferrari – Donal Sylvester

The academy always chooses the same movie for both Sound editing and Sound Mixing.

 

Best Original Song:

 

  • “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from Toy Story 4 – Music and Lyrics by Randy Newman
  • “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman – Music by Elton John; Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
  • “I’m Standing with You” from Breakthrough – Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren
  • “Into the Unknown” from Frozen II – Music and Lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
  • “Stand Up” from Harriet – Music and Lyrics by Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo

 

 

My Pick: “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman – Music by Elton John; Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

 

I’m not gonna lie, I can’t even remember what this song is, but I liked Rocket man more than I did Toy Story 4, so there’s that… Here’s the song if you want to listen to it and tell me how much it sucks or how great it is.

 

Prediction:“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman – Music by Elton John; Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

 

Can’t believe you guys actually fell for that one.

 

 Best Original Score: 

 

  • Joker – Hildur Guðnadóttir
  • Little Women – Alexandre Desplat
  • Marriage Story – Randy Newman
  • 1917 – Thomas Newman
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – John Williams

 

 

My Pick: Marriage Story – Randy Newman

 

Randy Newman’s score for Marriage Story is beautifully sad and depressing while also having notes of hope and joy throughout as well. There’s not much else to say about the score, it’s just great. Go watch Marriage story!

 

My Prediction: 1917 – Thomas Newman

The academy when they see 1917 on the voting ballot.

 

 Best Animated Short Film

 

  • Dcera (Daughter) – Daria Kashcheeva
  • Hair Love – Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver
  • Kitbull – Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson
  • Memorable – Bruno Collet and Jean-François Le Corre
  • Sister – Siqi Song

 

 

My Pick: Kitbull

 

Kittbull tells the heartbreaking story of a stray black cat kitten and a Pitbull used for dog fighting. While at first the kitten is scared of the Pitbull they soon bond and help each other escape into a better tomorrow. Beautifully animated and scored, with a fun story about finding friendship in the hardest of times, Kittbull just narrowly beats out the other Animated shorts I watched.  Kittbull can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZS5cgybKcI&feature=emb_title

 

My Prediction: Kitbull

 

It’s really a tossup, all the shorts I saw were pretty good, I’m just choosing Kitbull because it’s my favorite.

 

Best Live Action Short Film:

 

  • Brotherhood – Meryam Joobeur and Maria Gracia Turgeon
  • Nefta Football Club – Yves Piat and Damien Megherbi
  • The Neighbors’ Window – Marshall Curry
  • Saria – Bryan Buckley and Matt Lefebvre
  • A Sister – Delphine Girard

 

 

My Pick: A Sister – Delphine Girad

 

While A Sister’s concept may be a slight cliche, the short film executes the concept in an exemplary fashion. A Sister manages to build tension perfectly over 16 minutes only to release all that tension in the final 17th minute. A Sister pulls this feat off with it’s amazing cinematography, brilliant performances and smart and sharp writing which only gives you the bare amount of information you need.

 

My Prediction: Saria –  Bryan Buckley and Matt Lefebvre

 

Taking place in an Orphanage in Guatemala, Saria tells the true but heartbreaking story of 41 orphans who lost their lives to a tragic fire. Beautifully shot and telling a compelling narrative, I think that it will win Best Live Action Short. However I take issues with it’s pacing and some of the performances.

 

Best Documentary Short Subject:

 

  • In the Absence – Yi Seung-Jun and Gary Byung-Seok Kam
  • Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) – Carol Dysinger and Elena Andreicheva
  • Life Overtakes Me – John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson
  • St. Louis Superman – Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan
  • Walk Run Cha-Cha – Laura Nix and Colette Sandstedt

 

 

My Pick: In the Absence – Yi Seung-Jun and Gary Byung-Seok Kam

 

Out of the two documentary short subject nominees I saw, in the absence was the better of the two. It tells the heartbreaking and angering story of a tragic sinking of a ship in Korea and the government’s incompetence of saving the passengers.

 

My Prediction: In the Absence – Yi Seung-Jun and Gary Byung-Seok Kam

See above.

 

Best Documentary Feature:

 

  • American Factory – Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert and Jeff Reichert
  • The Cave – Feras Fayyad, Kirstine Barfod, and Sigrid Dyekjær
  • The Edge of Democracy – Petra Costa, Joanna Natasegara, Shane Boris, and Tiago Pavan
  • For Sama – Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts
  • Honeyland – Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska and Atanas Georgiev

 

 

My Pick: For Sama – Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts

For Sama isn’t actually my favorite documentary out of the 4 I saw, that would be American Factory. The reason I chose For Sama as my pick is because it’s a documentary I think everyone should see. For Sama tells the brutal and heartbreaking story of a couple and their baby in the midst of a warzone in Aleppo, Syria and there were parts where I had to look away because of how horrifying parts of the movie are. For Sama while not my favorite documentary of the year certainly deserves the best documentary feature Oscar.

 

My Prediction: For Sama – Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts

 

I would be surprised For Sama didn’t win best Documentary Feature. 

 

Best International Feature Film

 

  • Corpus Christi (Poland) in Polish – Directed by Jan Komasa
  • Honeyland (North Macedonia) in Turkish[a] – Directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov
  • Les Misérables (France) in French – Directed by Ladj Ly
  • Pain and Glory (Spain) in Spanish – Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
  • Parasite (South Korea) in Korean – Directed by Bong Joon-ho

 

 

My pick: Parasite (South Korea) in Korean – Directed by Bong Joon-ho

 

I’ll talk about it more in depth when I get to the later categories.

 

Prediction: Parasite (South Korea) in Korean – Directed by Bong Joon-ho

 

I mean, it’s the only one that has a best picture nom. Also I’m gonna take a moment to shame France for submitting Les Miserables instead of Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Ok moment done.

 

Best Animated Feature film:

 

  • How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – Dean DeBlois, Bonnie Arnold and Brad Lewis
  • I Lost My Body – Jeremy Clapin and Marc du Pontavice
  • Klaus – Sergio Pablos, Jinko Gotoh and Marisa Román
  • Missing Link – Chris Butler, Arianne Sutner and Travis Knight
  • Toy Story 4 – Josh Cooley, Jonas Rivera and Mark Nielsen

 

 

My Pick: I Lost My Body – Jeremy Clapin and Marc du Pontavice

 

Beautifully animated with a great score from Dan Levy and great voice acting from Hakim Faris and Victoire Du Bois, I Lost My Body is a romance about Naoufel (Hakim Faris), a young man living in Paris who finds a new purpose in life when he meets Gabrielle (Victoire Du Bois), a librarian who he immediately becomes smitten with. This movie caught me off guard with how great it was when I first watched it, at some points bizarre and at other points deeply depressing, I Lost My Body affected me on a truly emotional level and is not only my favorite animated movie of 2019 but one of my favorite movies of the year. I highly recommend this movie, and I’d recommend watching it in its original language of French as Hakim Faris and Victoire Du Bois give truly great performances which are a huge part of why this movie works so well.

 

Prediction: Toy Story 4 – Josh Cooley, Jonas Rivera and Mark Nielson

Pixar wins this category almost every year and I don’t expect that to change.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay:

 

  • The Irishman – Steven Zaillian based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt
  • Jojo Rabbit – Taika Waititi based on the novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunens
  • Joker – Todd Phillips and Scott Silver based on the characters created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson
  • Little Women – Greta Gerwig based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott
  • The Two Popes – Anthony McCarten based on his play The Pope

 

 

My Pick: The Irishman – Steven Zaillian based on the book / Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt

At a whopping 146 pages, The Irishman’s screenplay is pretty long. Adapted from the book by Charles Brandt, Heard You Paint Houses,  The Irishman tells the story of Frank played by Robert DeNiro, an Irishman from New York who starts doing hits for the mob after meeting Russel Buffalino part of the Buffalino crime family played by Joe Pesci. After being introduced to Jimmy Hoffa however Frank’s relationships with Russel Buffalino becomes more and more  complicated as the Buffalino crime family’s opinion of Jimmy’s actions diminishes, leaving Frank with a choice on who to side with and who to leave behind. The Irishman has some of the best dialogue of any movie in 2019 and the screenplay is beautifully written to show Frank’s entire life play out in the course of 3 and a half hours, never is there any scenes which feel unnecessary or scenes that feel too long or too short, it is in my opinion a perfectly paced movie.

 

Prediction: Little Women – Greta Gerwig based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott

 

I feel like the academy will give it to Greta Gerwig, which I’m fine with, Little Women also has a great screenplay, and I’d love to see it get an Oscar as well.

 

 Best Original Screenplay: 

 

  • Knives Out – Rian Johnson
  • Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach
  • 1917 – Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino
  • Parasite – Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won

 

 

My Pick: Parasite – Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won, story by Bong Joon-ho

I will talk more extensively about Parasite when we get to Best Picture, hint hint.

 

Prediction: 1917 – Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns

 

The academy when you ask them if 1917 is gonna win and you don’t even specify for what award but they already said yes.

 

Best Supporting Actress:

 

  • Kathy Bates – Richard Jewell as Barbara “Bobi” Jewell
  • Laura Dern – Marriage Story as Nora Fanshaw
  • Scarlett Johansson – Jojo Rabbit as Rosie Betzler
  • Florence Pugh – Little Women as Amy March
  • Margot Robbie – Bombshell as Kayla Pospisil

 

 

My pick: Florence Pugh – Little Women

 

Florence Pugh gives an exceptional performance as Amy, she really encapsulates what it feels to be in the shadow of an older sibling well. Not that I would know, I’m an older sibling after all. I just assume she does.

 

Prediction: Margot Robbie – Bombshell

 

Haven’t even seen this movie, I just have a feeling the academy is gonna pick Margot Robbie.

 

Best Supporting Actor: 

 

  • Tom Hanks – A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood as Fred Rogers
  • Anthony Hopkins – The Two Popes as Pope Benedict XVI
  • Al Pacino – The Irishman as Jimmy Hoffa
  • Joe Pesci – The Irishman as Russell Bufalino
  • Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as Cliff Booth

 

 

My pick: Al Pacino – The Irishman as Jimmy Hoffa

 

Al Pacino plays Jimmy Hoffa perfectly, from the first scene he is in, you really get the feel of what kind of person Jimmy Hoffa is. Along with just performing the lines he was written perfectly Al Pacino also nails Jimmy Hoffa’s overall mannerisms. 

 

Prediction: Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

 

I personally really liked Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, however not enough for him to be my pick for this category. However, I think he will win because he is yet to win an Oscar in an acting category (He did win an Oscar as a producer on 12 years a Slave).

 

Best Actress:

 

  • Cynthia Erivo – Harriet as Harriet Tubman
  • Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story as Nicole Barber
  • Saoirse Ronan – Little Women as Josephine “Jo” March
  • Charlize Theron – Bombshell as Megyn Kelly
  • Renée Zellweger – Judy as Judy Garland

 

 

My pick: Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story

 

Scarlett Johansson gives an amazing performance in Marriage Story and really sells the traumatic and difficult process of getting divorced. The scene where Adam Driver and Scarlett Johanson are full throttle yelling at each other is a great moment in the movie that only works because of the one-upping of intensity from each actor. Scarlett Johanson really makes you sympathize with her character throughout the movie.

 

Prediction: Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story

 

I could be wrong given that Marriage Story is a Netflix movie and the academy kind of hates Netflix movies, but given that so many nominations were given out to Netflix movies this year, who knows.

 

Best Actor:

 

  • Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory as Salvador Mallo
  • Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as Rick Dalton
  • Adam Driver – Marriage Story as Charlie Barber
  • Joaquin Phoenix – Joker as Arthur Fleck / Joker
  • Jonathan Pryce – The Two Popes as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio

 

 

My Pick: Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

 

Leonardo Dicaprio goes from playing a character within a television show in the movie poorly as Rick Dalton, then criticizing himself for playing that character poorly in character as Rick Dalton to then playing that character perfectly in the television show within the movie all within 3 scenes, that is great acting. Possibly my favorite Leonardo DiCaprio performance of all time, Leo nails Rick Dalton as a character, and gets me to sympathize with him and feel proud of him when he makes strides in his career. Rick Dalton is the core of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Leonardo makes you fully aware of it.

 

Prediction: Joaquin Phoenix – Joker

Did Joaquin Phoenix give a great performance in Joker? Yes. Is his performance Oscar bait? Also yes!

 

Best Director: 

 

 

  • Martin Scorsese – The Irishman
  • Todd Phillips – Joker
  • Sam Mendes – 1917
  • Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  • Bong Joon-ho – Parasite

 

 

My Pick: Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

 

Objectively speaking, this award belongs to Bong Joon-ho, Parasite is the better directed movie, and the better movie overall. But in my subjective opinion, I want Quentin Tarantino to finally win a Best Director Oscar goddamnit! This is his third time being nominated for Best Director, he was nominated for Pulp Fiction in 1995, Inglorious bastard in 2010 and finally Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 2020, if he doesn’t win this year I have doubts he’ll ever win! Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a movie where it’s obvious how much love and passion was put into it by Quentin. 

 

Prediction: Sam Mendes – 1917

 

Yes.

 

Best Picture: 

 

  • Ford v Ferrari – Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, and James Mangold
  • The Irishman – Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff
  • Jojo Rabbit – Carthew Neal and Taika Waititi
  • Joker – Todd Phillips, Bradley Cooper, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff
  • Little Women – Amy Pascal
  • Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach and David Heyman
  • 1917 – Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Jayne-Ann Tenggren, and Callum McDougal
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh, and Quentin Tarantino
  • Parasite – Kwak Sin-ae and Bong Joon-ho

 

 

My Pick: Parasite – Kwak Sin-ae and Bong Joon-ho

 

If you’ve read through this article all the way through this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Parasite is my second favorite movie of 2019 and is perfect in almost every way. Despite getting 6 Oscar nominations, in my opinion, Parasite deserves more.  This movie has one of the most bizzare plot’s I’ve ever seen in a movie. The basic premise of Parasite is one of a heist movie, the Kim family, a poor family living in the lower class of society, attempts to leech off the Park family, a wealthy upper class family, by means of lying there way into being hired by the family. This already sounds like an interesting movie but the plot goes from a fun heist movie to a horrific thriller abruptly at the end of the first act. I won’t spoil what happens here though, you’ll just have to watch the movie to find out. Other than plot, Parasite’s blocking and overall cinematography is fantastic, Kang-ho Song gives one of my favorite performances of the year as the head of the Kim family, the editing which I talked about earlier is on point, and the score perfectly fits the tone of the movie at all points .

 

Prediction: 1917Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Jayne-Ann Tenggren, and Callum McDougal

 

It’s been a recurring joke that 1917 will win most of the awards its nominated, but I honestly feel like 1917 has the best chance at winning best picture. Second most likely is maybe Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, and then Joker, then Parasite in 4th unfortunately. 

 

Snubs:

 

Congratulations, you made it to the end of the article. Before you go I want to mention a couple movies this year I really enjoyed but that didn’t get any Oscars nominations

 

  1. Uncut Gems

Adam Sandler gives the Performance of a lifetime in the Safdie Brothers new movie as a gambler who keeps digging himself into a deeper hole every time he comes into possession of money. Uncut Gems can best be described using words such as “energetic”, “hyper”, “risky”, etc. This movie is like a rollercoaster that somehow is only downhill for its entire 2 hour and 15 minute run time. With great performances from Adam Sandler, Kevin Garnett, and Lakeith Stanfield, a great score, an authentic film look and thrilling plot, Uncut Gems is a movie which will linger with you long after you leave the theater and I highly recommend it.

 

  1. Apollo 11

 

Much like Peter Jackson’s They Shall never grow old, Apollo 11 is a documentary that tells the story of the moon landing completely through footage from the actual mission, both on Earth, and on the Moon. Presented in beautiful authentic 70mm film and with an exhilarating original soundtrack, Apollo 11 might just be the definitive moon landing movie. It’s certainly my favorite documentary of the year and I was disappointed when it didn’t get nominated for best documentary this year.

 

Well that’s all folks, don’t watch the Oscars because they suck, instead watch one of the movies I talked about. I recommend Parasite as it’s a movie I think most people would enjoy but if you’re not into subtitles then the Irishman and Marriage Story are both on Netflix and they are great as well!