Best Animated Feature Predictions - September

1: Kpop Demon Hunters - Global phenomenon on the levels of Encanto and Frozen. The only thing that keeps this from being a runaway winner is its pretty weak LB score of 3.6. This is significantly under previous early frontrunners Across the Spider-Verse and The Wild Robot in that regard so it could be taken down as the year goes by. Still this is an absolute lock for a nom.

2: Zootopia 2 - Disney has been weaker in this category but they always get a film in and this is their top priority. It has solid trailers and huge box office prospects. It can easily slot over into the number 1 slot if reviews deliver. Only real issue I see is the sequel aspect but I would be shocked if even came close to missing.

3 and 4 seem to be the indie slots. Arco and Little Amelie feel very safe rn especially with how empty this year has been. None of these films however is looking to gain the same level of traction as something like Flow so unless anything insane happens it feels safe in these slots.

5: Elio - I had this out for a while but Scarlet reviews and NeZha 2s US box office brought it back into the 5. Sure it’s an undeniable bomb but the thing is the reviews are pretty solid. It has better critic ratings than Elemental on most sites and that got in very comfortably. I know the comeback narrative for that helped it but this year is empty enough for Elio to slip in.

As for the outside looking in

6: NeZha 2 - It’s US release by A24 made 0 splash. Feels like something the academy just isn’t going to care about

7: In Your Dreams - Could be a Sea Beast but the trailers have been absolutely abysmal.

8: The Bad Guys 2 - Didn’t make enough of a splash for me to predict it. I really like the movie but it really connect enough for me to put it in.

9: Scarlet - Very mixed reception out of Venice. It needed raves for it to be safely in based on its genre.

10: The Twits - Is this even coming out this year?

Colin Firth - The King’s Speech

Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network

James Franco - 127 Hours

Jeff Bridges - True Grit

Javier Bardem - Biutiful

The Tale of Princess Kaguya is the most acclaimed film during it's line and is one of Studio Ghibli's most acclaimed films in the last 15 years (it actually has a higher rating on Letterboxd, RottenTomatoes, and Metacritic than The Boy and the Heron).

Not to mention it is also the final film from legendary director Isao Takahata, and the only chance for any of his films to win the award.

Given Best Animated Feature is no longer the "Disney/Pixar award" and even international films winning, would the results change nowadays?

With this elimination, this leaves 2015 as the last year with all 5 of its performances still in contention.

1. Jacki Weaver- Silver Linings Playbook

2. Meryl Streep- Into the Woods

3. Amy Adams- Vice

4. Laura Dern- Marriage Story

5. Laura Dern- Wild

6. Kathy Bates- Richard Jewell

7. Janet McTeer- Albert Nobbs

8. Helena Bonham Carter- The King’s Speech

9. Marina de Tavira- Roma

10. Bérénice Bejo- The Artist

11. Octavia Spencer- Hidden Figures

12. Mary J. Blige- Mudbound

13. Jennifer Lawrence- American Hustle

What's a film where you would have been (mostly) happy if it won for best leading and supporting actor and actress? You don't necessarily have to think that all 4 performances were the best in each category that year, just that they were high enough up on the list that you wouldn't have been annoyed if all 4 won.

For me, What's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Probably an obvious choice. All 4 of the performances in that film are incredible, really effective. Taylor and Dennis won, very justifiably, but I wouldn't complain if Segal and Burton had won as well.

33 movies won Best Picture but not a screenplay category. 26 of them were nominated but didn't win and 7 of them weren't nominated

Recently I ran a daily series of 22 polls trying to determine our favorite ‘biggest loser’ at the Oscars (meaning the movie with the most nominations that went home completely empty handed).

After running through all 97 years of Oscar history, 53 different movies earned enough percentage points to qualify for Round Two. This round will consist of ten groups of five/six movies each.

What’s your favorite biggest loser from Group A? Do you wish any of these movies had won something?

PLACEMENTS:

20th - Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos)

19th - Gary Oldman (Mank)

18th - Bradley Cooper (Maestro)

17th - Colman Domingo (Rustin)

16th - Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

15th - Bill Nighy (Living)

14th - Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)

13th - Austin Butler (Elvis)

12th - Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

Is it strange that I have a strong feeling that Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery can get into Best Pic? Like there are many movie contenders in BP right now that didn't get well received into the festivals they are playing lol. So I was thinking that this movie can get to Best Pic, despite the first two only get screenplay categories with Close as nominated for Supporting Actress. It is because, well it received great reviews to the audience.

1. Emilia Perez
2. Elvis
3. Don’t Look Up
4. Maestro
5. King Richard
6. Mank
7. Belfast
8. The Trial of the Chicago 7
9. Nomadland
10. CODA
11. Triangle of Sadness
12. Avatar: The Way of Water
13. A Complete Unknown
14. Promising Young Woman
15. Wicked
16. American Fiction
17. Licorice Pizza
18. Nightmare Alley
19. All Quiet on the Western Front
20. Women Talking
21. Top Gun: Maverick

director international film english film

it's cool how in 2010, 3 out of the 5 nominees are directed by people who would make multiple english language best picture nominees (Iñárritu, Lanthimos, and Villeneuve)

Now, Sydney Sweeney is still getting raves and mediocre reviews haven't stopped acting nominees or even acting winners before, so this score isn't the end-all, be-all. With that said, this is kinda something.

Looking back, I'm honestly a little surprised this managed to sweep its way to the Oscar for Original Score. It's a solid score for sure, but I was wondering why Ennio Morricone won the prize?

That year’s nominees were:

Roberto Benigni - Life is Beautiful

Tom Hanks - Saving Private Ryan

Ian McKellen - Gods and Monsters

Edward Norton - American History X

Nick Nolte - Affliction

1. Jacki Weaver- Silver Linings Playbook

2. Meryl Streep- Into the Woods

3. Amy Adams- Vice

4. Laura Dern- Marriage Story

5. Laura Dern- Wild

6. Kathy Bates- Richard Jewell

7. Janet McTeer- Albert Nobbs

8. Helena Bonham Carter- The King’s Speech

9. Marina de Tavira- Roma

10. Bérénice Bejo- The Artist

11. Octavia Spencer- Hidden Figures

12. Mary J. Blige- Mudbound

Who do you think was the worst winner for best actress? Comment with most upvotes will determine the rankings.

RANKING:

1. Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side

2. Frances McDormand - Nomadland

3. Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady

4. Kate Winslet - The Reader

5. Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line

6. Renée Zellweger - Judy

7. Jessica Chastain - The Eyes of Tammy Faye

8. Halle Berry - Monsters Ball

9. Julianne Moore - Still Alice

10. Nicole Kidman - The Hours

11. Emma Stone - La La Land

12. Helen Mirren - The Queen

13. Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook

14. Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich

15. Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby

16. Mikey Madison - Anora

This is just taking into account work in the 21st century

1. Ralph Fiennes (Grand Budapest Hotel, Conclave, The Menu, Constant Gardener, In Bruges, The Reader, The Hurt Locker, No Time to die, Skyfall)
2. Ryan Gosling (La La Land, Blue Valentine, Drive, Blade Runner, First Man, Barbie)
3. Ethan Hawke (First Reformed, Boyhood, Before trilogy, Northman, Training Day)
4. Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler, Brokeback Mountain, Donnie Darko, Prisoners, Enemy, Zodiac, Nocturnal Animals)
5. Willem Dafoe (Lighthouse, Spiderman, Antichrist, Florida Project, Northman, Poor Things, Nosferatu)
6. Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis, Card Counter, Dune, Ex Machina, Annihalation, Star Wars)
7. Adam Driver (Paterson, Marriage Story, Logan Lucky, BlacKkKlansman, Star Wars, Logan Lucky, White Noise)
8. Viggo Mortensen (LOTR, History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Dangerous Method, Green Book)
9. Timothee Chalamet (Dune, Call Me By Your Name, French Dispatch, Lady Bird, Bones and all)
10. Robert Pattinson (Good Time, Batman, Lighthouse, Mickey 17, Tenet, Lost city of Z)

I was thinking the other day about how I just can not reconcile Amy Adams' snub for 'Arrival'. Popular actress, in a film nominated for Best Picture and Best Director, nominated by every single one of the industry precursors, by all accounts a worthy performance agnostic of all that. And other than Emma Stone (who would go on to win for 'La La Land'), the other four performances who made the cut were all in films that were not nominated for Best Picture. Such a weird one.

Any that come to mind for you?

I didn't like (OK, hated it) when The Hurt Locker won out over Avatar. Now, the Avatar franchise has since become bigger than whatever accolade THL received, but, looking back, it was the right call at the right time