Oscars

Oscars 2020: The Lead Actors

Jeremy BeckOscars
Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom; Carey Mulligan in Promising Young Woman

The Oscars are just days away! We’ve already looked at some odds and ends, some higher-profile technical categories, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress. Today, we’re examining the always-exciting races in the lead acting categories.

Let’s start with the men:


BEST ACTOR

NOMINEES
Riz Ahmed—Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman—Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins—The Father
Gary Oldman—Mank
Steven Yeun—Minari

WILL WIN
All year, everyone has been assuming that Boseman has this locked up. He probably still does. But after Hopkins defeated him at the BAFTAs, some prognosticators started rumbling that this is now a legit race. Nothing’s guaranteed, of course, but I don’t buy it—partly because The Father is an extremely British film, and partly because of, er, certain circumstances. Boseman wins a posthumous Oscar for his final performance. Read More

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Oscars 2020: The Supporting Actors

Jeremy BeckOscars
Youn Yuh-jung in Minari; Daniel Kaluuya in Judas and the Black Messiah

And now, we get to the good stuff. Having already analyzed the technical categories at this year’s Oscars, both large and small, it’s time to dig into the races that you really care about. Today, we’re looking at Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress; tomorrow, we’ll move on to the lead actors.

Ladies first:


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

NOMINEES
Maria Bakalova—Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Glenn Close—Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman—The Father
Amanda Seyfried—Mank
Youn Yuh-jung—Minari Read More

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Oscars 2020: The Big Techies

Jeremy BeckOscars
Robert Pattinson and John David Washington in Tenet

We’re running through the 20 feature categories at this year’s Oscars. Yesterday, we analyzed seven categories that receive a relatively low profile. Today, we’re moving on to five additional below-the-line fields that are somewhat more significant. I mean, they’re significant in my eyes; you might care more about Best Costume Design than Best Film Editing, but this isn’t your website.


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

NOMINEES
Judas and the Black Messiah—Sean Bobbitt
Mank—Erik Messerschmidt
News of the World—Dariusz Wolski
Nomadland—Joshua James Richards
The Trial of the Chicago 7—Phedon Papamichael Read More

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Oscars 2020: The Odds and Ends

Jeremy BeckOscars
Mads Mikkelsen in Another Round

It’s mid-April, and this year’s Oscars still haven’t been held yet, which raises two questions: What is time, and what is Time? I’m not a capable enough philosopher to answer the first, but I can tell you that the second is one of the five nominees for this year’s Best Documentary Feature award. And so, even with the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on the cinematic landscape and the Academy’s schedule, it’s (ahem) time for everyone’s favorite time (oh come on) of year: our annual Oscar predictions.

You know how this works. Over the next week, I’ll be filing a series of pieces that briskly walk through each of the 21 20 feature categories (sorry, short subjects, I care for thee not), with predictions, preferences, and assorted thoughts. Does any of this matter? That’s up to you. The Oscars are a gaudy ceremony of self-congratulation, often better remembered for what they got wrong than right. They’re also significant as a marker of history, and they tend to honor some pretty good movies. There are more important things in the world, and more important things to complain about, too.

Today, we’re running through seven categories that are rather less high-profile than other races. But if you want to win your office pool (do people do office pools for the Oscars? Do people still work in offices?), this is where you can separate yourself.


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

NOMINEES
Onward
Over the Moon
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Soul
Wolfwalkers Read More

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Oscars 2020: Nomination Prediction Results

Jeremy BeckOscars
Paul Raci in Sound of Metal

Yesterday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominations for the 93rd Oscars. The list was met with the usual cacophony of bitterness, gratitude, and exasperation. The selections were all terrible, except for the ones that weren’t; the omissions were egregious, except for those who were justly excluded.

Same as it ever was. It remains to be seen how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will affect the actual telecast of this year’s Oscars (scheduled for April 25). And of course, the disease’s devastating yearlong spread carried significant consequences for the movie industry; the trickle-down effects surely included how voters perceived the various contending films (or how many they even watched). But for one day, at least, normalcy was restored in our collective outcries and appreciations.

Is this a sign of a return to the Before Times, or an isolated blip amid a continuing shift in the industry? We’ll find out. In the meantime, here’s some quickie analysis of our predictions in 13 major categories, and where the respective races currently stand. Read More

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