Nominee Predictions for the 94th Academy Awards

 

The 94th Academy Awards are almost upon us and tomorrow morning the nominations for this ceremony will be announced. How will this staple of the film scene frustrate, excite, and inspire other complicated emotions in all of us again? Who knows, but I've posted my predictions for the nominees for each category below. Due to time constraints, this is a very stripped-down nominations prediction piece, I don't have in-depth reasons in each section explaining why I picked my predicted nominees. Save for Best Picture nominees being in alphabetic order, the films are also arranged in a random manner, they are not ranked by most likely to get nominated to least likely.

Onto the nominees!

Best Picture:

Belfast

CODA

Don’t Look Up

Drive My Car

Dune

King Richard

The Power of the Dog

Licorice Pizza

Tick, Tick…Boom!

West Side Story

Best Director:

Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)

Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)

Denis Villeneuve (Dune)

Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)

Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car)

Best Actor

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog)

Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick…Boom!)

Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

Leonardo DiCaprio (Don’t Look Up)

Will Smith (King Richard)

(Oh please for the love of God, let Nicolas Cage in Pig get in over DiCaprio in Don't Look Up)

Best Actress:

Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos)

Olivia Coleman (The Lost Daughter)

Penelope Cruz (Parallel Mothers)

Lady Gaga (House of Gucci)

Kristen Stewart (Spencer)

Best Supporting Actor:

Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)

Ciaran Hinds (Belfast)

Troy Kotsur (CODA)

Bradley Cooper (Licorice Pizza)

Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog)

Best Supporting Actress:

Caitríona Balfe (Belfast)

Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)

Arianna DeBose (West Side Story)

Ruth Negga (Passing)

Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog)

Best Original Screenplay:

Licorice Pizza

Belfast

Being the Ricardos

Don’t Look Up

Parallel Mothers

Best Adapted Screenplay:

The Power of the Dog

CODA

The Lost Daughter

West Side Story

Drive My Car

Best Cinematography:

Dune

The Power of the Dog

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Belfast

The Green Knight

Best Editing:

Dune

The Power of the Dog

Belfast

West Side Story

Summer of Soul

Best Animated Feature:

Encanto

Flee

The Mitchells vs. The Machines

Luca

Raya and the Last Dragon

Best Original Score:

Dune

The Power of the Dog

Encanto

Parallel Mothers

Don’t Look Up

Best Original Song:

No Time to Die

Encanto

King Richard

Don’t Look Up

Annette           

Best Visual Effects:

Dune

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Godzilla vs. Kong

No Time to Die

Best Documentary Feature:

Summer of Soul

Flee

The Rescue

Procession

Attica

Best International Feature:

Drive My Car

A Hero

Flee

The Worst Person in the World

Compartment No. 6

Best Makeup/Hairstyling

Cruella

Dune

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

West Side Story

House of Gucci

Best Costume Design

Dune

West Side Story

Cruella

Nightmare Alley

House of Gucci

Best Sound:

The Power of the Dog

West Side Story

No Time to Die

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Dune

Best Production Design:

Nightmare Alley

West Side Story

The French Dispatch

Belfast

Dune

Best Visual Effects:

Dune

No Time to Die

Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Godzilla vs. Kong

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Best Animated Short Film

Us Again

Robin Robin

Bestia

The Windshield Wiper

Namoo

Best Documentary Short Film

Lynching Posts: "Tales of a Great Day"

Day of Rage 

Three Songs for Benazir 

Coded: The Hidden Love of J.C. Leyendecker 

The Queen of Basketball

Best Live-Action Short Film

Tala'vision

Please Hold

When The Sun Sets

Frimas

The Criminals

Douglas Laman's 90th Academy Awards Nominees Predictions (PART TWO)

We did Part One back on Saturday, now it's time for the second part of my predictions for who gets nominated for what at this year's Academy Awards ceremony!

Douglas Laman's 90th Academy Awards Nominees Predictions (PART ONE)

The nominees for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday. Everyone from Variety to The Hollywood Reporter to award-centric websites like Gold Derby have been doing their final round of Oscar nominee predictions, so what the hey, I'll embrace conformity and also join in on predicting who gets nominated for what at this year's Oscars. Just a heads up before we go forward, these Oscar nominee predictions are not based on my own personal desires for what should be nominated, but rather based on numerous other factors like who's getting the most buzz in the industry, who has been nominated at crucial recent award shows like the Producer's Guild of America Awards and so on.

2016 Oscar Nominees Predictions!

The nominees for this years Oscar ceremony get announced tomorrow morning, so le'ts have a little bit of fun this morning and look at my predictions for who gets into what category this year. I'll be examining all 24 categories today and remember, these are not my wishlists for what should get nominated, rather, this is me looking at a large swath of data before me, such as what films have been winning a lot on the awards circuit, what features & performances have been getting a large amount of buzz from high-profile award season watchers on sites like Gold Derby or the Fienberg Forecast and taking what kind of films, performances and such have scored nominations in years past.

Anywho, let's look at what my nominee predictions are....

Final 2015 Oscar Predictions (Part Two)

And now, part two of my examination of who will win what in this year's Oscar ceremony.

Final 2015 Oscars Winners Predictions (Part One)

Wow, so, there are only three days until the 88th Academy Awards. For some reason, this entire ceremony just vanished from my radar, but don't you worry, I'm here to deliver some predictions for who's gonna win at the show this Sunday. Just as a heads up, I won't be covering every single category here simply for the sake of brevity.

Let's not waste any time and starts things off with...

Best Adapted Screenplay
This one looks like an easy win for The Big Short, which has gained a surprising amount of momentum in recent weeks as an Oscar heavyweight, though don't count out either Drew Goddard for The Martian and Emma Donoghue for Room. Either one of those two candidates could easily slip into a dark horse victory.

Winner: The Big Short (Adam McKay, Charles Randolph)

Best Original Screenplay
Another Best Picture frontrunner, Spotlight, should take home the gold in this other screenplay category, though this one feels a bit more competitive than its Adapted Screenplay counterpart. I'm not gonna be shocked in the least if either Inside Out or Straight Outta Compton eke out a win here instead of Tom McCarthy's Best Picture nominee.

Winner: Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer)

Best Documentary Feature
There are a number of major contenders here, namely the rave-reviewed motion picture The Look Of Silence, though my gut tells me that Amy is gonna be the one who finds a win here, securing indie film studio A24 its first Oscar winner, and the smae honor goes to director Asif Kapadia.

Winner: Amy (Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees)

Best Animated Feature
Some unexpected nominees can be found in thsi category (namely, When Marnie Was There and Boy & The World) that certainly took many by surprise. However, few will be shocked by which movie ends up winning this award this go-around....it's obviously Inside Out's for the taking.

Winner: Inside Out (Pete Doctor, Jonas Rivera)

Best Animated Short Film
Here's the first category to crop up in this piece whose winner feels turly up in the air. Typically, it feels like the Oscar voters don't really watch the Animated Short selections and just select whatever short Disney or PIXAR have made that year (because, hey, I recognize that studio!). That doesn't always happen (the 2011 and 2012 ceremonies both snubbed the PIXAR contenders) but two of the last three years have brought out winners from the Disney-owned animation houses, and this year brings Sanjay's Super Team from PIXAR which feels like it could be an easy winner. That being said, Don Hertzfeldt (whose been nominated here before) may take home his first Oscar for World of Tomorrow, which has cultivated a massive amount of buzz. I'm gonna say Hertzfeldt wins this one, though don't be shocked if the PIXAR entry from this year manages to score a victory instead.

Winner: World of Tomorrow (Don Hertzfeldt)

Best Supporting Actress
Prior to 2015, Alicia Vikander had only two films under her belt that had received a wide release in the United States of America. Now, she starred in one of the most talked about films of the year (Ex Machina) and is all but certain to win her first Oscar for The Danish Girl. While Kate Winslet garnered a shocker Golden Globe win in this category a month ago for Steve Jobs, that victory hasn't occurred again since then, and the other nominees (Rooney Mara for Carol, Jennifer Jason Leigh for The Hateful Eight and Rachel McAdams for Spotlight) don 't seem to have enough of a traction to gain up on Vikander.

Winner: Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

Best Supporting Actor
Interestingly, out of the five nominees, it appears the only nominee not also up for Best Picture is also all but assured to take home Best Supporting Actor. Against Mark Rylance (for Bridge of Spies), Christian Bale (for The Big Short), Tom Hardy (for The Revenant) and Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight), Sylvester Stallone in Creed will be the winner here, giving Stallone his first Oscar ever. Could anyone pose a threat here? Maybe Hardy if The Revenant really picks up steam, and fellow Best Picture frontrunner The Big Short might have its reputation lift Bale up to a surprise Oscar win.

Winner: Sylvester Stallone (Creed) 

Come back tomorrow for my final batch of Oscar predictions, including who I think will win Best Picture!

Final 2016 Oscar Nominees Predictions!

And so, come Thursday, we'll finally know which films, actors and crew members the voters of the Oscars have chosen to recognize for this years 88th Academy Awards Ceremony. Below, I've transcribed my predictions for 15 of the 25 categories, many of which, I assure you, will not come to pass. After all, the Academy Awards are a lot like a cobra; sneaky and unpredictable until the very end.

Final 2014 Oscars Predictions

I must say, the announcement of the nominations for this years Academy Awards ceremony really took a spring out of my step. While it was great to see notable filmmakers like Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater receive long overdue recognition in the Best Director category, the lack of nominations for excellent people like Gillian Flynn, David Oyelowo, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ava Duvernay, and of course, a movie like The LEGO Movie just helped reinforce how out of touch the Oscars are with recognizing truly great cinema.

Final 2015 Oscar Nominees Predictions!!!

Two days from now, the nominees for the 87th Academy Awards will be announced, ending months of speculation over who will get into the massively prominent awards ceremony. Right now I'll be attempting to predict the nominees for 13 of the 24 categories at the Oscars. God knows how accurate I'll be, but let's get things started, shall we?

My Current Best Supporting Acting Nominee Predictions!! (January 1, 2015 Edition)

Well, here's the final (for now!) set of my Oscar predictions. This time around, I'm covering the Supporting Acting categories, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress specifically. Shall we get this started then?

My Current Best Acting Nominee Predictions!! (December 30, 2014 Edition)

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My Current Best Picture Nominees Predictions!! (December 28, 2014 Edition)

Well, the nominations for the next Academy Awards ceremony will be released two weeks from this Thursday.So let's take a look at my current predictions for the largest category of the ceremony, Best Picture.