We are just two days away from the 96th Academy Awards and the anticipation has been ramping up. Everyone is trying to watch some of the big nominees before the show so that they can have some rooting interest in the show. I have seen most of the nominees in most of the categories for feature length narrative films and I think it’s time to share my picks and predictions for Oscars.
Admittedly there are still some films I haven’t seen, which is why I excluded the Best Visuals category, but I think that I have seen enough of the other films in the other categories to have an educated opinion.
Here are my winners and hopefuls:
Best Supporting Actress
My pick: Da’Vine Joy Randolph
My Prediction: Da’Vine Joy Randolph
I believe that this is the easiest pick of the night. Randolph played such a key role in The Holdovers and brought so much emotion to the role of Mary. The other nominees really just don’t stack up. She is by far the favourite to win and I wouldn’t expect it to go any other way.
Best Supporting Actor
My Pick: Robert De Niro
My Prediction: Robert Downey Jr.
I thought that of all the nominees for Best Supporting Actor, De Niro added the most value to the film. I thought Downey Jr. was fine, but I certainly did not anticipate the amount of praise he would receive. I’m almost 100% certain Downey Jr. will win, but I thought De Niro as King Hale was outstanding.
Cinematography
My Pick: Poor Things
My Prediction: Oppenheimer
The most visually striking film of the year in my opinion is Poor Things. The use of colour and the composition was beautiful. Every frame of the film was like a painting. I think the award will probably go to Oppenheimer, which I thought had great cinematography as well, but in my mind it has to go to Poor Things.
Makeup and Hairstyling
My Pick: Maestro
My Prediction: Poor Things
This was a tough category because I think a lot of the films could have been deserving of the award, but I decided to go with Maestro. The ageing of Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan was very impressive to me and I think the film deserves some recognition for that. I believe Poor Things will probably win the award and it would be a deserving winner as well.
Costume Design
My Pick: Poor Things
My Prediction: Poor Things
I will be shocked if any film other than Poor Things wins the award. In every scene, Emma Stone has a new extravagant dress and beyond just the extravagance of her outfits, they also match very well with the tone of the film at any given point. The colours match her character’s disposition as she experiences the full range of human emotions.
International Feature Film
My Pick: Society of the Snow
My Prediction: The Zone of Interest
I know that The Zone of Interest will win this award without a doubt, as it is also nominated for Best Picture, but I personally enjoyed Society of the Snow a little bit more and I think it deserves a little bit more recognition. The real loser for this award is Anatomy of a Fall as it more than likely would have won had France nominated it. The Zone of Interest is a good film though and a deserving winner.
Animated Feature Film
My Pick: Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse
My Prediction: The Boy and the Heron
This was one of the easiest picks that I had to make. Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse was my favourite film of 2023 and I think it took the realm of animation to a level that it has never been to before. Unfortunately I do not think that the Academy was as in love with it as I was and I believe that ultimately that The Boy and the Heron will win. A worthy winner most other years, but Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse was just incredible.
Production Design
My Pick: Oppenheimer
My Prediction: Oppenheimer
I went back and forth on this one between Oppenheimer and Poor Things, but ultimately I think that Oppenheimer had the more impressive production design. The re-creation of the town where they worked was impressive and the fact that it was all real is what did it for me. I also thought the room in which Oppenheimer was interviewed was fantastic because it really gave a sense of him being stuck in a tiny place where the walls are closing in on him.
Original Score
My Pick: Poor Things
My Prediction: Oppenheimer
This was a tough category for me because I didn’t think that any film’s score really stood out to me too much, but if I had to pick one it would be Poor Things. It had a bit of a zany soundtrack, but it matched the tone of the film perfectly. I think Oppenheimer will win and I’m only predicting that because it has won at most of the other award shows. I think Oppenheimer has a good soundtrack, but it wasn’t one of the elements that stood out to me the most.
Original Screenplay
My Pick: The Holdovers
My Prediction: Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers is exactly the type of film that I would love to see more of in Hollywood. It has a very strong story and tells a simple yet complex tale. It was my favourite original film of the year and would love to see the film get some love. Anatomy of a Fall will more than likely win the award and it is more than fair. It tells a very complex story that leaves a lot up to interpretation. The open endedness worked perfectly for the film.
Adapted Screenplay
My Pick: Oppenheimer
My Prediction: Oppenheimer
There are a lot of poorly made biopics out there. I do not think that they are as easy as studios might believe that they are. I think Oppenheimer should be the model for all biopics going for. It finds a way to tell the story accurately without simply becoming a reenactment of events. A good biopic can read between the lines and bring something new to a story that many might already know. Oppenheimer tells the story that it was adapted from while also enhancing it, which makes the film worthwhile.
Sound
My Pick: The Zone of Interest
My Prediction: The Zone of Interest
This pick is a no-brainer to me and I think that the Academy will agree. Sound is the most vital element of The Zone of Interest as it tells a big part of the story. The sound is really haunting and it makes it so that we never even need to see where the sound is coming from. The film would be much worse off without the sound mixing that it has and that really makes it a slam dunk pick for this category.
Original Song
My Pick: I’m Just Ken
My Prediction: What was I made for
I really enjoyed the original songs that came from the nominated films that year and I have to say the one that was stuck in my head was “I’m Just Ken.” It is just such a catchy and fun song that I do not think that you can help but have it playing in your head. “What Was I Made For?” is obviously a very emotional song and important to the film, but I just really love Ryan Gosling singing “I’m Just Ken” and I cannot wait for him to do it live at the show.
Editing
My Pick: The Holdovers
My Prediction: Oppenheimer
The editing of The Holdovers is very different from what we are seeing from big Hollywood films these days and I really loved the feeling that it created. It felt like a film straight out of the 70s and created a very comfortable vibe. Oppenheimer will almost certainly win the award. It did some really amazing things with limited use of CGI and I think that’s really great to see in a world where so many films are made entirely on green screen.
Directing
My Pick: Christopher Nolan
My Prediction: Christopher Nolan
This is another slam dunk pick. I’m surprised that Nolan has never won the award for directing before, but he will certainly get it this year. I have predicted that Oppenheimer will win a lot of awards and I have talked about all these different elements already. When it comes down to it, the director is ultimately responsible for all of the elements of a film coming together and there is no denying the genius of Nolan.
Best Actress
My Pick: Emma Stone
My Prediction: Emma Stone
The toughest pick of the year. I had a very difficult time coming to a final decision on both my pick and my prediction, as I could have swapped Stone for Lily Gladstone for both. Ultimately I chose Stone for both my pick and prediction because I think she was a bigger part of her film than Gladstone was. I think both are so deserving of the award and it will certainly come down to those two in this category.
Best Actor
My Pick: Paul Giamatti
My Prediction: Cillian Murphy
This is another two horse race in my opinion, although it is possible that Jeffrey Wright gets some love for this award as well. Both Giamatti and Murphy are so vital to their respective films and I do not think that either would have been as good with someone else playing the role. I decided that I liked Giamatti slightly more and that may have been because I also enjoyed the film slightly more. Either could win this award, and again, I would be happy with either of the two.
Best Picture
My Pick: Killers of the Flower Moon
My Prediction: Oppenheimer
If you read my Best Picture nominees ranked article that was published earlier this week then it will come as no surprise that my favourite film of the nominees is Killers of the Flower Moon. I think it’s just a beautiful, heartbreaking, and important story that really resonated with me. I loved a lot of the films this year and I will be perfectly content with Oppenheimer winning Best Picture. Everything just seems to be pointing to it being a big year for Nolan and Oppenheimer. I do not think that Killers of the Flower Moon was loved as much by others as it was by me, but it is my pick and body else’s.
Those are my picks and predictions for the 96th Academy Awards. I’ll probably get a lot of these picks wrong, but these are really just based on my gut feeling. I’m no Hollywood insider or expert; I’m just a film fan who wants to see all of his favourite films get the recognition that I think that they deserve.
