91st Academy Award ceremony

Once again, I have seen every film nominated in each of the categories in the Academy Awards. Here are some of my thoughts and predictions.

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Will Win: Roma
My Choice: A Star Is Born
Wish were nominated: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
In a year with great documentaries, includind four that grossed over $10,000,000, this should have been the year in which a documentary was nominated for the first time.

Best Achievement in Directing
Will Win: Alfonso Cuarón—Roma
My Choice: Spike Lee—BlacKkKlansman
Wish were nominated: Bradley Cooper—A Star Is Born
BlacKkKlansman makes my all-time top-ten Spike Lee films, barely. However, he is long overdue, and I am not super enthusiastic about any of the nominees.

Best Original Screenplay
Will Win: The Favourite—Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
My Choice: The Favourite—Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
Wish were nominated: Boots Riley—Sorry to Bother You
This category is not as interesting as it usually is.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Will Win: BlacKkKlansman—Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee
My Choice: A Star Is Born—Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters
Wish were nominated: The Death of Stalin—Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Will Win: Glenn Close—The Wife
My Choice: Lady Gaga—A Star Is Born
Wish were nominated: Rachel Weisz—The Favourite
Close is overdue, and the winner in this category tends to come from a film that wins nowhere else. Weisz is nominated in another category due to category fraud.  She should have been nominated here.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Will Win: Rami Malek—Bohemian Rhapsody
My Choice: Viggo Mortensen—Green Book
Wish were nominated: Robert Redford—The Old Man & the Gun

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Will Win: Regina King—If Beale Street Could Talk
My Choice: Rachel Weisz—The Favourite
Wish were nominated: Michelle Yeoh—Crazy Rich Asians

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Will Win: Mahershala Ali—Green Book
My Choice: Mahershala Ali—Green Book
Wish were nominated: Russell Hornsby—The Hate U Give
Mahershala Ali is in this category due to category fraud, but he was very good.

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Will Win: Roma—Alfonso Cuarón
My Choice: Roma—Alfonso Cuarón
I find Roma to be flawed, but it looked great.

Best Achievement in Film Editing
Will Win: Bohemian Rhapsody—John Ottman
My Choice: BlacKkKlansman—Barry Alexander Brown

Best Achievement in Production Design
Will Win: The Favourite—Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton
My Choice: The Favourite—Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton
I can easily see Black Panther winning here, but this award usually goes to historical dramas. Roma is a dark horse here

Best Achievement in Costume Design
Will Win: The Favourite—Sandy Powell
My Choice: The Favourite—Sandy Powell
Again, I can see Black Panther winning here, but this award usually goes to historical dramas. Sandy Powell is very well liked, but votes for her will be split between The Favourite and Mary Poppins Returns.

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Will Win: Vice—Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, Patricia DeHane
My Choice: Border—Göran Lundström, Pamela Goldammer

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Will Win: Avengers: Infinity War— Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl, Daniel Sudick
My Choice: Avengers: Infinity War— Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl, Daniel Sudick

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Will Win: A Quiet Place—Ethan Van der Ryn, Erik Aadahl
My Choice: A Quiet Place—Ethan Van der Ryn, Erik Aadahl
This is based mostly on me being amused by the irony of a film entitled A Quiet Place winning an award for best sound.

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Will Win: Bohemian Rhapsody—Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin, John Casali
My Choice: I have no preference
Most people, including most of the Academy, probably do not know the difference between the above two categories. However, they may understand that this category involves music, so I expect Bohemian Rhapsody to defeat A Star Is Born.

Best Achievement in Music (Original Score)
Will Win: If Beale Street Could Talk—Nicholas Britell
My Choice: I have no preference

Best Achievement in Music (Original Song)
Will Win: A Star Is Born—Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt ("Shallow")
My Choice: A Star Is Born—Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt ("Shallow")
Wish were nominated: Deadpool 2—Tyler Bates ("You Can't Stop This Motherf-----")
The only suspense in this category was when the nominations were announced. In other words, which four songs will lose to "Shallow." I prefer songs that play a role in the plot of the film, so it is "Shallow" for me as well.
If Deadpool 2 received a nomination in this categopry, I would want Samuel L. Jackson to present.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Will Win: Roma—Mexico
My Choice: Never Look Away (Werk ohne Autor)—Germany
Wish were nominated: Burning (Beoning)—South Korea

Best Animated Feature Film
Will Win: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse—Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
My Choice: Ralph Breaks the Internet—Rich Moore, Phil Johnston, Clark Spencer
Wish were nominated: Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms
After nominating mediocrities like The Boss Baby and Ferdinand last year, I am glad that the Academy found five very good films to nominate this year.

Best Documentary Feature
Will Win: RBG—Betsy West, Julie Cohen
My Choice: Free Solo—Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes, Shannon Dill
Wish were nominated: Science Fair


Best Animated Short Film
Will Win: "Bao"—Domee Shi, Becky Neiman
My Choice: "Animal Behaviour"—Alison Snowden, David Fine
The 15 nominated short films tend to be rather depressing, with a few inspiring or poignant films mixed in. "Animal Behavior" is the only one with a light tone.

Best Documentary Short Subject
Will Win: "Period. End of Sentence."—Rayka Zehtabchi, Melissa Berton
My Choice: "End Game"— Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
Wish were nominated: "My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes"
I know nothing about "My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes" other than its title, but how do you not nominate a film with that title?  If it were nominated, the presenter for this category should be someone with "Dame" as a title like Judi Dench or Hellen Mirren.
Edit: The director of one of the nominated films. "Lifeboat," is named Skye Fitzgerald. When I saw the credit my first thought was, "If the "gerald" part were dropped, this could be the result of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. going a very different direction."

Best Live Action Short Film
Will Win: "Marguerite"— Marianne Farley, Marie-Hélène Panisset
My Choice: "Detainment"—Vincent Lambe, Darren Mahon
"Marguerite" is the only nominated film in this category that is not about children going through a traumatic experience. As a result, it stands out from the rest.