With the Oscar Awards coming on February 9, Monday morning Manila time, it is time for me now to make my fearless Oscar predictions. (My Oscar predictions of previous years were posted on these links: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013).
Here is how I would rank this year's 9 nominees for Oscar Best Picture based on my own opinions when I first saw them (not exactly based on probability that I think they will win):
(MY FULL REVIEW)
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Nominations (6): Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Film Editing, Production Design, International Film
Out of work, driver Kim Ki-taek lived with his wife Choong Sook and two college-age children in a dirty sub-basement apartment in abject poverty. However, when his son Ki-woo was accepted as an English tutor for the daughter of a super-wealthy family, the Parks, he somehow managed to get his whole resourceful family employed as well. However, their wholesale underhanded subterfuge was not going to stay undiscovered for long.
"Parasite" juxtaposes the poverty of a family living in a dirty sub-basement in stark contrast with a family living in a posh hilltop mansion. Aside from dark comedy and family drama, this was also a sharp social commentary. This film also touched on several other genres in passing -- from edge-of seat suspense, to violent crime thriller, going even sexy at one point. All in all, this one has something for everyone in one thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking package.
(MY FULL REVIEW)
Director: Sam Mendes
Nominations (10): Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects
From the very first scene to the last, director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins took us along for what looked like one single take of continuous action as the camera followed Schofield and Blake in what seemed to be real time. It was an incredible technical achievement how they did this fluid illusion as the camera followed the two soldiers and show us their surroundings from all aspects. This becomes even more remarkable when they incorporate complex scenes, like a plane crash or a battle charge or even a slowly dying soldier, all integrated perfectly with the flow.
(MY FULL REVIEW)
Director: James Mangold
Nominations (4): Picture, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing
I did not know any of the characters nor any of the race results depicted in this sports drama movie. This made the watching these real-life events unfold on the big screen all the more engrossing and thrilling. The cinematography, editing, sound mixing and musical score made the exhilarating race sequences fully-immersive, pulse-racing, breathtaking viewing experiences. That extraordinary finale at LeMans was a nail-biting affair from the initial faulty door to its controversial photo-finish.
(MY FULL REVIEW)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Nominations (10): Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (2), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Production Design, Visual Effects
This film was yet another cinematic work about American gangsters by Martin Scorsese. This opus may be lengthy at 209 minutes (3-1/2 hours) but it was always engrossing and engaging, not boring at all. The episodic treatment of Sheeran's life events made it alright for me to watch it with a few reasonable breaks, and still not lose the compelling power of Scorsese's storytelling. His major casting coup of getting De Niro, Pesci and Pacino to act together in one big movie was worth every dollar and every minute.
(MY FULL REVIEW)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Nominations (10): Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing
Quentin Tarantino was expounding on how Hollywood was evolving in the 1960s -- the actors and the films. He was taking his sweet time following three separate stories: Dalton and his plummeting career path, Booth crossing paths with the Family, and a third one following Sharon Tate (a luminous Margot Robbie) on a day out to the city to watch her own film "The Wrecking Crew". These three threads only merge together in one extended, super-intense, wildly outrageous sequence of savage events in the last 20 minutes of the film.
(MY FULL REVIEW)
Director: Noah Baumbach
Nominations: Picture (6), Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Original Musical Score
As Charlie sang in his version of Sondheim's "Being Alive," being alone is not being alive. We vowed to share our lives through thick and through thin on our wedding day. It won't be perfect all the time, it could even feel like we were put through hell, as the song went. But that "hell" is part of being a living human being, and as husband and wife, we will be there for each other nevertheless. I wondered why Noah Baumbach entitled his film "Marriage Story" when it was about divorce. It turns out it was as much about marriage as it was about divorce, and marriage is the ideal we should uphold.
7. JOJO RABBIT(MY FULL REVIEW)
Director: Taika Waititi
Nominations (6): Picture, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Costume Design, Film Editing, Production Design
Writer-director Taika Waititi pushed envelopes to write the notorious Hitler as such a stupid childish caricature on film, even if he was just a figment of a child's active imagination here. And being the comedian that he was, Waititi even played this version of Hitler himself, toothbrush mustache, pot belly and all. To push the Nazi satire further, the whole Nazi Youth training camp scenario was also very comically envisioned and executed, with Sam Rockwell and Alfie Allen as the inept officers who run it. With Rebel Wilson playing a hefty fraulein instructor there, you can see how riotous that could be.
8. JOKER(MY FULL REVIEW)
Director: Todd Phillips
Nominations (11): Picture, Director, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Musical Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing
There is no argument that Joaquin Phoenix completely dedicated himself to this character and transformed completely into this pathetic creature, a victim of an abusive and nasty society. His very body was deformed into a grotesque emaciated form. He was supposed to be a clown and comedian, but nothing he said or did was ever funny at all. Even his maniacal laughter was pathological. Phoenix's portrayal reveled in the irony that his character actually gained more self-worth the deeper into violent psychosis he wallowed.
(MY FULL REVIEW)
Director: Greta Gerwig
Nominations (6): Picture, Actress, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Costume Design, Original Musical Score
In her adaptation, Greta Gerwin did not employ a linear storytelling style. Her scenes went back and forth in time. As for her advocacy, writer-director Gerwin made sure that even if there were still scenes of romantic relationships with men, the sisters, especially Jo and Amy, made strong statements about their womanhood, including a remarkable scene between Jo and Marmee. The ending went a bit differently from the book, with an effort to merge the real-life story of author Louisa Mae Alcott to that of Jo.
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My bets to win for each of the other categories:
Lead Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, “Joker”
Nominees: Antonio Banderas "Pain and Glory", Leonardo di Caprio "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", Adam Driver :Marriage Story", Jonathan Pryce "The Two Popes"
Lead Actress: Renee Zellweger, “Judy” (MY FULL REVIEW)
Nominees: Cynthia Erivo "Harriet", Scarlett Johansson "Marriage Story", Saoirse Ronan "Little Women", Charlize Theron "Bombshell"
Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”;
Nominees: Tom Hanks "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood", Anthony Hopkins "The Two Popes", Al Pacino "The Irishman", Joe Pesci "The Irishman"
Supporting Actress: Laura Dern, “Marriage Story”;
Nomineees: Kathy Bates "Richard Jewell", Scarlett Johansson "Jojo Rabbit", Florence Pugh "Little Women", Margot Robbie "Bombshell"
Director: Bong Joon-ho "Parasite"
Nominees: Martin Scorsese "The Irishman", Todd Phillips "Joker", Sam Mendes "1917", Quentin Tarantino, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”;
Animated Feature: "Missing Link"; (MY FULL REVIEW)
Nominees: "How to Train Your Dragon 3", "Klaus", "I Lost My Body", "Toy Story 4"
Animated Short: “Hair Love”
Nominees: “Dcera (Daughter)”, “Kitbull”, “Memorable”, “Sister”
Adapted Screenplay: “Little Women" Greta Gerwig
Nominees: The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, The Two Popes
Original Screenplay: “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino
Nominees: "Knives Out", "Marriage Story", "1917", "Parasite"
Cinematography: “1917,” Roger Deakin
Nominees: "The Irishman", "Joker", "The Lighthouse", "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
Best Documentary Feature: “Honeyland”
Nominees: “American Factory”,“The Cave”, “The Edge of Democracy”, “For Sama”
Best Documentary Short Subject: “Learning to Skateboard”
Nominees: “In the Absence”, “Life Overtakes Me”, “St. Louis Superman”, “Walk Run Cha Cha”
Best Live Action Short Film: “Brotherhood”
Nominees: “Nefta Football Club”, “The Neighbor’s Window”, “Saria”, “A Sister”
Best International Film: “Parasite” (South Korea)
Nominees: "Corpus Christi" (Poland). "Honeyland" (North Macedonia), "Les Miserables" (France), "Pain and Glory" (Spain)
Film Editing: “Ford v Ferrari,” Hank Corwin
Nominees: "The Irishman", "Jojo Rabbit", Joker", "Parasite"
Sound Editing: “1917"
Nominees: "Ford v Ferrari", "Joker", "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker"
Sound Mixing: “1917”;
Nominees: “Ad Astra", "Ford v Ferrari", "Joker", "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
Production Design: “Parasite”
Nominees: "The Irishman", "Jojo Rabbit", "1917", "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
Original Score: 'Joker"
Nominees: “Little Women", "Marriage Story", "1917", "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker"
Original Song: “Stand Up" ("Harriet")
Nominees: “I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away" ("Toy Story 4"), "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" ("Rocketman"), "I'm Standing with You ("Breakthrough"), "Into the Unknown" ("Frozen 2")
Makeup and Hairstyling: "Bombshell”
Nominees: “Joker", "Judy", "Maleficent 2", "1917"
Costume Design: “Jojo Rabbit"
Nominees: “The Irishman", "Joker", "Little Women", "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
Visual Effects: "Avengers: Endgame” (MY FULL REVIEW)
Nominees: "The Irishman", "The Lion King", "1917", "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker"
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