Reel Matt

This blog started as my movie marathon — watching a movie a day for a whole year — and has continued as a place for me to write reviews about movies, TV, and various other items.

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This is still a work in progress as I migrate from my old platform at Tumblr. For now, you can still access the whole backlog of posts there at http://reelmatt.tumblr.com

94th Academy Awards - Predictions

The last couple of years has seen me get progressively worse at keeping up-to-date with film and tracking what I’ve seen. My Letterboxd diary is mostly up-to-date, and I try to review films when I can, but it’s a far cry from my previous output. And through all the craziness of the past several years, I didn’t even have a prediction post up for the 93rd Oscars.

For this year, I have a lot of N/A entries for my “Most Deserving” pick, because I didn’t see a lot of the Best Pictures. I saw some, including venturing out to see Dune on the big screen, but I only nabbed five out of ten Best Picture nominees, and many of the Acting and other down-ballot categories I only saw two or less, so decided I couldn’t really pick having not seen all that was on-offer.


BEST PICTURE

Film
Belfast
CODA
Don’t Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story

Most Deserving: CODA

Most Likely: CODA


BEST DIRECTOR

Director Film
Kenneth Branagh Belfast
Ryusuke Hamaguchi Drive My Car
Paul Thomas Anderson Licorice Pizza
Jane Campion The Power of the Dog
Steven Spielberg West Side Story

Most Deserving: N/A

Most Likely: Jane Campion


BEST ACTOR

Actor Film
Javier Bardem Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield Tick, Tick… Boom!
Will Smith King Richard
Denzel Washington The Tragedy of Macbeth

Most Deserving: N/A

Most Likely: Will Smith


BEST ACTRESS

Actress Film
Jessica Chastain The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart Spencer

Most Deserving: N/A

Most Likely: Penélope Cruz


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Actor Film
Ciarán Hinds Belfast
Troy Kotsur CODA
Jesse Plemons The Power of the Dog
J.K. Simmons Being the Ricardos
Kodi Smit-McPhee The Power of the Dog

Most Deserving: Troy Kotsur

Most Likely: Troy Kotsur


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Actress Movie
Jessie Buckley The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose West Side Story
Judi Dench Belfast
Kirsten Dunst The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellise King Richard

Most Deserving: N/A

Most Likely: Ariana DeBose


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Film Writer(s)
Belfast Kenneth Branagh
Don’t Look Up Adam McKay
King Richard Zach Baylin
Licorice Pizza Paul Thomas Anderson
The Worst Person in the World Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier

Most Deserving: N/A

Most Likely: Belfast


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Film Writer(s)
CODA Sian Hede
Drive My Car Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe
Dune Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth
The Lost Daughter Maggie Gyllenhaal
The Power of the Dog Jane Campion

Most Deserving: The Power of the Dog

Most Likely: CODA


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Film
Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon

Most Deserving: Encanto

Most Likely: Encanto


BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

Film Country
Drive My Car Japan
Flee Denmark
The Hand of God Italy
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom Bhutan
The Worst Person in the World Norway

Most Deserving: N/A

Most Likely: Drive My Car


BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Film
Ascension
Attica
Flee
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Writing with Fire

Most Deserving: N/A

Most Likely: Summer of Soul


BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)

Film
“Audible”
“Lead Me Home”
“The Queen of Basketball”
“Three Songs for Benazir”
“When We Were Bullies”

Most Deserving: N/A

Most Likely: “Audible”


BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

Film
“Ala Kachuu – Take and Run”
“The Dress”
“The Long Goodbye”
“On My Mind”
“Writing with Fire”

Most Deserving: N/A

Most Likely: “The Long Goodbye”


BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Film
“Affairs of the Art”
“Bestia
“Boxballet”
“Robin Robin”
“The Windshield Wiper”

Most Deserving: N/A

Most Likely: “Robin Robin”


BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Film Composer
Don’t Look Up Nicholas Britell
Dune Hans Zimmer
Encanto Germaine Franco
Parallel Mothers Alberto Iglesias
The Power of the Dog Jonny Greenwood

Most Deserving: Dune

Most Likely: Dune


BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Song Film Artist
“Be Alive” King Richard Music and lyrics by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
“Dos Oruguitas” Encanto Music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Down to Joy” Belfast Music and lyrics by Van Morrison
“No Time to Die” No Time to Die Music and lyrics by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
“Somehow You Do” Four Good Days Music and lyrics by Diane Warren

Most Deserving: “No Time to Die”

Most Likely: “Dos Oruguitas”


BEST SOUND

Film
Belfast
Dune
No Time to Die
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story

Most Deserving: Dune

Most Likely: Dune


BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Film
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story

Most Deserving: Dune

Most Likely: Dune


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Film
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story

Most Deserving: The Tragedy of Macbeth

Most Likely: The Power of the Dog


BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Film
Coming 2 America
Cruella
Dune
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
House of Gucci

Most Deserving: N/A

Most Likely: The Eyes of Tammy Faye


BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Film
Cruella
Cyrano
Dune
Nightmare Alley
West Side Story

Most Deserving: N/A

Most Likely: Cruella


BEST FILM EDITING

Film
Don’t Look Up
Dune
King Richard
The Power of the Dog
Tick, Tick… Boom!

Most Deserving: The Power of the Dog

Most Likely: King Richard


BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Film
Dune
Free Guy
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home

Most Deserving: Dune

Most Likely: Dune