2022 Oscar Ballot

In just a few short hours from the time of this writing, the nominees for the 95th Academy Awards will be announced via Disney+. Why do we announce the nominees a full month into the New Year on a streaming service? Great question for which I have no answer. Were I to be able to ask that question of the Academy, I’d also ask them why they’re holding the actual ceremony itself in mid-March. For context, March 12th is 50-odd weeks after Everything Everywhere All At Once, a movie that will undoubtedly do quite well in nominations and possibly even wins at this very award show, debuted in theaters. So. Lots of questions, not a lot of answers here, I’m sorry. 

2022 is an odd movie year to evaluate. There were the obligatory highs and lows, of course, but in some ways it felt like a year spent in Bizarro World. Many of the Oscar-y movies fell flat both at the box office and with critics and that left a lot of room for big blockbusters, usually a sore spot for the Academy, to break through and carve out some space at the table. I’m here for that, by the way; there’s nothing more annoying to me than Oscar nominations going out to lackluster Oscar-y kinds of films simply because they are Oscar-y even in their mediocrity. Even still, it’s a bit weird to see movies like Top Gun Maverick and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever polling well amongst the standard Academy fare. 

Overall, I liked a lot of what 2022 had to offer but few movies separated themselves from the pack. Or perhaps I’d prefer to look at the year’s films in tiers. I’ve got five or so movies in the top tier and they’re hard to choose between as to which of them is the BEST. Then there’s a group of ten or so movies in tier two, also all jammed up. And another ten or fifteen in the tier below that. And so on and so forth. So, for my annual Super Fake Academy Awards Ballot, I’m spreading the wealth around and maybe even getting a little wheels off in some of my choices in an effort to show a little love to a few more movies that I enjoyed in 2022. 

NOTE: I’ve yet to see Tar, The Whale, Women Talking, and probably a couple of others that have some weight and bearing in this conversation. I blame limited release and Hollywood’s insistence on dropping 514 movies all at one time one week before the year ends. 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Banshees of Inisherin
Cha Cha Real Smooth
Everything Everywhere All at Once 
The Fabelmans
The Menu
Final Cuts: Aftersun, Nope, The Woman King

Super strong category this year, which we love to see given our frequent collective lamenting of how every movie is a sequel, prequel, reboot, or adaptation of an existing property. I’m going Banshees over Fabelmans by a nose simply because, while Martin McDonagh might be the best screenwriter in the business and I always expect perfection from me, this one still blew me away in conceit and content. He’s a genius. 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Glass Onion
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Top Gun: Maverick
Final Cuts: The Batman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Thirteen Lives

I went back and forth on this one. I think Rian Johnson’s writing on Glass Onion is even better than it was on Knives Out and I thought Knives Out was brilliant. Maverick isn’t exactly the typical writer-y kind of movie that gets a nod but it speaks to the achievement that this movie is and why it was so successful. I was kind of dreading Pinocchio and was relieved by the touching, incisive way GDT and Patrick McHale reinvented a very tired story. The sweet, funny, unique experience that is Marcel was very hard to overlook and for a while I had this as the winner. But I kept coming to All Quiet, a movie that is haunting me two weeks after my viewing and for which the scripting is impeccable.  

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Paul Dano, The Fabelmans
Brendan Gleeson, Banshees of Inisherin
Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans
Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All the Time
Brad Pitt, Babylon
Final Cuts: Jovan Adepo (Babylon), Diego Calva (Babylon), Barry Keoghan (Banshees of Inisherin), Edward Norton (The Glass Onion), Seth Rogen (The Fablemans)

I say it every year so here goes: This is always the toughest category to whittle down to five and usually the toughest from which to pick a winner. I expect Keoghan will get a spot in the final five over Pitt and I’m fine with that. For me, Pitt was the most compelling figure in a very flawed film and I think he deserves a spot in the conversation. I would have had him in my final five for Best Actor as well had the studio chosen to run him in that category. I could honestly pick any of the remaining four nominees and be happy with their win and even as I type, I’m having second thoughts and reconsidering Hirsch as the winner. But I’m going to stick with Ke Huy Quan and if that decision is based in part by the narrative of his return to the screen, then so be it, it’s a heckuva story and he deserves this win. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
Frankie Corio, Aftersun
Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All the Time
Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans
Final Cuts: Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All the Time), Lashana Lynch (The Woman King), Janelle Monae (The Glass Onion), Jean Smart (Babylon)

This one was tough to narrow down to five nominees and I fully expect to see Jamie Lee Curtis’s name on the list of nominees when I wake up in the morning. I’m fine with that, as long as Hsu is also nominated given that her performance is just as good (better, by my estimation) and her character is vital to their shared film. The winner, though, was a bit easier for me to pick. Bassett is the literal beating heart of Wakanda Forever and her unmatched grace, poise, and strength shines beautifully in that role. 

BEST ACTOR
Tom Cruise, Top Gun Maverick
Colin Farrell, Banshees of Inisherin
Daniel Kaluuya, Nope
Daniel Radcliffe, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Adam Sandler, Hustle
Final Cuts: Daniel Craig (The Glass Onion), Ralph Fiennes (The Menu), Felix Kammerer (All Quiet on the Western Front), Gabriel LaBelle (The Fabelmans), Paul Mescal (Aftersun)

Alright, here’s where things get admittedly wheels off. I saw ten thoroughly worthy Best Actor performances this year (and expect Brendan Frasier will qualify as number 11 when I finally get to see The Whale). Farrell was so far and away the best performance that, for me, the other four nominations almost don’t matter. This is Farrell’s award (again, pending The Whale), plain and simple. So, I picked slightly against the grain for the other spots. Nope disappointed me a bit but Kaluuya was outstanding. As with the Screenplay nomination, Maverick is not the kind of movie an actor would draw a mention from here usually but at a certain point, I think we ought to just give Cruise an award for being Tom Cruise On Screen for 40 years and if this isn’t the time then when is? Sandler got a SAG nomination for his outstanding turn in Hustle so while I don’t expect to see his name on the list tomorrow, it’s not an overly outlandish take. But I know I’m definitely getting (*puts on sunglasses*) weird with the Radcliffe selection over Fiennes, Craig, and Kammerer. The odds of Radcliffe having his name called are somewhere between 0 and 0.0000001 but I maintain that his comedic performance in one of the more surprisingly good and likable movies of the year is very, very good and deserving of adulation. If you don’t like it, I invite you to eat it. (This is a reference to the Weird Al parody song “Eat It”, sung to the tune of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” The best jokes are always the ones you have to explain.)

BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis, The Woman King
Danielle Deadwyler (Till)
Margot Robbie, Babylon
Ana Taylor-Joy (The Menu)
Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All the Time
Final Cuts: Dakota Johnson (Cha Cha Real Smooth), Zoe Kazan (She Said), Jennifer Lawrence (Causeway), Carrie Mulligan (She Said), Keke Palmer (Nope), Florence Pugh (Don’t Worry Darling)

Lots of good nominees and potential nominees here. I very nearly made a spot for Queen Florence who gave one of the very best performances in an awful movie I’ve ever seen. But I just can’t hand out nominations for terrible movies, I’m sorry. Ultimately, this comes down to Davis and Yeoh, both of whom are at the pinnacle of their profession and both of whom gave tremendous performances. It’s Yeoh by a hair for me but I’ll not be sad if Davis comes out the winner. (I assume Cate Blanchett will have a voice in this conversation once I see Tar.)

BEST DIRECTOR
Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front)
Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun Maverick
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All the Time
Martin McDonagh, Banshees of Inisherin
Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
Final Cuts: Gina Prince-Bythwood (The Woman King), Cooper Raiff (Cha Cha Real Smooth), Rian Johnson (The Glass Onion), Matt Reeves (The Batman), Dean Fletcher Camp (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On)

The nominees are pretty straight forward for me on this one, as I’m rolling with the directors of what I think are the five best movies I saw in 2022. Prince-Bythwood was, I thought, a lock here but I can’t get All Quiet out of my head and it made a late surge into the top five at the expense of The Woman King, with my deepest apologies. Picking the winner is a much more difficult task due to the feeling of this being a tier kind of thing as mentioned above. So, if we call this a tie, then my very official rule book says the tie goes to Steven Spielberg because he is Steven Spielberg. I fully admit this is a homer pick and I’m okay with your scorn and aggressive eye rolling. 

BEST PICTURE
All Quiet on the Western Front
Banshees of Inisherin
The Batman
Cha Cha Real Smooth
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
The Glass Onion
RRR
Top Gun Maverick
The Woman King
Final Cuts: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, The Menu, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

I had six locks here, the films of the five nominated directors plus The Woman King, and two further almost-locks (Cha Cha and The Glass Onion). Sorting out the next five movies, or so, was a challenge. RRR was an absolutely bonkers global sensation that felt too big to ignore and of the remaining choices, The Batman is the one I’m most likely to revisit frequently in the future and also just, I don’t know, I want to give Warner Brothers and DC some credit for FINALLY getting a dark and gloomy movie right. Marcel, Pinocchio, and The Menu are the first three out, all by shades of gray. As for the winner…I could make a case for any of The Fabelmans, Banshees, Everything Everywhere, All Quiet, and Top Gun. It’s a tier, you guys. As it is, I’m spreading the wealth and going with the movie that reminded a whole lot of people how awesome going to the movies can be while simultaneously giving Hollywood a near-perfect example of how to make a big, BIG movie the right way, a lesson that I’m sure will be ignored completely. It’s a huge achievement in filmmaking when it could have just been a huge movie and I love the movie for that.

2021 Oscar Ballot

The Academy Award nominations will be announced tomorrow, with the ceremony set to commence at the end of March. This is far too long to wait for the ceremony, I agree; moving a full quarter into the following year before we honor the best of the previous year is very stupid but unfortunately, The Academy has yet to ask my opinion. I stand ready to give them said opinion should they ever call. 2021 was a weird year for movies because 2021 was a weird year overall. Many of the movies we looked forward to (at least those of us who are movie nerds deeply invested in the film release calendar each year) were disappointing and the box office was a mess. Even still, I saw a big bunch o’ movies in 2021 because that’s what I do. Overall, I liked what the year had to offer. And one (of the very few) positive byproduct of the pandemic is the accessibility of more and more quality films on the various streaming services. I love movie theaters and I worry about the future of the industry but I won’t lie and tell you that I don’t like having the option to watch the new big movie in my home office at midnight rather than having to find time to go to the theater for each and every movie.

As always, I don’t have an Oscar vote but that doesn’t stop me from putting together a fake ballot every year. You’ll find said ballot for 2021 below, with my five (or ten) nominees for each of the eight “big” awards (my winner in bold), as well as the movies and performances that just missed the top five. 

I will also say that, while I never set out to have a ballot that lines up with the views of the Academy and often have my own choices, I’m usually in the same ballpark as the powers that be in the movie world. In a normal year, there might be a movie or two that gets some praise I don’t agree with or that I love but the Academy doesn’t. This year, however, there are a number of movies and performances that are stacking up nominations across the award circuit, that I very much didn’t jive with. I found Belfast to be a bit tedious and underwhelming, couldn’t get into Tick Tick Boom, and borderline hated both Don’t Look Up and Being the Ricardos, all of which are seemingly guaranteed to feature prominently when the nominations come down tomorrow. To each their own, of course, but I can’t feeling like some of these movies are getting award consideration because we expected them to be great and not because they actually are. 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Wes Anderson, The French Dispatch
Fran Kranz, Mass
Mike Mills, C’mon C’mon
Michael Sarnoski, Pig
Final Cuts: Encanto (Charise Castro Smith, Jared Bush, and Byron Howard), The Harder They Fall (Jaymes Samuel and Boaz Yakin), Swan Song (Benjamin Cleary)

This category is mostly a toss-up for me this year, with a big jumble of very good movies made from very good scripts but nothing that absolutely must win for me. Pig was a big surprise and much of that is due to Sarnoski’s subtle writing and direction. Kranz put forth one of the more actor-forward scripts I’ve seen in a while and those actors shined because of it. Mills’ dual conceits, a sister in need leaves her child with her estranged brother and the brother’s profession, work seamlessly together. And PT Anderson delivered perhaps his most likable and accessible script in years. I’m giving Wes Anderson the edge here simply because I enjoyed his film the most and the vignette storytelling works perfectly for Anderson’s many quirks.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Jane Campion, Power of the Dog
Joel Coen, The Tragedy of MacBeth
Sian Heder, CODA
David Lowery, The Green Knight
Jon Spaiths, Denis Villeneuve, and Eric Roth, Dune
Final Cuts: The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro, Kim Morgan), West Side Story (Tony Kushner)

Of the two scripted categories, Adapted was a bit stronger for me this year (after a few years of the inverse) and thus, I had a hard time choosing. Green Knight didn’t fully connect for me the way I have come to expect with a Lowery movie but I think he deserves credit for translating a 14th century poem into a beautiful film. I’m always interested when Campion pops up with a movie (since it happens so sporadically) and it is the expert structure of the script that makes the twist in the final moments of Power work so well. Coen’s adaptation of the Scottish play owes much of its success to the set design and acting but tightening up MacBeth without sacrificing even an ounce of its story and power is an achievement. And, as I’ve said a million times, Dune is an unfilmable book that was translated and adapted much better than I could have ever dreamed. For me, Heder gets the win by a nose for assembling one of the most joyous, heartfelt films of the decade. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Bradley Cooper, Licorice Pizza
Idris Elba, The Harder They Fall
Mike Faist, West Side Story
Jason Isaacs, Mass
Troy Kotsur, CODA
Final Cuts: Ciaran Hinds (Belfast) Kodi Smit-McPhee (Power of the Dog), the male cast of The French Dispatch

This is always the deepest field and 2021 was no different as my “shortlist” was something like 30 lines long. Cooper is only in Licorice for maybe five minutes but he’s like a firecracker set off in the dead of night and his energy is contagious to the rest of the movie. The Harder They Fall is the coolest movie of the year and Elba is the perfect villain for the movie. Faist was lively and charismatic, making West Side Story’s male lead, Ansel Elgort, look silly by comparison. Isaacs is the lead for much of Mass and delivers some of the film’s most gut wrenching moments. But I don’t think I’m ever going to forget the strength and grace of Kotsur’s performance as the trying-to-figure-it-out dad in CODA nor the moments he shares with his on-screen daughter, Emilia Jones.

Note: I had Jason Segel’s performance in Our Friend as a lock for the five spots before realizing that he is ineligible since the movie technically debuted in 2019 (though it wasn’t available for non-festival goers until 2021). Segel rules and deserves more acclaim for his dramedy work.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Anne Dowd, Mass
Naomi Harris, Swan Song
Marlee Matlin, CODA
Final Cuts: Rebecca Ferguson (Dune), Frances McDormand (The French Dispatch), Cate Blanchett (Nightmare Alley)

This was a strong, deep field this year, rivaling the Supporting Actor group in a way that doesn’t often happen. Good work, Hollywood! Buckley, as the younger version of Olivia Colman, matched one of the greatest living actresses wonderfully and set the stage for her older counterpart beautifully. Harris drew many more eyes in No Time to Die and (unfortunately) Venom: Let There Be Carnage (I won’t hold that trainwreck against her here, although…) but her soft, quiet performance in Swan Song rivals that of her Oscar-nominated turn in Moonlight. At least in terms of the performance side of things, DeBose was the heart of West Side Story for me in a career-altering way. And from August on, I had Matlin penciled in as a lock to win this category for her magnificent turn as the change-resistant mother in CODA. It’s the last ten minutes of Mass, however, where Dowd jumps to the top of the race for me, her character’s quiet, barely contained resolve, finally bubbling over into an admittedly showy but nonetheless harrowing monologue.  

BEST ACTOR
Mahershala Ali, Swan Song
Nicolas Cage, Pig
Benedict Cumberbatch, Power of the Dog
Will Smith, King Richard
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of MacBeth
Final Cuts: Bradley Cooper (Nightmare Alley), Jonathan Majors (The Harder They Fall), Joaquin Phoenix (C’mon, C’mon)

2021 was a banger for leading performances (both male and female). It was very, very hard to cut the category down and leave out Phoenix, Majors, Cooper, and more. Swan Song is somehow (completely unfathomable to me) Ali’s first lead performance in a movie and he comes in strong with a dual-role. Cumberbatch was less showy than some of his contemporaries here, reminding me of his range and talent outside of the Marvel movies and Sherlock. I didn’t love King Richard overall but it was soooooo good to see Smith do something worthwhile and his work here is excellent. I’ve never been the biggest Cage fan but I think Pig contains his best performance in at least 20 years, if not the best of his entire career. But, for me, the best of the bunch (and maybe by a long stretch) is Denzel letting everyone know that he is, still, after all, Denzel Washington. He dominates MacBeth in a way that very actors could do in a role that would be career-defining for anyone with a lesser resume. 

BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Jodie Comer, The Last Duel
Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza
Emilia Jones, CODA
Rachel Zegler, West Side Story
Final Cuts: Stephanie Beatrix (Encanto), Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter), Kristen Stewart (Spencer)

As mentioned above, this was a great year for lead performances. There are a couple of actresses I left off my ballot who might’ve won my (fake) vote in a lot of years and picking a winner here is almost a five-way coin flip. Chastain has had some weirdly bad performances of late but absolutely crushes every aspect of Tammy Faye Bakker. The Last Duel wasn’t my jam (at all) but Comer, already a TV super star, outshined her male counterparts, (Matt Damon, Adam Driver, and Ben Afflect) by leaps and bounds. Zegler is a star in the making and perfect in West Side Story. Jones brings such honesty to CODA, centering the movie and giving it its backbone even while occasionally being overshadowed by her supporting cast. In a toss-up, though, I’m going with the most surprising performance which, for me, was Haim. When Pizza was announced, I could not have guessed that Alana would be the star of the movie (considering she’s not even the star of her own band) but she gave us one of the most fun, comedic, and poignant performances of the year.

BEST DIRECTOR
Joel Coen, The Tragedy of MacBeth
Sian Heder, CODA
Jaymes Samuel, The Harder They Fall
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Denis Villeneuve, Dune
Final Cuts: Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza), Jane Campion (Power of the Dog), Nia DaCosta (Candyman)

I struggled greatly in trying to cut my list down to eight and then the final five. I didn’t set out to do this but it turns out this is a great mix of some of the biggest names in filmmaking and some of the brightest up-and-comers and I love that. Heder made my favorite movie of the year and the one that melted me into a large puddle of tears. Samuel made the coolest movie of the year. Coen adapted an iconic play in tremendous fashion. Villeneuve made the unfilmable film and (if I’m being honest) I’m hedging my bet here a bit, fairly or unfairly, in expecting Dune 2 to be even stronger. I picked Spielberg because I love him dearly (#SpielbergUp #SpielbergStrong #SpielbergNation) and, in much the same way as Denzel did with MacBeth, I felt like West Side Story was Spielberg reminding us that he’s Steven Spielberg. It’s a masterclass in filmmaking from a technical and narrative standpoint and honestly, I’m just really happy to see that my favorite filmmaker still has his fastball. So he gets my vote. Sue me. 

BEST PICTURE
C’mon, C’mon
CODA
Dune
The Harder They Fall
Licorice Pizza
Pig
Power of the Dog
Spider-Man: No Way Home
The Tragedy of MacBeth
West Side Story
Final Cuts: Candyman, Encanto, The French Dispatch, Mass, Swan Song

I drew the line for Best Picture consideration right at 20 movies, some big and accessible, some small and underseen. As mentioned, I don’t know that there were any truly great movies in 2021 but the depth of “good to very good” movies made it tough to narrow it down to ten. I’ve mentioned almost all of these movies herein so I won’t go on about each of them. Spider-Man: No Way Home is likely to be the “controversial” choice here compared to the rest, considering its box office domination and mainstream success. But, for me at least, it’s not here because it was the biggest movie of the year, it’s here because I felt it was also one of the year’s best and for all the complaints about the Disneyfication of our lives, I want to appreciate and honor the studios when they make an ambitious blockbuster, like Avengers: Endgame or No Way Home. CODA gets my Best Picture vote, unsurprisingly; I cannot overstate how beautiful, heartfelt, and joyful this movie is and how much I hope people will see it. In a tight race with no true leader in the clubhouse, “favorite” is my go-to tiebreaker so Coda it is.

VIEWING GUIDE
Since many of my choices this year had limited theatrical runs (and because of, like, everything in life right now), here’s where you can watch all of the movies mentioned herein.

APPLE+
CODA, Swan Song, The Tragedy of MacBeth
DISNEY+
Encanto, West Side Story (soon?)
HBOMax
Dune, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, King Richard, The Last Duel, Nightmare Alley
HULU
Nightmare Alley, Pig
NETFLIX
The Lost Daughter, The Power of the Dog, The Harder They Fall
THEATER ONLY/NOT YET AVAILABLE TO STREAM
Licorice Pizza, Spider-Man: No Way Home
VOD
Belfast, Candyman, C’mon C’mon, The French Dispatch, The Green Knight, Mass, Spencer

2020 Oscar Ballot

The Academy Award nominations will be announced today, with the ceremony set to commence at the end of April. I don’t have to tell you, dear reader, what a beating 2020 was, nor how much the pandemic disrupted every aspect of our lives. The inability to go to the theater consistently is quite a trivial loss in the face of all the tragedy this last year brought our way but still, it was a significant change for many of us and only added to our feelings of frustration, anxiety, isolation, and every other bad vibe you’ve experienced through the course of this mess. Still, despite how much of a hit the movie industry took this year, I think there’s a lot to celebrate here and, maybe even a bit in spite of myself, I look forward to the nominations, the ceremony, and the discussion that comes with the Oscars. If nothing else, debating something as unimportant as which movie had the fifth best script of the year feels like a relief after a long period that has included so many serious discussions, debates, and arguments.

I don’t have an Oscar ballot (though, as always, I invite the Academy to look into this oversight and include me in their process moving forward) but that doesn’t stop me from putting together a fake ballot every year. You’ll find said ballot for 2020 to below, with my five (or ten) nominees for each of the eight “big” awards (my winner in bold), as well as the movies and performances that just missed the top five and a few more good choices just for good measure. I *think* I have seen most of the 2020 contenders, with the notable exceptions of Supernova and The Father, both of which I intend to get to before the actual ceremony arrives.

BEST ACTOR BALLOT
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Kingsley Ben-Adir, One Night in Miami
Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods
Gary Oldman, Mank
Steven Yeun, Minari
Ahmed gave a remarkably vulnerable performance in a beautiful, challenging film. Ben-Adir was, for me, the best on screen presence in an outstanding ensemble. Oldman not only gave the kind of performance we expect from him every time out but also seemed to be having fun which was kind of strange but also delightful. And Yeun turned in one of the least showy but most powerful portrayals in recent memory. Any of them could take home the hardware. I’m sticking with Lindo, the first “sit up and take notice” performer of the year and the one that has stuck with me the most memorably. He’s the heart and soul of a very good, important film that’s gotten a bit lost in the shuffle.

SHORTLIST
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Lakeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah
This is where I’m most likely to look foolish when the actual Academy Awards ceremony takes place. Boseman is, I think, the odds-on favorite to win the award, let alone be nominated. And I get it, he’s great in the movie and deserving of adoration. I just happen to think there are five better performances, personally. I also find it a little weird that he’s being run as the lead in what I felt like was a pretty balanced ensemble. Stanfield, too, is caught in the numbers crunch here, although I feel quite confident he’ll hear his name called on Oscar Sunday in the not too distance future.  

LONGLIST
Paul Bettany, Uncle Frank
Adarsh Gourav, The White Tiger
Tom Hanks, News of the World
Tahar Rahim, The Mauritanian
Andy Samberg, Palm Springs

BEST ACTRESS BALLOT
Andra Day, The United States vs Billie Holliday
Yeri Han, Minari
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Elisabeth Moss, The Invisible Man
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
Day drags a bad movie, kicking and screaming, uphill toward relative decency. The movie doesn’t deserve her greatness, honestly. I’m no horror movie expert but The Invisible Man is one of the best genre works of the last ten years and much of it relies on Moss’ consistent excellence. Han is the perfect complement to Steven Yeun with the two combining to give Minari its beautiful balance. When I saw Nomadland, I was completely confident that I had seen the best acting performance of the year and that McDormand would take home another well-deserved Oscar trophy. But I am still thinking about Mulligan’s work in Promising Young Woman. She’s electric and her portrayal sticks with you for days on end.   

SHORTLIST
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
Of the two, Kirby is a step closer to inching into the top five despite how much I love Davis. Pieces of a Woman isn’t a great movie, but Kirby is by far the high note. As with Boseman, I think Davis’ candidacy suffers a bit from Ma Rainey’s ensemble feel but she, too, is fantastic as always.

LONGLIST
Rashida Jones, On the Rocks
Cristin Milioti, Palm Springs
Rosamund Pike, I Care A Lot
Kate Winslet, Ammonite
Zendaya, Malcolm & Marie

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR BALLOT
Chadwick Boseman, Da 5 Bloods
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Bill Murray, On the Rocks
Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
Supporting Actor is always the toughest category to wade through for me and this year is no different, though I think there is a very clear line of demarcation between the top spot and the rest of the field. Not only do I think Da 5 Bloods is a (significantly) better movie than Ma Rainey’s, I think Boseman’s performance in it is better as well. Odom’s embodies the grace of Sam Cooke beautifully and pairs well with Ben-Adir’s Malcolm X. Raci’s understated, quiet work provides so much depth to Sound of Metal and his breakdown scene is one of the best of the year. And I have Murray clumped together with about 20 other “good not great performances” and my personal code dictates that ties go Bill Murray. Them’s the rules. None of this matters, though, because Kaluuya delivered what is for me the best performance, male or female, lead or supporting, of 2020 and I will be furious if he doesn’t take home the award.

SHORTLIST
David Strathairn, Nomadland
The Cast of Trial of the Chicago 7 (Yahya Abdul-Mateen, Sascha Baron Coen, Frank Langella, Michael Keaton, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, et al)
Strathairn is probably going to get a nomination and he deserves it, he’s very good in Nomadland. All of the actors in Chicago 7 are excellent and none of them do quite enough to separate themselves from the rest for me. SBC is probably going to get a nomination and that’s fine. If I had to pick one to put on my ballot in place of Murray (which you cannot make me do so don’t try), I’d probably go with Rylance.

LONGLIST
Bo Burnham, Promising Young Woman
Charles Dance, Mank
Aldis Hodge, One Night in Miami
Alan S. Kim, Minari
Peter MacDissi, Uncle Frank
Jonathan Majors, Da 5 Bloods
JK Simmons, Palm Springs
Glynn Turman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS BALLOT
Dominique Fishback, Judas and the Black Messiah
Jodie Foster, The Mauritanian
Yuh Jung Youn, Minari
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Swankie, Nomadland
Fishback got overshadowed by Kaluuya, Stanfield, and Jesse Plemons but it’s her quiet strength through the course of Judas that allows for its most impactful scene which she crushes. I didn’t love The Mauritanian, but Foster elevates the material quite well. I confess, I just think Swankie is cool and the realism she and her cohorts add to Nomadland deserves attention. Much like McDormand in Nomadland, I thought I was watching the Oscar winner when I saw Seyfried in Mank and if she ultimately ends up the winner, it’s well-deserved. But I adored Yuh Jung Youn and I thought she brought so much to the screen in an organic way that fit Minari so perfectly. I would like her to be my grandma, please.

SHORTLIST
Margot Martindale, Uncle Frank
Not the best year for Supporting Actress contenders but if Character Actress Margot Martindale is in a movie, there’s a good chance I’m going to love her. So. Here we are.

LONGLIST
Candice Bergen, Let Them All Talk
Ellen Burstyn, Pieces of a Woman
Priyanka Chopra Jones, The White Tiger
Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Cooke, Sound of Metal
Saoirse Ronan, Ammonite
Helena Zengel, News of the World

BEST DIRECTOR BALLOT
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
David Fincher, Mank
Regina King, One Night in Miami
Spike Lee, Da 5 Bloods
Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
This is, by far, the toughest category to sort through for me. I think all five of the nominees above (and at least a few more below) have great cases to be made for winning and I don’t think I’ll be bothered by any of them taking home the trophy. I’m taking Chung because (spoiler alert) I think Minari is the best movie of the year, so I guess that’s the tie breaker? This is terrible analysis, I know, and I apologize. They’re all great.

SHORTLIST
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Pete Docter, Soul
I think Fennell has a shot at cracking into the actual nominees as both Fincher and Lee have been hit or miss on the award circuit. Docter deserves way more attention than he’s getting for Soul and I place the blame for that squarely on the awards bias against animated films.

LONGLIST
Sofia Coppola, On the Rocks
Paul Greengrass, News of the World
Darius Marder, Sound of Metal
Aaron Sorkin, Trial of the Chicago 7
Leigh Whannell, The Invisible Man

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY BALLOT
Minari
Promising Young Woman
Palm Springs
Soul
Trial of the Chicago 7
The buzz on Chicago 7 is all over the place. Some have it as a front runner in several categories, some think it’s overrated junk. For me, it’s two biggest strengths are the depth of the ensemble and the script. I think the script, like all Sorkin films, sings so it takes the top spot for me. Soul is perhaps an uncommon pick here but I think the structure of that movie is exquisite so I’m rolling with it. Promising Young Woman relies maybe a tad too much on its final twist but even still, it’s a pretty phenomenal product. I might be doing the “token nomination” thing with Palm Springs but I truly love the new take on an old trope bit that the movie pulls off and I want to reward its quality. Minari probably comes closest to taking the win from Chicago 7 but at the end of the day I’m falling for the exquisite showiness of Sorking being Sorkin. Sue me.   

SHORTLIST
Da 5 Bloods
Mank
I can’t say that either of these scripts are the best that Lee and Fincher, respectively, have ever worked with but they’re both good to very good and both do a lot of work for their films structurally.

LONGLIST
I Care A Lot
Judas and the Black Messiah
Love & Monsters
Malcolm & Marie
On the Rocks
Onward
Sound of Metal
Tenet
Uncle Frank

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY BALLOT
The Invisible Man
News of the World
Nomadland
One Night in Miami
The White Tiger
I’d draw a line between News of the World and the rest of this field in terms of quality. It’s a good script but not great and I think quite a bit lesser than the others. White Tiger was a late arrival for me, and I was very impressed with the film’s highs even if there were some noticeable lows. I remain steadfastly impressed with Invisible and while Moss is the BIGGEST reason that movie succeeds, the script and direction (both by Leigh Whannell) deserve a lot of credit. It is incredibly hard to take a stage production and adapt it to the screen and even more difficult, I think, to adapt your own stage production. That’s just what Kemp Powers did, and I think he gave Regina King a fantastic canvas to work from. I lean slightly toward Chloe Zhao and Nomadland here, however, because of how well the film subverts expectation and avoids the tropes you might think it would be rife with.

SHORTLIST
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
I have a hard time with movies that feel like plays. This may be a personal preference thing but it’s difficult for me to stay “in” the movie in these cases. That’s where Ma Rainey suffers for me, despite its obvious strengths.

LONGLIST
American Pickle
First Cow
Midnight Sky
Pieces of a Woman

BEST PICTURE BALLOT
Da 5 Bloods
The Invisible Man
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
Minari
Nomadland
One Night in Miami
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
Soul
I think there are good cases to be made for each of these films and that speaks mostly to their overall respective quality and a little to the lack of a truly GREAT film in the lot. That’s okay, that happens in a lot of non-pandemic years, too! For me, this comes down to Da 5 Bloods, Minari, and Nomadland. I spoke at length about all of them on our episodes (not to mention within this piece) and all three films accomplish their goals beautifully. I think perhaps Minari has the highest degree of difficulty among the three and handles each of its components the best so it gets the win for me but, truly, I think it’s splitting hairs to choose between these three.  

SHORTLIST
Palm Springs
Trial of the Chicago 7
In terms of re-watchability, Palm Springs is the top film in this group for me and, again, I just love the way that film dove head first into very well charted waters and carved out its own space based solely on charm. Chicago tells its story exceedingly well and has maybe the best ensemble of the year but feels a tiny bit flat compared to some of its contemporaries.

LONGLIST
News of the World
Onward
Uncle Frank