Oscars 2023: my opinions, predictions, problems and what could be changed

 Ah the academy awards, the time of year where you learn about a fair few movies being nominated are some you barely know and some that feel have helped bring people to the movies not getting much appreciation in receiving some awards. This year though there is a fair mix of films that released over the last year that I do know a fair bit about and have seen some of them and some I do not know about and may check out in due time. But today I am going to talk about all the categories in particular of my opinions of what I agree with, my own additional add ins to the section (as well as one or 2 possible removals but will be very slim), my prediction on who I think will win and who I want to win, and then after each section has been gone through I will talk on the most glaring problems with some of these issues that have been brought up by other outlets and give my opinions on it as well. So let's get into this and we will start with talking on the nominations for this year and then go into each category.

Your starring line up for this year

I am going to keep this section brief. There is quite the selection of different genres in this year race for the golden statue from adrenaline fueled action, suspense and mystery, strange new worlds we haven't seen in years, cultural topics of modern day and even to levels where anything is possible from humans being controlled by Raccoons to make meals or a world where everyone has giant weird hotdog fingers (it sounds weird but we'll explain later and actually works well in the basis of the film they are in). This year also saw a big push with a lot of nominations for the Irish which is quite the big achievement. Now some of the big nominated films this year are as follows:

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE (Leading with 11)

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (9 nominations)

BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (9 nominations)

ELVIS (8 nominations)

THE FABLEMANS (7 nominations)

TAR (6 nominations)

TOP GUN MAVERICK (6 nominations)

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER (5 nominations)

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (4 nominations)

BABYLON (3 nominations)

THE BATMAN (3 nominations)

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS (3 nominations)

THE WHALE (3 nominations)

LIVING (2 nominations)

WOMEN TALKING (2 nominations)

besides all of these ones there are about 40 other films, documentaries and shorts that have also gotten themselves a nominations and some of these will be discussed of deserving maybe another nomination or 2 (but we will get to that). but now lets get to the first of the many category's to discuss.

THE BIG PICTURE (BEST PICTURE)

So let me start with the big award of the night and that is with the Best Picture. These would be seen as the best of the best of the year with some recognizable ones and some that are unknown until this awards season nominations start coming out. So this years top nominees are:

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

AVATAR THE WAY OF WATER

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

ELVIS

EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE

THE FABELMANS

TAR

TOP GUN MAVERICK

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS

WOMEN TALKING

Out of the 10 films on this list, I have seen just over half of them with some of them only recently coming out in cinema and some that I would need to find to watch the full film. If I were to say the film that might be the top winner from the academy voters, I feel Everything, everywhere, all at once, Banshees of Inisherin, Fabelmans or Women talking may be the big winner for this category. But going from my own opinion, I would have to give it to Everything, Everywhere all at once, for being some new and exciting and one of the most creative films of last year (and will have a little blog piece review soon on it as well). Sure there was a lot of great watches with a lot of these films, including 2 sequels years in the making, but I feel Everything, everywhere, all at once will probably get it this year, but you never know. If I were to also add in some movies into this category that I would probably give a chance for a best picture nomination I would include (and some as personal preferences):

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

The Menu

X / Pearl

Nope

The Woman King

The Northman

RRR

Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio (Gotta be specific with this one as there was 3 Pinocchio's last year)

The Minds behind the movies: The Directors

So now we go onto those that are the creative minds for these movies, the directors. Now this will be one of the talking points later on on the complaints of what would have to change (mainly that there is no director of colour or lack of different race or any female directors, but will delve into that more later). But for now these are the nominees for this category:

Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin)

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (AKA the Daniels, Everything, Everywhere, All at once)

Steven Speilberg (The Fabelmans)

Todd Field (Tar)

Ruben Ostlund (Triangle of Sadness)

Quite a mix of variety for genres for this from dark comedy, to biographies, to films that have a basis of discussing a bagel having a major plot element to it. If I feel what might give it a bit of an edge of winning the award, I feel Spielberg may get the award, given the film he directed in a form of a self-autobiography, or maybe more of Martin McDonagh for his dark comedy Irish tale of estranged friends. If I had to give it to a director, I would say Spielberg for me or else the Daniels may get the surprise win. If I were to add some directors to the List of films I would add:

GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD (The Woman King)

MARIA SCHRADER (She Said)

KASI LEMMONS (Whitney Houston: I wanna dance with somebody)

SARAH POLLEY (Women Talking)

JORDAN PEELE (Nope)

RYAN JOHNSON (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery)

JAMES CAMERON (Avatar: The Way of Water)

Your Starring acting Line up

So you got your movies and your got your directors who crafted the films, but now it is time to start discussing those that gave their all in their films. Starting with the actors, we have a few first time nominations this year and those nominations for the actors are:

AUSTIN BUTLER (ELVIS)

COLIN FARRELL (THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN)

BRENDAN FRAISER (THE WHALE)

PAUL MESCAL (AFTERSUN)

BILLY NIGHY (LIVING)

It seems to be a case that we have a lot of first time nominations and 2 big named Irish talent in the best actor category (and just to clarify as a lot of the time whenever it is an Irish actor getting a bit of recognition, British news articles and pages try to say they are British when they have specified and were born in Ireland and yet they still seem to say the same thing) which is quite the exciting thing. If I have to go on the basis of who would be the most likely candidate of winning the statuete, it seems to be Austin Butler's transformative performance as the King of Rock and Roll, Colin Farrell's performance in Irish black comedy Banshees of Inisherin, or Brendan Fraiser's performance as Charlie in the whale. While I am all for seeing an Irish actor take home the trophy (which I am sure will see a few during the night and will talk on it later) and Colin will likely take it, I think Austin did give a great performance as the Music legend and or for the basis of wanting to see this as a comeback for Brendan Fraiser and the start of the Brenaissance after the rough time that he went through over the last decade but I guess we will see when it gets to the awards night. If I were to give some other options for performance:

WILL SMITH (EMANCIPATION)(I know that this one is controversial after last years fiasco with the slap and there now being a crisis team on hand but his performance in this has been very well received)

NICOLAS CAGE (UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT)

DANIEL KALUUYA (NOPE)

ALEXANDER SKARSGARD (THE NORTHMAN)

DANIEL CRAIG (GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY)

TOM CRUISE (TOP GUN: MAVERICK)

THE LOVELY LEADING LADIES

Now let's move onto the leading ladies that have put in some fantastic performances this year. These nominations are:

CATE BLANCHETT (TAR)

ANA DE ARMAS (BLONDE)

ANDREA RISEBOROUGH (TO LESLIE)

MICHELLE WILLIAMS (THE FABELMANS)

MICHELLE YEOH (EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE)

All of these have shown their acting expertise in the different genres of their respected films and deserving of their spot. This category however is the only category to have a controversy and an investigation gone into it with Andrea Riseborough (this has to do with a lack of award campaign push and only from strong word of mouth from some big named celebrities) but I feel it is a bit overblown and I am sure that it will all work out in the end. From going off of the previous award shows, the 2 battling it out for the prize is Cate Blanchett and Michelle Yeoh as they have been the frontrunners and winners of the previous shows, but to me I would have to give it to Michelle Yeoh as she really put in such a strong ranged performance in Everything, Everywhere, all at once and made that film that much more enjoyable. for some other nominations that would've deserved the nomination as well include:

VIOLA DAVIS (THE WOMAN KING)

KEKE PALMER (NOPE)

DANIELLE DEADWYLER (TILL)

NAOMI ACKIE (WHITNEY HOUSTEN: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY)

MIA GOTH (X/PEARL)

ZOE KAZAN (SHE SAID)

ANYA TAYLOR JOY (THE MENU)

LETITA WRIGHT (BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER)

FLORENCE PUGH (THE WONDER/ DON'T WORRY DARLING)

The secondary but just as important actors

Now to get onto the secondary but just as important acting awards with the leading supporting cast. This years nominations are as follows:

BRENDAN GLEESON (THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN)

BRIAN TYREE HENRY (CAUSEWAY)

JUDD HIRSCH (THE FABELMANS)

BARRY KEOGHAN (BANSHEES OF INISHERIN)

KE HUY QUAN (EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE)

Again another dual group of Irish actors appearing in the acting categories and some first time new nominations seems to be making an approach. It seems to be with the basis of winners from the previous awards shows and it seems to be down to Barry Keoghan and Ke Huy Quan. While I have seen mr Keoghan in quite a variety of films and shows this year, I gotta personally give the award to Ke Huy Quan just for the excellent performance that he put into Everything, Everywhere. If I were to give some other nominations for this category:

PAUL DANO (THE FABELMANS)

EDDIE REDMAYNE (THE GOOD NURSE)

JOHN BOYEGA (THE WOMAN KING)

The secondary but just as important actresses

As with the supporting actors, there is often the supporting actresses too with a fair selection and choice at this years awards. The nominations this year include:

ANGELA BASSETT (BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER)

JAMIE LEE CURTIS (EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE)

KERRY CONDON (THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN)

HONG CHAU (THE WHALE)

STEPHANIE HSU (EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE)

There is a fine mix and opinions of the choices and nominees this yea from the vast choices of the films. If I would have to give a top choice that may come from this I feel it could be Angela Bassett or Jamie Lee Curtis. As for myself, I am unsure of who I would choose for this category as they have all done some excellent performance, I may need to give another watch to these films and make an updated decision. Some other nominations for this category would be:

JANELLE MONAE (GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY)

JESSIE BUCKLEY (WOMEN TALKING)

SADIE SINK (THE WHALE)

Original screenplays: WRITE THAT DOWN, WRITE THAT DOWN

(me whenever I have an idea for some of these blogs that you'll see in the future that some may also become videos and other things)

Like with any form of media from shows, games, books, music and movies is that you need to have a story, sometimes they could be adapted from already created source material (which we will get to after this), but sometimes they are their own original stories created into well established screenplays. This years nominations are:

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (MARTIN MCDONAGH) 

EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (DANIEL KWAN AND DANIEL SCHEINERT)

THE FABELMANS (STEVEN SPEILBERG AND TONY KUSHNER)

TAR (TODD FIELD)

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS (RUBEN OSTLUND)

There seems to be a fair mix from family values, estranged friendships, biopics on famous composers and musicians, and a tale of rich people stranded on a fancy boat. There has been some strong mix contenders and I feel the best form that seems to be the winner from the other award shows, it seems that Banshees has been sweeping the screenplay awards from all the award shows and personally I feel that Banshees is the sure winner and feel it is deserving of the award, follow up being Everything, everywhere or Fabelmans. Some other nominations I would include:

BABYLON

THE WOMAN KING

NOPE

TILL

THE MENU

EMPIRE OF LIGHT

ELVIS

Adapting something into a screenplay is like copying someone's homework: you change it a little and make it your own while not destroying it badly

Now let us look at the films that are nominated that would consist as continuations from previous films or have been adapted in the past or come from other source material. The nominations for this category are:

WOMEN TALKING (SARAH POLLEY) (BASED ON NOVEL OF SAME NAME BY MIRIAM TOEWS)

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (EDWARD BERGER, LESLEY PATERSON, IAN STOKELL) (BASED ON NOVEL OF THE SAME NAME BY ERICH MARIA REMARQUE)

GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY (RIAN JOHNSON)(SEQUEL TO 2019 ORIGINAL BY RIAN JOHNSON)

LIVING (KAZUO ISHIGURO) (BASED ON ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY `'IKIRU' BY AKIRA KUROSAWA, SHINOBU HASHIMOTO, HIDEO OGUNI) 

TOP GUN: MACERICK (EHREN KRUGER, ERIC WARREN SINGER, CHRISTOPHER MCQUARRIE) (SEQUEL TO 1986 ORIGINAL BY TONY SCOTT)

It seems we have 2 sequels in this awards category this year with varying genres, one follows on from a 80s nostalgia classic film with a new take that stays faithful to the original and brings it to the new level and the other is a follow up to a surprise sleeper hit murder mystery from a few years ago (which was also nominated in the original screenplay category but was beaten by Bong Joon-ho's Parasite) that has become majorly more popular with another on the way. We also have a war drama, a dark period piece and a tale on reflecting on the life and living to the fullest before the untimely demise all make a competitive category that could all have a clear bet to win (given no other award show had 2 categories for screenplays). For me personally, if I had to choose I have to go with Glass Onion, I was very excited for that movie as I loved the first one and the sequel did not disappoint at all so that is my prediction. Some other nominations that should have received a nomination would be:

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON (DEAN FLEISCHER CAMP, JENNY SLATE, NICK PALEY) (BASED ON SOME SHORT FILMS ON YOUTUBE FROM EARLY 2010S)

SHE SAID (REBECCA LENKIEWICZ)(BASED ON A TRUE STORY AND A 2019 BOOK OF THE SAME NAME BY REPORTERS JODIE KANTOR AND MEGAN TWOHEY)

CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY (LENA DURHAM) (BASED ON A NOVEL OF THE SAME NAME BY KAREN KUSMAN)

AVATAR:THE WAY OF WATER (JAMES CAMERON, RICK JAFFA, AMANDA SILVER)(SEQUEL TO 2009 FILM BY JAMES CAMERON)

My favourite type of storytelling: Animation

If there is a category of movies or in general that I do love and hope to at some point get into the industry of (besides the film or tv aspect in some way) is animation. We see a lot of big animation studios from well known and some smaller ones around the world that have shown their craft and help to tell such powerful tales and show stories that can't really be possible in Live action. 

Also I want to address the annoying comments made by the presenters of the oscars last year but animation is not just for kids, it is a art form, excellent storytellers that can be enjoyed by all young and old and a fair amount of nominations over the years have had animated films for adult audiences and stuff like that. It is not just a simple kids genre, its an all ages medium and a masterclass art form that can be more expressive then live action (and has proven as well with films such as Beauty and the beast and Pixar's UP and Toy Story 3 both being nominated for Best Picture).

Now with that out of the way, this years Nominees for the category are:

GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON

PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

THE SEA BEAST

TURNING RED

It seems that Netflix has bagged itself 2 Oscar nominees for one on a long in development passion project and another on a high seas adventure. Pixar has also gotten itself another nomination with a coming of age story that has giant red panda's, parential struggles, pop group boybands and things that can make you nostalgic for technology of the early 2000s. Dreamworks has made an appearance again after a few years with their last movie nominated being....... Boss Baby (honestly felt that years dreamworks nomination should've went to their other better film adaptation of Captain Underpants) but this year many have said they have been better or on par with the Disney and Pixar films (which I would agree with being on Par with the Pixar films) with this and the great The Bad Guys movie and being a sequel to a decent first film with such a major step up in animation (and both taking an inspiration in art style to the animation of the fantastic Into the Spider-verse), story and characters. Lastly on this list is technically not a full animated film and has the focus on an animated character and about 75% of a film needs to have something animated so technically I will allow it (especially if this film had me in tears like some of the other nominations, but this one was a fair bit of ugly crying). 

Now for the choice of what seems the most likely to win seems to be pulling more towards Pinocchio as this was a long developing passion project by Del Toro that took over a decade to be made (a good bit of that is due to this film being stop motion in the same vein as Aardman) and I will agree that it is a beautiful film and all that effort has really paid off and give respect to all those animators that worked on it and the animators for all of these films. I feel personally myself that I would see this as the winner and a runner up would be a 3 way tie for Puss in Boots, Marcel the shell and Turning Red. Some other animated films I would've added include:

LIGHTYEAR (I know it is a little mixed by people but I actually think this a really great and beautifully animated film by Pixar and telling a new version of Buzz's story and to me feels like the pilot to the classic Buzz Lightyear of space command cartoon from the early 2000s)

THE BAD GUYS

STRANGE WORLD

WENDALL AND WILD

MY FATHER'S DRAGON

Mr Worldwide: the best international films

These next few categories are some that I would not have much knowledge and opinions on as I haven't seen much of them but right now let us talk on some of the best films from around the world. Many countries do make a selection of films that would be considered the best but here are the top nominations for this year:

ALL QUIET IN THE WESTERN FRONT (GERMANY)

ARGENTINA, 1985 (ARGENTINA)

CLOSE (BELGIUM)

EO (POLAND)

THE QUIET GIRL (IRELAND)

All of these films have surpassed all other films from around the globe to make it to the top 5 nominees and all should be deserving of an award. If I were to say which of these will probably get the award win recognition it may be All Quiet on the Western front, and for my pick, just for country sake I am saying Quiet girl just because Irish tales tend to be something interesting with each of their films. There is only one other nomination for this category I can think of and that would be:

RRR (INDIA)

Life and time in documentary film form

While it is not all films as there are a fair share of documentary films too that tell the story of certain events and peoples lives or stories. This years Nominations include:

ALL THAT BREATHES

ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED

FIRE OF LOVE

A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS

NAVALNY.

Now these are some that I haven't heard before and I am sure they all have some interesting stories and concepts that they talk about. If I am going off of which of these has been getting a strong award wins from previous award shows, it seems Navalny has this as a win but I guess we will find out at the award show. Some nominations I would include on this list would be:

MOONAGE DAYDREAM

NOTHING COMPARES

A documentary but a short form 

Again the 2nd category I do not known much on the contents of this category but all would be another documentary feature but more in a shorter form telling. these nominations include:

THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS

HAULOUT

HOW DO YOU MEASURE A YEAR?

THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT

STRANGER AT THE GATE

All of these short subject documentaries have some interesting concepts and ideas. For my money and from the perspective of prediction, my guess of a win would go to the Martha Mitchell effect or the Elephant Whisperers but I guess this one will also be figured out on the night.

Has Anyone seen my Shorts

The third category with content or films that I haven't looked into much of or learned about too heavily is in the short film category with each telling their own short form story in a certain small amount of time from visuals or dialogue. the nominations include:

THE IRISH GOODBYE

IVALU

LE PUPILLE

NIGHT RIDE

THE RED SUITCASE

All of these short seems to tell different stories and some from all different parts of the world too. the only one on this list that I have seen on my browsing of films and shows on tv or streamer was Le Pupille so I may have to give my nod to that one, but it is not the best I know, so really it is anyone's guess of which one will win it.

Animation but in short form

The last category I do not much on with the nominations (besides seeing one of these) is the short films in the animation form of media. These tend to be a much more expressive and over imaginative in many ways and in many art styles. The nominees for this category are:

THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSE

THE FLYING SAILOR

ICE MERCHANTS

MY YEAR OF DICKS

AN OSTRICH TOLD ME THE WORLD IS FAKE AND I BELIEVED IT

Some of these short films do have some wild names (especially the last 2) and they all will tell some unique and engaging tales of life stories, concepts and ideas. If I had to pick one of them to win the award from the one I have seen is the Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse for it's beautiful story and gorgeous animation. I may give all of these a look when I get a chance to do so.

It's time to tally the SCORE

Sometimes a film can be good on its own but a lot of times they could be heavily improved and enhanced by the musical score that accompanies the unfolding scenes of the movies. These five films have used that to their advantage and those nominations are:

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (VOLKER BERTELMANN)

BABYLON (JUSTIN HURWITZ)

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (CARTER BURWELL)

EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (SON LUX)

THE FABELMANS (JOHN WILLIAMS)

All of these set a brilliant sound and tone to their respected genres and films from the whimsical to the emotional to the dark tone. If there is a feeling of who might take the win this year, for its love of the early mad and wild days of hollywood that Babylon might take it from its wins from some other award shows, while another is the haunting score of All Quiet snagging a few wins as well so it may be likely a clash between these 2 or even another win for longtime composer and collaborator of Spielberg's, John Williams, for the Fabelmans but I guess we will see when it gets to the night. But if I have to choose from one of these I may give it to Babylon as going off the music stylings from Whiplash and La La Land, this could be another win. 

Some of the other films I would nominate and or should've been nominated:

THE BATMAN (MICHAEL GIACCHINO)(deserved a nomination in my honest opinion)

GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO (ALEXANDRE DESPLAT)

NOPE (MICHAEL ABELS) (bit of a personal choice and has the sound and vibe with a few of the tracks and scenes with the works of Spielberg and Williams music)

RRR (M.M. KEERAVANNI)

BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER (LUDWIG GORANSSON)

THE WOMAN KING (TERENCE BLANCHARD)

The important song track of the film

While the score of a film that captivate the tone and style of the film, a lot of times there is a song in the film by a particular band, composer or artist that might take on a certain scene and elevates it to a level of enjoyment or helps to bring an important element of the message or theme of the film. This year nominations:

-APPLAUSE (TELL IT LIKE A WOMAN) (MUSIC AND LYRICS: DIANE WARREN, PERFORMED BY SOFIA CARSON)

-HOLD MY HAND (TOP GUN: MAVERICK) (MUSIC AND LYRICS: LADY GAGA AND BLOODPOP, PERFORMED BY LADY GAGA)

-LIFT ME UP (BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER) (MUSIC: TEMS, RIHANNA, RYAN COOGLER, LUDWIG GORANSSON, LYRICS: TEMS AND RYAN COGGLER, PERFORMED BY RIHANNA)

-NAATU NAATU (RRR) (MUSIC: M.M. KEERAVANI, LYRICS: CHANDRABOSE, PERFORMED BY RAHUL SIPLIGUNJ AND KAALA BHAIRAVA)

-THIS IS A LIFE (EVRYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE) (MUSIC: BRIAN LOTT, DAVID BYRNE, MITSKI, LYRICS: RYAN LOTT, DAVID BYRNE, PERFROMED BY SON LOTT)

Each of these songs gives and tells a different message and has a certain vibe and varying styles and messages to them from songs of hope and adventure, songs of pure energy and fun and some with a sense of deep meaning and for a tribute to an icon in the past. Looking at the previous award shows for chance of taking the golden statue home, it seems the frontrunner is RRR's fast paced and pure energy song of Naatu Naatu could win it (and have been told is being performed at the show itself) so it could be the winner. If I had to choose a winner after recently relistening to all 5 songs, that would be one of them or the one that hit me the hardest would be Rihanna's 'Lift Me Up' as it is such a beautiful melody and song for a tribute to the Late Chadwick Boseman and when I heard it during the credits of Wakanda Forever, I got a little misty eyed with how it blends to the theme of the movie, so I would go with either of them.

For some of the other songs that should've received a nomination:

CAROLINA (WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING) (TAYLOR SWIFT)

CIAO PAPA (GUELLIRMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO) (GREGORY MANN)

MY MIND AND ME (SELENA GOMEZ: MY MIND AND ME) (SELENA GOMEZ)

It's the sound..... of movies

while music score and songs can help elevate the movie in a big way, it can also come down to the sound design for films to help make it feel more real and can sometimes help you to transport the audience into the scene itself and help you feel apart of the scenery. These films sound have helped to immerse the audience and these nominations this years are:

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

TOP GUN: MAVERICK

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

ELVIS

THE BATMAN

Many of the sound used in these 5 films helped to establish the likes of bringing the audience into the worlds these films built, like walking amongst the crime filled streets of Gotham, being a part of the audience at one of Elvis's performances, flying high in a jet plane, exploring the vast rich world of Pandora or being stuck in the muddy trenches of the great war. Each of them seem to have such a vibrant feel to them but from going off of the previous award shows, All Quiet may just edge itself over to win it for its sound realism of feeling the experience of WW1. For me I would say that or Top Gun might get it as the best use of sounds for this year but I guess all is to play for this year.

Some other nominations include:

GUILLMERO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO

NOPE

MOONAGE DAYDREAM

TAR

Every production needs some form of a design

Every film has always got to build and create and design some set pieces and production elements to help to really get the strongest vibe of the setting and story being told. These 5 films being nominated for their stellar production design:

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

BABYLON

ELVIS

THE FABELMANS

Each of these films set the stage for something unique and different, from the trenches of the war, to a immersive alien planet, to high end parties of the 1920/30s, the rock and roll ages of the 50s and 60s or the tales of a young inspiring filmmaker. each of them have their own story to tell and going off the most appealing and immersive, I feel the voters will go strong with war drama All Quiet on the Western front or the vibrant lands of the forest and water villages of Pandora from Avatar are the top choices and I would also agree with them. 

Other nominations for this would be:

BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER

EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE

THE BATMAN

GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY

GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO

The beautiful scenery of cinematography

While creating an amazing production is all well and good, sometimes a certain person comes along and helps to really capture the beauty and wonder of some films with shots and scene projections and these nominations do show that potential:

EMPIRE OF LIGHT (ROGER DEAKINS)

ELVIS (MANDY WALKER)

BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLES OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS (DARIUS KHONDJI)

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (JAMES FRIEND)

TAR (FLORIAN HOFFMEISTER)

Each of these films show something different and appealing through their cinematography like the beauty of cinema, the rollercoaster ride of music stardom, the rabbit hole of personal lives returning home from travelling, the haunting atrocities of war or the beautiful working of music composing. Each with their unique aesthetic are all deserving of an award, the strongest one would have to go to All quiet to show the beauty and horrors of war.

The other films that deserve nominations include:

THE BATMAN (GREIG FRASER

NOPE (HOYTE VAN HOYTEMA)

GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO (FRANK PASSINGHAM)

TOP GUN MAVERICK (CLAUDIO MIRANDA)

AVATAR THE WAY OF WATER (RUSSELL CARPENTER)

LIGHTYEAR (JEREMY LASKY, IAN MEGIBBEN)

 

Let's touch up the makeup and fix the hair

with any form of film whether it is a biopic, character study, set in some certain time period of established characters from years of established lore that it needs to get the look of the person and character right (I know that case from being an extra a short while ago on the film "The Last Duel" and from some short film making in the past that you can't just look like yourself in the present if it is set in a specific time period) and that is done by the excellent team of stylists who transform actors and actresses into the character they are portraying and these nominations this year were the standouts:

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

THE BATMAN

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER

ELVIS

THE WHALE

Each of these films use the elements of hairstyling and many forms of makeup or prosthetics to transform certain actors into their character from soldiers in the trenches, the caped crusader (and an unrecognizable Irish actor in deep makeup as a crime boss), the stylings of the civilians of Wakanda and Talokan, transforming a young Austin Butler to the King of Rock and Roll and transforming Brendan Fraiser into an overweight dying man with one more chance at redemption. Each of them have helped elevated them to make it feel like they belong in that setting and world and not look uncanny to the setting. If going off of the previous recent award shows are any indication, it seems Elvis may just about snag this one, but I would personally from my own opinion besides elvis, give it to The Batman due to its well established use of makeup and hairstyling with certain characters, especially for Colin Farrell's transformation into the Penguin

Other nominations I would include:

BABYLON

BLONDE

AMSTERDAM

THE NORTHMAN

Get in here, get in costume

While having some makeup and your hair done is nice and all, it also comes with a great mix of a costume to blend well with said Makeup. These nominations helped to show off the hard work and excellent craftsmanship that was put into the outfits worn by the actors in these films and these are the ones that went above and beyond and received the nomination:

BABYLON

BLANK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER

ELVIS

EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

MRS HARRIS GOES TO PARIS

Each of these films help to capture the vibe and style for certain eras or settings from the early days of Hollywoodland, the colourful outfits of Elvis to beautiful dresses that are found in Paris. These all have some well established outfits and pieces made and if there is a likeliness of the winner amongst all of them and going off other awards shows, it seems to be either Elvis or Everything, Everywhere all at once and I would have to agree with the 3rd option being Wakanda Forever for the costumes to blend with the culture of Wakanda itself.

Other nominations would include:

THE WOMAN KING

LIVING

THE MENU

THE FABELMANS

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

THE BATMAN

AMSTERDAM

BLONDE

DEATH ON THE NILE

THE NORTHMAN

I gotta edit that out later

Sometimes a film that could be good but everything could be completely messed up by the editing done for the film where some scenes make no sense, causes pacing to be all over the place and no film wants that at all. But sometimes you get films, like these 5 nominations, have made the editing work well, blend into every scene and makes the creation of some amazing scenes in the process. The nominations are:

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

ELVIS

EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

TAR

TOP GUN MAVERICK

Each of these films have used the function of excellent editing to make their films flow better and create some well engaging pieces and scenes that would be remembered after watching the film. Going off of the awards winners from some previous awards shows, it seems the top winner could be Everything, Everywhere all at once for its splicing and editing approaches to make it a very engaging and crazy film. For me I would agree with that and I would also say Top Gun would have some really great editing choices and use with their visuals and editing work as my 2nd choice.

Some other nominations I would include:

THE FABELMANS

AVATAR THE WAY OF WATER

GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY

BABYLON

WOMEN TALKING

THE WOMAN KING

GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO

I need you to Visualise this in your head

and for the last category we come to the sector that has become more and more prominently used in many big named films (and being unfairly worked a good bit of time) The visual effects. Visuals can help to bring something to life that Makeup or sets may not fully help to bring with it the clear picture. Sure visuals may not always be up to the best quality (you can see that from a lot of peoples complaints online on social media and youtube on the large amount of superhero movies) but some like these five films have gotten chosen for their great use of visual effects:

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

AVATAR THE WAY OF WATER

THE BATMAN

BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER

TOP GUN MAVERICK

All of these films use visuals whether CG or practical to their highest degree and have done some great work with them. While they are all good, there is a clear winner here over all of them and that has to be Avatar like how the first movie snagged it (I mean James Cameron wasn't in a submarine for a good few years for a laugh and was more perfecting his visuals for the follow up and I would be surprised if this doesn't win for visuals. 

Others I would include for visual effects: 

NOPE

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 (mainly for the visual work on the main character trio and just a little personal preference)

GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS

RRR

JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION

WENDELL AND WILD

THOR LOVE AND THUNDER

All the problems for this years awards

Now while we can celebrate the achievements and recognition of the nominees this year, like with a lot of awards shows and the oscars themselves over the last few years there is always going to be some noticeable problems and this year it seems to fall back on some of the most complained about ones of the previous years when they had seen some slight improvement.

Lack of female filmmakers

One of the most notable one is the basis of the returning trend known as "Oscars so Male" due to the noticable lack of films and director nominations that were directed or made by women. Of the 10 best picture nominations this year, only 1 (women talking) was directed by a woman while the rest were directed by men. This also becomes evident where there was no women directors nominated this year either when there are some that deserved that nomination like Gina Prince-Bythewood for the Woman King or Sarah Polley for Women Talking or Maria Schrader for She Said (with both woman king and She said deserving some nominations as well too). This was noticable a lot over the last few years and looks quite bad when the last 2 years a female director has taken home the award for directing or for best film (Jane campion won best director last year for Power of the Dog and Sian Heder won best picture, where a year prior Chloe Zhao's Nomadland won best picture in 2021). This is even evident with the lack of writers for screenplays with only one nomination for Adapted screenplay (Women Talking) and just one co-writing credit for another adapted screenplay (All Quiet on the Western Front). It does need to be seen that there should be a more diverse mix of filmmakers being nominated then just on one sided gender.

Lack of Diverse nominees

Similar to the 'Oscars so Male' situation this year, it is also noticeable with the returning problem known as 'Oscars so White' with a lot of the nominees being lacking in people of colour and of different nationalities. Sure there are some noticeable names in the awards nomination of some from different nationalities (with some big ones being Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu for Everything, Everywhere all at once in the acting category, as is Ana De Armas for Blonde and also for Ruben Ostlund for Triangle of sadness for best picture and best director) but most of the other categories come from the nomination of White filmmakers. The other big noticeable absence (but not full absense) is that of all the nominees, there are only 2 big names nominated that are black and that is Brian Tyree Henry and Angela Bassett for supporting roles. It has been seen as well that throughout the year there are filmmakers and actors who have put in a lot of dedication and work to create some of the best reviewed and well received films of last year Like Viola Davis and John Boyega for their roles in The Woman King, or Jordan Peele for his directorial approach for his Sci-fi horror Nope (as well as the performances of Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer) and some other films of this year from creators and actors of different race, genders and nationalities that deserve a nomination or to be recognized for their work and not get overshadowed by the common trend that seems to appear every year at these award shows and hopefully things will learn to change and appreciate.

The actress dilemma

This one is the most known dilemma that appeared just after these nominations were made public. This was briefly mentioned in that section earlier but will discuss it now as the in-depth analysis has been cleared up. So one of the nominations this year was for Andrea Riseborough for the movie To Leslie, now all is well and good but most concerns that were brought up with this film was from the lack of a campaign to have this film being nominated, with the only known form of praise and campaign being endorsements from some celebrities such as Jodie Comer, Kate Winslet, Amy Adams, Edward Norton, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and even fellow nominee Cate Blanchett. This was when all these critics and commentators started to discuss how she was nominated with a lack of a campaign over the likes of Viola Davis for the Woman King or Danielle Deadwyler for Till and this soon led to an investigation from the academy itself, as it may have been seen as a violation against their terms. After just a few days of determination they found no problem and left the nomination unaffected as it is.

Some noticeable snubs

This will be the last thing I'll talk about and that is just some noticeable snubs that have been discussed 

since the nominations were made and should've been added. These include

Tom Cruise for 'Top Gun Maverick'

Viola Davis and the Film 'The Woman King' for a few award nominations

Taylor swift for her original song for 'Where the Crawdads Sing'

Adam Sandler for her performance in the film 'Hustle' (a 2nd recent snub following 2020's Uncut Gems)

more nominations for 'Glass Onion: a Knives Out Mystery'

Jordan Peele for Nope

Danielle Deadwyler for 'Till'

Dolly de Leon for 'Triangle of Sadness'

'RRR' in a few other nominations besides just best original song

Eddie Redmayne for 'The Good Nurse'

and many more (won't go on much more as I would be here for a little too much longer)

So that is all I have to say on my opinions and predictions of who is likely to win and my own predictions which I will summarize here for my own choices:

Best Picture: Everything, everywhere all at once

Best Director: Spielberg, The Daniels or McDonagh

Best Actor: Austin Butler or Brendan Fraiser

Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh
Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan

Best Supporting Actress: Angela Bassett

Best Original Screenplay: Banshees of Inisherin
Best Adapted Screenplay: Glass Onion: a Knives Out Mystery

Best Animated Film: Undecisive (but most likely Pinocchio)

Best International Film: The Quiet Girl
Best Documentary Feature: Navalny

Best Documentary Short Subject: Martha Mitchell Effect

Best Live Action Short Film: Le Pupille

Best Animated Short Film: The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse 
Best Original Score: Babylon
Best Original Song: 'Lift me Up' or 'Naatu Naatu'

Best Sound: All Quiet on the Western Front or Top Gun Maverick
Best Production Design: All Quiet on the Western Front or Avatar The Way of Water

Best Cinematography: All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Elvis or The Batman
Best Costume Design: Elvis or Everything, Everywhere all at once or Wakanda forever
Best Film Editing: Everything Everywhere all at once or Top Gun Maverick

Best Visual Effects: Avatar the way of water

I know that not everyone will win an award but I do gotta give it to them all for putting in some of the best performances last year and for keeping me and millions entertained every year and look forward to see them in future titles and if some of these will appear at next years awards. Well that is all I have got time for now and if you have made it this far to the end I really appreciate you reading this as it took a bit of time to write and a lot of thought process of what my choices would be. I would love to hear your choices for the award wins in some comments and some films you would've nominated yourself for some categories. But anyways I hope that you have a wonderful day and you stay being wonderful people.

Bye for Now

Sam H