CritiThink’s 1st Oscars Picks: 95th Academy Awards
Welcome to CritiThink’s first ever edition of predicting the Oscars. Oscar turns 95 this year, about the average age for the voters who may or may not have served in the first World War. All kidding aside, our team here is fantastic at predicting the outcome of film and television as we are player props. Hopefully we will become your secret weapon for your Academy Awards office pool.
It’s not always easy to predict what the Oscar voter will do. You have to get in their heads and view the films from their lens, no pun intended, which can be swayed by political campaigning or the urge to make up a call from years prior in order to “fix” their image. That being said, we have an amazing win record spanning 30 years of experience.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” has been winning everything everywhere and that will continue at the 95th Oscars. The Academy along with many critics consider “All Quite on the Western Front”, a “timely” anti- war film. I pose the question, when is there not a war being fought on this planet? The film was nominated in 2 different categories for best film.
That should give you a hint of how much they love, “All Quiet on the Western Front". It will be a night of history with Michelle Yeoh being the first Asian Lead Actress winner, and a night of comebacks for fellow actor and nominee Ke Huy Quan, and star of “The Whale,” Brendan Fraser. What there will not be, are many surprises, unless you are surprised with some of the nominees or those who were left out.
Without further delay, these are CrtitThink’s predictions for the 95th Oscars:
Best Picture
“All Quiet on the Western Front”
“Avatar: The Way of Water”
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Elvis”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
“The Fabelmans”
“Tár”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
“Triangle of Sadness”
“Women Talking”
Winner: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Directing
Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Steven Spielberg, “The Fabelmans”
Todd Field, “Tár”
Ruben Östlund, "Triangle of Sadness”
Winner: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett, “Tár”
Ana de Armas, “Blonde”
Andrea Riseborough, “To Leslie”
Michelle Williams, “The Fabelmans”
Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Winner: Michelle Yeoh
Actor in a Leading Role
Austin Butler, “Elvis”
Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”
Paul Mescal, “Aftersun”
Bill Nighy, “Living”
Winner: Brendan Fraser
Actress in a Supporting Role
Angela Bassett, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
Hong Chau, “The Whale”
Kerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Stephanie Hsu, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Winner: Angela Bassett
Actor in a Supporting Role
Brendan Gleeson, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Brian Tyree Henry, “Causeway”
Judd Hirsch, “The Fabelmans”
Barry Keoghan, “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Winner: Ke Huy Quan
Animated Feature Film
“Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio”
“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”
“The Sea Beast”
“Turning Red”
Winner: “Pinochhio”
Cinematography
James Friend, “All Quiet on the Western Front”
Darius Khondji, “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”
Mandy Walker, “Elvis”
Roger Deakins, “Empire of Light”
Florian Hoffmeister, “Tár”
Winner: “All Quiet on the Western Front” – The Academy can’t get enough of war films, especially one that most of the members still hail from.
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” Rian Johnson
“Living,” Kazuo Ishiguro
“Top Gun: Maverick,” Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
“Women Talking,” Sarah Polley
Winner: Women Talking
Writing (Original Screenplay)
“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Martin McDonagh
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
“The Fabelmans,” Tony Kushner and Steven Spielberg
“Tár,” Todd Field
“Triangle of Sadness,” Ruben Östlund
Winner: “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Visual Effects
“All Quiet on the Western Front”
“Avatar: The Way of Water”
“The Batman”
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
Winner: “Avatar: The Way of Water”
Live Action Short Film
“An Irish Goodbye”
“Ivalu”
“Le Pupille”
“Night Ride”
“The Red Suitcase”
Winner: “Irish Goodbye”
International Feature Film
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany)
“Argentina, 1985” (Argentina)
“Close” (Belgium)
“EO” (Poland)
“The Quiet Girl” (Ireland)
Winner: What else? “All Quiet on the Western Front”
Animated Short Film
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”
“The Flying Sailor”
“Ice Merchants”
“My Year of D**ks”
“An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It”
Winner: “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse” - this film has has an interesting journey to it’s creation. Has the most traction and support from fans and critics. Easier for the Academy to swallow than “My Year of D**ks”.
Music (Original Song)
“Applause” from “Tell It like a Woman"
“Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick”
“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR”
“This Is A Life" from "Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Winner: “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
Music (Original Score)
“All Quiet on the Western Front”
“Babylon”
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
“The Fabelmans”
Winner: “All Quite on the Western Front”
Sound
“All Quiet on the Western Front”
“Avatar: The Way of Water”
“The Batman”
“Elvis”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
Winner: “Top Gun: Maverick”
Film Editing
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Elvis”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
“Tár”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
Winner: “Everything Everywhere all at Once”
Costume Design
“Babylon” - Mary Zophres
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” – Ruth Carter
“Elvis” - Catherine Martin
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” - Shirley Kurata
“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” - Jenny Beavan
Winner: "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” – Ruth Carter
Makeup and Hairstyling
“All Quiet on the Western Front”
“The Batman”
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
“Elvis”
“The Whale”
Winner: “The Whale”
Production Design
“All Quiet on the Western Front”
“Avatar: The Way of Water”
“Babylon”
“Elvis”
“The Fabelmans”
Winner: “All Quite on the Western Front” - let the love fest continue.
Documentary Feature Film
“All That Breathes”
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
“Fire of Love”
“A House Made of Splinters”
“Navalny”
Winner: “Navalny”
Documentary Short Film
“The Elephant Whisperers”
“Haulout”
"How Do You Measure a Year?"
“The Martha Mitchell Effect”
“Stranger at the Gate”
Winner: “Stranger at the Gate”