The Movie Room

Have not posted all February as I try to get over a very stubborn cough, but I have also been preparing for the 97th Academy Awards on March 2, so now that I’ve had time to grieve my non-nominated favorites, I am able to look at what I think deserves to win from the Academy’s choices. I have seen 31 out of 35 nominated films (and none of the shorts); I was unable to get to a theater playing No Other Land or The Porcelain War, and I figured I could just listen to the songs from Elton John: Never Too Late and The Six Triple Eight instead of watching the entire films. Here are my picks, with the nominees ranked in order of what I think is most to least deserving winners. At the end, I’ll include a tally of how many wins I gave to each film (that I gave at least one win to).

Best Visual Effects

• Dune: Part Two
• Wicked
• Alien: Romulus
• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
• Better Man

Best Sound

• A Complete Unknown
• Dune: Part Two
• Wicked
• The Wild Robot
• Emilia Pérez

Best Original Score

• The Brutalist
• Conclave
• The Wild Robot
• Emilia Pérez
• Wicked

Best Original Song

• “The Journey” (The Six Triple Eight)
• “Like a Bird” (Sing Sing)
• “El Mal” (Emilia Pérez)
• “Never Too Late” (Elton John: Never Too Late)
• “Mi Camino” (Emilia Pérez)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• The Substance
• A Different Man
• Wicked
• Nosferatu
• Emilia Pérez

Best Costume Design

• Wicked
• Nosferatu
• A Complete Unknown
• Gladiator II
• Conclave

Best Production Design

• Wicked
• The Brutalist
• Dune: Part Two
• Nosferatu
• Conclave

Best Cinematography

• The Brutalist
• Dune: Part Two
• Maria
• Nosferatu
• Emilia Pérez

Best Film Editing

• Conclave
• Anora
• The Brutalist
• Wicked
• Emilia Pérez

Best International Feature

• I’m Still Here
• Flow
• The Seed of the Sacred Fig
• The Girl with the Needle
• Emilia Pérez

Best Documentary Feature

• Soundtrack to a Coup d’État
• Sugarcane
• Black Box Diaries
• HAVE NOT SEEN: No Other Land, Porcelain War

Best Animated Feature

• The Wild Robot
• Flow
• Memoir of a Snail
• Inside Out 2
• Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Best Original Screenplay

• Anora
• The Substance
• The Brutalist
• A Real Pain
• September 5

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Conclave
• Sing Sing
• Nickel Boys
• A Complete Unknown
• Emilia Pérez

Best Supporting Actress

• Zoe Saldaña as Rita Mora Castro (Emilia Pérez)
• Ariana Grande as Galinda/Glinda Upland (Wicked)
• Isabella Rossellini as Sister Agnes (Conclave)
• Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez (A Complete Unknown)
• Felicity Jones as Erzsébet Toth (The Brutalist)

Best Supporting Actor

• Guy Pearce as Harrison Lee Van Buren (The Brutalist)
• Edward Norton as Pete Seeger (A Complete Unknown)
• Yura Borisov as Igor (Anora)
• Kieran Culkin as Benji Kaplan (A Real Pain)
• Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn (The Apprentice)

Best Actress

• Mikey Madison as Anora “Ani” Mikheeva (Anora)
• Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva (I’m Still Here)
• Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle (The Substance)
• Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp (Wicked)
• Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia Pérez (Emilia Pérez)

Best Actor

• Ralph Fiennes as Lawrence (Conclave)
• Adrien Brody as László Toth (The Brutalist)
• Colman Domingo as John “Divine G” Whitfield (Sing Sing)
• Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan (A Complete Unknown)
• Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump (The Apprentice)

Best Director

• Sean Baker (Anora)
• Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)
• Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)
• James Mangold (A Complete Unknown)
• Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)

Best Picture

• Anora
• Dune: Part Two
• Wicked
• Conclave
• I’m Still Here
• The Substance
• The Brutalist
• A Complete Unknown
• Nickel Boys
• Emila Pérez

TALLY:

• Anora: 4
• The Brutalist: 3
• Conclave: 3
• Wicked: 2
• A Complete Unknown: 1
• Dune: Part Two: 1
• Emilia Pérez: 1
• I’m Still Here: 1
• The Six Triple Eight: 1
• Soundtrack to a Coup d’État: 1
• The Substance: 1
• The Wild Robot: 1

NOTE: the only Best Picture nominee I didn’t give any wins to was Nickel Boys, but that is more because it got so few nominations than due to its quality! If it had been nominated for Cinematography, it would have taken the win there for me.