Academy Awards 2020 Picks
As is becoming par for the course I am extremely disappointed in this category. The Academy is allowed to nominate up to 10 films but decided only to nominate 9. Not only did they overlook films like “The Farewell” “Us” and “Dolemite is My Name” they chose to include something as utterly middling as “Ford V Ferrari.”
FORD V FERRARI, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and James Mangold
THE IRISHMAN, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Emma Tillinger Koskoff
JOJO RABBIT, Carthew Neal, Taika Waititi and Chelsea Winstanley
JOKER, Todd Phillips, Bradley Cooper and Emma Tillinger Koskoff
LITTLE WOMEN, Amy Pascal
MARRIAGE STORY, Noah Baumbach and David Heyman
1917, Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Jayne-Ann Tenggren and Callum McDougall
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD, David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh and Quentin Tarantino
PARASITE, Kwak Sin Ae and Bong Joon Ho
Should win: “Parasite”
Will probably win: Some unoriginal film about the woes of white men.
Should have been nominated: “The Farewell” “Us” “Dolemite is My Name”
Actor in a Leading Role
Antonio Banderas, PAIN AND GLORY
Leonardo DiCaprio, ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Adam Driver, MARRIAGE STORY
Joaquin Phoenix, JOKER
Jonathan Pryce, THE TWO POPES
Should win: “Antonio Banderas”
Will probably win: Not sure here. I liked Jonathan Pryce’s performance but the rest of awards season has shown him no love. If Phoenix wins I will throw something at my tv. So basically I’m preparing to replace my TV already.
Should have been nominated: Song Kang Ho for Parasite
Actor in a Supporting Role
Tom Hanks, A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Anthony Hopkins, THE TWO POPES
Al Pacino, THE IRISHMAN
Joe Pesci, THE IRISHMAN
Brad Pitt, ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Should win: None of the above.
Will win: Brad Pitt because there’s nothing Hollywood loves more than Hollywood.
Should have been nominated: Taika Waititi for “Jojo Rabbit”, Sterling K. Brown for “Waves”
May the odds be ever in Bong Joon-ho’s favor at the Oscars. credit: Phil McCarten / ©A.M.P.A.S.
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Pedro Almodovar and Antonio Banderas credit: Phil McCarten / ©A.M.P.A.S.
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Cynthia Erivo, HARRIET
Scarlett Johansson, MARRIAGE STORY
Saoirse Ronan, LITTLE WOMEN
Charlize Theron, BOMBSHELL
Renée Zellweger, JUDY
Should win: Of this lot? Charlize or Saoirse I guess?
Will probably win: Probably Scarjo or there’s an outside chance of Renée Zellweger.
Should have been nominated: Awkwafina for “The Farewell”, Lupita Nyong’o for “Us”, Park So Dam for “Parasite”
Actress in a Supporting Role
Kathy Bates, RICHARD JEWELL
Laura Dern, MARRIAGE STORY
Scarlett Johansson, JOJO RABBIT
Florence Pugh, LITTLE WOMEN
Margot Robbie, BOMBSHELL
Should win: This is one of the categories I”m most okay with, even though I dislike Scarjo overall but begrudgingly acknowledge her performance in this.
Will probably win: Laura Dern
Should have been nominated: Zhao Shuzhen for “The Farewell”, Jennifer Lopez for “Hustlers”
Animated Feature Film
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD
Dean DeBlois, Bradford Lewis and Bonnie Arnold
I LOST MY BODY
Jérémy Clapin and Marc du Pontavice
KLAUS
Sergio Pablos, Jinko Gotoh and Marisa Román
MISSING LINK
Chris Butler, Arianne Sutner and Travis Knight
TOY STORY 4
Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera
Should win: I have a soft spot for “Toy Story 4”
Will probably win: The Academy voters might be grouchy at the sequels here and go for something more indie and artsy like “I Lost My Body” or crafty like “Missing Link”
THE IRISHMAN, Rodrigo Prieto
JOKER, Lawrence Sher
THE LIGHTHOUSE, Jarin Blaschke
1917, Roger Deakins
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD, Robert Richardson
Should and will win: Roger Deakins for “1917” – the man is a master of his craft.
Should have been nominated: Kyung-pyo Hong for “Parasite”, Anna Franquesa-Solano for “The Farewell”, Jose Luis Alcaine for “Pain and Glory” and Drew Daniesl for “Waves”
Costume Design
THE IRISHMAN, Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson
JOJO RABBIT, Mayes C. Rubeo
JOKER, Mark Bridges
LITTLE WOMEN, Jacqueline Durran
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD, Arianne Phillips
Should and will win: “Little Women” because they have to give it something, right?
Directing
THE IRISHMAN, Martin Scorsese
JOKER, Todd Phillips
1917, Sam Mendes
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD, Quentin Tarantino
PARASITE, Bong Joon Ho
Should and will win: Bong Joon Ho – I’m mostly trying to manifest this. As a whole he crafted one of the best and most original films I have seen in a long time.
Should have been nominated: Greta Gerwig for “Little Women”, Lulu Wang for “The Farewell”, Taika Waititi for “Jojo Rabbit”, Jordan Peele for “Us”, Pedro Almodovar for “Pain and Glory.” The exclusion of women and people of color (and women of color) in a year where there was incredible work by those groups just shows how utterly out of touch with modern society The Academy is.
Laura Dern, Meryl Streep, and Greta Gerwig, who was robbed. Steve Cohn © 2019 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Lulu Wang, also wrongfully overlooked. – A24
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Jordan Peele continues to put out amazing original content, and continues to be overlooked.
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AMERICAN FACTORY, Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert and Jeff Reichert
THE CAVE, Feras Fayyad, Kirstine Barfod and Sigrid Dyekjær
THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY, Petra Costa, Joanna Natasegara, Shane Boris and Tiago Pavan
FOR SAMA, Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts
HONEYLAND, Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska and Atanas Georgiev
Truth be told I don’t have strong feelings about this category or the next one.
Documentary Short Subject
IN THE ABSENCE, Yi Seung-Jun and Gary Byung-Seok Kam
LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL), Carol Dysinger and Elena Andreicheva
LIFE OVERTAKES ME, John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson
ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN, Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan
WALK RUN CHA-CHA, Laura Nix and Colette Sandstedt
Film Editing
Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland, FORD V FERRARI
Thelma Schoonmaker, THE IRISHMAN
Tom Eagles, JOJO RABBIT
Jeff Groth, JOKER
Yang Jinmo, PARASITE
Should win: Parasite
Will win: Ford v Ferrari – the Q-tips of the voting body can’t resist a film like this for editing.
Should have been nominated: Michael Taylor and Matthew Friedman for “The Farewell”, Nicholas Monsour for “Us”
International Feature
CORPUS CHRISTI, (Poland)
HONEYLAND, (North Macedonia)
LES MISÉRABLES ,(France)
PAIN AND GLORY, (Spain)
PARASITE, (South Korea)
Will win: “Parasite” which is great but also a shame because that means it probably won’t win “Best Picture” outright.
Could upset: “Pain and Glory”
Overlooked: “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”
BOMBSHELL, Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker
JOKER, Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou
JUDY, Jeremy Woodhead
MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL, Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten and David White
1917, Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis and Rebecca Cole This is an outright guess.
Original Score
JOKER, Hildur Guðnadóttir
LITTLE WOMEN, Alexandre Desplat
MARRIAGE STORY, Randy Newman
1917, Thomas Newman
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, John Williams
Will win: Hildur Guðnadóttir for “Joker” and the only reason I won’t be upset about this is she’s actually the only woman nominated in the category.
Could upset: Literally anyone else in the category. They are some heavy hitters and clearly the Academy doesn’t like change, or women.
Original Song
“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from TOY STORY 4
Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from ROCKETMAN
Music by Elton John
Lyric by Bernie Taupin
“I’m Standing With You” from BREAKTHROUGH
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Into The Unknown” from FROZEN II
Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
“Stand Up” from HARRIET
Music and Lyric by Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo
Will and should win: Elton John
Surprising nomination snub: Beyonce for “The Lion King” – Disney clearly decided to only put their money behind one song for this category and I guess banked on Frozen?
Production Design
THE IRISHMAN
Production Design: Bob Shaw, Set Decoration: Regina Graves
JOJO RABBIT
Production Design: Ra Vincent, Set Decoration: Nora Sopková
1917
Production Design: Dennis Gassner, Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
Production Design: Barbara Ling, Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
PARASITE
Production Design: Lee Ha Jun, Set Decoration: Cho Won Woo
Will win: “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” – the only thing Hollywood loves more than themselves is classic themselves…
Should have been nominated: Henrik Svensson for “Midsommar”
Animated Short
DCERA (DAUGHTER), Daria Kashcheeva
HAIR LOVE, Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver
KITBULL, Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson
MEMORABLE, Bruno Collet and Jean-François Le Corre
SISTER, Siqi Song
Will win: I thinkkkkk “Hair Love” will win by a hair (badump chhhh) and I wouldn’t be upset because 1) representation matters + there are so few other ethnically led films so I’m guessing white guilt will kick in and 2) I’d be super happy for co-director Everett Downing
BROTHERHOOD, Meryam Joobeur and Maria Gracia Turgeon
NEFTA FOOTBALL CLUB, Yves Piat and Damien Megherbi
THE NEIGHBORS’ WINDOW, Marshall Curry
SARIA, Bryan Buckley and Matt Lefebvre
A SISTER, Delphine Girard
Sound Editing
FORD V FERRARI, Donald Sylvester
JOKER, Alan Robert Murray
1917, Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD, Wylie Stateman
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, Matthew Wood and David Acord
Will win: 1917 is a super technical film and the Academy tends to reward that.
Sound Mixing
AD ASTRA, Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano
FORD V FERRARI, Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A. Morrow
JOKER, Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic and Tod Maitland
1917, Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD, Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler and Mark Ulano
Visual Effects
AVENGERS: ENDGAME, Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken and Dan Sudick
THE IRISHMAN, Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser and Stephane Grabli
THE LION KING, Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman
1917, Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy
Will win: I’m guessing the same logic that applied to Sound will apply here.
Outside chance of an upset: “The Irishman” even though the de-aging was terrible.
The irony: Disney didn’t bother to correct people calling “The Lion King” live action (there were exactly 0 live creatures in it) but seems to have had no problem entering it here.
Adapted Screenplay
THE IRISHMAN, Steven Zaillian
JOJO RABBIT, Taika Waititi
JOKER, Todd Phillips & Scott Silver
LITTLE WOMEN, Greta Gerwig
THE TWO POPES, Anthony McCarten
Will and should win: Again hoping to manifest, given that experts vote on these categories and Jojo won at the WGA’s I’m hoping this eeks out a win.
Should have been nominated: Lorene Scafaria for “Hustlers”
Original Screenplay
KNIVES OUT, Rian Johnson
MARRIAGE STORY, Noah Baumbach
1917, Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD, Quentin Tarantino
PARASITE, Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won
Will and should win: “Parasite.” Just brilliant.
Wouldn’t be upset if it won: Knives Out”
Should have been nominated: Lulu Wang for “The Farewell”, Jordan Peele for “Us”, Emily Halpern & Sarah Haskins & Susanna Fogel & Katie Silberman for “Booksmart”
