Well, it happened. This is the first time I predicted for the Oscars and didn't even watch the ceremony! This year, I made the conscious decision to boycott the Oscars due to their unbelievably disrespectful decision to not air eight of the tech categories live. In addition to that, the producers behind this ceremony made other inexcusably stupid decisions, such as the "audience favorite" award and performing "We Don't Talk About Bruno" at the ceremony despite the fact it wasn't nominated for Best Original Song. Their desperate attempts to try and draw in more people to watch the ceremony are consequently worsening the quality of the show, and causing the members of the Academy to turn on each other. Nowhere is that more evident than that viral moment from the show when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock for insulting his wife.
I don't know when I'll feel comfortable watching the ceremony again (or if that day will ever even come), but don't be surprised if this is the last year I even post any predictions. It may be time to let the Academy Awards crash and burn as they year after year get a foot deeper into the grave that they dug for themselves. But anyway, here are the winners from last night:
Best Picture: CODA
Best Actor: Will Smith, King Richard
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Best Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur, CODA
Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Best Animated Feature: Encanto
Best Cinematography: Dune
Best Costume Design: Cruella
Best Director: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Best Documentary Feature: Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Best Documentary Short: The Queen of Basketball
Best Film Editing: Dune
Best International Film: Japan, Drive My Car
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Best Music (Original Score): Dune
Best Music (Original Song): No Time to Die, No Time to Die
Best Production Design: Dune
Best Short Film (Animated): The Windshield Wiper
Best Short Film (Live Action): The Long Goodbye
Best Sound: Dune
Best Visual Effects: Dune
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay): CODA
Best Writing (Original Screenplay): Belfast
I don't know when I'll feel comfortable watching the ceremony again (or if that day will ever even come), but don't be surprised if this is the last year I even post any predictions. It may be time to let the Academy Awards crash and burn as they year after year get a foot deeper into the grave that they dug for themselves. But anyway, here are the winners from last night:
Best Picture: CODA
Best Actor: Will Smith, King Richard
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Best Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur, CODA
Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Best Animated Feature: Encanto
Best Cinematography: Dune
Best Costume Design: Cruella
Best Director: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Best Documentary Feature: Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Best Documentary Short: The Queen of Basketball
Best Film Editing: Dune
Best International Film: Japan, Drive My Car
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Best Music (Original Score): Dune
Best Music (Original Song): No Time to Die, No Time to Die
Best Production Design: Dune
Best Short Film (Animated): The Windshield Wiper
Best Short Film (Live Action): The Long Goodbye
Best Sound: Dune
Best Visual Effects: Dune
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay): CODA
Best Writing (Original Screenplay): Belfast
Overall, I got 17/23 correct this year, so I did shockingly well I think, better than I thought I would do. The only ones I guessed wrong were for Picture, Actress, the two Screenplay categories, Animated Short and Documentary Short. But the short ones were hard to predict anyway, and the other 4 went to the ones that were the recent frontrunners, so overall, this was a very predictable set of winners.
For the winners themselves, eh. It could always be better. I'm honestly glad I guessed Best Picture wrong because CODA will do far better good for the film industry than The Power of the Dog ever could. While it's nice that it made history as the third movie directed by a woman to win the Oscar for directing, it's nothing worth remembering. And while CODA was still pretty basic and problematic, I'd be lying if I said it didn't give hope for the place of deaf people in filmmaking.
But Will Smith winning Best Actor, it's complicated. He's the one I guessed would win, he ended up winning, and the performance really was phenomenal, but after what he just did, I don't know if celebrating his win is right. It was horrible what Chris Rock said about his wife and he owes Will and Jada an apology, but the way Will handled his frustration was beyond unprofessional; he's only destroying his own career and worsening the already bad reputation of the AMPAS.
Then there's Dune, which took home six Oscars, the most wins for a single movie in the night. Whatever. I get that it was a big challenge for the film crew to do all that shooting in the desert, and while adapting a book that for decades was considered unfilmable, yet the movie was objectively terrible, and the technical components (aside from the sets and costumes) were either mediocre or just simply bad. It will only be a matter of time when that movie and its eventual Part 2 are forgotten from the general public.
As for Belfast winning Best Original Screenplay... grr. It was clearly the worst of the nominees, and shouldn't have gotten any Oscar nominations at all. Sorry, that's really all I got to say about that one.
In fact, that's all I really have to comment on all of these winners. It's hard to comment on much when I didn't even watch the ceremony, but 2021 really proved to be the decline of my passion for the Academy Awards. If they actually understood what audiences wanted to see, and stopped doing the show just for themselves, and more importantly, nominated films that were both widely known by the public as well as exceptionally made, then they could redeem themselves and finally make a ceremony that's worth watching. But will that day ever come? Who knows.
For the winners themselves, eh. It could always be better. I'm honestly glad I guessed Best Picture wrong because CODA will do far better good for the film industry than The Power of the Dog ever could. While it's nice that it made history as the third movie directed by a woman to win the Oscar for directing, it's nothing worth remembering. And while CODA was still pretty basic and problematic, I'd be lying if I said it didn't give hope for the place of deaf people in filmmaking.
But Will Smith winning Best Actor, it's complicated. He's the one I guessed would win, he ended up winning, and the performance really was phenomenal, but after what he just did, I don't know if celebrating his win is right. It was horrible what Chris Rock said about his wife and he owes Will and Jada an apology, but the way Will handled his frustration was beyond unprofessional; he's only destroying his own career and worsening the already bad reputation of the AMPAS.
Then there's Dune, which took home six Oscars, the most wins for a single movie in the night. Whatever. I get that it was a big challenge for the film crew to do all that shooting in the desert, and while adapting a book that for decades was considered unfilmable, yet the movie was objectively terrible, and the technical components (aside from the sets and costumes) were either mediocre or just simply bad. It will only be a matter of time when that movie and its eventual Part 2 are forgotten from the general public.
As for Belfast winning Best Original Screenplay... grr. It was clearly the worst of the nominees, and shouldn't have gotten any Oscar nominations at all. Sorry, that's really all I got to say about that one.
In fact, that's all I really have to comment on all of these winners. It's hard to comment on much when I didn't even watch the ceremony, but 2021 really proved to be the decline of my passion for the Academy Awards. If they actually understood what audiences wanted to see, and stopped doing the show just for themselves, and more importantly, nominated films that were both widely known by the public as well as exceptionally made, then they could redeem themselves and finally make a ceremony that's worth watching. But will that day ever come? Who knows.
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