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

It's now a week until the ceremony, and at this point, I've lost hope in it. They're just continuing to make one stupid decision after the next in desperate attempts to get more people to watch the show, all of which will hurt the quality of the show even more than it's already been tarnished. I'm 99% sure now that I will not be watching the Oscars this year, which a year ago I never thought I'd hear myself say. I just don't feel comfortable watching such a poorly produced show with winners that mostly don't deserve the recognition, so don't be surprised if next year I don't even post up any predictions the entire awards season.

Regardless, I'll just finish what I started and post what I believe will win at this year's Academy Awards:

Best Picture: The Power of the Dog
Best Actor: Will Smith, King Richard
Best Actress: Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
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: Lead Me Home
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): Bestia
Best Short Film (Live Action): The Long Goodbye
Best Sound: Dune
Best Visual Effects: Dune
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay): The Power of the Dog
Best Writing (Original Screenplay): Licorice Pizza

I've lately been caught in a real moral dilemma. Is it really appropriate to still be watching the Academy Awards ceremony? Part of me wants to keep doing it simply because it's the biggest movie night of the year and a grand celebration of film, which also honors the biggest achievements in filmmaking of the year and decides what the future of Hollywood will look like. But at the same time, the Oscars year after year has gotten deeper in its process of digging its own grave. That's not just because a majority of the films they nominate don't deserve the recognition, but it's chiefly because the body is so full of themselves and doesn't care what the general public wants or needs to see. Each year, they've become much more clueless as to what will actually get people to watch the show again, and their efforts to try and bring ratings back up have always backfired. Always. Not to mention all their attempts have only hurt the quality of the ceremony, and this year looks like it will continue that trend. With the insulting decision to not air 8 of the 23 categories live, I'm now seriously considering not watching the Oscars this year. This is just outrageously unacceptable.

But with all that said, here is my own personal version of the Academy Awards, where I award what I think is genuinely the best of the year based on the 50 movies I saw released between January 2021 and December 2021.

Another early morning, another night of hardly any sleep, another set of disappointing nominees. In previous years, my lack of sleep in anticipation for the Academy Award nomination announcement has been out of excitement, but this year, it was out of fear and anxiety. I knew that the Best Picture frontrunners were no good, and the rest of the categories didn't look nearly as promising. Yet the actual result of this morning's big announcement proved to me that the Academy actually cares far less about the quality of filmmaking than I ever thought, as many of the nominees in many of these categories aren't just mediocre or overwhelming- they are flat-out awful without a single redeeming quality about it. But there are still a FEW good things I have to say about these nominees.

It's time again: time to make the best guess as to what the Academy of Motion Pictures believes are the best achievements of filmmaking in the year 2021. Unfortunately, we had to endure yet another pandemic year, but at least this time, movie theaters have been open! Now, the box office still hasn't exactly been revived yet, and who knows when (or if) that'll happen, but that won't stop the Academy from honoring the biggest endeavors that filmmaking artists had to endure in their latest projects. Now, I personally believe that due to the strange last couple of years, this still will be a rather weak lineup of nominees in most categories, with several nominations occurring simply because of the lack of competition. I realize that nowadays very few people respect the Oscars or will even bother to remain up to date on what they do, but I'm in the minority who actually cares what they nominate because that will decide the future of Hollywood, and American society as a whole.

But full disclosure: this is not what I personally believe deserves the nominations, but what I think from the Academy's shoes what they would want to honor, based on their nomination trends in the past few years as well as critical reception on a number of these films. I've spent the entire year keeping track of every movie that comes out and formulating a system that can help best come up with predictions, so without further ado, here's all my hard work, my predictions for the 94th Annual Academy Award nominees!

I remember watching this show when it first aired on Nickelodeon, even as a kid I felt this show was out of place from the wacky, silly cartoons that shared the channel with it. Avatar: The Last Airbender always felt more mature and prestigious with way more powerful emotion, it just was way too good for Nickelodeon. I was not the type of kid to appreciate the art of this show, as I was still the type of kid who liked goofy slapstick- my holy trinity on Nickelodeon was The Fairly OddParents, Jimmy Neutron, and of course, SpongeBob SquarePants. In fact, I did not even watch Avatar: The Last Airbender past the second season—my Mom told me she read an article saying that it was a bad show for Christians to be watching.

So for years I did not watch a single episode from the show (and wisely avoided the insultingly awful live action movie). Earlier this year when I decided to revisit the show on Netflix, the first episode did not hook me. Upon watching Raya and the Last Dragon, I was inspired to give the show another chance, and a few more episodes later, I was fully committed, and made it to the end of the series, even watching season three for the first time. Now I can proudly say that I absolutely love this series.

The series proves to be masterful in its powerful arcs for every single character, even the ones typically labeled as the villains, written in ways that most adult shows cannot figure out. I love the imagination of the creators behind this show, and how fluidly they can merge together unique ideas, creative worldbuilding, relevant themes, and sociopolitical commentary in ways that both kids and adults can relate to. This show should be taught in graduate school level psychology classes with its immense existential philosophy and the complexity of human relationships.
​
There’s quite a bit that Christians can pick up from this valuable series too, when you set aside the false concepts of reincarnation and multiple deities, the lessons of the characters are reflected perfectly from the Bible. Now, I’ll describe the Scriptural parallels within core development of the seven main characters of the series: Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko, Iroh, and Azula.

Everyone knows Shrek as the movie that changed the face of American animation forever by setting a new industry standard reliant on crass humor and pop culture references, which unfortunately still plagues animated films to this day. But DreamWorks’ mega hit stood out more due to its glorious dump on fairy tale tropes and everything the Disney corporation promotes, it proved how the media’s standards of beauty continually poison our expectations of who’s truly capable of loving. Shrek is a big ugly ogre who deep down wants to love someone else; Fiona is a classic fair princess who can defend herself; together, they make an unlikely pair that better resembles God’s vision of marriage than the celebrity marriages many Americans worship. (Ephesians 5:22-33, 1 Corinthians 7:4)

​Before realizing her love for Shrek, Fiona wants to marry only to break the spell and look beautiful forever, much like how Lord Farquaad only wants to marry her so he can be king, thus making Duloc a kingdom. (1 Corinthians 7:8-9) This motive of his is revealed the instant he discovers what happens to Fiona when the sun sets, and he impulsively decides to send her to the castle forever… only to be eaten by the very dragon which kept her. Unlike Farquaad, Shrek sees Fiona as beautiful whether or not she’s an ogress, Fiona’s inner spirit stays unchanged even when her outward appearance changes. (1 Peter 3:3-4) It makes sense why Shrek and Fiona have such solid understanding of each other, as Shrek likewise feels he has no choice but to live in the swamp alone, with plans to build a wall around it, to keep out everyone who runs in fear from him before they get to know him. (Matthew 7:1)

Years like this prove why storytelling is really so important. Working on a motion picture may not be an "essential" profession, but just what stories offer us are probably the most effective modes of moral and informative guidance for the average human being, far more so than what the government may try to do to control our lives. When Jesus had to give an answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus didn't just say, "Everybody is your neighbor" and call it a day, he did something far more impactful: he gave a parable, a potential scenario that the listener could relate to, so that he could see Jesus' point made in action. It's exactly the same way with the movies and TV shows we watch nowadays. We may watch them primarily for entertainment, but we always consciously pick up on new ways to look at the world and obtain moral guidance on issues we are uncertain about. 

That's why your state governor could tell you all he wants that you are required to wear a mask while in a public space. But that alone won't necessarily convince you to do so. Rather, if you heard about someone who wasn't wearing a mask while out shopping and someone s/he came into contact with got Coronavirus and died a few weeks later, that would motivate you in a heartbeat to add a mask into the essential items you must have on you every time you leave the house, along with your phone, keys, wallet, and ID.

Thus, as my custom every year around awards time, I will give my picks for the best out of the films I saw this calendar year. Except I won't be including the January-February 2021 timeframe that the Academy of Motion Pictures added this year to accommodate to the films that suffered from delayed release dates. But don't worry: Nomadland, The Father, Minari, and Judas and the Black Messiah ​will gladly be in next year's TVOH Awards!

You may be thinking, “Thank goodness nobody ever actually produced a crazy TV show like The Truman Show!” But guess what? Believe it or not, we are actually living in that crazy TV show right now! That is, not in the way that we’re all living in a giant biodome with hidden cameras that are recording everything we do 24/7, but more in the fact that the media industry has turned us into walking advertisements for their own benefit. The Lord hates the way those authoritative influencers take advantage of their consumers for the sake of money, in fact, He wants us to say to our system, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.” (Psalm 101:3)

The creator of this TV show, Christof, believes he created a perfect utopia for Truman to spend his whole life in; he sees himself as a god, and everyone else working on the show seems to see him as one too. Even Marlon, who plays Truman’s friend on the show, says while watching the sunset, “That’s the big guy!” It sounds as if he meant God, except he actually meant Christof, whose window down into the fake town resides within the fake moon. As much as Christof feels like a god here, he still fails to realize that his creation shall never resemble the Kingdom of Heaven. (John 14:2) During his opening monologue, Christof insists that none of the Truman Show is scripted, yet these words are quickly contradicted when he’s seen whispering words into Marlon’s earpiece for him to repeat to Truman. He also is seen directing the union between Truman and his father, and sending out a terrible storm that the others beside him are worried will kill Truman. He is indeed replicating god-like powers, but his hypocrisy is the only test of authority needed to prove why he isn’t only not a god, but also must never be followed as a leader. (1 John 4:1-6)

​How funny, the core message of this beloved Christmas movie ironically is also a core theme to Christianity: “Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.” You see that in society all the time; common sense has convinced most of the human population that God could never exist, whereas the other tiny percentage chose to believe faith instead, the same way a child believes a fat man could fly in a single night around the entire planet with flying reindeer. Though whatever you believe, be it Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Evolution, or anything really, it requires your greatest amount of faith to ignore the doubts. It would be difficult to believe that a man could walk on water, the same way it would be difficult to believe natural selection could somehow cause the human race. Faith is an unavoidable matter in an individual putting together their own moral code, which means common sense must also be ignored at times. Miracle on 34th Street fully understands that struggle, especially when major corporations are fueled by their common sense.