Here we are again. The best time of the year, the Oscars time! And here are my final nominations. In few hours we’ll be hearing what the Academy picked.
BEST PICTURE
- La La Land
- Manchester by the Sea
- Moonlight
- Arrival
- Fences
- Lion
- Hidden Figures
- Hell or High Water
- Hacksaw Ridge
- Silence
- Deadpool
I couldn’t pick my 10th option because I’m hopeless optimistic and actually think they would go for R-rated comic book movie. Right yeah? I kind of wanted to leave Hidden Figures out as well but this is where the final list now. At the moment it’s either La La Land’s or Moonlight’s to lose.
DIRECTOR
- La La Land – Damien Chazelle
- Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Longergan
- Hell or High Water – David McKenzie
- Arrival – Denis Villeneuve
- Moonlight – Barry Jenkins
- Hacksaw Ridge- Mel Gibson
- Fences – Denzel Washington
- Silence – Martin Scorsese
- Lion – Garth Davis
By far the hardest category to predict this year. The three of them are absolute locks (Chazelle, Lonergan and Jenkins) but the two others… I believe that Villeneuve is due with a nomination (I haven’t seen Arrival yet but I’m only hearing good things plus he’s done great job with previous films that were nominated, Prisoners and Sicario) but the last slot was hard to decide. I played a wild card.
ACTOR
- La La Land – Ryan Gosling
- Fences – Denzel Washington
- Manchester by the Sea – Casey Affleck
- Hacksaw Ridge – Andrew Garfield
- Captain Fantastic – Viggo Mortensen
ACTRESS
- La La Land – Emma Stone
- Jackie – Natalie Portman
- Arrival – Amy Adams
- Florence Foster Jenkins – Meryl Streep
- Elle – Isabelle Huppert
Loving – Ruth Negga
Because of the story of Loving, I wanted to give a slot for Ruth Negga but Huppert has been really strong and one can never leave Streep out, especially when she gave amazing speech at the Golden Globes in the middle of voting of the Oscars nominations.
SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Lion – Dev Patel 10
- Moonlight – Mahershala Ali
- Hell of High Water – Jeff Brigdes
- Florence Foster Jenkins – Hugh Grant
- Nocturnal Animals – Aaron Taylor-Johnson
- Manchester by the Sea – Lucas Hedges
I just might be hopeful here again but if Nocturnal Animals will soar at least a bit, Taylor-Johnson will be in. And the Academy has avoid to nominate younger actors in this category like Tremblay last year. But Hedges has been strong so far, so this is a game.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Hidden Figures – Octavia Spences
- Fences – Viola Davis
- Manchester by the Sea – Michelle Williams
- Naomi Harris – Moonlight
- Lion – Nicole Kidman
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- Manchester by the Sea
- The Lobster
- Hell or High Water
- La La Land
- Captain Fantastic
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- Moonlight
- Fences
- Lion
- Nocturnal Animals
- Arrival
- Hidden Figures
OK, I have a thing for Nocturnal Animals even I haven’t seen it, so again, I’m putting it ahead of probably stronger contender.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
- La La Land
- Silence
- Arrival
- Lion
- Moonlight
EDITING
- La La Land
- Manchester by the Sea
- Arrival
- Moonlight
- Hacksaw Ridge
COSTUME DESIGN
- Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them
- Jackie
- La La Land
- Florence Foster Jenkins
- Allied
PRODUCTION DESIGN
- La La Land
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- The Handmaiden
- Jackie
- Arrival
MAKE-UP & HAIRSTYLING
- A Man Called Ove
- Deadpool
- Florence Foster Jenkins
- Star Trek Beyond
I asked my make-up artist friend’s opinion here and she chose Deadpool instead of Star Trek Beyond. I’ll blame her if I’m incorrect.
SOUND MIXING
- La La Land
- Arrival
- Rogue One
- Hacksaw Ridge
- Deepwater Horizon
SOUND EDITING
- Hacksaw Ridge
- Deepwater Horizon
- Roque One
- Arrival
- The Jungle Book
VISUAL EFFECTS
- Rogue One
- The Jungle Book 5
- Arrival
- Strange
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
SCORE
- Moonlight (Nicholas Britell)
- Jackie (Mica Levi)
- La La Land (Justin Hurwitz)
- The BFG (John Williams)
- Rogue One (Michael Giacchino)
- Lion (Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka)
I’m still a bit annoyed that Jóhann Jóhannsson is not eligible for Arrival as he is these days one of my definite favourite composers. Love his work! I wanted to leave John Williams out but you know, you just can’t. And it’s traditional that the composers branch always vote for their own and already now there are THREE new comers. I hardly see that happening but I don’t know who else to pick. Justin Hurwitz all the way, I looooooove La La Land’s soundtrack!
SONG
- Moana – How Far I’ll Go
- La La Land – Audition (The Fools Who Dream)
- La La Land – City of Stars
- Sing Street – Drive Like You Stole It
- Trolls – Can’t Stop the Feeling
- Sing – Faith
- Hidden Figures – Runnin’
Always hard category to predict. I gave a chance to Sing Street’s 80’s sounds, it’s a gamble, I know. I hope that the song above wins, I can’t get enough of it.
ANIMATED
- Zootopia
- Kubo and the Two Strings
- The Red Turtle
- Moana
- My Life as a Zucchini
- Finding Dory
Yes, I left out a Pixar film. I’m aware.
DOCUMENTARY
- Cameraperson
- I am Not Your Negro
- 13th
- OJ: Made in America
- The Eagle Huntress
- Weiner
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
- Toni Erdmann (Germany)
- The Salesman (Iran)
- Land of Mine (Denmark)
- A Man Called Ove (Sweden)
- My Life as a Zucchini (Switzerland)
- It’s Only the End of the World (Canada)
I have a feeling I should not count out Xavier Dolan but I don’t know what else to do.
ANIMATED SHORT
- Inner Workings
- Piper
- Blind Vayasha
- Borrowed Time
- Pearl
LIVE ACTION SHORT
- Graffiti
- Nocturne in Black
- Sing (Mindenki)
- Timecode
- The Way of Tea
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
- White Helmets
- Joe’s Violin
- Extremis
- The Mute’s House
- Watani: My Homeland
Agree, disagree? We’ll now soon enough how I did this year.
Good call on leaving out Finding Dory!
I’m so gutted Amy Adams wasn’t nominated 😦
Same here! She’s my favourite. Although like I wrote I’m happy for Ruth Negga.