A lot can change on a campaign trail in a matter of weeks, days even. Case in point: Two days after this year’s Academy Award nominations were announced, the worst we thought could happen at the Oscars was a Joker best picture coronation, and two days before the ceremony, an even lousier film, Jojo Rabbit, seems to more than just us like a very real spoiler for the top prize. Or not. We could just be experiencing a crisis overload as an outgrowth of living in a time when democracy appears to be in retreat all over the world, when the worst that can happen often does. Across the last 24 days, we’ve contemplated various pendulum swings, drawn links between the Oscar voting process and the Iowa caucuses, and generally mulled over the academy’s ongoing existential crisis, coming to the conclusion, one again, that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Below are our final Oscar predictions. Want more? Click on the individual articles for our justifications and more, including who we think should win in all 24 categories.
Picture: 1917
Director: Sam Mendes, 1917
Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
Actress: Renée Zellweger, Judy
Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
Supporting Actress: Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Original Screenplay: Parasite
Adapted Screenplay: Jojo Rabbit
International Feature: Parasite
Documentary Feature: For Sama
Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 4
Documentary Short: Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (if You’re a Girl)
Animated Short: Memorable
Live Action Short: Brotherhood
Film Editing: Parasite
Production Design: Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
Cinematography: 1917
Costume Design: Little Women
Makeup and Hairstyling: Joker
Score: Joker
Song: “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” Rocketman
Sound Editing: Ford v Ferrari
Sound Mixing: 1917
Visual Effects: 1917
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