The Oscar ceremony is around the corner, check out who are Cinema Daily US Writers predicting to win at the Oscars on Sunday night, March 12? Instead of bothering you to make you read 23 categories for 7 writers, we picked out 6 major categories. Is your choice the same as ours?
Here’s our selections!
Niclas Goldberg
Best Picture : Tár
Best Director : Todd Field (Tár)
Best Actor : Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Insherin)
Best Actress : Cate Blanchett (Tár)
Best Supporting Actor : Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Insherin)
Best Supporting Actress : Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Insherin)
After the excellent “In the Bedroom“ and “Little Children,” the actor turned director Todd Field finally returned with the intense, Michael Haneke-vibrating and shape-shifting “Tár.” One of USA’s most talented directors reinvents himself and opens discussions on power, music and cancel culture as he puts the year’s most provocative and complex character at the center. The always astonishing Cate Blanchett inhabits this abusive, manipulating maestro and exceeds even her best performances.
In Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Insherin,” veteran actor Colin Farrell makes his career best work with sensibility, sadness, and absurd comic timing as the poor farmer who is dumped overnight by his best friend (Brendan Gleeson, also amazing) on the remote Irish island. The equally great supporting characters are perfectly shaped. The strangely exceptional Barry Keoghan breathes soul and new life into the worn role of the village fool and Kerry Condon, who plays the feisty big sister and a kind of substitute mother, gives a performance with both glow and density.
Karen Banardello
Best Picture : Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Director : Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans)
Best Actor : Brendan Fraser (The Whale)
Best Actress : Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Supporting Actor : Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Supporting Actress : Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Films about people overcoming their personal adversity to achieve their goals will surely take center stage at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood during this weekend’s 95th Academy Awards ceremony. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” should win the Best Picture Oscar, for exploring how the most insignificant choices can drastically alter people’s lives. Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan deserve to win the Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Actor in a Supporting Role Academy Awards for their performances in the comedy-drama, in which all versions of their married characters teach each other how to be happy together again. Steven Spielberg should win the Best Director Oscar for Best Director for “The Fabelmans,” which is based on his experiences as a young filmmaker, and shows how the power of movies taught him the truth about his dysfunctional family.
Brendan Fraser is the frontrunner to win the Best Actor in a Leading Role Academy Award for his performance in “The Whale,” which emphasizes how heartbreak often arises from misunderstandings, and subsequent forgiveness can lead people to find the peace they so desperately crave. Angela Bassett is the leading contender to be named Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the Oscars for her role in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” as she emotionally showcased how her character, Ramonda, the Sovereign Queen Mother of the titular country, balanced leading her people, fighting threats to their land and grieving the death of her son, T’Challa.
Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
Best Picture : Triangle of Sadness
Best Director : Ruben Östlund (Triangle of Sadness)
Best Actor : Austin Butler (Elvis)
Best Actress : Cate Blanchett (Tár)
Best Supporting Actor : Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway)
Best Supporting Actress : Hong Chau (The Whale)
It doesn’t surprise that the talented director of “Triangle of Sadness,” Ruben Östlund, has been chosen as the President of the Jury of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. His film deserves the Best Picture and Best Academy Awards for the way it explores irreverently and brazenly the dark side of human nature. The same can be said of the way Cate Blanchett brings to life the infamous protagonist of “Tár,” that should be rewarded with the Best Actress in Leading Role Award. Austin Butler in “Elvis” has worked wonders on the speaking and singing voice of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, as well as his facial expressions and bodily gestures. The young actor undoubtably deserves the Academy Award for Best Actor in Leading Role. Brian Tyree Henry in “Causeway” conveys an authentic and empathetic allure free of self pity; similarly, Hong Chau in “The Whale” provides a pragmatic depiction of compassion. Both performances are Oscar worthy for their Supporting Roles.
Abe Friedtanzer
Best Picture : Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Director : Daniels (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Actor: Brendan Fraser (The Whale)
Best Actress : Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Supporting Actor : Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Supporting Actress : Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
This year’s top races at the Oscars are still very much in play. Only two categories are locked up: Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor. Though “Everything Everywhere All at Once” lost the top comedy prize to “The Banshees of Inisherin” at the Golden Globes, the latter has essentially become a non-player while the former is steamrolling the competition, taking home accolades from the PGA, DGA, WGA, and SAG. BAFTA winner “All Quiet on the Western Front” or the very popular “Top Gun: Maverick” could snag some votes, but not enough to dethrone EEAAO. Similarly, the Daniels are in a good position to take home the directing prize, though there’s always a chance that Steven Spielberg could earn his third trophy, for “The Fabelmans.” The Best Actor race is between Brendan Fraser for “The Whale” and Austin Butler for “Elvis,” with an equally good case to be made for both and an outside shot that Colin Farrell splits the difference for Banshees. In Best Actress, Michelle Yeoh seems to have pulled ahead for EEAAO of previous frontrunner Cate Blanchett for “Tár.” For Best Supporting Actor, Ke Huy Quan is leagues ahead of the competition, again for EEAAO, while Barry Keoghan won the BAFTA for Banshees but isn’t likely to bump Quan stateside. The Best Supporting Actress race is the most competitive, with Angela Bassett “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” claiming victories at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, and Jamie Lee Curtis (EEAAO) winning with SAG. Kerry Condon won the BAFTA for Banshees and now looks to be her film’s best chance at taking home any prize if she can triumph in her very stacked category.
Matthew Schuchman
Best Picture : The Fablemans
Best Director : The Daniels (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Actor : Austin Butler (Elvis)
Best Actress : Cate Blanchett (Tár)
Best Supporting Actor : Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Supporting Actress : Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
I wholeheartedly believe that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” should win in all categories it is nominated for. But unfortunately, I don’t control the Oscar voters.
If there is one thing that voters have always shown, it is that they just love awarding films that are about Hollywood and filmmaking. That is why I think they will ultimately give the best picture award to The Fablemans. That being said, I think they will be able to overlook the traditional stylings of Steven Speilberg and award The Daniels their well deserved Best Director(s) Oscar.
Now, if there is one other thing the voters love to hand praise to more than films about Hollywood, it is giving away awards to grandiose impressions. This is why they will hand a statue to Austin Butler who doesn’t deserve to win over more nuanced performances such as Paul Mescal or Colin Ferrell, who I think should be the winner. Best Actress is the one category I think someone else should win over an “Everything Everywhere All at Once” nomination. Michelle Yeoh absolutely killed it as Evylen Quan, but Cate Blancett had the better overall performance here. And while I think Stephanie Hsu should win the Supporting Actress category, I have a feeling academy voters are going to bend to Hollywood nostalgia and give the award to Jamie Lee Curtis. Now, while I am slightly open to having some awards go against where I want them to go, if Ke Huy Quan is not given the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, something is terribly wrong. This is a no brainer for me.
Edward Moran
Best Picture : Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Director : Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Actor : Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Best Actress : Ana de Armas (Blonde)
Best Supporting Actor : Brendan Gleason (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Best Supporting Actress : Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” is just the kind of absurdist, super-cool drama we need these days, with its subtexts of immigration, bureaucracy, and parallel universes. Who knew that a humble laundromat could be the launching pad for such imaginative mayhem? As St Patrick’s Day approaches, the luck of the Irish is smiling on Colin Farrell, who brings a heady mix of old-fashioned “storm and charm” to his role in “The Banshees of Inisherin” without unpleasant sentimentality. Brendan Gleeson suffers a lot in “The Banshees of Inisherin” : ranging from cutting off his fingers to enduring an arson-fire on his cottage. But it’s all part of the troubled existence of an Irishman struggling with his fate, which he captures with amazing sensitivity and smouldering intensity.
The two Daniels (Kwan and Scheinert) deserve recognition for having written and directed “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” a film with so many multiple layers ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime, from the gritty reality of a laundromat to the wild spin cycle of parallel universes. Ana de Armas’s nothing-short-of-awesome portrayal of the iconic Marilyn Monroe in “Blonde” takes us back to the golden, though tarnished age when Hollywood was the undisputed locus of imagination and glamor for a whole generation of filmgoers. What’s not to like about Jamie Lee Curtis? The scream queen deserves recognition just for taking on the persona of a character named Deirdre Beaubeirdre. In an absurd comedy like “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” she brings the character to life with just the right combination of wit and nimbleness.
Nobuhiro Hosoki
Best Picture : Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Director : Ruben Östlund (Triangle of Sadness)
Best Actor : Brendan Fraser (The Whale)
Best Actress : Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans)
Best Supporting Actor : Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best Supporting Actress : Hong Chau (The Whale)
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a wild, provocative, and, in a way, a manic, self-indulgent movie that has captured the heart of moviegoers. The film seized the momentum to win multiple awards — from the PGA (Producers Guild), SAG (Screen Actors Guild), and WGA (Writers Guilds of America). It’s only natural then to believe that the surging interest in the Asian and Asian-American community makes us believe that they would go all the way. Last year’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner, “Triangle of Sadness” was a dissection of modern life and showed the twisted destruction of our society. But there were no dull moments in the journey of this 2 and a half hour film, and, the remarkable ride that director Ruben Östlund’s Journey. Lead Brendan Fraser’s performance in “The Whale” was a tour de force, thanks to director Darren Aronofsky, who also offered a moment for the other cast members to shine as well. Fraser’s characterization forces us to question our own assumptions towards oversized physical appearance, the effects of homophobia, and what it takes to care about other people until the end.
Without over-romanticizing the filmmaking profession, Steven Spielberg’s cinematic memoir,“The Fabelmans,” sincerely shows the sacrifice and work required to give it your all in order to make it in the movies. The enormous support of his mother, played by Michelle Williams, was evident in aiding in that success. She’s been consistent about her work ethic and has delivered top-notch performances for each role — which has gotten her five Oscar nominations. It would be wrong not to finally give her that golden statuette at this point in time.
After seeing him in “The Goonies” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” one would assume that Ke Huy Quan’s display of enormous talent would have made him a star by now. But life never turns out the way one had expected it. For a long time, he felt there weren’t any great roles for Asian actors, and quit acting for a couple of decades. But with his comeback in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — and having been nominated for Best Supporting Actor as a result — he has become an inspiration to his peers and, perhaps, to many former actors as well. I don’t think Fraser could have shined like a diamond without the support of Hong Chau playing his loyal friend and nurse in “The Whale.” In addition, her performance in “The Menu” was brilliant as well. Though she’s the type of woman who prefers to stay out of the limelight, it’s inevitable that the Academy will recognize her talent.