My Oscar Predictions: How Did I Do?

Plus: My Take on Some Categories You’ve Never Heard Of

I know you are dying to hear my thoughts on the Oscars and to find out, if you don’t know already, how my predictions panned out. So, here you go…

Best Movie: Yes, I said Everything Everywhere would take home the Oscar. A no-brainer (even though it really should not have won).

Best Director: I was right. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won for Everything Everywhere. Alas, one of the greatest directors of our time (Spielberg) lost to them.

Best Cinematography: I knew James Friend would win because he did such amazing work on All Quiet. I would have preferred Frank van den Eeden, because of the riveting depth he gave to Close. But he wasn’t even nominated.

Best Actor: This Oscar should have gone to Bill Nighy in Living or Paul Mescal in Aftersun. (Although Austin Butler was pretty good, too, as Elvis.) But, as I predicted, it went, of course, to Brendan Fraser.

Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh was, along with everyone else in Everything Everywhere, the odds-on favorite. And she won. Ho hum. She wasn’t bad. But Cate Blanchett and Andrea Riseborough were better. (I liked Yeoh’s comment in her acceptance speech: “Ladies, never let anyone tell you that you are past your prime.”)

Best Supporting Actor: I said that Ke Huy Quan would win, and he did. But not because of his performance. It was because the Academy wants a sweep and is nostalgic for a comeback story. My pick would have been Brendan Gleeson. Actually, I think Barry Keoghan was even better.

Best Supporting Actress: All of the nominees were very good. (It was the best group in this category that I can remember.) I correctly said the Oscar would go to Jamie Lee Curtis, even though I would have given it to Kerry Condon.

Best Original Screenplay: I predicted The Banshees, though I would have preferred Triangle of Sadness. But the Oscar went to Everything Everywhere. How I got that wrong, I can’t explain. I guess I thought they had to give Banshees something.

Best Adapted Screenplay: I correctly predicted that All Quiet (which should have won) would be beat out by Women Talking, because Hollywood believes that sort of script deserves to win something.

Best Animated Feature: I was right again. The Oscar went to Pinocchio. A worthy choice, although I think Puss in Bootswas equal to it.

Best Documentary Feature: This one was easy. Navalny was destined to win. It was very good. But I thought All the Beauty and the Bloodshed was a tad better.

Best International Feature: Another easy call. Because All Quiet was also nominated for Best Picture, there was no chance that a better film, Argentina, 1986, would get more votes in this lesser category.

My Score: 11 out of 12 

Bonus Categories 

Most Common Adjective of the Night: Beautiful

 Second Most Common Adjective: Incredible

Best Mindless Moment: Lady Gaga explaining why her track for Top Gun (“Hold My Hand”) is important and more meaningful than the mediocre lyrics suggest.

Best Sentence in an Acceptance Speech: From Ruth E. Carter (who won Best Costume Design), referring to the passing of her mother, at 101, as “becoming an ancestor.”

Best German Moment: Edward Berger’s thank-you speech for All Quiet. (If you don’t get it, you don’t know the Germans.)

Another Great Thank-You Moment: Matthew Freud, accepting (with Charlie Mackesy), the award for Best Animated Short: “I know the protocol is to say thank you a lot, but I’m British, so instead I’ll say sorry.”

Lamest Speech: Bill Cramer, representing the Academy, talking about the awards that nobody is interested in.

Weirdest Commercial: Snapchat. What was that about?

Most Inclusive Commercial: Applebee’s. (And why not?)

Best Back-Walking Moments: The commercials about COVID (how it’s actually dangerous only for fat people) sponsored by Pfizer.

Most Narcissistic Statement: “Thank you so much to everyone who has unlocked my genius.” (Daniel Kwan in his acceptance speech for Best Director)

Most Pretentious Moment: There were too many to fairly choose from.