With award season underway, many fans are eager to see their favorite artists and filmmakers win coveted gold trophies. The 95th Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 12 at 8 p.m. on ABC and other streaming platforms. Until then, here are some predictions for the winners in the top five categories.
If you want to score at home and compare your results to mine, visit Rotten Tomatoes or this link, and print out your ballot.
Best Picture
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” (“EEAAO”) is precisely what it sounds like: everything is thrown everywhere at the audience all at once. The film blends multiple genres into one original cinematic masterpiece that explores the multiverse. “EEAAO” tackles serious subjects that deal with motherhood, invisibility and generational gaps while being unserious and comedic. With a chaotic yet creative storyline, there is a reason why this film is up for 11 Oscars this year.
Best Original Screenplay
Up for Best Original Screenplay are the films “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “EEAAO,” “The Fabelmans,” “Tár” and “Triangle of Sadness.” “EEAAO” appears to be a multiverse action comedy taking place in an alternate dimension where everyone has hot dogs instead of fingers, but it is truly about personal family drama. Through the lens of the multiverse, the film highlights the significance of family, love, personal identity and what it means to be happy in life. The underlying meanings are told in an unprecedented cinematic form, which is why “EEAAO” should win in this category.
Best Actor
Irish actor Colin James Farrell stars in the film “The Banshees of Inisherin,” which is a dark comedy and tells the story of the abrupt ending of a friendship between two lifelong friends. The audience watches how the dissolution of the relationship impacts Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson). Pádraic spirals into a lingering sadness that intensifies as the film progresses, breaking viewers’ hearts and leaving them with tears as the credits roll. Farrell portrays Pádraic in such a way that is both brilliant and touching that there is no doubt that he should win Best Actor at this year’s Oscars ceremony.
Best Actress
The award for the most unpredictable category goes to Best Actress. Nominees Michelle Yeoh (“EEAAO”) and Cate Blanchett (“Tár”) will be neck and neck for the statuette.
Two-time Oscar winner Blanchett stars in a “psychodrama” about how a world-renowned conductor’s life begins to unravel and causes her to become “unhinged.” Blanchett gives a genuine and stunning performance that grounds the film in reality, even though it’s entirely fictional.
Earlier this year, Yeoh won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role in “EEAAO” because of her exquisite acting. While it is hard to say who will win this category, backlash is already brewing over the academy’s exclusion of black actresses Viola Davis (“The Woman King”) and Danielle Deadwyler (“Till”) and their controversial nomination of Rebecca Riseborough for “To Leslie.” Riseborough was nominated for her role in a small independent film that did not have a large audience, making only $27,000 through a grassroots effort. It is safe to say that she will not be taking home an Oscar this year as either Blanchett or Yeoh will win in this category.
Best Director
The film that wins Best Picture will usually also win either Best Director or Best Screenplay, but rarely both. However, “EEAAO” is such a cinematic masterpiece that it is not ridiculous to say that it could win all three awards. Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known as “The Daniels,” built an overwhelming and ornamented multiverse adventure where everything is crafted with intention. “EEAAO” was created with a $25 million budget and broke box office records with sales surpassing $106 million worldwide.
As great as Speilberg is, he has already won two Oscars and three Lifetime Achievement Awards from various organizations, so it’s unlikely that he will not have to make more room on his trophy case.
Click here to view the full list of nominees and categories.
Roberta J Campbell • Feb 13, 2023 at 6:08 pm
I feel Austin Butler deserves the Oscar. The guy gave a lifetime performance. He spent over 2 years devoted to this role which he had very big shoes to fill and he nailed it. The other actors did a good job bur the job Austin did was amazing. Hopefully the academy doesn’t hold his age against him and rewards him the award he so truly deserves.