The 2020 group of Best Cinematography nominees are composed of a three-time winner, a three-time nominee, a one-time winner (15-time nominee), and two first-time nominees. It is mostly a respectable group. I can’t say there aren’t others I would like to see represented here, but it’s not a bad group.
Continue reading 2020 Oscar Predictions — Best Cinematography
I think this year’s Best Director race is really intriguing. It is a group of filmmakers doing a variety of different things, and they all have their merit. While this makes predicting the winner a tough task, and there are many different ways this race could go, I think there are two presumed frontrunners heading into the Directors Guild of America’s award ceremony.
We continue our 2020 Academy Awards prediction series by turning to screenplay.
Continue reading 2020 Oscar Predictions — Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay
The Oscar acting categories can be predictable. Come this evening, following the Screen Actors Guild awards, the 2020 acting races may very likely be even more predictable. And Best Supporting Actress is no exception. The category has its frontrunner, and a SAG win for her will all but seal the race up.
Continue reading 2020 Oscar Predictions — Best Supporting Actress
As we head into the Screen Actors Guild awards, which will help clarify the frontrunners in the four Oscar acting races, perhaps it is a good time to look at the Academy’s nominees and their current place in the Best Supporting Actor race.
Of all the acting categories, Supporting Actor is, I think, the one without a clear frontrunner. In the other three categories, it is a matter of one nominee poised to win, where any other winner would be viewed as an upset. In this category, there are three actors in this category who could win this award.
Continue reading 2020 Oscar Predictions — Best Supporting Actor
Often times, the acting races at the Academy Awards are fairly cut and dry. By the time we get to the Oscar ceremony, it is usually pretty clear which actor is the frontrunner. A lot of this certainty lies in the Screen Actors Guild awards, whose winners often go on to win the Oscar. This is because the acting branch of the Academy is the largest, and the overlap between those voters and the SAG voters is enough to see a general pattern of voting.
This is not to say that upsets are impossible. An upset happened as recent as last year in this very category. So let’s look at who could possibly unseat the frontrunner this year.
It is rare to see two different actors win an Oscar for playing the same role. I can only think of one—Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro as Vito Corleone in The Godfather and The Godfather II. John Wayne and Jeff Bridges were both nominated for playing Rooster Cogburn in two different True Grit adaptations, but only Wayne won.
This year, we could very well see a repeat character in Joker, which is somewhat surprising given the blockbuster films Joaquin Phoenix and Heath Ledger were a part of are not the usual suspects for the Academy Awards.
