Awards Season is here and The Academy Awards aka The Oscars will be aired on Sunday March 12 at 8:00pm on ABC. This jewel award show, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will bring Hollywood’s biggest stars together to celebrate their achievements and skills through film. Following the infamous slap by Will Smith last year and limited capacity shows due to the pandemic, the 2023 show hopes to bring normalcy back to these prestigious awards. I will not be giving a total list of nominees, that can be found here, but I will give some thoughts and predictions.
Starting right off with the big category, let’s talk about the Best Lead Actor category, with a very stacked group of nominees. I do think that Austin Butler gave a fantastic performance in Elvis and may be able to get the trophy, but the buzz of Brendan Fraser in The Whale has me leaning toward him ending up on top in the end.
Now to Best Actress in a Leading Role, this is a rather competitive category mainly between Cate Blanchett for Tár, Michelle Williams for The Fabelmans, and Michelle Yeoh for Everything Everywhere all at Once. I have heard fantastic things about Blanchett and Williams in their respective films, but I do genuinely believe and hope that Michelle Yeoh will take this award as her performance in “Everything” is simply phenomenal.
For Best Actor in a Supporting Role, there is some competition from actors Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan from The Banshees of Inisherin, but again I definitely see a winner from “Everything” with Ke Huy Quan’s performance. I loved “Banshees” very much as a film, but I found Quan’s performance so strong and eloquent. He is such a kind man with a heartbreaking backstory, so seeing him accept that award would be so fulfilling.
When it comes to Best Supporting Actress, I find this to perhaps be the most “mixed bag” of the acting categories. The nominees include Angela Bassett from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu from “Everything”, Kerry Condon from “Banshees”, and Hong Chau from The Whale. While I did enjoy Curtis and Hsu’s performances, I am really betting on Angela Bassett walking away with this trophy. Her nomination is monumental as she is the first actor for a Marvel film ever to be nominated. She gave such an exquisite performance in the second Black Panther film, especially considering her on and off-screen grieving process of Chadwick Boseman.
In terms of some of the other categories, I believe Guillermo De Toro’s Pinocchio will be the winner in the Best Animated Feature category. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s Ruth Carter will take home Best Costume Design. Best directing could go to either The Fabelmans, “Banshees” or “Everything”. “Everything” will likely take best editing, as that is the film’s strong suit. Original Screen Play will likely go to “Banshees” as that story is so strong. Visual Effects is a tough category, but I am predicting that the winner will be Top Gun: Maverick simply due to the nature of the film. Finally, I am predicting that Best Production Design goes to Avatar: the Way of Water.
Now for the big category: Best Picture. This category has the following nominees:
All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness, and Women Talking.
There are some really heavy hitters this year, especially when thinking about the reemergence of movie theaters since the beginning of the pandemic. I struggle with who will take home the gold statue at this year’s show, but I do think that the winner will be Everything Everywhere All at Once, simply due to its powerful story and great acting. In addition, I think the fact that this film took real risks gives it the lead in this category and ultimate win.
For the first time in many years, I am genuinely looking forward to watching The 2023 Oscars. There are so many fantastic films up for contention, but I’m just mainly hoping the show can avoid an infamous slap.
References
- https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2023
- https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/how-watch-oscar-2023-best-picture-movies-96662948
Great post Gabe! I used to be really into watching the Oscars and other award shows, but for some reason the last couple years I haven’t been keeping up as much. I think you did a great job at providing your opinion on the nominees, you seem to be very well informed!
I really like this post because you are able to show off your deep knowledge of film. I have not been watching as many movies as I used to recently (I’ve become more of a TV show guy), but I really like your blogs because I still do have a deep appreciation for film. I am looking forward to seeing if your predictions come true.
Nice post Gabe! I ended up watching a little bit of the Oscar’s and I thought it was really entertaining. I had no idea that these were some of the nominees before I even watched it so your post gave really great insight! You did super through analysis of it so I was well prepped to watch it.