The biggest night in Hollywood is approaching, as Jimmy Kimmel hosts the 90th Academy Awards at 7 p.m. Sunday on ABC. When the nominees for the Academy Awards were announced more than a month ago, they nearly broke the internet for multiple reasons.
Jordan Peele, of “Key and Peele” fame, released his full-length feature film “Get Out” to critical acclaim last year before the Oscar season and many fans of his film were disappointed that it wasn’t considered for an Oscar last year. This year, “Get Out” is up for four Oscars.
Many movie fans were also excited to see “Logan” nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, marking the first time a comic book movie has been nominated for such an award. Movie fans also caused an uproar when “The Boss Baby,” a film that many thought was mediocre at best, was named as one of the nominees for Best Animated Feature. With so much buzz around this year’s Oscars, the show is bound to be an exciting one.
Best Animated Feature
On the topic of Best Animated Feature, “The Boss Baby” faces some stiff competition. “The Breadwinner” currently sits at a 94 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. “Loving Vincent,” the animated biopic about Vincent van Gogh, set a record of being the first fully painted film. “Ferdinand” and “Coco” were both family-friendly fan favorites this year. However, since “The Greatest Showman” is probably going home with Best Original Song Award, the new Pixar film will have to settle for Best Animated Feature.
Prediction: Coco
Best Original Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay is one of the four awards that “Get Out” was nominated for this year. “The Big Sick” also makes an appearance here as a film that was loved by both fans and critics alike. Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” was a brilliantly original film, and “Lady Bird” has been getting a lot of critical love. Martin McDonagh’s incredible writing in “Three Billboards” cannot be overlooked, though, and many people feel that this is his year in this category.
Prediction: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Adapted Screenplay
James Franco ran away with hearts this year with his performance in “The Disaster Artist”, and it is no surprise that this film is one of the nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay. “Mudbound” flew under too many people’s radars, especially in comparison to films like “Logan” and “Call Me by Your Name.” Following the critical success of “The Social Network,” Aaron Sorkin’s second adaptation, “Molly’s Game,” was good enough to score him his second Oscar nomination, but it wasn’t quite good enough to win. Apologies to any “X-Men” fans as well, because not even Wolverine could win this one.
Prediction: Call Me by Your Name
Best Actress
“The Shape of Water,” “Three Billboards,” and “Lady Bird” provided solid candidates for the Best Actress award this year with Sally Hawkins, Frances McDormand, and Saoirse Ronan, respectively. The incredible Meryl Streep also received a nomination for her performance in “The Post,” and Margot Robbie solidified her status as a force to be reckoned with this year, as she can now add an Academy Award nomination to her already impressive résumé. However, it’s hard to imagine anyone besides McDormand walking away with the award this year.
Prediction: Frances McDormand
Best Actor
On any other year, the award for Best Actor would be a tough prediction. Daniel-Day Lewis and Timothee Chalamet both turned in stellar performances this year, and the face of Daniel Kaluuya from the “Get Out” poster continues to haunt dreams. Denzel Washington did an excellent job, as always, but this year had a clear winner. Gary Oldman’s performance in “Darkest Hour” surpassed everyone else’s performance. Oldman has never won an Oscar, and many folks from the industry are saying that this will be his last year. It’s very clear who the winner will be here.
Prediction: Gary Oldman
Best Picture
By far the toughest race to call this year is the award for Best Picture. “Call Me by Your Name,” “Dunkirk,” and “Get Out” are all strong candidates. Even outsiders like “The Post” and “The Phantom Thread” don’t seem too unreasonable. However, the front-runners for this award are “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri,” and “The Shape of Water.” These two have been splitting awards throughout the awards season, and this race is almost too close to call. While both films are worthy candidates, it looks like del Toro will be adding another Oscar win to his list of awards and accomplishments.
Prediction: The Shape of Water
