DAVID DUNN

It’s not usual that I’m looking forward to the Academy Awards. From one stupid slip-up after another, the Academy has consistently demonstrated that it’s more interested in patting its own back rather than rewarding the most legitimately deserving winner every year. We all remember where we were when Chadwick Boseman lost Best Actor for his last great performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in 2021, or when Denis Villeneuve wasn’t nominated for Best Director with Dune in 2022, or when Jamie Lee Curtis won Best Supporting Actress over all of her fellow nominees just last year. Let’s face it — we’ve all been conditioned to be let down by the Academy time and time again. That’s probably why I’ve been less disappointed by them in recent years — because my expectations for them have been so low. 

And yet, I’m uncharacteristically… hopeful for this year’s Academy Awards. Every year, I pen down one or two movies that I think will win an Oscar even though there is clearly a more deserving nominee in their category. I’m happy to say that this year, it doesn’t seem to be that way. Indeed, the most frustrating thing about this year seems to be who isn’t nominated rather than who is. Despite this, I’m very much looking forward to seeing how this year’s ceremony pans out. Many of the nominees are much overdue for an Oscar, so the fact that they may finally become Oscar winners excites me to no end. 

Don’t get me wrong: the Academy Awards still scored some big misses for this year’s ceremony, and I do expect a few upset wins regardless. Let’s break down the Academy Award nominees for 2023 and see who is well on their way to becoming an Oscar winner: 

Best Picture: Ah, Best Picture. We meet again. Time and time again, my success with predicting you has been very inconsistent. Sure, I correctly predicted that 12 Years A Slave, Birdman, Nomadland, and Everything Everywhere All At Once would all win Best Picture, but I’ve gotten more Best Picture winners wrong in the past decade than I care to admit. Spotlight, Moonlight, The Shape Of Water, Green Book, Parasite, and CODA were all Best Picture winners that I didn’t see coming, because how on Earth would I? With a selection that erratic, how could you possibly be expected to develop a criteria from a winning pool that’s so blasted inconsistent? 

Still, I’ve got a good feeling about Oppenheimer winning Best Picture this year. Not only has it won the Golden Globe, the BAFTA, and the PGA Awards — it’s also one of last year’s most successful films and one of the highest-grossing biopics of all time at $960 million. With a hit that critically and commercially successful, it’s hard to deny its impact on both film and pop culture. My money’s on Oppy.

Best Director: Christopher Nolan won the Director’s Guild Award, which means he’s pretty much a lock to win the Best Directing Oscar for Oppenheimer. About damn time. Despite being one of the most cutting-edge filmmakers of our time, Christopher Nolan has been relentlessly snubbed by the Academy ever since Memento in 2000. From The Dark Knight to Inception to Interstellar, Christopher Nolan has been consistently overlooked in the Best Director category over and over again. He didn’t even get his first nomination until Dunkirk in 2017, which is arguably his worst film. He hasn’t deserved any of the snubbing he’s received the past two decades, so the fact that he may finally win an Oscar is the most exciting thing about this year’s ceremony.  

And he couldn’t have gotten it for a better film either. Not only is Oppenheimer one of his very best films, but it is also one of his most intelligent, most thoughtful, most weighty, most consequential, and most haunting films all at the same time. I’ve seen the film four times now, and the ending never fails to send chills down my spine. The fact that I know what to expect and I still react the same way every time is the signs of a brilliant director. I can’t wait to see him accept his Oscar. It’s been much overdue. 

Of course, we can’t talk about Best Director without talking about the most obvious snub: Greta Gerwig was absolutely robbed for a nomination despite how creative, compelling, clever, and downright hilarious Barbie was. Need I remind you that I hate Barbies with a passion, yet Greta delivered something so fresh and original with that film that you can’t help but fall in love with it. It is beyond stupid that she was overlooked for Best Director this year when Jonathan Glazer is already nominated for Best International Film for The Zone Of Interest. How many of you even seen the movie? I’ll bet you that 10 of my readers have never even heard of it. 

It goes without saying that the Academy typically rewards filmmakers long beyond when they were supposed to. Christopher Nolan is this year’s much-overdue Best Director winner. Hopefully within a few years, so will Greta Gerwig. 

Best Actor: This year’s Best Actor race is truly intense because we have two really strong nominees who both deserve to win. On one hand, Paul Giamatti gave a very raw and real performance in The Holdovers as a grumpy history teacher learning to connect with his fellow students. I am not exaggerating when I say that Paul Giamatti gave one of the finest performances of his career for The Holdovers — maybe the finest ever. It’s just so authentic and vivid and grounded that it’s hard to imagine that Mr. Hunham wasn’t a real person. Paul Giamatti just brought so much life to that role, and I can’t imagine another actor playing that part as masterfully as Paul Giamatti did. 

But on the other hand, Cillian Murphy gave just as raw and authentic of a performance as the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. And their performances are both so distinct and specific that it’s hard to say which one is objectively better. I’d hate to be one of the voters in this category because if it were up to me, my tiebreaker would come down to a coin toss. It’s that close. 

Granted, Cillian does have the traction of awards season on his side. Sure, Paul has already racked up the Golden Globe and the Critic’s Choice Award, but Cillian has also won a Golden Globe, a Satellite Award, a BAFTA, and a SAG award. Usually that many rapid wins in succession indicate a fast track to winning the Oscar. I have to give this one to Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer, but if Paul Giamatti does pull off a surprise upset, it will have been well-deserved. 

Best Actress: It all boils down to a battle between the “stones.” Emma Stone won the BAFTA, while Lily Gladstone won the Screen Actor. Both gave incredibly gifted performances in their respective movies. And unfortunately, both the BAFTAs and the SAG Awards are relatively consistent when picking the Best Actress winner. So, who’s going to take home the Oscar? 

Well in recent years, the Oscars have seemed to lean a little more in favor of the SAG Award winners moreover the BAFTAs. I know 2020 backfired with Frances McDormand winning Best Actress for Nomadland, but since that was such a strange year in movies anyway, it’s hard to see whether that win was truly based on merit or if it was just of consequence of such a garbage year in movies. Lily Gladstone wasn’t even nominated at the BAFTAs, so there’s no telling how that category would have gone if she was involved. 

Because of all of this, I have to go with Lily Gladstone for her deadpan performance in Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon. If she does win, it will have been very well-earned, because her performance was so great that she even outshined her co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. It’s true that Emma Stone is an equally talented actress and gave it her all in Yorgos Lanthimos’ bizarre twist on Frankenstein in Poor Things, but the difficult thing about this category is that both of their performances are so, so different. At the end of the day, it may just come down to personal preference, which is a difficult thing to predict when it comes to Academy voters. This truly could go either way on Oscar night. 

And while I do believe Lily Gladstone deserves to win Best Actress, I want to give a special mention to Sandra Huller for her incredibly nuanced performance as a writer stuck at the center of her husband’s death in Anatomy Of A Fall. Her character teeters between the edges of seeming innocent and guilty at various points of the film, and she does a masterful job blurring the lines and keeping the audience on their toes as to her character’s true motivations. I know the competition is between Stone and Gladstone, but truly, it should be a three-way tie between the three of them. Her performance was truly compelling, and she hasn’t gotten the credit she’s deserved all awards season. 

We should also not forget how ridiculous it is that Margot Robbie is not nominated for Barbie. Did her co-stars Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera deserve their supporting actor nominations? Absolutely, but not at Margot’s expense and not in her absence. The fact that everyone unanimously decried Margot’s snubbing speaks to how stupid of a decision the Academy made in this year’s Best Actress race. They’ll be answering for that snub for years to come. 

Speaking of supporting actors…

Best Supporting Actor: It’s no contest — Robert Downey Jr. deserves to win for playing the sniveling, conniving little politician Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. This is a man who has played several larger-than-life characters over the past several years, including Charlie Chaplin, Paul Avery, Kirk Lazarus, Sherlock Holmes, and oh yeah, IRON FREAKING MAN. Yet for all of the parts he’s played, none have felt quite as sinister or obsessive as his role as Lewis Strauss. I know he’s the biggest name amongst this year’s nominees, but I genuinely believe he deserves to win not because of his notoriety, but because of all of the raw talent he proudly displayed in Oppenheimer. 

Special shoutout goes out to Chukwudi Iwuji, who turned out a downright evil and maniacal performance as the High Evolutionary in James Gunn’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3. His performance was every bit as hateful as Robert Downey Jr.’s was, and by all accounts, he deserved to be nominated right alongside him. Once again, the Academy proves that having one of the best villainous performances of the year doesn’t matter to them. As long as that performance is in a Marvel movie, it will not get nominated. Pathetic. 

Best Supporting Actress: I’m actually relatively split in this category because I love so many of this year’s nominees. America Ferrera had the year’s best monologue in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, while Emily Blunt’s presence was arguably just as powerful as her on-screen husband’s in Oppenheimer. 

But when I stack all of these performances up against one another, one clearly outshines the rest — Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s turn as a grieving mother in The Holdovers was easily the most heart-wrenching and devastating performance out of the entire year. All of this year’s supporting actress nominees gave brilliant performances, but Da’Vine’s felt the most raw, the most real, and the most human of them all. She was a clear standout in the movie, and I hope she prevails on Oscar night despite the tough competition she’s facing. 

Best Animated Feature: In previous years, it’s been very clear who the Oscar frontrunner is in the Best Animated Feature category, whether you’re talking about Soul in 2020, Encanto in 2021, or Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio just last year. 2024 isn’t as clear cut, with Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, The Boy And The Heron, Nimona, Robot Dreams, and Elemental all scoring nominations. I don’t remember the last time that the animated feature race was this close, and that really speaks to what an outstanding year in animation we had. It was such a great year that we couldn’t even nominate all of the animated films that deserved to be, including Suzume, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Regardless of however it plays out on Oscar night, let’s be grateful that we have such a stacked and competitive category this year, because moments like these don’t come around very often. 

As far as this year’s animated feature race goes, it’s a toss-up between Across The Spider-Verse and The Boy And The Heron, both equally ingenious and captivating films in their own way. I personally prefer Spider-Verse not just for its stunning animation and breathtaking visual feats, but also because its story is just as complex and builds upon the Spider-Man mythos in ways I never would have imagined. But The Boy And The Heron equally deserves praise for being as mature and thought-provoking as it is. Sure, it may not be the most exciting or the most sensible film out of the nominees, but what it lacks in coherency it more than makes up for with its philosophical questions and its gorgeous animation that paints this beautiful and twisted world to life. The Oscar really can go to either film on Oscar night, but I’m betting on The Boy And The Heron just because it’s the most unique out of all of the nominees. And in this race, uniqueness can make all of the difference. 

While on the subject, I want to give a special shoutout to Nimona for being just as impressive a visual and narrative feat as those movies are, yet consistently getting shoved to the side because of… what exactly? It’s LGBT-adjacent themes? By every account, Nimona deserves to be taken as seriously, if not more so, than Spider-Verse and The Boy And The Heron, but its biggest win this awards season was for Best Writing at the Annie Awards. It deserves to get recognized for so much more than merely its writing, and the fact that it may go home with nothing will go down as one of the biggest snubs in Oscar history. Regardless of whoever wins, you are loved very deeply Nimona. Never forget you are a hero in everybody’s eyes. 

Best Documentary Feature: Besides already winning the BAFTA and the DGA Award, no film this year has been more horrifying or haunting than 20 Days In Mariupol. I didn’t see the film in time last year, but if I had, I would have named it my second-favorite film of 2023. It’s that riveting and powerful. 

I’ll have more to say on 20 Days In Mariupol later this week, but for now, all I have to say is that you should watch this movie as soon as you can. It’s easily one of the best films I’ve seen last year and demonstrates that the Academy should consider more documentaries for Best Picture. 

Best International Feature: I say the same thing every year — if an International film is nominated for Best Picture, it’s a lock for the Best International Feature Oscar. But in this case, this year’s eventual Oscar-winner is a double-whammy. Not only is The Zone Of Interest nominated for Best Picture, but Jonathan Glazer is also nominated for Best Director. The last time that happened was in 2021 when Ryusuke Hamaguchi was nominated for Drive My Car, and sure enough, he won the International Feature Oscar as expected. The same thing will happen this year with The Zone Of Interest. Do not bet against it. 

An honorable mention goes out to Takashi Yamazaki’s terrifying monster epic Godzilla Minus One, which takes the atomic behemoth back to his roots as a horrifying metaphor for war and nuclear destruction. Sure it’s a big-budget blockbuster that the Academy doesn’t typically go for, but it could and should have made an exception for Godzilla Minus One. Honestly, I would have even pushed for it being nominated for Best Picture. But the Academy didn’t even have the good sense to nominate The Iron Claw for anything this year, so good luck trying to appeal to the Academy’s lack of common sense. 

Best Original Screenplay: In a bizarre turn of events this Oscar season, the Writer’s Guild of America set its awards date after the Academy Awards. The Oscars take place on March 10, while the WGA Awards are taking place a full month afterward on April 14. I have no idea why they would do this. Sure, the WGAs play it close to the Academy’s airdate, but that’s usually within a span of a couple of weeks — not an entire month after the Oscars take place. Because of this, we’ll have to make our best writing predictions without the Writer’s Guild this year. Disappointing, but it isn’t the first time I’ve made my predictions without the WGA. Maybe this time it’ll finally be an even playing field. 

This year’s race boils down to two nominees: David Hemingson’s The Holdovers and Justin Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall. I love them both for very different reasons, The Holdovers for its quirky sense of humor and emotional honesty and Anatomy Of A Fall for its tense and spellbinding narrative that keeps you on your toes all the way through. The worst thing about this category is that regardless of whoever wins, someone else will have undeservedly lost. That makes me irrevocably sad about this year’s Best Original Screenplay nominees. 

If we’re going with the quote-unquote “best” original screenplay, it’s The Holdovers hands-down. Not only does it do an incredible job drawing you in and getting you sucked into the lives of these people staying inside this depressing little boarding school, but it does an incredible job humanizing these characters and getting you to root for them despite their circumstances. It’s a masterful dramatic balancing act, and David Hemingson’s entire writing prowess is proudly on display. 

But the one thing to understand about the Academy is that they don’t always go for the “Best” in any category (as evidenced from Jamie Lee Curtis’ Best Supporting Actress win for Everything Everywhere All At Once last year). Instead, they often go for the flashiest nominee — the one that will often grab the most headlines and garner the most attention. Judging by that criteria, Anatomy Of A Fall is mesmerizing in its investigative aspect, keeping you guessing throughout until the film finishes on its jaw-dropping conclusion. The Holdovers is obviously the better screenplay, but Anatomy Of A Fall is undoubtedly the smarter one. Intelligence might top emotion in this Oscar race, so I’m going to go with Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall. 

Best Adapted Screenplay: My first thought gravitated toward Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer, but then I thought about the film’s technical elements — how the score, cinematography, and masterful editing brought this intelligent and introspective script all together. Is it some of Christopher Nolan’s finest writing to date? Absolutely, but I think it’s even more impressive from a directorial standpoint. I don’t believe another filmmaker could direct Christopher Nolan’s scripts and make it work as brilliantly as he does. That’s one of his greatest strengths as a filmmaker — he stands on his own as an independent storyteller. 

That being said, I do think any director could pick up Cord Jefferson’s screenplay for American Fiction and do just as good of a job. I don’t mean that as a slight toward his directing — I mean that his writing is so strong that it makes it hard for another filmmaker to come in and mess it up. It really could go either way, but considering how much potential Oppenheimer has to winning in other categories, adapted screenplay is really American Fiction’s best chance to win an Oscar, so that’s the one I’m going with. 

Best Cinematography: Unbelievably enough, Hoyte van Hoytema has never won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, so he’s more than deserving in winning it for Oppenheimer now. Not only has he also been historically overlooked by the Academy like Christopher Nolan (his only other nomination was with 2017’s Dunkirk), but he’s also done incredible work on other movies that have often gone unrecognized. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Her. Interstellar. Spectre. Tenet. Nope. Time and time again, he’s demonstrated that he can pull off some of the most creative shots ever put to film, and that’s just as true with Oppenheimer as it is with his other works. My jaw dropped when I learned that the quantum physics sequences depicting atoms and molecules were practically shot instead of generated through CGI, and the rest of the film’s cinematography is just as masterful as those sequences. Whether it was the Trinity Test or that horrifying sequence at the Los Alamos gymnasium, every single scene is dripping with Oppenheimer’s guilt and the unbearable atomic weight he bears on his shoulders. No film was simultaneously as haunting or as striking this year as Oppenheimer. If Hoyte van Hoytema doesn’t win it despite his cinematic mastery, it will be a grave, grave injustice. 

Best Film Editing: I know it seems like I’m just fanboying at this point, but there’s truly something to be said about an editor who can make a film about a bunch of guys talking in a room compelling, riveting, and interesting all at once. That’s Jennifer Lane’s great accomplishment with Oppenheimer, and it’s also why she deserves to win. Granted, there are several reasons why the movie is amazing, from the performances to the writing to the cinematography to the music to Christopher Nolan’s outstanding direction. But Jennifer Lane masterfully brought it all together and made the film clear and concise despite how much was going on. Oppenheimer’s editing is the very best of the year, point blank, period. 

Then again, Laurent Senechal’s editing for Anatomy Of A Fall was similarly masterful and expertly kept audiences in the dark whether Sandra was truly guilty or innocent. I don’t expect there to be an upset win in this category, but if there is, it does deserve to go to Anatomy Of A Fall. I’m good either way just as long as Bohemian Rhapsody doesn’t win.

Best Production Design: On first glance, my temptation was to put down Barbie for Best Production Design. But then I asked myself “What made Barbie’s production design so outstanding outside of Barbieland?” I’ll give you that it’s genuinely impressive and does look like any little girl’s Barbieland playset in the real world. But it’s only three locations: Barbie’s home, Ken’s beach, and Weird Barbie’s home, so it was simple for the set designers to knock it out of the park since their sets were so well contained. 

Compare that to the expansive, dreamy, and surreal production design of Poor Things. Not only is it much bigger and grander than Barbieland is, but it’s all filled with very evocative imagery that’s as peculiar as it is elusive. It is a cursed fantasy if I’ve ever seen one, and I can’t imagine Poor Things losing to Barbie. Oh well. At least pink still looks good on you, girl. 

Best Costume Design: If there’s any Oscar Barbie deserves to win, it’s costume design. Not only does every piece of clothing look like an outfit you could find in Barbie’s closet, but the catalog is so massive that I’m shocked Mattel didn’t make it themselves. Sure Poor Things also has some fine costume work as well, but most scenes have you drawn toward the intense and intoxicating scenery, not whatever Emma Stone is wearing. Barbie’s wardrobe is much more dazzling and deserves the Oscar more. It’s just. So. FABULOUS! 

Best Makeup & Hairstyling: Yeah, Bradley Cooper has a big nose in Maestro. Big deal (literally!). I’m not as interested in resurrecting prominent composers as much as I am in bringing your most lividly messed-up vision to life on screen. We haven’t had a good makeup nominee like that for a while, and the last creature makeup to win the Oscar was 2016’s… Suicide Squad. Bleh. 

We desperately need a palette-cleanser. That’s why I think Poor Things is going to win it for those horribly grotesque Frankenstein’s monster-esque stitches Willem Dafoe wore throughout filming. Oppenheimer getting nominated in this category is downright laughable. 

Best Musical Score: Before we go into my prediction, shame on the Academy for nominating John Williams for Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny over Daniel Pemberton’s phenomenal and captivating score for Across The Spider-Verse. Mind you, I’m not dissing John Williams himself: the guy is obviously a massive music legend, and if we’re looking back, he’s mostly deserved the more than 54 nominations he’s received throughout his illustrious 70-year career. 

But of all of his film compositions, Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny is perhaps the most… phoned in. I’m not saying it’s bad. It has the same melodies, themes, and marches from all of the Indiana Jones movies. And if we’re just looking at nostalgia alone, it was refreshing and nice to hear his iconic score in the theater once again. 

The problem is it’s a score that we’ve heard before. In fact, it’s the same score that he was previously nominated for in the original Indiana Jones trilogy. There’s zero interpolation to it, there’s nothing original or novel about it, I’m not even sure he composed new music for Dial Of Destiny. IT’S THE SAME MUSIC. Good music sure, but the same nevertheless. 

Compare ALL OF THAT to Daniel Pemberton, who to date has only been nominated once for Trial Of The Chicago 7. His themes in Across The Spider-Verse were energetic, epic, awe-inspiring, fresh, original, dramatic, and exciting. I caught myself humming Miles, Gwen, and Miguel’s themes several times throughout the year, and I can confidently say that it was the second-most streamed film score I listened to all year. For it to not even get a nomination is beyond insulting. 

The worst part? This is the second time Daniel Pemberton was snubbed by the Academy, and the second time it was for the same bloody franchise. I don’t remember most of the 2017 Best Original Score nominees, but you know what I do remember? Daniel Pemberton’s music for Into The Spider-Verse. At this point, I’m just preparing myself for Pemberton to get snubbed again whenever Beyond The Spider-Verse comes out. The fact that I have to even prepare myself for that is just plain pathetic. 

Granted, even if Daniel Pemberton did get nominated, he’d still probably lose to the same guy who won the 2017 Best Original Score Oscar anyway: Ludwig Gorranson. I mentioned that Across The Spider-Verse was my second most-streamed film soundtrack of the year. Oppenheimer was my first. The mesmerizing themes, incredible strings, and that big, hulking, epic bass that feels like a man spiraling toward nuclear destruction was simultaneously the most captivating and most terrifying thing I’ve listened to all year. There were a lot of reasons why Oppenheimer worked so well, but Ludwig Gorranson’s score was one of the biggest ones. When the cast, the dialogue, and the unraveling plot wasn’t rapturing our attention, it was Ludwig Gorranson’s score peering into the mind of the Father of the Atomic Bomb and what made him tick. 

No other film score this year was as impactful, as powerful, and as hypnotizing as Ludwig Gorranson’s music for Oppenheimer. If he doesn’t win, it’ll be an even bigger snub than Daniel Pemberton’s. 

Best Original Song: First of all, just what on God’s green earth is “The Fire Inside” doing here? There were several great songs from the year that didn’t get nominated, from “Am I Dreaming?” in Across The Spider-Verse to Lauv’s “Steal The Show” in Elemental. I know a lot of people who really enjoyed Flamin’ Hot, but I have NEVER heard ANYONE say ANYTHING positive about “The Fire Inside.” It’s just such a nothing track that created zero traction in an otherwise strong year for film music. I could think of at least 10 other songs that would be more worthy of a nomination than “The Fire Inside,” so the fact that it got nominated over all the others is beyond irritating. 

That being said, the clear frontrunner is Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?”, and it deserves to be. Not only does it have some of Billie Eilish’s most cutting, devastating lyrics to date, but the simple and melancholic piano melody is so soft and serene that it makes you want to cry. I’m not kidding when I say that I got emotional the first time I listened to it, and I still get emotional every time I listen to it. It’s just that powerful. 

I do like that “Wahzhazhe” is nominated for Killers Of The Flower Moon, and seeing Jon Batiste nominated for American Symphony’s “It Never Went Away” was a nice surprise. And sure, “I’m Just Ken” is nominated too, but does anyone really think it’s better than “What Was I Made For?” The only people who probably think so are those misogynistic incels who truly believe Ryan Gosling gave a better performance than Margot Robbie did, and their opinions aren’t worth squat anyway. 

The only thing that might get in the way for Billie Eilish’s win is the fact that she previously won Best Original Song for No Time To Die two years ago. Can the Academy Awards REALLY award ANOTHER Best Original Song Oscar so soon after a previous win? Yes it can, and it should. 

Best Sound: Fun fact: when I sat down to write my predictions this year, the very first category I predicted was Best Sound. How could I not? Christopher Nolan’s films have a history of performing very well in the sound category, whether you’re talking about The Dark Knight, Inception, or Dunkirk, but few of his films leave an audible impact as powerful as Oppenheimer did. Even before the Trinity Test sequence, you felt the impact of the bomb tests shake the very theater like you were hiding in a bunker until detonation. And when the atomic bomb itself blew up, it felt like an earthquake shaking the ground beneath you. It was the scariest and most terrified I ever felt in a movie theater, and it was all thanks to the masterful sound design at work here. 

At the same time, I don’t want to take away credit from the other worthy sound nominees. The Creator had some impressive sound design with its futuristic dystopian setting, and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning had some great tricks at work with the Entity mimicking the voices of Ethan’s comrades. But when I think of the best sound of the year, Oppenheimer was the atomic bomb of sound design. It really is the only pick to make here. 

Best Visual Effects: I’m very conflicted in this category between the nominee that deserves to win and the nominee that should win. On one hand, Godzilla Minus One has some of the most terrifying monster destruction ever caught on film that feels equally as monumental as it does massive. Godzilla has never felt larger or more ominous than ever before. When his attack on Japan began, it felt like an atomic bomb went off and shook the very Earth. Godzilla Minus One does have some of the most gargantuan visual effects out of the entire year, and if it does win, it deserves to… kind of. 

The problem is what the cost of those visual effects were. While the film was initially praised for pulling off such incredible visual effects at just a meager $15-million budget, we now know why it was able to do that — it’s because they were overworking and underpaying their visual effects artists. Japan’s working conditions for animators are notoriously awful, with artists working long hours for low wages. Apparently visual effects artist’s working conditions aren’t much better, with just 35 artists working on 610 VFX shots for Godzilla Minus One. Because of this, I feel very conflicted about Godzilla Minus One winning the Oscar, because at that point, what are you really rewarding: the visual effects or the horrific working conditions? 

Personally I would rather the VFX Oscar go to either Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 or The Creator, two films that were just as visually stunning while exercising more humane working conditions. I don’t know which film is going to win on Oscar night, but right now the momentum is behind Godzilla Minus One. If they do win, I hope the visual effects artists will use the moment to speak against their working conditions and help push toward positive change in Japan. That will mean more than a statuette anyway. 

Also, Oppenheimer and Spider-Verse were both robbed in this category and deserved to be nominated for their outstanding visual prowess. I don’t care if their effects were practical or animated: both movies displayed some of the most spectacular visual feats out of the entire year, and the fact neither got nominated shows that the Academy doesn’t value nor respect visual effects that exist outside of a computer screen. Shame on them. 

And finally, we come to this year’s short categories, none of which I’ve seen but still have to predict every year regardless. Funny thing is I normally struggle in this category due to how few of the nominees I’ve seen, but this year, my predictions are easy. Not because I’ve seen the nominees, no, but because I know the people who made them. Predicting the category is a pain in the rear every year, so if sheer bias is all I have to go on, and I’m going for it baby. 

Besides guessing The ABC’s Of Booking Banning winning Best Documentary Short, I’m also going to predict that The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar and Ninety-Five Senses will win live-action and animated short respectively. Why these nominees? Well for one thing, Wes Anderson has never won an Oscar despite being nominated seven times for the likes of The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, Grand Budapest Hotel, and Isle of Dogs. For another thing, this is Jared and Jerusha Hess’ first nomination, and I would love to say “From the Academy Award-winning directors of Nacho Libre and Napoleon Dynamite.” Gosh! 

That’s all for now, folks. I’ll see y’all on Oscar night. Nobody drop any atomic bombs on the Dolby Theatre in the meantime. 

– David Dunn