{"id":18070,"date":"2022-03-24T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=18070"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:13:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:13:00","slug":"crooked-marquees-2022-oscar-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/crooked-marquees-2022-oscar-predictions\/","title":{"rendered":"Crooked Marquee’s 2022 Oscar Predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While many concerned moviegoers remain irate at the Academy\u2019s decision to pre-tape the presentation of eight categories an hour before the live broadcast, then sprinkle edited highlights of the winners\u2019 speeches throughout the main event, we eternal optimists at Crooked Marquee see gold in them hills \u2014 and the year\u2019s most exclusive party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than serve as their usual opportunities for viewers and attendees alike to visit the restroom and\/or refill their beverages, these technical and short film prizes are valued so much this year that the Academy is giving them their own ceremony<\/em>! We plebs certainly won\u2019t get more than what the producers choose to show us of The Grateful Eights, and most of the A-listers will be too busy with red carpet obligations to pop in and support their colleagues. Whatever the opposite of bait-and-switch is, it\u2019s this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we inch towards the most wonderful night of the year, here\u2019s a look at how things are likely to go down at the event you won\u2019t want to miss (but inevitably will).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Documentary (Short Subject):<\/strong>
Audible<\/em>
The Queen of Basketball<\/em>
Lead Me Home<\/em>
Three Songs for Benazir\u00a0<\/em>
When We Were Bullies<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homelessness: we\u2019re all on the verge of it! While that hyper-relevance could be enough to catapult Lead Me Home<\/em> to victory, there\u2019s also the not-exactly-pass\u00e9 matter of Afghan refugees (Three Songs for Benazir<\/em>);<\/em> Audible<\/em> carrying on CODA<\/em>\u2019s good work by representing the deaf community \u2014 in tandem with an inspirational sports story; and When We Were Bullies<\/em> proving accurate in its advertising with a long-gestating tale of schoolyard trauma. But with director Ben Proudfoot nominated in this category for a second year in a row, subject Lucy Harris\u2019 death in January adding a feel-good memorial element to an already enlightening profile, and March Madness in full bloom, The Queen of Basketball<\/em> seems like a slam dunk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Film Editing:<\/strong>
Don\u2019t Look Up<\/em>
Dune<\/em>
King Richard<\/em>
The Power of the Dog<\/em>
Tick, Tick \u2026 Boom!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cinephiles angry at the Academy for Dune<\/em> director Denis Villeneuve\u2019s directing snub \u2014 this pre-ceremony is for you! The spicy film is likely to win half of the Grateful Eights\u2019 awards, including here for Joe \u201cScissorhands\u201d Walker. Please pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, proclaiming that King Richard<\/em> and Tick, Tick \u2026 Boom!<\/em> won the ACE Eddie Awards. There\u2019s some complicated mathematical\/historical formula dreamed up by can\u2019t-miss kid Nate Silver that explains why Dune <\/em>is a sure thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makeup and Hairstyling:<\/strong>
Coming 2 America<\/em>
Cruella<\/em>
Dune<\/em>
The Eyes of Tammy Faye<\/em>
House of Gucci<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Grateful Eights are so select that you can bet on party girl Jessica Chastain ditching the fun of posing for photos and answering reporters\u2019 insightful questions to cheer on the team of Stephanie Ingram, Linda Dowds, and Justin Raleigh for doing the real heavy lifting on The Eyes of Tammy Faye<\/em>. (And possibly to atone for that quote<\/a> about the daily makeup regimen doing \u201cpermanent damage\u201d to her skin.) Apologies to the House of Gucci <\/em>team for making Jared Leto look like Italian Jeffrey Tambor and going home with merely a participation trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music (Original Score):<\/strong>
Don\u2019t Look Up<\/em>, Nicholas Britell
Dune<\/em>, Hans Zimmer
Encanto<\/em>, Germaine Franco\u00a0
Parallel Mothers<\/em>, Alberto Iglesias\u00a0
The Power of the Dog<\/em>, Johnny Greenwood\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People hate Don\u2019t Look Up<\/em>, and yet Britell\u2019s Succession <\/em>theme is their favorite thing ever, so those sentiments cancel each other out \u2014 a situation Greenwood fortunately doesn\u2019t have to contend with, since his work on Spencer <\/em>didn\u2019t make the cut. Elsewhere, we don\u2019t talk about how Franco\u2019s contributions play second fiddle to Lin-Manuel Miranda\u2019s original songs or how Iglesias\u2019 score is by far the best of the bunch, but this is Zimmer\u2019s statuette all the way. Cultural appropriation and forehead-slapping obviousness aside, the man literally went to Utah and listened to how the desert sounds<\/em>. Utah!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Production Design:<\/strong>
Dune<\/em>
Nightmare Alley<\/em>
The Power of the Dog<\/em>
The Tragedy of Macbeth<\/em>
West Side Story<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are all extraordinarily, exclamatory, extremely worthy finalists, but only one features a vat of tarry goo into which Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd\u2019s Colonel Kurtz<\/s> Baron Harkonnen submerges himself to heal. That\u2019s not to discount the building of a complete circus (Nightmare Alley<\/em>), a working farm (The Power of the Dog<\/em>), minimalist Shakespearean surroundings (The Tragedy of Macbeth<\/em>), or a thoroughly convincing post-WWII New York City (West Side Story<\/em>), but the tactile sci-fi craftsmanship of Dune <\/em>production designer Patrice Vermette and set decorator Zsuzsanna Sipos is likely to influence the look of such films for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Short Film (Animated):<\/strong>
Affairs of the Art<\/em>
Bestia<\/em>
Boxballet<\/em>
Robin Robin<\/em>
The Windshield Wiper<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s nominees have it all: Middle-aged women running naked around their houses for the sake of their craft (Affairs of the Art<\/em>); beastiality with a dash of fact-based contract killings (Bestia<\/em>); romance between star-crossed Russian athletes and #MeToo commentary from a country currently at war with the Ukraine (Boxballet<\/em>); a bird who thinks she\u2019s a mouse (Robin Robin<\/em>); and pretentious musings on love and missed connections (Windshield Wiper<\/em>). While the lack of a Disney and\/or Pixar entry suggests a fairly wide-open competition, it\u2019s not like the Academy is going to give this award to a film with sex\/nudity, and the optics of anything Russian receiving more than a pat on the head right now is downright laughable, so congratulations to Aardman on Robin Robin<\/em>, its fifth overall Oscar and the lone nominee that parents can watch with their children without having Child Services called on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Short Film (Live Action):<\/strong>
The Dress<\/em>
The Long Goodbye<\/em>
On My Mind<\/em>
Please Hold<\/em>
Ala Kachuu \u2014 Take and Run<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you given up on hope in your fellow man but still hold on to a sliver of optimism that the human race will eventually come around? These five finalists are here to shut that door for good. One of the category\u2019s bleakest groups in the past decade offers a consistent \u201cThings could always be worse\u201d perspective across tales of abduction and forced marriage (Ala Kachuu – Take and Run<\/em>); a man desperate to sing karaoke for A Very Important Reason (On My Mind<\/em>); unlawful imprisonment in a dystopian near-future (Please Hold<\/em>); a chain-smoking little person\u2019s long-delayed chance at love (The Dress<\/em>); and Riz Ahmed in the obligatory “nominee with a movie star\u201d (The Long Goodbye<\/em>). The last time a film with someone your grandparents might recognize won was the Sally Hawkins vehicle The Phone Call<\/em> in 2014, and since Ahmed didn\u2019t win last year for Sound of Metal<\/em>, consider this a consolation prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound:<\/strong>
Belfast<\/em>
Dune<\/em>
No Time to Die<\/em>
The Power of the Dog<\/em>
West Side Story<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you hear what I hear? It\u2019s House Atreides with another win, this time for a clarity of dialogue that makes Frank Herbert\u2019s intergalactic mumbo jumbo far more intelligible than it was in David Lynch\u2019s Dune<\/em>. The youths aren\u2019t out here talking about Bronco Henry or The Troubles. It\u2019s all about the Kwisatz Haderach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for those other categories trying in vain to shine like The Grateful Eights, despite the late CODA<\/em> surge, The Power of the Dog<\/em> is poised to win the top categories with Jane Campion taking Picture, Director, and Adapted Screenplay. Acting prizes will go to Will Smith, Chastain, Ariana DeBose, and Troy Kotsur, while Drive My Car<\/em> cruises to International Feature; Dune<\/em> further cleans up on the technical side with Cinematography and Visual Effects; Belfast<\/em> nets Original Screenplay; Encanto<\/em> racks up Animated Feature and Original Song; Summer of Soul (\u2026Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)<\/em> secures Documentary Feature; and Cruella<\/em> sews up Costume Design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tune in on Hollywood\u2019s starriest starry night and you too will know what it feels like to be a winner! \"\"\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday is Hollywood’s big night, and we’re ready to make our predictions for the categories you REALLY care about. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":547,"featured_media":18072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1381],"tags":[162,1546],"class_list":["post-18070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","tag-movies","tag-oscars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/547"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18070"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22018,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18070\/revisions\/22018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}