Fearless Oscar Predictions 2024

Update: 21 out of 23 called correctly!

Predictions in Bold, Winners in Italics.

BEST PICTURE
American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
Zone of Interest

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Annette Bening, Nyad
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Emma Stone, Poor Things

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Colman Domingo, Rustin
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
America Ferrera, Barbie
Jodie Foster, Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction)
Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)
Ryan Gosling (Barbie)
Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)

BEST DIRECTOR
Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall
Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things
Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Nimona
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
The Teachers’ Lounge,Germany
Io Capitano,Italy
Perfect Days,Japan
Society of the Snow,Spain
The Zone of Interest, United Kingdom

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers
Maestro
May December
Past Lives

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Fiction
Barbie
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
American Fiction
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot
“I’m Just Ken” from Barbie
“It Never Went Away” from American Symphony
“Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People),” Killers of the Flower Moon
“What Was I Made For?” from Barbie

BEST FILM EDITING
Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
El Conde
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Creator
Godzilla Minus One
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One
Napoleon

BEST SOUND
The Creator
Maestro
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Oppenheimer
The Zone of Interest

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Golda
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Society of the Snow

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
Bobi Wine: The People’s President
The Eternal Memory
Four Daughters
To Kill a Tiger
20 Days in Mariupol

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Letter to a Pig
Ninety-Five Senses
Our Uniform
Pachyderme
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
The After
Invincible
Knight of Fortune
Red, White and Blue
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The ABCs of Book Banning
The Barber of Little Rock
Island In Between
The Last Repair Shop
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó

2023 MLB Predictions

AL East: Yankees
AL Central: Guardians
AL West: Astros
Wild Card: Blue Jays, Mariners, Angels

NL East: Braves
NL Central: Cardinals
NL West: Padres
Wild Card: Mets, Dodgers, Phillies

AL Champ: Blue Jays
NL Champ: Phillies

World Series Winner: Phillies

Fearless Oscar Predictions 2023

Picks in Bold, actual Winners in Italics.

Results: 12/23 – urgh, one of my worst showings in years.

Best Picture

“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”

“Women Talking”

 

Best Director

Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Steven Spielberg, “The Fabelmans”

Todd Field, “Tár”

Ruben Ostlund, “Triangle of Sadness”

 

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, “Tár”

Ana de Armas, “Blonde”

Andrea Riseborough, “To Leslie”

Michelle Williams, “The Fabelmans”

Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

 

Best Actor

Austin Butler, “Elvis”

Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”

Paul Mescal, “Aftersun”

Bill Nighy, “Living”

 

Best Supporting Actress

Angela Bassett, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

Hong Chau, “The Whale”

Kerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Stephanie Hsu, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

 

Best Supporting Actor

Brendan Gleeson, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Brian Tyree Henry, “Causeway”

Judd Hirsch, “The Fabelmans”

Barry Keoghan, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

 

Original Screenplay

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Everything Everywhere All at Once”

“The Fabelmans”

“Tár”

“Triangle of Sadness”

 

Adapted Screenplay

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”

“Living”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

“Women Talking”

 

Cinematography

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”

“Elvis”

“Empire of Light”

“Tár”

 

Editing

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Elvis”

“Everything Everywhere All at Once”

“Tár”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

 

Production Design

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Avatar: The Way of Water”

“Babylon”

“Elvis”

“The Fabelmans”

 

International Feature

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Germany

“Argentina, 1985,” Argentina

“Close,” Belgium

“EO,” Poland

“The Quiet Girl,” Ireland

Animated Feature

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On”

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”

“The Sea Beast”

“Turning Red”

 

Documentary Feature

“All That Breathes”

“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”

“Fire of Love”

“A House Made of Splinters”

“Navalny”

 

Visual Effects

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Avatar: The Way of Water”

“The Batman”

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

 

Original Song

“Applause” (“Tell It Like a Woman”)

“Hold My Hand” (“Top Gun: Maverick”)

“Lift Me Up” (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)

“Naatu Naatu” (“RRR”)

“This Is a Life” (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

 

Original Score

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Babylon”

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Everything Everywhere All at Once”

“The Fabelmans”

 

Sound

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Avatar: The Way of Water”

“The Batman”

“Elvis”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

 

Makeup and Hairstyling

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“The Batman”

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

“Elvis”

“The Whale”

 

Costume Design

“Babylon”

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

“Elvis”

“Everything Everywhere All at Once”

“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”

 

Documentary Short

“The Elephant Whisperers”

“Haulout”

“How Do You Measure a Year?”

“The Martha Mitchell Effect”

“Stranger at the Gate”

 

Live-Action Short

An Irish Goodbye”

“Ivalu”

“Le Pupille”

“Night Ride”

“The Red Suitcase”

 

Animated Short

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”

“The Flying Sailor”

“Ice Merchants”

“My Year of Dicks”

“An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It”

 

Fearless Oscar Predictions 2022

Best Picture
“CODA,” Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, producers

Best Director
Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”)

Best Lead Actor
Will Smith (“King Richard”)

Best Lead Actress
Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”)

Best Supporting Actor
Troy Kotsur (“CODA”)

Best Supporting Actress
Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”)

Best Adapted Screenplay
“CODA,” screenplay by Siân Heder

Best Original Screenplay
“Don’t Look Up,” screenplay by Adam McKay; story by Adam McKay and David Sirota

Best Cinematography
“The Power of the Dog,” Ari Wegner

Best Animated Feature Film
“Encanto,” Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer

Best Animated Short Film
“Robin Robin,” Dan Ojari and Mikey Please

Best Costume Design
“Cruella,” Jenny Beavan

Best Original Score
“Dune,” Hans Zimmer

Best Sound
“Dune,” Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett

Best Original Song
“Dos Oruguitas” from “Encanto,” music and lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Best Documentary Feature
“Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein

Best Documentary Short Subject
“The Queen of Basketball,” Ben Proudfoot

Best Film Editing
“Dune,” Joe Walker

Best International Feature Film
“Drive My Car” (Japan)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh

Best Production Design
“Dune,” production design: Patrice Vermette; set decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos

Best Visual Effects
“Dune,” Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer

Best Live Action Short Film
“The Long Goodbye,” Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed

Final tally 18/23

Ultimate Mai Tai Talk on Tiki with Ray

Aloha friends! Am so very pleased to be the latest guest on the Tiki with Ray show on YouTube. Check it out.

The video started off with a gaffe but otherwise Ray and I had a great conversation about my history with Mai Tais, the original Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai website from 1998, why tikiphiles shouldn’t look down on Island Mai Tais, and more.

Ray is really a great interviewer and it was my pleasure and honor to talk Mai Tais with him. Nice of Ray to hold this one for Mai Tai Week too.

Note that this was filmed in early July and so does not account for my recent downgrade of the Smuggler’s Cove Mai Tai. I actually bumped into Jeff “Beachbum” Berry at Mai Tai Fest last week and he said it made his day when I told him that Latitude 29 was now my number one Mai Tai.

Oscar Predictions 2019

I’ll be happy if I get to 18 this year.

Winners shown below. I got 17. Shouldn’t have gone out of a limb in the Editing and Makeup categories.

Best Picture
“Green Book”

Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón, “Roma”

Best Actor
Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Best Actress
Glenn Close, “The Wife”

Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”

Best Supporting Actress
Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“BlacKkKlansman”

Best Original Screenplay
“Green Book”

Best Film Editing
“BlacKkKlansman”

Best Costume Design
“The Favourite”

Best Production Design
“The Favourite”

Best Original Score
“Black Panther”

Best Animated Feature
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”

Best Cinematography
“Roma”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Roma”

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“Mary Queen of Scots”

Best Original Song
“Shallow” from “A Star Is Born”

Best Sound Editing
“A Quiet Place”

Best Sound Mixing
“Bohemian Rhapsody”

Best Visual Effects
“First Man”

Best Documentary Feature
“Free Solo”

Best Animated Short
“Bao”

Best Live-Action Short
“Marguerite”

Best Documentary Short
“Period. End of Sentence”