It’s finally time! Tomorrow morning (Monday, January 13th, 2020) at 8:18am EST (yes, this apparently the actual scheduled time) the nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards will be announced. I’ve changed my mind about basically every single one of these at one point or another as the season as progressed, but I think this will end up being pretty accurate. That said, I thought my Golden Globes predictions were pretty accurate too, and I ended up going 7 for 14 so… take this with a grain of salt. There’s a few wishful-thinking picks on here, like Greta Gerwig in director and Knives Out in original screenplay, but who knows, maybe the Academy will surprise us all! Oh, and I want it on record that Bombshell was my 10th pick for best picture, but I’m predicting there will only be 9 nominees, so if there ends up being 10 and Bombshell is it I am going to be very angry with myself for taking it off. Finally, yes, I know I am vastly underestimating Joker and probably vastly overestimating Little Women, but I am going to live in a world where Joker isn’t a double-digit nominee and Little Women is for one more day, if you don’t mind. Here are my predictions for the nominations in every non-short category at the 2020 Academy Awards:

Picture

1. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
2. Parasite
3. 1917
4. The Irishman
5. Marriage Story
6. Joker
7. Little Women
8. Jojo Rabbit
9. Ford v Ferrari 

Director

1. Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)
2. Sam Mendes (1917)
3. Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood)
4. Martin Scorsese (The Irishman)
5. Greta Gerwig (Little Women)

Actress

1. Renée Zellweger (Judy)
2. Charlize Theron (Bombshell)
3. Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story)
4. Saoirse Ronan (Little Women)
5. Awkwafina (The Farewell)

Supporting Actress

1. Laura Dern (Marriage Story)
2. Margot Robbie (Bombshell)
3. Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers)
4. Florence Pugh (Little Women)
5. Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit)

Actor

1. Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)
2. Adam Driver (Marriage Story)
3. Taron Egerton (Rocketman)
4. Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory)
5. Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood)

Supporting Actor

1. Brad Pitt (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood)
2. Al Pacino (The Irishman)
3. Joe Pesci (The Irishman)
4. Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood)
5. Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes)

Adapted Screenplay

1. Little Women (Greta Gerwig)
2. The Irishman (Steven Zaillian)
3. Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi)
4. Joker (Todd Phillips & Scott Silver)
5. The Two Popes (Anthony McCarten)

Original Screenplay

1. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino)
2. Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach)
3. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho & Han Jin-won)
4. The Farewell (Lulu Wang)
5. Knives Out (Rian Johnson)

Cinematography

1. 1917 (Roger Deakins)
2. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (Robert Richardson)
3. The Irishman (Rodrigo Prieto)
4. Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (Claire Mathon)
5. Little Women (Yorick Le Saux)

Editing

1. The Irishman (Thelma Schoonmaker)
2. Ford v Ferrari (Andrew Buckland & John-Henry Butterworth)
3. 1917 (Lee Smith)
4. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (Fred Raskin)
5. Parasite (Yang Jin-mo)

International Feature

1. Parasite
2. Pain and Glory
3. Les Misérables
4. Atlantics
5. Those Who Remained

Documentary Feature

1. American Factory
2. Apollo 11
3. For Sama
4. The Cave
5. Honeyland

Animated Feature

1. Toy Story 4
2. Frozen 2
3. How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
4. I Lost My Body
5. Missing Link

Production Design

1. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
2. The Irishman
3. 1917
4. Parasite
5. Little Women

Costume Design

1. Little Women
2. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
3. Dolemite Is My Name
4. Rocketman
5. The Irishman

Makeup & Hairstyling

1. Bombshell
2. Judy
3. Dolemite Is My Name
4. Little Women
5. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Visual Effects

1. The Irishman
2. Avengers: Endgame
3. 1917
4. The Lion King
5. Alita: Battle Angel

Sound Editing

1. 1917
2. Ford v Ferrari
3. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
4. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
5. Joker

Sound Mixing

1. 1917
2. Ford v Ferrari
3. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
4. Rocketman
5. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Original Score

1. 1917 (Thomas Newman)
2. Marriage Story (Randy Newman)
3. Joker (Hildur Gudnadóttir)
4. Little Women (Alexandre Desplat)
5. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (John Williams)

Original Song

1. (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again (Rocketman)
2. Into The Unknown (Frozen 2)
3. Stand Up (Harriet)
4. Spirit (The Lion King)
   
5. Glasgow (No Place Like Home) (Wild Rose)

Final tally (more than 1 nomination):

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: 11
The Irishman: 10
Little Women: 10
1917: 9
Marriage Story: 6
Parasite: 6
Joker: 5
Ford v Ferrari: 4
Rocketman: 4
Bombshell: 3
Jojo Rabbit: 3
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: 3
Dolemite Is My Name: 2
The Farewell: 2
Judy: 2
Frozen 2: 2
The Lion King: 2
Pain and Glory: 2
The Two Popes: 2

Yikes, I always feel super confident until I do the tally at the end. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow! I’ll make a post of the actual nominees sometime tomorrow evening to compare and see how we did.

 

What an abysmal, horrifically paced, boring telecast that was! A few notable exceptions would include but not necessarily be limited to Bong Joon-ho’s speech, Michelle William’s sppech, Brad Pitt’s speech, and Tom Hanks being presented with the Cecil B. DeMille award. But at least we got to have some fun watching it because our predictions were right on the money, right? Yeah, not so much. To be a fair only a couple of these were absolute curveballs, the rest made a lot of sense and probably would’ve been my second or third pick. Let’s see how we did:

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Prediction: The Irishman
Winner: 1917

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Prediction: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Winner: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture – Drama
Prediction: Renée Zellweger (Judy)
Winner: Renée Zellweger (Judy)

Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Drama
Prediction: Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)
Winner: Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)

Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Prediction: Awkwafina (The Farewell)
Winner: Awkwafina (The Farewell)

Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Musical Or Comedy
Prediction: Eddie Murphy (Dolemite Is My Name)
Winner: Taron Egerton (Rocketman)

Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role In Any Motion Picture
Prediction: Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers)
Winner: Laura Dern (Marriage Story)

Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In Any Motion Picture
Prediction: Brad Pitt (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood)
Winner: Brad Pitt (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood)

Best Director – Motion Picture
Prediction: Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)
Winner: Sam Mendes (1917)

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Prediction: Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story)
Winner: Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood)

Best Motion Picture – Animated
Prediction: Toy Story 4
Winner: Missing Link

Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language
Prediction: Parasite
Winner: Parasite

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Prediction: Thomas Newman (1917)
Winner: Hildur Gudnadóttir (Joker)

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
Prediction: I’m Gonna Love Me Again (Rocketman) 
Winner: I’m Gonna Love Me Again (Rocketman)

So in the end I went 7/14. 50%. That is… sub-optimal. We’re going to have to step our game up going forward.

We are officially neck deep in awards season, with WGA nominations having been announced earlier today, and the BAFTA nominations being announced tomorrow. Unless I’m mistaken the next two major televised awards ceremonies will be the Critics Choice Movie Awards on January 12th, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards on January 19th. I’ll be covering them all here on The Alert The Audience, so keep checking back! This Friday (January 10th) I will also be posting the nominations for the 2nd Annual Alert The Audience Film Awards, and my FINAL Oscar Nomination predictions will go up Sunday evening following the Critics Choice ceremony before the Academy reveals the nominees early Monday morning.

 

I’m a few days late to the party on this because I wanted to catch up on as many things I’d missed throughout the year as possible before finalizing this list, and I still haven’t seen everything I wanted to see, but I think it’s time to get this posted. 2019 has been an absolutely excellent year for film! I first started making these year-end lists back in 2016, and each year since then they have featured exactly 25 entries. I’ve been trying for days to narrow this down to 25 without feeling like I’m leaving something important off the list, and I just can’t do it. So for the first time ever, I’m doing my top 50 films of the year, a true testament to what a great year at the movies it’s been.

Things from my watchlist that I still haven’t seen: 1917, Atlantics, Blinded By The Light, Clemency, Crawl, The Dead Don’t Die, Diane, Fast Color, Honeyland, I Lost My Body, and The Nightingale. 

Scott’s Favourite Films of 2019

50. The Souvenir
49. Teen Spirit
48. Just Mercy
47. Brittany Runs A Marathon
46. Little Woods
45. Richard Jewel
44. Monos
43. Maiden
43. Shazam!
41. Dolemite Is My Name
40. Paddleton
39. A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood
38. Under The Silver Lake
37. The Beach Bum
36. Us
35. Apollo 11
34. Toy Story 4
33. The Two Popes
32. Ready Or Not
31. Joker
30. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
29. Climax
28. Avengers: Endgame
27. Ford v Ferrari
26. Bombshell
25. The Peanut Butter Falcon
24. Wild Rose
23. Fighting With My Family
22. Ad Astra
21. Luce
20. Hustlers
19. Portrait Of A Lady On Fire
18. The Lighthouse
17. Honey Boy
16. High Life
15. The Last Black Man In San Francisco
14. Pain And Glory
13. Waves
12. Her Smell
11. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
10. Knives Out
9. The Farewell
8. Uncut Gems
7. Booksmart
6. Jojo Rabbit
5. The Irishman
4. Midsommar
3. Marriage Story
2. Parasite
1. Little Women

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2020 is the year I plan to actually get this site up and running the way I’ve always intended for it to be. Following the craziness of awards season (Golden Globes predictions getting posted later today) I hope to move into a groove of weekly updates of new film reviews throughout the year. Thank you all so much for reading, and all the best in 2020!