Oscars 2025: My Worst Score Since 2007!

Last night, I got my worst Oscar prediction score since 2007, and that was 13 out of 24, now it’s one worse as there are only 23 categories now (they combined Sound Design and Sound Editing into just Sound). Now, I was expecting this because I knew EMILIA PÉREZ was gonna win multiple Academy Awards, but I just couldn’t go there as I’m so against it. Voting with your heart over your head is never how to go, but that’s how I went this year, and I paid the price.

Otherwise, I did highly enjoy first-time host Conan O’Brien from THE SUBSTANCE parody opening to his goofy monologue, with such lines like, “A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, A REAL PAIN, NOSFERATU - these are just some of the names I was called on the red carpet. I think two are fair,” too, well, just about all of his antics. Yeah, I’m a fan, and he didn’t disappoint. 

Funnily enough, I got all the acting categories wrong except for Kieran Culkin for A REAL PAIN, who probably had the most memorable acceptance speech, but I won’t go into that here.

So let’s take a look at the long list of the ones I got wrong, shall we?

BEST ACTOR: My prediction - Timothée Chalamet, A COMPLETE UNKNOWN / Who won: Adrien Brody, THE BRUTALIST

Conan: “Bob Dylan wanted to be here tonight, but not that badly.”

I said Brody would probably win, but I couldn’t not go with Chamalet as I so adored his performance as my all-time favorite performer. Back when Chamalet was promoting the movie back in December, he was showing up at events cosplaying Dylan, so I was hoping he’d do the same for the Oscars. Not that it would’ve helped him win (the voting ended on Feb. 21), but here’s the butter yellow Givenchy suit he wore last night, and what I think would’ve been better – a light blue tux like Dylan’s at the 1998 Grammys when he won Album of the Year for Time Out of Mind.

BEST ACTRESS: My prediction - Demi Moore, THE SUBSTANCE / Who won: Mikey Madison, ANORA

Now I didn’t like THE SUBSTANCE, but I really thought it was Moore’s time so this was surprising.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: My prediction - Isabella Rossellini, CONCLAVE / Who won: Zoe Saldaña, EMILIA PÉREZ

DOCUMENTARY SHORT: My prediction - I AM READY, WARDEN / What won: THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ORCHESTRA

FILM EDITING: My prediction: CONCLAVE, Nick Emerson / What won: ANORA, Sean Baker

ORIGINAL SONG: My prediction: “The Journey” from THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT, Diane Warren / What won: “El Mal” from EMILIA PÉREZ

ANIMATED SHORT: My prediction: YUCK! / What won: IN THE SHADOW OF THE CYPRESS

LIVE ACTION SHORT: My prediction: THE MAN WHO COULD NOT REMAIN SILENT / What won: I AM NOT A ROBOT

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: My prediction: A REAL PAIN, Jesse Eisenberg / What won: ANORA, Sean Baker

Whew! Baker really cleaned up as he directed, wrote, and edited ANORA. The only Oscar he’s not personally taking home for it is Madison’s Best Actress award. I loved ANORA, but seriously didn’t expect a four Oscar sweep!

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: My prediction: THE WILD ROBOT / What won: FLOW

I got this wrong and I saw FLOW, and haven’t yet seen THE WILD ROBOT. Let this be this year’s lesson for me – vote with your head next time! Btw, I loved FLOW, but at first the cat going underwater scenes stressed me out a little. It felt kinda like LIFE OF PI, but with all the overblown symbolism replaced by a resourceful, resilient kitty.

Okay, so that's this year’s Oscars. Next year, I’ll go back to voting with my head, and not my heart.

More later…

Hey Kids! Funtime 2024 Oscar® Predictions!

The world has been on fire lately, but the 97th Academy Awards® is still going down this Sunday night so I’m still going to make my predictions. I’ve been busy finishing a big book project so I haven’t been film babbling much lately (I said the same thing last year), but I’ve seen nine of the ten Best Picture nominees (I'M STILL HERE is the one I haven’t caught up with yet), and a lot of the other films that got nods so I think I’m fairly good to go.

The few things that I can safely predict is that I’m going to be really pissed off if EMILIA PÉREZ wins anything, which is sure to happen because it got 13 f-in’ nominations, and that Conan O’Brien is going to be really funny as the first-time host of the big show. Otherwise this is such a crap shoot that I bet I’ll get more wrong on the following predictions than ever before.

So here are my highly anticipated, not-thrown-together-at-the-last-minute predictions:

1. BEST PICTURE: ANORA

This is a f-in’ excellent movie, and it looks like the odds are in its favor, so this is definitely the voting with my heart year for me.

2. BEST DIRECTOR: Sean Baker, ANORA

3. BEST ACTOR: Timothée Chalamet, A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

Adrien Brody is who everyone’s predicting will take home the award, but I’m going with the wild card, because it was my favorite performance of 2024 (and my favorite film too), and I don’t care if I’m wrong. I did admire Brody in THE BRUTALIST, and he’s won everything except the SAG that Chalamet won last weekend, so he’ll probably win, but I’m still pulling for Timmy as Zimmy.

4. BEST ACTRESS: Demi Moore, THE SUBSTANCE. I hated the movie, but she did a good job, and it just seems like her time.

5. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Kieran Culkin, A REAL PAIN

This feels like a given too, as Culkin nails his portrayal of a particular kind of guy that I bet we’ve all known some version of. Otherwise I’ll be happy if Edward Norton wins for his excellent turn as Pete Seeger in A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, because it’s crazy he’s never won one before.

6. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Isabella Rossellini, CONCLAVE

Please don’t let it be Zoe Saldaña for EMILIA PÉREZ! Please don’t let it be Zoe Saldaña for EMILIA PÉREZ!!!!

7. PRODUCTION DESIGN: WICKED, Nathan Crowley, Lee Sandales

8. CINEMATOGRAPHY: THE BRUTALIST, Lol Crawley

9. COSTUME DESIGN: WICKED, Paul Tazewell

10. DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: NO OTHER LAND

11. DOCUMENTARY SHORT: I AM READY, WARDEN

12. FILM EDITING: CONCLAVE, Nick Emerson

13. MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: THE SUBSTANCE

14. VISUAL EFFECTS: DUNE: PART TWO

15. ORIGINAL SCORE: THE BRUTALIST, Daniel Blumberg

16. ORIGINAL SONG: “The Journey” from THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT, Diane Warren

17. ANIMATED SHORT: YUCK!

18. LIVE ACTION SHORT: THE MAN WHO COULD NOT REMAIN SILENT

19. SOUND: DUNE: PART TWO

20. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: A REAL PAIN, Jesse Eisenberg

21. ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: CONCLAVE, Peter Straughan

22. ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: THE WILD ROBOT

23. BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM: I’M STILL HERE

Did I mention I don’t want EMILIA PÉREZ to win anything? I know, I know, with 13 noms, it's probably going to take home some gold, but I’m still gonna dream.

As I always say, tune in on Monday to see how many I got wrong.

More later...

A Film Babble Blog Retrospective: David Lynch In Three Films

The passing of one of my all-time favorite filmmakers, David Lynch (January 20, 1946-January 15, 2025), made me go back to the reviews I’ve written of his work over the years for Film Babble. In the almost 21 years that I’ve had this blog, I posted about three of the ten theatrical releases he made from 1977-2006: ERASERHEAD, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, and INLAND EMPIRE. These were interesting for me to revisit, as I had forgotten some details like I wrote that I had a “love/WTF? relationship with the films of Lynch,” and that one of my first dates with my now ex-wife was a midnight show of ERASERHEAD, so I thought I’d gather the reviews for this tribute post.

My first review is from that midnight movie screening that was at the Colony Theater (sadly closed in 2015) in Raleigh, North Carolina as part of their Cool Classics series in the summer of 2008. 

I was mounting a series that didn’t go on very long called “Hey, I finally saw…” where I blogged about seeing a classic film for the first time, and before that night, I’d never seen Lynch’s mesmerizing debut ERASERHEAD in full (I think I saw parts of it in the ‘80s on cable, but I’m not sure). Here’s how it went down (click on the title to read the post):

Hey, I Finally Saw ERASERHEAD (August 8, 2008)

Later that year, the North Carolina Museum of Art presented a screening of Lynch’s ninth film, 2001’s MULHOLLAND DRIVE, which my then girlfriend, and I attended. I had seen the movie before, but only when it was released on DVD in 2002, so it was great to see it on the big screen in the museum’s auditorium. 

The film was introduced by a great local film critic, INDY Week writer/editor David Fellerath, who I quote the in the piece, which amuses me because like with ERASERHEAD, I was trying to figure it out. I also am amused by something I had forgotten, the confused reaction of one of the attendees at the end of the movie. I believe it’s worth the read:

Seven Years Later, Does MULHOLLAND DRIVE Make Any More Sense? (October 28, 2008)

Lastly, I go back further in time (just a  year earlier) to my first review of a Lynch film, his last feature-length production, INLAND EMPIRE, which came out in late 2006. 

I viewed, and reviewed the DVD when it was released in 2007, and I enjoyed re-reading, and re-living my thoughts on the bizarre film (I know, they’re all bizarre). I had forgotten the line “One can not casually watch INLAND EMPIRE - that would be like casually visiting somebody in prison.” Read the rest:

INLAND EMPIRE Burlesque (September 4, 2007)

So that’s what I had to say in the past (the 2000s) about three of Lynch’s films. I’m definitely going to revisit his work in the weeks to come, and may post some new re-evaluations here. As for the rest of the master’s movies, I saw THE ELEPHANT MAN and DUNE on cable, but was too young to appreciate them as Lynch works. It was BLUE VELVET (1986) on VHS in the late ‘80s that blew me away, and made me a fan. The others that followed, I saw mostly on home video, but did see a Cool Classics showing of WILD AT HEART at the Colony in 2012.

The Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC, is hosting a free screening of BLUE VELVET as part of their Retro Film Series next Tuesday, January 21, at 7pm, which I might attend, and I’m sure there’ll be a number of other showings of Lynch films in the area in the months, and years to come.

In the mean-time, I posted this handy guide on Facebook, and  it’s worth re-posting:

R.I.P. David Lynch

 

More later…