Awards Season 2026: Tez's Official Academy Award Nomination Predictions

On Thursday morning (22nd January 2026, 5:30AM PT/8:30AM ET/1:30PM GMT), the nominations for the 98th Academy Awards will be announced. This year, the nominations will be announced by Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple [2023], Peacemaker, Orange Is The New Black) and Lewis Pullman (Thunderbolts*, Top Gun: Maverick, The Testament Of Ann Lee). 

Since 2003, I have tried to predict who will be nominated in six of the major categories (Best Picture, Best Director and the four acting awards) with various levels of success. Below is my list of who I think will be named. 

BEST PICTURE

Bugonia

F1

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

The Secret Agent

Sentimental Value

Sinners

Train Dreams

BEST DIRECTOR

Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)

Ryan Coogler (Sinners)

Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein)

Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme)

Chloé Zhao (Hamnet)

BEST ACTOR

Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme)

Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another)

Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon)

Michael B. Jordan (Sinners)

Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent)

BEST ACTRESS

Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)

Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You)

Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another)

Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value)

Emma Stone (Bugonia)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Benicio del Toro (One Battle After Another)

Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)

Paul Mescal (Hamnet)

Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)

Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked: For Good)

Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value)

Amy Madigan (Weapons)

Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners)

Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another)

As we now have 10 Best Picture nominees (in addition to the 20 for acting and 5 for directing), I will be happy with any score over 20. With regards to my predictions last year, I got 29/35 (83%). So, time to explain my thinking....

Best Picture: I'm confident on eight of my ten predictions, with question marks over F1 and The Secret Agent. 

I've included F1 for two reasons. First is the PGA nod. Yes, I know there's rarely a 100% conversion rate between the two but I was struggling with my last two picks. Secondly is a bit of precedent (James Mangold's Le Mans '66 [Ford V Ferrari] surprised many with its Best Picture nod in 2020). It's virtually guaranteed to garner some below-the-line technical award nominations, so it's entirely likely that goodwill extends towards the top of the list. I also picked The Secret Agent (an international movie) to pad out the list, as the Academy have shown a willingness over the last five years or so to include international movies in the Best Picture category. 

Other movies who might claim a spot on this most coveted list (although they feel less likely to be named) are the Lorenz Hart biopic Blue Moon, Noah Baumbach's showbiz comedy-drama Jay Kelly, Jafar Panahi's It Was Just An Accident, Zach Cregger's horror Weapons and musical Wicked: For Good. 

Best Director: I went with the five DGA nominees, but there's a question over Josh Safdie in my mind. He could very well lose out to Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value)

Best Actor: A solid core of four actors have dominated this awards season (Chalamet, DiCaprio, Hawke, and Jordan). I've included Wagner Moura following his Golden Globe win, but he's perhaps my least sure pick. There might be a surprise nod for either Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams) [one of only two Independent Spirit Award nominees to be featured in more mainstream awards lists; the other being Rose Byrne] or Jesse Plemons (Bugonia). As the Actor Awards completely shut out any international performances, Plemons made the list there. He may do it again here. 

Best Actress: This, to me, is the category that is the most wide open. There have been a lot of great performances that have made various Best Actress lists, so it's a crowded field. The only one I think I can absolutely state with certainty is Jessie Buckley; everyone else could well be replaceable. High profile and powerful performances by Amanda Seyfried (The Testament Of Ann Lee), Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue), and Tessa Thompson (Hedda) could provide some surprise nods, and- whilst it's sadly feeling less and less likely- I'd love to see Cynthia Erivo get a nomination for Wicked: For Good (though I feel Ariana Grande-Butera will be leading the charge for that film from an acting point of view).

Best Supporting Actor: I'm fairly confident with this set although we shouldn't discount a curveball or two. Maybe Miles Caton (Sinners)? Or possibly Adam Sandler (Jay Kelly)? No, I'm not kidding with the latter. The Critics' Choice and Golden Globes both gave Sandler a nod for playing Jay Kelly's long-suffering manager Ron. Skarsgård's Golden Globe win, however, puts him slightly ahead for me. 

Best Supporting Actress: Confident on three (Grande-Butera, Madigan, Taylor). Sentimental Value could get a double nomination in this category with Elle Fanning joining the fun as an American actress hired by Gustav Borg to appear in his film. Odessa A'zion got an Actor Award nod for Marty Supreme (they also nominated Monica Barbaro last year for A Complete Unknown which translated to the Oscar nod) so she could sneak in. 

Fun fact for y'all: if Amy Madigan DOES get an Oscar nomination, she'll become a record holder as the actress with the longest gap between Oscar nominations, racking up an impressive (albeit approximate) 40 years between her first and second nods; she was nominated at the 1986 Oscars for her supporting role in romantic drama Twice In A Lifetime. [And if you're wondering, the actor with the longest gap between Oscar nominations is Judd Hirsch, with a 42-year gap between his nods for Ordinary People and The Fabelmans]

So there we have it. Predictions done. What do you reckon? On the money, way off, somewhere in between? We will soon find out. As usual, I'll get a post up as soon as I can on Thursday afternoon with the official nominations.

But before then, we will have a bit of a point-and-laugh at the Razzie nominations which are due to drop tomorrow (Wednesday 21st January 2026)

Awards Season 2026: Directors Guild Awards (DGA), and Producers Guild Awards (PGA) Nominations

So the last little bit of catch-up admin I wanted to do before I do my Oscar nominations predictions was to detail and briefly discuss the nominations from two of the major guilds which came out last week. These will certainly help with my predictions for two major categories, being as they are the nominations from the Directors Guild Awards and the Producers Guild Awards. 

DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS (DGA)

The film nominees for the 78th Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards were announced on Thursday 8th January 2026:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film

Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)

Ryan Coogler (Sinners)

Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein)

Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme)

Chloé Zhao (Hamnet)

Michael Apted Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film

Hasan Hadi (The President's Cake)

Harry Lighton (Pillion)

Charlie Polinger (The Plague)

Alex Russell (Lurker)

Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary 

Mstyslav Chernov (2000 Meters to Andriivka)

Geeta Gandbhir (The Perfect Neighbor)

Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni (Cutting Through Rocks)

Elizabeth Lo (Mistress Dispeller)

Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus (Cover-Up)

In my mind, Anderson, Coogler, del Toro, and Zhao are virtually confirmed for the Oscar nod; the sticking point is going to be whether Safdie joins them or whether the fifth place will go to Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value. Whilst Trier misses out here, he has received Best Director nods at the Critics' Choice and the Golden Globes. Safdie also received a nod at the Critics' Choice. Either way, it feels a bit superfluous to be worrying: it's almost certainly going to be Paul Thomas Anderson who wins in the end. 

The DGA Awards ceremony is on Saturday 7th February 2026.

* * *

PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS (PGA)

The film nominees for the 37th Producers Guild of America (PGA) Awards were announced on Friday 9th January 2026:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

Bugonia

F1

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

Sentimental Value

Sinners

Train Dreams

Weapons

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

The Bad Guys 2

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle 

Elio

KPop Demon Hunters

Zootopia 2

Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures 

(previously announced)

The Alabama Solution

Cover-Up

Mr Nobody Against Putin

My Mom Jayne

Ocean with David Attenborough

The Perfect Neighbor

The Tale of Silyan

So the surprises here are F1 and Weapons; for the rest of awards season, the latter has been flagged up for Amy Madigan's performance whilst the former has been recognised in many below-the-line technical awards (usually sound and editing). It's the first either film has received a Best Picture equivalent nod. I don't know if the Academy will necessarily follow suit but we have less than a week to find out. 

The PGA Awards will be handed out on Saturday 28th February 2026.

Before I forget, there's one last stop we will be making on the awards season trail before we get to the Oscar nominations, and that will be the nominations for this year's Razzies which- as is tradition- are due out the day before the Oscar nominations (so the cinematic crocks of crap they're dishonouring will be revealed on Wednesday 21st January 2026). 

As I now have all the information I will have to do my Oscar nomination predictions, I might do them early next week rather than waiting til Wednesday. Keep your eyes out for them.  

Awards Season 2026: Actor Awards Nominations

In my attempt to catch up on some awards season nonsense before the Oscar nominations next week, here are this year's nominations for the Actor Awards. 

But what are the Actor Awards, you may ask? Is this a new award added to what could be considered an already bloated season? Nope - the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) have decided to change the name of their awards. The statuette that winners receive is called "The Actor" so they decided that, from this year, they are The Actor Awards. Fair enough.  

"The Actor" award - you can see where they got the name from

Anyway, here are this year's nominations, which were announced on Wednesday 7th January 2026:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

Sinners

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme)

Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another)

Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon)

Michael B. Jordan (Sinners)

Jesse Plemons (Bugonia)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)

Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You)

Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue)

Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another)

Emma Stone (Bugonia)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Miles Caton (Sinners)

Benicio del Toro (One Battle After Another)

Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)

Paul Mescal (Hamnet)

Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Odessa A'zion (Marty Supreme)

Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked: For Good)

Amy Madigan (Weapons)

Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners)

Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

F1

Frankenstein

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

One Battle After Another

Sinners

One Battle After Another cements itself as a 2026 Awards Season juggernaut by become the most-nominated film in the history of the Actor Awards with seven nods covering all six categories (the first film to do this since the Stunt Ensemble award was introduced in 2007). Sinners has a perfectly respectable five nominations, with Frankenstein, Hamnet and Marty Supreme joint third with three apiece.

Couple of things to discuss here. The major elephant in the room is the complete and utter shutout of any foreign-language/international films. The Secret Agent and Sentimental Value, two of the most high profile international movies of the year, nowhere to be seen despite strong showing for both in other award nominations. I don't necessarily think the Oscars will repeat this; the last couple of years have seen films like Emilia Pérez, Anatomy Of A Fall, Past Lives, Drive My Car, Parallel Mothers and Minari all major contenders, so I think we'll see them mentioned there. 

However, with the absence of these films, in each of the solo acting categories, there was one pleasant "oh really?" nominations. It was good to see Jesse Plemons, Kate Hudson, Miles Caton, and Odessa A'zion included in the awards conversation. Whilst both Plemons and Hudson received Golden Globe (Musical/Comedy) nods for their lead performances in Bugonia and Song Sung Blue respectively, this is the first major awards recognition for both Caton (in his film debut) and A'Zion. 

 

The 32nd Actor Awards will be handed out on Sunday 1st March 2026, with the ceremony broadcasting on Netflix for the third year running. 

Next with my catch-up will be the Directors Guild Awards (DGA) and Producers Guild Awards (PGA) nominations. This will probably be at some point over the weekend. 

Awards Season 2026: Critics' Choice Awards and Golden Globes Winners

I'll be very honest with you all, my loves, I wasn't 100% sure I was going to cover any stuff for the 2026 awards season. The world's a raging dumpster fire of hate, division and general shittiness; personally, the end of last year and the beginning of this one haven't been the best (putting it ever so mildly), and this unashamedly self-indulgent pastime felt more hollow and more farcical than usual in the backdrop of these things. 

And yet... as shallow and as narcissistic as awards season can get, and with what little actual importance can be attached to these baubles, it's still a brief little moment of respite, a place to breathe and pause against the relentless rage-inducing nightmare we're currently going through. I shouldn't deny myself any moment of respite against this hellscape - it's sadly still going to be there when I stop looking at which movies have been awarded stuff. And if I am going to keep on with my Oscar predictions, you should at least see some of the data I'm working with. 

So, I'm not going to go backwards and discuss the nominations for awards which have already been handed out. But I will show you the winners. 

* * *

CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS

The 31st Critics' Choice Awards were handed out on Sunday January 4th 2026 in a ceremony at the Barker Hanger at the Santa Monica Airport. Stand-up comedian Chelsea Handler returned as host for the fourth consecutive year. 

Ryan Coogler's period horror Sinners led the nominations with an amazing 17 nods across all categories, with Paul Thomas Anderson's black comedy action thriller One Battle After Another coming second with 14.

Here is a full list of the Critics' Choice Awards movie winners: 

Best Picture: One Battle After Another

Best Actor: Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme)

Best Actress: Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)

Best Supporting Actor: Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Madigan (Weapons)

Best Casting/Ensemble: Sinners

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)

Best Original Screenplay: Sinners

Best Adapted Screenplay: One Battle After Another

Best Comedy: The Naked Gun

Best Foreign Language Film: The Secret Agent

Best Animated Feature: KPop Demon Hunters

Best Score: Sinners

Best Song: "Golden" (KPop Demon Hunters)

Best Sound: F1

Best Production Design: Frankenstein

Best Editing: F1

Best Costume Design: Frankenstein

Best Hair & Makeup: Frankenstein

Best Visual Effects: Avatar: Fire And Ash

Best Stunt Design: Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

Best Cinematography: Train Dreams

Best Young Actor/Actress: Miles Caton (Sinners)

Sinners and Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of Frankenstein share the most awards with both winning four gongs each, One Battle After Another takes three, and animated musical KPop Demon Hunters and sports drama F1 have two apiece.

Quite a bit of comment was given about the winners in the Supporting acting categories, with both Jacob Elordi and Amy Madigan winning gongs for their roles in horror films - Elordi as Frankenstein's Creature and Madigan as the malevolent Aunt Gladys. But as you're about to see, these might be outliers. 

* * *

GOLDEN GLOBES

The 83rd Golden Globe Awards were handed out on Sunday January 11th 2026 at a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton. Stand-up comedian Nikki Glaser returned to host for a second year running. 

One Battle After Another led the nominations with nine, whilst Joachim Trier's Norwegian family drama Sentimental Value came second with eight. 

Here is the full list of film winners.

Best Motion Picture (Drama): Hamnet

Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy): One Battle After Another

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)

Best Actor (Drama): Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent)

Best Actor (Comedy or Musical): Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme)

Best Actress (Drama): Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)

Best Actress (Comedy or Musical): Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You)

Best Supporting Actor: Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value)

Best Supporting Actress: Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another)

Best Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)

Best Original Score: Ludwig Göransson (Sinners)

Best Original Song: "Golden" (KPop Demon Hunters)

Best Foreign Language Film: The Secret Agent

Best Animated Feature Film: KPop Demon Hunters

Cinematic And Box Office Achievement: Sinners

Cecil B. DeMille Award: Helen Mirren

One Battle After Another walked away with the most Globes, winning four, whilst Shakespearean drama Hamnet, Brazilian political thriller The Secret Agent, KPop Demon Hunters, and Sinners also won two each. 

Quite a few surprises here, namely the wins for Teyana Taylor, Rose Byrne and Wagner Moura. Moura becomes the first Brazilian actor to win a Best Actor award at the Globes, his win an echo of Fernanda Torres' surprise win at last year's Globes for Best Actress (Drama) for I'm Still Here. I'd hazard to guess that the definition of "musical/comedy" was stretched to breaking point to justify Byrne being nominated in that category as the film sounds about as funny as The Martian. Oh wait... But Byrne is a great actress and, even if there has been a bit of category fraud going on, her win is deserved. 

There's a couple of things us prognosticators need to remember though, lest these results cloud things too much: firstly, the Golden Globes split a couple of the acting categories into drama and comedy/musical, and traditionally the Oscars favour drama; secondly, the make-up of the voters for the Golden Globes is a FRACTION of that which vote for the Oscars so we shouldn't necessarily read TOO much into this. 

That said, Jessie Buckley, Timothée Chalamet and Paul Thomas Anderson might be clearing a bit of space on the mantelpiece for the Little Naked Gold Men. 

In the next few days, I'll post about the nominations for the Actor Awards (previously the SAG Awards) and the PGA/DGA nods, as we have over a week until the next major awards season stop... the nominations for the 98th Academy Awards, which will be announced on Thursday 22nd January 2026!

Yes, this year the Oscar nominations are out before the BAFTAs (BAFTAs are out on Tuesday January 27th 2026, although their longlists have already been revealed) so I don't have the usual full set of nominations to work with. But it'll be fine. It's all just a bit of fun. 

Awards Season 2025: The 97th Academy Awards

So there we have it, folks. The 97th Academy Awards have been handed out and there were a nice couple of surprises along the way. 

After a fantastic opening number by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo- incorporating music from the various cinematic iterations of The Wizard Of Oz- Conan O'Brien's opening monologue was a little bit hit-and-miss (he was definitely very nervous) but there were a couple of nice little zingers- I did like the comment about the amount of swearing in Anora linking to the Emilia Pérez controversy. The Adam Sandler skit and "I Won't Waste Your Time" bits weren't great, but weren't massively egregious (Seth MacFarlane's ill-conceived "We Saw Your Boobs" song was much worse). He got a couple of nice one-liners in as the night went on, getting one of the biggest reactions to his crack about Anora featuring an American standing up to a powerful Russian. I liked him bringing on members of the LA fire department for a well-deserved standing ovation, but didn't feel it was necessary for him to get them to read out some "jokes". All said, though, once he settled in to the gig, he was a perfectly serviceable host. I certainly wouldn't object if he was hired to host again. 

Aside from the host, how was the rest of the show? Like most Oscar telecasts, there were some good bits and some not-so-good bits. Morgan Freeman's heartfelt tribute to co-star and friend Gene Hackman before the moving "In Memoriam" (done to the mournful strains of "Lacrimosa" from Mozart's Requiem) was rather beautiful; the very uplifting tribute to Quincy Jones (featuring Queen Latifah singing "Ease On Down The Road" from The Wiz) was also very well done. A surprise tribute to the Bond franchise felt a little superfluous, although there was a slightly tenuous link in that former Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson had been honoured at the Governors' Awards in November. It still wasn't great though with a medley of Bond themes being slightly mangled by well-meaning but not-particularly-strong singers. There was also no performances of the Best Original Song nominees which felt odd; however, the show was running to around three-and-three-quarter-hours as it was, so having all five nominees performed would have pushed the show to four. 

How some of the awards were announced was interesting; they had previously announced the return of the "Fab 5" presenters- where former winners pay tribute to the current nominees; this had previously been done for the acting categories- but extended this to the Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design categories instead for this year (presumably to save someone the embarrassment of praising Karla Sofía Gascón after the fiasco over her tweets). It was also tweaked by having members of the respective casts to pay tribute to the nominees, which I thought worked. They also had Robert Downey Jr. and Da'Vine Joy Randolph give short testimonials to the Best Supporting Actor and Actress nominees rather than show a clip of their performances (although didn't do the same for Cillian Murphy and Emma Stone, presumably for the reason given above).  

On to my predictions. Well, 4 out of 6 ain't bad. I slightly underestimated how much love there was going to be in the Academy for Anora. 

So where were the surprises? Firstly, Flow winning Best Animated Feature over The Wild Robot (although I'd have dearly loved to have seen Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl win). Then I'm Still Here winning Best International Feature (I did think that would have gone to Emilia Pérez). And I will say it was a surprise- but not an unwelcome one- for Mikey Madison to win Best Actress. I was pleased that Conclave took home the Best Adapted Screenplay award; I'd have liked to have seen it take home more, personally, as it has been my favourite film that I've seen in this awards season. 

There were several nice acceptance speeches. As a creative and a cinephile, I particularly enjoyed Sean Baker's plea for filmmakers to focus on cinema releases for films (to keep the moviegoing experience alive) as well as his co-producer Samantha Quan's advice to make the stories you want to make and follow your heart. It was also refreshing to hear both Sean Baker and Mikey Madison pay tribute to the sex worker community (as Anora is about a sex worker). Perhaps the most overtly political moment came with the acceptance speech by the makers of the Best Documentary Feature winner No Other Land which explicitly deals with the issues of Palestinians being forcibly removed from their homes by Israel, although there was a lot of mentions in other speeches about how music and art can help bridge divisions and bring people together in these interesting times of ours without anyone really mentioning anyone by name. Although Daryl Hannah did start her introduction to the award she was presenting with "Slava Ukraini"!

This ceremony saw quite a few "firsts" - Flow is the first film from Latvia to be nominated for (and win) an Oscar; Zoe Saldaña is the first actress of Dominican descent to win an Oscar; Paul Tazewell becomes the first Black male winner of the Best Costume Design award, and I'm Still Here is the first Brazilian film to win the Best International Feature award (although it was the fifth film to be nominated). Sean Baker also becomes the first person to win four Oscars in one night for his work on Anora. 

 

Anora was the big winner of the evening, taking home five Oscars (and it was nominated for six, only losing Best Supporting Actor). In second place was The Brutalist, with three. It's then a three-way tie for third, with Emilia Pérez, Wicked and Dune: Part Two winning two apiece. 

Despite multiple nominations, A Complete Unknown, Nosferatu, Sing Sing, The Wild Robot, Nickel Boys, and The Apprentice all walked away empty-handed. 

Below is the full list of winners at the 97th Academy Awards:

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Anora

Best Actor: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Best Actress: Mikey Madison (Anora)

Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

Best Director: Sean Baker (Anora)

Best Original Screenplay: Sean Baker (Anora)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Peter Straughan (Conclave)

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Flow

Best International Feature Film of the Year: I'm Still Here

Best Cinematography: The Brutalist

Best Film Editing: Anora

Best Production Design: Wicked

Best Costume Design: Wicked

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: The Substance

Best Original Score: The Brutalist

Best Original Song: "El Mal" (Emilia Pérez)

Best Sound: Dune: Part Two

Best Visual Effects: Dune: Part Two

Best Documentary (Feature): No Other Land

Best Documentary (Short Subject): The Only Girl In The Orchestra

Best Animated Short Film: In The Shadow Of The Cypress

Best Live Action Short Film: I'm Not A Robot

Congratulations to all winners! And with that, the curtain has now come down on this year's awards season. Thank you for your indulgence; I hope it's been a nice little distraction for you all. Same time next year?

Awards Season 2025: Tez's Official Oscar Predictions

So, it's Hollywood's Biggest Night - the 97th Academy Awards. Conan O'Brien will be taking up hositing duties for the first time; I was surprised that it was his first Oscars gig as he's the kind of person you would have thought would have done it before. Hopefully he'll be more Jimmy Kimmel and less David Letterman. It's only a few hours until we find out!

As regular readers will know, it has become a tradition for me to predict the nominations and the winners in the main six categories (the four acting categories, Best Director and Best Picture). I've done this since 2003 with varying degrees of success. Last year, I got 5 out of 6, picking Lily Gladstone for Best Actress instead of Emma Stone. Will I do as well this year?

So, without further ado, here are my predictions for who will win.

Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

The supporting categories re where I am the most confident, mostly because both have been consistent. Across all major Supporting Actress categories, the runaway winner has been Zoe Saldaña for her role in Jacques Audiard's musical comedy crime drama Emilia Pérez. For her performance as Rita, the lawyer who helps drug lord Manitas with his plan to disappear and transition into the titular Emilia, she's won the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Critics' Choice, and SAG Award and will almost certainly be adding the Oscar to her impressive haul tonight. Despite the controversy surrounding the film (caused by leading lady Karla Sofía Gascón's previous tweets), Saldaña has remain unscathed and has remained dignified in her discussion of the controversy. Despite Emilia Pérez leading the field with a whopping 13 nominations, I think Saldaña is probably going to be the film's highest-profile win (although a Best International Picture win could also be potentially on the cards). 

Best Supporting Actor:  Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Like Saldaña, Culkin has been the runaway winner in the Best Supporting Actor categories (including the Independent Spirits' gender-neutral Best Supporting Performance category) for his impressive turn in Jesse Eisenberg's beautifully observed comedy-drama A Real Pain. Culkin steals every scene he's in as the troubled but charismatic Benji, on a tour of Poland with his tightly-wound cousin David. The power of his performance is undeniable. It'll be a major upset if Culkin isn't the winner this evening. 

Best Actress: Demi Moore (The Substance)

With no disrespect to any of the other nominees, the Best Actress race has been between Demi Moore and Mikey Madison, and frankly either name could be read out tonight. But I think Demi Moore will be taking home the Oscar. She's majorly impressive as fading star Elisabeth Sparkle in Coralie Fargeat's gloriously grotesque Grand Guignol body horror, conveying so much of the character's inner angst and turmoil with very little dialogue. Plus, I also think that Moore has a lot of good will in Hollywood, and a lot of people who would want to reward her for this third-act renaissance in her career (much like they did with Brendan Fraser for The Whale). The only thing that may go against her is the Academy's notorious snobbishness about genre films (and horror in particular). But I think they'll be making an exception here tonight. That said, Mikey Madison wouldn't be an undeserving winner for her bravura turn in Anora. 

Best Actor: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Personally, I would love to see Ralph Fiennes win for his superb turn in Conclave but I don't think that's going to happen. With the exception of the SAG Awards (who threw a lovely little curveball by naming Timothée Chalamet as Best Actor), Brody has been the major winner of Best Actor categories. I personally found The Brutalist a slog to watch, a bit too sterile and hard-going (and, full disclosure, I didn't actually finish the three-and-a-half-hour magnum opus) but Brody's performance as architect László Tóth was strong. So I think he stands the best chance of getting a second Oscar to help balance out the mantelpiece. 

Best Director: Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

This is another one where it could come down to two different names, which are Brady Corbet and Sean Baker. Looking on a purely technical level, on what each filmmaker has done to achieve their vision for their respective films, I think it's more likely that the Academy will go for Corbet (despite the DGA plumping for Baker). By filming in VistaVision and also having to create a radically different era (similar to what Christopher Nolan did in Oppenheimer), I think Corbet will take home the gold tonight. But don't be surprised if Sean Baker gets called up to the stage instead. 

Best Picture: Anora

So if I'm picking Corbet for Best Director, why do I think Anora will Best Picture? Well, I'm not sure and- to be honest- The Brutalist would be a more "traditional" Best Picture choice. It's a Big Weighty Film(TM) but I'm wondering if it's just a touch too glacial and austere (not to mention long; it's got an intermission FFS) to have captured the hearts of the Academy at large. However, if I'm honest, I'm simply playing the numbers game. Anora won at the Independent Spirit Awards, the Critics Choice, and- crucially- the PGA. Now I know the PGA is never a 100% accurate barometer but the tide has shifted to Anora as awards season has continued. It's a contemporary, funny, ferociously foul-mouthed comedy-drama about the whirlwind (but ultimately doomed) romance between a brassy exotic dancer and the feckless son of a Russian oligarch. It's got heart, a lot of laughs, and some great performances. It'd be a worthy winner, albeit a slightly different one. 

So there are my predictions. What do you think?

For the second year, ITV and ITVX will be broadcasting the telecast in the UK, starting at 10:30PM GMT with the ceremony due to start at midnight. I'll be watching. Will you? 

I'll let you know my thoughts on the ceremony as soon as I can once it finishes.

Awards Season 2025: Razzies Winners

As is tradition on Oscars Eve, the (un)lucky recipients of this year's Razzies (the id to the Oscar's superego, if you like) have been announced. And there's perhaps no surprise which fairly universally derided superhero movie limps off with the top prize.

Here are this year's "winners"

Worst Picture: Madame Web

Worst Director: Francis Ford Coppola (Megalopolis)

Worst Actor: Jerry Seinfeld (Unfrosted)

Worst Actress: Dakota Johnson (Madame Web)

Worst Supporting Actor: Jon Voight (Megalopolis, Reagan, Shadow Land, and Strangers)

Worst Supporting Actress: Amy Schumer (Unfrosted) 

Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel: Joker: Folie à Deux

Worst Screen Combo: Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga (Joker: Folie à Deux)

Worst Screenplay: Madame Web

Razzie Redeemer: Pamela Anderson (for her performance in The Last Showgirl)

Madame Web is the big winner of the night, with three awards; it's then a three-way tie for second with Unfrosted, Joker: Folie à Deux, and Megalopolis walking away with two apiece.

Despite multiple nominations, Borderlands, Reagan, The Crow, Argylle, and Kraven The Hunter walk away unscathed. 

No sooner did Madame Web make it onto the screens then it was being derided as one of the worst superhero films that's been made, but was even being touted as a potential Razzie winner even before it left the cinemas. Ouch. 

A little trivia for you now: Francis Ford Coppola becomes the fourth director to win both the Best Director Oscar and a Worst Director Razzie, following on from Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter/Heaven's Gate), Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves/The Postman), and Tom Hooper (The King's Speech/Cats) [Coppola won the Best Director Oscar for The Godfather Part II]. There have been plenty of directors that have either been nominated for one and won the other (or nominated for both but won neither), but these four stand above. 

Coppola has rather gamely accepted the win, posting the following message on Instagram: "I am thrilled to accept the Razzie award... and for the distinctive honor of being nominated as the worst director, worst screenplay, and worst picture at a time when so few have the courage to go against the prevailing trends of contemporary moviemaking! In this wreck of a world today, where ART is given scores as if it were professional wrestling, I chose to NOT follow the gutless rules laid down by an industry so terrified of risk that despite the enormous pool of young talent at its disposal, may not create pictures that will be relevant and alive 50 years from now. [...]  Let us remind ourselves us that box-office is only about money, and like war, stupidity and politics has no true place in our future."

Megalopolis has long been a passion project for Coppola; he'd been trying to get it made since the 1970s and even sold one of his wineries to fund the project. I have to admire his chutzpah; he didn't compromise, he made the film he wanted to make. No doubt he was hoping it might win awards... Maybe just not these ones. 

Congratulations (commiserations?) to the "winners". 

So, that just leaves the big one: the 97th Academy Awards. I'll be posting my predictions for who will win in six major categories tomorrow afternoon.