It's My Christmas!!

 

It's that time of year again!! A bit later than normal, but no less exciting for me!  I know I've fallen out of step with this, and this year is a good time to pick it up again. My annual Academy Award Ritual - more Christmas than Christmas for me! 

To recap the tradition: Every year, I wait with bated breath to see what films are going to be nominated for the top 5 Oscar awards: Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Film. And all the other ones, too. Then, I (and my friend Kate) have the length of time from the announcement to the day of the awards to see all the pictures for Best Film. And others, if there is time. And, occasionally, we'll get a jump-start if there's a movie we're pretty certain will make it into those top 10 nominees. 

Then, on the big night, we watch the awards together and make our guesses - who we think should win (because we've seen them all and our opinions are legitimate!) and who we think the Academy will honour, and what our thoughts are on that. And of course, the lovely fun of ooohing and ahhhing over the dresses (along with the "what the hell was she thinking????" complete with baffled head-shakes are always in there, too!) 

So, as of February 8th, the race is on! 

Here are the nominees: 

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Judi Dench, Belfast
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Ciaran Hinds, Belfast
Troy Kotsur, CODA
Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog
J.K. Simmons, Being the Ricardos
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEAD ROLE

Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart, Spencer

BEST ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE

Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield, Tick Tick Boom!
Will Smith, King Richard
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of MacBeth

BEST DIRECTOR

Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story

BEST FILM FOR 2022 (drum roll please) 

Belfast
CODA
Don’t Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story

Now, let's see how many of those top 10 I can see by March 27th. I will post the ones I see and my thoughts and reflections on each film after this. There are two I have already seen - Westside Story and Macbeth, so I will write reviews of those after this one. Stay tuned! 

Then, come March 26th, I will make my predictions as to who I think should win and who I think the Academy will honour ... and let's see how close I am! My fun and games!