Up for Grabs

It's that time of year. The 10th Annual Academy Award Guessing Game®

Actually, it's well past that time of year.............but you know, Covid. 

It's Academy Award season. Which means, it's Mike vs Blobby in our now DECADE-long contest to see who is the best Oscar guesser who resides in Eastern Daylight Time, owns a dog, is gay and is losing their hair.  

It's a very very very specific group.  If Mike's blood type is A-, and if he's left handed, then it's a very very very very very c\very very specific group. 

Over the years, you've all been invited. No one else has participated, so........it's  it's really just mano e mano.  Or......mano e Mike. 

Honestly, I'm not sure either of us knew there'd be an awards this year. While my movie viewing habits have changed and Mike's lack there of have not, the crap (yes, I said it) that made it into this year's offerings is worthy of the Nickelodeon's Kid's Choice Awards.  I mean, I'm assuming. I'll wait for Mike to confirm that. 

"Guessing" has been the part of the title for the past 10 years, and never more appropriate than 2021 (from 2020 releases......allegedly).  At least before I could go in with a little knowledge of what was out there, because usually I'd have seen half of the best picture nods. This does not hold true this year. 

If anything, Mike and I are truly starting on an even playing field this year: we have each seen one 'movie' and it was the same one - Mank.  

Mike and his husband were bored with it. My husband too. My friend Jon, the same. It held me a little longer than they, but I loved Citizen Kane (eventually).  And it was better than the Melissa McCarthy claptrap we saw, or the Prom, so............

Guesses abound. 

Winner - should it be me, gets a red-hot photo shoot with one Mr. Ollie.........Mike and Peter's dog.  Winner - should it be Mike (ha!), gets a bottle of vodka and a red-hot photo shoot for Ollie and myself. Either way, I win.  And technically, either way, Mike's drunk. 

Look at him there with his 1986 People's Choice Award and his "Worlds' Best Boss" mug (psssst.....he works from home!). It's sad. He has no Oscar. IF he acted nice to me, he'd be a shoe in for a golden statue. But.........that would be a stretch that even Streep couldn't pull off. 

So welcome to the 10th Annual Academy Award Guessing Game®.   I am not sure I have witty comments to add to the nominations (Mike will question whether I ever did!).  I literally have almost nothing to go on. 

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: RIZ AHMED Sound of Metal CHADWICK BOSEMAN Ma Rainey's Black Bottom ANTHONY HOPKINS The Father GARY OLDMAN Mank STEVEN YEUN Minari 

A previous Oscar winner portraying a man with Alzheimer's. It seems like a shoe-in. But Boseman is dead, so if they're running long on the broadcast he might get the win. It's not like he'll be doing an acceptance speech. 

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: SACHA BARON COHEN The Trial of the Chicago 7 DANIEL KALUUYA Judas and the Black Messiah LESLIE ODOM, JR. One Night in Miami... PAUL RACI Sound of Metal LAKEITH STANFIELD Judas and the Black Messiah 

I dunno. He was on SNL a few weeks back. And he' isn't Cohen, so........that's a plus. 

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: VIOLA DAVIS Ma Rainey's Black Bottom ANDRA DAY The United States vs. Billie Holiday VANESSA KIRBY Pieces of a Woman FRANCES MCDORMAND Nomadland CAREY MULLIGAN Promising Young Woman 

I LOVE Kirby but.......  All signs point to McDormand. And she should get an Oscar each and every time she is up for one. And I hears she poops in a coffee can or something. I dunno, we don't have Hulu. 

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: MARIA BAKALOVA Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan GLENN CLOSE Hillbilly Elegy OLIVIA COLMAN The Father AMANDA SEYFRIED Mank YUH-JUNG YOUN Minari 

I suppose it could be Close's year, as she is the Lucci of the Oscars. But I think she'll remain a loser perpetual nominee. That anyone in a Borat movie is being recognized - and only because Rudy frottaged himself in front of her - shows how bad the year and the awards are.  It's going to a 74 year old woman. I just want to see which presenter is going to fuck up the pronunciation. 

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:  ONWARD Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae OVER THE MOON Glen Keane, Gennie Rim and Peilin Chou A SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE: FARMAGEDDON Richard Phelan, Will Becher and Paul Kewley SOUL Pete Docter and Dana Murray WOLFWALKERS Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young and Stéphan Roelants 

It's Pixar, whom I used to love. Now it's just an awards studio. 

CINEMATOGRAPHY NOMINEES JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH Sean Bobbitt MANK Erik Messerschmidt NEWS OF THE WORLD Dariusz Wolski NOMADLAND Joshua James Richards THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Phedon Papamichael 

Mank has the Kane-esque film qualities about it. Voters love that shit. 

COSTUME DESIGN: EMMA Alexandra Byrne MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM Ann Roth MANK Trish Summerville MULAN Bina Daigeler PINOCCHIO Massimo Cantini Parrini 

DIRECTING:  ANOTHER ROUND Thomas Vinterberg MANK David Fincher MINARI Lee Isaac Chung NOMADLAND Chloé Zhao PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Emerald Fennell 

Two women nominees. Does the Academy know they overused their quota? Do they know she'll be the only Asian female winner?

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE):  COLLECTIVE Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana CRIP CAMP Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht and Sara Bolder THE MOLE AGENT Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibáñez MY OCTOPUS TEACHER Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster TIME Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino and Kellen Quinn 

I'm going on name only. 

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT): COLETTE Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard A CONCERTO IS A CONVERSATION Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers DO NOT SPLIT Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook HUNGER WARD Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman A LOVE SONG FOR LATASHA Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan 

I mean, it could happen. And I've seen her grave, so I feel a personal connection. 

FILM EDITING: THE FATHER Yorgos Lamprinos NOMADLAND Chloé Zhao PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Frédéric Thoraval SOUND OF METAL Mikkel E. G. Nielsen THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Alan Baumgarten 

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM: ANOTHER ROUND Denmark BETTER DAYS Hong Kong COLLECTIVE Romania THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN Tunisia QUO VADIS, AIDA? Bosnia and Herzegovina 

From the filmmaking giants of Bosnia

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING:  EMMA Marese Langan, Laura Allen and Claudia Stolze HILLBILLY ELEGY Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle and Patricia Dehaney MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson MANK Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri and Colleen LaBaff PINOCCHIO Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti 

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE): DA 5 BLOODS Terence Blanchard MANK Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross MINARI Emile Mosseri NEWS OF THE WORLD James Newton Howard SOUL Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste 

One way or the other, Treznor is going home with his second Oscar, though he'll probably be at home, dialing into his Zoom award show. 

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG): FIGHT FOR YOU from Judas and the Black Messiah; Music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II; Lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas HEAR MY VOICE from The Trial of the Chicago 7; Music by Daniel Pemberton; Lyric by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite HUSAVIK from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga; Music and Lyric by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson IO SÌ (SEEN) from The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se); Music by Diane Warren; Lyric by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini SPEAK NOW from One Night in Miami...; Music and Lyric by Leslie Odom, Jr. and Sam Ashworth 

I dunno. Give it to Odom, he only has a Tony.  And to tell you how shitty this year's awards are: a song from Eurovision - not the competition, but the Will Ferrell POS Netflix movie. 

BEST PICTURE:  THE FATHER David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi and Philippe Carcassonne, Producers JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH Shaka King, Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler, Producers MANK Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth and Douglas Urbanski, Producers MINARI Christina Oh, Producer NOMADLAND Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao, Producers PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell and Josey McNamara, Producers SOUND OF METAL Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche, Producers THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Marc Platt and Stuart Besser, Producers 

One way or another, McDormand is going home with another Oscar. 

PRODUCTION DESIGN: THE FATHER Production Design: Peter Francis; Set Decoration: Cathy Featherstone MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM Production Design: Mark Ricker; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara and Diana Stoughton MANK Production Design: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decoration: Jan Pascale NEWS OF THE WORLD Production Design: David Crank; Set Decoration: Elizabeth Keenan TENET Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas 

A period piece?  And in black and white?  Win!   Tenet director Christopher Nolan ranted against how movies are released in a world where the industry was trying to find a way to survive. His team might be great, but they're going down because of him. 

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED): BURROW Madeline Sharafian and Michael Capbarat GENIUS LOCI Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise IF ANYTHING HAPPENS I LOVE YOU Will McCormack and Michael Govier OPERA Erick Oh YES-PEOPLE Gísli Darri Halldórsson and Arnar Gunnarsson 

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION): FEELING THROUGH Doug Roland and Susan Ruzenski THE LETTER ROOM Elvira Lind and Sofia Sondervan THE PRESENT Farah Nabulsi and Ossama Bawardi TWO DISTANT STRANGERS Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe WHITE EYE Tomer Shushan and Shira Hochman 

SOUND NOMINEES GREYHOUND Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman MANK Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin NEWS OF THE WORLD Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett SOUL Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker SOUND OF METAL Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michellee Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh 

It has the category right in the name!

VISUAL EFFECTS: LOVE AND MONSTERS Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox THE MIDNIGHT SKY Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon and David Watkins MULAN Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury and Steve Ingram THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones and Santiago Colomo Martinez TENET Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher 

A lot of Crouching Tiger / Leaping Lizards going on here. Probably should have been Tenet, but won't be. 

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY): BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM: DELIVERY OF PRODIGIOUS BRIBE TO AMERICAN REGIME FOR MAKE BENEFIT ONCE GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimer & Peter Baynham & Erica Rivinoja & Dan Mazer & Jena Friedman & Lee Kern; Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimer & Nina Pedrad THE FATHER Screenplay by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller NOMADLAND Written for the screen by Chloé Zhao ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI... Screenplay by Kemp Powers THE WHITE TIGER Written for the screen by Ramin Bahrani 

Can I just go on record that it took EIGHT people to 'write' Borat?  EIGHT. A tale of dementia seems to be in order here for a win. 

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY) NOMINEES JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH Screenplay by Will Berson & Shaka King; Story by Will Berson & Shaka King and Kenny Lucas & Keith Lucas MINARI Written by Lee Isaac Chung PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Written by Emerald Fennell SOUND OF METAL Screenplay by Darius Marder & Abraham Marder; Story by Darius Marder & Derek Cianfrance THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Written by Aaron Sorkin 

Sorkin always seems like the safe choice. But women..............am I right?  Written by a woman for a woman and for women.  

There you have it. Possibly the crapshoot to end all crapshoots. Mike has already begged off watching this with me. And even if he did, he'd razz me for not staying up for it all. And it's gonna be one of those weird Covid, low energy, socially distanced, empty stage things...........so, snore.  (as if they are any better live and in person!)

May the best Cis Man win.   ..........or Mike. 

Song by: the Style Council