The 91st Academy Awards will take place this Sunday, February 24, at 8:00 PM EST on ABC.
This year’s telecast will be vastly different from the ones that came before it as there will be no host after their initial one, Kevin Hart, backed out due to his past alleged homophobia.
The host drama shouldn’t dim the quality that surrounds the nominees in all the categories at this year’s ceremony, as many of them really knocked it out of the park with the performances they gave.
Let’s breakdown some of the bigger awards at the Oscars and see who will and should win come Sunday night.
Best Original Song:
“All The Stars,” (Black Panther)
“I’ll Fight,” (RBG)
“The Place Where Lost Things Go,” (Mary Poppins Returns)
“Shallow,” (A Star is Born)
“When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings,” (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs)
Will Win: “Shallow”. Should Win: “Shallow”.
This will be the one Oscar that Gaga wins on Sunday, and deservedly so. The other songs really pale in comparison when it comes to the overall weight that “Shallow” brought to the movie and music scene in 2018.
Best Director:
Spike Lee, BlacKKKlansman
Pawel Pawlikowski, Cold War
Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite
Alfonso Cuaron, Roma
Adam McKay, Vice
Will Win: Alfonso Cuaron. Should Win: Spike Lee.
It’s really a shame that Bradley Cooper was overlooked for this category. Alfonso did a brilliant job in Roma in his storytelling of a middle-class family’s maid working in Mexico City back in the early 1970’s, but there has to be something said with what Spike brought to the table with BlacKKKlansman. A lot of the material in his film resonates so much with what’s going on in the world today, and it would be a huge “I’m Sorry” from the Academy for not nominating him for Do The Right Thing by awarding him with this honor.
Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams, Vice
Marina de Tavira, Roma
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
Will Win: Regina. Should Win: Regina.
Regina stole Beale Street with her emotionally charged performance that far exceeded the other nominees. She’s slowly become an awards darling over the past couple of years, winning Emmys and Golden Globes along the way, and should be able to net her first Oscar this Sunday.
Best Supporting Actor:
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Adam Driver, BlacKKKlansman
Sam Elliott, A Star is Born
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell, Vice
Will Win: Mahershala. Should Win: Richard.
Mahershala will more than likely earn his second Oscar in this category. He was fantastic in Green Book, although its arguable if he was really a supporting actor in it. I preferred Richard’s performance as Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy)’s eccentric gay pal Jack Hock, who helped her turn her art form into delicious deception.
Best Actress:
Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
Glenn Close, The Wife
Olivia Coleman, The Favourite
Lady Gaga, A Star is Born
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Will Win: Glenn. Should Win: Glenn/Melissa
I know many of us want Gaga to win, but it won’t happen. If it does, I’ll be floored. It’s Glenn’s year, finally, after losing six times in the past. And deservedly so, as she was brilliant in The Wife. It frustrates me that Melissa has gotten no winning love during awards show season, as she fell all the way into her performance of Lee Israel from the beginning to the end. Would love for her to win as well, but just like Gaga, it probably won’t happen.
Best Actor:
Christian Bale, Vice
Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
Will Win: Rami. Should Win: Rami?
Rami has won every major award up until now minus the Critics Choice (Christian won). He will more than likely do the same on Oscar night. Should he win? Sure, as he carried the very long film and I really believed he was Freddie Mercury throughout. There’s a huge part of me that hopes there’s an upset and Bradley wins, but the chance of that happening is slim to none at this point.
Best Picture:
Black Panther
BlacKKKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
A Star is Born
Vice
Will Win: Roma. Should Win: Black Panther
Movies like Black Panther rarely ever win Best Picture, as The Academy usually swings towards drama and not action/adventure/sci-fi. You can’t deny the cultural and box office impact that Black Panther had, not to mention its universal acclaim by critics and fans alike. Yes, Roma is great, sure. So are all the other films in some capacity. But Black Panther really deserves this for what it brought to our big screens in 2018, and my hopes are that it can pull of a major upset in about 48 hours.
This post was created by one of our Contributing Writers and does not reflect the opinion of Instinct Magazine or the other Contributing Writers when it comes to this subject.
Glenn Close should have won
Glenn Close should have won for Dangerous Liaisons. Jodie Foster won instead for "message" movie The Accused. Have you ever had a hankering to rewatch The Accused, Philadelphia, or Brokeback Mountain ? Me neither.