How the Flyer News Oscars predictions faired

Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

Luke Osciak | Arts & Entertainment Editor

On the night of March 12, the 95th Academy Awards announced the winners of the Oscars.
Before the show, Flyer News published a list of predictions for who we thought would win each category. Looking at this list in retrospect, I realize that some of the picks were longshots. I am a little disappointed that some of my personal picks didn’t make it, but that just goes to show how strong of a year it has been for movies. Out of the eight predictions, four of them were right and four of them were wrong.

The predictions that were right were Key Huy Quan winning Best Supporting Actor, “Avatar: The Way of Water” winning Best Visual Effects, “All Quiet on the Western Front” winning Best Cinematography and Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” winning Best Animated Feature.
The categories we got wrong were some of the big ones: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
The winner of Best Actor in a Leading role went to Brendan Fraser for his performance in “The Whale” instead of Paul Mescal for his performance in “Aftersun,” which was what we predicted.
What we failed to predict was the huge sweep of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” at the Oscars. The film won the Best Picture Category, and its lead actress, Michelle Yeoh, also went home with the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Jamie Lee Curtis won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the movie. In total “Everything Everywhere All at Once” left the 95th Academy Awards with seven Oscars won.
The underdog story of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is beautiful. When you listen to the crew talk about the movie, they are so happy that it resonated with so many people. In his award speech, director Daniel Kwan thanked everyone for making this movie a reality.
“Thank you so much to everyone here,” he said. “You have all inspired me. One of the things I realized growing up is that one of the best things we can do for each other is shelter each other from the chaos of this crazy world. Thank you to the storytellers here who did that for me.”
However, we at the Flyer News office are a little disappointed that so many great films went unrecognized. Todd Field’s “Tár,” Steven Speilberg’s “The Fabelmans” and Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inishirin” all went home with zero Oscars. Jordan Peele’s “Nope” was one of the biggest movies of the summer and it didn’t even get a nomination.

In the end, it is films like “Everything Everywhere All at Once” that get to win because of their wide appeal. Last year was an especially good year for creative and nuanced filmmaking in Hollywood. However, Everything Everywhere is a once in a lifetime kind of film and it has been able to capture audiences due to its wide appeal.
I saw the film at The Neon when it first came out. I was probably one of the only people under the age of 60 that went to see the film that afternoon. Once it finished, I walked out into the overcast winter afternoon. I overheard a lady talking to an employee about how incredible the movie was. I saw a man buy his woman chocolates from the snack bar before they left. I saw an elderly couple holding hands and walking to their cars before sharing a kiss and driving off. I wasn’t thinking about the film’s Oscar chances after I left that theatre. After seeing those displays, I already knew the film had won the best award any film could get: being a film that brought joy and love into the hearts of its audience.

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