Final 2017 Oscar Predictions

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Final 2017 Oscar Predictions

At long last, the time has come! The 90th Annual Academy Awards will be held this evening, marking the conclusion of this lengthy movie awards season (made slightly longer this year by the Winter Olympics)! [...Except for the all-important 4th Annual CineMunchies which we will bestow next week.] Here at CineMunch we've ranked our favorite films of 2017 and we know who we're rooting for tonight, so it's time to double down on some final predictions.

We've seen some intense battles of late in Oscar's biggest category, Best Picture, but this year truly is the craziest I've ever seen. We thought Gravity vs. 12 Years a Slave (2013) was close; we can presume Birdman vs. Boyhood (2014) came down to the wire; Spotlight overtaking The Big Short and The Revenant (2015) was a welcome surprise; and then there was last year's shocker. At this time a year ago, I wrote about how the suspense of that Oscar night was not to be found inside the final envelope (boy was I wrong) as La La Land seemed to be an unstoppable behemoth...and I think we can recall how that played out -- congrats again, Moonlight! So while Best Director and all four acting awards look set in stone, the night's biggest prize is still so up in the air that there are realistically FIVE Best Picture nominees that stand a good chance of being named 2017's MVP.

So settle in, mix yourself a cocktail (we'll be starting with Kaluuya's Kahlúa in honor of Get Out from our Oscar Menu), and follow along with our predictions below! For more (snarky) commentary and up-to-the-minute analysis (provided our television cooperates this year), be sure to follow us on Twitter @CineMunch.

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If We Had an Oscar Ballot 2017

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If We Had an Oscar Ballot 2017

What follows is a hypothetical scenario in which we are Academy voters who commit the ultimate sin of showing you our completed ballots. Never mind that ballots were due several days ago - we're professional procrastinators.

Note: Like many Oscar voters, we could go through the motions of voting in all 24 races, but, for the sake of honesty (and what we hope the real voters practice), we'll abstain from the categories where we have yet to see all the nominees. So no Animated Feature (though we'd maybe vote for Coco anyway because it's amazing), Foreign Film, Documentary Short, or Documentary Feature (though we were won over by the charming Faces Places). But enough about what we didn't see - here's who and what we're rooting for Sunday night!

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Oscar Menu 2018

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Oscar Menu 2018

Set your holiday table, folks. The Oscars are coming!

As usual, we're here to help you navigate the obstacle course that is The Oscar Menu. You can always play it easy--think a bowl of goldfish for The Shape of Water, peaches and cream gummies for Call Me By Your Name, and hot tea for Get Out--but that's not as fun as attempting a couture creation of your own a la Reynolds Woodcock.

Read on for drinks, desserts and the requisite cheese plate(s). Happy feasting!

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2017 Oscar Nominations Reactions

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2017 Oscar Nominations Reactions

The nominations for the 90th Annual Academy Awards have arrived, and The Shape of Water swam away with the most nominations at thirteen. Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk was semi-close behind with eight mentions, followed by Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri with seven. There were relatively few shocks on hand, though not many saw the (much deserved, though unexpected) embrace of Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread coming.

Have a listen to our initial thoughts on this morning's announcement below (fair morning: we spend the last ten minutes discussing/debating our dislike of a certain film featuring billboards), and don't forget to subscribe to our CineDrunk podcast on iTunes. Read on for a list of the nominations and predictions results.

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Final 2017 Oscar Nominations Predictions

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Final 2017 Oscar Nominations Predictions

Hallelujah! Christmas morning* has finally arrived!

*Christmas morning = Oscar nominations morning, obviously, as we anxiously await to see who Santa (AKA the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences) gifted with a shot at a shiny trophy and who gets coal in their stocking.

The 90th Annual Academy Awards nominations will be announced Tuesday morning in two segments, one at 8:22am ET and the other at the precise time of 8:38:30am ET (you can view a live stream of the announcement via the Oscars website).

2017 was a real roller coaster (in all regards), but what started as a truly dreadful year in film ended on a positive note with a lot of quality films released in the last few months of the year. Here at CineMunch we will be rooting hard for Call Me by Your Name, Get Out, and Lady Bird, and very much NOT rooting for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (though expect to hear all of those films called out multiple times). I didn't take too many risks with my predictions, though this definitely feels like a year in which Oscar could throw us some major curveballs. And I, for one, am excited to find out!

Read on for my final nominations predictions.

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Final 2016 Oscar Predictions

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Final 2016 Oscar Predictions

The day has arrived! We've reached the finish line of this long movie awards season, and it's time to hand out the final trophies of the year! We here at CineMunch have ranked our favorite films of 2016 and bestowed our own awards (the 3rd Annual CineMunchies, don'tchaknow), so now we look to the 89th Annual Academy Awards to put a feather in 2016's cap tonight on ABC. Find out who we'd vote for if we had a ballot here.

This year the suspense won't be what's inside the final envelope (congrats, La La Land), but in just how many statues Damien Chazelle's original musical will take home. It's poised to nab at least eight, but could win as many as twelve, which would break the record of eleven wins set by Ben-Hur in 1959 (and then matched by Titanic in 1997 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003).

So settle in, mix yourself a cocktail (we'll be starting with Viola's Triumph martinis from our Oscar Menu), and follow along with our predictions below! For more (snarky) commentary and up-to-the-minute analysis, be sure to follow us on Twitter @CineMunch.

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If We Had an Oscar Ballot 2016

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If We Had an Oscar Ballot 2016

What follows is a hypothetical scenario in which we are Academy voters who commit the ultimate sin of showing you our completed ballots. Never mind that ballots were due several days ago - we're professional procrastinators.

Note: Like many Oscar voters, we could go through the motions of voting in all 24 races, but, for the sake of honesty (and what we hope the real voters practice), we'll abstain from the categories where we have yet to see all the nominees. So no Animated Feature (though we'd cast one vote each for Moana and Zootopia of those we've seen), Foreign Film, Documentary Short, or Documentary Feature (we braved the 7+ hours of O.J.: Made in America, but still have two nominees to see for completion's sake). Oh, and no Makeup & Hairstyling either because we can't be bothered to watch Suicide Squad. But enough about what we didn't see - here's who and what we're rooting for Sunday night!

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2016 Oscar Nominations Reactions

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2016 Oscar Nominations Reactions

The nominations for the 89th Annual Academy Awards have landed, and La La Land danced away with 14 nominations - tying the record for the most nominated film in Oscar history with All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997). Not so close behind were Arrival and Moonlight, with eight nominations each. Though there may not have been as many shocking snubs or surprises as in year's past, Oscar still had some curveballs to throw (No Amy Adams?! Hey, Michael Shannon! Mel Gibson - really?).

Have a listen to our initial thoughts on this morning's announcement below, and don't forget to subscribe to our CineDrunk podcast on iTunes. Read on for a list of the nominations and predictions results.

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Final 2016 Oscar Nominations Predictions

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Final 2016 Oscar Nominations Predictions

The day we've all been waiting for has arrived!

November 3, 2020!?

Sadly, no. The Oscar nominations will have to do for now. The 89th Annual Academy Awards nominations will be announced Tuesday morning at 8:18am ET (you can view a live stream of the announcement via the Oscars website). On hand to reveal the nominees in all 24 categories: actors Jennifer Hudson, Brie Larson, and Ken Watanabe, writer/director Jason Reitman, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezski, and Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.

2016 certainly had its ups and plentiful downs, but it was a pretty decent year for film (if you knew where to look). I expect this year's Oscar nominations to mostly reflect that quality (though full disclosure, we here at CineMunch think awards behemoth and Oscar frontrunner La La Land was good, but wildly overrated). Our own personal top ten lists and choices for the best of the year will drop next month. In the meantime, let's guess what the Academy will deem the best of the best.

Read on for my final nominations predictions.

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