Well, as opposed to the Golden Globes, I did pretty horribly with the CCAs as far as my predictions go. Of the film awards, I predicted 13/23 correctly, which was pretty dire. Anyway, I thought I’d run down my opinions on each award and what I think it says (if anything) about the films’ Oscar chances.
Before we begin, I’d like to add that I loved HBO’s Watchmen and was happy to see both Regina King and Jean Smart go home with well-deserved awards. Good picks.
Best Score: Joker won over my prediction of 1917. I’m starting to think that it’ll take the Oscar, even though it seemed like Thomas Newman’s 1917 score was the front runner. Personally, I prefer the latter, so this was a shame.
Best Song: I didn’t realise the CCAs do ties so when this was announced I was like ‘what?!?’ Anyway, Rocketman and Wild Rose won.
Best Foreign Language Film: Parasite won, as we all expected – totally deserved.
Best Sci-Fi or Horror Film: I had no idea what was gonna win in this category so I took a guess and was actually right – Us won! Good choice, probably the best movie nominated.
Best Comedy: I was an idiot and predicted Booksmart. I should have known when they gave Eddie Murphy a Lifetime Achievement Award that they were going to give it to Dolemite is My Name. In my opinion, Dolemite was the worst film nominated but I still liked it.
Best Action Movie: I thought John Wick was going to win since it was the most action movie-y of the nominees but they gave it to Endgame. I would have given it to 1917 even though I don’t consider it an action film.
Best Animated Feature: As I predicted, Toy Story 4 won, proving that Missing Link was just a Globes thing and TS4 is still the front runner.
Best Visual Effects: I predicted The Irishman because it’s more of a critic-friendly movie, but Endgame won. I’m not denying that it had fantastic CGI, but Irishman made much more emotionally impactful use of it’s VFX, even if it was dodgy at parts.
Best Hair and Make-Up: Bombshell won, as I think we all predicted – it’s the Vice of this year.
Best Costume Design: Dolemite won, as I predicted. Personally, would have chosen Hollywood as I think the costumes in that film say a lot about the characters.
Best Editing: I was astonished when they gave this award to 1917, with intentionally the most invisible editing of the nominees. Great editing, but I would give it to The Irishman because Thelma Schoonmaker had to keep the pace going over three-and-a-half-hours.
Best Production Design: Hollywood won – deserved.
Best Cinematography: 1917 won, obviously.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Greta Gerwig won, which surprised me a lot as I was predicting Steve Zaillian. Gerwig’s script is admirable for it’s remixing of Louisa May Alcott’s novel, but had some issues. Irishman would have been the better choice.
Best Original Screenplay: Tarantino won. I was predicting Bong Joon-ho. The two scripts are pretty evenly-matched for me so I’m only disappointed in that my prediction was wrong.
Best Director: I can’t believe they tied such a huge category, but Mendes and Joon-ho crossed the finish line at the same time. Both good choices.
Best Ensemble: I was predicting Knives Out because it had the biggest cast, but Irishman won. I guess the CCAs couldn’t turn up the trio of De Niro, Pacino and Pesci. I think the nominee with the most amount of great performances was probably Little Women – Ronan, Pugh, Dern, Streep, Chalamet…
Best Young Actor/Actress: Roman Griffin Davis won, as I predicted. I’m undecided on whether I liked his performance or Julia Butters’ more, but he had more screentime so I can imagine wanting to give him the award.
Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern won. I really liked her performance in Marriage Story. Was it awards-worthy? Maybe not, but it’s not a crowded category and it’s her year. I might have voted for Florence Pugh in Little Women as she was a bit of a standout among a pretty crowded cast.
Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt won, good stuff.
Best Actress: I’ve yet to see Judy but I predicted Zellweger because she’s the front runner. Out of the ones I have seen, I’d have gone for either Nyong’o or Johansson.
Best Actor: I predicted Driver since I thought he was more of the critical favourite, but front runner Phoenix pulled through. Great performance, I liked Driver’s more.
Best Picture: I predicted Parasite but OUATIH won, solidifying my prediction that Hollywood‘s winning at the Oscars. Good to see.
Beyond the Popcorn 