caryn james: Adrien Brody has secured a nomination, rising to the top of the list with a Golden Globe win and Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his role as an immigrant Holocaust survivor in The Brutalist. His competitors include Timothée Chalamet, who transformed into a brilliant Bob Dylan in Complete Unknown, and Ralph Fiennes, whose powerful and sensitive performance as a cardinal questioning his faith in the Catholic Church commands the attention of the conclave. It will be. Daniel Craig is also likely to appear in an image-shattering role in Queer, in which he plays a gay American writer based on the William S. Burroughs novel. SAG, a large group whose members often overlap with Oscar voters, nominated these four and Coleman Domingo for “Sing Sing.” As good as Domingo is, this movie was such a small release that I always doubted his Oscar chances, so there might be some surprises, but for now, I’m not sure if he Most likely chosen for the last spot.
Nicholas Barber: Adrien Brody is at the top of the best actor list. He won an Oscar in 2003 for playing an Eastern European Jewish composer in The Pianist, and played a similar role (but now an architect) in The Brutalist, but this time he’s even better. There is. No actor has put more effort into a role this year, and no actor has had to learn Hungarian in the process. Just to be clear, Timothée Chalamet gets to play an album’s worth of Bob Dylan songs on Complete Unknown, and his impersonation of Dylan is incredible and a real Oscar winner. It’s the kind of thing voters like. Ralph Fiennes shines with his conclave expertise, while Sebastian Stan earns nominations for his supple performance in The Apprentice or Different Man (for which he won a Golden Globe). There is a possibility. Colman Domingo is so sympathetic in Sing Sing that he deserves a fifth place in the Best Actor category. But if the Academy were less pretentious about horror films, Hugh Grant’s nerdy and hilarious take on psychotic malevolence in The Heretic would certainly be appreciated.
Best Actress Award
Nicholas Barber: My personal favorite of the Oscar-winning actresses is Mikey Madison, the vortex of energy in Anora. More or less unknown until she was cast in director Sean Baker’s raucous comedy-drama, she created a timeless and vivid character who was barely absent from the screen from start to finish. However, this is a very strong year for leading female performances, so a nomination for Madison is not guaranteed. Fernanda Torres, who won a Golden Globe for her role as the indomitable matriarch in Walter Salles’ sharply political Brazilian drama I’m Still Here, is now in the running for an Oscar. Demi Moore also won a Golden Globe for her role in Substance, so her comeback story could be appealing to the Academy. Similarly, Pamela Anderson, who turned heads at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards, could be nominated for her return role in The Last Showgirl. Who does that leave? My money would be Cynthia Erivo or Nicole Kidman, who played strong yet weak women in Wicked and Baby Girl, respectively.
caryn james: I’m not saying she’ll win, but Demi Moore is more likely than ever to get a SAG nomination and back-to-back nominations for “Substance” after her win at the Golden Globes and her acceptance speech ahead of the Oscars. is increasing. Other things that are certain are Mikey Madison in his breakthrough role in Anora, Carla Sofia Gascón, who will be the first transgender nominee in the category, Emilia Perez, and possibly It’s probably Cynthia Erivo, who turned green and sang the song in “Wicked.” That last slot is up for grabs, and there’s a good chance Nicole Kidman will be chosen to play Babygirl simply because Oscar voters seem to love her. Fernanda Torres is electrifying in I’m Still Here and Marianne Jean-Baptiste is uncompromising in Mike Leigh’s The Hard Truth, both should It is possible that he will be nominated to replace Erivo and Kidman, but that is unlikely. And while it would be great to see Pamela Anderson sneak into the category for The Last Showgirl, as she did with her SAG nomination, perhaps that vote of confidence comes too late to give her the momentum she needs. I guess it was.
Best Supporting Actor Award
Nicholas Barber: This seems like a fitting moment to my annual lament about actors being forced into categories they don’t belong to. Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin co-star in A Real Pain, but had they happened to be of different genders, both would have been considered “lead” actors. However, the powers that be have chosen Culkin to be the supporting actor in the film, and his Golden Globe-winning performance is sure to earn him a nomination. Edward Norton radiates maturity and kindness as Bob Dylan’s mentor Pete Seeger in Completely Unknown. And Yura Borisov brings a new layer of humanity to Anora’s second half as a kind-hearted Russian enforcer. Always underrated, Guy Pearce is nuanced and dignified in The Brutalist, and it’s about time he got an Oscar nomination. Finally, we should include Denzel Washington, who has a wonderfully cool presence in Gladiator II. It’s hard to remember a time when supporting actors stole the movie so completely from the supposed star.
caryn james: It would be a shock if Kieran Culkin didn’t win an Oscar for his role as Jesse Eisenberg’s funny, troubled, chaotic cousin in Real Pain. He has already won numerous Globe Awards, SAG nominations, and awards from critics’ organizations, each time giving a self-deprecating and funny acceptance speech. The other nominees are just there to fill the category, but still Edward Norton, who played Pete Seeger in Completely Unknown, and Yura Borisov, who played the kind-hearted gangster in Anora. , and Guy Pearce, who plays the role of a hardened gangster, give strong performances. A big-hearted big man from “Brutalist.” It’s hard to decide on the fifth spot, but my guess is that due to his versatile performance on The Apprentice as Roy Cohn, who teaches a young Donald Trump the dark arts of politics and media manipulation, Jeremy Strong will take that slot.
