With the Oscar nominations having been announced this morning, I’ve decided to show how I would have voted if I had a ballot, since I’m not influenced or affected by any awards campaigns.
DISCLAMER: These aren’t my picks for every category, but for most of them. And I as well will be giving my choice for the winner of each category and for many of the categories I’ve given a “just missed” section, which basically serves as a place for honorable mentions. But first, some special awards…
Special Award: Performer of the Year
- Winner: (Tie) Florence Pugh – Fighting with My Family, Midsommar, & Little Women
- Winner: (Tie) Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood & Ad Astra
Special Award: Best Debut Feature 
- Winner: Joe Talbot – The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Best Visual Effects
- Winner: Ad Astra
- Alita: Battle Angel
- Avengers: Endgame
- The Irishman
- The Lion King
Just Missed:
- The Aeronauts
- Detective Pikachu
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Best Costume Design
- Dolemite Is My Name – Ruth E. Carter
- In Fabric – Jo Thompson
- The Irishman – Christopher Peterson & Sandy Powell
- The Lighthouse – Linda Muir
- Winner: Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood – Arianne Phillips
Best Makeup & Hairstyling
- Winner: Bombshell
- The Irishman
- Rocketman
- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
- Skin
Best Film Editing
- 1917 – Lee Smith
- Winner: The Irishman – Thelma Schoonmaker
- Marriage Story – Jennifer Lame
- Parasite – Jinmo Yang
- Uncut Gems – Ronald Bronstein & Benny Safdie
Just Missed:
- Knives Out – Bob Ducsay
- Midsommar – Lucian Johnston
- Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood – Fred Raskin
Best Production Design
- 1917 – Dennis Gassner & Lee Sandales
- Winner: The Lighthouse – Craig Lathrop & Ian Greig
- The Mountain – Jacqueline Abrahams, Steven Killian, & Alexander Linde
- Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood – Barbara Ling & Nancy Haigh
- Parasite – Lee Ha-jun & Cho Won-Woo
Just Missed:
- The Irishman – Bob Shaw & Regina Graves
- Joker – Mark Friedberg & Kris Moran
- Midsommar – Henrik Svensson, Klara Alfredsson Jofs Svensson, & Zsuzsanna Svertecki
- Under the Silver Lake – Michael Perry, Melody Lavigna, & Paul Roome
Best Original Score
- A Hidden Life – James Newton Howard
- Winner: Joker – Hildur Guðnadóttir
- Midsommar – Bobby Krlic
- Monos – Mica Levi
- Under the Silver Lake – Disasterpeace
Just Missed:
- The Last Black Man in San Francisco – Emile Mosseri
- Uncut Gems – Daniel Loptain
- Us – Michael Abels
Best Cinematography
- 1917 – Roger Deakins
- Ad Astra – Hoyte Van Hoytema
- Joker – Lawrence Sher
- Winner: The Lighthouse – Jarin Blaschke
- Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Claire Mathon
Just Missed:
- A Hidden Life – Jörg Widmer
- The Irishman – Rodrigo Prieto
- The Last Black Man in San Francisco – Adam Newport-Berra
- Parasite – Hong Gyeong-pyo
- Uncut Gems – Darius Khondji
Best Documentary Feature
- American Factory
- Winner: For Sama
- Honeyland
- One Child Nation
- Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese
Just Missed:
- Apollo 11
- Mike Wallace Is Here
Best International Film
- Monos
- Pain and Glory
- Parasite
- Winner: Portrait of a Lady on Fire
- Transit
Just Missed:
- An Elephant Sitting Still
- Genesis
Best Animated Feature
- Funan
- Winner: I Lost My Body
- Klaus
- Missing Link
- Toy Story 4
Best Adapted Screenplay
- A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – Micah Fitzerman-Blue & Noah Harpster (Based on the article Can You Say … Hero? by Tom Junod)
- The Irishman – Steven Zaillian (Based on the memoir I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt)
- Winner: Little Women – Greta Gerwig (Based on the novel of the same title by Louisa May Alcott)
- Luce – JC Lee & Julius Onah (Based on the play of the same title by JC Lee)
- Transit – Christian Petzold (Based on the novel of the same title by Anna Seghers)
Just Missed:
- The Farewell – Lulu Wang (Based on the radio-memoir What You Don’t Know by Lulu Wang)
- The King – David Michôd & Joel Edgerton (Based on the plays Henry IV parts I & II and Henry V by William Shakespeare)
- The Sound of Silence – Ben Nabors & Michael Tyburski (Based on the short film Palimpsest by Ben Nabors & Michael Tyburski)
Best Original Screenplay
- The Lighthouse – Robert & Max Eggers
- Winner: Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach
- Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino
- Parasite – Bong Joon-ho & Han Jin-won
- Uncut Gems – Ronald Bronstein, Josh & Benny Safdie
Just Missed:
- Knives Out – Rian Johnson
- The Mountain – Rick Alverson, Dustin Guy Defa, & Colm O’Leary
- Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Céline Sciamma
Best Supporting Actor
- Winner: Willem Dafoe – The Lighthouse
- Jeff Goldblum – The Mountain
- Jonathan Majors – The Last Black Man in San Francisco
- Al Pacino – The Irishman
- Joe Pesci – The Irishman
Just Missed:
- Baykali Ganambarr – The Nightingale
- Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood
- Franz Rogowski – A Hidden Life
Best Supporting Actress
- Laura Dern – Marriage Story
- Winner: Adèle Haenel – Portrait of a Lady on Fire
- Florence Pugh – Little Women
- Taylor Russell – Waves
- Zhao Shuzhen – The Farewell
Just Missed:
- Julia Fox – Uncut Gems
- Jennifer Lopez – Hustlers
- Julianne Nicholson – Monos
Best Actor
- Adam Driver – Marriage Story
- Kelvin Harrison Jr. – Luce
- Robert Pattinson – The Lighthouse
- Brad Pitt – Ad Astra
- Winner: Joaquin Phoenix – Joker
Just Missed:
- Robert De Niro – The Irishman
- Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood
- Adam Sandler – Uncut Gems
Best Actress
- Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story
- Noémie Merlant – Portrait of a Lady on Fire
- Winner: Lupita Nyong’o – Us
- Mary Kay Place – Diane
- Florence Pugh – Midsommar
Just Missed:
- Aisling Franciosi – The Nightingale
- Elisabeth Moss – Her Smell
- Charlize Theron – Bombshell
Best Director
- Robert Eggers – The Lighthouse
- Winner: Terrence Malick – A Hidden Life
- Josh & Benny Safdie – Uncut Gems
- Céline Sciamma – Portrait of a Lady on Fire
- Martin Scorsese – The Irishman
Just Missed:
- Rick Alverson – The Mountain
- Noah Baumbach – Marriage Story
- Bong Joon-ho – Parasite
- Claire Denis – High Life
- James Gray – Ad Astra
- Alejandro Landes – Monos
Best Picture
- A Hidden Life
- Winner: The Irishman
- The Lighthouse
- Marriage Story
- The Mountain
- The Nightingale
- Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood
- Parasite
- Portrait of a Lady on Fire
- Uncut Gems
Griff's Picks 