“…Honestly, better than we should have done.”
~AFFotD’s Film Critic Staff
Last week, we wrote our Academy Award guide for the Best Picture nominees, listing what each film was about, who should win, and who will win. Yes, we saw every nominated Best Picture film (as well as Best Actress, Actor, Supporting Actress, and Supporting Actress films) because we are deeply unwell.
Then we took a long, long collective nap. We woke up, and the Oscars were airing in two hours. So we rushed together a half-assed rundown where we provided our predictions for the Best Actor and Best Actress categories, and a final one where we rushed through the rest of the categories with very little thought or intention.
How did we do? Not bad! We were right on 15 of the awards given, and a few of those were ones we indicated were potential winners, and like four of them were in categories we had not seen a single entry too (we may be movie weirdos but we’re not watching all the Short Live Action nominees, come on, are you kidding us?).
So we might as well do a rundown of a historic night at the Academy Awards, and go through where we nailed it, and where we done goofed.
America Fun Fact of the Day’s 2023 Oscar Rundown
This past Sunday’s Academy Awards were historic. Everything Everywhere All at Once won seven awards, the most for a Best Picture winning since 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire, and Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan made history for being the first Asian performers to win their respective categories, as well as being the first Malaysian-born and Vietnamese-born Oscar winners, respectively.
(Fun fact, who know what happened before that? Linda Hunt, a white woman who older Millennials might remember as being one of the regular judges on the drama The Practice, won an Oscar in 1984 for Best Supporting Actress…for playing an Asian man before this happened.)
Ultimately, we were pretty satisfied with the winners, and it was a relatively safe and surprise-free ceremony (minus cocaine bear).
Now, the winners, as well as our guesses.
Best Picture – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Our Predicted Winner
We thought this would win.
Should it Have Won?
Oh yes. We loved this movie with intensity.
Our Thoughts
This was not exactly a surprise. It won pretty much every award. But again, we loved this movie, and we were so happy that it won. It’s not a “typical” Oscar-winning film, but then again, remember that time Best Picture went to a movie about fucking fish?
Our Record
1/1
Best Actress – Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Our Predicted Winner
Michelle Yeoh.
Should She Have Won?
Absolutely.
Our Thoughts
We went with our heart, and not our head with this one. There was a very real possibility that it would go to Cate Blanchett, a two-time winner who definitely did the most acting of the year. But between the traction Everything was getting, and how great Yeoh was as the anchor of the best film of the year, we were right in hoping that the Oscars wouldn’t have another Green Book moment by ignoring her great performance.
Our Record
2/2
Best Actor – Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Our Predicted Winner
Brendan Fraser
Should He Have Won?
He wasn’t our favorite performance, but he was our favorite performance of the frontrunners, and we’re happy he has a statue.
Our Thoughts
This was a great comeback story. It’s been well-documented lately, but Fraser went from being backlisted for speaking out against sexual harassment to winning an Oscar. Was his speech a bit much? And filled with whale puns so much they felt like emotional dad jokes? Sure.
But it was either going to be Fraser, or Austin Butler, who was great as Elvis but we just are sick and tired of seeing over-the-top biopics defaulting into winning Oscars for acting. So we felt good about this win for a few reasons.
Our Record
3/3
Best Director – The Daniels, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Our Predicted Winner
The Daniels
Should They Have Won?
Yes. They made the best picture of the year, with a lot fewer resources than a lot of the other nominees.
Our Thoughts
The Daniels, or Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert broke onto the scene by making Swiss Army Man, a movie where Daniel Radcliffe plays a corpse that propels itself through farts (no, seriously). Now they have three Oscars each. The world is wild.
Honestly, All Quiet on the Western Front deserved a nomination here, and we could have seen The Fabelmans sneaking in a legacy win for Spielberg, but we decided to trust our gut here, and ended up picking the right team.
Our Record
4/4
Best Editing – Paul Rodgers, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Our Predicted Winner
Elvis
Should it Have Won?
Yeah absolutely.
Our Thoughts
We guessed Elvis as we were on a deadline, and just said fuck it, it’s editing, but if we thought about it we’d have guessed EEAAO. We’ve already re-watched the movie since it was released we forgot how much happens in that movie and how many split second cuts are in there. It’s an incredible feat. We just picked Elvis assuming, incorrectly, that it would be largely shut out, and they’d give this to them to throw them a bone.
In our prediction article we literally said, “This should win but we just don’t see this movie sweeping everything” which was right in some categories, but not this one.
(Side note, prepare yourself for about a week worth of articles about how hot the editor of EEAAO is. Not from us, though. Or not just from us.)
Our Record
4/5
Best Original Song – M.M. Keeravani & Chandrabose, “Naatu Naatu,” RRR
Our Predicted Winner
RRR
Should it Have Won?
This song is a fucking banger. Yes. DID YOU SEE THIS SHIT!?!?!
Our Thoughts
We were ready to go with Lady Gaga as the winner, because Maverick was such a big movie, and we could see Rihanna winning for Black Panther. But we ultimately decided to go with RRR because A- it slaps and B- this movie is arguably the most popular film from India to ever be released, and this was the only award it was nominated for,
So at the last minute we went with the song we liked best, and we ended up being right.
Our Record
5/6
Best Sound – Top Gun: Maverick
Our Predicted Winner
Avatar: the Way of Water
Should it Have Won?
Yes.
Our Thoughts
As soon as this was announced we kicked ourselves for not taking more time going through these nominations. Avatar makes so much sense for visual awards, but Top Gun is literally all fighter pilot audio taken from actual fighter pilots. Chalk this up as a brain fart from our staff.
Our Record
5/7
Best Adapted Screenplay – Sarah Polley, Women Talking
Our Predicted Winner
All Quiet on the Western Front
Should it Have Won?
Sure? That sounded sarcastic. It wasn’t meant to be. It was definitely a good movie (on a depressing topic) that is literally 99% writing.
Our Thoughts
We did call this out as being a possible dark horse winner, since it was nominated for Best Picture and while the performances were great, the writing is really what got it nominated. We thought All Quiet would win as we anticipated it getting a decent amount of wins, which it did, but we had a swing and a miss here.
Our Record
5/8
Best Original Screenplay – The Daniels, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Our Predicted Winner
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Should it Have Won?
Yes!
Our Thoughts
We thought it miiiight lose to The Fabelmans but we decided not to overthink this one.
Our Record
6/9
Best Visual Effects – Avatar: The Way of Water
Our Predicted Winner
Avatar: The Way of Water
Should it Have Won?
Oh yeah, definitely.
Our Thoughts
This was one of the most obvious wins, given how much money was put into this, and how the Avatar franchise’s whole thing is “we have historically good visual effects.”
Our Record
7/10
Best Original Score – Volker Bertelmann, All Quiet on the Western Front
Our Predicted Winner
Everything, Everywhere All at Once
Should it Have Won?
Honestly, yeah.
Our Thoughts
We just wanted Son Lux to win an Oscar! But the moment it got announced, and the foreboding theme of the movie played, we immediately were like, oh right, this is immediately memorable. EEAAO has a soundtrack that evokes incredible joy and sadness, All Quiet has a soundtrack that instills fear and anxiety. They’re both really good!
Our Record
7/11 (oh thank heaven).
Best Production Design – Christian M. Goldbeck & Ernestine Hipper, All Quiet on the Western Front
Our Predicted Winner
Avatar: The Way of Water
Should it Have Won?
Yes.
Our Thoughts
We specifically called this out as being one of two option. We thought Avatar would get more statues, but we said it would either go to Avatar or All Quiet.
Our Record
7/12
Best Animated Short – The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Our Predicted Winner
My Year of Dicks
Should it Have Won?
No clue!
Our Thoughts
We didn’t watch any of these! We just guessed the dicks one because we have a brand!
Our Record
7/13
Best Documentary Short – The Elephant Whisperers
Our Predicted Winner
How Do You Measure a Year?
Should it Have Won?
Sure!
Our Thoughts
Again, this was a purely blind guess.
Our Record
7/14
Best International Feature – All Quiet on the Western Front
Our Predicted Winner
All Quiet on the Western Front
Should it Have Won?
Yeah.
Our Thoughts
This was a slam dunk, given it won multiple other awards and was nominated for Best Picture.
Our Record
8/15
Best Costume Design – Ruth Carter, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Our Predicted Winner
Black Panther
Should it Have Won?
Absolutely.
Our Thoughts
This was another one that felt like a lock. (Also, Ruth Carter is now the first black woman to win multiple Oscars, so that’s cool).
Our Record
9/16
Best Makeup and Hairstyling – The Whale
Our Predicted Winner
The Whale
Should it Have Won?
Yeah.
Our Thoughts
It definitely does the most in-your-face work, but they pull off a lot in the hair an makeup department here.
Our Record
10/17
Best Cinematography – James Friend, All Quiet on the Western Front
Our Predicted Winner
All Quiet on the Western Front
Should it Have Won?
Oh yeah.
Our Thoughts
We didn’t see two of the nominees, but this seemed like a likely winner, especially since many of the other Best Picture nominees weren’t nominated here.
Our Record
11/18
Best Live Action Short – An Irish Goodbye
Our Predicted Winner
Night Ride
Should it Have Won?
We guess?
Our Thoughts
This was another blind guess having not seen any of the nominees.
Our Record
11/19
Best Documentary Feature – Navalny
Our Predicted Winner
Navalny. Wait what?
Should it Have Won?
Sure!
Our Thoughts
We didn’t do any research and see any of these movies, we just chose this by its name. If we had taken a moment to realize it was about the Russian opposition leader we’d probably have been more confident with this guess.
Our Record
12/20
Best Supporting Actress – Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Our Predicted Winner
Jamie Lee Curtis
Should She Have Won?
Yes and no.
Our Thoughts
It’s definitely a career appreciation award, and she’s great in the movie, but if we’re being honest, Stephanie Hsu had a better performance that was more important to the film.
Our Record
13/21
Best Supporting Actor – Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Our Predicted Winner
Ke Huy Quan
Should it Have Won?
ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY.
Our Thoughts
This was the one acting award lock, but we literally shouted “YES” when we saw him get the award. His story is both tragic and inspiring, and to see him get the appreciation he rightful deserves is the best the Oscars have felt in a long time.
Our Record
14/22
Best Animated Feature – Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Our Predicted Winner
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
Should it Have Won?
Sigh, probably? We would have loved to see this go to Marcel the Shell though
Our Thoughts
This movie took years to make, re-invents a classic story, has cutting edge stop-motion animation. And it is also pure nightmare fuel.
Our Record
Our final score, 15-23. Like we said at the top, we feel good about it. And hell yeah for EEAAO.
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