mlsentertainment

Article by Marcus Siu

With a whopping 16 nominations, “Sinners” shattered the record for most nominations for a film. The previous record of 14 was shared by “All about Eve” (1950), “Titanic” (1997) and “La La Land” (2016). Even with a brand new award category for Achievement in Casting this year, “Sinners” still would have landed 15 nominations and would have broken the previous record.

However, just because a movie has the most nominations doesn’t automatically make it a Best Picture winner. Look what happened to “La La Land” with it’s 14 nominations ten years ago. It lost to “Moonlight” which was only nominated for eight. For this year’s awards, the question remains, will the Academy choose “Sinners” (14 nods) over “One Battle After Another” (13 nods) for Best Picture?

If you do a category comparison, both films match up evenly except for two minor differences. “One Battle After Another” has an two supporting actors nominated whereas “Sinners” has only one, but “Sinners” was a nominated in two other categories; Costume Design and Makeup & Hairstyling.

Looking at “One Battle After Another’s” characters, you really can’t blame the costume designer, makeup or the hairstylist for not getting a nomination since neither is critical to the script. Perhaps the costume designer deserves a special honorary Oscar for designing the plaid bathrobe that DiCaprio wore, if it was designed at all instead of bought off the racks at a T.J. Max store. Certainly, it was a memorable robe in a memorable role.

With the Academy’s preferential ballot system voting for Best Picture, I think more people will score “One Battle After Another” in the top three positions, whereas “Sinners” may get a lot of first place place votes, but not as many in the top three, since stories about vampires aren’t taken as seriously as human ones in the Academy, no matter how great the screenplay is.

When was the last time a Best Picture movie won with vampires being central to the story? I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, but “One Battle After Another” probably resonates in todays sociopolitical climate, especially in these polarizing times in the new modern day ICE age we now live in.

Rather than giving “Sinners” Best Picture, it makes sense to recognize the film by giving the Best Actor Oscar to Michael B. Jordan, especially with the challenges of playing the two leading roles opposite himself. Sure, Wagner Moura played three characters in “The Secret Agent”, but to play off oneself sharing the screen as brothers, “Smoke” and “Stack”?

Without this extraordinary performance, “Sinners” would not have been the great movie that it is. In fact, you can say the same about the entire cast along with fellow nominees, Delroy Lindo and Wunmi Mosaku. “Sinners” should and will win for Best Casting.

In addition to the newcomers from “Sinners”, there are a lot of new faces at the Oscars this year. In the acting categories, 11 individuals are first-time nominees (Rose Byrne, Jacob Elordi, Elle Fanning, Michael B. Jordan, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku, Wagner Moura, Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård and Teyana Taylor).

When “Marty Supreme” was released last Christmas, Timothée Chalamet quickly became the front-runner to win the Best Actor. Just within two weeks after the film was released, he won Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes and also Best Actor at the Critics Choice Awards with its early momentum and buzz. He was simply brilliant in the role of the title character, which is also up for nine Oscars, including Best Picture.

However, the movie lost steam and the buzz dissipated quickly. Perhaps, if he didn’t play such a self-centered loathing character or if the movie was more about opera or ballet instead of Ping Pong, it might have resonated with the older and mature Academy voters. Sorry to say, Chalamet will need to be a little more patient this time around as he’ll have to continue to pursue “greatness” all over again at his very young age of thirty. If he gets nominated next year, he will be in the company of six “great” actors: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Bradley Cooper, William Hurt and Gary Cooper.

Probably the “surest” prediction in the Acting category that you can bet and not lose money for, if that’s your thing, is that Jessie Buckley will win hands down for Best Actress for “Hamnet”. Not only would it be a win for Buckley, who has taken all the award show, but it will give “Hamnet” a sense of accomplishment and recognition for Co-Writer/Director Chloe Zhao and the rest of the cast and crew.

Had Buckley’s latest movie “The Bride” come out during before the Academy voting period, there could have been a tremendous backlash. Finicky voters could have easily changed their mind, as the movie bombed at the box office. It earned $7.3 million domestically and $13.6 million globally in its first week against an estimated $80–$90 million production budget. Perhaps, she may be the current front-runner for Worst Actress at the Razzie Awards next year. That would be a rare feat to win an Oscar one year and a Razzie the next.

SUPPORTING VILLIANS

It’s been forty years since Amy Madigan received her first nomination in 1985 for “Twice in a Lifetime”. She just received her second portraying Aunt Gladys, the unforgettable voodoo witch character from “Weapons”. Her competition in the Best Supporting Actress category are all first time nominees, most who are not household names yet and are relatively new to the scene. The exception being Elle Fanning for “Sentimental Value”, who was nominated along with her co-star Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas who between them will probably split votes. Madigan’s main competition will be Teyana Taylor for “One Battle After Another”, who won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Female Actor – Motion Picture.

However, I expect Taylor’s co-star, Sean Penn, who plays the villainous and unforgettable Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw to win for Best Supporting Actor. With Penn being an actor’s actor, sharing the screen alongside nominees DiCaprio, Del Toro, newcomers Taylor and Infiniti, his character links them all together.

Penn also made it obviously clear from interviews that Director Paul Thomas Anderson is a “brilliant” and “touched” filmmaker with “no relationship with convention”. Penn describes “One Battle After Another” as a “must-see” film. Penn rarely campaigns, but seems he seemed especially proud of this film, which is sometimes referred to as a “masterclass in villainy” in which Penn aptly demonstrates. 

Penn’s main competition will be first time nominee, veteran Stellan Skarsgård for his nuanced and exquisite performance in “Sentimental Value”, but I’m expecting Penn to receive his elite third Oscar, a feat only accomplished only seven times, and only three times by a male actor.

Both Penn and Madigan were so deeply transformational in their roles and their characters will surely be talked about for generations to come. This time, I hope the bad guys (and gal) win.

CONAN

For those who saw the 97th Annual Academy Awards with host Conan O’Brien will never forget how he opened up the show. It was body horror comedy at its best with his parody of “The Substance”, where he emerged from a rubber replica of Demi Moore’s torso.

Expect more surprises from host Conan O’Brien.

WHAT ELSE TO LOOK FORWARD TO

A Bridesmaids cast reunion is planned for the 98th Academy Awards to celebrate the hit comedy’s 15th anniversary, with stars Rose Byrne, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, and Ellie Kemper expected to participate.

Also “There’s also going to be a Marvel reunion for the superhero fans. So we’re gonna have superstar superheroes, and there is also going to be an extraterrestrial on the stage. So you can figure that one out.”, Oscars telecast executive producer Katy Mullan said at the Oscars press conference this week.

Look

MUSIC PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

The “KPop Demon Hunters” moment begins with a fusion of traditional Korean instrumentalists and dance, celebrating the folklore and cultural inspiration that anchors the story behind this animated blockbuster. As part of this experience, EJAE, AUDREY NUNA and REI AMI, the singing voices behind HUNTR/X, will perform the Oscar®-nominated original song “Golden” from the film.

The “Sinners” moment explores the role music plays in the film’s storytelling and translates this into a cinematic live moment on the Oscars stage. Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq will perform the Oscar-nominated original song “I Lied To You,” and they will be joined by Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith in an homage to the film’s singular visual style.

OSCARS SO GLOBAL

A sign that that shows the Oscars are becoming more global is that a record four non-English language performances are nominated this year (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Wagner Moura, Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård). Also, “The Secret Agent” and “Sentimental Value” are the 12th and 13th non-English language films to be nominated for both International Feature Film and Best Picture in the same year. In fact, for the eighth year in a row, at least one non-English language film has been nominated in the Best Picture category.

MINDING THE GAP

Women are increasingly getting their due and recognition in the Academy with a record 76 women nominated this year. The previous record of 71 was set in 2023. Chloé Zhao’s nomination for Hamnet is the 11th Directing nomination for a woman. She is the second woman to receive multiple directing nominations, following Jane Campion. For the seventh consecutive year, at least one film nominated for Best Picture has been directed by a woman.

In addition, women have been nominated for several technical categories this year. For example, with their nomination for Sirāt, Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas and Yasmina Praderas become the first all-women sound team (production sound mixing, supervising sound editing and rerecording mixing) to be nominated for a sound award, Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Sinners) is the fourth woman to be nominated for Cinematography, and Charmaine Chan becomes the sixth woman to be nominated in the Visual Effects category.

MLS Entertainment’s Oscar Predictions:

Best Picture: “One Battle After Another”
Best Actor: Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”
Best Actress: Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”
Best Supporting Actor: Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another”
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Madigan, “Weapons”
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”
Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”
Best Original Screenplay: Ryan Coogler, “Sinners”
Best Cinematography: “One Battle After Another”
Best Costume Design: “Frankenstein,” Kate Hawley
Best Film Editing: “One Battle After Another,” Andy Jurgensen
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: “Frankenstein,” Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey
Best Music (Original Score): “Sinners,” Ludwig Göransson
Best Music (Original Song): “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters”; music and lyric by Ejae, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon and Teddy Park
Best Production Design: “Frankenstein,” production design: Tamara Deverell; set decoration: Shane Vieau
Best Sound: “F1,” Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo and Juan Peralta
Best Visual Effects: “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
Best Animated Feature Film: “KPop Demon Hunters”
Best International Feature Film: “Sentimental Value”
Best Documentary (Feature): “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”
Best Documentary (Short Subject): “All the Empty Rooms”
Best Short Film (Animated): “Butterfly”
Best Short Film (Live Action): “Two People Exchanging Saliva”

Best Casting: “Sinners,” Francine Maisler