Predictions

Starting in the early aughts, fed up with limited roles for women over 40 (nonetheless over 50), television has become a respite from Knowing Aunts and Quirky Shopkeepers roles for many of the biggest female movie stars of the 70s and 80s.  In 2007, two-time Oscar winner Sally Field made a television comeback – and earned an Emmy for – …

Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci on the set of Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman (Netflix) A Best Picture lineup consisting of classic Oscar themes like gangsters, war, adaptations of classic novels, bold takes on old tales and female-fronted and directed films could make up one of the Academy’s most diverse groups of nominees in a very long time if this …

Kasi Lemmons, Harriet (photo credit: Edwin Tse/The Atlantic) Two previous Best Director winners, Martin Scorsese and Sam Mendes, feel like safe bets at this early stage of the race. With The Irishman (Netflix) and 1917 (Universal), respectively, the pair are diving into two tried and true subjects that Oscar loves – gangsters and war. For Scorsese, The Irishman will be his …

Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman in Harriet (Focus Features) Cynthia Erivo is coming for her EGOT and there’s going to be very little getting in her way. Yes, it’s only May, but this has been lined up and ready for months now. Sometimes you have a Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway or Daniel Day-Lewis role (and studio) that puts you in …

Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis on the set of Netflix’s The Pope It’s so early in the Best Actor race that no potential top contender has even been seen yet. Only Leonardo DiCaprio in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood comes close as it is set to debut at the Cannes Film Festival next week. That isn’t to say …

Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Sony/Columbia) Photo: Lacey Terrell Still up in the air as to whether Tom Hanks or Matthew Rhys is the lead (or co-leads) of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood but since the film is based on the Esquire piece by Tom Junod (whom Rhys plays) I’m going to go with Hanks …

Margot Robbie in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (Sony/Columbia) Margot Robbie sits atop the Best Supporting Actress predictions this month with her Quentin Tarantino debut Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, playing famed and ill-fated actress Sharon Tate. With the film having its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next week, we’ll have actual word on the film and her …

Awkwafina and fam in The Farewell (A24) The screenplay categories are a bit convoluted with some contenders muddied as to whether or not they are truly original or truly adapted. We’ve seen category switches happen before, either by choice or by designation. The Best Picture Oscar winner Moonlight initially ran as an Original Screenplay – where it won the WGA …

(l-r)Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers and Matthew Rhys as Tom Junod in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Photo: Lacey Terrell/Sony Pictures) The screenplay categories are a bit convoluted with some contenders muddied as to whether or not they are truly original or truly adapted. We’ve seen category switches happen before, either by choice or by designation. The Best Picture …

Henry Winkler (r) with Bill Hader in Barry (HBO) No win in the 2018 Emmy season was more joyous than television veteran, Henry Winkler winning Best Comedy Supporting Actor for Barry, which saw all of Winkler’s fellow nominees joining in giving him two standing ovations. Can Winkler get another memorable moment and win a second Emmy for Best Comedy Supporting …