The year’s Oscar race is fast approaching its finish line. Before we watch the ceremony on Sunday, let’s make some predictions. Who do you think will win Best Actor this year? More importantly, who actually deserves to win?
PLEASE NOTE: I am dividing this into two polls. The first is your prediction for which actor will actually take home the trophy, regardless of merit.
Loading ...Most signs point to Gary Oldman finally claiming his first Oscar. He prevailed at the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards and seems to be on a winning streak. Although the movie itself had some mixed reviews, and it’s debatable whether Oldman’s performance was really the best of the year, this would be a classic “make good” award for a respected actor that many of the voters feel should have gotten an Oscar years ago. See also: Jeff Bridges for ‘Crazy Heart’, Julianne Moore for ‘Still Alice’, etc. (It’s only been three years, and how many people even remember ‘Still Alice’ at all?)
On the other hand, ‘Darkest Hour’ is such an overt piece of Oscar bait and Oldman’s performance such obvious showboating that many voters may reject it. I doubt that Timothée Chalamet stands much of a chance here. Denzel Washington already has two Oscars and it doesn’t seem like many people actually believe he deserved a nomination for ‘Roman J. Israel’. While there may be some pressure to give Daniel Day-Lewis yet another Oscar for his alleged final performance before retirement, the man has three already and it will be damn hard to justify one more so soon after ‘Lincoln’.
If anyone could slip in here and steal the award out from under Oldman, it may actually be Daniel Kaluuya. His movie was hotly buzzed, and voting for him is a smart political move for an organization still struggling with a lack of diversity and an aging membership base. (Fair or not, such motivations weigh heavily into the voting process.) Still, despite its Best Picture nomination, ‘Get Out’ is simply not the type of picture that traditionally wins Oscars.
Josh’s prediction: Gary Oldman
Next, if you were an Oscar voter, which of the nominees would get your vote?
Loading ...I still haven’t seen any of these movies, so I can’t weigh in yet.
Timcharger
Josh: “Julianne Moore for ‘Still Alice’, etc. (It’s only been three years, and how many people even remember ‘Still Alice’ at all?)”
Cringe. Groan. “Remembering” and Alzheimer’s.
Josh, did you stand up for Gary Sinise’s performance in Forest Gump?
What! What did I say?
Josh Zyber
AuthorHonestly, the movie is so insignificant that I didn’t even remember it being about that.
Julian
*Forrest
And if you know Josh, you know that he would never ever defend any aspect of ‘Forrest Gump’.
Timcharger
I wasn’t looking for Josh to defend Forrest Gump. Just wondered if he would pun other maladies.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HqAbjHKO5jM/maxresdefault.jpg
Timcharger
And I take him at his word. But if Josh instead wrote:
“Honestly, the movie is so FORGETTABLE that I didn’t even remember it being about that.”
Hmm?
Timcharger
Here I disagree with Phil. Slightly.
I think shirtless Adam Driver was the Best Actor in 2017. Shirt-on Adam Driver, Phil’s pick, was a close second.
🙂
Shannon Nutt
Oldman’s a will win/should win lock.
Timcharger
Best Makeup is a lock.
NJScorpio
The only one of theses movies I haven’t seen was ‘Call Me By Your Name’.
‘Roman J. Israel’ is a weird movie, that meanders too much, and that presents a character that is IMPOSSIBLY out of touch with the times regardless of how the set up the story. I can spend more time than I should picking apart many aspects of that movie. BUT, I kept watching, and enjoyed it, because Denzel was superb in it. Probably one of his best performances, it saved the movie.
I’m rooting for ‘Get Out’ to win whatever it can, just as I was rooting for ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ to win best picture. Fingers crossed.
I do expect Gary Oldman to win Best Actor. I want to see him do an entire miniseries about WWII.
NJScorpio
Oh, and I haven’t seen ‘Phantom Thread’, which is the one I want to see the most.