'GOLDEN' NIGHT WITH THE 'STARS'!

The 95th Academy Awards are upon us. The main Oscars ceremony will take place on today at 8 pm in Los Angeles, where a bevy of stars will grace the awards night. It’s that time of the year when you set that alarm to watch the Academy Awards. If you are a movie geek, then the Oscars is the top billing when it comes to award ceremonies across the world. The 2023 Oscars have an interesting mix of nominees who have edged out their fellow contemporaries at the award season throughout the year. The race for India this year is special. We have not one but 3 representations at the Academy Awards. Oscars love representation and springing up a surprise, so we can definitely see Yeoh there up on the big stage on Oscars night.

3 NOMINATIONS: SPECIAL RACE FOR INDIA
For the first time, India has managed to earn three nominations at prestigious international stage with the popular song ‘Naatu Naatu’ from blockbuster ‘RRR’, and 2 documentaries ‘All That Breathes’ and ‘The Elephant Whisperers’. ‘Naatu Naatu’ has bagged a nomination for the Best Original Song, while the documentaries ‘All That Breathes’ and ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ is running for the Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short Film categories, respectively.

BEST ACTOR
While Austin Butler seems to the voters favourite and the Academy definitely loves a good biopic, no one can look past Brendan Frasers performance in the dark melancholic The Whale. While Butler is much younger than Fraser, the formers’ conviction at playing one of the most famous entertainers on the planet is likely to win him his first Oscar.

BEST PICTURE
If there is one title that has got unanimous praise and love from critics and the audiences this year then it is this crazy parallel universe themed drama titled Everything Everywhere All at Once. The only competition to this Daniel brothers directorial is Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin. I will be totally stoked if either of these titles win. The rest of the nominees are definitely weak compared to these two, but again remember Moonlight winning over La La Land ? So, yes, anything can happen at the Oscars.

BEST ACTRESS
This is one tough category given how strong the performances have been. Both Yeoh and Blanchett have been front-runners at various shows through award season. Personally I prefer Blanchett’s insane performance of a music conductor gone astray in TAR to Yeoh, but that doesn’t mean the latter deserves any less.

BEST DIRECTOR
The Daniel brothers might make history after winning the third time a duo have jointly won for direction. EEAAO is a definite contender for Best Picture so it isn’t a surprise that it’s also up for Best Director. However, the one man who can beat this duo is Todd Field whose disturbingly raw and an emotional roller coaster drama Tar is one of the highest rated films of the year. So, we have to wait for results today.

THE HOST
The late-night host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel will host the Oscars 2023. This will mark Kimmel’s third appearance on the Oscars stage after hosting the award show in 2017 and 2018.

PREDICTIONS
Have a glance over Peter Bradshaw’s thoughts. And can we just point to the frankly scary 11 out of 12 success rate his predictions achieved last year.

BEST PICTURE Everything Everywhere All at Once
BEST DIRECTOR Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
BEST ACTOR Brendan Fraser, The Whale
BEST ACTRESS Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Everything Everywhere All at Once
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY All Quiet on the Western Front
BEST DOCUMENTARY Navalny
BEST ORIGINAL SONG Naatu Naatu, RRR
BEST ANIMATED FILM Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM All Quiet on the Western Front