10 short films, 7 features, 4 days: Inside my race to Oscars night + predictions
And I'm still trying to fit in my final Best Picture nominee before tonight's show.
Every year I tell myself I’m going to watch all 10 films nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.
Every year that I can remember, I’ve come shy.
This year, thanks to a fourth-quarter push done in virtual tandem with my good friend and favorite person to watch movies with, Jake Fein — who will join me tonight for a podcast of instant Oscar reactions you’ll get tomorrow — I think I’m the closest I’ve ever been to watching the majority of Oscar nominees.
Across four days, we watched both the animated and live action short film collections, Better Man (Visual Effects), Alien: Romulus (Visual Effects), Nickel Boys (Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture), September 5 (Original Screenplay) and Sing Sing (Best Actor for Colman Domingo, Adapted Screenplay).
I also watched Wicked (Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Picture & more) and The Brutalist (Best Actor, Best Director, Best Picture & more).
That’s a total of 10 short films and 7 features for me. Jake and I watched five of those features back-to-back on a Saturday, starting at 9 a.m. ET and ending about 12 hours later.
As the above exchange shows, the undertaking was not nearly as tedious as it seemed when we scripted it out, though by the time I’d also watched The Brutalist and my second batch of short films Sunday night, I was ready to take a break from movies for a week (which worked out because I barely had a minute of free time at the NFL Combine in Indy last week).
Enjoying all the movies we binged helped, too. We’d been unsure about Better Man for… obvious reasons I think if you’ve seen the trailer. Both of us, however, were won over by the monkeyfication of Robbie Williams very quickly.
Alien: Romulus didn’t scare horror-averse Jake too much, and though it lacked at some parts was overall a good film with some really strong performances from Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson.
Nickel Boys was quite sobering after those two, and Jake and I went from texting constantly throughout our watch to not really exchanging any thoughts until the very end, when we both said we didn’t really know what to say.
September 5 was fun for both of our ties to sports journalism but was the one we differed most on our takes — Jake thinking more technically about it and me leaning on the moments the film made me go “Fuck yeah” and take pride in my job.
Those are typically the roles we fall into, I’d say: Jake, the analyzer; me, the emotional reactor. Though we both can criss-cross into the other’s realm, which is why I enjoy watching films with Jake so much.
Read our Letterboxd reviews here: Emily’s profile | Jake’s profile
Sing Sing was a strong finale. A repeat watch for Jake but my first time, I nearly changed my mind on my “Timothee Chalamet for Best Actor” stance in favor of Colman Domingo. The film made me really nostalgic for my theater days, too.
It pains me to recognize the strong chance that neither Sing Sing nor Nickel Boys go home with any wins. Both barely got any nominations yet were two of the films in this slate that moved me the most. Nickel Boys not even receiving a nomination in Film Editing or Director (RaMell Moss, you’re a visionary) is incredibly disappointing.
With hours to go until the start of the ceremony, I’ve got just one Best Picture film left to watch: I’m Still Here. Admittedly, I tried to watch it on a Jack Sparrow site last night, only to have the stream play Casey Affleck’s 2010 comedy of the same name instead.
If I can’t get to it today, it will certainly be on my list over the next month and I’ll set my goal anew to finally watch all 10 BP nominees pre-ceremony next year.
Here are my predictions/what I would vote to win for the 2025 Oscars. Only categories where I watched most to all of the nominees are included.
Actor in a Leading Role: Timothee Chalamet / Timothee Chalamet
Actor in a Supporting Role: Kieran Culkin / Kieran Culkin
Actress in a Leading Role: Demi Moore / Demi Moore
Actress in a Supporting Role: Zoe Saldaña / Ariana Grande
Animated Short Film: In the Shadow of the Cypress / Yuck!
Cinematography: Dune: Part Two / Dune: Part Two
Costume Design: Wicked / A Complete Unknown
Directing: Brady Corbet / Brady Corbet
Film Editing: The Brutalist / The Brutalist
Int.’l Feat. Film: Emilia Pèrez / I’m Still Here
Makeup and Hairstyling: Wicked / The Substance
Music (Original Score): The Brutalist / Challengers (which wasn’t actually nominated, this is a protest vote)
Production Design: The Brutalist / Dune: Part Two
Live Action Short Film: The Last Ranger / I’m Not a Robot
Sound: A Complete Unknown / Dune: Part Two
Visual Effects: Dune: Part Two / Dune: Part Two
Writing (Adapted): A Complete Unknown / Nickel Boys
Writing (Original): A Real Pain / A Real Pain
Best Picture: The Brutalist / Nickel Boys
What I Leik’d: February
Movies:
Uptown Girls
Dune: Part Two
As I wrote on Letterboxd, if this movie was re-released in theaters bi-annually, I would be there every time. It’s just not the same at home.
The Substance
This didn’t gross me out as much as I thought it would based on other people’s reactions in the days leading up to when I watched it!
Set It Up
All time fav. First-team Leik’d, you might say.
Draft Day
TV Shows:
White Lotus (HBO)
Season 3 is airing now (comes out 8 p.m. CT Sundays) but I also rewatched Season 2. But you don’t need to have seen any to dive into this season if you want because they’re anthologized. Highly, highly recommend. Mike White makes incredible TV.
Severance (Apple TV)
This week’s episode broke me. By far the best in the series to date.
Younger (MTV, now on Netflix)
Music:
“I’d Give My Life for You” from Miss Saigon (Eva Noblezada version)
I discovered this song live-streaming the Jimmy Awards (high school musical theater awards, this is up there on nerdiest things I’ve ever done) last year when one of the nominees sang it. Has popped up in my consciousness every once in a while since, and when it does I listen on repeat for days.
“Bad Reviews” from Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet (Deluxe)
Kansas Anymore (The Longest Goodbye), ROLE MODEL
"One Last Breath”, Creed
It just got stuck In my head for like a whole week.
Podcasts:
The Ringer-Verse*
The Sports Gossip Show*
NPR Up First*
Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers*
The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast*
*Denotes in my regular rotation — as in I rarely, if ever, miss an episode.
Books:
The White Album’s “Sojourns” section
I felt pretty middle-of-the-road about my first foray into Joan Didion, but something about this section really got me. I was particularly moved by
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Trying to finish this one up before a book club Thursday!
I caught the Oscar's. You seem to have named quite a few wins! Bummer about Timotheé, though I've long been a Brody fan so was totally k with his win.