Way Too Beautiful Reviews

Operation Oscar Watch is complete and with just a few days to spare!

Watching 53 films in roughly a month was no easy task, but I pulled it off… so now, here are my personal rankings (1 being the best) and predictions for who the winners will be.

Note: the predicted winner will be marked with (*WINNER*).

BEST PICTURE
1. CODA (*WINNER*)
2. Dune
3. King Richard
4. West Side Story
5. Don’t Look Up
6. Belfast
7. Licorice Pizza
8. Nightmare Alley
9. Drive My Car
10. The Power of the Dog

BEST DIRECTOR
1. Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
2. Steven Spielberg – West Side Story
3. Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza
4. Ryusuke Hamaguchi – Drive My Car
5. Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog (*WINNER*)

BEST ACTOR
1. Andrew Garfield – Tick, Tick… Boom!
2. Will Smith – King Richard (*WINNER*)
3. Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth
4. Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
5. Javier Bardem – Being the Ricardos

BEST ACTRESS
1. Penélope Cruz – Parallel Mothers
2. Kristen Stewart – Spencer
3. Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye (*WINNER*)
4. Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos
5. Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Troy Kotsur – CODA (*WINNER*)
2. Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog
3. Ciaran Hinds – Belfast
4. J.K. Simmons – Being the Ricardos
5. Jesse Plemons – The Power of the Dog

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Ariana DeBose – West Side Story (*WINNER*)
2. Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter
3. Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog
4. Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard
5. Judi Dench – Belfast

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
1. King Richard
2. Don’t Look Up
3. Belfast (*WINNER*)
4. The Worst Person in the World
5. Licorice Pizza

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
1. CODA (*WINNER*)
2. Dune
3. Drive My Car
4. The Power of the Dog
5. The Lost Daughter

ANIMATED FEATURE
1. Raya and the Last Dragon
2. Encanto (*WINNER*)
3. Luca
4. The Mitchell’s vs. The Machines
5. Flee

PRODUCTION DESIGN
1. Dune (*WINNER*)
2. The Tragedy of Macbeth
3. West Side Story
4. The Power of the Dog
5. Nightmare Alley

COSTUME DESIGN
1. Dune
2. Cruella (*WINNER*)
3. Cyrano
4. Nightmare Alley
5. West Side Story

CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. Dune (*WINNER*)
2. The Power of the Dog
3. The Tragedy of Macbeth
4. West Side Story
5. Nightmare Alley

EDITING
1. Dune
2. Tick, Tick… Boom!
3. The Power of the Dog (*WINNER*)
4. King Richard
5. Don’t Look Up

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
1. The Eyes of Tammy Faye (*WINNER*)
2. Cruella
3. Coming 2 America
4. Dune
5. House of Gucci

SOUND
1. Dune (*WINNER*)
2. No Time to Die
3. West Side Story
4. The Power of the Dog
5. Belfast

VISUAL EFFECTS
1. Spider-Man: No Way Home
2. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
3. Dune (*WINNER*)
4. Free Guy
5. No Time to Die

SCORE
1. Dune (*WINNER*)
2. Encanto
3. The Power of the Dog
4. Don’t Look Up
5. Parallel Mothers

SONG
1. No Time to Die – No Time to Die (*WINNER*)
2. Dos Oruguitas – Encanto
3. Down to Joy – Belfast
4. Somehow You Do – Four Good Days
5. Be Alive – King Richard

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. Attica
2. Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (*WINNER*)
3. Flee
4. Writing With Fire
5. Ascension

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
1. The Hand of God – Italy
2. The Worst Person in the World – Norway
3. Flee – Denmark
4. Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom – Bhutan
5. Drive My Car – Japan (*WINNER*)

ANIMATED SHORT
1. Boxballet
2. Bestia (*WINNER*)
3. Robin Robin
4. The Windshield Wiper
5. Affairs of the Art

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
1. The Queen of Basketball (*WINNER*)
2. Audible
3. Lead Me Home
4. Three Songs for Benazir
5. When We Were Bullies

LIVE ACTION SHORT
1. On My Mind
2. Please Hold
3. The Long Goodbye (*WINNER*)
4. Ala Kachuu – Take and Run
5. The Dress

A couple bonus opinions/hot takes:
– Peter Dinklage should HAVE been nominated for best actor for his role in Cyrano over Javier Bardem for his role in Being the Ricardos.
– Both, Mila Kunis and Glenn Close should HAVE been nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for their roles in Four Good Days over Olivia Colman for her role in The Lost Daughter and Judi Dench in her role for Belfast.

And that concludes this year’s Oscar rankings and predictions… let me know your thoughts, rankings, and predictions in the comments!