The Oscar nominations are due to be announced tomorrow, and TheGamer is༺ getting in on the action. We’ve ramped up our film coverage steadily over the past year, but we still aren’t in the Academy, so these picks are meaningless. Sorry about that. Proꦫbably both informative and entertaining if you read on though.
In any case, we’ve compiled both a list of TheGamer’s Oscar Picks, where we choose who the nominees and winners would be i🍃n a world where we were the unquestioned leader of all things, as well as predictions, where we try to guess what the real picks might be.
TheGamer Picks, Best Picture
- Winner - The Woman King
- Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- Tár
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Babylon
- RRR
- Women Talking
- Decision to Leave
This is something of an eclectic list, and not my personal ten favourites of the year, but instead the ten I think best represent all the thrills of modern cinema, although I would have loved to have found a place for Pearl or Nope for some horror rep. The Woman King was the most bombastically wo♉nderful movie of 2022, so I would dearly love to see it crowned. However, I’m not so sure it will even be nominಞated.
TheGamer Predictions, Best Picture
- Winner - The Fabelmans
- Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- Tár
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Elvis
- Triangle of Sadness
- The Whale
- Living
Despite only picking half of this list myself, I think this ten would also be a solid representation of modern cinema’s best offerings. I didn’t care for how mawkish, overlong, and occasionally indulgent The Fabelmans was, but I suspect the Academy will. Also worth noting at this point that, due to the staggered rollout in my native UK, The Whale is the only movie in awaඣrds contention I am yet to see, so it is exempt from TheGamer Picks.
TheGamer Picks, Best Director
- Winner - James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water
- Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Todd Field, Tár
- Park Chan-wook, Decision to Leave
- Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Woman King
Oversimplifying the role of the director, we might measure their success by their๊ ability to bring their vision to life exactly as they intended. By🌼 that criteria, you simply have to pick James Cameron. It’s a choice made with my head, even if Daniels have my heart for EEAAO. The other three all capture very different styles, with the slow and controlled unravelling from Field, the dark and tense romance of Chan-wook, and the frenetic explosiveness of Prince-Bythewood.
TheGamer Predictions, Best Director
- Winner - Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
- James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water
- Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Todd Field, Tár
- Baz Luhrmann, Elvis
I think the Academy will broadly use my criteria and decide the best execution of the strongest vision is Spielberg, with Cameron again an also-ran despite Avatar proving doubters wrong once more. Chazelle’s and Rajamouli’s excess, both channeled in different ways in Babylon and RRR, will likely see them overlooked, with Luhrmann the kitchen-sink cho൲ice this year.
TheGamer Picks, Best Original Screenplay
- Winner - Everything Everywhere All at Once
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- The Woman King
- Pearl
- Nope
This is a shootout between Banshees and EEAAO. Creativ🔯e in entirely different ways yet somehow touching on the same points of the need to make a mark on the world and the fears we never will, both movies constantly surprise you and manage to touch you deeply. Pearl and Nope will likely be shut out completely despite their brilliance, while I just can’t turn away from 🧸The Woman King.
TheGamer Predictions, Best Original Screenplay
- Winner - The Banshees of Inisherin
- Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Triangle of Sadness
- The Fabelmans
- Tár
Like I said, a shootout. Banshees might just steal it. Meanwhi🐼le I think The Fabelmans appears yet again, despite its hokey sentimentality, and my outsider guess is that Triangle of Sadness gets some much needed recognition. Tár’s pacing and ending had me considering it, and I think the Academy will land in its favour.
TheGamer Picks, Best Adapted Screenplay
- Winner - Bones & All
- Women Talking
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
- White Noise
Bones &♋ All is difficult to define, which makes sense for a horror romance about cannibalism. In some ways it seems like the perfect Osca✅r movie, in others like the furthest removed idea of what the Academy wants. I’m backing it, but not with much expectation.
TheGamer Predictions, Best Adapted Screenplay
- Winner - Women Talking
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
- The Whale
- Living
Women Talking was very close to being my pick, and I think it will have a clearer run with Bones likely toꦚ be ignored. Foreign movies seem to struggle with the Academy, so that harms AQOTWF, while Glass Onion is a little too gleefully crowd-pleasing and Living too sentimental to go all the way. The Whale may be Women Talking’s big rival.
TheGamer Picks, Best Animated Feature
- Winner - Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
- Pinocchio
- Turning Red
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
- Entergalactic
We had some great animation this year, but when I first drew up my picks this was the easiest sell. The late releas𝄹e ofꦗ Puss in Boots gave me something to think about, but Marcel is so endearing and hopeful that it remains my choice.
TheGamer Predictions, Best Animated Feature
- Winner - Pinocchio
- Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
- Turning Red
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
- Wendell & Wild
As great as it is, the fact a significant chunk of Marcel is live-action will count against it. This is Pinocchio’s win, take it to the bank. This is the lock of the show in my opinion, and I’m extremely confident in my first four predictions. Wendell & Wild replaces Entergalactic from the TG Picks, but the fifth♉ slot is up for grabs.
