98th Academy Awards Results

The 98th Academy Awards have concluded, so let’s go over the results and how I did compared to last year. There is another great acceptance speech that is just as wonderful as Kieran Culkin’s was last year. I will talk about it a bit later.

To spoil it a little, I did a lot better this year than last. In fact, I was surprised by how well I did this year. It probably helped that I watched several of the movies that were nominated this year, specifically those nominated for Best Picture. I’ll also admit that a couple were just lucky guesses. I will break it all down after the results.

The Results

Correct guesses will be in green.

Category	Prediction	Result
Actor in a Leading Role	Ethan Hawke	Michael B Jordan
Actor in a Supporting Role	Jacob Elrodi	Sean Penn
Actress in a Leading Role	Jessie Buckley	Jessie Buckley
Actress in a Supporting Role	Elle Fanning	Amy Madigan
Animated Feature Film	KPOP Demon Hunters	KPOP Demon Hunters
Animated Short Film	* The Girl Who Cried Pearls	The Girl Who Cried Pearls
Cinematography	Sinners	Sinners
Costume Design	Frankenstein	Frankenstein
Directing	One Battle After Another	One Battle After Another
Documentary Feature Film	The Perfect Neighbor	Mr Nobody Against Putin
Documentary Short Film	* All the Empty Rooms	All the Empty Rooms
Film Editing	Sinners	One Battle After Another
International Feature Film	Sentimental Value	Sentimental Value
Makeup and Hairstyling	Frankenstein	Frankenstein
Music (Original Score)	One Battle After Another	Sinners
Music (Original Song)	Golden	Golden
Best Picture	One Battle After Another	One Battle After Another
Production Design	Frankenstein	Frankenstein
Live Action Short Film	The Singers	** The Singers & Two People Exchanging Saliva
Sound	F1	F1
Visual Effects	Sinners	Avatar: Fire and Ash
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)	One Battle After Another	One Battle After Another
Writing (Original Screenplay)	Sinners	Sinners
Casting	Sinners	One Battle After Another
Total Correct	16

The Breakdown

As you can see, I quadrupled my score from last year, getting more than half of them correct. My picks for animated and documentary short films were complete guesses based solely on a little online research. Live Action Short Film resulted in a tie, which has only happened 6 other times. I guessed one of the two, so I’m taking the win. In most cases, my pick for International Feature Film would be a guess. However, since Sentimental Value was also up for Best Picture, I didn’t think the other nominated films stood a chance.

KPOP Demon Hunters winning both awards for which they were nominated was also fairly obvious, given the popularity of that movie and its soundtrack.

Of the 16 nominations, Sinners only took four, three of which were top categories. Of the 13 nominations, One Battle After Another took six. Essentially, whatever major category Sinners didn’t win, One Battle After Another won, except for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.

I do think Elle Fanning and Jacob Elrodi were robbed.

The Luck of the Irish

It’s been over 20 years since I watched the Academy Awards, and it’s unlikely that I will again anytime soon. I’m not interested in hearing some rich narcissist’s perspective on how the country should be run. On the other hand, if Kieran Culkin taught me one thing last year, not all acceptance speeches are divisive and toxic. This year, we had another shining example.

Jessie Buckley won Best Actress in a Leading Role for her role as Agnes in Hamnet. She is the first woman of Irish descent to win the award. (What a fun coincidence that she should win just in time for St. Patrick’s Day.) Her acceptance speech was all about the rewards of being a mother. It’s quite a wonderful speech. Click here to check it out. Apparently, winning an Oscar makes you horny because this is the second acceptance speech in two years where the winner mentions making babies.

Predicting more than 16 winners will be challenging next year. We will see how I do. Did you try to predict the winners? How did you do?

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