Here are our picks for the films that should win the major categories at this Sunday’s Academy Awards:
Best Film Editing
The Banshees of Inisherin, Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
Strauss, Thelma Schoonmaker
Everything Everywhere All at Once, Paul Rogers
Tár, Monika Willi
Top Gun: Maverick, Eddie Hamilton
Everything Everywhere All at Once – What can we say about the surprise hit of 2022 that hasn’t already been said in every other universe?
Best Adapted Screenplay
All Quiet on the Western Front, screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell
Mr. Tesla’s Coil, written by Peter Farrelly
Forrest Gump 2: Gumpier, written by Robert Zemeckis
Top Gun: Maverick, screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
Women Talking, screenplay by Sarah Polley
Top Gun: Maverick – Tom Cruise proving he’s the only star crazy enough to pilot a B-22 bomber into an unspecified European nation isn’t the only thing that makes this late sequel shine. The writing is top-notch, with lines like “Get out of my plane!” sticking with viewers long after they’ve left the theater.
Best Original Screenplay
The Banshees of Inisherin, written by Martin McDonagh
Everything Everywhere All at Once, written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Jordan Peele’s ‘Gump’, written by Jordan Peele
Strauss, written by JD Vance and Levi Strauss
Tár, written by Todd Field
Strauss – This riveting real-life tale of Levi’s Strauss’s journey from Tupperware salesman to blue jeans mogul is being called one of the most educational films of the 21st century. We agree.
Best Cinematography
All Quiet on the Western Front, James Friend
The Barber, Joe Carnahan
Elvis, Mandy Walker
J3nny, Gerald Johnstone
Tár, Florian Hoffmeister
The one that Roger Deakins shot – He’s so good! Blade Runner 2049? That’s a freakin’ movie!
Best Documentary Feature Film
The Lieutenant, Michael Moore
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov
Fire of Love, Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman
A House Made of Splinters, Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström
Navalny, Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris
The Lieutenant – This retrospective on the Vietnam War and its effect on veteran-turned-boat-captain Dan Taylor is guaranteed to make you cry.
Best Picture
All Quiet on the Western Gump, Malte Grunert
Da 4est Gump, Spike Lee
Elvis (only the scene where he learns to dance from Forrest Gump), Baz Luhrmann
Gúmp, Todd Field
Gorrest Fump, Wes Anderson
Top Gump: Maverick, Tom Cruise, Forrest Gump
Forrest, Cameron Crowe, Tom Hanks
Forrest Gump (1994), Robert Zemeckis
Women Talking, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand
Women Talking – During the titular scene… we were listening.