It’s finally that time of the year where we honor the best of film. Here are some of our predictions on who and what films will bring back those fancy golden statuettes!
Best Actress: Emma Stone
We all thought that Natalie Portman was for sure going to win this category. She flawlessly impersonated previous first lady, Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, in the biographical film, Jackie. However, the tables turned when Emma Stone took home the Golden Globe for Best Actress instead of Natalie, despite both actresses being in different categories. She also brought home the Volpi Cup and the Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance. She sang, danced, and acted as a struggling actress in La La Land. Natalie Portman already won an Oscar in 2011 for Best Actress in the film Black Swan. Maybe she might pull a Meryl and win another Oscar, but it’s very likely that Emma Stone will win, since she was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress in 2015 for her performance in Birdman but came away empty handed.
Best Actor: Casey Affleck
Casey Affleck is practically a shoo-in for this final award. He won awards at the Golden Globes, the Gotham Awards, the National Board of Review, the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Satellite Awards, and dozens of regional film festivals. The film he starred in, Manchester by the Sea, was also the most nominated film by the Screen Actors Guild Awards this year. The film received a 96% approval rating on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. Affleck who delivered a masterful performance of an uncle who looks after his teenage nephew after the boy’s father passed away. Kudos to him.
Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis
Her captivating performance in Fences won her both a Critics’ Choice Award and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, so there’s a high chance that she’ll be bringing back the Oscar for this respective category. The fierce How to Get Away with Murder university law professor never ceases to impress us with her enthralling on-screen performances, both in television and film!
Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali
He won both the Critics’ Choice Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award for this category. Although Aaron Taylor Johnson scored Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture in Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals at the Golden Globes, his win came as a shock; most viewers and Golden Globe attendants were almost completely sure that Mahershala would win. His pivotal role in Moonlight as a drug dealer resonated with people. He may not have taken home a Globe, but he is one of the frontrunners for possibly taking home an Oscar.
Best Director: Damien Chazelle
Let’s not even bother discussing this. It’s Damien Chazelle. He won a Critics’ Choice Award and a Globe for his rad directing abilities. His film took over the Golden Globes. The Academy can just mail him the Oscar now.
Best Picture: La La Land
La La Land is an unstoppable force. It triumphed at the Golden Globes; the film won all seven nominations, including both Best Actor and Best Actress in a Motion Picture or Comedy. It was nominated for a whopping record-tying of 14 Oscar nominations. It also received a standing ovation when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August, and critics from The Telegraph, Vanity Fair, Variety, TIME, The Guardian, and BBC all gave the film a full five stars. Both Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling were triple threats in the film, the impressive one-take scenes and cinematography visuals were amazing, and 99.9999% of the film’s viewers cried a river of tears in the cinema. Musical films are like a thing now.
Best Animated Feature Film: Zootopia
Disney films usually remain undefeated in this category. Frozen, Big Hero 6, and Inside Out all won this prestigious award in the previous years. Although Moana and Zootopia were two of our favorite animated films of 2016, the latter did take home the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Animated, over Moana.
