Cinema Wellman's Oscar Ballot (96th)

 Cinema Wellman’s Oscar Ballot

Hello and welcome to Cinema Wellman. I am your host David and two days from now the 96th Academy Awards/Oscars ceremony will be held in Hollywood.

The Oscars are the annual ceremony that somehow attempts the impossible and tries to judge art.

An “Academy” of 10,500 people looks at several works of art and determines which one is “best.” 

So, it’s essentially a vote/election/popularity contest conducted by people who supposedly are “experts” at judging art.

The concept is preposterous. 

And I love it and fall for it year after year after year. Even though they get it wrong time after time.

One of the reasons this night is so special to me is because of my mother. Jean is always sitting right next to me every movie I watch.

She also hated Ape.

I must think the Academy Awards are important on some level since I made it a goal in my life to see every movie ever nominated for one of these little golden boys!

I’m currently still looking for an elusive 1,282. 

You may think that’s a lot of movies, but you can’t imagine how big that list was when I started.

Back to this year’s ceremony. As of right now, I’ve seen 42 of this year’s 53 nominated films, or 79%.

This will have an effect on a few categories, and some of these votes could potentially change once I see those remaining 11 films, but I’ll deal with that if and when it transpires. 

For now, I’m looking forward to Sunday night as much as the next movie fan, and, like that movie fan, I’ve also filled out an Oscar ballot which I’m about to reveal.

As I’ve said before and will say again, I don’t know anything about movies other than I love watching them and I love the ones I love. 

It’s as simple as that. 

We’re going to cover all 23 categories and reveal the official Cinema Wellman vote in each category.

It’s as if I was one of the 10,500 members who voted, only my vote doesn’t count. 

I may vote a little differently than those thousands of members since I believe in spreading things around. Thirteen different films will be chosen with no movie winning more than five awards.

I think in this day and age of technology, you should be able to fill out your Oscar ballot and send it to the Academy who would then shoot back how many members of the Academy had your exact ballot.

Why can’t that be done? They can do that!

Without any further ado or ennui, here is the Official Cinema Wellman Oscar Ballot. Awards will be presented here in the same order in which they will be handed out on Sunday night.

We strive for authenticity here at Cinema Wellman.

We will begin with the cartoons!

Animated Feature Film

*The Boy and the Heron

*Elemental

*Nimona

*Robot Dreams

*Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

In an UNPRECEDENTED move (even though this is only the second year we’ve done this), Cinema Wellman’s vote is going to Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron even though I haven’t seen it yet!

The reason for doing this is that I found the other four films to be meh, and I know that Miyazaki will deliver as he always does.

It looks amazing and I can’t wait to see it. 

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: The Boy and the Heron

Actor in a Supporting Role

*Sterling K. Brown in American Fiction

*Robert De Niro in Killers of the Flower Moon

*Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer

*Ryan Gosling in Barbie

*Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things

Robert De Niro was brilliant in Martin Scorsese’s Osage Nation epic. He hasn’t been this evil on screen since Angel Heart when he played the DEVIL!

No doubt that De Niro is one of the most accomplished actors in film history. This is his 9th acting nomination, and he has already won two Oscars for his performances in The Godfather Part II and Raging Bull.

Two reasons right there that our vote is going to Sterling K. Brown for his portrayal of Clifford Ellison, the seemingly wayward brother in American Fiction.

Brown commands your attention in every scene in which he appears. 

You may know him from Hotel Artemis, Black Panther, or the television show “This is Us.”

I think you’ll be seeing a lot more of him in the future. 

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Sterling K. Brown in American Fiction

Actress in a Supporting Role

*Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer

*Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple

*America Ferrera in Barbie

*Jodie Foster in Nyad

*Da ’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers

I mentioned America Ferrera’s performance in Barbie way back in September when I first talked about that movie and the impact it had on me.

I thought Ferrera’s role was important, and her monologue about obstacles women face in life was amazing.

Ferrera has already won an Emmy and a Golden Globe. She's even won a Teen Choice Award!

Let’s add an Oscar to that list. 

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: America Ferrera in Barbie

Documentary Feature Film

*Bobi Wine: The People’s President

*The Eternal Memory

*Four Daughters

*To Kill a Tiger

*20 Days in Mariupol

I have yet to see To Kill a Tiger, so this may change, but our vote is going to a film that documents the story of Bobi Wine.

IMDb: “Follows Ugandan opposition leader, activist, and musical star Bobi Wine. He used his music to fight the regime led by Yoweri Museveni, who led the country for 35 years.” 

First of all, get yourself some term limits there, Uganda.

This was an inspirational documentary that made me happy and angry at the same time. 

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Bobi Wine: The People’s President

Live Action Short Film

*The After

*Invincible

*Knight of Fortune

*Red, White and Blue

*The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

We are huge fans of Wes Anderson here at Cinema Wellman, so it’s no surprise that we loved The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.

Anderson directed a series of short films based on the writings of Roald Dahl, and they were all very good. Henry Sugar, with Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character, was the best of the bunch.

If you’re a fan of Wes Anderson, you need to see it along with the other short Dahl films. You can find them on Netflix, and they’re all worth a look.

However! 

Our vote goes to The After, a 19-minute film by Misan Harriman that absolutely destroyed me.

IMDb describes it as follows, “In this intense short film, a grieving rideshare driver picks up a passenger who helps him confront the past.”

You will be horrified to learn why this driver was grieving, and you’ll be sobbing convulsively by the gesture of the passenger.

I honestly could not stop crying.

More genuine emotion in these 19 minutes than in the 354 minutes of those Avatar movies.

This movie killed me.

And I went back and watched it again.

It was that powerful.  

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: The After

Cinematography

*Edward Lachman for El Conde

*Rodrigo Prieto for Killers of the Flower Moon

*Matthew Libatique for Maestro

*Hoyte van Hoytema for Oppenheimer

*Robbie Ryan for Poor Things

I don’t mean to hedge my bets, but there were a handful of categories that were very close for me. Cinematography is one of those.

There were some seriously talented shooters creating the images in these five films.

Cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema’s 4th collaboration with Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet) is shot in both color and black and white.

The barren New Mexico desert is contrasted by the cramped meeting rooms and labs the scientists and government officials occupy.

But, in a close call, our vote is going to Rodrigo Prieto and Killers of the Flower Moon.

Prieto’s 5th film with director Martin Scorsese displays a bleak, harsh Osage County and Fairfax, Oklahoma. 

There is opulence as well once oil is discovered under Osage Nation land, and this is expertly shot within that harsh background. 

This is Prieto’s 4th Oscar nomination, and we’re hoping it will be his first win. 

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Rodrigo Prieto for Killers of the Flower Moon

Makeup and Hairstyling

*Golda

*Maestro

*Oppenheimer

*Poor Things

*Society of the Snow

As I mentioned in our “Best Picture Rundown” episode, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things was my favorite of the 10 Best Picture nominees.

I didn’t want to go overboard just because I liked it so much, but Poor Things did receive four votes from our little academy. 

The first one is for Makeup & Hairstyling. 

Emma Stone’s unique/peculiar look is partially due to the people in makeup and hairstyling, but the most impressive work here is obviously done on Willem Dafoe as Dr. Godwin Baxter.

He is quite the patchwork of spare parts.

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Poor Things

Costume Design

*Barbie

*Killers of the Flower Moon

*Napoleon

*Oppenheimer

*Poor Things

The Costume Design Oscar usually goes to a period piece. 

Many times, the Costume Design Oscar goes to a period piece that I despise, making it my 2nd most hated category.

There are three period pieces nominated along with where/whenever Poor Things takes place, and there’s the fictitious and heartwarmingly familiar Barbie Land.

I realize what a nostalgia fest Barbie was for women of almost any age, but it also had the same effect on anyone who was a brother of one of those women.

I remember my sister’s Barbies and the little closet overstuffed with clothes and playhouse and, oh, the accessories!

Barbie brought all of that back clearly even though I never really played with them that much at all.

The costume designers of Barbie brought every bit of that memory right back to me in vibrant colors (predominantly pink, of course!).

I rarely get predictions right. Sports, movies, doesn’t matter. I’m rarely right.

That’s why I’m so pleased about Barbie. After seeing it, I predicted it would get Oscar nominations. 

And it got eight!

How about that?

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Barbie

International Feature Film

*Io Capitano (Italy)

*Perfect Days (Japan)

*Society of the Snow (Spain)

*The Teachers’ Lounge (Germany)

*The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom)

I don’t have much to go on with this category, and yet I’m extremely confident with my vote.

I’m not sure why, but three of these films aren’t readily available. I have access to quite a few platforms and three of these are ghosts so far.

I’m confident with my vote because I loved one of the two nominees that were screened.

The Zone of Interest had quite an impact on me and I hope it is recognized Sunday night with at least one win out of its five nominations. 

I think this is the most realistic shot it has at a win.

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: The Zone of Interest

Documentary Short Film

*The ABCs of Book Banning

*The Barber of Little Rock

*Island in Between

*The Last Repair Shop

*Nai Nai & Wai Po

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of censorship and the banning of books, so this was an easy choice for me. 

The ABCs of Book Banning takes quite a comprehensive look into the policy of banning books for only a 27-minute movie.

I think everyone should see this.

Many people would be shocked by the titles that have been challenged or banned in this country.

Currently, mind you. 

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: The ABCs of Book Banning

Animated Short Film

*Letter to a Pig

*Ninety-Five Senses

*Our Uniform

*Pachyderme

*WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko

The shorts are always difficult to track down this time of year. It usually takes a year before I can find all of them. 

I only saw one of these films, so I’m not sure what to do.

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Pachyderme?

Production Design

*Barbie

*Killer of the Flower Moon

*Napoleon

*Oppenheimer

*Poor Things

I would really love to see Barbie take home the Oscar for Production Design since that crew really brought Barbie Land to life (as I’ve already mentioned). 

Even the scale is correct, and everything was hand painted and all practical effects were used.

Loved everything about Barbie as I’ve made very clear.

But our vote is going to Oppenheimer after learning that Christopher Nolan gave up 30 days of shooting to free up money to spend on production design.

I’m rooting for Nolan to look like a genius with this Oscar.

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Oppenheimer

Original Score

*American Fiction

*Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

*Killers of the Flower Moon

*Oppenheimer

*Poor Things

I have to admit that it’s very difficult for me to extract the score of a movie in order to evaluate it on its own.

I’m just not good at that, so I’ll just say that the music was exceptional in all of these movies. I’m confident about that statement. 

But we’re hoping for an Oscar for the late, great Robbie Robertson and his work on Killers of the Flower Moon. 

It was Robertson’s 11th collaboration with director Martin Scorsese. 

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Robbie Robertson for Killers of the Flower Moon

Visual Effects

*The Creator

*Godzilla Minus One

*Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3

*Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

*Napoleon

Come on, now.

You can’t be serious.

Let’s move on. 

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Godzilla Minus One

Original Screenplay

*Anatomy of a Fall

*The Holdovers

*Maestro

*May December

*Past Lives

I’ve always claimed that it’s difficult to have a really good movie without a quality script, and I’m not the only one who thinks that way.

Writing is obviously extremely important when it comes to compelling storytelling. 

Even great actors can’t make a shit script work.

I think that the screenplay Oscars have been used in the past to reward an edgy film that isn’t going to get much more love.

And it’s also worth paying attention when a Best Picture nominee has only ONE other nomination.

That other nomination usually represents all of that film’s realistic hopes at an award.

I couldn’t vote for it for Best Picture, but I really enjoyed it, so I want it to win something. 

The story was quite excellent and touching.

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Past Lives

Adapted Screenplay

*American Fiction

*Barbie

*Oppenheimer

*Poor Things

*The Zone of Interest

Another really close call here since I think The Zone of Interest is deserving of this award as well as the film that our vote will go to.

I’m really interested in reading the novel on which Poor Things is based. 

I read that it’s even more bizarre than the film, and that intrigues me. 

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Poor Things

Sound

*The Creator

*Maestro

*Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

*Oppenheimer

*The Zone of Interest

This award is also difficult to choose since I saw some of these at home and some in the theater.

The “sound” that this award goes to isn’t clearly heard through your television, even if you have a sweet surround system. 

We’re going to go out on a limb and vote for a movie that made a lot of noise last summer.

Atomic bombs will do that.

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Oppenheimer

Original Song

*”The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot

*”I’m Just Ken” from Barbie

*”It Never Went Away” from American Symphony

*”Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon

*”What Was I Made For?” from Barbie

So here it is. The Academy Award category that has tormented me over the years.

Many times, attached to insipid melodramatic crap, I’ve been burned many times by the Original Song “winner.”

Happy to say that I liked all of these films, and all of these songs.

The two from Barbie are delightful, but I kind of felt silly choosing either one of those over a culturally significant song that tells the story of a people. 

 

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: ”Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon

Film Editing

*Anatomy of a Fall

*The Holdovers

*Killers of the Flower Moon

*Oppenheimer

*Poor Things

I was all set to vote for Scorsese stalwart Thelma Schoonmaker with her nine nominations and three wins, but I made a last-minute substitution and will go with Yorgos Mavropsaridis since the editing on Poor Things had me mesmerized.

Since I switched, Schoonmaker will, of course, now win. 

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Yorgos Mavropsaridis for Poor Things

Directing

*Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall

*Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon

*Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer

*Yorgos Lanthimos for Poor Things

*Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest

We have two directors earning their 1st Best Director Oscar nomination, two with their 2nd, and then there’s Martin Scorsese with his 10th.

Now I am not being ageist (since I myself am old), but I can’t go with Marty here. He has already won one (for the WRONG movie!!!) and I believe it’s time to usher in the new guard. 

I love Yorgos Lanthimos, but he’ll have to wait since I believe it’s time Christopher Nolan wins one of these.

I’ve been a fan of Nolan’s for 24 years now. Following, Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige, The Dark Knight trilogy, Dunkirk, and those two movies I didn’t understand a minute of all showcase Nolan’s masterful skills as a director.

Actors love working with him, he has figured out how to manage a huge production, and his films have that “feel” that only the great directors can create.

I think this will be Nolan's first of multiple Oscars.

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer

Actor in a Leading Role

*Bradley Cooper in Maestro

*Colman Domingo in Rustin

*Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers

*Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer

*Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction

There are a couple of veterans on this list. 

Paul Giamatti has been around the block a few times, and Bradley Cooper’s performance in Maestro earned him his 5th acting Oscar nomination.

The other three actors all earned their 1st Oscar nomination this year, and I’m going with one of the rookies!

It's been almost 20 years since this actor caught my eye in 28 Days Later and Red Eye. He then played Scarecrow in two of the Dark Knight movies and was phenomenal as Thomas Shelby in the Netflix series “Peaky Blinders.”

I thought Cillian Murphy did an amazing job capturing the inner conflicts that J. Robert Oppenheimer dealt with during and after his work on the Manhattan Project.

It’s Murphy’s most complex role to date, and I’m looking forward to more from him in the future. 

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer

Actress in a Leading Role

*Annette Bening in Nyad

*Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon

*Sandra Huller in Anatomy of a Fall

*Carey Mulligan in Maestro

*Emma Stone in Poor Things

Two more rookies in this field (Gladstone & Huller) along with actresses earning their 3rd (Mulligan), 4th (Stone), and 5th (Bening) Oscar nominations.

After seeing Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest on the same day and marveling at Sandra Huller’s performances in BOTH while speaking THREE languages fluently, I was ready to vote for her in this category.

I know this is picky, but if Huller was nominated for The Zone of Interest as opposed to Anatomy of a Fall, she may have gotten my vote.

I’m currently looking through her filmography and adding movies to my queue.

Of the five nominees, only Emma Stone has won previously. Annette Bening may be overdue and was amazing in Nyad, but our vote goes to Emma Stone as Bella Baxter in Poor Things.

It’s difficult to explain the character of Bella without spoiling some of this wonderful movie, so I won’t even try.

Suffice to say that Stone took on an extremely unorthodox, multi-layered character and absolutely crushed it. 

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Emma Stone for Poor Things

Best Picture

*American Fiction

*Anatomy of a Fall

*Barbie

*The Holdovers

*Killers of the Flower Moon

*Maestro

*Oppenheimer

*Past Lives

*Poor Things

*The Zone of Interest

If you were with us for Episode 7 this season, you are familiar with our “Best Picture Rundown” where we ranked all 10 nominees.

Of the ten films, all of which I liked on some level, my favorite was Poor Things.

But just because it was my favorite doesn’t mean that it should be Best Picture.

I think that the Best Picture of the year was Christopher Nolan’s WWII epic biography history lesson Oppenheimer. 

I think the film succeeds on multiple levels, and Nolan has shown that he deserves to be mentioned along with the all-time great directors in film history.

The Cinema Wellman Oscar vote goes to: Oppenheimer

Well, that is a wrap from here at Cinema Wellman. You now know our choices for all 23 of the Oscars that will be given out Sunday night.

If you plan on tuning in, we hope you enjoy the show. (All 5 hours of it)

We also hope you return next week when Cinema Wellman salutes an actor who has made a living out of playing real people.

He plays EVERYONE!!!!!

Until then, take care.