By John H. Foote
We are a short time before the announcement of the Academy Award nominations for 2022, so I am going to weigh in on my predictions.
It has been an usually fine year especially for women on film, the plethora of performances stunning in what has been a landmark year. Along with those great performances are a couple of sentimental possibilities for sentimental nominations or even wins!!
There has been such an overload of great films and great female performances, some impressive work is going to be left out.
And box office titans are going to be among the Best Picture nominees!
And will Steven Spielberg win a third Oscar for Directing his superb autobiographical The Fabelmans? Very likely folks. This marks the second year in a row that Spielberg has made the year’s best film, in my humble opinion.
Here we go … the major categories and a couple I love.
BEST PICTURE
- THE FABELMANS
- SHE SAID
- WOMEN TALKING
- TOP GUN – MAVERICK
- AVATAR – THE WAY OF THE WATER
- EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
- BABYLON
- TAR
- THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
- ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
BEST DIRECTOR
- STEVEN SPIELBERG FOR THE FABELMANS
- JAMES CAMERON FOR AVATAR – THE WAY OF WATER
- TODD FIELD FOR TAR
- DAMIEN CHAZELLE FOR BABYLON
- SARAH POLLEY FOR WOMEN TALKING
(ALTERNATE — MARTIN MCDONOUGH FOR THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN)
BEST ACTOR
- AUSTIN BUTLER IN ELVIS
- COLIN FARRELL IN THE BANSHEES OF INSHERIN
- BRENDAN FRASER IN THE WHALE
- BILL NIGHY IN LIVING
- RALPH FIENNES IN THE MENU
(ALTERNATE – ADAM SANDLER IN HUSTLE)
BEST ACTRESS
- CATE BLANCHETT IN TAR
- MARGOT ROBBIE IN BABYLON
- ANA DE ARMAS IN BLONDE
- MICHELLE YEOH IN EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
- MICHELLE WILLIAMS IN THE FABELMANS
(ALTERNATE – DANIELLE DEADWYLER IN TILL)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- KE HUY QUAN IN EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
- BRENDAN GLEASON IN THE BANSHEES OF INSHERIN
- BARRY KEOGHAN IN THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
- PAUL DANO IN THE FABELMANS
- JUDD HIRSCH IN THE FABELMANS
(ALTERNATE – BRAD PITT IN BABYLON)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- KERRY CONDON IN THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
- ANGELA BASSETT IN BLACK PANTHER — WAKANDA FOREVER
- JAMIE LEE CURTIS IN EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
- CLAIRE FOY IN WOMEN TALKING
- JESSE BUCKLEY IN WOMEN TALKING
(ALTERNATE – HONG CHAU IN THE WHALE)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- THE FABELMANS
- TAR
- BABYLON
- EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
- THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- WOMEN TALKING
- SHE SAID
- LIVING
- WHITE NOISE
- ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- TOP GUN – MAVERICK
- AVATAR – THE WAY OF WATER
- THE FABELMANS
- THE BATMAN
- TAR
BEST FILM EDITING
- TOP GUN – MAVERICK
- AVATAR – THE WAY OF THE WATER
- THE FABELMANS
- THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
- BABYLON
John H. Foote is a well-recognized Canadian film critic/historian who has been an active critic for 30 years. His deep love for the movies began at a very young age. He began his career as co-host of the popular TV show Reel to Real where he remained for nine years. While on TV he began dabbling in education, eventually ascending to Director of the Toronto Film School, where he also taught film history. After leaving the college to care for his wife, he returned to teaching at Humber College where he taught both Film History and Method Acting Theory. John has written two books: “Clint Eastwood – Evolution of a Filmmaker” and the upcoming “Spielberg – American Film Visionary”. He is currently working on two books, one about the films of the seventies and another on the films of Martin Scorsese. Through his career he has worked in TV, radio, print and the web. John has interviewed everyone in the industry (more than 300 interviews) except Jack Nicholson, he says sadly. Highlights include Martin Scorsese, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow.
