The 93rd Annual Academy Awards - The Oscars - will air live this Sunday, April 25th, 2021, at 8pm EDT on ABC. Our Oscar Week coverage continues with a look at the two Screenplay categories (Original and Adapted) as well as the Best Feature Films in the Animated, International and Documentary categories. Before we dive in, a reminder: Join us and get ready for the Oscars this Sunday from 5pm - 6pm ET with the "Movie Show Plus LIVE! - Oscar Preview Special," streaming on MovieShowplus.com, as well as our Facebook and YouTube channels. BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY And the nominees are: Prediction/Analysis: "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" surprised many when it took home the top honor in this category at the Writers' Guild Awards this year, but the WGA winner doesn't always equal Oscar gold. That film is still considered a long-shot, with the longest-shot of all coming from "The White Tiger," a deserving entry but one that has already over-achieved by simply getting nominated. "One Night in Miami" is in the middle of the pack, with the two real contenders being "The Father" and "Nomadland." Who will win: It's a toss-up, and this might be the Academy's best opportunity to award "The Father" with something, since it is likely to lose elsewhere. But I'm guessing that "Nomadland" will still come out on top. The film is based on the 2017 book "Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century" by Jessica Bruder, and could be one of several awards the movie ultimately takes home. BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY And the nominees are:
Prediction/Analysis: It's a bit disappointing that so many factors usually go into which films actually win Oscars...sometimes the "best" of the year isn't exactly the winner, and it seems that some years, the Academy tries to make sure that all deserving movies get love equally spread among the different categories. For example, "Judas and the Black Messiah" will likely win for Best Supporting Actor, "Sound of Metal" will win the Sound category and Yuh-jung Youn may take a trophy for "Minari." "The Trial of the Chicago 7" may be the film that gets left out in the cold this year, because "Promising Young Woman" has a real shot of not just winning here, but winning the major awards like Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress. Who will win: But on the other hand, if the Academy decides to give those bigger awards to "Promising Young Woman," this category might be the only opportunity they have to reward Aaron Sorkin's biting original work in "The Trial of the Chicago 7." That might be a tempting pick, but smart money is on Emerald Fennell's "Promising Young Woman" to win here anyways. BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM And the nominees are:
Prediction/Analysis: This is the first-ever nominated film in this category from Tunisia and the second-ever from Bosnia and Herzegovina. "Collective" - from Romania - becomes just the second film ever to be nominated for both Best International Feature and Best Documentary Feature...ironically the first was just last year with Macedonia's "Honeyland." The Academy clearly loves "Another Round," though, giving its director, Thomas Vinterberg, a nod for Best Director even. It's the clear favorite in this category. Who will win: There aren't too many sure things this year for the Oscars, but "Another Round" winning in this category is about as close as you'll come to one. BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM And the nominees are:
Prediction/Analysis: Let's face it: 2020 was a tough year for feature-length animated films. With "Croods 2: A New Age" left off the list, there weren't even that many other mainstream animated films that saw release other than this year's batch of five nominated films. But this category my friends is a two-way race between "Soul" and "Wolfwalkers." Who will win: I'm not sure if the Academy knows this, but it doesn't HAVE to vote for Pixar movies each and every time. Taking nothing away from "Soul," the stand-out here is really "Wolfwalkers," a beautifully rendered, voiced feature that matches the creativity of "Soul"s script with its hand-crafted visuals. Yet, "Wolfwalkers" is probably the long-shot, so expect "Soul" to give Pixar yet another award from the Academy (since the inception of this category in 2010, a non-Pixar/Disney film has only one twice: in 2011 for "Rango" and in 2018 for "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.") BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM And the nominees are:
Prediction/Analysis: Where it was a down year for Animated feature films, it was a tremendous year for the Documentary film. So many were left off this year's list (check out our favorite documentaries of 2020 here) and the five that were chosen are so completely different, that the category itself this year just goes to show the wide-sweeping reach and effects of the genre. Who will win: Whether it wins or not, I urge you to go see Netflix's "My Octopus Teacher." It tells a story about a man who befriends an octopus deep off the coast of Africa, and its enthralling. It very well may win the Oscar, and in any other year "My Octopus Teacher" might be a shoe-in to win. "Crip Camp" too, might have won in a different year. But with the climate of today's society, with so many issues facing boiling points across our country and the world, the only two films in this category that would be considered socially and culturally relevant would be "Collective" and "Time" and of the two, I think that "Time" - a film about a woman fighting for the life of her incarcerated husband serving a 60-year prison term - will land not only as the winner, but as an exclamation point on the fight against the injustices that many are facing in today's polarizing and difficult landscape. No matter how you watch join the #Oscars conversation across the Academy's social media channels. OSCAR WEEK Coverage Continues! Stay tuned to Movie Show Plus for new Oscar content every day this week leading up to Oscar Sunday, including news, predictions and what to expect on this year's telecast. Also check out: Oscar Week: Where to watch this year's Oscar nominated films Oscar Week: Predicting the Acting categories
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