This week:
- Ayo Edebiri is our best new Hollywood star.
- The Oscar nominations that should happen.
- The best fashion from the week of award shows.
- Oprah isn’t subtle.
If Oscar Voters Had Any Taste…
I am a twin (fun fact about me!). When we were in late elementary/early middle school, my brother and I became obsessed with stats. We watched SportsCenter on ESPN every morning. And not just one time to check the scores… we watched three or four times, to memorize them.
At some point in a journey that my therapist and I are still parsing out decades later, the obsession with stats changed. I stopped caring about Mark McGwire vs. Sammy Sosa. I only cared to know who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars throughout my lifetime. (There’s no official Gay Card, but that obsession is basically it.)
In any case, monitoring the awards season became more than a hobby; it’s now part of my profession. Sorry to my twin brother, whose encyclopedic knowledge of the RBIs from the roster of the 1999 New York Mets is not that applicable to his (much higher paying) job.
So having covered and observed and obsessed over this entire awards season, I decided to do something different this year.
I have a hunch as to which performers and films are going to get nominated for the Oscars when the announcement happens on Tuesday morning. The most disappointing part of awards season is how much consensus there is before the Oscar nominations happen; the deserving smaller candidates that used to break in rarely do anymore.
So instead of a predictions list, here’s my alternate take: the nominees that I wish were a part of the conversation and that I will be sad to miss on that list when it comes out. (If they’re not here, well, that’s because I predict them! Predictions are boring, especially now when they’re obvious.)
Best Picture: All of Us Strangers; Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret.; Origin; Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning; Passages; Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé; Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Theater Camp; A Thousand and One; You Hurt My Feelings
Best Actress: Fantasia Barrino, The Color Purple; Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Origin; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, You Hurt My Feelings; Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One; Michelle Williams, Showing Up
Best Actor: Gael Garcia Bernal, Cassandro; Josh O’Connor, La Chimera; Franz Rogowski, Passages; Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers; Teo Yoo, Past Lives
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Ferrari; Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers; Taraji P. Henson, The Color Purple; Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.; Audra McDonald, Origin
Best Supporting Actor: Noah Galvin, Theater Camp; Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry; Milo Machado Graner, Anatomy of a Fall; Chris Messina, Air; Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
Anyway, I hope all of these projects and performers are nominated on Tuesday. If nothing else, you now have a great list of movies and performances to watch.
The Mothers Are Mothering
Here are the best-dressed celebrities from this past weekend of awards, as chosen by me, a person who is currently wearing the 20th generation same pair of jeans and sneakers he started in 2007 (not as a style statement, but out of no taste), but who still likes to look at fashion!!!
Jessica Chastain, the most glamorous highlighter I have ever seen:
Niecy Nash Betts, dressed for the funeral for all the gays that are deceased after seeing how good she looks:
Oprah Winfrey, proving that all celebs should dress in theme to the title of the movie they’re nominated for:
All Other Flower Bouquets Should Be Ashamed
Speaking of Oprah and awards, she sent a massive bouquet of flowers to Quinta Brunson to congratulate her on her Emmy win, and the photo of the 4-foot-11-inch Brunson standing with them had me cracking up.
What to Watch This Week
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell: This three-hour drama is worth your time (and three-hour dramas so rarely are!). (Now in theaters)
Jacqueline Novak: Get On Your Knees: This surprising, hilarious comedy special is finally heading to Netflix. (Tues. on Netflix)
A Real Bug’s Life: A whimsical, child-friendly take on nature documentaries inspired by the Pixar film. (Wed. on Disney+)
What to Skip This Week
I.S.S.: About as thrilling as a trip to the bathroom. (Now in theaters)
Queer Eye: This show is in desperate need of its own makeover. (Now on Netflix)
