The PS-Oscars, 2021

There are a lot of things out of our control right now: the end of Covid, global warming, my poor Knicks or Jets ever making the playoffs again. But one thing I can control? Handing out fake awards to the movies and performances that I and I alone think are worthy. Here now are my picks for what deserved to be Oscar nominated (and declared an Oscar winner) in 2021. (At minimum, these will be more entertaining than a simulcast Golden Globes.)

Note: Based on movies I’ve seen, and nominees in italics are what I would choose to win. When the actual nominees come out, I’ll make my choices for what will win, but for now, these are solely what I think is most deserving.

Best Picture:

Palm Springs; The Trial of the Chicago 7; Promising Young Woman; Sound of Metal; Mank

Palm Springs is exactly what I want in a movie: a blend of comedy, sci-fi, and pathos. The Trial of the Chicago 7 is the Platonic ideal of a Sorkin courtroom movie. Promising Young Woman had the best plot of any movie I’ve seen this year. And Sound of Metal featured such a ferocious performance (more on that below) that I had to include it. But honestly? Even though it probably delved more into 1934 Californian gubernatorial politics than most people wanted, to me it was my favorite movie of the year. Or, to be completely snobbish about it, the rest I listed are movies; Mank is a film.

Best Actress:

Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman; Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman; Frances McDormand, Nomadland; Cristin Milioti, Palm Springs.

I didn’t love Nomadland as much as I hoped to, but I can’t deny that McDormand was brilliant. Milioti and Mulligan, too, carried their movies. But Vanessa Kirby was on another level, especially the 20-ish minute opening scene.

Best Actor:

Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Gary Oldman, Mank; Mark Rylance, The Trial of the Chicago 7; Andy Samberg, Palm Springs; Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal

OK, so the reason I used the Joker gif above is to mention a personal hot take with which most people will disagree: Heath Ledger won his Oscar only because he died, and his performance as the Joker was not *that* great. (In any other year, Michael Shannon would have walked away with the award for Revolutionary Road). /Dodges tomatoes being thrown.

I bring it up because I have no doubt that Chadwick Boseman – a terrific actor – will win Best Actor at the Oscars this year. He was outstanding in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. He has consistently been a great actor: his scene-stealing turns as Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Vontae Mack (Draft Day!), and of course Black Panther only make it that much more cruel that we won’t get to see him act again. And I wanted to honor Rylance because, as much as that movie is an ensemble piece, Rylance is as close to a “lead” actor as anyone in it (and I can’t nominate every cast member for supporting). Samberg and Oldman, too, were terrific in their respective roles. But – despite my enduring respect for Mr. Boseman – no performance in the past few years comes close to what Riz Ahmed did in Sound of Metal. Every scene was well acted, sure, but it was more than that – there was an authenticity to his character that I just have not seen in other films. Boseman will take it, but I look forward to Ahmed’s Oscar win in 2022 or 2023 as a make-up (See also: 2000, when Russell Crowe for Gladiator when he should have won for 1999’s The Insider).

Best Director:

Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7; David Fincher, Mank; Chloé Zhao, Nomadland; Regina King, One Night in Miami; Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman

Sorkin did a masterful job of getting great performances out of an ensemble cast. Fincher had the most technically difficult job, making a movie like Mank feel like it came out in 1943. Zhao shot the American countryside like it was a pastiche of Ansel Adams photographs. And King helped One Night in Miami feel like more than a play, and coaxed great performances from all four of her leads. But Fennell took an insane plot (med student drop-out seeks emotional and physical revenge on the male gender) and made a breezy yet dramatic movie that just worked. Also, here’s hoping that several female directors can be nominated at once, something that has never happened before. And the last female director to win? Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker. The above-mentioned female directors are due.

Best Supporting Actress:

Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy; Dominique Fishback, Judas and the Black Messiah; Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm; Olivia Colman, The Father; Amanda Seyfried, Mank

I disliked large parts of Hillbilly Elegy – and this is coming from someone who would love nothing more than an Amy Adams Oscar win for once – but Glenn Close was amazing as Meemaw. Dominique Fishback was my favorite part of Judas and the Black Messiah, particularly the reaction shots of her at the end (no spoilers here). Maria Bakalova was the reason Rudy Giuliani literally got caught with his hands down his pants, and Olivia Colman is terrific as always. But to me, this was Seyfried’s award to lose the moment I saw her saunter on screen in Mank. A terrific actress who was firing on all cylinders.

Best Supporting Actor:

Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7; Eddie Redmayne, The Trial of the Chicago 7; Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah; Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami; Joseph Gordon-Levitt, The Trial of the Chicago 7

Sacha Baron Cohen and Eddie Redmayne are the Martin and Malcolm at the heart of Chicago 7, but JGL is the heart and soul, the character who is equally great at delivering and receiving exposition as well as making an emotional speech. He also is a character who knows that, while he is on the other side legally from the defendants, there is a shared patriotism and outrage at the war in Vietnam. Leslie Odom, Jr. was a great Sam Cooke, and Kaluuya’s Chairman Fred is probably the one to beat in real life, but in my fake awards, it’s JGL all the way.