Movies with Michael: Picks for the 95th Oscars

The 95th Oscars airs Sunday on WDIO, and if you haven’t been able to see all these films yourself, The Lift movie expert Michael Gendron shares his picks and what you can expect.

Best Supporting Actor

Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin

Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway

Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans

Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin

Michael’s Pick and Prediction: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Michael: “Ke Huy Quan has been sweeping the precursors all award season for his role as Waymond Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once. And I have no reason to believe anything is going to change. If I get to cast a vote, I know he’d also be my personal choice. His performance is funny, heartwarming and removed from all pretense.”

Best Supporting Actress

Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Hong Chau, The Whale

Michael’s pick and prediction: Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin

Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inishman

Michael: “This is a pretty wide open category with the love being spread all award season. This might be my riskiest prediction of the night, but I do believe the Academy will award Kerry Condon for her tender and nuanced performance in Banshees, which is also my personal favorite performance in the category.”

Best Actress

Michael’s pick: Cate Blanchett, Tár

Ana de Armas, Blonde

Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie

Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans

Michael’s prediction: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Michael: “There may be five nominees in this category, but this is a two-person race. The presenter is going to read one of two names, Cate Blanchett or Michelle Yoeh. I 100% believe Blanchett should add a third Oscar to her collection for her once-in-a-lifetime performance as fictional conductor Lydia Tár. However, I think her previous wins will work against her with voters. And right now, the momentum is in Yoeh’s Corner for her performance as the different versions of Evelyn Yang across the multiverse in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Now it’s a fantastic performance that I also really connected with. So I’ll still be very happy if Yoeh wins.”

Best Actor

Michael’s Prediction: Austin Butler, Elvis

Michael’s Pick: Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin

Brendan Fraser, The Whale

Paul Mescal, Aftersun

Bill Nighy, Living

Michael: “Now, this is another pretty wide open race, in my opinion, with Butler, Farrell and Fraser all having won precursor awards. Now, of the three performances, I was most impressed with Farrell’s melancholy earnestness in Banshees. It was easily my favorite performance of last year. However, in Elvis, a star was born. If you didn’t know Austin Butler’s name in 2021, you certainly learned it in 2022. And just like everyone else, I was blown away by his performance as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, which felt less like an impersonation of Presley and more like an embodiment of his spirit. So seven of the last 10 Best Actor winners have won for portraying real life people. And I firmly believe that’s about to be eight of the last 11. Butler is my prediction to win.”

Best Director

Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Michael’s pick and predition: Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans

Todd Field, Tár

Ruben Ostlund, Triangle of Sadness

Michael: “This award will either go to the veteran Spielberg or the new Kids on the block, The Daniels. I believe Best Director and Best Picture will be split again this year, with Spielberg taking home Best Director for his incredibly personal work in ‘The Fablemans.’ Directors have been directing semi-autobiographical films forever. But I’ve never seen a director so thoroughly re-contextualize his entire career like Spielberg did here. When you watch ‘The Fablemans,’ you’re not just watching a great movie. You’re watching a movie that makes watching ‘Jaws’ better. You’re watching a movie that makes watching ‘E.T.’ better. You’re watching a movie that makes ‘Jurassic Park’ better. It provides an emotional context to all those films that help you realize what a personal filmmaker Spielberg has always been. And for those reasons, Spielberg’s not just my personal choice, but the director who I believe will win.”

Best Picture

All Quiet on the Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

Michael’s pick and prediction: Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

Tár

Top Gun: Maverick

Triangle of Sadness

Women Talking

Michael: “This is an incredible lineup with more big crowd-pleasing films than the Academy has nominated in years. Now, there’s just so much to say about all of the films nominated, but in my heart of hearts, I’d love for The Fablemans or Elvis to win. Now I’ve talked enough about The Fablemans, but Elvis was one of my biggest surprises of last year. It’s a tragic American masterclass of mythmaking, John Ford on ecstasy, each rewatch revealing something new to love or a new theme to latch onto. With all that said, however, just like last year’s winner Coda, Everything Everywhere, All at Once is peaking at just the right time. Well, it’s by no means your typical Oscar frontrunner with its multiverse storyline and hard R-rated, at times juvenile sense of humor, like Coda, it is a feel-good, uplifting movie with family and love at its heart. It swept the Screen Actors Guild Awards. It won the Producers Guild Award, and it won the Golden Globe. I have no reason to believe that Everything Everywhere, All at Once, won’t be the night’s big winner.”