FilmStack Oscars Round Table + My Final Predictions

Plus a sneak peek of my Oscars dinner.

There is a flurry of Oscars-related content being published right now. I can speak only for myself but there’s still a handful of things I want to publish before Sunday. We’ll see how successful I am as I try to respect your inbox, but expect a few off-the-cuff posts throughout the rest of this week!

For those wishing to get a deep-dive on all 23 categories of the Academy Awards, Maria Banson of Brunello Bombshell compiled The 2025 FilmStack Oscars Round Table, in collaboration with thirteen other movie ‘Stackers providing analysis and predictions for this year’s Oscars. I was pleased to contribute my two cents for the Cinematography and Documentary Feature categories (my four cents?) — click the button below for the very nicely designed PDF. Big thanks to Maria for inviting me to take part!

just a little preview.

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My Final Oscar Predictions

For what it’s worth, these are my own guesses for who wins on Sunday. Can’t wait to see how wrong I am. I switched things up from my initial predictions, changing the winners of seven categories. RIP Conclave theory of the Oscars.

• Best Picture: Anora (was A Complete Unknown on January 23)

• Best Director: The Brutalist – Brady Corbet

• Leading Actress: The Substance – Demi Moore

• Supporting Actress: Emilia Pérez – Zoe Saldaña

• Leading Actor: The Brutalist – Adrien Brody (was Timothée Chalamet/A Complete Unknown)

• Supporting Actor: A Real Pain – Kieran Culkin

• Animated Feature: The Wild Robot

• Cinematography: The Brutalist

• Costume Design: Wicked

• Documentary Feature: No Other Land

• Film Editing: Anora (was Emilia Pérez)

• International Film: Emilia Pérez

• Makeup & Hairstyling: Wicked

• Original Score: The Brutalist

• Original Song: Emilia Pérez – "El Mal"

• Production Design: Wicked

• Animated Short: Beautiful Men

• Live Action Short: A Lien (was The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent)

• Documentary Short Subject: The Only Girl in the Orchestra (was Incident)

• Sound: Wicked

• Visual Effects: Dune: Part Two

• Adapted Screenplay: Conclave (was A Complete Unknown)

• Original Screenplay: Anora (was The Brutalist)

For the first time, I placed some bets on the Oscars via Kalshi. I put down a modest $500 and tried to maximize expected value, with a blend of longshots and hedges. We’ll see whether or not I lose my shirt. Let’s just say I’m glad I didn’t place a massive bet on A Complete Unknown back in January.

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Teaser Trailer for My Oscars Dinner Party

And I’m sure some readers are eagerly anticipating the rundown of the Oscars dinner parties that I threw this past weekend. I had a lot of fun hosting it, and the menu was a huge hit with my guests. Both Saturday and Sunday services were shorter than The Brutalist.

I’m waiting to get pictures back from my photographer (and I need to do some writing about the event lol) so for now, here’s a few cellphone pics taken by myself and some of my friends to whet your appetite:

Pelmeni, smetana, ikura for Anora.

Saturday’s crew: me, Aaron, Aeron.

Flame on!

Yapping about the movies.

Emilia Pérez cheese board.

Crême brutalist - the reactions when this dropped were priceless.

Bonus cat.

For inspo for your own party, check out this very thorough guide I made: