With Avatars and airplanes, from Elvis to everything, plus stars and scandals.… It’s Oscar season! The nominations have been out for just almost three weeks now and the ceremony is to be held on March 12 at 7:00 pm on ABC. During every dread of winter transitioning into spring, movie lovers turn to the Academy Awards for a celebration of the films released the year prior. This will be the 95th Academy Awards and you can expect nothing short of an eventful evening.

“Everything Everywhere all at Once” dominates the awards ceremony this year with 11 nominations across multiple categories, including Best Picture. This science fiction film tells the story of a Chinese immigrant traveling across the multiverse. Leads Ke Hu Quan and Michelle Yeoh of the film are both up for Best Actor. Michelle Yeoh is the first self-identifying Asian lead actress in Academy nominee history, and this strongly favors a win for her in the Best Actor category. Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert are strongly favored to win for Best Picture. Everything Everywhere is streaming now on Paramount Plus or available for renting.

With 9 nods, “The Banshees of Inisherin” is up next with nominations for the big prizes like Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. Banshees tells the story of your not-so- typical on-screen breakup, with deep emotion and pain for the audience. However, Martin McDonagh’s nomination for Best Picture is quite controversial because this is his least “plotty” film, the story is entirely minimalist. We will have to see if the Academy resonates with it. Banshees is available on Hulu and HBO Max.

Elvis. The summer blockbuster is up there leading with 8 nods. Similar to the other films, Elvis is nominated for Best Picture but also the more artistic categories like Best Production Design, Cinematography,  Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Sound. And the most anticipated nomination: Austin Butler’s nomination for Best Actor of the King Elvis himself. We are all familiar with Butler’s dedication to the role, shapeshifting his voice for that classic Southern Elvis; even in post-production his southern voice still lingered. The boy is from California. Consequently, his voice has become a running joke on the internet. But should we be complaining? Perhaps everyone is just jealous because that very voice won him a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Oscar Nomination for Best Actor. Austin Butler’s magical performance is available to watch on HBO Max.  

This Oscars should be incredibly exciting because there are so many films with multiple nominations. It is possible for one film to “sweep” the Oscars, it would be a similar situation to “Lord of the Rings” in 2004 going 11 for 11 at the ceremony and “CODA” going three for three two years ago. The question is… Which film will take home all these statuettes?

Cast your Oscar Ballots HERE 

The PR Student with the most correct predictions will win a prize!