The 2017 Oscars ♦ ♦ ♦ Who do you think will be the winners? La La Land received most at 14 nominations. Here are my picks. What are yours? #2017Oscars #AcademyAwards #LaLaLand #Arrival #Moonlight #HacksawRidge #Lion #Fences #HellOrHighWater #HiddenFigures

Most diverse Oscar noms ever!  No more "#OscarsGoWhitely"or "#OscarsSoWhite"

Yes, I am hosting the Oscars. This is not a prank. And if it is, my revenge on @TheAcademy will be terrible & sweet. Thx to @alsformalwear — Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel), TV host, producer, writer, comedian, voice actor; December 5, 2016, On hosting The 89th Academy Awards (2017 Oscars).

Photo left of Jimmy Kimmel smiling from Wikipedia by photographer Andrea George created September 4,2012 during a ceremony for Ellen DeGeneres to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Video below of Jimmy Kimmel catches 2016 Oscar host, Chris Rock after the 2016 Oscars. 

Excerpts fromChris Rock's opening Monologue hosting the 77th (2005) Oscar Academy Awards.
"...So ...Great night tonight. We have 4 black nominees...Kinda like the deaf Oscar jam tonight ... You know why I love the Oscars. Cause the Oscars are the only awards show where the people nominated don't really perform...There's no acting at the Oscars ...The only acting you see at the Oscars are when people act like they're not mad when they lost...Like I remember one year when Halle Berry won the Oscar Nicole Kidman was smiling so wide she shoulda' won an Emmy at the Oscars for her great performance ...See at least they make white movies for people to enjoy ... real movies with plots ...with actors not rappers ... with real names like "Catch Me If You Can," "Saving Private Ryan," ... black people movies don't have real names ... you get names like "Barbershop," that's not a name that's just a location ... "Barbershop," "Cookout," "CarWash," ... they've been making the same movies for 40 years. That's right you know laundromat is coming soon. And after that check-cashing place."   ~~ Chris Rock (Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III) actor, comedian, voice artist, director, writer, and producer, excerpts from him while hosting the 2005 Oscar Awards (77th).

“It will be a night that ends with a lot of drunk, disappointed people.”   ~~ Chris Rock,

Actor, comedian, on hosting Oscar 2016  
(Image left is screen shot of Oscar.com homepage)

  The 89th Academy Award (Oscar) 25-category nominations were announced live on January 24th by Jennifer Hudson and Brie Larson along with Oscar nominees Jason Reitman and Ken Watanabe and Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki.

The 89th Oscars® LIVE OSCAR SUNDAY will be broadcast live from Hollywood's Dolby Theatre on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. EST on ABC Television Network, and will be televised in more than 225 countries.

Here is a listing of key Academy Announcements for the 89th Academy Awards (or copy/paste this link http://www.oscars.org/news/academy-announces-key-dates-89th-oscars).

Films with the most nominations are  “La La Land” (14 nominations, 13 categories) with no other films coming close. Arrival and Moonlight tied for 2nd with 8 nominations each.

As everyone expected, Meryl Streep received her  historic 20th nomination for her role as Florence Foster Jenkins, despite President Donald Trump dubbing her as an "over-rated" actress.

Funnyman, Jimmy Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live will host his first Academy Award Oscars® @AcademyAwardHD @Oscars_Live @AwardsOscarsTV #Oscars2017 this year. Kimmel is no stranger to the #Oscars® as he has hosted his annual Jimmy Kimmel Live: After the Oscars specials for years.

WHO DO YOU THINK THE WINNERS WILL BE?  CAST YOUR VOTE ON OSCARCHALLENGE #OfficialOscarsChallenge

All of the movies this year are spectacular and they are all winners. Here's a summary of films with multi-nominations (by movie) and I’ll be updating this with my picks and also the winners during Oscar Night.

Not surprising, La La Land has the most Oscar nominations  at 14 ~ in the league with Titanic, which received 11 Oscars in 1997  and All About Eve with 6 Oscars in 1951.  Gone With the Wind had 13 nominations and won 8 Oscars in 1940.

♦ La La Land  – (14 nominations, could win at least 11 possibly more, I actually have La La Land for winning 11 of 14 Oscar nominations) (Best Picture, Actor, Original Screenplay, Best Director, Actress, Original Score, Original Song, Cinematography, Production Design, Film Editing, Costume Design)

♦ Arrival  – (8 nominations, could win  2)

♦ Moonlight –  ( 8 nominations, could win 2)  

♦ Hacksaw Ridge – (6 nominations, could win 1)

♦ Manchester By the Sea –   (6 nominations, could win  2)

♦ Lion  – (6 nominations, could win at least 2)

♦ Fences  –   (4 nominations, could win at least 2)

♦ Hell or High Water  – (4 nominations, could win at least 1)

♦ Hidden Figures –   (3 nominations, could win at least 1)

As in 2014 and 2013, there are 9 nominees for best picture 2017 (2016 and 2015  had 8). There is good news this year with the most media-worthy is that Meryl Streep is nominated for the 20^th time and there are diverse nominations across many categories. So  #NoMoreOscarsSoWhite or #OscarsGoWhitely. I don't understand why Amy Adams wasn't included in the nominations for Arrival. 

The Oscars are voted on by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. More information on the voting process is available at the Academy's website (oscar.go.com).

More Oscar nomination coverage is at the Official Annual Academy Awards -- Oscar.com and visit the “Oscar Nominee” section of the Website. My picks are in the category headers below. Oscar.com is also interactive and has a "My Picks" section at http://oscar.go.com/mypicks.   

#2017Oscars #AcademyAwards #LaLaLand #Arrival #Moonlight #HacksawRidge #Lion #Fences #HellOrHighWater #HiddenFigures

I've also included links to more information about the films and noted if any nominees have had previous Oscar nominations/wins in the listings below:

Picture:   My pick, La La Land, of course.   WINNER:"TBA"

♦ Arrival, Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Aaron Ryder and David Linde, Producers

♦ Fences, Scott Rudin, Denzel Washington and Todd Black, Producers (8th Academy Award nominations for Rudin and Washington)

♦ Hacksaw Ridge,  Bill Mechanic and David Permut Producers

♦ Hell or High Water, Carla Hacken and Julie Yorn, Producers

♦ Hidden Figures, Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Pharrell Williams and Theodore Melfi, Producers (4th Academy Award nomination for Gigliotti, 1 Oscar win)
♦ La La Land, Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt, Producers (2nd Academy Award nomination for Platt)

♦ Lion, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Angie Fielder, Producers (2nd Academy Award nominations for Sherman and Canning,  both have 1 Oscar win)

♦ Manchester By the Sea, Matt Damon, Kimberly Steward, Chris Moore, Lauren Beck and Kevin J. Walsh, Producers (5th Academy Award nomination for Damon, 1 Oscar win)

♦ Moonlight, Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers (5th Academy Award nomination for Gardner, 1 Oscar win, 4th Academy Award nomination for Kleiner, 1 Oscan win)

Actor in a Leading Role:   This is a tough one. There are 3 who can win this Manchester's Casey Affleck, La La Land's Ryan Gosling and Fence's Denzel Washington- I picked Ryan Gosling on Oscar Challenge.   WINNER:"TBD"

♦ Casey Affleck, Manchester By the Sea (2nd Academy Award nomination)
♦ Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge

♦ Ryan Gosling, La La Land (2nd Academy Award nomination)  
♦ Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic (2nd Academy Award nomination)  
♦ Denzel Washington, Fences (8th Academy Award nomination, 2 wins)

Actress in a Leading Role: They were all awesome but I have to pick La La Land's Emma Stone, she was so amazing I forgot it was her. WINNER: TBA

♦ Isabelle Huppert, Elle

♦ Ruth Negga, Loving

♦ Natalie Portman, Jackie (3rd Academy Award nomination, 1 Oscar win)
♦ Emma Stone, La La Land (2rd Academy Award nomination)

♦ Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins (20^th Oscar nomination, 3 wins)

Actor in a Supporting Role: Undecided – could be Jeff Bridges or Michael Shannon but I picked Mahershala Ali on Oscar Challenge.     WINNER: TBA

♦ Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

♦ Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water  (7th Academy Award nomination for Bridges)  
♦ Lucas Hedges, Manchester By the Sea

♦ Dev Patel, Lion

♦ Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals (2nd Academy Award nomination for Shannon)

Actress in a Supporting Role:  I think it's going to be Viola Davis, although I might change after I see other flicks.  WINNER: TBA

♦ Viola Davis, Fences (3rd Academy Award nomination)
♦ Naomie Harris, Moonlight    

♦ Nicole Kidman, Lion   (4th Academy Award nomination)
♦ Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures

♦  Michelle Williams, Manchester By the Sea 

Animated Feature Film:  Toss up between Moana, or Zootopia; I picked Zootopia on Oscar Challenge.  WINNER: TBA

♦ Kubo and the Two Strings, Travis Knight (2nd Academy Award nomination) and Arianne Sutner  
♦ Moana, John Musker (2nd Academy Award nomination), Ron Clements (3rd Academy Award nomination), and Osnat Shurer  
♦ My Life as a Zucchini, Claude Barras and Max Karli
♦ The Red Turtle, Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki (3rd Academy Award nomination, 1 Oscar win)
♦ Zootopia, Byron Howard (2nd Academy Award nomination), Rich Moore (2nd Academy Award nomination), and Clark Spencer

Cinematography: My pick, La La Land.  "WINNER: TBA"

♦ Arrival, Bradford Young (historical1st black cinematographer to be nominated) 

♦ La La Land, Linus Sandgren

♦ Lion, Greig Fraser

♦ Moonlight, James Laxton 

♦ Silence, Rodrigo Prieto (2nd Academy Award nomination)

Costume Design: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Jackie or La La Land; Changed my pick to La La Land. WINNER: "TBA"

♦ Allied,  Joanna Johnston (2nd Academy Award nomination)
♦ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Colleen Atwood (12th Academy Award nomination, 3 Oscar wins)
♦ Florence Foster Jenkins, Consolata Boyle (2nd Academy Award nomination)
♦ Jackie, Madeline Fontaine
♦ La La Land, Mary Zophres (2nd Academy Award nomination)

Directing:  My pick, La La Land's Damien Chazelle. WINNER: "TBA"

♦ Denis Villeneuve, Arrival 

♦ Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge (3rd Academy Award nomination, 2 Oscar wins)
♦ Damien Chazelle, La La Land (3rd Academy Award nomination includes other for Original screenplay)

♦ Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester By the Sea (4th Academy Award nomination includes other for Original screenplay)
♦ Barry Jenkins, Moonlight  (4th-ever black director nominee,  (2nd Academy Award nomination includes other for adapted screenplay)

Documentary Feature:  Hard to decide, depending if political correctness determines,  13th or O.J.: Made in America could win; my first pick was Life Animated but changed to OJ: Made in America.    WINNER:"TBA"

♦ Fire at Sea, Gianfranco Rosi and Donatella Palermo

♦ I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck, Rémi Grellety and Hébert Peck

♦ Life Animated, Roger Ross Williams (2nd Academy Award nomination, 1 Oscar win), and Julie Goldman 
♦ O.J.: Made in America, Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow
♦ 13th,  Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick and Howard Barish

Documentary Short Subject: My pick,  Joe's Violin. WINNER:"TBA"

♦ Extremis, Dan Krauss (2nd Academy Award nomination)

♦ 4.1 Miles, Daphne Matziaraki
♦ Joe’s Violin, Kahane Cooperman and Raphaela Neihausen
♦ Watani: My Homeland, Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis
♦ The White Helmets, Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara (2nd Academy Award nominations for both Einsiedel and Natasegara)

Film Editing:  My pick,  La La Land. "TBA"

♦ Arrival, Joe Walker (2nd Academy Award nomination) 

♦ Hacksaw Ridge, John Gilbert (2nd Academy Award nomination) 
♦ Hell or High Water, Jake Roberts 
♦ La La Land, Tom Cross (2nd Academy Award nomination, 1 Oscar win) 
♦ Moonlight, Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon 

Foreign Language Film: Another touch one, toss up between Toni Erdmann or The Salesman, I picked The Salesman.  WINNER:"TBA"

♦ Land of Mine, Denmark; Directed by Martin Zandvliet (12 Academy Award nominations for country, 3 Oscar wins)

♦ A Man Called Ove, Sweden; Directed by Hannes Holm (15 Academy Award nominations for country, 3 Oscar wins)
♦ The Salesman, Iran; Directed by Asghar Farhadi  (3 Academy Award nominations for country, 1 Oscar win) 
♦ Tanna, Australia; Directed by Bentley Dean and Martin Butler 
♦ Toni Erdmann, Germany; Directed by Maren Ade (10 Academy Award nominations for country, 2 Oscar wins)

Makeup and Hairstyling: I keep changing my mind from Star Trek or A Man Called Ove but now I have changed it back to Star Trek. WINNER:"TBA"

♦ A Man Called Ove, Eva von Bahr and Love Larson (2nd Academy Award nominations for Bahr and Larson) 
♦ Star Trek Beyond, Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo (3rd Academy Award nomination for Harlow, 1 win)

♦ Suicide Squad, Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson

Music (Original Score):  My pick, La La Land. WINNER:"TBA"

♦ Jackie, Mica Levi

♦ La La Land, Justin Hurwitz

♦ Lion, Dustin O'Halloran and Volker Bertelmann (aka Hauschka)  

♦ Moonlight, Nicholas Britell

♦ Passengers, Thomas Newman (14th Academy Award nomination)

Music (Original Song): My pick, La La Land, Audition or City of Stars. "TBD"

♦ “Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” La La Land, Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

♦ “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” Trolls, Music and Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster

♦ “City of Stars,” La La Land, Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

♦ “The Empty Chair,” Jim: The James Foley Story, Music and Lyric by J. Ralph (3rd Academy Award nomination) and Sting (4th Academy Award nomination)

♦ “How Far I’ll Go,” Moana, Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Production Design:  My pick, La La Land.  WINNER:"TBA"

♦ Arrival,Stuart Craig (Production Design - Patrice Vermette (Production Design - 2nd Academy Award nomination); Paul Hotte (Set Decoration)

♦ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Stuart Craig (Production Design - 11 Academy Award nominations, 3 Oscar wins); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration - 6 Academy Award nominations, 1 Oscar win)

♦ Hail, Caesar!, Jess Gonchor (Production Design - 2nd Academy Award nomination); Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration - 7th Academy Award nomination, 1 Oscar win)

♦ La La Land, David Wasco (Production Design); Sandy Reynolds-Wasco (Set Decoration)

♦ Passengers,  Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design); Gene Serdena (Set Decoration)

Short Film (Animated):  Could be Pearl but I picked Piper. WINNER:"TBA"

♦ Blind Vaysha, Theodore Ushev

♦ Borrowed Time, Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj

♦ Pear Cider and Cigarettes, Robert Valley and Cara Speller

♦ Pearl, Patrick Osborne

♦ Piper, Alan Barillaro

Live Action Short Subject:  Could be either Silent Night, Timecode or Sing, I picked Timecode on Oscar Challenge.  :"TBA"

♦ Ennemis Intérieurs, Sélim Azzazi 

♦ La Femme et le TGV, Timo von Gunten and Giacun Caduff

♦ Silent Nights, Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson

♦ Sing, Kristof Deák and Anna Udvardy 

♦ Timecode, Juanjo Giménez

Sound Editing:  Hacksaw Ridge, Arrival or La La Land; I picked Arrival on Oscar Challenge. WINNER:"TBA"

♦ Arrival, Sylvain Bellemare

♦ Deepwater Horizon, Wylie Stateman and Renée Tondelli 

♦ Hacksaw Ridge, Robert Mackenzie and Andy

♦ La La Land, Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan 

♦ Sully, Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman

Sound Mixing: Could be Arrival but I picked La La Land. WINNER:"TBA"

♦ Arrival,  Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye

♦ Hacksaw Ridge,  Kevin O'Connell (21st Academy Award nomination), Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace

♦ La La Land,  Andy Nelson (21st Academy Award nomination, 2 Oscar wins), Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow

♦ Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,  David Parker (8th Academy Award nomination, 2 Oscar wins) , Christopher Scarabosio (3rd Academy Award nomination) and Stuart Wilson (2nd Academy Award nomination)

♦ 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,  Greg P. Russell (17th Academy Award nomination), Gary Summers (11th Academy Award nomination, 4 Oscar wins), Jeffrey J. Haboush (4th Academy Award nomination), Mac Ruth (2nd Academy Award nomination)

Visual Effects:  Could be Dr. Strange or The Jungle Book but I changed back to The Jungle Book. WINNER:"TBA"

♦ Deepwater Horizon, Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton 4th Academy Award nomination, 1 Oscar win) 

♦ Doctor Strange, Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli (2nd Academy Award nomination) and Paul Corbould (2nd Academy Award nomination)

♦ The Jungle Book, Robert Legato (4th Academy Award, 2 Oscar wins), Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones (3rd Academy Award nomination, 1 Oscar win) and Dan Lemmon (3rd Academy Award nomination) 

♦ Kubo and the Two Strings, Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff

♦ Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, John Knoll (6th Academy Award nomination, 1 Oscar win), Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel (4th Academy Award, 1 Oscar win)  and Neil Corbould (5th Academy Award nomination, 2 Oscar wins)

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Moonlight or Hidden Figures; I chose Moonlight on Oscar Challenge. WINNER:"TBA"

♦ Arrival, Eric Heisserer

♦ Fences, August Wilson

♦ Hidden Figures, Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi

♦ Lion, Luke Davis

♦ Moonlight, Barry Jenkins with story by Tarell Alvin McCranley

Writing (Original Screenplay): My pick, La La Land.  WINNER:"TBA"

♦ Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan

♦ La La Land, Damien Chazelle

♦ The Lobster, Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou

♦ Manchester By the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan

♦ 20^th Century Women, Mike Mills

My previous scores have been averaging about 85% right on Oscar.com. Wonder what my score will be this time.  Whatever my score this year, I'll share it on Facebook and this blog. 

Any photos are courtesy of Wikimedia unless otherwise noted. All other photos will be credited as required.

2017 Oscar resources:

♦  Oscar nominations 2017, The Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2017/01/24/oscar-nominations-2017-live-full-list/
♦ Oscar predictions 2017, Awards Circuit http://www.awardscircuit.com/oscar-predictions/best-cinematography/
♦ 89th Academy Awards, Wikipedia.org


2016  Oscar resources:

♦2016 Oscar predictions: Variety
♦ 2016 Oscar nominations, Oscar.com
♦ 88th Academy Awards - We all dream in gold, Wikipedia.org
♦ Oscar Nominations: 'The Revenant' & 'Mad Max' Lead Way; Leo Is In, Ridley Scott Is Not, Deadline AwardsLine
♦
Oscar 2015 resources:

♦ 2015 Oscar nominations: Complete list; ‘Selma’ snubbed; ‘Birdman’ and ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ lead with nine  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/01/15/2015-oscar-nominations-complete-coverage/
♦   Oscars 2015: 'Boyhood,' 'Birdman' Score Big Nominations  http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/oscars-2015-boyhood-birdman-score-big-nominations-20150115
♦  Oscars 2015: Nominations preview and predictions http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oscar-2015-nomination-predictions-who-will-be-in-the-running/
♦  Oscars 2015: 'Birdman,' 'Budapest' top nominations  http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/chi-oscars-nominations-20150115-story.html
♦  Academy Awards nominations 2015: our predictions http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/jan/15/oscar-nominations-2015-our-predictions

Oscar 2014 resources:


♦ 2014 Oscar nominations: ‘Gravity,’ and ‘Hustle’ lead with 10 nominations including best picture, Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/moviesnow/la-et-mn-oscar-nominations-2014-main,0,500124.story#axzz2qZqycltO
♦ Oscar.com 2014 nominations, http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/86/nomineesByPicture.html
♦ Who’s gonna get picked ? Predicting the 2014 Oscar nominations http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/15/showbiz/movies/2014-oscar-predictions-nominations/
♦ Meet the 2014 Oscar Nominees, RottenTomatoes http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/15/showbiz/movies/2014-oscar-predictions-nominations/
 



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Nominations are at Oscar.com page at http://oscar.go.com/news/nominations/oscar-nominations-2016-the-complete-list-of-nominees