The Academy Awards honor many things in movies but not some of the most important. AP Film Writers Lindsey Bahr and Jake Coyle make selections for their own awards ā some more offbeat than others.
BEST ACTUALLY SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE: Cory Michael Smith, āMay Decemberā
Sometimes the best truly supporting performances are the ones that will never, ever get the āawards push,ā like the brilliant Cory Michael Smith as Georgie Atherton in With his subtly manic energy, sad smile and that awful bleached hair, his is that kind of undeniable presence who steals both scenes heās in and also completely upends everything weāve come to understand so far. But this is how awards season works and something that only our awards strategist friends can justify. ā L.B.
BEST HAIRSTYLE: Gwenās upside-down ponytail, āSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verseā
There are, no doubt, more elegantly styled heads of hair among this yearās Oscar nominees. But no 'do could match the gravity-assisted beauty of the ponytail that hangs suspended in the air when Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) and Miles (Shameik Moore) sit together, clung to the underside of cornice, gazing out at an upturned New York in For a topsy-turvy, , Gwenās upside-down ponytail points the way. ā J.C.
BEST DUO ACT: Jeffrey Wright and John Ortiz, āAmerican Fictionā
As great as the whole ensemble is in the movie is never better than when Wright and Ortiz are matched together. When meets with his agent Arthur (Ortiz), āAmerican Fictionā sparkles with the comic interplay of two character-actor greats. Give these guys a sitcom and Iād watch six seasons. ā J.C.
BEST CAMEO: Margot Robbie, āAsteroid Cityā
Wes Andersonās got a raw deal this year with zero nominations (maybe heāll win his first Oscar for his ). One performance in a sea of great ones that really made an impact was a true cameo thatās saved for the very end: Margot Robbie as the actor whose scene as Jason Schwartzmanās dead wife was cut for time. She gets only a few minutes, to remind her wouldāve-been co-star of their wouldāve-been lines, dressed in Elizabethan garb a balcony away. It is an emotional gut punch of the best kind, brief and perfect. ā L.B.
BEST FACE: Willem Dafoe, āPoor Thingsā
Willem Dafoeās face is already a work of art, but turns it into a masterpiece. His scarred Dr. Godwin Baxter, whose deformities come from experiments performed on him, is like a fusion of mad scientist and wounded victim. Heās Frankenstein and Frankensteinās monster, in one. ā J.C.
BEST STUNTS: āMission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning ā Part Oneā
It remains wild that the film academy still doesnāt recognize stunts, but we can here. isnāt the underdog in this category but that doesnāt make what they did any less impressive. The obvious ābestā is the cliff jump, which most of us know by now that Tom Cruise did himself. But Iām also partial to the Rome car chase in which Cruise and Hayley Atwell try to escape capture in a creaky, vintage Fiat 500 while handcuffed together. ā L.B.
BEST USE OF EARTH WIND AND FIREāS āSEPTEMBERā: āRobot Dreamsā
āSeptemberā has probably been heard in a hundred movies and at a billion weddings, but the best animated feature nominee uses the disco classic to perfection. In a movie that is strikingly grown-up about a relationship between a dog and robot, all of the joy and nostalgia of āSeptemberā has never been more moving. It sends you out of the theater humming āThe bell was ringinā, oh, oh / Our souls were singinā.ā ā J.C.
MOST STYLISH: āPriscillaā
This is perhaps a silly superlative to give to a movie that was easily one of the strongest adaptations of the year, taking what was essentially a young womanās diary entries and making something evocative and profound without the use of first-person narration. The thoughtful style of helps make this point, transporting audiences into this intoxicating and dreamlike wonderland of the most beautiful clothes and glamorous settings with the biggest star of the time, and guiding us along with Pricilla to the realization that it is also a nightmare. ā L.B.
BEST SCENE: The Trinity Test, āOppenheimerā
I donāt love everything about but I think is a sequence that will be taught to film students for generations. Itās not just the explosion itself, which was accomplished with old-school moviemaking techniques like forced perspective (doing something small but making it seem big). Itās the rumbling tremors of the moments that follow, when Oppenheimer, after hearing that the bomb has been dropped on Hiroshima, is greeted by a flag-waving gymnasium audience. Oppenheimerās face is horrified, reckoning with what heās wrought. The crowd turns grotesque and ashen. A girl (played by Nolanās daughter) shrieks. Here is the real thunder of āOppenheimer.ā ā J.C.
BEST DREAM BALLET: 'Barbie'
Last year had so much great dancing, from the sweaty club scenes in to the wedding line dance in Jeffās silly moves in āB“Ē³Ł³Ł“Ē³¾²õ,ā Bella Baxterās broken doll euphoria in āPoor Things,ā āM3GANāsā boogie and, of course, the end of But the trophy goes to Greta Gerwigās euphoric āIām Just Kenā dream ballet, a sequence she fought to keep in that is also the best in the film. ā L.B.
BEST FIGHT: Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies, āYou Hurt My Feelingsā
Sure, you could pick more violent encounters. But is there possibly anything more ferociously rock āem-sock āem than an author overhearing her husband say he doesnāt like her latest book? In Nicole Holofcenerās itās the opening salvo in a painfully, hysterically acute examination of honesty in relationships. Not, I repeat not, a date movie. ā J.C.
BEST USE OF A PREEXISTING SONG: 'Silver Joy' by Damien Jurado, āThe Holdoversā
I think the original song category needs an overhaul. For years, movies have helped introduce me to songs that exist that I might have missed, that become immediate favorites because of the emotional association with a movie. Selecting the right existing song is such an art and one last year stood out over all the rest: Damien Juradoās āSilver Joyā in ā L.B.
BEST HAT: Michael Fassbenderās bucket hat, āThe Killerā
Meticulous movie hitmen have long worn stylish hats. Think of the fedora of the protagonist of The assassin of though, wears a bucket hat. It's just as much a silhouette, but he looks more like a dopey tourist than a stone-cold killer. Thatās much the point for a movie about murder in increasingly anonymous times. ā J.C.
BEST ONE-SCENE PERFORMANCE: Audra McDonald, āOriginā
In much of the filmās sense of humanity comes from the rich presences of the actors who float in and out of the movie. Not just the stellar lead, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, but a number of performers ā including Jon Bernthal, Emily Yancy and Nick Offerman ā add to the nuance of āOrigin.ā Thatās especially true of Audra McDonald, who turns up for just one scene that may be the most potent of the film. McDonald plays a woman named Miss Hale, and her story of how she got that name is a delicate powerhouse. ā J.C.
MOST ROMANTIC: āThe Taste of Thingsā
There are not many truly romantic films made for big audiences these days. Sure thereās the odd rom-com here and there, but sweeping, luscious, capital R romances are few and far between and rarely celebrated at awards season (yes, Iām still thinking about ). This season, that title went to which doesnāt have an ounce of cynicism, just pure love. ā L.B.
BEST NFL PLAYER PERFORMANCE: Marshawn Lynch, āBottomsā
With exactly zero apologies to ā80 for Bradyā (Jets fan here), no former footballer made more of a big-screen impression than Marshawn Lynch, the former elite running back known as āBeast Mode.ā In Emma Seligmanās raunchy lesbian teen comedy Lynch turns up as a high school teacher and is quite funny acting opposite Rachel Sennott and The role also has poignance. Lynch has said he did it to help make up for how he handled his sister, Marreesha Sapp-Lynch, coming out in high school. ā J.C.
BEST DOG NOT NAMED SNOOP: Chaplin, āFallen Leavesā
Snoop, the all-seeing dog in the best picture nominee āAnatomy of a Fall,ā has really hogged the pooch spotlight. Messi, the dog who plays Snoop, has been all over the place, including . But itās time his reign of terror came to end. In my , a pair of loners find in a cruel and grim world: the movies, karaoke and a dog named Chaplin. The dog, named Alma in real life, is KaurismƤkiās own mutt, and deserves a few bones thrown her way, too. ā J.C.
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Lindsey Bahr And Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
