"Sound of Metal" and Oscars Predictions

Today I watched the last of the Best Picture Academy Award nominees that I wanted to see, "Sound of Metal."  This makes six of the eight nominated films that I can check off as having seen.

Too many people whose opinions I regard have been telling me to see "Sound of Metal", and I can say that they did not steer me wrong.  It is the story of Ruben, played by Oscar nominee Riz Ahmed, a drummer in a heavy metal band who loses his hearing.  His reactions to this (seemingly) sudden loss, and his attempts to "learn to be deaf", make for a dramatic story.  It is very well acted, and it truly gives you the feeling of what it is like to begin to lose and eventually fully lose your hearing.

Perhaps the best example of this is the actual sound of the movie.  For much of the movie, you, the viewer hear the dialog, people talking, and all background noises as you normally would.  However, most of the time it switches to what Ruben is hearing: muffled noises, incoherent voices, and, eventually, nothing at all, and Ahmed gives a terrific portrayal of a person experiencing the frustrations, the anger, and the fear when such a loss occurs.  While I am no expert at the technical aspects of filmmaking, if this movie does not win the Oscar for Best Sound tomorrow night, then something is very, very wrong.

The Grandstander gives this one Three Stars.

Ahmed as Ruben and Olivia Cooke 

as his girlfriend, LouLou

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So what are the Oscars without The Grandstander's Annual Oscars predictions.  Before that, though, allow me to list the six Best Picture Nominees that I have seen ranked by my own standards.  Keep in mind, I am not a professional critic, merely a movie fan, this is how I rank these six films from Most Favorite to Least Favorite:

1. Promising Young Woman
2. Trial of The Chicago 7
3. Judah and The Black Messiah
4. Sound of Metal
5. Mank
6. Nomadland

Okay, that's how I would vote.  Now, here are my predictions for what and who will actually take home the Oscar statuettes:

• Best Picture - Nomadland
• Director - Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
• Adapted Screenplay - Kemp Powers, One Night in Miami
• Original Screenplay - Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
• Leading Actor - Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
• Lead Actress - Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
• Supporting Actor - Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and The Black Messiah
• Supporting Actress - Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy (this prediction made using the SWAG method)
• Best Animated Feature - Soul
• Best Sound - Sound of Metal

Ten picks.  Will make it easy to calculate my winning percentage come tomorrow night.