10 Mar Final 2023 Oscar Predictions: Sound, Original Song, Original Score
BEST SOUND
Top Gun: Maverick and All Quiet on the Western Front are the major contenders here. While both fit the mold of the genre film that often wins here, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ has an Editing nomination which ‘All Quiet’ does not. Sound and Editing often go hand in hand and every Editing winner has also had a win in Sound since 2013 and that trend shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Nominees:
Top Gun: Maverick – MPSE, CAS
All Quiet on the Western Front – MPSE, BAFTA
Elvis – MPSE
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Pick: Top Gun: Maverick
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
In the last 10 years, every film that has won both the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award in Original Song have also won the corresponding Oscar. This year RRR has won both awards and while Lady Gaga and Rihanna are very big names it has to compete with, there is a strong enough push to award the Tollywood track and I think it should be able to prevail.
Nominees:
RRR – “Naatu Naatu” – GG, CCA
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – “Lift Me Up”
Top Gun: Maverick – “Hold My Hand”
Everything Everywhere All at Once – “This is a Life”
Tell Me Like a Woman – “Applause”
Pick: RRR
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
This one is incredibly tight. Babylon won the Golden Globe, All Quiet on the Western Front took the BAFTA, and Tar, which was not even nominated here, won at Critics Choice. A stat working against Babylon is that every Original Score winner in the last 15 years was also nominated for Best Picture except for two (Soul and the Hateful Eight). And both Soul and The Hateful Eight swept BAFTA, CCA, and GG before going on to win the Oscar. While Babylon is definitely the score I prefer, Volker Bertelmann’s work on ‘All Quiet’ is a very good companion piece that lines up better with the Academy’s tastes. Watch out for John Williams’ work on The Fabelmans or Son Lux’s work on “Everything Everywhere All at Once” as possible upsets. John Williams is the greatest living composer on his last score and while I think he needed at least one precursor to win like Ennio Morricone did back in 2016, it still is possible.
Nominees:
All Quiet on the Western Front – BAFTA
Babylon – GG
The Fabelmans
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Banshees of Inisherin
Pick: All Quiet on the Western Front