Capital Region movie critic predicts Oscar winners
EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y. >> As the stars are gearing up for Hollywood’s biggest night, Capital Region film critic Jackson Murphy is making predictions about who will go home with those golden Oscar awards.
“Roma,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Wife,” “Green Book” and “If Beale Street Could Talk” are all among Murphy’s list of top 2019 Oscar predictions, released by his website Lights Camera Jackson this week.
This young critic, hailing locally from East Greenbush, is the only upstate New York- based member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association.
Currently a communications student at The College of Saint Rose, Murphy started his career as a film reviewer at just eight years old.
Over the past decade, Murphy has met more movie stars than most through his Lights Camera Jackson endeavors, including last month at the Critics’ Choice Awards in California, where he schmoozed with several of this year’s Oscar nominees. Richard E. Grant, Willem Dafoe, Regina King and Amy Adams each spent some time with Murphy during his seventh Critics’ Choice Awards experience.
After this big event, along with other awards shows, Murphy hosted his own LCJ Movie Awards, released Monday in an online video.
Here, Murphy honored some of his personal favorite movies of the year, giving “Mary Poppins Returns” the title of Best Picture.
The LCJ Award winners, Murphy said, are “often very different from what the Academy has to say.”
Murphy, and many other movie- lovers around the globe, are eager to see what the Academy of Motion Pic- ture Arts and Sciences will say at its 91st awards ceremony on Sunday.
With the Oscars just a few days away, “I’m looking forward to the unpredictability factor of it,” Murphy said. “I think there could be some surprise wins. I think the fact that there’s been so much controversy surrounding this show leading up to it could make the vibe really interesting in the room, with no host.”
He continued, “This could be an awkward show, an uncomfortable show, a wacky show. That whole element is really appealing.”
What Murphy does expect about Sunday’s show is that it should be a big night for “Roma,” which appears on the Lights Camera Jackson list of predicted win- ners in four different categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Foreign-Language Film and Best Cinematography.
“It’s the one that seems to have all the momentum for it,” Murphy said, mentioning the film’s previous wins at different awards ceremonies.
In the Best Animated Short Film category, for which he interviewed all of the nominated filmmakers, Murphy called the lineup very diverse and very strong, but he’s betting on Pixar’s “Bao” to win.
While Murphy cannot wait to watch the Oscars this weekend, he’s also excited for the fifth annual Day Before The Awards Film Festival on Saturday at the East Greenbush Com- munity Library. This sold out event is once again set to include film screenings, games, prizes, and ballots for attendees to test their Oscar knowledge.
Hundreds of local residents are signed up to be part of the festival, Murphy said. “It’s a lot of people who not only want to see free movies, but love the Oscars and want to win the Oscar ballot contest, love this experience and want to see these movies at the last minute so that they can watch Oscars Sunday and really enjoy themselves.”
The Oscars will be broadcast at 8 p.m. on Sunday on ABC, with the red carpet program kicking off at 6:30 p.m.
More information about Lights Camera Jackson is available online at lightscamera-jackson.com.
Lights Camera Jackson Oscars predictions:
Best Picture - “Roma” Best Director - Alfonso Curaon, “Roma”
Best Actor - Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Best Actress - Glenn Close, “The Wife”
Best Supporting Actor - Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”
Best Supporting Actress - Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Best Original Screenplay - “Green Book”
Best Adapted Screenplay - “BlacKkKlansman”
Best Animated Feature - “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”
Best Animated Short Film - “Bao”
Best Documentary Feature - “Free Solo”
Best Documentary Short Film - “Period. End of Sentence.”
Best Foreign-Language Film - “Roma”
Best Live-Action Short Film - “Marguerite”
Best Costume Design - “The Favourite”
Best Production Design - “The Favourite”
Best Cinematography - “Roma”
Best Film Editing - “The Favourite”
Best Makeup and Hairstyling - “Vice”
Best Visual Effects - “Avengers: Infinity War”
Best Sound Editing - “Black Panther”
Best Sound Mixing - “A Star Is Born”
Best Original Score - “Mary Poppins Returns”
Best Original Song - “Shallow,” “A Star Is Born”