‘Oppenheimer’ won the most Oscars at the 96th Academy Awards including ‘best picture’.

Hollywood’s biggest night, the 96th Academy Awards (aka the Oscars) took place on March 10, 2024. ‘Oppenheimer’, Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic about a man who invented the first nuclear weapon came into the evening with 13 nominations, the most among all the other nominated films this year. It went home as the biggest winner too with 7 wins unsurprisingly, including the coveted best picture honour.

‘Oppenheimer’ has been the heavy favourite and clear frontrunner after a long awards season that began few months ago to celebrate the best of 2023 films. The film had swept all the top prizes from Golden Globes, BAFTA, Critics Choice, PGA, DGA, SAG and various other associations that handed out awards annually. Hence, the film winning best picture at the Oscars last evening was no surprise at all. I personally do not really enjoy the film. I find it too long and has too much talking. I wasn’t engaged to the story unfortunately. Preferred Christopher Nolan’s other past works more such as ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Inception’ and ‘Interstellar’.

As for the acting races, before the Oscars, the race was seemingly over for supporting actor and supporting actress categories. Robert Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph made clean sweep respectively at all the major televised awards. As for lead actor, Cilian Murphy slowly raced to the front despite losing Critics Choice to Paul Giamatti. He has an advantage by starring in a likely best picture winner and ride on the movie’s momentum at the awards season. He ended up prevailing at the Oscars too. He is a good actor by the way.

As for the lead actress, it was all about the battle between the two ‘Stones’; Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone. Both won at Golden Globes, and then Emma won at Critics Choice and BAFTA, but then Lily won at SAG. Hence, the race is too tight to call leading up to the Oscars. In the end, Emma Stone won and that’s her second best actress win at the Oscars. That’s impressive! Her film ‘Poor Things’ also did surprisingly well at the Oscars by winning 4 awards (becoming the second film with most wins for the night…only behind ‘Oppenheimer’ with 7 wins). Now, it makes me want to watch ‘Poor Things’.

Japanese animated film ‘The Boy and the Heron’ won animated feature over ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’, another favourite in the category. On other hand, ‘Godzilla Minus One’ made history by becoming the first ever Godzilla film to win an Oscars (the film won best visual effects). I haven’t watch ‘Godzilla Minus One’ yet (I need to watch it!).

Here below are the full list of winners for the 96th Academy Awards:

Best Picture

“American Fiction,”

“Anatomy of a Fall,” 

“Barbie,” 

“The Holdovers,” 

“Killers of the Flower Moon,” 

“Maestro,” 

“Oppenheimer,” (WINNER)

“Past Lives,” 

“Poor Things,” 

“The Zone of Interest,” 

Best Director 

Justine Triet — “Anatomy of a Fall”  

Martin Scorsese — “Killers of the Flower Moon”  

Christopher Nolan — “Oppenheimer” (WINNER)

Yorgos Lanthimos — “Poor Things” 

Jonathan Glazer — “The Zone of Interest”  

Actor in a Leading Role 

Bradley Cooper — “Maestro”  

Colman Domingo — “Rustin” 

Paul Giamatti — “The Holdovers”  

Cillian Murphy — “Oppenheimer” (WINNER)

Jeffrey Wright — “American Fiction”  

Actress in a Leading Role 

Annette Bening — “Nyad”  

Lily Gladstone — “Killers of the Flower Moon”  

Sandra Hüller — “Anatomy of a Fall”  

Carey Mulligan — “Maestro” 

Emma Stone — “Poor Things” (WINNER)

Actor in a Supporting Role

Sterling K. Brown — “American Fiction”  

Robert De Niro – “Killers of the Flower Moon”  

Robert Downey Jr. — “Oppenheimer” (WINNER)

Ryan Gosling — “Barbie”  

Mark Ruffalo — “Poor Things”  

Actress in a Supporting Role 

Emily Blunt — “Oppenheimer”  

Danielle Brooks — “The Color Purple”  

America Ferrera – “Barbie”

Jodie Foster — “Nyad”  

Da’Vine Joy Randolph — “The Holdovers” (WINNER)

Da’Vine Joy Randolph wins Best Supporting Actress for “The Holdovers” at the 96th Annual Oscars held at Dolby Theatre on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Variety via Getty Images)

Adapted Screenplay

“American Fiction,” written for the screen by Cord Jefferson (WINNER)

“Barbie,” written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach

“Oppenheimer,” written for the screen by Christopher Nolan

“Poor Things,” screenplay by Tony McNamara

“The Zone of Interest,” written by Jonathan Glazer

Original Screenplay

“Anatomy of a Fall,” screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari (WINNER)

“The Holdovers,” written by David Hemingson

“Maestro,” written by Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer

“May December,” screenplay by Samy Burch; story by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik

“Past Lives,” written by Celine Song

Cinematography 

“El Conde” – Edward Lachman

“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Rodrigo Prieto

“Maestro” – Matthew Libatique

“Oppenheimer” – Hoyte van Hoytema (WINNER)

“Poor Things” – Robbie Ryan

Original Song 

“The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot,” music and lyric by Diane Warren

“I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie,” music and lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt

“It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony,” music and lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson

“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon,” music and lyric by Scott George

“What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie,” music and lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell (WINNER)

Costume Design 

“Barbie” – Jacqueline Durran

“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Jacqueline West

“Napoleon” – Janty Yates and Dave Crossman

“Oppenheimer” – Ellen Mirojnick

“Poor Things” – Holly Waddington (WINNER)

Sound

“The Creator,” Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic

“Maestro,” Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

“Oppenheimer,” Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell

“The Zone of Interest,” Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn (WINNER)

Original Score 

“American Fiction” – Laura Karpman

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” John Williams

“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Robbie Robertson

“Oppenheimer” – Ludwig Göransson (WINNER)

“Poor Things” – Jerskin Fendrix

Live Action Short Film

“The After,” Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham

“Invincible,” Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron

“Knight of Fortune,” Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk

“Red, White and Blue,” Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane

“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” Wes Anderson and Steven Rales (WINNER)

Animated Short Film 

“Letter to a Pig,” Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter

“Ninety-Five Senses,” Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess

“Our Uniform,” Yegane Moghaddam

“Pachyderme,” Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius

“War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko,” Dave Mullins and Brad Booker (WINNER)

Documentary Feature Film 

“Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek

“The Eternal Memory”

“Four Daughters,” Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha

“To Kill a Tiger,” Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim

“20 Days in Mariupol,” Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath (WINNER)

Documentary Short Film 

“The ABCs of Book Banning,” Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic

“The Barber of Little Rock,” John Hoffman and Christine Turner

“Island in Between,” S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien

“The Last Repair Shop,” Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers (WINNER)

“Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó,” Sean Wang and Sam Davis

International Feature Film 

“Io Capitano” (Italy)  

“Perfect Days” (Japan)  

“Society of the Snow” (Spain)  

“The Teachers’ Lounge” (Germany) 

“The Zone of Interest” (United Kingdom) (WINNER)

Animated Feature Film 

“The Boy and the Heron,” Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki (WINNER)

“Elemental,” Peter Sohn and Denise Ream

“Nimona,” Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary

“Robot Dreams,” Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal

Makeup and Hairstyling 

“Golda,” Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue

“Maestro,” Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell

“Oppenheimer,” Luisa Abel

“Poor Things,” Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston (WINNER)

“Society of the Snow,” Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé

Production Design 

“Barbie,” production design: Sarah Greenwood; set decoration: Katie Spencer

“Killers of the Flower Moon,” production design: Jack Fisk; set decoration: Adam Willis

“Napoleon,” production design: Arthur Max; set decoration: Elli Griff

“Oppenheimer,” production design: Ruth De Jong; set decoration: Claire Kaufman

“Poor Things,” production design: James Price and Shona Heath; set decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek (WINNER)

Film Editing

“Anatomy of a Fall” – Laurent Sénéchal

“The Holdovers” – Kevin Tent

“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Thelma Schoonmaker

“Oppenheimer” – Jennifer Lame (WINNER)

“Poor Things” – Yorgos Mavropsaridis

Visual Effects

“The Creator,” Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould

“Godzilla Minus One,” Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima (WINNER)

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould

“Napoleon,” Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

TVB Anniversary Awards 2023; ‘The Queen of News’ emerged the biggest winner as expected with 8 awards including best series while Charmaine Sheh swept all 3 best actress awards in a record-breaking outcome.

TVB Anniversary Awards 2023, honouring the best of Hong Kong’s TVB series and programmes released last year (2023) was held a moment ago at Grand Lisboa Palace Resort, Macau. This is the first time the awards ceremony took place away from its usual location in TVB studio. The emcee for the evening is Karl Ting. The show originally scheduled to take 3 hours only but ended up overrun for additional half an hour.

Without further ado, here below are the list of winners in all categories except the non-series related ones along with my comments;

Best Supporting Actress: Samantha Ko (The Queen of News)

Opinion: Once the top 5 is revealed, I knew right away it would be Samantha as she is the most experienced among the 5 and her performance in ‘The Queen of News’ is quite good.

Best Supporting Actor: Jazz Lam (The Invisibles)

Opinion: Happy for Jazz to win too but my first choice is Matthew Ho as his mute role in ‘Narcotic Heroes’ is much harder to play and he put so much effort on it (and he nailed it).

Most Improved TV Male Artiste: Mark Ma

Opinion: My pick would be Nicholas Yuen but he isn’t even able to reach Top 5 surprisingly. But Mark Ma is ok.

Most Improved TV Female Artiste: Tiffany Lau

Opinion: Very much expected as she is currently heavily promoted by TVB.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite Series: The Invisibles

Opinion: Now, this is quite surprising. Didn’t expect ‘The Invisibles’ could triumph over ‘The Queen of News’. Something fishy here. I guess TVB doesn’t want all awards to go to one particular series and left many other artistes empty-handed. Anyway, ‘The Invisibles’ is still a good drama but certainly steps behind ‘The Queen of News’.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite Lead Actor: Kenneth Ma (The Queen of News)

Opinion: I thought this would goes to Ruco Chan since he has bigger fanbase in Malaysia. Anyway, happy for Kenneth to win.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite Lead Actress: Charmaine Sheh (The Queen of News)

Opinion: Expected. Her first win of the evening. More to come…

Greater Bay Area’s Most Favourite Series: The Queen of News

Opinion: Expected too as this series gotten huge popularity in mainland China as well.

Greater Bay Area’s Most Favourite Lead Actor: Bosco Wong (Dead Ringer)

Opinion: Oohh…now this outcome is something refreshing. Didn’t see Bosco on stage for a long time. Quite happy that he did although I didn’t watch ‘Dead Ringer’.

Greater Bay Area’s Most Favourite Lead Actress: Charmaine Sheh (The Queen of News)

Opinion: Second award for her in the evening. On the route to record breaking wins. She is so far ahead everyone else in her category.

Best TV Song: ‘Crystal Clear’ by Gigi Yim (The Queen of News)

Opinion: That’s my pick too. Very simple lyrics but beautiful melody and suits very well to the series.

Best Leading Actor: Moses Chan (Narcotic Heroes)

Opinion: Same with my prediction yesterday. As there is no clear frontrunner in this category this year, there’s a feeling that this will go to Moses as the last time he had won this was 16 years ago. Time for another one. My gut feeling was right.

Best Leading Actress: Charmaine Sheh (The Queen of News)

Opinion: Wow…Charmaine broke record by sweeping all three best actress awards for the evening. She also broke record as the actress with most Hong Kong best actress wins at 3 (previous win in 2006 and 2014). Congratulations to her. A bit pity for Selena Lee who also did extremely well in ‘The Queen of News’. Whenever she emerges strong that particular year, there is always another one who did well and is of higher status and won (remember 2019 when she was so phenomenal in ‘Barrack o’Karma’ but ended up only winning Most Popular Female Character (shared with Miriam Yeung) and that year’s best actress goes to Kara Hui).

Best Series: The Queen of News

Opinion: Expected and very much deserving. The only series that truly stood out last year. Impressive production. The series became the biggest winner of the ceremony after winning 8 awards.

That’s it. I think I’m the first one to publish the winners list of the just concluded TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 in English version. Haha…efficiency right there as I wrote this post while watching the whole show just now. Good night and have a great week ahead!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Finished ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ TV series and my predictions for TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 (to be held tomorrow).

As someone who seldom watch American TV series, I am quite surprised that their series are way shorter in number of episodes compared to Hong Kong TV series that I have been watching since my childhood. Anyway, I have just completed the full 10 episodes of ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’. The series follows members of the Monarch organization as they encounter Godzilla and other monsters called Titans, across a half century.

(Image source: @Earstohear from medium.com)

I came into the series with a bit of a wrong mindset. I am very much anticipating for monster fight scenes (only has one great one very briefly shown in the last episode) and the series ended up being mostly not about that. Godzilla only appeared for a few minutes in the entire series. I also couldn’t grasp the complicated plot unfortunately and hence couldn’t immerse myself into the storyline and characters’ development.

Anyway, I’m now looking forward to the next film in MonsterVerse franchise; Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. The movie is set to be released end of this March. Never gets enough of Godzilla. Haha…Also when will the ‘Godzilla Minus One’ be available on streaming platform?

In other news, the TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 is finally going to be held on evening tomorrow. ‘Most Popular TV Male and Female Character’ awards were removed this year and replaced with ‘Most Favourite Lead Actor and Actress in Greater Bay Area’. Malaysia also gets to continue to choose their own ‘Most Favourite Lead Actor and Actress’ (not anymore for Singapore audiences).

I have a feeling that for lead actor categories, TVB is going to distribute the awards evenly to different persons. It is also because there is no clear frontrunner this year. Hong Kong’s best actor would goes to Moses Chan (he last won it very long time ago back in 2007), Greater Bay’s favourite lead actor (same version as best actor) would be Kenneth Ma and Malaysia’s favourite lead actor would be Ruco Chan (due to his huge fanbase in Malaysia).

As for lead actress categories, hands down…it’s Charmaine Sheh. She is going to take all the three best actress trophies due to huge popularity of herself and the drama (The Queen of News) making it a historic night. However, I have a feeling that TVB may want to pull off something exciting for best actress race by awarding two persons for Hong Kong’s best actress trophy; Charmaine and Selena Lee (her co-star in ‘The Queen of News’). Selena deserved this award too from her excellent performance in that series and she should have won last time from her role in ‘Barrack o’Karma’. I do hope for a tie for the best actress. Let’s see how it will turn out tomorrow’s night.

(Image source: hk01.com)

Ending the post with two beautiful pictures I took from my weekly cycling last night at the same route going through Stadium, Bay East Garden, Marina Barrage, Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands Promenade;

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

My picks for the best of TVB series in 2023 and a little prediction for upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023.

It’s a wrap for Hong Kong’s TVB series in 2023 after I have finished ‘The Queen of News’ over a week ago. It’s the time again for me to choose the best of the year based on my personal judgement, observation and analysis. This is purely my own preference and is limited to only the television dramas of the year that I have watched.

By the way, I have been doing this since 2007. Hence, this is my 17th year of annually selecting my personal best of TVB series. I have watched a total of 8 dramas this year as listed below (along with my rating to each series out of 10 points).

• The Invisibles. (7.8)
• Speakers of Law. (6.3)
• Secret Door. (8.0)
• Unchained Medley. (7.0)
• Narcotic Heroes. (7.1)
• Let Me Take Your Pulse. (8.0)
• Romeo and His Butterfly Lover. (6.8)
• The Queen of News. (8.7)

As expected, ‘The Queen of News’ is my highest rated TVB drama of 2023 while ‘Speakers of Law’ is my lowest rated. You may also look up for my individual review to each of these dramas by using the ‘search’ function in my blog page and key in the relevant drama’s title.

Here below are my personal selection of the best of TVB series in 2023 in 15 categories:

Best Drama : The Queen of News

(4 other finalists: The Invisibles, Secret Door, Narcotic Heroes, Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Best Leading Actor: Kenneth Ma (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: Ruco Chan – Secret Door, Owen Cheung – Unchained Medley, Edwin Siu – Narcotic Heroes, Moses Chan – Narcotic Heroes)

Best Leading Actress: Selena Lee (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: Charmaine Sheh – The Queen of News, Mandy Wong – Secret Door, Aimee Chan – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Sisley Choi – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Favourite TV Male Character: Owen Cheung (Unchained Medley)

(4 other finalists: Kenneth Ma – The Invisibles, Ruco Chan – Secret Door, Kalok Chow – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Matthew Ho – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Favourite TV Female Character: Charmaine Sheh (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: Selena Lee – The Queen of News, Katy Kung – Unchained Medley, Kelly Cheung – Narcotic Heroes, Sisley Choi – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Best Supporting Actor: Matthew Ho (Narcotic Heroes)

(4 other finalists: Hugo Ng – Secret Door, Joel Chan – The Queen of News, Max Cheung – Speakers of Law, Ram Chiang – Narcotic Heroes)

Best Supporting Actress: Elena Kong (The Invisibles)

(4 other finalists: Moon Lau – Secret Door, Joman Chiang – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Samantha Ko – The Queen of News, Regina Ho – The Queen of News)

Most Improved TV Male Artiste: Nicholas Yuen (The Invisibles, Secret Door, Unchained Medley)

(4 other finalists: Arnold Kwok – The Invisibles, Alex Yung – Speakers of Law, Mark Ma – Narcotic Heroes & The Queen of News, Ricco Ng – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Improved TV Female Artiste: Tiffany Lau (The Invisibles, Unchained Medley)

(4 other finalists: Regina Ho – Speakers of Law & The Queen of News, Bowie Cheung – Narcotic Heroes, Erica Chan – Let Me Take Your Pulse, Joman Chiang – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

Most Favourite Drama Theme Song: ‘Crystal Clear’ by Gigi Yim (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: ‘They Aren’t You’ by Shiga Lin for The Invisibles, ‘There is No Reason to Leave’ by James Ng for The Invisibles, ‘Blurred in Dream’ by Owen Cheung & Sherman Poon for Unchained Medley, ‘Will Not Say Goodbye’ by Vivian Koo for Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Favourite On-Screen Couple: Matthew Ho & Sisley Choi (Let Me Take Your Pulse)

(4 other finalists: Kenneth Ma & Natalie Tong – The Invisibles, Owen Cheung & Katy Kung – Unchained Medley, Edwin Siu & Kelly Cheung – Narcotic Heroes, Moses Chan & Aimee Chan – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

Most Favourite TV Villain: Hugo Ng (Secret Door)

(4 other finalists: Ruco Chan – The Invisibles, Max Cheung – Speakers of Law, Mandy Wong – Secret Door, Timothy Cheng – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

Best Technical & Production Design: Romeo and His Butterfly Lover

(4 other finalists: The Invisibles, Secret Door, Unchained Medley, Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Outstanding TV Veteran Artiste: Timothy Cheng (Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

(4 other finalists: Angelina Lo – Secret Door & Let Me Take Your Pulse, Mary Hon – Secret Door & Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Cheung Kwok Keung – Secret Door & Narcotic Heroes, Ram Chiang – Narcotic Heroes)

Outstanding Cast Ensemble: The Queen of News

(4 other finalists: The Invisibles, Secret Door, Narcotic Heroes, Let Me Take Your Pulse)

‘The Queen of News’ is the most celebrated drama with 6 honours including best series. It is very likely that this drama will snatch the most wins at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 too (to be held in 14th January 2024). I will be going mad if it doesn’t win best drama.

Competition for best lead actor is very weak this year and out of intense scrutiny, Kenneth Ma prevailed from his performance in ‘The Queen of News’ (particularly from his emotional scene in the last episode). This is his second time winning this honour. Anyone could take this win at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023.

I was also very hesitant between Charmaine and Selena for best lead actress. They are both outstanding in ‘The Queen of News’ but finally I picked Selena as I find Charmaine had all the charisma and aura in the series but her character lacks a little depth/character’s development when compared to Selena’s character. This is also Selena’s second time winning this honour. I do hope that she could win best actress for the first time ever at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards but Charmaine is likely heading for her historic third win. How about a tie, TVB?

Anyway, if you are a fan of TVB series over the years, what are your picks and predictions for this year? Feel free to share your thought.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Finally! Sammi Cheng won her first best actress honor from Hong Kong Film Awards!

Finally! After 10 nominations in over 20 years, Sammi Cheng finally won her first ever best actress honor from the prestigious Hong Kong Film Awards. The 41st Hong Kong Film Awards which is often known as the Hong Kong equivalent to the American Academy Awards was held a moment ago (16th April 2023) to honor the best in Hong Kong films released last year (2022).

Those who knew me must have been well aware that I’m a fan of Sammi Cheng. She is my favourite idol. She enjoyed immense success in Hong Kong music industry from 1990s till now and is regarded as Cantopop queen/diva. However, the same success cannot be replicated for her involvement in acting industry as her acting in close to 40 films in nearly 3 decades do not appear to receive significant recognition.

All that changes this year with multiple local film awards honoring her with best actress honor from her performance in 2022 film ‘Lost Love’. In the film, she portrayed a grieving mother who lost her 3-year old son to illness and decided to devote herself to foster children with her husband. I watched the film last weekend when I was back in KL and I’m indeed moved by her performance.

After all the hard work switching from her signature early works in romance-comedy movies back in early 2000s to more drama films in later years, her effort finally paid off. For her impressive performance in this film, she had so far swept 4 best actress honors from Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards, Hong Kong Directors’ Guild Awards, Hong Kong Online Film Critics Highlight Awards and the most recent 41st Hong Kong Film Awards in 2023.

She had been very emotional during her acceptance speech just now. She had waited over 20 years for this and it is finally in her hand. Also can feel her immense joy near the end of her speech. Very well deserved. She is now Hong Kong music queen and film queen. An astonishing feat! It is also a beautiful moment when she received this award from her frequent film co-star, Andy Lau who is the evening’s guest presenter for best actress award. What a nice arrangement for him to present this award to Sammi. She had also won ‘best original film song’ earlier at the awards ceremony for her song ‘Live a Life’ in the same film.

Well, I hope her film ‘Lost Love’ will be able to contend at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards near end of this year and also at next year’s Asian Film Awards so that she can go on a winning streak. What a good news for her and also for me. It gives me a much needed ‘feel good moment’ at this period of time when I was seriously feeling very down.

There are actually quite a number of past films where she delivered brilliant performances too but didn’t seem to have the luck to win major awards back then. Those films are ‘Wu Yen’, ‘My Left Eye Sees Ghost’, ‘Everlasting Regret’, ‘Blind Detective’, ‘Fatal Visit’, and ‘Fagara’. I also particularly enjoyed her funny light-hearted roles in ‘Love on a Diet’, ‘Needing You’, ‘Love for all Seasons’ and ‘Marry a Rich Man’. There is no doubt her acting isn’t always the best, sometimes feeling not natural and often her ‘superstar image’ sticks around her making audiences felt like she couldn’t able to dissolve into the characters. However, she had truly improved a lot over the years and is certainly overdue for a recognition. And her well deserved recognition finally comes today.

She will be holding her concert at Hong Kong’s Coliseum at this coming July. I do have a wish to watch it. I have watched her past concerts (I think twice) at Malaysia’s Genting Highlands but I have the desire to watch her performing at her home turf on 4-sided stage at Coliseum. It would be a wonderful experience.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ sweeps at the 95th Academy Awards.

A24’s sleeper hit, ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ is indeed winning almost everything everywhere all at once (just as the movie’s title) at the 95th Academy Awards held yesterday on March 12, 2023. The multiverse sci-fi, comedy and drama film won 7 Oscars out of the 11 nominations it received and became the biggest winner of the evening.

The awards ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel for the third time took a little over three and a half hours and went smoothly this year without any unwanted moments (no slapping incident, no wrong announcement of winner, etc). It was such a good show and I’m very excited and happy for most of the result this year, particularly to EEAAO’s sweep as I admire this film and it is certainly one-of-a-kind that truly deserves best picture.

Here are the full list of winners for the Hollywood’s biggest annual film awards, the 95th Academy Awards:

Best Picture: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Actor: Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”

Best Director: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Original Song: “Naatu Naatu,” “RRR”

Best Documentary Feature: “Navalny”

Best Adapted Screenplay: “Women Talking”

Best Original Screenplay: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Costume Design: “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

Best International Feature: “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Animated Feature: “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio”

Best Visual Effects: “Avatar: The Way of Water”

Best Cinematography: “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Best Supporting Actress: Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Film Editing: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Score: “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Best Sound: “Top Gun: Maverick”

Best Production Design: “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: “The Whale”

Best: Documentary (Short Subject): “The Elephant Whisperers”

Best Short (Animated): “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”

Best Short Film (Live Action): “An Irish Goodbye”

You can see the full nomination list for the awards in my previous blog post that also comes along with my final prediction. Out of the 23 categories, I correctly predicted in 17 of them. That’s 73.9% accuracy. Not bad. Not bad. Will try to aim for higher accuracy next year.

All of the awards that EEAO won are above-the-line categories, taking home best picture, director, screenplay (original), acting (lead actress, supporting actor, supporting actress) and film editing. The Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) won three Oscars each at the ceremony as they co-write, co-direct and co-produce (together with Jonathan Wang) EEAAO. I’m so happy that they called out Michelle Yeoh’s name when announcing the best actress winner too. She truly deserves it. I’m so proud to be Malaysian at that moment and she did mention Malaysia and KL too in her acceptance speech while mentioning about her mother watching the ceremony live in their country. She became the first Asian to win the Oscar for Best Actress, the first Malaysian to win an Academy Award in any category, and the second woman of color to win Best Actress after Halle Berry in 2002. A huge congratulation to Michelle Yeoh!

Out of the 10 nominated films in best picture, 5 films went home empty handed that evening. They are ‘Elvis’ (quite unexpected as I was expecting this film to take home at least few Oscars like best actor and best costume design), ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’, ‘Triangle of Sadness’, ‘The Fabelmans’ and ‘Tar’. It is very unlikely especially in recent years that Academy would let a film to make major sweep for their awards but it does finally happen this year with EEAAO’s dominance.

‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ ended the evening with second most wins at 4 (international feature, cinematography, score and production design). I never thought it won for production design as I felt it was actually the weakest among the nominees in that category. What a surprise. Well, luckily, the movie didn’t perform here as well as in the BAFTA as I don’t really enjoy the film and was quite perplexed on how it could win so many awards at the BAFTA earlier including best film. The Academy made it right. All the 4 acting winners at the Oscars also matched up with the result at the SAG awards and not the BAFTA (and I’m very happy for it!).

Once Jamie Lee Curtis won in the tight supporting actress race (she isn’t even affected from the vote splitting with her co-star Stephanie Hsu who is also nominated in the same category) in the earlier part of the ceremony, I knew it will be a big night for EEAAO and a win for Michelle Yeoh for best actress is very likely. I still prefer Angela Bassett to win though for her performance in ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.

Alright. That’s the wrap for the Hollywood awards season honouring the best of films released in 2022. It concludes with the 95th Oscars that made history in several categories and delivered one of the most satisfying results in a long time. What a year!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

My final prediction to the 95th Oscars.

Finally, the 95th Academy Awards is around the corner. It will be happening this evening in the US (will be on Monday’s morning in Asia due to time difference). I’m a keen follower of the Oscars (Hollywood’s biggest awards and one of the world’s most famous awards) every year. For this 95th edition, I have watched 7 out of the 10 nominated films in the best picture category. That’s considered a lot.

After over two months of reviewing results from the precursor awards (Golden Globes, Critics Choice, BAFTA, SAG, PGA, DGA, WGA, Independent Spirit, etc) and observing the recent momentum, here comes my final prediction for all the 23 categories for the Academy Awards this year before the ceremony takes place in less than a day.

(Image source: Deed News)

Best Picture

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Malte Grunert, Producer

“Avatar: The Way of Water,” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers

“Elvis,” Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers

“The Fabelmans,” Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, Producers

“Tár,” Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, Producers

“Top Gun: Maverick,” Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers

“Triangle of Sadness,” Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers

“Women Talking,” Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers

Will win: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Should win: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Opinion: Out of the 10 nominated films above, I didn’t watch ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’, ‘Women Talking’ and ‘Triangle of Sadness’. Several films may be the underdog and pulls of a shocking upset (The Banshees of Inisherin, The Fabelmans, Top Gun Maverick and All Quiet on the Western Front) to the clear frontrunner, EEAAO. Some said EEAAO is a polarizing film and may not be relevant to the more traditional styles of the voters but I still think it will still stay on top on preferential ballot system.

Best Director 

Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”) 

Todd Field (“Tár”) 

Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”)

Will win: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Should win: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Opinion: The famed director, Steven Spielberg may pull off an upset here if the Academy is truly wasn’t keen on EEAAO. However, it is really undeniable to ignore how amazing the Daniels are when they can pull it off from their crazy vision in EEAAO and then even made it a masterpiece.

Best Lead Actor

Austin Butler (“Elvis”) 

Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) 

Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”) 

Bill Nighy (“Living”) 

Will win: Austin Butler (“Elvis”) 

Should win: Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) 

Opinion: It’s between those two. Colin Farrell may pull off an upset if there’s significant splitting of votes between Brendan and Austin. Austin put a lot of effort on his role as Elvis but I still find his performance not memorable. However, I do felt the Academy loves to reward actor portraying as someone famous in a biopic.

Best Lead Actress

Cate Blanchett (“Tár”) 

Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) 

Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”)

Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”) 

Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Will win: Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Should win: Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”), Cate Blanchett (“Tár”) 

Opinion: This is a two-person race as well (Cate and Michelle). While many said that Cate’s performance is the best even for the entire past decade, I find that her movie ‘Tar’ is very boring and slow and is made solely as a show-off to Cate’s acting capabilities. Yes, Cate is wonderful in it but she has already won two Oscars and will have many more Oscar-bait roles in the future. Michelle’s performance in EEAAO is equally outstanding and it’s about time for the Academy to make history by rewarding the first ever Asian woman as best actress not solely because of her race but because of her performance and legendary career from Asia to Hollywood over the span of few decades.

Best Supporting Actor

Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”) 

Judd Hirsch (“The Fabelmans”)

Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Will win: Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Should win: Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Opinion: It will be very shocking if others beside than Ke Huy Quan win this. He is the favourite from the very beginning of the awards season. Similarly to Michelle, he is phenomenal in EEAAO.

Best Supporting Actress

Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) 

Hong Chau (“The Whale”) 

Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Will win: Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) or Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) 

Should win: Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) 

Opinion: This is a very tough race. Angela won Golden Globes and Critics Choice. Kerry won BAFTA. Jamie Lee won SAG. I have a feeling that Academy would want to reward ‘The Banshees..’ a trophy and this category may be their pick. On the other hand, I still feel that Angela has the edge to pull this off. Jamie Lee is unlikely to win as her performance isn’t really that spectacular and that she would suffer vote-splitting with her co-star, Stephanie who is also contending from EEAAO.

Best Adapted Screenplay

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” Written by Rian Johnson

“Living,” Written by Kazuo Ishiguro

“Top Gun: Maverick,” Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks

“Women Talking,” Screenplay by Sarah Polley

Will win: “Women Talking,” Screenplay by Sarah Polley

Should win: “Women Talking,” Screenplay by Sarah Polley

Opinion: Should be an easy call. The only category to reward ‘Women Talking’. It all depends on whether the Academy are really mad in love with ‘All Quiet…’ like the BAFTA. If that’s the case, ‘All Quiet…’ may win this and even the best picture.

Best Original Screenplay

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Written by Martin McDonagh

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

“The Fabelmans,” Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner

“Tár,” Written by Todd Field

“Triangle of Sadness,” Written by Ruben Östlund

Will win: “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

Should win: “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

Opinion: No one can overpowers the originality of EEAAO script. ‘The Banshees…’ may pull off an upset here since these two are quite neck-to-neck in this category.

Best Cinematography 

“All Quiet on the Western Front”, James Friend

“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” Darius Khondji

“Elvis,” Mandy Walker

“Empire of Light,” Roger Deakins

“Tár,” Florian Hoffmeister

Will win: “All Quiet on the Western Front”, James Friend

Should win: “All Quiet on the Western Front”, James Friend

Best Documentary Feature Film 

“All That Breathes,” Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer

“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov

“Fire of Love,” Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman

“A House Made of Splinters,” Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström

“Navalny,” Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris

Will win: “Navalny,” Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris

Opinion: No ‘should win’ as I have not watched any of these documentary films.

Best Documentary Short Film 

“The Elephant Whisperers,” Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga

“Haulout,” Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev

“How Do You Measure a Year?” Jay Rosenblatt

“The Martha Mitchell Effect,” Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison

“Stranger at the Gate,” Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones

Will win: “The Elephant Whisperers,” Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga

Opinion: No ‘should win’ as I have not watched any of these documentary short films.

Best Film Editing

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Mikkel E.G. Nielsen

“Elvis,” Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Paul Rogers

“Tár,” Monika Willi

“Top Gun: Maverick,” Eddie Hamilton

Will win: “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Paul Rogers

Should win: “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Paul Rogers

Best International Feature Film 

“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany) 

“Argentina, 1985” (Argentina) 

“Close” (Belgium)

“EO” (Poland) 

“The Quiet Girl” (Ireland) 

Will win: “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany) 

Opinion: No ‘should win’ as I have only watched ‘All Quiet…’ out of the five nominees. It’s a lock for ‘All Quiet…’ as it also competes in best picture category.

Best Original Song 

“Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman,” Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

“Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick,” Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop

“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler

“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR,” Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose  

“This Is a Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne 

Will win: “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR,” Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose  

Should win: “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick,” Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop

Best Production Design 

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper

“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole

“Babylon,” Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino

“Elvis,” Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn

“The Fabelmans,” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

Will win: “Babylon,” Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino

Should win: “Babylon,” Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino

Best Visual Effects

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar

“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett

“The Batman,” Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick

“Top Gun: Maverick,” Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher

Will win: “Avatar: The Way of Water,” Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett

Should win: “Avatar: The Way of Water,” Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett

Opinion: One of the easiest picks this year.

Best Animated Feature Film 

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley

“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” Joel Crawford and Mark Swift

“The Sea Beast,” Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger

“Turning Red,” Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins

Will win: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley

Should win: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley

Opinion: Also another one of the easiest and obvious picks this year.

Best Animated Short Film

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud

“The Flying Sailor,” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

“Ice Merchants,” João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano

“My Year of Dicks,” Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon

“An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It,” Lachlan Pendragon

Will win: “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud

Opinion: No ‘should win’ as I have not watched any of the nominated animated short films above.

Best Costume Design 

“Babylon,” Mary Zophres

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Ruth Carter

“Elvis,” Catherine Martin

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Shirley Kurata

“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” Jenny Beavan

Will win: “Elvis,” Catherine Martin

Should win: “Elvis,” Catherine Martin

Best Live Action Short

“An Irish Goodbye,” Tom Berkeley and Ross White

“Ivalu,” Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan

“Le Pupille,” Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón

“Night Ride,” Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen

“The Red Suitcase,” Cyrus Neshvad

Will win: “An Irish Goodbye,” Tom Berkeley and Ross White

Opinion: No ‘should win’ as I have not watched any of the live action shorts above.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling 

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová

“The Batman,” Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Camille Friend and Joel Harlow

“Elvis,” Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti

“The Whale,” Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley

Will win: “Elvis,” Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti

Should win: “Elvis,” Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti

Best Original Score 

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Volker Bertelmann

“Babylon,” Justin Hurwitz

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Carter Burwell

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Son Lux

“The Fabelmans,” John Williams

Will win: “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Volker Bertelmann

Should win: “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Son Lux

Best Sound

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte

“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges

“The Batman,” Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson

“Elvis,” David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller

“Top Gun: Maverick,” Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

Will win: “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte

Should win: “Top Gun: Maverick,” Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

That’s all for my final prediction. I wonder how many of my predictions above are correct after the awards ceremony.

‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ making sweep at PGA and SAG in the past weekend!

It’s less than 2 weeks away to the Oscars and we are now in the midst of plenty of major precursor awards from the critics and the guilds in recognizing the best of Hollywood films released in 2022. In fact, most of the precursor awards have passed including the Producers Guild of America Awards (PGA) and Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) which took place just in the past weekend.

‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ made history as the first ever film to win 4 awards at the SAG. Before the ceremony, the film has 5 nominations in 4 categories and won in all the 4 categories including the coveted best cast ensemble award. Actors do really love and adore this film, particularly its cast. Who doesn’t love them? Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie-Lee Curtis, Stephanie Hsu and several others including the legendary 94-years old James Hong. The acceptance speech at the final award (cast ensemble) which is turned into a tribute to James Hong is momentous. James himself was quite funny too on his speech.

Very well deserved win to everyone (well maybe except for Jamie-Lee Curtis as the other nominees in her supporting actress category are more superior than her in terms of performances). The film really wins everything everwhere all at once! Haha (except for BAFTA where it only managed to win editing to everyone’s shock!. British academy had poor taste in judging films). It is also very rare seeing that the 4 acting winners at the BAFTA are totally different with the 4 acting winners at the SAG. It’s going to be an exciting race at the Oscars. Close calls in all the acting categories except for maybe the supporting actor where Ke Huy Quan is the most solid frontrunner.

I’m so happy for Michelle Yeoh. She deserved this lead actress award and need to win this to stay on the race to win best actress at the Oscars. Her main competitor, Cate Blanchett had beaten her in many previous major precursor awards. Let’s hope the momentum stays on for her to become the first ever Asian to win best actress at the Academy Awards. I knew; many are saying Cate’s performance in ‘Tar’ is the best. I personally felt both Michelle Yeoh and Cate Blanchett are equal in their respective performances. After that, I am thinking who is overdue and in need of this recognition? Cate has won Oscars twice and she would have many more future opportunities to get awards. That’s not the case for Michelle. This is her once-in-a-lifetime chance. Hence, I’m rooting for her (also partly because she is a Malaysian and I’m of course supporting my own country along the way!).

I like the way this year’s SAG Awards is being presented. The ceremony was available for live streaming on YouTube so everyone is able to watch it easily online. No commercial ads. No music playoff to cut short the time for the award’s winners to speak. Clips of all nominees are presented. And lastly…the result are so much more exciting and great!

Here’s below the result only for the film categories for the 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards (didn’t bother the television categories as I do not watch any US television series):

Motion Picture Cast

Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
WINNER: Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Women Talking

Male Actor in a Leading Role — Motion Picture

Austin Butler, Elvis
Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
WINNER: Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Bill Nighy, Living
Adam Sandler, Hustle

Female Actor in a Leading Role — Motion Picture

Cate Blanchett, Tár
Viola Davis, The Woman King
Ana de Armas, Blonde
Danielle Deadwyler, Till
WINNER: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Male Actor in a Supporting Role — Motion Picture

Paul Dano, The Fabelmans
Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
WINNER: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse

Female Actor in a Supporting Role — Motion Picture

Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau, The Whale
Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
WINNER: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
WINNER: Top Gun: Maverick
The Woman King

Brendan Fraser also needed this best actor win to stay in the race for the Oscars as Austin Butler had prevailed at the Golden Globes and the BAFTA. So for best actor it will be battle between Brendan and Austin. Colin Farrell has lost a lot of momentum at this point. For best actress, it’s just between Cate Blanchett and Michelle Yeoh (sorry for the other nominees!). Supporting actor is likely a lock for Ke Huy Quan. Supporting actress is a bit more crowded with a three-way race between Kerry Condon, Angela Bassett and Jamie-Lee Curtis (I’m still picking Angela Bassett for the Oscars win).

A24 dominated the SAG this year (as both ‘The Whale’ and ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ are from A24 studio). ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ is now a clear frontrunner for best picture at the Oscars after winning SAG ensemble on top of the previous major win at Producers Guild of America Awards (PGA), Directors Guild of America Awards (DGA) and Critics Choice Awards. It is also set to win at the upcoming Writers Guild Awards (WGA) and Independent Spirit Awards which are to be held on this coming weekend.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

British academy has very odd taste on this year’s BAFTA awards’ choices.

The 76th BAFTA Film Awards (or known as British Academy Film Awards) took place few hours ago at the Royal Festival Hall in London, UK. It is the third major Hollywood film awards with two more still coming (SAG Awards in the following weekend and the Oscars on next month). This awards are being known to favour British or generally conservative films. However, it does have a major impact to shake up the race at the prestigious Oscars.

I was quite shocked with the winners list this year. A German war film ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’ won big at the ceremony with 7 wins including best film. I don’t think it will repeat its success at the Oscars as it does not receive many nominations at the latter and is even excluded from some major categories in nomination such as directing and film editing. ‘Elvis’ (this film overperformed at the BAFTA too) and ‘The Banshees Of Inisherin’ tied at second place with 4 wins each.

Oscars’ frontrunner in many categories, ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ was almost entirely shut out in the BAFTA. It only manage to win film editing award. Ke Huy Quan who is a clear frontrunner in supporting actor race lost to Barry Keoghan from ‘The Banshees Of Inisherin’. Well, as mentioned earlier, that’s because British academy voters are biased towards their own British films. Ke Huy Quan is still going to take home the Oscars most likely. The film directors, the Daniels, also lost the best director at the BAFTA despite winning DGA (Directors Guild Awards) the day before. Conclusion; the British people just don’t like odd yet innovative movies. The result also clearly shows that while many do love this film, there are also many who dislike it too. The BAFTA hurts the film’s prospect of multiple wins at the Oscars.

Here below is the full list of winners for the 2023 BAFTA Film Awards:

Best film
“All Quiet on the Western Front” *WINNER

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Everything Everywhere All At Once”

“Elvis”

“‘TÁR”

Outstanding British film
“Aftersun”

“The Banshees of Inisherin” *WINNER

“Brian and Charles”

“Empire of Light”

“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”

“Living”

“Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical”

“See How They Run”

“The Swimmers”

“The Wonder”

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
“Aftersun” Charlotte Wells (writer/director) *WINNER

“Blue Jean” Georgia Oakley (writer/director), Hélène Sifre (producer)

“Electric Malady” Marie Lidén (director)

“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” Katy Brand (writer)

“Rebellion” Elena Sánchez Bellot (director) Maia Kenworthy (director)

Best film not in the English language
“All Quiet on the Western Front” *WINNER

“Argentina, 1985”

“Corsage”

“Decision to Leave”

“The Quiet Girl”

Best documentary
“All That Breathes”

“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”

“Fire of Love”

“Moonage Daydream”

“Navalny” *WINNER

Best animated film
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” *WINNER

“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”

“Turning Red”

Best director
Edward Berger, “All Quiet on the Western Front” *WINNER

Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Park Chan-wook, “Decision To Leave”

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All At Once”

Todd Field, “TÁR”

Gina Prince-Bythewood, “The Woman King”

Best original screenplay
Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin” *WINNER

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All At Once”

Tony Kushner and Steven Spielberg, “The Fabelmans”

Todd Field, “TÁR”

Ruben Östlund, “Triangle of Sadness”

Best adapted screenplay
Edward Berger, Ian Stokell and Leslie Patterson, “All Quiet on the Western Front” *WINNER

Kazuo Ishiguro, “Living”

Colm Bairéad, “The Quiet Girl”

Rebecca Lenkiewicz, “She Said”

Samuel D. Hunter, “The Whale”

Best lead actress
Ana de Armas, “Blonde”

Cate Blanchett, “TÁR” *WINNER

Viola Davis, “The Woman King”

Danielle Deadwyler, “Till”

Emma Thompson, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”

Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All At Once”

Best lead actor
Austin Butler, “Elvis” *WINNER

Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”

Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Daryl McCormack, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”

Paul Mescal, “Aftersun”

Bill Nighy, “Living”

Best supporting actress
Angela Bassett, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

Hong Chau, “The Whale”

Kerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin” *WINNER

Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All At Once”

Dolly De Leon, “Triangle of Sadness”

Carey Mulligan, “She Said”

Best supporting actor
Brendan Gleeson, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Barry Keoghan, “The Banshees of Inisherin” *WINNER

Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All At Once”

Eddie Redmayne, “The Good Nurse”

Albrecht Schuch, “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Michael Ward, “Empire of Light”

Best original score
Volker Bertelmann, “All Quiet on the Western Front” *WINNER

Justin Hurwitz, “Babylon”

Carter Burwell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Son Lux, “Everything Everywhere All At Once”

Alexandre Desplat, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

Best casting
Lucy Pardee, “Aftersun”

Simon Bär, “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Nikki Barrett, Denise Chamian, “Elvis” *WINNER

Sarah Halley Finn, “Everything Everywhere All At Once”

Pauline Hansson, “Triangle of Sadness”

Best cinematography
James Friend, “All Quiet on the Western Front” *WINNER

Greig Fraser, “The Batman”

Mandy Walker, “Elvis”

Roger Deakins, “Empire of Light”

Claudio Miranda, “Top Gun: Maverick”

Best editing
Sven Budelmann, “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Mikkel E.G. Nielsen, “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Matt Villa, “Elvis”

Paul Rogers, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” *WINNER

Eddie Hamilton, “Top Gun: Maverick”

Best production design
Christian M. Goldbreck, Ernestine Hipper, “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Florencia Martin, Anthony Carlino, “Babylon” *WINNER

James Chinlund, Lee Sandales, “The Batman”

Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, Bev Dunn, “Elvis”

Curt Enderle, Guy Davis, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

Best costume design
Lisy Christl, “All Quiet on the Western Front”

J.R. Hawbaker and Albert Wolsky, “Amsterdam”

Mary Zophres, “Babylon”

Catherine Martin, “Elvis” *WINNER

Jenny Beavan, “Mrs Harris Goes To Paris”

Best makeup and hair
Heike Merker, “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Michael Marino and Zoe Tahir, “The Batman”

Shane Thomas, Louise Coulston, Mark Coulier and Barrie Gower, “Elvis” *WINNER

Naomi Donne, Barrie Gower, Sharon Martin, “Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical”

Anne Marie Bradley, Judy Chin, Adrien Morot, “The Whale”

Best sound
Lars Ginzsel, Frank Kruse, Viktor Prášil and Markus Stemler, “All Quiet on the Western Front” *WINNER

Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Julian Howarth, Gary Summers and Gwendoyln Yates Whittle, “Avatar: The Way of Water”

Michael Keller, David Lee, Andy Nelson and Wayne Pashley, “Elvis”

Deb Adair, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley, Steve Single and Roland Winke, “TÁR”

Chris Burdon, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Mark Taylor and Mark Weingarten, “Top Gun: Maverick”

Best special visual effects
Markus Frank, Kamil Jafar, Viktor Müller and Frank Petzoid, “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett, Joe Letteri and Eric Saindon, “Avatar: The Way of Water” *WINNER

Russell Earl, Dan Lemmon, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy, “The Batman”

Benjamin Brewer, Ethan Feldbau, Jonathan Kombrinck and Zak Stoltz, “Everything Everywhere All At Once”

Seth Hill, Scott R. Fisher, Bryan Litson and Ryan Tudhope, “Top Gun: Maverick”

Best British short animation
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” *WINNER

“Middle Watch”

“Your Mountain is Waiting”

Best British short film
“The Ballad Of Olive Morris”

“Bazigaga”

“Bus Girl”

“A Drifting Up”

“An Irish Goodbye” *WINNER

EE Rising Star
Aimee Lou Wood

Daryl McCormack

Emma Mackey *WINNER

Naomi Ackie

Sheila Atim

We will see how the race further shapes up with the SAG Awards coming up this weekend. That will be last major precursor before the Academy Awards (Oscars) on March 12th 2023. ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ is still tipped to win best ensemble and best supporting actor on that ceremony (and I still hope Michelle Yeoh wins best lead actress too although it looks quite clear that Cate Blanchett from ‘Tar’ is unbeatable at this point after winning most of the precursor awards).

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

TVB Anniversary Awards 2022: ‘Get On A Flat’ is the biggest winner of the night with 3 wins including best drama.

TVB Anniversary Awards 2022 was held yesterday to recognize the best in drama series and variety programs for year 2022 from Hong Kong’s largest television broadcasting company, TVB. I didn’t watch many TVB dramas last year as I was occupied with my working holiday and vacations in New Zealand and Australia in the second half of 2022. Anyway, I still follow closely to this annual awards and have indeed watched the presentation ceremony live on last evening.

Here below is the list of winners for TVB Anniversary Awards 2022 (excluding the categories for hosting and other type of programs) along with my comments on some of the categories;

Best Drama: Get On A Flat

Opinion: Have not watch this. Will watch this when I’m back to Malaysia after my current vacation to see how good it is.

Best Actor: Joel Chan (Barrack O’Karma 1968)

Opinion: Very happy for him to win this award. He has improved so much over the years and had been given a lot of good roles in recent years. He deserved the win although ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’ isn’t as good as its predecessor.

Best Actress: Elena Kong (Get On A Flat)

Opinion: Happy for Elena too as she had been a solid actress for all these years in supporting roles. She finally got a leading role and won immediately. Fantastic! ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’ isn’t doing well and hence Selena Li unfortunately misses her chance again to win best actress although she had won Most Popular TV Female Character from her role in the first series.

Most Popular TV Male Character: Kalok Chow (Your Highness)

Opinion: I felt like TVB is obviously promoting him very quickly as he has been winning many awards in recent years despite his young age. I felt this award should be given to Andrew Lam (Get On A Flat) instead.

Most Popular TV Female Character: Amy Fan (Come Home Love: Lo And Behold)

Opinion: Weak competition in this category this year. I don’t think Amy is deserving of this win. Would prefer Alice Chan (Communion) or Selena Li (Barrack O’Karma 1968) instead.

Best Supporting Actor: Eric Tang (Get On A Flat)

Best Supporting Actress: Angel Chiang (The War Of Beauties)

Most Improved TV Male Artist: Ricco Ng

Opinion: Good for Ricco. At least we got to see another new young face frequently on screen rather than the same Kalok Chow or Karl Ting everywhere.

Most Improved TV Female Artist: Rosita Kwok

Opinion: I felt she is too new and inexperienced for this award. Moon Lau is the most deserving out of the top 5 nominees.

Most Favourite TV Partnership: Kalok Chow, Jeannie Chan, Joey Wong, Brian Chu, Jonathan Cheung (Your Highness)

Most Popular TV Drama Theme Song: ‘Wish’ by Joey Wong (Big White Duel 2)

Best Variety Show: Super Trio Returns

Opinion: This show is indeed still very entertaining after all these years although most of the participating guests in this show are no longer famous celebrities.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Catherine Tsang (TVB Executive)

Best Dressed TV Artists: Joel Chan, Nancy Wu, Hera Chan

Malaysia’s Most Favourite TVB Series: I’ve Got The Power

Opinion: I will watch this series soon when I’m back to Malaysia after hearing all the good reviews for the series earlier.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite TVB Actor: Ruco Chan (I’ve Got The Power)

Opinion: This is more like a consolation for Ruco as he has been exceptional in ‘I’ve Got The Power’ too but lost in the best actor category. Ruco also has a huge fan base in Malaysia hence it is not surprising that he won this again.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite TVB Actress: Moon Lau (The War Of Beauties)

Opinion: No ‘Most Improved’ award but a much better award straight away for Moon Lau. Moon Lau should win ‘Most Improved’ and leave this award to Alice Chan (Communion) or Selena Li (Barrack O’Karma 1968) who both has not even win this Malaysia’s award before.

‘Get On A Flat’ is the biggest winner of the evening with 3 awards including the final award of the ceremony; best drama. I’m surprised that there are quite a number of heavyweight guest presenters (Simon Yam, Slyvia Chang, etc) present at this ceremony (thanks to Eric Tsang who is now the general manager of TVB and had known many heavyweight stars as his friends over the years he is in this entertainment industry).

(Images in this post are from various online sources)