History has been made at the 2020 Academy Awards!  Parasite has become the first subtitled movie to win the Oscar for best picture in the 92 year history of the ceremony.  There have been times when I thought that streak would break (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Babel, Roma) but it’s taken until 2020 for it to finally happen.

Most categories played out as expected (favourite backers were happy).  The acting winners were all locks going in for example.  However, it all went wild when Bong Joon Ho won best director (breaking a run of 15 out of 16 DGA winners who have won the Oscar) and then Parasite itself taking best picture (breaking a run of 12 out of 14 PGA winners who have won the Oscar).

Here are the major winners…

Best Picture – Parasite

Best Director – Bong Joon Ho (Parasite)

Best Actor – Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)

Best Actress – Renee Zellweger (Judy)

Best Supporting Actor – Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

Best Supporting Actress – Laura Dern (Marriage Story)

Best Original Screenplay – Parasite

Best Adapted Screenplay – Jojo Rabbit

Best International Feature – Parasite

Best Animated Feature – Toy Story 4

Best Documentary Feature – American Factory

 

Oscars gambling

I outlined my Oscars bets last week and I am therefore pumped for Parasite’s win.  I had $100 on it at $10 back in early December and I tipped it as the winner in my e-newsletter from 19 November 2019.  It’s on a par with Susan Sarandon, Halle Berry, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Mark Rylance and Spotlight as one of my great Oscar wins.  Coupled with my Jojo Rabbit screenplay win and my Globes win, it’s another healthy year of profit (my 5th straight).  Here’s my latest tally…

1996 – profit of $750 – won on Susan Sarandon

1997 – profit of $300 (cumulative profit $1,050) – won on Frances McDormand

1998 – loss of $250 (cumulative profit $800)

1999 – loss of $250 (cumulative profit $550)

2000 – profit of $620 (cumulative profit $1,170) – won on Kevin Spacey and Michael Caine

2001 – loss of $190 (cumulative profit $980) – won on director Steven Soderbergh

2002 – profit of $480 (cumulative profit $1,460) – won on Halle Berry

2003 – profit of $275 (cumulative profit $1,735) – won on Catherine Zeta-Jones and Adrien Brody

2004 – profit of $150 (cumulative profit $1,875) – won on Sean Penn

2005 – profit of $214 (cumulative profit $2,089) – won on Hilary Swank

2006 – profit of $350 (cumulative profit $2,439) – won on Reese Witherspoon

2007 – profit of $1,463 (cumulative profit $3,912) – won on Eddie Murphy at Globes, Alan Arkin & West Bank Story at Oscars

2008 – profit of $268 (cumulative profit of $4,280) – won on Tilda Swinton and the Coen brothers

2009 – profit of $253 (cumulative profit of $4,533) – won on Mickey Rourke & Kate Winslet at Globes, Kate Winslet at Oscars

2010 – loss of $830 (cumulative profit of $3,703)

2011 – profit of $30 (cumulative profit of $3,733) – won on Social Network at Globes, Tom Hooper & King’s Speech at Oscars

2012 – loss of $640 (cumulative profit of $3,093) – won on Jean Dujardin at Oscars

2013 – loss of $850 (cumulative profit of $2,243) – won on Ang Lee at Oscars

2014 – loss of $72 (cumulative profit of $2,171) – won on Matthew McConaughey at Globes and Oscars

2015 – loss of $50 (cumulative profit of $2,121) – won on Eddie Redmayne at Oscars

2016 – profit of $1,325 (cumulative profit of $3,446) – won on Mark Rylance and Spotlight at Oscars

2017 – profit of $870 (cumulative profit of $4,316) – won on Damien Chazelle, Casey Affleck, Emma Stone and Mahershala Ali at Oscars

2018 – profit of $330 (cumulative profit of $4,646) – won on Frances McDormand and Three Billboards at Globes and Frances McDormand at Oscars

2019 – profit of $1,022 (cumulative profit of $5,668) – won on Rami Malek and Green Book at Globes and Green Book at Oscars

2020 – profit of $1,042 (cumulative profit of $6,710) – won on Taron Egerton at Globes, and Jojo Rabbit (screenplay) and Parasite at Oscars

May the good times continue!

 

Oscars competition

A huge congratulations to Rob Eddy who has won my 20th Annual Pick the Oscars competition.  No one managed 6 out of 6 (many came unstuck with Parasite winning picture) but we had 6 entrants coming close with 5 out of 6.  It therefore came down to the tie-breaker question – the best picture presenter was Jane Fonda who is 82 years of age.  Rob was spot on with his age prediction.  Others to get 5 out of 6 were Sam Dagan, Peter Wickins, Jenny Goodman, Katie Read and Jimmy Orsag.

Make sure you enter again next year!

Well, that’s it for me.  I’m off to enjoy a drink!