Best Original Score:

Oscar veterans are at play in the Best Original Score category with John Williams receiving an almost unbelievable 53rd Academy Award nomination for his score of Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. Almost all of Williams’ wins have come from Spielberg films, though The Fabelmans has not benefited from public acclaim at the box office. Still, the Academy votes for these awards, so it wouldn’t be a surprise for Williams to bring home the gold with his warm, melodic score featuring notable piano performance from Joanne Pearce Martin. Also with an emphasis on the keys is Justin Hurwitz’s glitzy, jazzy score for Babylon. This bright soundtrack demonstrates Hurwitz letting loose – much like his director behind the camera. It’s arguably Hurwitz’s best work and we saw Hurwitz take home this award not too long ago with his score of La La Land.

On a more subtle note is Carter Burwell’s score for The Banshees of Inisherin. Like its film, Burwell’s score is more subdued despite the film’s bursts of violence. On the other hand, Volker Bertelmann’s score for All Quiet on the Western Front highlights the terror of warfare from the perspective of a young soldier. The score is foreboding and bass-driven, effectively driving home the film’s anti-war message with its disturbing sound.

The only newcomer to this category is the experimental music group Son Lux. Their approach for scoring Everything Everywhere at Once with tools ranging from synthesizer to gongs is fitting to the genre-bending film that balances both action sequences and moments of family coming together. It’s a bold soundtrack, but that might be what it takes to take home the Best Original Score award.

Prediction: Justin Hurwitz (Babylon)

Best Original Song:

Diane Warren makes her almost perennial appearance on this list with ‘Applause’, making this her 14th Oscar nomination. Amazingly, she has never won, and considering how little attention the movie that this song was written for got (Tell It Like a Woman), she seems destined to continue that streak. Everything Everywhere All at Once manages to snag a nomination in this category as well for ‘This is a Life’. Performed by Son Lux, Mitski, and David Byrne, ‘This is a Life’ certainly boasts a high pedigree but the song, like many nominees in this category, is an afterthought, played over the end credits.

‘Lift Me Up’ boasts a similarly high pedigree with Rihanna’s performance but this song is a decided step down from the earworm that ‘All the Stars’ from the previous Black Panther movie was. ‘Hold My Hand’ perfectly captures the freedom of the open skies in this power ballad that would make Berlin from the first Top Gun movie proud. But the clear, undeniable powerhouse is ‘Naatu Naatu’ from breakout hit RRR. The film failed to get more than this nomination, but it has played like gangbusters in sold-out special screenings in America, where theatergoers will get up and dance to this song when it comes on. It will be the song to beat and perhaps the performance to beat at the ceremony.

Prediction: Naatu Naatu (RRR)

Best Sound:

Sound is an aspect of filmmaking so misunderstood by most members of the Academy the formerly two categories recognizing it were merged into one a few years back, seemingly because most voters couldn’t tell the difference, before it was thrown off the broadcast as one of the categories the Academy assumed viewers didn’t care about then being brought back again when that revealed itself to be a mistake. Often used as a way to recognize sci-fi, action, or other films that don’t necessarily show up in other categories besides visual effects, it’s somewhat synonymous with being loud or having sound effects.

This year is something of an anomaly with four of the five nominees also having nominations for Best Picture (The Batman being the odd one out), a true testament to the high quality of blockbuster filmmaking recently. All Quiet on the Western Front, the new Netflix adaptation of the classic war novel, was something of a surprise in many categories as a real late-break contender and an international film, a rarity in the categories that tend to recognize American blockbusters, but love for the film could carry it to success anywhere.

Top Gun: Maverick flew in to have a historic run in theaters, dominating the box office all summer and showing what a legacy sequel should be, and cemented its nomination the second the roar of jet engines filled cinemas worldwide. Elvis had one of the strongest showings ever for a musical biopic and showed that not every film nominated for sound has to be an action film, but the sound still has to be showy to be recognized. Avatar: The Way of Water, predictably earned all the technical nominations, proving that spending the necessary time in post instead of one of the rush jobs so many films are beholden to now, can yield stunning results and the box office will validate it.

Prediction: Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon, and Mark Taylor (Top Gun: Maverick)