Ricky’s picks for the 2021 Oscars®

The 93rd Academy Awards are coming up once again. The big event takes place April 25 from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. At press time, it’s unsure whether the event will take place live and in person, virtually or some combination.

Best Supporting Actress is a tight race again with eight-time-nominee. Glenn Close as the elderly matriarch of Ron Howard’s “Hillbilly Elegy” among the Academy’s top picks. Close has been in this boat before, dating back to director George Roy Hill’s “The World According to Garp” in 1982. Also nominated are Olivia Colman in “The Father,” Amanda Seyfried in David Fincher’s “Mank,” Yuh-Jung Youn in “Minari” and Maria Bakalova in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.”

I think as much as I want to see Close win, I think Youn will win for “Minari.”

This year, gritty true-life tales and factious stories about gritty events make up the Best Original Screenplay category. This includes “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” the South Korean drama “Minari,” the story of a musician losing his hearing with “Sound of Metal,” the true-life tale of an FBI undercover operation into the Black Panther Party with “Judas and the Black Messiah” and the revenge tale “Promising Young Woman.”

Best Screenplay will undoubtedly go to Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman.”

The Best Supporting Actor nominees are a strong, varied lot with a mixture of both fictional and true-life tales in the mix. The nominees include Sacha Baron Cohen for his portrayal of anti-war activist Abbie Hoffman in “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Paul Raci as the drummer who is going deaf in “Sound of Metal,” Leslie Odom Jr., who plays soul singer Sam Cooke in “One Night in Miami…,” LaKeith Stanfield as Bill O’Neal who infiltrates the Black Panther Party in “Judas and the Black Messiah” and Daniel Kaluuya as political organizer Fred Hampton, also in “Judas and the Black Messiah.”

I think Odom wins here since the two stars of “Judas and the Black Messiah” cancel each other out and the other actors will have their own particular films acknowledged elsewhere in the night.

The Best-Adapted Screenplay category is also a strong mixture of true-life and fictional stories, including “The White Tiger,” “One Night in Miami…,” “Nomadland,” “The Father” and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.”

I think “Nomadland” has this category locked up. This will be another year in which a Frances McDormand-led film will do it all, sweeping a plethora of categories.