Film critic, CM Life alumnus Adam Graham predicts Oscar winners
It’s currently a three way race between 1917, Parasite, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Graham said
When Adam Graham, now a film critic for The Detroit News, was moving into his freshman dorm at Central Michigan University, he saw an advertisement flyer to be a film critic for Central Michigan Life.
Graham loved writing in high school, so this seemed like a great opportunity. He marched his way down to the newsroom and got the job that day. Graham wrote music and film reviews for CM Life for the next four-and-a-half years.
After graduating in December 2000 with a major in journalism, Graham turned his passion into a career and worked as a film critic for The Detroit News, where he still works on reviews for movies, concerts, and performances.
Every year, Graham does extensive coverage for The Detroit News on the Academy Awards. His duties include writing briefs about the days' events, taking notes during the show and writing a story on the highlights of the night – for which his deadline is 30 minutes after the show ends.
Graham’s prediction for this year's Best Picture winner is "1917." He said it is currently a three-way competition between "1917," "Parasite" and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." If he had to pick one to win, "1917" is what he would like to see receive the Oscar.
The award for Best Actor and Actress are obvious, Graham said. He thinks Joaquin Phoenix will win for his role in "Joker" and Renee Zellweger will receive an Oscar for her role in "Judy."
His grading scale for his reviews is based off of emotional impact, directing, script and, most importantly, the feeling in the pit of his stomach.
“It’s a sense of things coming together,” he added.
Graham gave Joker an A when he reviewed it for The Detroit News. He said it is his second favorite movie of the year. The film gained his praise because it didn’t follow the structural norm of comic book movies.
“It made you uncomfortable in a good way,” Graham said. He added that Joaquin Phoenix “crushed it” in the role of Joker.
"Joker" has the most nominations this year, standing at 11 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. The other top competitors, "1917", "The Irishman" and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" have 10 nominations.
Graham’s favorite movie of 2019 was "Marriage Story" which is also nominated for Best Picture.
“It was funny, sharp and heartbreaking,” Graham said. “It knocked me out in a way no other movie did.”
Graham was not impressed with the nominees in the animated movie category. He described it as a “weak field” this year. His prediction for the winner is "I Lost My Body," because it is the “least commercial”.
"Frozen 2" was not nominated for Best Animated Film, which Graham was surprised about. However, he gave the movie a B- in his movie review for The Detroit News, but looking back on it, thinks he should have given it a C.
“It wasn’t very inspired, and it didn’t compare to the first one,” he said.
The 92nd annual Academy Awards will take place at 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9 on ABC.
