So here we are. The most hyped week of the year here at When The Credits Roll…

Oscars Week!

After a season that been filled with surprises, controversies (including the one last year where it almost didn’t happen), and the never-ending slog that comes with an extended awards season, we are finally here.

The Oscars are on Sunday 25th April 2021 and this is where I start to get into my element. Last minute predictions, fun challenges, and Oscars-themed drinking games are the sot of things that I’ll encounter this week and I cannot wait.

As a precursor to the long-awaited ceremony this weekend, the wonderful Maddy from fivethreeninety and I have decided to collaborate on something really, really fun and something we’ve been planning for around three months on and off:

The ICON Awards!

I’ll explain.

It’s basically going to our own little awards show where we discuss our favourite things from movies in 2020. Things the Academy snubbed, included, or things they just didn’t have a category for, little silly things that we think should be appreciated in cinema, deciding to honour them in our own special way!

So this post is designed to announce our nominees and introduce you all to the categories!

As always, Maddy and I saw a fair bit of cinema in 2020 and appreciated a lot of it, but we also couldn’t see everything so there will be nominees who haven’t made the cut but probably could’ve with a little more time to watch things!

After all that rambling, it is my pleasure to begin the announcements for the 1st Annual ICON Awards!

Our first category is…Cutest Animal! And the nominees are…

If you’re asking where “Boy” from Love & Monsters is, I watched it literally today and past the cut-off for nominations, or else he’d definitely be here without a doubt! Congrats to all the adorable nominees, I’m genuinely rooting for all of them!

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Moving swiftly along, our next category is…Best Movie Parent! And the nominees are…

I don’t know about you, but if I were Yuh-jung Youn, I would prefer to win an ICON Award than an Oscar…

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Our next category is…Best Use of Song! This could include music written especially for the movie or just a piece of soundtrack featured within it! And the nominees are:

Honestly all bops! From Carrie Coon dancing to Rachel McAdams pretending to belt out a power ballad…these were made for me I think!

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Moving on, our next category is…Best Outfit! And the nominees are…

Trying to find something coherent to say about Anya Taylor-Joy is a task proving most difficult, so I’ll just say we apologise because we know Lou’s eyebrows aren’t technically costuming, but these are our awards so we make the rules! (Everyone go watch Thoroughbreds!)

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Our next category is…Most Eligible Boyfriend! It was hard to stick to five nominees, but we managed it in the end somehow! The nominees are…

Congrats to Aldis Hodge for not only being a double nominee at the ICON Awards, but also for looking like that.

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And now, you guessed it…the nominations for Most Eligible Girlfriend!

In case you didn’t know, WTCR and fivethreeninety are Quinn Fabray stan blogs. Do with this information what you will.

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Our next category is…Biggest Snub! I should clarify that this is a mix of performances and tech awards, which is why having 5 slots is notoriously difficult to narrow down.

The nominees are…

Do you think we enjoyed Minari? These respective snubs might’ve gained some nominations scattered about the season, but the Oscars failed to pick up on these talented talented artists! Let’s all boycott the Oscars and watch Palm Springs on a loop instead!

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Our next set of nominees is for Biggest Surprise! This is an award given for a film that took us completely by surprise, one that we hadn’t heard much about or hadn’t expected to be so good. The surprise nominees are…

Everyone should be talking about all of these movies forever! Here’s to more and more great films from all of these filmmakers!

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Our next category is…Most Devastating Delay! Yes, let’s do the thing where we take a little look back (or forward I suppose) to the movies that lost their release dates due to the P-word that we’re all aware of that I don’t wish to mention because she’s not an ICON. Anyway, hoping we can see these films soon! The nominees are…

The day we see Rachel Zegler as Maria is a day we all win.

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Next up, we have…The One To Watch Award! This is for promising (don’t) filmmakers who either made their debuts or make a significant step forward in their careers and are some people to look out for in the future! The nominees are…

When Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott team up to give me even more anxiety…it’s over for me.

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Our next category is…Best Chemistry! The nominees are…

If you know either me or Maddy, you should know that Endings, Beginnings would’ve made the cut! This genuinely could go to anyone!

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The next set of nominees is for Best Scene Stealer! Shout out to those who might not always get the awards attention for their films, but they’re more than likely always the one that you spent the rest of the day thinking and talk about! The nominees are:

Oh Mary Elizabeth Winstead…please shoot me with that crossbow.

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Our next category is…Best Movie Ending!

The nominees are…

If someone could explain the ending of Black Bear to me, I would really appreciate it. Literally still confused over here.

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The next award is Best Line(s) of Dialogue! This could be a short exchange or a whole monologue, but these are some of the words that have had a profound effect on us! The nominees are…

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Next up, we have Best Breakout Performance. We swear, if these nominees don’t have categories that THRIVE, there’ll be hell to pay! The amazing nominees are…

Yes we have 6 nominees and what about it? You try and tell me that one of these performances doesn’t belong here. I dare you!

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The next category we have is Most Overlooked Performance! Now, it’s hard not to call these performances ‘underrated’ but that implies that they haven’t been highly acclaimed by the people who saw them. The problems are that not enough people saw them to praise them! Anyway, the nominees are…

Seven nominees this time…and nobody to stop us! Try choosing between these…bet you can’t.

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And now…it’s time…for the highest honour in film history: The FILTY Award. This stands for Films I Liked This Year. It’s the ICON equivalent of the Best Picture Oscar but way more important. Oh, and the “I” really means “we” but FWLTY doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?

Anyway…the FILTY nominees are…

So that’s it! Congratulations to everyone who was nominated! Below is a tally of the films with the highest amount of nominations just for the sake of statisticians everywhere!

Films that received multiple nominations:

Minari – 10

Sound of Metal – 8

Palm Springs – 6

Promising Young Woman – 5

Shithouse – 5

Babyteeth – 4

Happiest Season – 4

Shiva Baby – 4

Birds of Prey – 3

The Broken Hearts Gallery – 3

Never Rarely Sometimes Always – 3

Black Bear – 2

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga – 2

Holidate – 2

One Night in Miami… – 2

Pieces of a Woman – 2

Wolfwalkers – 2

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So there you have it! Minari leads the nominations, but what will happen? Who will win? The winners will be announced this weekend before the Flop Oscars on Sunday! If you’re intrigued, follow my blog and go follow the indomitable Maddy at her wonderful site!

Make sure to follow us both on Twitter: here and here for updates on the winners!

Just for fun, what are your predictions/personal picks? Be sure to leave a comment or reach on Twitter with your thoughts and feelings, we’d love to hear from you!

Until then, stay safe everyone!