List

Notes on the 2016 Oscars

Oscars 2016

Best Picture

This year, the Academy has again put forth a confusingly arbitrary number of 8 nominations for Best Picture (doesn’t 10 make more sense?) and we seem to have a three-way tie between The Big Short, The Revenant and Spotlight. These films seemed to divide any sense of critical consensus this awards season by each taking top honors through various channels (The Big Short took the PGA, The Revenant took the BAFTA, Spotlight took the NSFCA). Despite this split, The Revenant still looks poised to take home the top prize and though I would prefer Room to win above it, Alejandro Iñárritu’s singular survival tale remains my second favorite of the nominees and a fine selection for Best Picture.

My Prediction: The Revenant
My Vote: Room
Overlooked: Inside Out, Anomalisa

Best Director

  • Adam McKay – The Big Short
  • George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
  • Alejandro G. Iñárritu – The Revenant
  • Lenny Abrahamson – Room
  • Tom McCarthy – Spotlight

Iñárritu is a clear favorite for a consecutive win here after last year’s Birdman, which would make him the first director in 66 years with back-to-back wins in the category. Though I am seemingly the only human alive who didn’t care much for Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller deserves ample praise for his terrifically twisted sense of world-building and his frantically paced action sequences. My preference would still be towards Abrahamson for Room: he’s not the showiest storyteller out there but the emotional integrity that he shows to the story and his characters is worthy of recognition. And how Adam McKay was nominated over the likes of Scott and Spielberg is something that I will ponder over all night.

My Prediction: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
My Vote: Lenny Abrahamson
Overlooked: Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen (Inside Out)

Best Actor

  • Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
  • Matt Damon – The Martian
  • Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
  • Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
  • Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl

It’s finally Leo’s year. Sure, it may not be the best performance of his laudable career but the Academy has a long history of handing out overdue awards and it helps that this year’s field is relatively soft compared to previous years. Much has been made of the brutal shooting conditions of The Revenant and how they affected its actors but there’s more to DiCaprio’s towering work in the film than the suffering that he and his character endured. It’s a completely believable portrait of a man fighting valiantly against the elements and it’s a comforting sign that the night’s surest bet is also such a deserving pick.

My Prediction: Leonardo DiCaprio
My Vote: Leonardo DiCaprio
Overlooked: Michael B. Jordan (Creed)

Best Actress

  • Cate Blanchett – Carol
  • Brie Larson – Room
  • Jennifer Lawrence – Joy
  • Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years
  • Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn

Another lock here and for good reason: there’s no doubt in my mind that Brie Larson gave the year’s best performance in Room. As a young mother of a 5-year-old boy living under unimaginable circumstances, she gives a heartbreaking and unforgettable performance of staggering empathy and overwhelming conviction. The rest of the field is equally impressive and Charlotte Rampling would likely be my runner-up choice here for her astounding work in 45 Years as a conflicted wife in a 45-year marriage that isn’t as stable as it seems to be. Though I didn’t see Joy, it’s worth mentioning that this is Jennifer Lawrence’s third nomination in 4 years and she’s 25 years old. Just let that sink in.

My Prediction: Brie Larson
My Vote: Brie Larson
Overlooked: Emily Blunt (Sicario)

Best Supporting Actor

  • Christian Bale – The Big Short
  • Tom Hardy – The Revenant
  • Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
  • Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
  • Sylvester Stallone – Creed

My Prediction: Sylvester Stallone
My Vote: Tom Hardy
Overlooked: Bencio Del Toro (Sicario)

Best Supporting Actress

  • Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
  • Rooney Mara – Carol
  • Rachel McAdams – Spotlight
  • Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
  • Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs

My Prediction: Alicia Vikander
My Vote: Jennifer Jason Leigh
Overlooked: Elizabeth Banks (Love & Mercy)

Both of these categories offer an element of surprise but going off of recent momentum, Stallone and Vikander seem to be the smartest selections. While I didn’t see The Danish Girl, Stallone does add a good bit of heart as his seventh portrayal of the Rocky character in Creed. My personal picks would go to Tom Hardy, who gave some solid dimension to his sneering villain character in The Revenant, and to Jennifer Jason Leigh, who had to actively suppress abject horror while watching her co-star obliterate a priceless antique guitar in The Hateful Eight.

Best Original Screenplay

  • Bridge of Spies – Matt Charman, Ethan Coen, and Joel Coen
  • Ex Machina – Alex Garland
  • Inside Out – Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley, and Ronnie del Carmen
  • Spotlight – Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer
  • Straight Outta Compton – Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, S. Leigh Savidge, and Alan Wenkus

My Prediction: Spotlight
My Vote: Inside Out
Overlooked: While We’re Young – Noah Baumbach

Best Adapted Screenplay

  • The Big Short – Adam McKay and Charles Randolph from The Big Short by Michael Lewis
  • Brooklyn – Nick Hornby from Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
  • Carol – Phyllis Nagy from The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
  • The Martian – Drew Goddard from The Martian by Andy Weir
  • Room – Emma Donoghue from Room by Emma Donoghue

My Prediction: The Big Short
My Vote: Room
Overlooked: Anomalisa – Charlie Kaufman

The screenplay categories have long been a personal favorite of mine and while the nominees are strong overall, it seems that the Academy will settle on two less-than-deserving scripts this year. Spotlight is a responsible and competent piece of screenwriting that nonetheless offers little surprise and The Big Short comes up woefully short in the way of laughs or insight in regard to its subject material. Much of what made my two favorite films of last year (Inside Out and Room) great comes down to their writing and I know that I’ll still be crossing my fingers for them tonight when the envelopes are being opened.

Best Animated Feature Film

  • Anomalisa
  • Boy & the World
  • Inside Out
  • Shaun the Sheep Movie
  • When Marnie Was There

My Prediction: Inside Out
My Vote: Inside Out
Overlooked: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

Best Foreign Language Film

  • Embrace of the Serpent
  • Mustang
  • Son of Saul
  • Theeb
  • A War

My Prediction: Son of Saul
My Vote: –
Overlooked: Goodnight Mommy

Best Documentary – Feature

  • Amy
  • Cartel Land
  • The Look of Silence
  • What Happened, Miss Simone?
  • Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom

My Prediction: Amy
My Vote: The Look of Silence
Overlooked: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

Best Documentary – Short Subject

  • Body Team 12
  • Chau, Beyond the Lines
  • Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
  • A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
  • Last Day of Freedom

My Prediction: Body Team 12
My Vote: –
Overlooked: –

Best Live Action Short Film

  • Ave Maria
  • Day One
  • Everything Will Be Okay
  • Shok
  • Stutterer

My Prediction: Ave Maria
My Vote: Shok
Overlooked: –

Best Animated Short Film

  • Bear Story
  • Prologue
  • Sanjay’s Super Team
  • We Can’t Live Without Cosmos
  • World of Tomorrow

My Prediction: Sanjay’s Super Team
My Vote: World of Tomorrow
Overlooked: –

Best Original Score

  • Bridge of Spies – Thomas Newman
  • Carol – Carter Burwell
  • The Hateful Eight – Ennio Morricone
  • Sicario – Jóhann Jóhannsson
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens – John Williams

My Prediction: The Hateful Eight
My Vote: Carol
Overlooked: It Follows – Richard Vreeland

Best Original Song

  • “Earned It” from Fifty Shades of Grey
  • “Manta Ray” from Racing Extinction
  • “Simple Song #3” from Youth
  • “Til It Happens to You” from The Hunting Ground
  • “Writing’s on the Wall” from Spectre

My Prediction: “Til It Happens to You” from The Hunting Ground
My Vote: “Til It Happens to You” from The Hunting Ground
Overlooked: “See You Again” from Furious 7

Best Sound Editing

  • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • The Martian
  • The Revenant
  • Sicario
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens

My Prediction: Mad Max: Fury Road
My Vote: Mad Max: Fury Road
Overlooked: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

Best Sound Mixing

  • Bridge of Spies
  • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • The Martian
  • The Revenant
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens

My Prediction: Mad Max: Fury Road
My Vote: Mad Max: Fury Road
Overlooked: Love & Mercy

Best Production Design

  • Bridge of Spies
  • The Danish Girl
  • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • The Martian
  • The Revenant

My Prediction: Mad Max: Fury Road
My Vote: Mad Max: Fury Road
Overlooked: Crimson Peak

Best Cinematography

  • Carol – Ed Lachman
  • The Hateful Eight – Robert Richardson
  • Mad Max: Fury Road – John Seale
  • The Revenant – Emmanuel Lubezki
  • Sicario – Roger Deakins

My Prediction: The Revenant
My Vote: The Revenant
Overlooked: Victoria – Sturla Brandth Grøvlen

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

  • The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
  • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • The Revenant

My Prediction: Mad Max: Fury Road
My Vote: Mad Max: Fury Road
Overlooked: The Hateful Eight

Best Costume Design

  • Carol
  • Cinderella
  • The Danish Girl
  • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • The Revenant

My Prediction: Mad Max: Fury Road
My Vote: Mad Max: Fury Road
Overlooked: Brooklyn

Best Film Editing

  • The Big Short – Hank Corwin
  • Mad Max: Fury Road – Margaret Sixel
  • The Revenant – Stephen Mirrione
  • Spotlight – Tom McArdle
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey

My Prediction: Mad Max: Fury Road
My Vote: Mad Max: Fury Road
Overlooked: While We’re Young

Best Visual Effects

  • Ex Machina
  • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • The Martian
  • The Revenant
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens

My Prediction: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
My Vote: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Overlooked: The Walk

Enjoy the show!