It's that time of year again! Awards season culminates this weekend with the Academy Awards, Hollywood's night of nights.
Spotlight, The Revenant and The Big Short are considered the current front-runners, but let's be honest - it's been a pretty topsy-turvy year and the field is spread pretty thin. Room, Mad Max: Fury Road, Creed and The Danish Girl are all tipped to come away with something to show for their efforts too.
In keeping with what is now an annual tradition, I'm going to stab wildly in the dark and hopefully predict some winners correctly. Seriously, I do this every year and I never seem to get anything right.
Highlighted in orange is my prediction for who will win a particular category; those highlighted in purple are who I'd personally like to see win in an ideal world (if applicable). I've also put some comments on who and why below some of the categories. I haven't covered every category because I'm not expert on everything and, let's be honest, who gives a crap about something like Best Makeup and Hairstyling?!
Anyway, without further ado, let's roll up our sleeves and dive right in...
Best Picture
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| Could The Revenant snatch Best Picture from under the nose of The Big Short and Spotlight? |
Bridge of Spies (my review)
Brooklyn (my review)
Mad Max: Fury Road (my review)
The Martian (my review)
The Revenant (my review)
Room (my review)
Spotlight (my review)
This one could go three ways - Spotlight, which won Best Ensemble at the SAG Awards; The Big Short, which took home top honours at the PGA's; and The Revenant, the big winner from the DGA's.
To be quite honest, I have absolutely no clue who will win in this category, which is a pretty refreshing situation to be in. It's kind of exciting, right? I'm going to roll the dice and give The Revenant the nod, but if I had my way I'd give the Oscar to Spotlight; it's a far superior film than either of the other two front-runners.
Best Director
Adam McKay (The Big Short)
George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)
Alejandro G. Inarritu (The Revenant)
Lenny Abrahamson (Room)
Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)
Best Actor
Bryan Cranston (Trumbo)
Matt Damon (The Martian)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)
Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)
Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl)
DiCaprio appears to have this one in the bag. Fassbender also gave a worthy performance, but the world has collectively decided that this is Leo's year. Fair enough, he's owed one for all the other times he's missed out.
Best Actress
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| Brie Larson's empathic performance in Room will, most likely, earn her an Oscar |
Brie Larson (Room)
Jennifer Lawrence (Joy)
Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)
Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)
Blanchett and Ronan are fighting an uphill battle against Brie Larson in this category. Winner at almost every major and regional awards show, Larson has one hand already on the statuette - and with good reason.
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale (The Big Short)
Tom Hardy (The Revenant)
Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight)
Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)
Sylvester Stallone (Creed)
Sylvester Stallone is an odd front-runner in this category as his performance isn't inherently 'Oscary'. His win at the Golden Globes gives him the edge in a very talented and competitive category, one that I would hand to Ruffalo if given the choice.
Best Supporting Actress
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| The Girl from S.W.E.D.E.N: Alicia Vikander is set to win her first Academy Award |
Rooney Mara (Carol)
Rachael McAdams (Spotlight)
Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)
Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)
Every performance in this category deserves a mention, but Vikander has emerged as the front-runner. Her delicate performance in The Danish Girl was miles better than Redmanye. McAdams and Mara were also both excellent, but I don't think anyone is going to steal this award away from Vikander.
Original Score
Thomas Newman (Bridge of Spies)
Carter Burwell (Carol)
Ennio Morricone (The Hateful Eight)
Johan Johannsson (Sicario)
John Williams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
I have a soft spot for John Williams' score on The Force Awakens, but it seems likely that Ennio Morricone will scoop this award.
Original Screenplay
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| Drew Goddard captured the spirit of Andy Weir's novel perfectly |
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton
Spotlight seems like the clear winner here, but I'd love to see Ex Machina bag an award; Garland's screenplay was sublime.
Adapted Screenplay
The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room
Drew Goddard did an amazing job of adapting Andy Weir's novel so it'd be great if he won this category. It'll probably go to The Big Short though.
Animated Feature
Anomalisa
Boy and The World
Inside Out
Shaun the Sheep
When Marnie Was There
Inside Out would be a popular winner here and it's probably not a good idea to bet against it.
Production Design
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| Mad Max will probably sweep the technical awards |
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Mad Max deserves more than just the technical categories.
Visual Effects
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
A strong category this one, but Mad Max looks like the likely winner. I'd love to see some thrown the way of Star Wars though; both films had impeccable visual effects.
Film Editing
The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Another solid technical win for Mad Max seems likely.
Cinematography
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| Roger Deakins (Sicario) looks set to lose once again to Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant) |
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Sicario
The Revenant is bound to win here, I'm not going to argue with that.
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
Fifty Shades? Spectre? This year must have been really short on original songs. I really couldn't care less about this category.
Documentary Feature
Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom
I've only seen Amy from this bunch, so I'll say that one.
Foreign Language Film
Embrace of the Serpent
A War
Mustang
Son of Saul
Theeb
Again, I've only seen Son of Saul so yeah - that one.
Sound Editing
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Sound Mixing
Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
We've all got money down on our choices, which makes it fun, but then I'm rooting for someone to win who isn't necessarily my favourite. But lots of my faves aren't even nominated, which is annoying.
ReplyDeleteOoh, that does sound that fun. I don't think I'm that confident haha. Yeah, I feel ya - I wish Sicario had gotten more love personally.
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