I know some folks are boycotting The 88th Academy Awards Ceremony, which is broadcasting this Sunday, February 28th, because of the #oscarsowhite thing, but I bet most of those people will still watch Chris Rock’s opening monologue (at least a clip of it the next day). I’m anxious myself to see what the guy has to say about the lack of diversity controversy, as you just know he’s going to kill on the subject.
As for the rest, this year's Oscars appears to be harder to predict than most years as THE REVENANT and SPOTLIGHT seem to be head to head, with THE BIG SHORT being a possible upset. I’ve even seen some folks predicting ROOM but that’s even a wilder card. It so seems to be Leonardo DiCaprio's (and his film's) year and I'm cool with that, and MAD MAX: FURY ROAD looks to sweep the technical awards, but, as always, here's hoping for some surprises.
My predictions:
1. BEST PICTURE: THE REVENANT
2. BEST DIRECTOR: Alejandro G. Iñárritu for THE REVENANT
3. BEST ACTOR: Leonardo DiCaprio. It will truly be a shocker if he doesn't get the gold this year.
4. BEST ACTRESS: Brie Larson for ROOM.
5. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sylvester Stallone for CREED
6. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Alicia Vikander for THE DANISH GIRL
And the rest:
7. PRODUCTION DESIGN: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
8. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Emmanuel Lubezki for THE REVENANT
9. COSTUME DESIGN: Sandy Powell for CINDERELLA. Powell is also up for CAROL, which may have the edge.
10. DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: AMY
11. DOCUMENTARY SHORT: BODY TEAM 12
12. FILM EDITING: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
13. MAKEUP: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
14. VISUAL EFFECTS: STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
15. ORIGINAL SCORE: Ennio Morricone, THE HATEFUL EIGHT
16. ORIGINAL SONG: “Til It Happens to You” from THE HUNTING GROUND
17. ANIMATED SHORT: Most critics are predicting Pixar's SANJAY'S SUPER TEAM, and I won't be surprised if that wins, but I'm gonna go with THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, which has a lot more food for the thought than all of the other shorts.
18. LIVE ACTION SHORT: SHOK
19. SOUND EDITING: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
20. SOUND MIXING: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
21. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy, SPOTLIGHT
22. ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, THE BIG SHORT
23. ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: INSIDE OUT
24. BEST FOREIGN FILM: SON OF SAUL
As I always say, tune in Monday to see how many I got wrong.
More later...
