Oscar Predictions

We've had a good run at seeing most of the contenders for best picture but I feel more invested in the live and animated shorts and foreign language categories. Some of this is because I've seen more of the nominees but also because the storytelling is on another level in these categories. Movie making does not seem to improve within the Hollywood system and the diversity in these categories counteracts the #OscarsSoWhite. Here are my picks for the 2016 #WhiteOscars. I'll update this post with the results.

BEST PICTURE

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Brooklyn (haven't seen it)

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant (haven't seen it)

Room -Winner

Spotlight

=============================

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo (haven't seen it)

Matt Damon, The Martian

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant (haven't seen it) - Winner

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs (haven't seen it)

Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

=============================

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Brie Larson, Room - Winner

Jennifer Lawrence, Joy (haven't seen it)

Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years (haven't seen it)

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn (haven't seen it)

=============================

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Christian Bale, The Big Short

Tom Hardy, The Revenant (haven't seen it)

Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight

Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies -Winner

Sylvester Stallone, Creed (haven't seen it)

=============================

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight (haven't seen it)

Rooney Mara, Carol

Rachel McAdams, Spotlight

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl - Winner

Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs (haven't seen it)

=============================

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Anomalisa (haven't seen it)

Boy and the World  (haven't seen it)

Inside Out - Winner

Shaun the Sheep Movie (haven't seen it)

When Marnie Was There (haven't seen it)

=============================

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Carol

The Hateful Eight  (haven't seen it)

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant  (haven't seen it) - Winner

Sicario  (haven't seen it)
=============================

COSTUME DESIGN

Carol

Cinderella  (haven't seen it)

The Danish Girl

Mad Max: Fury Road - Winner

The Revenant (haven't seen it)

=============================

DIRECTING

The Big Short

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant  (haven't seen it)

Room - Winner

Spotlight

=============================

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

Amy - Not the Winner

Cartel Land  (haven't seen it)

The Look of Silence  (haven't seen it)

What Happened, Miss Simone? (haven't seen it)

Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom (haven't seen it) - Winner?

=============================

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

Body Team 12  (haven't seen it)

Chau, beyond the Lines (haven't seen it)

Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah (haven't seen it)

A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (haven't seen it) Winner? 
Last Day of Freedom (haven't seen it)

=============================

FILM EDITING

The Big Short - Winner

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant  (haven't seen it)

Spotlight

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

=============================

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Embrace of the Serpent  (haven't seen it)

Mustang - Winner!

Son of Saul  (haven't seen it)

Theeb

A War (haven't seen it)

=============================

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Mad Max: Fury Road

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared - Winner

The Revenant (haven't seen it)

=============================

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Bridge of Spies  (haven't seen it)

Carol

The Hateful Eight (haven't seen it) Winner

Sicario (haven't seen it)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

=============================

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

“Earned It,” Fifty Shades of Grey

“Manta Ray,” Racing Extinction  (haven't seen it)

“Simple Song #3,” Youth (haven't seen it)

“Til It Happens To You,” The Hunting Ground (haven't seen it) Winner?

“Writing’s On The Wall,” Spectre (haven't seen it)

=============================

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Bridge of Spies 

The Danish Girl - Winner

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant (haven't seen it)

=============================

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

Bear Story

Prologue

Sanjay’s Super Team

We Can’t Live without Cosmos

World of Tomorrow - Winner!!!! I love this movie.

=============================

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

Ave Maria

Day One

Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut) Winner! I think about this movie almost everyday

Shok

Stutterer

=============================

SOUND EDITING

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant (haven't seen it)

Sicario (haven't seen it)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Winner
=============================

SOUND MIXING

Bridge of Spies  (haven't seen it)

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant (haven't seen it)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Winner

=============================

VISUAL EFFECTS

Ex Machina  (haven't seen it)

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant (haven't seen it) Winner

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

=============================

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

The Big Short

Brooklyn  (haven't seen it)

Carol

The Martian

Room - Winner

=============================

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

Bridge of Spies 

Ex Machina (haven't seen it)

Inside Out - Winner, sure why not?

Spotlight

Straight Outta Compton (haven't seen it)

Theeb and The Witness

Movie: Theeb (foreign film Oscar contender out of Jordan) and The Witness at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
When: 5/8:15 P.M. on Saturday, February 20, 2016
Who With: JL for Theeb, then JL, KC, JC, and AC
Movie Count: Theeb gets us to 15, The Witness doesn't count as part of the Roxy membership
Snacks: pizza at the Bridge after the Lady Griz beat the Bobcats in a great back and forth game. Then we got butter chicken poutine and matar paneer at Masala's first late night window!

Reaction: Theeb is the second movie we've seen from the foreign film nominations for the Oscars and, in my mind, doesn't win against Mustang. Son of Saul is coming to the Roxy next weekend and I think we'll get Embrace the Serpent, though I don't see it on the calendar yet.

Theeb is beautiful, fascinating and some parts riveting, other parts sleepy. It is set in 1916 during the Arab Revolt during the Ottoman Empire. An Englishman joins young Theeb's Bedouin tribe and requests their guidance to the Iron Donkey trail, newly constructed train tracks. The journey through the desert is not easy, shots are fired, alliances form and break, and sand and flies abound.

The Witness is a corrective step in the Kitty Genovese story of 38 witnesses to her murder not calling the police and the parable for America's apathy, which may not be so truly apathetic. Kitty's younger brother explores the original reporting and and talks to anyone and everyone he can about what happened that night fifty years ago. It's an interesting story that we were still talking about the next day. In the recent wave of true crime, this film doesn't quite complete the pivot of revelation it sets up. Anyway, the ultimate moral of the Kitty Genovese case is that if you see or hear something, say something. In a non-big brothery way, we're all in the together and we can have an affect on the lives around us.


Recommendation: Let’s Go! | Let both come to you  | Let it pass
Next Up: The Big Short