So, the Oscar winners are about to be named, with a Best Picture win for Star Wars nowhere in sight. Still, it’s a great, great year for movies – a year where even a returning franchise did well enough to be nominated as Best Picture – but in the end, there has to be winners, losers, and those that should have won.
These are my picks for some key categories. And don’t forget to see if my magic 8 ball is broken – The Oscars air live on HBO, 8am, Feb 29!
Best Picture:
| Spotlight | The Big Short | Bridge of Spies | Brooklyn | Mad Max: Fury Road | The Martian | The Revenant | Room |
Will win: Revenant. If movies are ever made to be Oscar bait, this is it – from its inception all we’ve been hearing about is how tough the filming was. It also stars Leonardo “desperate for an Oscar” DiCaprio, and is directed by Oscar darling Alejandro Iñárritu. And let’s not forget, it even walked away with the Golden Globe. There’s a lot of quality up there (Creed and The Hateful Eight not good enough?!) but I think Revenant is going to be the one to beat. Sorry The Martian, this isn’t only about Musicals anymore. But you know, if they gave out Oscars for suffering, where’s mine for watching Michael Bay movies?
Should win: Mad Max: Fury Road. George Miller’s return to the Mad Max universe isn’t our best movie for the year for no reason – its unrelenting vision is pure moviemaking, and shows that you don’t have to keep talking about how your stars suffered with sand, sand everywhere (“I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere”) just to let people know how good your movie is.
Best Actress:
| Cate Blanchett, “Carol” | Brie Larson, “Room” | Jennifer Lawrence, “Joy” | Charlotte Rampling, “45 Years” | Saoirse Ronan, “Brooklyn” |
Will win: Jennifer Lawrence. She took home the Golden Globe, and unless people remember how mean she was to that reporter – she’s going to win again. Next year, she’ll act in a David O Russell movie again and get nominated again and probably for doing what she’s good at – being just that amount of loopy without going, well, the whole hog. And adoring fans will continue to chant “Jlaw, Jlaw, Jlaw …”
Should win: Brie Larson. A phenomenal actress (remember her in Community and Scott Pilgrim?) – this isn’t just about being satisfied with a nomination.
Best Actor:
| Bryan Cranston, “Trumbo” | Matt Damon, “The Martian” | Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Revenant” | Michael Fassbender, “Steve Jobs” | Eddie Redmayne, “The Danish Girl” |
Will win: While it’s easy to just believe that it’s finally DiCaprio’s year – let’s not forget for the years he won Golden Globes for Best Actor, he still went home without the chrome dome of Mr Oscar. Also, he was kinda creepy towards Lady Gaga. But even with all this, it’s hard to imagine that he won’t finally get to bring this home, and possibly even retire.
Should win: I’ll admit it. I really, really like Matt Damon. He needs more Oscars at home. Shoutout here for the un-nominated Michael B Jordan from Creed – showing that he’s good enough to make people forget Fantastic Four for a moment, unless you’re a member of the Academy.
Best Director
| Lenny Abrahamson, “Room” | Alejandro Iñárritu, “The Revenant” | George Miller, “Mad Max: Fury Road” | Tom McCarthy, “Spotlight” | Adam McKay, “The Big Short” |
Will win: Alejandro Iñárritu. No way he’s not going to win, from the looks of it. This, of course, despite torturing us with constant tales of how filming The Revenant was extremely harsh etc.
Should win: George Miller. Mad Max is a pure directing masterclass, and if Happy Feet was good enough to give him his first Oscar, Mad Max is much, much better. (Yes, I know the kids loved Happy Feet. But seriously?!)
Best Supporting Actor
| Christian Bale, “The Big Short” | Tom Hardy, “The Revenant” | Mark Ruffalo, “Spotlight” | Mark Rylance, “Bridge of Spies” | Sylvester Stallone, “Creed” |
Will win: You know what I hope? The Revenant will win EVERYTHING except Best Actor. And we’ll all have a good laugh and share gifs of DiCaprio trying to hold back tears – then he can get best actor for that. But who am I kidding? Sorry Tom Hardy, it’s going to be Sylvester Stallone.
Should win: Sylvester Stallone. Forty years after being nominated for Best Actor, it’s time for Rocky to claim Best Supporting. If only Idris Elba of Beasts Of No Nominations got nationed.
Best Supporting Actress
| Rooney Mara, “Carol” | Jennifer Jason Leigh, “The Hateful Eight” | Alicia Vikander, “The Danish Girl” | Kate Winslet, “Steve Jobs” | Rachel McAdams, “Spotlight” |
Will win: Kate Winslet. Hot off a Golden Globe win, it’ll be hilarious if she wins this, while her Titanic co-star goes home empty-handed. “Paint me like one of your Oscars,” she’ll say, while holding two Oscars and staring at his empty canvas.
Should win: Rachel McAdams, for reminding the world how amazing journalism can be.
Best Animated Feature Film:
| Anomalisa | Boy and the World | Inside Out | Shaun the Sheep Movie | When Marnie Was There |
Should win: Anomalisa. Charlie Kaufman’s stop-motion masterpiece isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but I would like to say that I Kickstarted an Oscar-winner. Even then, it’s a little gem that really deserves to be seen by more people – too bad it only just opened in Singapore this year.
The Oscars air live on HBO, 8am, Feb 29.
