My Final Predictions for the 2016 Academy Award Winners

THE MAJOR EIGHT

BEST PICTURE: The Revenant
BEST DIRECTOR: Alejandro G. Inarritu (The Revenant)
BEST ACTOR: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)
BEST ACTRESS: Brie Larson (Room)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sylvester Stallone (Creed)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Charles Randolph & Adam McKay (The Big Short)

BEST "OTHER FILM"

BEST ANIMATED PICTURE: Inside Out
BEST DOCUMENTARY: Amy
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Son of Saul

2016 Oscar Preview: Best Picture

THE NOMINEES:

- Bridge of Spies
- Brooklyn
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Room
- Spotlight
- The Big Short
- The Revenant
- The Martian

WHAT SHOULD BE HERE: Creed

Creed is the seventh installment in the Rocky franchise from director Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan- the duo behind the great Indie film Fruitvale Station. The film is basically a re-telling of the original Rocky, yet done through today's modern lens. Michael B. Jordan plays Adonis Johnson, the illegitimate son of the late, great Apollo Creed. Unlike Rocky Balboa, Adonnis comes from great wealth thanks to his father. Yet he still walks around with a chip on his shoulder (again, thanks to his father). He moves to Philadelphia and convinces Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) to train him to become a great fighter and to make his own name.

Creed is electric and it sparkles thanks to Coogler and Jordan. The cinematography is spectacular and the camera moves with grace and beauty. But most importantly, you become invested in Adonnis' journey thanks to Jordan's charisma and Coogler's script based upon Aaron Covington's drafts. It's the time of film that you can't help but fall in love with, and it's a shame that Warner Bros. didn't realize what kind of film they had on their hands until it was too late in the Oscar game. If the studio's believed in Creed like they should have from the get go, then Creed would have a butt load more nominations that it actually received.

QUICK THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS ON THE NOMINATIONS:

2016 Oscar Preview: Best Actor

THE NOMINEES:

- Bryan Cranston (Trumbo)
- Matt Damon (The Martian)
- Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)
- Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)
- Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl)

WHO SHOULD BE HERE: Johnny Depp (Black Mass)

If Creed had campaign properly then Michael B. Jordan would be here as well, but I want to spend this section discussing Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Whitey Bulger in Black Mass. Despite the film being a huge disappointed and a wasted opportunity, Depp does a phenomenal job playing the menace that Whitey Bulger was.  Bulger terrorized Boston, and basically under the FBI’s blessing as well, and Depp just oozed evil. He was able to be charming when he needed to be, but Whitey Bulger ran Boston with an Iron First, and the guy who previously was nominated for an Oscar while dressing up like a flamboyant Keith Richards was able to effective turn around and be the bad guy.

THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS ON THE NOMINATIONS:

2016 Oscar Preview: Best Supporting Actress

THE NOMINEES:

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

WHO SHOULD BE HERE: Daisy Ridley (Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens)

I was not as big on The Force Awakens as the vast majority of the country was since I felt like much of the film was just a rehash of Episode IV. However, the film did have plenty of redeeming qualities, including everything new and original this go around. One of those new and original aspects was Finn and Rey. While they were mainly an amalgam of characters in the original trilogy, they were still their own, unique thing. That in turn made them the best part of Episode VII. Daisy Ridley’s portrayal of Rey was particular exciting as we got to see a female protagonist actually have some agency and be a bad ass. Ridley brought instant likeability to Rey while also convincing you of her journey towards being this new trilogies version of Luke Skywalker.

THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS ON THE NOMINATIONS:

2016 Oscar Preview: Best Supporting Actor

THE NOMINEES:

- Christian Bale (The Big Short)
- Tom Hardy (The Revenant)
- Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight)
- Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)
- Sylvester Stallone (Creed)

WHO SHOULD BE HERE: Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation)

You can maybe make an legitimate argument that the reason for #OscarsSoWhite is because Creed led a horrible Oscar campaign and Straight Outta Compton really wasn’t that good of a movie. However, there is no good excuse for why Idris Elba (or even Jason Mitchell who plays Easy-E in Compton, aren’t here) Obviously Compton ran an Oscar campaign considering the other nods it got, and I find it hard to believe Netflix didn’t run a fierce campaign for Beasts (Netflix even ran the film in traditional theaters just so it was Oscar eligible).

in Beasts of No Nation, Idris Elba plays The Commandant, a warlord in a fictionalized war-town African country that leads a group of very young boys into battles. Elba’s charisma that inspires his “troops” also sucks you into and engages you throughout the entire film. He’s a despicable man and does horrendous things (both to the opposition and to his own soldiers), yet you’re never not entertained. Elba gave one of the best acting performances of the year (even his fellow actors thought so) and it’s a damn shame The Academy didn’t recognize it.

THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS ON THE NOMINATIONS:

2016 Oscar Preview: Best Original Screenplay

THE NOMINEES:

- Bridge of Spies (Matt Chairman & The Coen Brothers)
- Ex Machina (Alex Garland)
- Inside Out (Pete Docter, et. al)
- Spotlight (Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy)
- Straight Outta Compton (Jonathan Herman & Andrea Berloff)

SHOULD BE HERE: Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman)

In an era where Hollywood is making pictures based upon already existing name brands, the contenders that have a legitimate stake at being a snub in this category is deep. People love Mad Max: Fury Road and I would champion for films like The Hateful Eight, Creed, and Dope. However, one of my favorite films of the year is Anomalisa. A lot of the success of the film is through the final direction by Kaufman and the use of only three voices in the film, but even without that, Kaufman wrote a brilliant script about a man struggling to deal with the banalities of life. I think it's an incredible script and has several little nuances to it that I didn't realize until after I started thinking of the film days later.

THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS ON THE NOMINATIONS:

2016 Oscar Preview: Best Actress

THE NOMINEES:

- Cate Blanchett (Carol)
- Brie Larson (Room)
- Jennifer Lawrence (Joy)
- Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)
- Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

WHO SHOULD BE HERE: Queen Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road)

For the first time since I can remember, the female nomination pool is crazy deep and the male nomination pool is pretty shallow. Rooney Mara (Carol) and Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl) had to wade in the Best Supporting Actress pool just to earn a nomination. However, the one person who really got screwed over was Charlize Theron. Despite not having her name in the title, Theron’s Furiosa is the star of the film and almost entirely the reason (outside of George Miller’s incredible vision) the film is as excellent as it is.Theron is great at everything she touches (well, maybe not this Snow White nonsense) and considering how many other nominations Mad Max: Fury Road received, I'm surprised all acting nods got left out in the dust. 

THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS ON THE NOMINEES:

2016 Oscar Preview: Best Director

THE NOMINEES:

- Lenny Abrahamson (Room)
- Alejandro G. Inarritu (The Revenant)
- Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)
- Adam McKay (The Big Short)
- George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

SHOULD BE HERE: Ryan Coogler (Creed)

Ryan Coogler took a franchise that was dead in the water, and turned it into a (semi) fresh story that not only pleased the Rocky faithful, but also casual fans like myself and my wife who have seen one Rocky film between the two of us. It was expertly directed (I mean, that first fight scene alone should have forced Coogler on this list) well-acted, and told a tight and entraining story that pleased all. Ryan Coogler doesn’t deserve an Oscar nomination because he’s black, he deserved a nomination because he directed the hell out of Creed.

THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS ON THE NOMINEES:

2016 Oscar Preview: Best Adapted Screenplay

THE NOMINEES:

- The Big Short (Adam McKay & Charles Randolph)
- Brooklyn (Nick Hornby)
- Carol (Phyllis Nagy)
- The Martian (Drew Goddard)
- Room (Emma Donoghue)

SHOULD BE HERE: Steve Job (Aaron Sorkin)

I completely understand why Steve Jobs received a "meh" response from America. It was the third movie released about Apple's co-founder since 2011 and the overt three-act, playwright, Sorkin-esque style of the film is initially jarring. But I found the style fascinating and bold in all the right ways.

Steve Jobs is a non-traditional biopic that explores Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) relationship with the most important people in his life throughout three separate product launches in his career. Each product launch (Macintosh in 1984, NeXT's "Cube" in 1988, and the iMac in 1998) not only explores Jobs' vision of technology, but the culmination of his life and the people in it. Of course Steve Jobs never had multiple heart-to-heart's and arguments with all of these people at the separate product launches, but it was a clever and interesting device in order to tell the life story of Steve Jobs. Certainly knowing the structure of film going into it helped me like the structure (and the film as a whole) more, but I thought Sorkin (and his dialogue) created an excellent script.

THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS ON THE NOMINATIONS:

2016 Oscar Preview: Best Cinematography

THE NOMINEES:

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

SHOULD BE HERE: Maryse Alberti (Creed)

Former Hitfix.com and current Variety writer Kristopher Tapley creates a list every year of the best shots in film of the year. Wouldn't you know it, Creed ended up at the very top of the list. Almost everyone currently nominated for an Academy Award earned a spot on Mr. Tapley's list, but one of the very best films of the year ended up at #1. I personally would have gone with the oner fight scene in the middle of the film- a piece of technical mastery that instantly rose to the top as one of the best fight scenes in the history of cinema (not a hyperbole)- but that's just me. Alberti's camera work in Creed is just incredible, much like everyone who worked on the film, and her nomination would have not only made the Oscars not so white, but would have been well deserved.

2016 Oscar Preview: Best Soundtrack

Unfortunately, the Best Soundtrack Oscar does not exist. It is a fake category that I first heard about from Alex Pappademas on Grantland, and an idea that I have loved ever since. Mr. Pappademas proposed adding a category to recognize the use of previously already existing songs in film. For the past two years since I have been doing these Oscar Preview posts, I like to throw in a Best Soundtrack post as well. Music and movies have become an indelible part of our culture and the music supervisors that are able to blend the two together deserve to get awards for what they do. I love writing these posts because I am firm believer in the addition of this category. There already is a Best Score category, so why not add one more category to honor those who successfully use original music to score their film?

Click here if you want to read more about why The Academy should add a Best Soundtrack category.

The specific rules for this category have been a bit flimsy over the years. I've "nominated"films that have a great original soundtrack like Frozen and Begin Again; however, I've realized that those nominations go against the spirit of this category. The purpose of the Best Soundtrack category is to nominate films that effectively incorporate already existing songs. Therefore, if your film is full of songs that are eligible for a Best Song Oscar, you're out. I have also decided that music created by the artist that's the source of the film and/or biopic is out. N.W.A. and Kurt Cobain made some incredible music over the course of their careers, but Straight Outta Compton and Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck NEEDS to feature their respective artist's music. While those films of course have incredible soundtracks consisting of already existing music (Montage of Heck especially which features unreleased versions of Cobain's music and different versions of his songs so fucking well) they also violate the spirit of this category.

So with all of that being said, here are my personal nominees for the Best Soundtrack category: