2016 ACADEMY AWARDS OSCAR POOL

[Strider]

I have to be honest...with the seeming inevitability of "The Revenant" and Leo DiCaprio winning big, I am not too enthusiastic about this year's Academy Awards. Kind of like the years when I cringed as "The English Patient" and "Crash" won Best Picture. 

 

Just because you suffered making a movie doesn't mean you deserve an Oscar. Otherwise, everyone working on a Michael Bay movie would get one.

 

But the Oscar Pool is a yearly tradition among my circle of friends so I can't flake out now...and someone requested I start an Oscar thread. The first pick I give will be my "head" pick...who I think will win. The second pick will be the one from my "heart"...who I want to win.

 

Good luck with your picks...

 

BEST PICTURE

Head: The Revenant

Heart: Spotlight or The Big Short or The Martian...or Brooklyn...or ANYTHING but The Revenant, haha.

 

BEST ACTRESS

Head: Brie Larson "Room"

Heart: Charlotte Rampling "45 Years"

 

BEST ACTOR

Head: Leo DiCaprio "The Revenant"

Heart: Matt Damon "The Martian"

 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Head: Alicia Vikander "The Danish Girl" (shame she was nominated for the wrong movie..."Ex Machina" was the better film and performance, in my opinion)

Heart: Jennifer Jason Leigh "The Hateful Eight"...but I would be happy with any of the others winning, it's a strong field.

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Head: Sylvester Stallone "Creed"

Heart: Mark Rylance "Bridge of Spies"

 

DIRECTOR

Head: Alejandro G. Iñárritu "The Revenant"...maybe George Miller for "Mad Max" if the Academy is in share the wealth mode.

Heart: Adam McKay "The Big Short" or Tom McCarthy "Spotlight"

 

ANIMATED FILM

Head: Inside Out

Heart: Inside Out

 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Head: Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy "Spotlight"

Heart: Spotlight

 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY (a real strong category this year...all are great and no Aaron Sorkin)

Head: Emma Donoghue "Room"

Heart: Charles Randolph & Adam McCay "The Big Short"

 

FOREIGN FILM

Head: Son of Saul ( it's a Holocaust movie...they always win)

Heart: Mustang

 

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Head: Sanjay's Super Team

Heart: Prologue

 

LIVE ACTION SHORT

Head: Ave Maria

Heart: Shok

 

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Head: A Girl in the River - The Price of Forgiveness

Heart: A Girl in the River

 

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Head: Amy

Heart: What Happened, Miss Simone?

 

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Head: Emmanuel Lubezki "The Revenant"

Heart: Robert Richardson "The Hateful Eight

 

VISUAL EFFECTS

Head: "Star Wars"

Heart: "The Martian"

 

MAKEUP & HAIR STYLING

Head: "Mad Max"

Heart: "Mad Max"

 

FILM EDITING

Head: Hank Corwin "The Big Short"

Heart: The Big Short

 

COSTUME DESIGN

Head: Paco Delgado "The Danish Girl"

Heart: The Danish Girl

 

ORIGINAL SCORE

Head: John Williams "Star Wars"

Heart: Ennio Morricone "The Hateful Eight" or Carter Burwell "Carol"

 

ORIGINAL SONG

Head: Lady Gaga & Diane Warren "Til It Happens to You" from "The Hunting Ground"

Heart: Til It Happens to You

 

SOUND EDITING

Head: Star Wars...maybe The Revenant

Heart: The Martian

 

SOUND MIXING

Head: Star Wars

Heart: The Martian

 

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Head: The Danish Girl

Heart: Mad Max

 

 

[Strider]

For those that want to play along, here is a link to the complete 2016 Oscar ballot:

http://ballots.latimes.com/oscars-2016-ballot/

 

[Kiwi_Zep_Fan87]

Welcome back, Strider!  

I saw the trailer for The Revenant! I couldn't believe how awful it was! I was hoping for a nice period drama of some sort but I was sure in, for a let down. Pardon me, if I don't like seeing someone get mauled by a freakin' bear! So gloomy and depressing! It will be a real shame if this film takes home the big prizes during tomorrow's Oscars! 

Anyway, here are my Oscar picks for this year:

BEST PICTURE

The Big Short

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

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

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

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Brie Larson, Room

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

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Christian Bale, The Big Short

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

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

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

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Inside Out

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

CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Revenant

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

COSTUME DESIGN

Cinderella

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

DIRECTING

The Big Short

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

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

Amy

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

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

Last Day of Freedom

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

FILM EDITING

The Big Short

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

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM 

Mustang

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

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

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

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

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

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

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG) 

“Til It Happens To You,” The Hunting Ground

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

PRODUCTION DESIGN

The Danish Girl

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

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

Bear Story

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

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

Stutterer

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

SOUND EDITING

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

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

SOUND MIXING

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

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

VISUAL EFFECTS

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

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

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

The Big Short

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

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

Inside Out

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

[Strider]

Thanks for participating Kiwi!

As for "The Revenant", I knew going in what it was about so the bear attack wasn't a problem for me. It is the story of Hugh Glass who really did survive being mauled by a bear while on a fur-trapping expedition in the North of America and left for dead by his companions in the dead of winter.

My problem with "The Revenant" is that Hugh Glass story was already told in the 1971 Richard Harris movie "Man in the Wilderness"...in half the time and closer to the actual facts and without the bogus Native American spiritual mumbo-jumbo "The Revenant" piles on to try to give the story more profundity. Oh, and "Man in the Wilderness" did it with 100th the budget of "The Revenant".

SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!

Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) did not kill Hugh Glass' son. The son wasn't even on the expedition. And when Hugh Glass makes it back to his expedition, he does not kill Fitzgerald or anyone else. He makes peace and forgives them. That is what makes "Man in the Wilderness" far superior to "The Revenant"...its take on the nature of revenge and how to forgive.

"The Revenant" is just another silly, bloodlust revenge movie with pretty scenery and pretentiousness.

[zepscoda]

Best Picture
"The Big Short"


Best Director
Adam McKay, "The Big Short"
 

Best Actor 

Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant"

 

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, "Carol"

Best Supporting Actor
Sylvester Stallone, "Creed"

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh, "The Hateful Eight"


Best Original Screenplay
"Inside Out"


Best Adapted Screenplay
"The Big Short"

Best Foreign Film
"Embrace of the Serpent"


Best Documentary Feature
"The Look of Silence"

Best Animated Feature
"Inside Out"

Best Film Editing
"The Big Short"


Best Song
"Fifty Shades of Grey"


Best Original Score
"The Hateful Eight"

Best Digital Effects
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Best Cinematography
"The Hateful Eight"

Best Costume Design
"Cinderella"


Best Makeup and Hairstyling
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
 

Best Production Design
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
 

Best Sound Editing
"Mad Max: Fury Road"


Best Sound Mixing
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Best Short Film, Live Action
"Day One"


Best Short Film, Animated
"We Can't Live Without Cosmos"


Best Documentary Short Subject
"Body Team 12"
 

[kingzoso]

All I will say, even though I have not seen the movie, is I hope that Bryan Cranston  wins Best Actor.

[Strider]

Thanks for your picks zepscoda. I would like "The Look of Silence" to win Best Documentary but all I can think is that if Oppenheimer's earlier companion piece "The Act of Killing" didn't win, "The Look of Silence" faces equally tough odds.

[Strider]

Hmmmm...upon further reflection, my heart wants "Manta Ray", the song by Antony Hegarty (Antony & the Johnsons) for the movie "Racing Extinction" to win Best Song.

[redrum]

I can't vote because I haven't seen a single movie listed.

[zepscoda]

Charlize Theron looks stunningly beautiful. 

[ScarletMacaw]

I'm really happy that "Spotlight" won. It took a difficult subject and explored it thoroughly and it was riveting.

Expected favorites won Best Actor, Actress and Director--no surprises there.

I'm so glad that meaning and importance won over sound and fury.

[Reggie29]

Look at what the Oscars have become. Politicised and racialised to the point of being disgraceful, where even humour and Lady Gaga couldn't save them.

How can someone win Best Director and not Best Picture (and vise versa), are they mutually exclusive?

If the whole point of movie (and music) making is to win an award, then artistic merit means nothing anymore. The only worthy winners were technical achievements, documentaries, foreign language and short movies etc.

I turned off halfway through and followed the "winners" announced online, what a borefest.

[kipper]

Gawd was that boring or what?

[redrum]

2 hours ago, ScarletMacaw said:

I'm really happy that "Spotlight" won. It took a difficult subject and explored it thoroughly and it was riveting.

 

In 2001, editor Marty Baron of The Boston Globe assigns a team of journalists to investigate allegations against John Geoghan, an unfrocked priest accused of molesting more than 80 boys. Led by editor Walter "Robby" Robinson (Michael Keaton), reporters Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Matt Carroll and Sacha Pfeiffer interview victims and try to unseal sensitive documents. The reporters make it their mission to provide proof of a cover-up of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.

 

Just an observation......Why doesn't Hollywood treat the Roman Polanski rape case with as much fervor?

[Kiwi_Zep_Fan87]

20 hours ago, Strider said:

Thanks for participating Kiwi!

As for "The Revenant", I knew going in what it was about so the bear attack wasn't a problem for me. It is the story of Hugh Glass who really did survive being mauled by a bear while on a fur-trapping expedition in the North of America and left for dead by his companions in the dead of winter.

My problem with "The Revenant" is that Hugh Glass story was already told in the 1971 Richard Harris movie "Man in the Wilderness"...in half the time and closer to the actual facts and without the bogus Native American spiritual mumbo-jumbo "The Revenant" piles on to try to give the story more profundity. Oh, and "Man in the Wilderness" did it with 100th the budget of "The Revenant".

SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!

Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) did not kill Hugh Glass' son. The son wasn't even on the expedition. And when Hugh Glass makes it back to his expedition, he does not kill Fitzgerald or anyone else. He makes peace and forgives them. That is what makes "Man in the Wilderness" far superior to "The Revenant"...its take on the nature of revenge and how to forgive.

"The Revenant" is just another silly, bloodlust revenge movie with pretty scenery and pretentiousness.

I'm just glad that The Revenant did not take home the Oscar for Best Picture. The bear mauling scene was just the tip of the iceberg for me. Films like Jaws, Alive and Anaconda make me feel incredibly queasy and The Revenant seemed to have that exact same vibe! 

Spotlight is a movie that I am looking forward to watching. Your predictions were pretty spot on, by the way! 

[JTM]

No awards for "Trumbo". Bryan Cranston should have got the Best Actor award for just the Thank You speech towards the end of the film. never mind the rest of it Good to see Mark Rylance get the "Supporting Actor" award.   Bridge of Spies and Trumbo are two of the best films of their genre (Imo) I have seen recently.

[Strider]

Every year you can count on two things: 

1. The Super Bowl and Oscars will draw the largest TV ratings of the year.

2. People will complain about how boring they were.

It's an awards show...people come out and read a bunch of names and announce a winner...not much you can do to spice up the format, save for a song-and-dance routine or two. Curiously, I noticed no big production numbers last night as there usually are at an awards show. I guess Chris Rock did not feel comfortable singing and dancing a la Billy Crystal. For those complaining about the political or racial aspect, wake up...that toothpaste is long out of the tube and it ain't ever going back in. If you keep watching expecting a different result, welllllll...you know what they say.

Personally, and also amongst the company of friends and people I was watching the Academy Awards with, we did not mind the politics or racial jokes that much. I thought Chris Rock's opening monologue was funny and his shutdown of Jada and Will Smith was on-the-money. I also liked Tracey Morgan doing the Danish Girl bit. Sascha Baron Cohen was also funny. The Stacy Dash thing was not funny, however, and just plain weird and awkward. Worst of all was Chris Rock's taped bit at the Compton movie theatre...it reinforced every negative stereotype about black people being ignorant ghetto trash. Especially the women...Chris Rock seemed to go out of his way to find the most blatantly idiotic women.

Although I was not rooting for them to win, I liked Leo's and Alejandro's acceptance speeches and they drew some of the warmest applause of the night from our crowd.

It's funny, with all the chatter about the Oscars lack of diversity, it was amusing to see Alejandro Inarritu win Best Director for the second year in a row. In fact, a Latino has now won Best Director three years running. Number of Best Director Oscars won by Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and Robert Altman? Zero.

Black people make up 10% of this country's population and probably even less percentage of the AMPAS membership, so it's not as if we should expect them to win half the Oscars. Not if Tyler Perry and Kevin Hart keep making the drivel they usually make. It's all part of this "victimhood" culture that has run rampant...every kid needs to get a ribbon or their self-esteem will be destroyed.

The biggest joke of the night was Sam Smith winning the Best Song Oscar for the WORST BOND SONG EVER for his crappy "SPECTRE" song. That, and him saying he was the first "openly gay" Oscar winner. WTF? Hasn't he ever heard of Elton John? I am fairly certain there have been a plethora of other gay Oscar winners. 

Both Lady Gaga's "Til It Happens to You" and Antony Hegarty's "Manta Ray" were far more deserving songs. I don't even understand why the Academy only had three of the five nominated songs performed last night. Why wasn't Antony allowed to sing his song? Maybe the Academy should just abandon the Best Song category...it usually goes to the worst schlock.

I was 16-8 on my ballot at the Oscar party I was at...after a day of reflecting, I filled my Oscar ballot out a little differently than in my original post. Better than last year but still not up to snuff. I consider any time I finish below 18-6 a failure. But there was a beautiful spread of good food and I got drunk on wine and whiskey. So all in all, it was a fun night.

17 hours ago, ScarletMacaw said:

I'm really happy that "Spotlight" won. It took a difficult subject and explored it thoroughly and it was riveting.

Expected favorites won Best Actor, Actress and Director--no surprises there.

I'm so glad that meaning and importance won over sound and fury.

Exactly my sentiments. When Morgan Freeman said "Spotlight" there was a huge gasp of surprise and shock in our crowd. With Leo and Alejandro winning their categories earlier, all signs pointed to "Revenant" winning Best Picture. After we regrouped and realize what had just happened, a rousing cheer went up for the "Spotlight" people as they made their way to the podium. A nice win for the Boston Globe, too! 25 years from now "Spotlight" will still be remembered and recognized as a classic in the "All the President's Men" vein, while people will wonder what all the fuss was about with "The Revenant". Kind of like how today's audiences view "Cimarron".

14 hours ago, redrum said:

In 2001, editor Marty Baron of The Boston Globe assigns a team of journalists to investigate allegations against John Geoghan, an unfrocked priest accused of molesting more than 80 boys. Led by editor Walter "Robby" Robinson (Michael Keaton), reporters Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Matt Carroll and Sacha Pfeiffer interview victims and try to unseal sensitive documents. The reporters make it their mission to provide proof of a cover-up of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.

 

Just an observation......Why doesn't Hollywood treat the Roman Polanski rape case with as much fervor?

Seriously? You are equating what one guy did to the systematic abuse of thousands of kids? For one thing, there have been several investigations and books already on the Polanski case. By this point, the victim herself is tired of talking about it and would probably would not cooperate with any movie or investigative report.

 

[Metta]

whatcha do is have Rick pick

then go the exact opposite

works every time

[kingzoso]

18 hours ago, JTM said:

No awards for "Trumbo". Bryan Cranston should have got the Best Actor award for just the Thank You speech towards the end of the film. never mind the rest of it Good to see Mark Rylance get the "Supporting Actor" award.   Bridge of Spies and Trumbo are two of the best films of their genre (Imo) I have seen recently.

I have not seen either movie but I know for a fact that Bryan Cranston is a far better actor then Leonardo.  I like Leo but he does seem to be somewhat of a crybaby and a pussy in the past when he lost out to whoever won in the past Best Actor category.  I think and will always say that  Walter White is a far greater actor and person then a "whiny" little bitch that Leonardo became before he won the coveted award the other day.  It is in my opinion that Leo should just be "honored" to be in the same room as Bryan Cranston. 

Oh well, Leonardo won, and probably drank a lot of beers and hard liquor and did a lot of Cocaine as befit an Academy Award winner.  I know I would but, I also know that I would personally congratulate a fellow nominee that really should have won. 

[Walter]

6 hours ago, Metta said:

whatcha do is have Rick pick

then go the exact opposite

works every time

It does when it comes to your Pats, that's for sure!

[ScarletMacaw]

I thought Revenant was a grade B Western with better cinematography and acting.

I agree with Strider (!) about the Rock interviews in Compton. I would have asked "do you ever leave this neighborhood"?  What was the point--I doubt he was actually trying to make black people look stupid--was he saying these movies aren't relevant to black America? If so that is a stupid point. The Big Short is extremely relevant to black America.

Did anyone else catch the subtle dig from the Fury Road people about how their production took place in Namibia and included workers from Namibia and numerous other countries making it an example of diversity? Only in Hollywood is it considered relevant the race of the "best actor" "best actress." There are many people working in film who we never see.  It seems to me there have been plenty of black actors (fewer actresses) who have won Oscars e.g. Denzel, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Louis Gossett Jr. and many others nominated including the guy from Somalia no one had ever heard of. A bigger problem is that so many of the roles for black actors are stereotypical. I see that as a much bigger issue. Minority sidekicks, black female maids, black men as thugs and gangsters etc. Who cares about awards. Certainly not the public.

[redrum]

On 2/29/2016 at 3:04 PM, Strider said:

 

Seriously? You are equating what one guy did to the systematic abuse of thousands of kids? For one thing, there have been several investigations and books already on the Polanski case. By this point, the victim herself is tired of talking about it and would probably would not cooperate with any movie or investigative report.

 

Hollywood takes care of its own.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/12/14/the-celebrity-defense

[zepscoda]

As a lover of the Sci Fi genre, it's nice to see Mad Max take home so many awards. Now when the day comes that the Horror film genre gets the credit it deserves, I will be content. 

[Strider]

On 3/2/2016 at 7:02 AM, zepscoda said:

As a lover of the Sci Fi genre, it's nice to see Mad Max take home so many awards. Now when the day comes that the Horror film genre gets the credit it deserves, I will be content. 

There was "Silence of the Lambs"...and that's about it. As a genre, horror gets even less recognition from the Academy than comedy or sci-fi.

The 1933 classic "King Kong" didn't even get a single nomination for the Academy Awards for that year. Best Picture went to the maudlin and near-unwatchable today "Calvacade".

[zepscoda]

1 hour ago, Strider said:

There was "Silence of the Lambs"...and that's about it. As a genre, horror gets even less recognition from the Academy than comedy or sci-fi.

The 1933 classic "King Kong" didn't even get a single nomination for the Academy Awards for that year. Best Picture went to the maudlin and near-unwatchable today "Calvacade".

As good as Anthony Hopkins was in Silence of the Lambs, it pales in comparison to Sid Haig's performance as Captain Spaulding in House of a Thousand Corpses. ... or even Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger.

But Anthony Hopkins is a " serious " actor, in the eyes of the Hollywood elite..... keeps them in their comfort zone.... I always thought Silence of the Lambs was a little too "white clean and neat" for my standards of Horror.