Awards Season 2016: The 88th Annual Academy Awards

The 88th Annual Academy Awards were held last night at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Like last year, it came up with one or two surprises and more than a few talking points.

You'd kind of have to have been living under a stone to have missed the #OscarsSoWhite controversy which engulfed social media in January when, for the second year in a row, all 20 Oscar acting nominees were white (which, given the brilliant performances by Michael B. Jordan in Creed and Idris Elba in Beasts Of No Nation seems like a bit of an oversight). Many column inches were written and several high-profile names- Spike Lee, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith- boycotted the event. Given this powderkeg background, there was bound to be some nervousness over how host Chris Rock would address it. 

He did it as only he could; head on and unapologetic. His opening monologue was funny but sharp, calling Hollywood out on its 'sorority racism'. Generally speaking, Rock was more comfortable as host than he was in 2005 and handled what could have been a massively awkward situation extremely well. Not every joke found its mark, not every joke can, but he did well. Trying to raise money for his daughters' Girl Scout pack by selling cookies to the audience is a bit random, but this is the ceremony that gave us a social-media-crashing selfie and Neil Patrick Harris in his underwear, so I guess it's all relative.

The evening followed the life of a film, from genesis to execution, so the first awards of the evening were for the screenplays (something I appreciated). With wins for Spotlight and The Big Short- two films with strong social messages- the political aspects of the acceptance speeches started early with an astonishingly blunt message from Adam McKay about not voting for presidential candidates who are in the pockets of big business or banks. 

The political speeches continued with Jenny Beavan speaking about the reality that the dystopic future Mad Max: Fury Road presents being scarily close, to Leonardo DiCaprio's plea for something to be done about climate change, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's call to eliminate prejudice and the powerful message given by Vice President Joe Biden about sexual abuse on campuses before introducing Lady Gaga to sing 'Til It Happens To You' from The Hunting Ground (a sobering documentary about the epidemic of campus abuse). I thought Sam Smith's acceptance speech- dedicating his award to the LGBT community- was sweet in intention but could have done with some fact-checking (no openly gay actor has won the Best Actor Oscar, but openly gay men and women have won Oscars in the past). 

On to the awards themselves:

Not a clean sweep for me this year but I'm incredibly happy with 5 out of 6 (especially given certain uncertainties, if that makes sense)

There were a couple of surprises- mostly, Mark Rylance winning Best Supporting Actor and Alicia Vikander winning Best Supporting Actress- but generally the awards fell where expected. I was gobsmacked yet overjoyed that Spotlight picked up Best Picture- it was the right decision. I was also pleased by the Oscar wins for Amy, the Original Screenplay win for Spotlight, Emmanuel Lubezski's third consecutive Cinematography Oscar (after Gravity and Birdman) and Ennio Morricone for his superb score for The Hateful Eight. I was surprised by 'Writing's On The Wall' winning Best Original Song, but that's down to a matter for personal taste rather than anything else. 

Mad Max: Fury Road was the big winner of the evening, with six Oscars. The Revenant took home three, with Spotlight winning two. Despite multiple nominations, there were no wins for The Martian, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Brooklyn or Carol.


Below is the full list of winners at the 88th Annual Academy Awards:

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Spotlight

Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Best Actress: Brie Larson (Room)

Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance (Bridge Of Spies)

Best Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant)

Best Original Screenplay: Spotlight

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Inside Out

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year: Son Of Saul

Best Cinematography: The Revenant

Best Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Production Design: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Original Score: The Hateful Eight

Best Original Song: 'Writing's On The Wall' (SPECTRE)

Best Sound Mixing: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Visual Effects: Ex Machina

Best Documentary (Feature): Amy

Best Documentary (Short Subject): A Girl In The River: The Price Of Forgiveness

Best Animated Short Film: Bear Story

Best Live Action Short Film: Stutterer


Congratulations to all winners and nominees!

Tez

Awards Season 2016: Tez's Official Oscar Predictions 2016

Tonight, the great and good of Hollywood will convene to celebrate the best of film-making in 2015 at the 88th Annual Academy Awards, which will be hosted for the second time by Chris Rock. It has become a tradition for me to predict the nominations and the winners in the main six categories (the four acting categories, Best Director and Best Picture).  I've done this since 2003 with varying degrees of success. So, without further ado, here are my predictions for who will win.

Best Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

With no disrespect to any of the other nominees, this is a two horse race between Alicia Vikander and Kate Winslet. Both have previous wins behind them (Vikander got the SAG and Critics' Choice; Winslet the BAFTA and the Golden Globe). Both performances are strong, even if I found Winslet's more mannered and more actorly, less naturalistic than Vikander's. There would be a certain amount of pleasure in seeing Winslet win her second Oscar on the same night DiCaprio wins his first. However, because Vikander won the SAG Award- voted on by actors, many of whom make up the Academy voting list- I'm gonna put her ahead. However, I won't be at all surprised if Winslet nabs it. 


Best Supporting Actor: Sylvester Stallone (Creed)

Simply put, I found Stallone's performance in Creed to be exceptional and he actually does act as a supporting character to Donny. He's witty, wise and heartbreaking- he also has a lot of goodwill in Hollywood and a lot of people would love to see him take the main prize tonight (as Critics' Choice and Golden Globe wins have shown). Interestingly, he's won both awards he's been nominated for; I really hope he makes the perfect three tonight.


Best Actress: Brie Larson (Room)

Closest you can get to a cast-iron bet tonight. Larson's moving and emotive performance, having to convey such a difficult situation yet bearing it so bravely, has completely swept the awards season boards- SAG, Golden Globes, BAFTA, Independent Spirits- so any other name tonight would be a huge surprise. And I do mean huge. 


Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

OK. Do I think Leo deserves to win? No, I don't. His performance in The Revenant is perfectly decent but he's done better performances. Do I think he will win? Without a shadow of a doubt. We're in the same situation as Scorsese and The Departed; it almost feels like 'his turn'. Similar to Larson, he's swept the boards where he's been nominated so it's a fairly foregone conclusion.


Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant)

With BAFTA, Golden Globe and DGA wins, it does look like it'll be second time around for Inarritu tonight. Interesting fact: if he does win, Inarritu will be the first director since Joseph L. Mankiewicz to win back-to-back Best Director Oscars and the first in over sixty years.  His direction is solid enough and his partnership with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezski is one of the strongest I've seen. I would be shocked to see another director win tonight.


Best Picture: Spotlight

This might come back to bite me, but I genuinely think Spotlight deserves to win the Best Picture Oscar over The Revenant. Whether it will, I don't know. Spotlight is an absolute masterclass in cinema: its script is superb (and will, with any justice, bag the Best Original Screenplay Oscar), the acting performances throughtout the ensemble are on point, the direction is solid, the themes of the film are topical without being polemical or heavy-handed. Were I a member of the Academy, this is where my vote would be going. However, it does look likely that The Revenant might get it. 


Last year, I got 4 out of 6 (all four acting awards) but fell foul of Inarritu and Birdman. I'm not making the same mistake on Best Director this year. However, I'm not sure on Best Picture or on Best Supporting Actress. I reckon another 4 out of 6. 

There'll be a full blog tomorrow discussing my thoughts on the ceremony and a list of all the winners.

Tez

Awards Season 2016: Academy Award Nominations

As announced earlier today, here is a selection of the nominations for this year's Academy Awards:

BEST PICTURE

The Big Short

Bridge Of Spies

Brooklyn

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Room

Spotlight

BEST DIRECTOR

Lenny Abrahamson (Room)

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant)

Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

Adam McKay (The Big Short)

George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

BEST ACTOR

Bryan Cranston (Trumbo)

Matt Damon (The Martian)

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)

Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl)

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett (Carol)

Brie Larson (Room)

Jennifer Lawrence (Joy)

Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)

Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christian Bale (The Big Short)

Tom Hardy (The Revenant)

Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight)

Mark Rylance (Bridge Of Spies)

Sylvester Stallone (Creed)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight)

Rooney Mara (Carol)

Rachel McAdams (Spotlight)

Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

I work that out as 28 out of 33 (for 85%) which is higher than last year. Really pleased with that.

The Revenant has 12 nominations, with Mad Max: Fury Road on 10. It's a bit of a surprise not to see Carol named in the Best Picture category, but it's been fairly represented elsewhere (in the acting and screenplay categories). Shaun The Sheep Movie and When Marnie Was There from Studio Ghibli are in contention for the Best Animated Feature, but are up against Inside Out (which also got a screenplay nomination). Star Wars: The Force Awakens gets four nominations, all in the technical departments, whilst SPECTRE gets a nod for Best Original Song for 'Writing's On The Wall'. I was overjoyed to see Amy named in the Best Documentary Feature category. 

The 88th Academy Awards will be handed out on Sunday 28th February, in a ceremony hosted by Chris Rock

Massive congratulations to all nominees!

Awards Season 2015: Tez's Official Academy Award Nomination Predictions

Tomorrow, the nominations for the 88th Academy Awards will be announced and, like last year, the nominees for all 24 categories will be announced in the telecast. At 5:30am PST, directors Guillermo del Toro (Crimson Peak, Pan's Labyrinth) and Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Life Of Pi) will announce the nominees for some of the technical categories (including cinematography, make-up and hairstyling, sound editing) as well as Best Original Song and Best Documentary Feature. 

Then at 5:38am PST, Cheryl Boone Isaacs (President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and actor John Krasinski (The Office) will announce the rest of the nominees, including the acting categories, Best Director and Best Picture.

As has been my practice for the last few years, I like to try and predict who will be nominated (this is done for Best Picture, Best Director and the four acting awards). Below is my list of who I think will be named on Thursday.

NB. Just like the last few years, the Academy rules state that there could be anywhere between five and ten Best Picture nominees. I have selected ten films. If the total number of films nominated is less than ten, but one of the movies selected is named in my list of ten, I will count it as a successful prediction.

BEST PICTURE

The Big Short

Bridge Of Spies

Brooklyn

Carol

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Room

Spotlight

Straight Outta Compton

BEST DIRECTOR

Todd Haynes (Carol)

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant)

Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Ridley Scott (The Martian)

BEST ACTOR

Bryan Cranston (Trumbo)

Matt Damon (The Martian)

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)

Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl)

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett (Carol)

Brie Larson (Room)

Jennifer Lawrence (Joy)

Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)

Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christian Bale (The Big Short)

Idris Elba (Beasts Of No Nation)

Mark Rylance (Bridge Of Spies)

Michael Shannon (99 Homes)

Sylvester Stallone (Creed)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight)

Rooney Mara (Carol)

Helen Mirren (Trumbo)

Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)

Usually a score of 15 is adequate, but given the fact that there could be anywhere between 5 and 10 Best Picture awards, I'ill be happy with a prediction of 18 or higher. Last year, I got 27 out of 33. I'm not that confident this year, and I'll tell you for why: there's a big question mark hanging over the lead Actress and Supporting Actress categories as there's a very real possibility that Rooney Mara and/or Alicia Vikander may be nominated as Best Actress for Carol and The Danish Girl, rather than in Supporting Actress. Different bodies have put them in different categories (although Mara has been more frequently placed in Supporting Actress, whilst Vikander has been equally in both). If one or both are bumped up to lead Actress then there are a couple of possibilities of what could happen; it's likely that Rachel McAdams will get a nod for her role in Spotlight or that Vikander herself will get a Supporting Actress nomination for Ex Machina. 

As for Supporting Actor, there's a lot of strong roles that have had previous nominations throughout awards season so it's the most fluid of categories in a way - you could easily see Paul Dano (Love & Mercy) or Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight) included in there, maybe even a nod for nine year old Jacob Tremblay for Room. 

In Lead Actor, I've gone for Matt Damon but wouldn't be too surprised to see Johnny Depp in his place for Black Mass (Depp got the SAG nomination ahead of Damon).

There are always sone surprises - last year, nothing for Laura Dern or Bennett Miller in the run-up and then Oscar nominations for Wild and Foxcatcher.

I'll post the nominees on Thursday afternoon so everyone can point and laugh and see how wrong I got it. Possibly.

Tez