My 2016 Oscar Predictions!

These are my predictions for the 88th Academy Awards, happening later tonight. Be sure to tune in!

Best Picture

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

Best Director

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

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 

Best Animated Feature Film

Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out
Shaun the Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There 

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room 

Best Original Screenplay

Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton 

Best Cinematography

Carol
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Sicario 

Best Costume Design

Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant 

Best Documentary Feature

Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom 

Best Documentary Short Subject

Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond the Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Last Day of Freedom 

Best Foreign Language Film

Embrace Of The Serpent
Mustang
Son of Saul
Theeb
A War 

  

Best Makeup And Hairstyling

Mad Max: Fury Road
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
The Revenant 

Best Original Song

"Earned It," Fifty Shades of Grey
"Manta Ray," Racing Extinction
"Simple Song No. 3," Youth
"'Til It Happens to You," The Haunting Ground
"Writings on the Wall," Spectre 

Best Original Score

Bridge of Spies
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens 

Best Animated Short Film

Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay's Super Team
We Can't Live Without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow 

Best Live Action Short Film

Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
Shok
Stutterer 

Best Editing

The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens 

  

Best Sound Editing

Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens 

Best Sound Mixing

Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens 

Best Production Design

Bridge of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant 

Best Visual Effects

Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens 

Ranking the Best Picture Nominees!

Here is my ranking of the Best Picture nominees ahead of Sunday's Academy Awards. The crop of films was exceptionally good this year! Tune in at 7 EST on ABC to see who wins!

1. Spotlight - A+

2. The Big Short - A

3. Brooklyn - A

4. The Revenant - A-

5. Room - A-

6. The Martian - B+

7. Mad Max: Fury Road - B+

8. Bridge of Spies - B+

Film Review -- Mad Max: Fury Road

Directed and co-written by George Miller, the film stars Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, and Nicholas Hoult. In a post-apocalyptic Australian outback, a tyrannical ruler named Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) rules over his citizens at his Citadel with the help of his lieutenants, including Imperator Furiosa (Theron). One day, Furiosa betrays Joe by stealing his Five Wives - sex slave breeders - and drives off-route in her war rig when sent to buy gasoline in a nearby city. When Immortan Joe's forces engage in her pursuit, she is helped by Max Rockatansky (Hardy), a prisoner of war, and Nux (Hoult) one of Joe's War Boys, who both manage to escape from Joe's grips. Together, they set off in search for Furiosa's utopic homeland, with Joe's forces never far behind. I honestly didn't expect to be impressed with this film, and was skeptical about all of the Oscar love it received. But I must say that I was very pleasantly surprised. The film succeeds on many levels, starting with the stunning cinematography. The Australian orange hues were absolutely mesmerizing. The story was one of the most intelligent I've seen for a sci-fi/action film, and the acting was superb, especially Theron. But George Miller's direction is perhaps the best thing about the film. He brilliantly ties together all the film's parts to create an intense, immensely satisfying viewing experience. I don't think Mad Max rises to the level of some of the other Best Picture nominees, but it is still very worthy of its nomination, and hopefully it takes home most of the technical awards.

Should you see it: Yes
Grade: B+

Film Review -- Hail, Caesar!

This new comedy from the Coen brothers features an all-star cast including Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Ralph Fiennes, Channing Tatum, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Aiden Ehrenreich, and Jonah Hill. The film follows a day in the life of Eddie Mannix (Brolin), the manager of a major Hollywood studio in the late 1950s. This day is particularly hectic at Capitol Pictures, and some of the many problems that Mannix must "fix" include the abduction of a celebrity actor (Clooney) by a group of blacklisted communist writers; the tension between a director (Fiennes) known for sophisticated period dramas and an inexperienced Western movie actor (Ehnrenreich) contracted to star in his latest film; and the constant badgering of twin gossip columnists (Swinton, playing both roles) for insider scoop. I really enjoyed that the film takes place over the course of one day, making it fast-paced and high-energy. However, I thought that there were too many different mini-story lines - some of them seemed wholly unnecessary and didn't actually add anything to the overarching plot - which took screen time away from the more important ones, which is a shame. There are many moments of laugh-out-loud humour, and the fancy director-amateur cowboy arc was particularly great. As a whole, though, the film wasn't very consistent at bringing the laughs (on account of those aforementioned unnecessary bits). This film really had the potential to be extraordinary, perhaps one of the best films about Old Hollywood of recent times, but the finished product just didn't completely "click". Nonetheless, it was still pretty entertaining and worth a watch. 

Should you see it: Yes
Grade: B+