Thursday, January 21, 2016

Win, Lose or Draw

It's that time folks. And this year, I'm giving you plenty of notice. That is, assuming you want to participate. It is the 5th Annual Academy Award Guessing Game®.

While started by, and pretty much only participated with, Magic Mike XXS, but like always, you're all invited to join in.

The deal is - I'll post again a few days prior to the show with my picks. And you select yours. Just like you're a member of the Academy or something.

I'll be honest, I feel quite cheated this year. Any normal year, I might have seen half the movies. And this year, I've seen twice as many movies as usual and yet still have only seen half the nominated Best Picture selections. It just ain't fair.

On the other hand, Mike has "claimed" not to have seen any. He might be lulling me into a false sense of security. He's a shifty one, that Mike.

I will also be honest that I'm not feeling as cheated as Will Smith's wife thinks he was.

It's time to face facts, honey - you folks are multi-multi-millionaires profiting off Hollywood and the movie-going public while complaining about it out the other side of your ass.

And it's time to face facts honey - Concussion wasn't all that.....and even the press before opening kind of trashed the movie. And when non-Nigerian Africans mock your husband's "Nigerian" accent, well, maybe he didn't do his homework for the role.

Maybe Will didn't see his last 4-5 movies. I mean, why should he - no one else did either.

Sure, Hollywood could do more to promote non-Tyler Perry or Wayans Brother movies with people of colour. But I don't think just because you (well, not so you, Mrs. Smith....because.....well, you know....the Cosby Show spin-off.....and very very very little else) make shitty choices (hey, no one forced your husband to make the Legend of Beggar Vance) or to put on a fake accent and do a movie about sports and tragedy, automatically thinking someone should give you an Oscar nomination. Let's face it - the entire character send-up, and timing of release was nothing but Oscar-bait.

Spike Lee: same thing.....well...except maybe the Cosby Show spin-off part.

I guess the bigger picture is:  was anyone really going to sit at home and think, "Hey! I didn't see Spike Lee or Jada Pinkett Smith at the Oscars!!!"?  No. Not they aren't.

All that said, there are very few surprises with the nominations in the bigger categories - in my "humble" opinion. Though thank g-d that Quentin Tarantino isn't nominated for anything. If anyone was in dire need of a Silkwood shower, it is he.....or anyone he comes within 50 feet of.

I'll reserve my witty thoughts on the below nominees when I make my selections. We all have a good month to mull this over. And if Bruce Villanch can take months to write his shitty, lame-ass jokes, then so can I.

So here folks, are the nominees from which we will be making selections....should you choose to play.

Best Picture

The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
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
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Big Short
Tom Hady – The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo – Spolight
Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone – Creed
Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Best Director
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max Fury Road
Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamsson, Room
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
Best Original Screenplay
Matt Charman, Joel & Ethan Coen, Bridge of Spies
Alex Garland, Ex Machina
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley, Inside Out
Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, Spotlight
Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, Straight Outta Compton
Best Adapted Screenplay
Adam McKay and Charles Randolph, The Big Short
Nick Hornby, Brooklyn
Phyllis Nagy, Carol
Drew Goddard, The Martian
Emma Donoghue, Room
Cinematography
Ed Lachman, Carol
Robert Richardson, The Hateful 8
John Seale, Mad Max Fury Road
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Revenant
Roger Deakins, Sicario
Best Original Score
Thomas Newman, Bridge of Spies
Carter Burwell, Carol
Ennio Morricone, Hateful Eight
Jóhann Jóhannsson, Sicario
John Williams, Star Wars the Force Awakens
Costume Design
Sandy Powell, Carol
Sandy Powell, Cinderella
Paco Delgado, The Danish Girl
Jenny Beavan, Mad Max Fury Road
Jacqueline West, The Revenant
Best Foreign Language Film
Embrace of the Serpent
Mustang
Son of Saul
Theeb
A War
Best Makeup
Mad Max Fury Road
The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
The Revenant
Film Editing
The Big Short
Mad Max
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars The Force Awakens
Original Song
Earned It from Fifty Shades of Grey (The Weeknd)
Simple Song #3 from Youth (David Lang)
Writing On The Wall from Spectre (Sam Smith)
Til It Happens To You from The Hunting Ground (Diane Warren and Lady Gaga) Manta Ray from Racing Extinction
Animated Feature Film
Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out
Shaun the Sheep
When Marnie Was There
Animated Short Film
Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team
We Can’t Live without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow
Live Action Short Film
Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Ok
Shock
Stutter
Documentary
Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened Miss Simone?
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom
Best Documentary Short
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond The Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres Of The Shoah
Last Day Of Freedom
Visual Effects
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars the Force Awakens
Production Design
Bridge of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sound Editing
Mad Max Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars The Force Awakens
Sound Mixing
Bridge of Spies
Mad Max Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars The Force Awakens



Song by: the Allman Brothers

3 comments:

Erik Rubright said...

I have only seen one of anything listed. Apparently I need to get out more. Or at least quit waiting until they hit Netflix.

Raybeard said...

Without doing an actual count, I must have seen 70% (at least) of all the films mentioned above - including six of the 'Best Film' category, with the remaining four all in my diary for the next fortnight. Not only male and Caucasian, I'm also 6 years older than the average Oscar voter - and, what's more, I actually PAY to see them, unlike many (most?) of those who, even given the opportunity, apparently do not bother to watch the films before casting their votes.

Btw: There are some limits, though, to what I will watch. e.g. 'Creed' - a boxing film AND with Stallone? No thanks!!

Fearsome Beard said...

Of all of the top nominees including best picture, actor/actress, director and supporting categories I have seen.....0. Oops I don't get out much. I have to go all the way down to Star Wars to say I've seen an actual nominated film. Of those top ones I'll probably see Carol and Brooklyn after they come out on iTunes. I love that you do this, otherwise I wouldn't know any of the nominees.