88th Oscar Results

So watched the Oscars last night even though it was politically charged.  Have to admit Chris Rock did a good job at jabbing everyone.  And the Black History Minute honoring Jack Black was hysterical.

Visual Effects
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road
Winner - Ex Machina
Chris - 0
Adam - 0

So I guess that theory about Mad Max getting the technical awards might be a bit off.  To be honest when they were announcing I have to admit Ex Machina did look amazing.

Sound Mixing
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road
Winner - Mad Max: Fury Road
Chris - 1
Adam - 1

Never mind what I just said, Mad Max for the technical awards.

Sound Editing
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road
Winner - Mad Max: Fury Road
Chris - 2
Adam - 2

Riding that train of technical awards.

Cinematography
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - The Revenant
Winner - The Revenant
Chris - 2
Adam - 3

My guess was right, and it was Emmanuel Lubezki's third in a row.  That guy is pretty amazing or has lots of blackmail material.

Makeup & Hairstyling
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road
Winner - Mad Max: Fury Road
Chris - 3
Adam - 4

Another no-brainer.

Costume Design
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road
Winner - Mad Max: Fury Road
Chris - 4
Adam - 5

Mad Max is doing a good job on getting most of the technicals

Production Design
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road
Winner - Mad Max: Fury Road
Chris - 5
Adam - 6

And another.

Film Editing
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - The Revenant
Winner - Mad Max: Fury Road
Chris - 6
Adam - 6

And I got burnt.  Should have stayed the course as the wife did.

Music Original Song
Chris - Simple Song #3
Adam -Til It Happens To You
Winner - Writing's On The Wall
Chris - 6
Adam - 6

Got to hand it to James Bond, those songs usually win.  I do have to admit that I didn't mind not getting this one right.  Our society is in big trouble when the Vice President has to appear on the Oscars to tell people that rape is wrong, this is what your parents and everyone else in your life is supposed to do.

Music Original Score
Chris - Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Adam - The Hateful Eight
Winner - The Hateful Eight
Chris - 6
Adam - 7

I was right about Ennio Morricone who has never won one but got an honorary one years ago.

Writing Adapted Screenplay
Chris - Brooklyn
Adam - The Big Short
Winner - The Big Short
Chris - 6
Adam - 8

I was right about this being a don't go home empty handed award.

Writing Original Screenplay
Chris - Straight Outta Compton
Adam - Spotlight
Winner - Spotlight
Chris - 6
Adam - 9

And called this one right too.

Short Film Animated
Chris - We Can't Live Without Cosmos
Adam - Sanjay's Super Team
Winner - Bear Story
Chris - 6
Adam - 9

No way of knowing, but hey good for you Chile!

Short Film Live Action
Chris - Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
Adam - Ave Maria
Winner - Stutterer
Chris - 6
Adam - 9

Even if you watch the movies nominated, like I have done in the past, the one you think should win never does.

Documentary Short Subject
Chris - Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
Adam - Body Team 12
Winner - The Girl on the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Chris - 6
Adam - 9

Again, no way of knowing but this film has had some impact in Pakistan who might stop honor killings.  But of course it's a cultural thing and we can't judge.

Best Animated
Chris - Shaun the Sheep Movie
Adam - Inside Out
Winner - Inside Out
Chris - 6
Adam - 10

This was one of the biggest animated films last year so it makes sense.

Best Documentary
Chris - Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom
Adam - Amy
Winner - Amy
Chris - 6
Adam - 11

A popular film about Amy Winehouse that won, safe bet I felt.

Best Foreign Language
Chris - Son of Saul
Adam - Son of Saul
Winner - Son of Saul
Chris - 7
Adam - 12

Looks cheerful, but then again what movie from Hungary wouldn't be </sarcasm>

Best Supporting Actress
Chris - Rachel McAdams
Adam - Alicia Vikander
Winner - Alicia Vikander
Chris - 7
Adam - 13

No idea but everyone said she would win.

Best Supporting Actor
Chris - Sylvester Stallone
Adam - Sylvester Stallone
Winner - Mark Ryalance
Chris - 7
Adam - 13

Don't mind getting this one wrong.  The acceptance speech would have made you want to run head first into the television.

Best Actress
Chris - Brie Larson
Adam - Brie Larson
Winner - Brie Larson
Chris - 8
Adam - 14

Must be a great performance.  Don't know much about Room but I've heard it's better not knowing what it is about before seeing it.

Best Actor
Chris - Leonardo DiCaprio
Adam - Leonardo DiCaprio
Winner - Leonardo DiCaprio
Chris - 9
Adam - 15

And he finally won.  No surprise he gave a environmental speech but that is to be expected.

Best Director
Chris - The Revenant
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road
Winner - The Revenant
Chris - 10
Adam - 15

So it turns out that Alejandro G. Inarritu has won back to back.  This is big.  John Ford big.  But after a night of political statements about how the Oscars are too white, he blasts everyone while they are attempting to play him off.  Talking about how we need to move on with worrying about race and focus on talent.  And of course everyone keeps forgetting that the last four best directors were not white.

Best Picture
Chris - The Revenant
Adam - The Revenant
Winner - Spotlight
Chris - 10
Adam - 15

This was a long shot but somehow pulled it off.  Not seeing any of the movies this year, and the NyQuil kicking in, I didn't care that it won.  But I did pull another victory over the wife and have bragging rights for about ten minutes, which has now long past.

Picks for the 2015 Oscars

It's that time of the year to once again compete my wife on picking the nominees for the Oscars.  This year I have not seen any of the nominees for Best Picture and almost none of the others nominated as well.  I do have the new Mad Max on my DVR, but I won't be able to see it before the Oscars are announced.

Visual Effects
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road

This time around Mad Max will most likely win the technical awards, so this seems like a safe bet.

Sound Mixing
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road

Same as above.

Sound Editing
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road

And same as above and above.

Cinematography
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - The Revenant

The wife is sticking with the plan, I'm guessing that The Revenant will win at least one technical award

Makeup & Hairstyling
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road

Who would think that in the apocalypse people would have such nice hair?

Costume Design
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road

And spend so much time on style?

Production Design
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road

And another technical award that should be won.

Film Editing
Chris - Mad Max: Fury Road
Adam - The Revenant

Same logic as the cinematography.

Music Original Song
Chris - Simple Song #3
Adam -Til It Happens To You

You never know with this category, my guess is that Lady Gaga will win an Oscar.

Music Original Score
Chris - Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Adam - The Hateful Eight

I think that Ennio Morricone will get the Oscar but there is a good case for John Williams and the Star Wars franchise

Writing Adapted Screenplay
Chris - Brooklyn
Adam - The Big Short

The screenplay categories have recently become a way to award a film that won't win anything else, but we don't want you to go home empty handed.  So it can be a toss up.

Writing Original Screenplay
Chris - Straight Outta Compton
Adam - Spotlight

A good case can be made for either one of these.  Spotlight will most likely not win best picture so this might be the only award it gets.  But Straight Outta Compton might win due to the recent controversy.

Short Film Animated
Chris - We Can't Live Without Cosmos
Adam - Sanjay's Super Team

These are the lottery picks.  In that you have as good as a chance of picking the winner as you do playing the lottery.

Short Film Live Action
Chris - Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
Adam - Ave Maria

Your second lottery pick.

Documentary Short Subject
Chris - Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
Adam - Body Team 12

And guess number three.

Best Animated
Chris - Shaun the Sheep Movie
Adam - Inside Out

I've heard that Inside Out was a long shot for best picture so I think it might win here.

Best Documentary
Chris - Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom
Adam - Amy

This used to be one of the lottery categories but it has changed over the past few years.  I know that the Amy Winehouse documentary was very popular and should have a shot of winning.

Best Foreign Language
Chris - Son of Saul
Adam - Son of Saul

This is considered to be the one that will win.

Best Supporting Actress
Chris - Rachel McAdams
Adam - Alicia Vikander

Having not seen any of these movies this year I am not clouded by my judgement of what was great and what wasn't, which usually worked against me.

Best Supporting Actor
Chris - Sylvester Stallone
Adam - Sylvester Stallone

You think he'll ever get nominated again?

Best Actress
Chris - Brie Larson
Adam - Brie Larson

This is apparently her year.

Best Actor
Chris - Leonardo DiCaprio
Adam - Leonardo DiCaprio

One of the most underrated actors of our era, about time in my opinion.

Best Director
Chris - The Revenant
Adam - Mad Max: Fury Road

I don't think that Alejandro G. Inarritu will win back to back, very rare for a director to do that.  Of course if he did that would make three non white directors to win in a row, oh wait sorry, that's not true since the Oscars are all white.

Best Picture
Chris - The Revenant
Adam - The Revenant

Supposed to be the best one made this year.  At some point I will be able to see all of them and make my own judgement.

My Oscar Predictions Part II

So I was right about only eight films being nominated.  And I was correct on five of the eight I listed:

The Big Short
Mad Max
The Martian
The Revenant
Spotlight

It seems that I missed:

Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Room

All in all not too bad for not seeing any of these movies and not keeping up with the movies this year.