Oscar Nominations Predictions 2016

Tomorrow is the big day! The nominations for the 88th Academy Awards will be announced at 8:30 AM, and I couldn't be more excited about it. Just because I'm a super nerd, I've taken the time to break down all the nominees in all the categories I can accurately predict (sorry, the three short film categories seem to be almost random every year- though I am excited to watch them this year). This is kind of a listy post, but I'll provide commentary on the actual nominations tomorrow or in the next couple of days. Check back tomorrow to see how close I was!

Best Picture (assuming there will be 10 nominees, which there likely won't be)

• The Big Short
• Bridge of Spies
• Brooklyn
• Carol
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Room
• Spotlight
• Straight Outta Compton

Could Happen: Sicario

Best Director

• Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant
• Todd Haynes, Carol
• Thomas McCarthy, Spotlight
• George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
• Ridley Scott, The Martian

Could Happen: Adam McKay, The Big Short

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

• Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
• Matt Damon, The Martian
• Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
• Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
• Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Could Happen: Johnny Depp, Black Mass

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

• Cate Blanchett, Carol
• Brie Larson, Room
• Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
• Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
• Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Could Happen: Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

• Christian Bale, The Big Short
• Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
• Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
• Sylvester Stallone, Creed
• Jacob Tremblay, Room

Could Happen: Michael Shannon, 99 Homes

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

• Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
• Rooney Mara, Carol
• Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
• Helen Mirren, Trumbo
• Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Could Happen: Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina

Best Original Screenplay

• Bridge of Spies
• Ex Machina
• Inside Out
• Spotlight
• Trainwreck

Could Happen: Sicario

Best Adapted Screenplay

• The Big Short
• Brooklyn
• The Martian
• Room
• Steve Jobs

Could Happen: Carol

Best Cinematography

• Bridge of Spies
• Carol
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant
• Sicario

Could Happen: Son of Saul

Best Visual Effects

• Furious 7
• Jurassic World
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Could Happen: The Walk

Best Editing

• The Big Short
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Spotlight

Could Happen: Sicario

Best Original Score

• Bridge of Spies
• The Hateful Eight
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Steve Jobs

Could Happen: Carol

Best Original Song

• "Pray 4 My City", Chi-Raq
• "Love Me Like You Do", Fifty Shades of Grey
• "See You Again", Furious 7
• "Writing's on the Wall", Spectre
• "Simple Song #3", Youth

Could Happen: "Cold One", Ricki and the Flash

Best Foreign Language Film

• The Brand New Testament
• The Fencer
• Labyrinth of Lies
• Mustang
• Son of Saul

Could Happen: Theeb

Best Documentary Feature

• Amy
• Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
• He Named Me Malala
• The Look of Silence
• Where to Invade Next

Could Happen: Listen to Me Marlon

Best Animated Feature

• Anomalisa
• Inside Out
• Minions
• The Peanuts Movie
• Shaun the Sheep: The Movie

Could Happen: The Good Dinosaur

Best Costume Design

• Brooklyn
• Carol
• Cinderella
• The Danish Girl
• Mad Max: Fury Road

Could Happen: Crimson Peak

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• Mr. Holmes
• The Revenant

Could Happen: Black Mass

Best Production Design

• Cinderella
• Crimson Peak
• The Danish Girl
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian

Could Happen: The Revenant

Best Sound Mixing

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Straight Outta Compton

Could Happen: Bridge of Spies

Best Sound Editing

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

Could Happen: Sicario

So, when it's all said and done, these are the five films that will have the most nominations:

• Mad Max: Fury Road- 11 Nominations
• The Martian- 9 Nominations
• The Revenant- 9 Nominations
• Bridge of Spies- 6 Nominations
• Carol- 6 Nominations

Be sure to keep checking the blog all Oscar season long, for some great predictions and commentary!

Top 10 Movies of 2015

In the grand total of 100 movies I saw in 2015 (the full list of which can be found here), I found myself most happy when it wasn't the art house or independent films that were pushing the boundary of cinema. Rather, it was when the blockbusters did. It was the films that made me not lose faith in the contemporary Hollywood system. It was the movies that studios took a huge risk in green-lighting, and put a lot of money behind to see that people watched them. Sure, the studios still churned out garbage, but those movies seemed to disappear in the tall shadow of modern classics that the same studios released a month later. Because of this, I want to look back at 2015 and remember that mainstream, commercial cinema can actually do some good for the medium. That what average filmgoers watch doesn't have to be derivative or sloppy. That you can make a fantastic movie when you give a big budget to the right director. But most importantly, I want to look at a studio head in the eyes, point to any of these Top 10, and say, "more of this please."

So, this is tmy Top 10 Movies of 2015. I am obsessed with all these in one way or another, and can safely say that most of them will end up in my list of best movies of all time. I want you to not only celebrate the best that the Big Six studios had to offer, but also take a chance and watch at least one of the lesser seen movies. Add some veggies to your cinematic diet! I split the mainstream/artsy stuff 50/50 on this list, so watch at least six of them and you'll grow as a person. Trust me. I certainly have this year.

10. Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2015)

The competition for the #10 slot was tough. I could've chosen literally a dozen movies that are on par with each other that deserve to be in the Top 10 of 2015- It Follows, Brooklyn, Goodnight Mommy, Victoria, Kingsman: The Secret Service, and Spy among them. But Ex Machina is a film that has haunted me since I saw it all the way back in April. 2015's "It Girl" Alicia Vikander gives her best performance of the year as a robot that her creator (Oscar Isaac) believes has achieved sentience. These two, along with the man who came to test Vikander's Ava (Domhnall Gleeson), form a trimuverate of equally benevolent and menacing characters. Ex Machina is a mystery wrapped in the guise of a sci-fi horror drama- not easily fitting into one genre, but like the golden days of science fiction in the 1950's,  asks tough questions that don't easily have an answer. The ending will leave you breathless, and will leave you questioning your own existence for weeks afterwards. It was a tough call, but I believe Ex Machina deserves a place in this countdown.

9. The Martian (Ridley Scott, 2015)

Sure, every once in a while, you need a nice escapist trip to the movies. But who says that escapism can't be smart? That's the basic conceit of both The Martian and the novel it's based on- Matt Damon is trapped on Mars, and has to survive and communicate with NASA for three years before he can be rescued. It's pretty much a straightforward crowd pleaser, albeit one with an exceptionally talented ensemble, futuristic production design, a fun screenplay, and some of the finest direction Ridley Scott has ever accomplished. It's also the finest acting Damon has done, much better realized than his Oscar-nominated work in Invictus and Good Will Hunting. Though it's getting a lot of flack for being nominated as a Comedy at the Golden Globes this year, The Martian is one of the funniest films of the year, and certainly has as many laughs as it does gasp-inducing space action. It's a fine film, and honestly, I'm just happy the precursors are taking the time to honor this fun piece of moviemaking.

8. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, 2015)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens should appear on everyone's Top 10 list if only because it wasn't the colossal disaster it so easily could have been. Not that we had much to worry about as Star Wars fans- between the return of the original's cast, a new crop of fresh talent both behind and in front of the camera, and a wealth of support from Disney, The Force Awakens really could have only been an unqualified success. It holds up even better on repeat viewings, and the nuances are better felt my interacting with any one of the multimedia's various spin-offs and companions. The characters are the best part of the film, with Rey (Daisy Ridley) providing an incredibly satisfying end to what many people are calling "the woman's year in film" (let's just hope Hollywood keeps that trend going). The villains are stronger than ever, with Darth Vader acolyte Kylo Ren leading the charge of the First Order. But more so than anything else, what's the best part of The Force Awakens? Seeing Harrison Ford slip so easily back into one of the greatest film characters of all time, proudly declaring to his co-pilot and best friend, "Chewie...we're home."

7. Chi-Raq (Spike Lee, 2015)

I've only recently starting diving into the filmography of Spike Lee, but even so, I can defiantly say that Chi-Raq is Spike Lee's best film since Jungle Fever. If this was simply a chaotic farce of women refusing to have sex until the men put down their guns, it would work extremely well. But what makes Chi-Raq utterly perfect is the attention to detail and care in editing a story as nuts as this one. It manages to blend the heartbreak of gun violence with the madness of the strike (and the worldwide effect it has) to make a comedy-drama the likes of which I've never seen. However, what makes Chi-Raq the #7 movie of the year? The fact that the only thing is told in verses and rhymes. And props for making lyrics to a song as the opening work way better than it ever should. Nick Cannon, Angela Basset, Teyonah Parris, Wesley Snipes, John Cusack (in hands-down the best performance of his career), Jennifer Hudson and Samuel L. Jackson are perfectly cast in this insane movie that deals with one of the most pressing issues of our time. This is an emergency problem, and it needs to be solved quickly. Maybe a sex strike wouldn't be so bad after all?

6. Son of Saul (Lazlo Nemes, 2015)

The "Holocaust film" as a sub-genre of cinema can seem repetitive, if not vastly important. However, when a film wins second place at the Cannes Film Festival despite being from a first-time director, it'll draw some eyes- regardless of the subject matter. And those that saw it certainly spread the word hard and fast- Son of Saul is a force to be reckoned with, an all-too-important reminder at the horror humanity is capable of committing. Told from the subjective point-of-view of the a Hungarian-Jewish prisoner (Gaza Rohrig, also acting for the first time with brilliant subtly in emotion), the camera literally follows the Sonderkommando around the Auschwitz concentration/death camp. He is one of the few men chosen to clean up the bodies of those killed in the gas chambers, but when he finds the boy he believes to be his illegitimate son, he obsesses about finding a rabbi to give the boy a proper burial. It's the biggest tearjerker and most intense film of the year, certainly not for the faint of heart, but an important reminder to why the "Holocaust film" genre needs to exist.

5. Sicario (Denis Villenueve, 2015)

Denis Villenueve made a shockingly underrated thriller in 2013 called Prisoners. Now, in 2015, he's hailed as one of the best directors of thrillers out there. This drug cartel epic that spans across Mexico and the southern reaches of the United States shows how far our supposed "war on crime" is willing to go to get the job done. Led by three career-defining performances by Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, and an Oscar-worthy Benecio del Toro, Sicario features an international cast of men and women dedicated to making the world of Sicario authentic. Beyond the performances, a lot of the success of Sicario is owed to the jaw-dropping photography of maestro Roger Deakins, who shoots the Mexican and Texan landscapes with unique perceptions of light and color. Once the layers of the film are pulled back, and the viewer realizes that Emily Blunt is literally being pushed out of her own movie, the depth of Villenueve's genius is felt in full force. Sicario is a wild ride that stands with the best of 2015.

4. Creed (Ryan Coogler, 2015)

If you would've told me this time last year that the next movie in my beloved Rocky franchise would be in my top 5 of 2015, I probably would've shuddered in disbelief. I mean- have you seen the last two Rocky movies? Well, here we are, and Creed is the #4 film of the year. It's a triumphant fanfare of boxing excellence, with three distinctly different fight sequences shot in unique ways. Michael B. Jordan excels as the son of Apollo Creed, here crafting a character that we look forward to seeing in future installments. Not only that, but his "Adrian", played by Tessa Thompson, is an absurdly well-written character with her own motives and ambitions. Their palpable chemistry is so realistic, it'll make you wonder if this is actually a documentary. But lo and behold, out walks Sylvester Stallone, back in the fight as Rocky Balboa and giving the best supporting performance of the year. That's right- Sylvester Stallone acts his heart out, and reminds us why we fell in love with him in the first place. Ryan Coogler did us Rocky fans proud, and I can't wait for future installments.

3. Inside Out (Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen, 2015)

Hands down the smartest movie of the year is Inside Out, and leave it to the brains of Pixar to make it happen. It's a film hand-tailored for animation, taking us through the concepts of human psychology by bringing them to life in a way never before considered. The way the film deftly handles memory, subconscious, dreams, ideas, and imaginary friends is nothing short of creative wizardry. Just take the basic plot-line of the movie: When Joy and Sadness disappear, Anger, Fear, and Disgust take over for Riley's movements. Mind=Blown. You can watch this movie a dozen times and still find new things. Why is Riley the only one in the movie with gendered emotions? How long is long-term memory? Why is Pixar so good at what they do? Inside Out is funny, smart, and yes, highly emotional.

2. Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015)

My dearest Carol. My sweet, wonderful Carol. Where were we before you? How could we love without using Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett) and Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) as a model for what to do? An LGBT love story (or simply, a love story, but I digress), Carol is the story of two women who fall in love during the 1950's. Auteur Todd Haynes, a queer legend who crafted two of the great contemporary films ([SAFE] and Far From Heaven), finally returns to the big screen with this lusciously designed period romance. Blanchett is the best actor working in show business today, and how marvelous it is to see her play Carol. I'm having a hard time telling readers why I love this film so much, I just... do. It flung out of space, and makes me fall in love with being in love. Just please, whatever you do, see it. I can't praise it enough.

1. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)

Ah, Fury Road. What else can I say about this movie after singing it's praises just a few months ago? Well, just to reiterate, it's awesome. It's two hours of car chases and feminist awesomeness. It's a heart-stopping, adrenaline-charged rampage through all that we believe to be possible about the movies. It's the film that has had critics and a devoutly loyal fanbase call it one of the best films of the decade, and certainly one of the best action films ever made. Every little thing about the world of Mad Max feels utterly insane and creative. This is why we go to the movies. And what a lovely day it is to name Mad Max: Fury Road the best movie of 2015.

Movie Critic's Club Awards for the Best of 2015

Best Director: George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road (Other nominees: Todd Haynes, Carol; Spike Lee, Chi-Raq; Lazlo Nemes, Son of Saul; Denis Villenueve, Sicario)

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Ian McKellen, Mr. Holmes (Other nominees: Matt Damon, The Martian; Michael Fassbender, Macbeth; Michael B. Jordan, Creed; Samuel L. Jackson, The Hateful Eight)

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett, Carol (Other nominees: Laia Costa, Victoria; Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn; Nina Hoss, Phoenix; Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Sylvester Stallone, Creed (Other nominees: Benecio del Toro, Sicario; Harrison Ford, Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Oscar Isaac, Ex Machina; Tim Roth, The Hateful Eight) 

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs (Other nominees: Jessica Chastain, Crimson Peak; Jada Pinkett Smith, Magic Mike XXL; Kirsten Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria; Tessa Thompson, Creed)

Best Casting: Inside Out (Other nominees: Carol, The Martian, Spy, Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Best Music: The Martian (Other nominees: Chi-Raq, Creed, Mad Max: Fury Road, Spy)

Best Screenplay: Inside Out (Other nominees: Brooklyn, Carol, Room, Sicario)

Best Sound: Mad Max: Fury Road (Other nominees: Creed, The Martian, Sicario, Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Best Production Design: Inside Out (Other nominees: Carol, Crimson Peak, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.)

Best Cinematography: Sicario (Other nominees: Carol, It Follows, Son of Saul, Victoria)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Mad Max: Fury Road (Other nominees: Crimson Peak, The Hateful Eight, Mr. Holmes, Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Best Costume Design: Carol (Other nominees: Brooklyn, Crimson Peak, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Son of Saul)

Best Editing: Chi-Raq (Other nominees: The Big Short, Carol, Mad Max: Fury Road, Room)

Best Visual Effects: Ant-Man (Other nominees: Ex Machina, Krampus, Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars: The Force Awakens)