This year, you’ve got some kicky possibilities. The envelope, please:Best Picture: “Spotlight”.
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Will win: Brie Larson is as deserving as Ronan, starring as the young woman who’s been held captive for years and who shows us an incredible story of great parenting as she protects her son born in that captivity.
A National Geographic study of the past 50 years found that the number of Academy Award nominations and winners in the two majority of acting awards have been trending toward biopics.
DiCaprio earned yet another Oscar nod, this time for his role in “Blood Diamond”.
DiCaprio this year took home the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture for “The Revenant”, though he did the same in 2014 for “The Wolf of Wall Street” and in 2005 for “The Aviator” before losing at the Oscars. And while no one is questioning the star’s chops as an actor, we do know that his career didn’t kick off with headline-making performances and roles that required more than one line. Probably out of luck are Rooney Mara (“Carol“) and Rachel McAdams (“Spotlight”).Best Supporting Actor: Sylvester Stallone, “Creed“. Steve Jobs’ Kate Winslet stands a chance at beating both of them. Oscar voters are nothing if not sentimental. So much of the investment viewers have in DiCaprio’s character’s journey to get revenge on Hardy’s character is the result of how effective Hardy is. Now actor and director Jon Favreau has also joined the chorus, saying “The Revenant” was a wonderful film and DiCaprio deserves an Oscar for his performance.
Mexico’s Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who helmed “The Revenant”, will be one of the few high-profile non-white contenders on Sunday after being nominated for best director. The “Mad Max: Fury Road” filmmaker, who is 70 years old, hasn’t won a best director Oscar. Maybe, if “The Big Short” has momentum.
Johnny Depp has been nominated three times for his work in 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean, 2004’s Finding Neverland and 2007’s Sweeney Todd. The film is thoroughly riveting, though, and that’s a credit to the performance she gives. It’s fitting then that the final award handed out this weekend is also the most competitive of the major categories.
In the best foreign language film contest, Hungary’s Holocaust drama, “Son of Saul”, is favored to win.
Clearly, this problem is rearing its head on an annual basis, with the latest “brutally honest” voter having failed to watch The Hateful Eight, Trumbo, Spectre, Fifty Shades of Grey, Cartel Land, Racing Extinction, The Hunting Ground, Embrace of the Serpent or any of the Best Animated Short, Best Documentary Shot and Best Live Action Short nominees.
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Speaking of music, “Amy”, about tragic singer Amy Winehouse, is the frontrunner in the best documentary feature category.
