Oh, such a thread exists?
It's a very,
very dull Oscars year and roster, all the nominated movies being almost textbook made for such awards. In the past years, I always found time to (procrastinate) absurdly tape the show and watch it in the morning, but I barely feel compelled anymore, because it will surely prove a four-hour drag with predictable winners and such.
That being said, I still love commenting on movies, so here goes:
Best Picture
The Big Short is a refreshing, if cynical take on the subject, but let's not kid ourselves, it's just a sassy sort of movie with no actual outstanding virtues. Even
American Hustle had something more to it, in previous years, in the same sort of genre.
Bridge of Spies has no place in the category, it's a very tired by-the-trope Spielberg movie, with the exception of Mark Rylance's supporting performance. Its nomination is pure Academy spielbergjerk.
Brooklyn is a fine period piece drama, almost surprisingly so, until its third act falls on its nose. No chance in this category.
Mad Max: Fury Road. Heh, hell of a stunner, but I anticipate it will only take home technical awards. Maybe even splitting those with
The Revenant or
Star Wars, because since
Lord of the Rings took 11 freaking statues, the Academy "learned" its lesson by
not awarding movies more than 3 or 4 a piece ever again. Geez.
The Martian is cool. Bit of a stretch to call it oscarworthy, though.
The Revenant is high-on-drugs cinematic achievement, but the mix of bloody B-story and highbrow Malick meets Herzog navalgazing philosophy is artificial, pompous and unsatisfying. I still see it as a possible winner, but I would personally not give it the award.
Room. Would have worked better as an European arthouse shocker, without the (sorry to say it, but) American-style lax drama style. Some 20 minutes in this actual movie are of that caliber, but the rest is pretty standard. No chance.
Spotlight, hardly memorable-two-years-from-now alike, let alone up there with stuff like
All the President's Men or
Network, but I think I'd be ok with this one getting the Oscar. Its structure and script are tight, the ensemble cast doesn't leak any individual bravado, it's not really an anti-cleric movie as much as a view on modern journalism, human ethics and such. No problem with this one winning, if it'll happen.
Best Actor
Haven't seen Cranston, but doubt he's that good. Haven't seen Fassbender and don't feel like it. Damon's nomination is honorable for him. Redmayne is pure Oscarbait. Leo is just as well, but whatever, they should just end this Leo-Oscar meme already.
Oh wait, so technically SVS should get an Oscar!!
Best Actress
Rooney Mara is not supporting in
Carol, so my winner is not nominated. If Brie Larson will win, it's not really worthy. I don't think Blanchett will win and it's also not
that worthy. I don't want Lawrence to win. "Sersha" won't win. Haven't seen Rampling, but I hear
45 Years is a stunner.
Actor, supporting
Rylance for
Bridge of Spies. Wasn't that wowed by Hardy in
Revenant - mostly because the movie was so fragmented, it kept jumping from his story to Leo's back and forth, it completely pulled me out of it!, but he's better than Leo, so lol. Bale, Ruffalo, Stallone, just show yourselves out. Won't be surprised one bit if Stallone wins.
Actress, supporting
Unnecessary nomination for a
Spotlight actor/actress notwithstanding, this is probably the best of the four. Rooney Mara is not supporting, but an Oscar her way would be nice. Wouldn't mind Leigh, either, only shining light in Tarantino's sad piece of film. Vikander is ok, but errr not feeling it. Didn't see Winslet, don't want her to win anyway.
Best Animated
It's going to be
Inside Out, why even bother. I wasn't even knocked over by
Anomalisa, in order to root for an underdog or something.
Cinematography
Contrary to expectations, I'd actually give it to Roger Deakins for
Sicario. That man hasn't won in 16 nominations! But probably Lubezky will take it. No fault there.
Directing
I'd give it to George Miller. What? His movie is the only one who would have completely flopped in the hands of another, lesser craftsman. It's called
Achievement in Directing, isn't it? This is by far an actual achievement. The rest are simply tied with the movies themselves being Oscarworthy and are not worthy of a statuette. Not that it was best ever or anything, but seriously, how can you snub Todd Haynes? How?
Documentary
Only saw
Amy, which was real meh. Should see
The Look of Silence, the follow-up to
The Act of Killing, which was huge.
Huuuuge. Don't care about the category though, whatever wins, wins.
Best Foreign
Haven't seen any of those! Anyway, the Oscars are hardly the most reliable indicator of foreign cinema accolades.
Son of Saul could win it, and I sure hope that movie is worth its praise, upon viewing it (eventually).
Original Score
Ugh, this is actually a pretty weak roster. Morricone never won? Yeah, probably him.
Adapted Screenplay: ugh, what am I supposed to choose here. Maybe
Brooklyn will get a lone award, here?
Original Screenplay:
Spotlight.. If
Inside Out is "original", so is copypasta.
Ex Machina is a nice surprise, except Alex Garland can't into third acts. Not one bit, bro, sorry.
Technicals: don't care.
There's a thread somewhere in this section for newly seen films, I usually update it, except that the past month I was either too busy to watch new stuff or watched new stuff but didn't have time to write the updates (and now that the mood is gone, don't feel like returning either).