2016 Oscars

[RobertR]

With The Revenant opening Friday, it looks like Milwaukee will get the last of the big Oscar contenders finally. The nominations are next week Wednesday. Unless the old men of the Academy really blow it, and they could, the conventional wisdom of what's in contention for Best Picture would likely limit complaining as there appears to be a healthy mix of both populist and art house films in contention. I'd be very surprised to see a film from outside the following list get a Best Picture nomination.

 

Carol

Spotlight

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Big Short

The Martian

Brooklyn

The Revenant

Straight Outta Compton

Bridge of Spies

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Ex Machina

Creed

Room

 

with maybe Inside Out and Anomalisa long shots if animation is considered.

 

I think the top 5 are basically locks, and will likely be the Best Director nominees as well, with possibly Inarritu crashing the party. The rest will depend on just how many additional slots the Academy has this year, and with that many films splitting votes, there may be less rather than more. I'd put the over/under of nominees at 8.

 

So, thoughts about this year?

[Mass Haas]

Robert, does Stallone get a Supporting nod for Creed?

[FVBrewerFan]

Black Mass has no chance of being nominated? (No expert here, just asking)

[RobertR]

I kind of think that Stallone is likely to get a nomination. It's a great storyline anyways. Mark Rylance from Bridge of Spies is probably the favorite in the category, but stranger things have happened.

 

Depp has an outside chance at a Best Actor nomination for Black Mass, he's up for Best Actor in the Screen Actors Guild awards. Black Mass has no chance otherwise.

[AKCheesehead]

Axford's picks are always pretty much on the money...

[RobertR]

Yeah Axford is a real pro at picking the Oscars.

[pacopete4]

I want Stallone to win an Oscar badly. Rocky movies are my favorites!

[TheEndless7]

Will preface this with saying that I really liked Birdman and had no issue with it winning last year.

 

Saw The Revenant this weekend. Hated it.

 

Cinematography wise, it's gorgeous, although not really any more so than A Walk in the Woods from earlier this year. Everything else wise it got really boring in a hurry. The beginning and middle part of the film seem to just drag on. For example, the plot points that the trailer indicates the movie is about, occur about 65 minutes into the film.

 

I can't imagine giving DiCaprio the Oscar. He's not 'bad' in it. But in my opinion both Hardy and Gleeson were better. Hardy has 'more' to do than DiCaprio. DiCaprio does very little for the vast majority of the film past crawl around and grunt. Hardy's accent is a little weird, but I didn't really have any trouble with it, nor find it overly distracting.

 

The closest thing I could really think to compare it to is the isolation from The Martian. And in my opinion Damon was better than DiCaprio is here. But Damon certainly had more to do and more to work with.

 

Perhaps I just went in with too high of expectations. I saw this this last weekend, and The Hateful Eight the weekend previous (3 hr 70mm film version or whatever) and thought they were both too long, dragged, and were very disappointing.

 

A buddy of mine and I go to a movie pretty much every weekend and have for nearly ten years. We see a lot of really bad movies, we see a lot of good. We got to talking after The Revenant and went over our top five from the year and came up with, in no real order:

 

The Martian

Pawn Sacrifice

Mad Max: Fury Road

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

A Walk in the Woods

Sicario

 

I saw both Joy and Brooklyn without him. Liked them both but neither really felt like it should win to me, although of the two Brooklyn felt more deserving.

[RobertR]

I'll make some predictions before nominations.

 

I expect that there will be 8 Best Picture nominees. I expect the following.

 

Spotlight

Carol

The Big Short

The Martian

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Brooklyn

Straight Outta Compton

 

If there's nine, I predict Bridge of Spies will be added to the list. If ten, I think Star Wars gets in.

[bjkrautk]

I'll make some predictions before nominations.

 

I expect that there will be 8 Best Picture nominees. I expect the following.

 

Spotlight

Carol

The Big Short

The Martian

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Brooklyn

Straight Outta Compton

 

If there's nine, I predict Bridge of Spies will be added to the list. If ten, I think Star Wars gets in.

 

You got 6 of 8 right. Bridge of Spies and Room are in; Carol and Straight Outta Compton are out(-ta).

 

Went to see "Hateful Eight" on Tuesday night, on the theory it was least likely of the possible nominees to make the cut. Enjoyed it quite a bit, though I am a bit surprised at how much attention Jennifer Jason Leigh is getting for her role in it (complete with supporting actress nomination).

 

Have seen 0 of the 8 nominees, as per usual. Will try to catch the Marcus Theaters weekend marathons, as I've done the past few years.

[RobertR]

Slightly surprised at Carol not getting a nomination for Best Picture but I kind of knew it was slipping from front-runner status when it didn't garner a PGA or DGA nomination. I wasn't bold enough to make that prediction though.

 

Surprised at Ridley Scott not getting a nomination. I suspect that George Miller is the front-runner unless they give it to Inarritu again.

 

I've seen 5 of the 8 best picture nominees. Need to catch up with The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, and The Revenant.

[TheEndless7]

Four of Eight here. I think it would be awesome if Mad Max won. But I just can't see any way that happens. Best Director may be a possibility.

 

I've seen four of the eight and will be pulling for either The Martian or Mad Max.

[pacopete4]

Just hoping Stallone can pull off the win. Genuinely a great guy and would love to hear the acceptance speech.

[brewcrewdue80]

Being a redbox user and not a theatre goer, I've only seen Mad Max. I thought that movie was poor. Can't believe there Best Picture ties to it. May go rent the other nominees that I can.

[bjkrautk]

Finished the first half of the Marcus Theaters best picture festival.

 

How in the blue blazes did Steve Carrell not get nominated for Best Actor based on The Big Short? He was that film's heartbeat. Having seen the films back-to-back, I think he was better than Matt Damon (though Damon had a larger role in his film than Carrell did in his film).

[rwa12]

Wife and I watched Spotlight last night. Great film, glad to see it won screenplay. One of the best movies I've seen in some time, although I don't get to see many.

[FVBrewerFan]

Have seen The Martian and Bridge of Spies. Really liked both of them, and I can see how that actor won best supporting in BoS. I remember commenting on how good he was while we were watching it, unaware he was even nominated. Also saw Mad Max and I just don't see the appeal. Pretty shocked it was nominated for best picture.

 

After watching parts of the Oscars, and hearing/reading various things, I do plan to see Spotlight and The Big Short. Also The Revenant, although I have a feeling that will just be "meh," but I want to see Leo's performance.

 

Bottom line, probably more best picture nominees I'll see than any other year. And I'll include Star Wars and Sicario, which should have been nominated.

[superfly]

Am I the only one that walked out of the Revenant a bit uninspired? On one hand the film felt brilliant, and was done brilliant. But on the other hand it felt long and in the end it felt like nothing happened. Really a weird film.

[TheEndless7]

Am I the only one that walked out of the Revenant a bit uninspired? On one hand the film felt brilliant, and was done brilliant. But on the other hand it felt long and in the end it felt like nothing happened. Really a weird film.

 

No; I thought it was exhausting (not in a good way) and tedious. It should have, and could have easily, been 30-45 minutes shorter and gotten the same points across. I thought the only part that really saved in any way was Hardy.

[Baldkin]

Knowing the original story of the Revenant, and now having seen the movie, they easily could've cut out every single scene involving his wife and cut a half hour from the film. None of that was relevant or served to further the plot in the movie at all.

[pacopete4]

Stallone not winning is a joke. Another instance of the Oscars being the Oscars and going away from mainstream just to do it.

[rwa12]

...or Mark Rylance gave a tremendous performance. The supporting actor field was loaded this year, only one can win.

[pacopete4]

...or Mark Rylance gave a tremendous performance. The supporting actor field was loaded this year, only one can win.

 

 

Liked his performance too but it was Stallones year.

[pitchleague]

Sorry for bringing up an old topic, but I finally saw "The Revenant" tonight (yeah, I'm a bit slow on getting to films--sue me) and I thought it was outstanding.

 

Contrary to what others here thought, I thought that the 2 1/2 hours flew by. It was an enjoyable film, to me. I will agree with one other person, however, in that the whole "flashback" stuff with his wife could have been cut down a bit. I can see keeping some of it, as I understood the purpose, but it was a bit too many times.

 

Oh, and all the 10-second "moonrise" shots. Okay, Mr. Director, you like sunset shots with the moon. Great. Do we need to see it every time the movie goes to night time? And for 10 seconds at a pop?

 

But, yeah, I loved it otherwise.