With the Golden Globes wrapping up, that means we're now fully immersed in awards season--a time of year that brings great joy and a lot of dread to film buffs. This Thursday will be the unveiling of the 2016 Oscar nominations which has endured much controversy in the past few years. This year’s nominees will likely receive the same scrutiny when they snub films and actors that should have been nominated. I’ve been watching the Oscars for a long time and I know what to expect from this institution and not to get my hopes up for what is going to be nominated. Here are my picks what should be nominated for Oscars but definitely won’t be.
Best Picture: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”/”Creed”
The Oscars expanded the Best Picture category in 2009 to allow upwards of ten films to be nominated in the category, after the vocal backlash the Academy received for not nominating the popular film “The Dark Knight." By doing so, the Academy has found a way they can find room for popular box office hits as well as the small artsy films that have historically dominated this category. Well, this year there are two films steeped in commercialism, and both are genuinely very good and well done. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Creed” have both received excellent reviews from film critics and have even appeared on various film critics Best Of lists (mine included - Editor's note: please include links to both articles). Yet, the Best Picture nominations are pointing elsewhere, including the wholly brutal “The Revenant." In all seriousness, you can’t tell me that anybody enjoyed “The Revenant” more than these two films.
Best Director: Ryan Coogler–“Creed”
Last year’s nominees suffered criticism for the ubiquity of race in all categories, with the one person of minority nominated being director Alejandro G. Inarritu. For many people, including me, the biggest snub was for “Selma” director, Ava DurVernay. This year, I suspect the same exact story to occur, including Inarritu as the only minority director nominated for the beatdown that was “The Revenant” (prepare for a lot of digs at that film).
But, I still hold out hope for the wunderkind 29-year-old director of “Creed," Ryan Coogler. Coogler directs with a rhythm that turns to poetry. His flashiness is hidden, allowing you to feel the grime of the Philadelphia streets while allowing the flourishes of the spectacle of the big fight.
However, it seems like Coogler’s chances of getting a nomination are as little as me ever watching “The Revenant” again.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Jesse Eisenberg/Jason Segel – “The End of the Tour”
While everyone is hoping for Leonardo DiCaprio to finally get his Oscar win, this year for--you guessed it--“The Revenant," the two performances that captured my attention were from Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel in “The End of the Tour."
As David Lipsky and David Foster Wallace respectively, both actors play a game of cat and mouse, hiding the true meanings behind the words that they say and simple gestures. Each envies each other’s position in life: Lipsky the fame of Wallace, and Wallace already weary of it. They bring this real controversy to life, which this whole movie hinges upon.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Samuel L. Jackson – “The Hateful Eight”/”Chi-Raq”
What denotes a lead actor and a supporting actor can sometimes be confusing. In some polls, Jackson is considered the lead for “The Hateful Eight," but an ensemble film really denotes no one person as the official lead. What I do know is that Jackson can turn any piece of writing into gold when he opens his mouth. With both “The Hateful Eight” and “Chi-Raq," he was able to turn the highly stylized language of idiosyncratic writers, Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee respectively, into pure, poetry. Not many people are able to handle that type of dialogue, but Jackson does it with flair and finesse.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Carey Mulligan – “Far From a Madding Crowd”
It’s unfortunate that if Carey Mulligan is nominated for anything this year, it would be for the well-intentioned but awful “Suffragette.” Just a bit earlier in the year, in an immensely better film, she portrayed a strong female character in a time in which females were being oppressed by men. Widely underseen and wholly underrated, Mulligan anchors this melodrama, based on the James Joyce novel. It's some of her best work, showcasing her character’s simultaneous strength and vulnerability without ever being pandering.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting role: Kristen Stewart – “Clouds of Sils Maria”
If you have not yet boarded the Kristen Stewart bandwagon, due to some misbegotten bad will from the “Twilight” franchise, then I implore you to watch some of her recent work. She shines most brightly in the Oliver Assayas film, “Clouds of Sils Maria." Stewart, an assistant to an aging actress in this film, is actorly sparring against one of the greats--Juliette Binoche, as the actress. Her control over the scenes and naturalism is a standout. As an example of how great Stewart is, watch her scenes in which she runs lines with Binoche’s characters and how multi-layered her deadpan performance is in context to the film.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Andrew Haigh – “45 Years”
Andrew Haigh’s screenplay for “45 Years," an adaptation of a short story, has no big frills, stylistic flourishes, only tenderness and quiet contemplation. What is important to remember about a screenplay is that it is not only dialogue, but action. In a marriage embarking on its 45th year anniversary, a lot of things do not need to be said, yet things are. Haigh understands when talking is unnecessary and when it is. This could have easily devolved into a mess of a film, in which the two characters are embroiled in a constant shouting match, but Haigh avoids what the audience expects and veers towards human confusion.
Best Original Screenplay: Noah Baumbach & Greta Gerwig – “Mistress America”
Personally, this is my favorite screenplay of 2015 in general. There are two distinct halves in “Mistress America,” and both are great. The first is that of two characters trying to figure out their own identity in the modern age.
One of the characters is starting college at Barnard, during which, Baumbach and Gerwig manage to capture the milieu of the freshman in college, in which everything feels malleable and uncertain. What is striking is how they characterize the Gerwig's character, who aspires to be great at so many things, though she is great at nothing but wholly original.
The second half is an exquisite absurdist comedy that relies heavily on the timing of dialogue. Really, the second half could have been a one-act play and I would have been wholly satisfied.
In the best of worlds, all of these predictions would be wrong and all of these films would be nominated, and “The Reverent” would get nothing (I needed one last dig on it). But, heading into the 88th Annual Academy Awards a pattern has been established and it’s easy to extrapolate what films would be nominated from that.
