First off, let me admit that I haven’t seen all the films nominated this year. But that won’t stop me from making a few informed (and highly opinionated) predictions.
This was the year in which nominated films exhibited similar virtues—seamless ensemble acting. E.g. Spotlight and The Big Short. So superbly acted, directed, and edited were these films that they appear to have come together by a sort of magical internal collaboration. Still, having said that, I’m thinking that Spotlight should take both Best Picture and Best Director awards.
The harder issues deal with individual acting awards. And as always, I have to deal with the Academy’s tradition of honoring actors for a body of work, e.g. Sly Stallone, or for their age, e.g. Charlotte Rampling. I haven’t seen Creed, but I’ll bet Stallone hits all the marks and wouldn’t mind one bit to see him take the Best Supporting Actor award. But my heart belongs to the uncanny Mark Rylance, who played the spy traded for Francis Gary Powers in Bridge of Spies, with a series of electrifyingly subtle gestures—an eyebrow here, the upturn of a wrist there. Mesmerizing.
And while we’re on the subject of Rampling, I did see the soporific 45 Years on the plane back from London. And while she is indeed a commanding screen presence, she barely changed her facial expression during the entire film. Ditto the monotone Cate Blanchett and the comatose Rooney Mara. Furthermore Rampling’s film was so slight as to be barely present.
The Best Actor Oscar will in all likelihood go to Leo DiCaprio for getting dirty and cold surrounded by other dirty and cold men. And animals. But the understated ability of Matt Damon to carry an entire trip to Mars and back deserves the Academy Award.
And the Best Actress Oscar? Wish I’d seen Joy, because I get the feeling that the amazing Jennifer Lawrence probably could take her second Oscar in two years. But I didn’t. So I like Saoirse Ronan as the strong, innocent, and pliant young Irish voyager in Brooklyn.
My favorite film of the year? The Big Short! A cast so delicious, wild, crazy, and brilliant that it’s impossible to see where acting ends and reality begins. Kudos to director Adam McKay for turning them loose and standing back. One of these years Steve Carell will get his Oscar. But not this one.
