Tag Archives: Spotlight

2016 Academy Awards

Breaking Down the 2016 Oscar Best Picture Race

January 30, 2016 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

2016 is proving to be a hard year to predict the Academy Award Best Picture race. The seeming frontrunners going into the Golden Globes were Spotlight and The Revenant. The Revenant came out of the Globes on top, while also picking up awards for Best Director and Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio (this appears to finally be his year for the Oscar, barring something crazy happening at the SAG awards, but that is an entirely different article).

The first wrench thrown at the Oscar race came during the Producers Guild Awards, where Continue reading Breaking Down the 2016 Oscar Best Picture Race →

2016 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies, Movie News

2016 Academy Award Predictions: All Categories

January 17, 2016 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

Below are my predictions for who I believe will win the Academy Award in each of the 24 Oscar categories.

Note: This list will be updated as articles for each category get published. Those articles also may be updated if the odds within the individual category change.

Continue reading 2016 Academy Award Predictions: All Categories →

2016 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2016 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Editing

January 16, 2016 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

Editing was crucial to the success of some of the films in this category. In others, it was less crucial, and I feel that hurts the chances of these films.

Mad Max: Fury Road is the Continue reading 2016 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Editing →

2016 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2016 Academy Award Predictions – Best Supporting Actress

January 16, 2016 Alex Brannan 1 Comment

It seems that I am the only person in the world who didn’t enjoy Kate Winslet’s performance in Steve Jobs. Perhaps I need to re-watch the film, considering my lukewarm response to it as a whole. Regardless of my favor, Winslet appears to be the category favorite. Winning the Golden Globe only helped her chances.

The rest of the category is up in the air. If it isn’t Winslet, it could be anybody. It is nice to see Continue reading 2016 Academy Award Predictions – Best Supporting Actress →

2016 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2016 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Supporting Actor

January 16, 2016 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

This is a tough category. Not the absolute toughest, but it’s tough.

The frontrunner appears to be Sylvester Stallone due to his recent Golden Globe win (and the fact that he got a significant amount of applause and cheers when they announced his nomination). He does turn a career-high performance in Creed, but there are other actors who could conceivably knock him down.

Mark Ruffalo surprisingly Continue reading 2016 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Supporting Actor →

2016 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2016 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Director

January 16, 2016 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

The Best Director Oscar is already in the bag. The group of five all have their directorial merits (though some of the nominations were surprising to me). The five movies represented are all worth seeing. But only one person is truly the standout to earn the golden statue.

That person is Continue reading 2016 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Director →

2016 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2016 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Original Screenplay

January 16, 2016 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

Best Original Screenplay is the easier of the two screenplay categories to call. Best Adapted Screenplay is a mixed bag of strong screenplays with no clear frontrunner. Best Original Screenplay, on the other hand, is more clear cut.

All of the screenplays here are strong, don’t get me wrong. However, Continue reading 2016 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Original Screenplay →

2016 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2016 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Picture

January 14, 2016 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

This is it. The big kahuna burger. The film from 2015 that will (theoretically) be remembered for ages. The Best Picture of the year.

This is a hard year to predict the most coveted award of the night. Eight films were selected and each one has its merits. There are standout favorites, but Continue reading 2016 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Picture →

2016 Academy Awards, Movie News

Reactions to the 2016 Oscar Nominations

January 14, 2016 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

The Academy released their list of Oscar nominees this morning, and, as per usual, it is cause for many a reactionary blog post. This post is not unlike the rest.

Here are my reactions to some of the nominations (and notable absences from them).

Carol and The Hateful Eight Got Snubbed

Continue reading Reactions to the 2016 Oscar Nominations →

Lists

Top Ten Movies of 2015

January 1, 2016 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

Lists are always difficult. I find it nearly impossible to whittle down a large body of films into a list of ten. An honorable mention addendum would be longer than the top ten itself.

Additionally, I haven’t seen all the films I want/need to see from 2015. For example, as it stands now, The Revenant is in limited release, and won’t be widely available until after the New Year. It very likely could wind up being one of my top ten favorites of the year, but it can’t show up on this list.

Here are my top ten movies of 2015.