2016 Oscar Preview with Chris & Ron (Presented by Four Guys Drinking Podcast)

Well, hello Fine People!! Welcome back to Trainwreck’d Society! We are making a one time only come back to present to you the 2016 edition of Oscar Preview with Chris & Ron. Although TWS is not going to be back in full form, we were pressured by our dear friends at Four Guys Drinking Podcast to do another round. So here we are!

2016 was sort of a lackluster year for Oscar related films. Sure, Leonardo DiCaprio is poised to FINALLY get his statue, and there were a few great films thrown in the mix, but overall it was a fairly mild year. But, that won’t stop Chris and I from battling it out for the fourth time. And just as in the year’s past, we tend to agree on some things, and totally disagree on others which makes this so much fun. After three years of fine tooth combing through the nominations, you would believe we would have this shit down by now, and be able to pick clear winners each time. You would think. But, you would be wrong. But, we have some damn fine educated guesses here for your perusal.

And as always, this is also a contest in which you get to decide which one of us chose the best overall! Head on over to the Facebook Event Page to take part in the fun, and even have the chance to win some cool(?) prizes, brought to you with the help of the finest Northwest based podcast that involves alcohol, Four Guys Drinking Podcast. Check out the podcast in the coming weeks to hear more about this awesome event. Cheers! And happy picking everyone!

Best Motion Picture of the Year
NOMINEES
Spotlight: Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Blye Pagon Faust
The Revenant: Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mary Parent, Keith Redmon
Room : Ed Guiney
Brooklyn: Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey
Bridge of Spies: Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt, Kristie Macosko Krieger
The Martian: Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer, Mark Huffam
Mad Max: Fury Road: Doug Mitchell, George Miller
The Big Short: Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner

Who Chris Wants To Win: The Revenant: Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mary Parent, Keith Redmon. This film represent the best in visual storytelling. If a person were to remove all the dialogue with the exception of the first sentence of the opening narration the understanding of the film would not be lot. This is not to say the film is simple, rather it is story focus is on depicting itself through visual elements incorporating long single take shots, amazing facial acting from Hardy and Leo, and creating cold and ominous atmosphere through sound mixing. Emotion and character motivations are at The Revenant’s core. This film best represents cinema in 2015.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Big Short: Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner. I want to be one of the cool kids and scream “Mad Max!!” but I am honestly not that series. I enjoy them as much as the next 80’s action film viewer, but not fanatical about it despite the nothing but positive reviews I have heard. It is my opinion that The Revenant is the only TRUE Oscar-like film in this category, and I am probably making a terrible (but totally honest) pick here. But, this film had me so enraged it was terrifying, and was by far my personal favorite among the batch.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Spotlight: Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Blye Pagon Faust. The film is a non-controversial “controversial” film. By that I mean, nobody was pro Priest seeing this movie. It’s easy to get behind this issue without being controversial. That is not to say the film is not deserving of the nomination, rather the Academy loves voting for these types of films – I’m looking at you Crash and no sane person is pro racism. This is an amazing peices of ensemble storytelling.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mary Parent, Keith Redmon for The Revenant. I’ve been certain in the past, and I have been completely wrong in the past. But, I honestly cannot see any other choice here. Unless the early hype for that God-awful piece of shit Spotlight sticks, I don’t see another choice here.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
NOMINEES
Trumbo: Bryan Cranston
The Revenant: Leonardo DiCaprio
Steve Jobs: Michael Fassbender
The Danish Girl: Eddie Redmayne
The Martian: Matt Damon

Who Chris Wants To Win: The Revenant: Leonardo DiCaprio. Why is Hardy not in this category? Not the best way to start my “Want’s to Win” section. Hardy created a character in this film while Leo dealt with a lot of bear pain. With that said, Leo is the nomination and Leo deserves a statue. I’m in this camp. Give him the damn Oscar. Although, Michael Fassbender with his performance of Jobs could steal the Oscar this year as the unfortunate set of events for Leo as one of the world’s best actors may still be the second best actor this particular year. As Scorsese winning for “The Departed” but not “Goodfellas” is an interesting insight here. “Tell the truth!” – Big Willie

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Revenant: Leonardo DiCaprio. The Academy has had a laughable approach of giving awards to folks for their least desirable work after years of dismissiveness (Scorsese for The Departed, Spike Lee’s Honorary Award this year). But, I think they will do the right thing here, and Leo is deserved recognition, in what could arguably be considered his finest performance yet.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: The Revenant: Leonardo DiCaprio. See Above. Hardy!

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: The Revenant: Leonardo DiCaprio. This may not be my favorite film DiCaprio film, but there is no denying how great Leo did with like 85% of the film being focused solely around his performance!

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
NOMINEES
Carol: Cate Blanchett
Room: Brie Larson
Brooklyn: Saoirse Ronan
Joy: Jennifer Lawrence
45 Years: Charlotte Rampling

Who Chris Wants To Win: Room: Brie Larson for Room. There may be some Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Lawrence fatigue in regards to voting. Room is a hard watch but an amazing peices of character driven film making. I just can’t see this going any other way. I do not see how anyone else could have pulled this roll off. Watch Room!

Who Ron Wants To Win: Room: Brie Larson for Room. This woman blew my mind with this seriously emotional performance. I still cannot believe how impressive “that girl from 21 Jump Street” was portraying an extremely conflicted character like this. Unless J-Law is the next Meryl Streep, she’s a clear winner.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Brie Larson for Room. See Above. Watch Room.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: Room: Brie Larson for Room. Unless J-Law is the next Meryl Streep, she’s a clear winner. Carol & Brooklyn were just dollar store romance novel pieces of dog shit (no offense to Nick Hornby, but what the hell, Man?).

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
NOMINEES
Bridge of Spies: Mark Rylance
Creed: Sylvester Stallone
The Revenant: Tom Hardy
Spotlight: Mark Ruffalo
The Big Short: Christian Bale

Who Chris Wants To Win: The Revenant: Tom Hardy. Hardy out shines Leo in Leo’s movie. Mark Ruffalo is amazing in Spotlight, Mark Rylance is a standout in a forgettable Bridge of Spies (Seriously Bridge of Spies, what are you doing with these nomination?), and Stallone will always be my Italian Stallion. This is one of the tightest races this year. Ruffalo probably should have won last year, but this year Hardy steals the film with a character I do not agree with but can understand why he does what he does in the film.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Revenant: Tom Hardy for The Revenant. There was a bit of conflict in this choice for me. Two actors that I thought gave great “supporting” performances are not on this list, one of them being Steve Carell for The Big Short, yet Christian Bale sits in his place on the actual nomination list (who was really the most lackluster, Steve Jobs impersonating performer of the cast). The other was Stanley Tucci in Spotlight, who was the only thing great about that HIGHLY over-rated trash heap of a film. I did dig Tom Hardy’s performance, but would have easily gone with different characters from Spotlight or The Big Short. But, alas, my vote goes to Bane.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win:The Revenant: Tom Hardy. You got lucky Leo. Hardy should be nominated for best actor but it has not been done since “The Bounty” with multiple actors from the same movie nominated against each other in the same category.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: The Revenant: Tom Hardy. If Bale gets an award for appearing in like 20 minutes of a 2 & ½ film, that would a shame. And I don’t believe the Academy actually likes Mark Ruffalo as much they pretend to. And I seriously do not think they Oscars could withstand the backlash (beyond what they are already receiving) if they gave the legendary meathead Sly Stallone an award for a performance in a film about Apollo Creed’s son. That would easily shut these crackers down.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
NOMINEES
The Hateful Eight: Jennifer Jason Leigh
The Danish Girl: Alicia Vikander
Steve Jobs: Kate Winslet
Spotlight: Rachel McAdams
Carol: Rooney Mara

Who Chris Wants To Win: The Danish Girl: Alicia Vikander. These five women are great and deserving of their nominations. Similar to best supporting actor, this is a very close race. Alicia Vikander should have been nominated for “Ex Machina” but that’s not on the list but I’ll take her equally talented work here.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Hateful Eight: Jennifer Jason Leigh. I honestly have not seen The Hateful Eight, and I am not happy with myself for this fact. I am honestly picking Leigh as just another Tarantino fan boy. I can only imagine that she was great. Also, Jennifer Jason Leigh had the first pair of boobs I can remember seeing, when I saw Fast Times at Ridgemont High when I was 9 years old. I have to support that.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: The Danish Girl: Alicia Vikander. See Above.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: Steve Jobs: Kate Winslet. This one could be easily split between Winslet or McAdams in my opinion. It is the first award given in the night, and I am certain this comes into play. Steve Jobs only has 4 nominations, and this seems like the easiest one for this film to win with ease, and start provide an inadvertent twist in the night’s events. And how delightfully cheesy would it be to have the infamous Titanic couple both win in one night?

Best Achievement in Directing
NOMINEES
The Revenant: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Spotlight: Tom McCarthy
Mad Max: Fury Road: George Miller
Room: Lenny Abrahamson
The Big Short: Adam McKay

Who Chris Wants To Win: Mad Max: Fury Road: George Miller. First, Ridley Scott should be on this list and Adam McKay should probably be bumped. Shot fired Ron! The Martian is mostly built around one actor in one location doing what a director should be doing – getting the best performance from their actor. It has not been senes John Ford that a director has won back to back best directing Oscars. It’s a safe bet Alejandro is out for that reason although still could. Now I’m going to be a hypocrite for my Ridley Scott argument and stay with George Miller that effect driven over character driven. That movie had so many complicated elements but remains simutanialsy so simple. It is a very short list of directors who could have pulled this technical feat that is unique in practical spectacle here in the 21st Century.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Big Short: Adam McKay. This movie was downright frustrating yet cleverly done. It was an amazing blend of comedy and drama in a truly unique fashion in which McKay should be completely proud of. And I want to someday hear the sentence: “Adam McKay, Academy Award winning director of The Big Short and Step Brothers.”

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Spotlight: Tom McCarthy. This film should win for best ensembles with well balanced elements. There be no technical awards here.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: The Revenant: Alejandro González Iñárritu. I truly think Inarritu is the new love child of the Academy and will be treated as such.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
NOMINEES
Bridge of Spies: Matt Charman, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Ex Machina: Alex Garland
Inside Out: Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley, Ronnie Del Carmen
Straight Outta Compton: Andrea Berloff, Jonathan Herman, S. Leigh Savidge, Alan Wenkus
Spotlight: Josh Singer, Tom McCarthy.

Who Chris Wants To Win: Spotlight: Josh Singer, Tom McCarthy. Spotlight could have become very convoluted with out this screenplay roadmap. The dark horse chance to win is Inside Out. Ex Machina got nominated which was a bit of surprise given the film’s early release.

Who Ron Wants To Win: Straight Outta Compton: Andrea Berloff, Jonathan Herman, S. Leigh Savidge, Alan Wenkus. I am honestly so disappointed with this category, which is usually my favorite by far. I am a huge fan of the writing in film, and this year simply failed to excite. Three of these “original” screenplays, are based on real events which leave little to the imagination, one is a god damned Pixar movie, and the other one I hadn’t heard of, until I looked it up, and then decided to hate Alex Garland all over again. So, I guess I will go with the NWA movie!

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Spotlight: Josh Singer, Tom McCarthy. See Above.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: Spotlight: Josh Singer, Tom McCarthy. Because, whatever.

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
NOMINEES
The Big Short: Charles Randolph, Adam McKay
Brooklyn: Nick Hornby
The Martian: Drew Goddard
Room: Emma Donoghue
Carol: Phyllis Nagy

Who Chris Wants To Win:The Big Short: Charles Randolph, Adam McKay. Numbers and the events surrounding these events are hard for a general public to digest. The writing created some interesting and unique ways to show those events in an average viewer could understand. This story could easily had become lost in its own message, but finds a way to tell a compelling story.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Big Short: Charles Randolph, Adam McKay. I think I’ve dick rode this movie enough already, you get it. But, props have to be given to Room, which is a very unique story, and even The Martian, which wasn’t nearly as terrible as I whole-heartedly expected it to be. And even if Brooklyn was about as terrible as Nick Hornby can do, it’s still Hornby, and I can accept that.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: The Martian: Drew Goddard. Steve Jobs isn’t nominated and nobody else knew these other projectors were adaptations. I’m told the humor from the book transferred amazing well which is a difficult thing to do especially given the context of the book being so internal dialogue driven.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: The Big Short: Charles Randolph, Adam McKay. “Academy Award winning screenwriter Adam McKay (The Big Short, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby). Brace yourselves.

Best Achievement in Cinematography
NOMINEES
Carol: Edward Lachman
The Hateful Eight: Robert Richardson
Mad Max: Fury Road: John Seale
The Revenant: Emmanuel Lubezki
Sicario: Roger Deakins

Who Chris Wants To Win: The Revenant: Emmanuel Lubezki. This could be Lubezki’s third in row win for this category – Gravity, Birdman and now The Revenant. This film went 20 million dollars over budget and was filmed nearly with 100 percent natural light. This film is 24 frame poetry in motion incorporating long single take shots which does not lose its spacial awareness. There are shots in this film I could stare out at for long periods of time without becoming board.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Hateful Eight: Robert Richardson. Again, just dick riding Tarantino a bit more, but also kissing up to Richardson himself. Dude spent years as a whipping boy to Oliver Stone, before moving on to work with far superior filmmakers like QT and Scorsese.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: The Revenant: Emmanuel Lubezki. See Above.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: Mad Max: Fury Road: John Seale. This is a rough category for me. It has seemed systematically impossible for a film to win both Best Picture and nag the Cinematography trophy as well (It has happened just twice since 2000). And there really doesn’t really seem to be a completely green screen all to hell terrible movie like Life of Pi or Gravity to throw in there, so I am willing to believe that Seale’s all natural yet exhilarating vision on Mad Max might actually come through on this one.

Best Achievement in Costume Design
NOMINEES
Carol: Sandy Powell
Cinderella: Sandy Powell
The Danish Girl: Paco Delgado
Mad Max: Fury Road: Jenny Beavan
The Revenant: Jacqueline West

Who Chris Wants To Win: Mad Max: Fury Road: Jenny Beavan. We are all War Boys now.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Revenant: Jacqueline West. Because I don’t really care. I honestly don’t know how to judge this category. At one point Leo wore a goddamned elk as a sleeping bag, so, that was a good costume!

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Mad Max: Fury Road: Jenny Beavan. Post-apocalyptic tribal costumes which tell the audience who these people are without narration telling the audience. People in bird costumes on stilts in a bog? Why not! It’s a bog, why wouldn’t you start using stilts to get around?

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: The Revenant: Jacqueline West. There really isn’t another option.

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
NOMINEES
Mad Max: Fury Road: Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff, Ben Osmo
The Martian: Paul Massey, Mark Taylor, Mac Ruth
The Revenant: Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom, Chris Duesterdiek
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens: Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, Stuart Wilson
Bridge of Spies: Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom, Drew Kunin

Who Chris Wants To Win: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens: Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, Stuart Wilson. This is a very tough category for me coming down to two choices, the second being The Revenant. Each represents a different approach in sound mixing. Star Wars is battle driven loud but mixed is well. Tie Fighters, X-Wings, music score, dialogue all layered on top of each other but not over shadowing one another. The Revenant is a quiet film relying on the creation of atmosphere. It is not the absence of sound but the creation of feeling through the small sounds of nature.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Martian: Paul Massey, Mark Taylor, Mac Ruth. I was surprised I liked this movie, so I would like to see it win one of these technical awards.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens: Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, Stuart Wilson. See Above.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: The Martian: Paul Massey, Mark Taylor, Mac Ruth. Because space.

Best Achievement in Editing
NOMINEES
Mad Max: Fury Road: Margaret Sixel
The Big Short: Hank Corwin
Spotlight: Tom McArdle
The Revenant: Stephen Mirrione
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens: Maryann Brandon, Mary Jo Markey

Who Chris Wants To Win: Mad Max: Fury Road: Margaret Sixel. There is not one wasted cut in this film. Large action set pieces flow operatic together retaining spacial continuity. A difficult accomplishment given a 30 plus car chase across the desert with attackers and heros leaping from vehicle to vehicle.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Revenant: Stephen Mirrione. Honestly I just don’t want Spotlight to win anything.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: The Big Short: Hank Corwin. The film is creative in its editing to take very big ideas and give them visual understanding. This movie also has no fat. If you cut anything else it would fundamentally change the way the audience would understand the work.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: The Revenant: Stephen Mirrione. I am committed to The Revenant being the big winner, which was not found in any of the writing categories, but has great potential for nabbing the Best Director spot. I think that editing will be the precursor to the bigger award.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
NOMINEES
Mad Max: Fury Road: Mark A. Mangini, David White
The Martian: Oliver Tarney
The Revenant: Martín Hernández, Lon Bender
Sicario: Alan Robert Murray
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens: Matthew Wood, David Acord

Who Chris Wants To Win: The Revenant: Martín Hernández, Lon Bender. The approach to this film was realism. From the visual to the sound, this film makes a person feel cold. The line between sound editing and sound mixing is a blurred one. The Sound Editing is that of created elements and Sound mixing is taking those elements to make a delicious soup. The elements here may be small but has the larger emotional punch.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Martian: Paul Massey, Mark Taylor, Mac Ruth. I was surprised I liked this movie, so I would like to see it win one of these technical awards.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens: Matthew Wood, David Acord. See Above.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: The Martian: Paul Massey, Mark Taylor, Mac Ruth. Because space.

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
NOMINEES
Ex Machina: Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Williams Ardington, Sara Bennett
Mad Max: Fury Road: Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver, Andy Williams
The Martian: Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence, Steven Warner
The Revenant: Richard McBride, Matt Shumway, Jason Smith, Cameron Waldbauer
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens: Roger Guyett, Pat Tubach, Neal Scanlan, Chris Corbould

Who Chris Wants To Win: Mad Max: Fury Road: Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver, Andy Williams. Practical effects are still visual effects and those were real cars slamming into real cars in the middle of a real desert with minimal CGI additions. With the exception of the final crash (Stupid 3D reason because the really wrecked the War Rig with a specially built room – dude almost died), deserves the award.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Martian: Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence, Steven Warner. I’m sure that Mad Max was great, but I’ve got to support Matt Damon Gets Saved Again.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens: Roger Guyett, Pat Tubach, Neal Scanlan, Chris Corbould. The film made over two billion dollars in two months. It needs to win something? Like more money? The CGI is great with a return to a lot of practical effects. What they pulled off is incredible, but I guess if you have all the money you should probably be able to pull it off. Not my first choice but still deserving of the award.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: Mad Max: Fury Road: Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver, Andy Williams. I think the Academy might surprise us all with this one.

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
NOMINEES
Mad Max: Fury Road: Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega, Damian Martin
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared: Love Larson, Eva Von Bahr
The Revenant: Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, Robert A. Pandini

Who Chris Wants To Win: The Revenant: Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, Robert A. Pandini. Hardy is a beautiful man and looks terrible in the film. I don’t even know how you make such a handsome man look so bad. Plus, all the bear attack wounds. That make-up was really good too.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Revenant: Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, Robert A. Pandini. Just a WAG.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: The Revenant: Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, Robert A. Pandini. See Above.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: The Revenant: Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, Robert A. Pandini. Just a WAG.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
NOMINEES
Spectre: Sam Smith, James Napier (as Jimmy Napes)
Song: “Writing’s On The Wall”
Youth: David Lang
Song: “Simple Song #3”
Fifty Shades of Grey: The Weeknd (as Abel Tesfaye), Belly (as Ahmad Balshe), Jason ‘DaHeala’ Quenneville, Stephan Moccio
Song: “Earned It”
The Hunting Ground: Diane Warren, Lady Gaga
Song: “Til It Happens to You”
Racing Extinction: J. Ralph, Antony Hegarty
Song: “Manta Ray”

Who Chris Wants To Win: The Hunting Ground: Diane Warren, Lady Gaga
Song: “Til It Happens to You”. Lady Gaga is one of the Best Pop artists today. Pop is short for Popular and she will probably win.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Hunting Ground: Diane Warren, Lady Gaga
Song: “Til It Happens to You”. This was a pretty shitty year for this category. I’m not a huge fan of any of these songs, but I do dig Lady Gaga, so I will go with her.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: The Hunting Ground: Diane Warren, Lady Gaga
Song: “Til It Happens to You”. See Above.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: The Hunting Ground: Diane Warren, Lady Gaga
Song: “Til It Happens to You”. The Globes gave her an award for acting, and the Academy WILL give something to her for her music. The next Madonna, everyone.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
NOMINEES
Carol: Carter Burwell
The Hateful Eight: Ennio Morricone
Sicario: Jóhann Jóhannsson
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens: John Williams
Bridge of Spies: Thomas Newman

Who Chris Wants To Win: The Hateful Eight: Ennio Morricone, Morricone scored John Carpenter’s “The Thing.” The Hateful Eight is “The Thing” without aliens (Illegal Aliens, I’m looking at you Bob the Mexican). That Score should win too!

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Hateful Eight: Ennio Morricone. Tarantino!!!!

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: The Hateful Eight: Ennio Morricone. John Williams has been nominated 42 times and won four. Ennio Morricone has never won, and the score is worthy of the victory. Carter Burwell for Carol could be an upset but I think Morricone has the edge.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens: John Williams. Lucky number 42 will lead to his 5th win! I truly think this will be the only nod to Star Wars.

Best Short Film, Animated
NOMINEES
Bear Story: Gabriel Osorio Vargas, Pato Escala Pierart
We Can’t Live Without Cosmos: Konstantin Bronzit
Prologue: Richard Williams, Imogen Sutton
Sanjay’s Super Team: Sanjay Patel, Nicole Paradis Grindle
World of Tomorrow: Don Hertzfeldt

Who Chris Wants To Win: World of Tomorrow: Don Hertzfeldt. Sadly, did not get to this category and this is just a draw from the hat.

Who Ron Wants To Win: Sanjay’s Super Team: Sanjay Patel, Nicole Paradis Grindle. Just a WAG.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: World of Tomorrow: Don Hertzfeldt. See Above.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: World of Tomorrow: Don Hertzfeldt. Another WAG.

Best Short Film, Live Action
NOMINEES
Ave Maria: Basil Khalil, Eric Dupont
Day One: Henry Hughes
Everything Will Be Okay: Patrick Vollrath
Shok: Jamie Donoughue
Stutterer: Benjamin Cleary, Serena Armitage

Who Chris Wants To Win: Everything Will Be Okay: Patrick Vollrath. Sadly, did not get to this category and this is just a draw from the hat.

Who Ron Wants To Win: Ave Maria: Basil Khalil, Eric Dupont

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Everything Will Be Okay: Patrick Vollrath. See Above.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: Ave Maria: Basil Khalil, Eric Dupont. Sure why not.

Best Documentary, Short Subject
NOMINEES
Body Team 12: David Darg, Bryn Mooser
Chau, Beyond the Lines: Courtney Marsh, Jerry Franck
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah: Adam Benzine
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Last Day of Freedom: Dee Hibbert-Jones, Nomi Talisman

Who Chris Wants To Win: Last Day of Freedom: Dee Hibbert-Jones, Nomi Talisman. Short subject with low stakes but has a very Humanistic theme most can relate to. A Girl in the River could be an upset but I think it won’t quite make it there due to the the academy voting block being mostly white older men.

Who Ron Wants To Win: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Last Day of Freedom: Dee Hibbert-Jones, Nomi Talisman. See Above.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Best Documentary, Feature
NOMINEES
Amy: Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees
Cartel Land: Matthew Heineman, Tom Yellin
The Look of Silence : Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen
What Happened, Miss Simone?: Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby, Justin Wilkes
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom: Evgeny Afineevsky, Den Tolmor

Who Chris Wants To Win: Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom: Evgeny Afineevsky, Den Tolmor. Because politics and documentary “are like shoe and lace, both are nothing without each other.” Good documentary but international politics are a pretty low priority today, unless it’s animal stuff.

Who Ron Wants To Win: What Happened, Miss Simone?: Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby, Justin Wilkes. This was a wonderful documentary, about somebody I always thought I knew, but learned so much about. What an awesome lady!

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Amy: Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees. The Academy has a history of giving statues to music documentaries, so easy points. Also, this film has probably been seen by the most people.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: Amy: Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees. I don’t think this really deserves anything, but it did have the most eyes on it, I suppose.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
NOMINEES
Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia)
A War (Denmark)
Mustang (France)
Son of Saul (Hungary)
Theeb (Jordan)

Who Chris Wants To Win: Son of Saul (Hungary). The film has won the most awards internationally, although this category is the most unpredictable because Hollywood is the center of the universe and subtitles are *stupid. HIgh Five.
*Subtitles are not stupid. To quote John Waters, “Give me white subtitles in a snowstorm.”

Who Ron Wants To Win: Theeb (Jordan) . This was honestly the only one I saw. And it was good.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Son of Saul (Hungary). Mustang could take it, but will not.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: Theeb (Jordan) . This was the easiest one to find on the Internet. That’s all I am going off of here.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
NOMINEES
Anomalisa: Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson, Rosa Tran
Inside Out: Pete Docter, Jonas Rivera
Shaun the Sheep Movie: Mark Burton, Richard Starzak
When Marnie Was There: Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Yoshiaki Nishimura
Boy & the World: Alê Abreu

Who Chris Wants To Win: Shaun the Sheep Movie: Mark Burton, Richard Starzak. The film has little to no dialogue. It’s Claymation and British and therefore superior. All hail our Wallace and Gromit Overlords! Really, claymation is the best. Adam, “A Town Called Panic.” Am I right?

Who Ron Wants To Win: Anomalisa: Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson, Rosa Tran. I’m gonna say it….THIS WAS THE BEST FILM OF THE YEAR!!! I shit you not, I absolutely loved Anomalisa. I never would have imagined that they best film at the Oscars would be an animated film. But, with a genius like Charlie Kaufman on board, it’s pretty much to be expected. Seriously, watch this one. Hands down the best of the year.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Inside Out: Pete Docter, Jonas Rivera. Should have been nominated for Best Picture, but the Academy is still years away for nominating color.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: Anomalisa: Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson, Rosa Tran. The Academy has a very reasonable hard-on for Charlie Kaufman. I’m almost willing to bet my 2nd favorite child on the fact this film wins. Again….BEST FILM OF THE YEAR!!!

Best Achievement in Production Design
NOMINEES

Bridge of Spies: Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo, Bernhard Henrich
Mad Max: Fury Road: Colin Gibson, Lisa Thompson
The Martian: Arthur Max, Celia Bobak
The Revenant: Jack Fisk, Hamish Purdy

Who Chris Wants To Win: Mad Max: Fury Road: Colin Gibson, Lisa Thompson. I want Mad Max to win more awards, but the film’sWho Ron Wants To Win: Anomalisa: Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson, Rosa Tran. I’m gonna say it….THIS WAS THE BEST FILM OF THE YEAR!!! I shit you not, I absolutely loved Anomalisa. I never would have imagined that they best film at the Oscars would be an animated film. But, with a genius like Charlie Kaufman on board, it’s pretty much to be expected. Seriously, watch this one. Hands down the best of the year.

Who Ron Wants To Win: The Revenant: Jack Fisk, Hamish Purdy. Just trying to collect some more points for my big pick of the year.

Who Chris Thinks Will Actually Win: Mad Max: Fury Road: Colin Gibson, Lisa Thompson. See Above.

Who Ron Thinks Will Actually Win: The Revenant: Jack Fisk, Hamish Purdy. Even if I am completely wrong about The Revenant stealing the show, I’m pretty sure this will at least be a pity win.