Oscars 2016 predictions and favorites, Mad Max or The Revenant?

The voting for the Oscars ended on Tuesday and now we need to wait until Sunday to see the results of the Academy’s voting. Meanwhile here’s a reminder of the nominees and our predictions/favorites on who will win the golden statuette.

In short the prediction is that it’s going to be (mostly) The Revenant’s night sharing the bounty with Mad Max: Fury Road.

Mad Max: Fury Road will win the most Oscars, 5-7 in numbers, all in technical categories. The Revenant should have at least 3 including the one about Best Picture.  If Mad Max was released later in 2015 probably would have own the night completely.

What’s fun is that Tom Hardy is in both films and in both he is kind of in a supporting role, even though he is the titular character in Mad Max.

Below you will find a more detailed explanation.

Best Picture

If we rule out the obvious non-winners we’re left with three choices: The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road and The Martian. Of these three, The Martian has the least chances to win the Oscar for Best Picture.

We want it to be Mad Max: Fury Road, but it will probably be The Revenant.

Directing

Alejandro G. Iñárritu and George Miller lead the battle for Best Director. Now, Iñárritu won last year for Birdman and historically only two directors have won the Oscar for directing in two consecutive years. He could be the third as The Revenant is a really strong film, both artistically and philosophically, unlike Mad Max: Fury Road where the philosophical implications are lying under heavy action scenes.

However we believe that George Miller will be the Academy’s choice this year and it will balance out with the winner for Best Picture which will most likely be The Revenant.

Prediction and a favorite: George Miller. Slightly less chances to win: Alejandro G. Iñárritu

Actress in a Leading Role

Brie Larson vs. Cate Blanchet with Saoirse Ronan as a possible surprise. While Jennifer Lawrence as Joy is the public’s choice, we don’t really feel that her performance was strong enough, nor that the film was good enough to deserve the attention it got. Carol on the other hand is a critics favorite and both Brie Larson and Cate Blanchet were nominated for a Golden Globe, with Larson winning, and Lawrence also wining in the Comedy/Drama category.

This one is difficult to predict, but we stand by Brie Larson.

Prediction and a favorite: Brie Larson.

Actor in  a Leading Role

Will it be Leonardo DiCaprio’s year? Maybe, if only Eddie Redmayne wasn’t on the list.

Eddie won last year for The Theory of Everything, again, there are only two actors in the history of the Oscars who won consecutively in two years, this might play against him or just be a confirmation for his strong acting abilities.

Both strong performances, but we lean towards Eddie Redmayne.

Prediction: Eddie Redmayne. No favorites.

Actress in a Supporting Role

Considering that The Hateful Eight has only three Oscar nominations, shows that the Academy wasn’t inclined to the latest Tarantino film, but Jennifer Jason Leigh‘s performance didn’t go unnoticed. Alicia Vikander could be the only rival to Jennifer, but she was opposite Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl which makes her performance difficult to shine.

Prediction and a favorite: Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Actor in a Supporting Role

It’s either Christian Bale or Tom Hardy. Bale had much more screen time in The Big Short than Hardy in The Revenant, which basically features DiCaprio almost exclusively. But, Christian Bale’s character was really one dimensional and feels like a deja vu to many of his previous roles, so perhaps Tom Hardy will win this Oscar.

Sylvester Stallone could be a surprise, but very slim chances.

Prediction: Christian Bale. Editor’s favorite: Tom Hardy.

Best Animated Feature Film

While Anomalisa is considered the animation art piece for 2015, the heavy depressing themes that overlay the film, makes it suitable to be nominated for Best Picture if only it wasn’t an animation film. Inside Out on the other hand won the hearts of adults and kids alike, even if the kids didn’t quite understood what is going on with the loony characters that are suppose to be the basic human emotions. So, Inside Out it is.

Prediction: Inside Out. No favorites.

Original Song

Ok, this one is way too easy, Writing’s on the Wall for Spectre, by Sam Smith.

Visual Effects

Mad Max: Fury Road owns this category solely by the fact that all visual effects are practical and minimal CGI is used throughout the movie. Surprises are not excluded, Ex Machina for example.

Prediction and a favorite: Mad Max: Fury Road.

Cinematography

Also an easy category to be predicted because of Tarantino’s “glorious 70mm” film. The Hateful Eight is filmed in the widest possible format and theaters had to be retro fitted with special equipment for the movie to be projected correctly, as the director imagined.

Prediction: The Hateful Eight. Favorite: Mad Max: Fury Road.

We have omitted categories that were too technical to be observed just by one watching of the movies and categories for movies we didn’t get the chance to see yet. Also, we did try to give the best unbiased judgement.

What are your thoughts?