The title says it all. This has been a hell of a race, maybe the mostg entertainingly unpredictable since 2000 when it was Gladiator Vs. Traffi Vs. Courching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Vs. Erin Brokovich. What we have here is basically a three way race between the three titular aforementioned titles, The Revenant seems to eb the favorite at the moment, even though it failed to win the Producers Guild Award or the Screen Actors Guild. If it does end up winning Best Picture it would be a first since the preferential ballot that a film has won the top prize without winning the PGA. What has made people lean towards The Revenant is that it won the Director's Guild Award and is running very high off the momentum that this could be a two straighter for Inarritu in terms of winning Best Picture and Best Director, a feat very hard to achieve and more rare than winning two straight Super Bowls.
My own personal opinion of the three films is this: The Revenant is my type of film, ambitious and no-holds barred, it doesn't really fit into a particular category, which is always a good thing, I espied the flashbacks of Leo's deceased wife in the film and, really, the whole spiritual aspect of the screenplay (was there even a screenplay except for grunting and crying?), but the artistry was second to none and, as it stands, it is the most astonishing achievement of the three films battling.
Spotlight is fantastic, but suffers in terms of the flashiness that the Academy usually seeks in awarding their top prize, if that weren't the case they would have given the Best Picture Oscar to All The President's Men in 1976. Instead they opted to go with the more exuberant Rocky.Nevertheless, Tom Mccarthy's Boston Catholic church sex scandal picture is built to last. It's subtle direction by McCarthy is magnificently restrained and the performances are all so perfect and professional. His previous three great features, we're not counting the misbegotten Sandler bomb The Cobbler, found a way to sneak up on us even months, years later after their release. I recently revisited The Visitor and it holds up admirably well, a film with a universal theme that is built to last, ditto The Station Agent.
The Big Short will be the biggest contender for The Revenant. It is a film that has built a loyal and solid fanbase since its first presss screenings at the AFI Film Fest back in very late November. It is my least favorite of the three, but stands a good chance at winning the top prize because of its PGA win. Adam McKay, known for directing Will Ferrell comedies, helms the movie and does a surprisingly decent job at conveying the frustration that came with the economy downfall. As mentioned it has its fans and the cast is uniformly perfect, especially Christian Bale as a numbers guy that predicted the collapse way before it actually happened. Hollywood loves smartly executed, not to mention flashily directed, movies about money and this could be the big reason why it'll make it all the way.
Prediction: The Revenant will just squeak by.
What should win? 2015's two masterpieces: Mad Max: Fury Road, a miracle of a movie that will be remembered more than any other 2015 film in 30 years. Carol, Todd Haynes' beautiful lesbian drama, was stupidly not nominated, another reason to take all these awards with a grain of salt.
My own personal opinion of the three films is this: The Revenant is my type of film, ambitious and no-holds barred, it doesn't really fit into a particular category, which is always a good thing, I espied the flashbacks of Leo's deceased wife in the film and, really, the whole spiritual aspect of the screenplay (was there even a screenplay except for grunting and crying?), but the artistry was second to none and, as it stands, it is the most astonishing achievement of the three films battling.
Spotlight is fantastic, but suffers in terms of the flashiness that the Academy usually seeks in awarding their top prize, if that weren't the case they would have given the Best Picture Oscar to All The President's Men in 1976. Instead they opted to go with the more exuberant Rocky.Nevertheless, Tom Mccarthy's Boston Catholic church sex scandal picture is built to last. It's subtle direction by McCarthy is magnificently restrained and the performances are all so perfect and professional. His previous three great features, we're not counting the misbegotten Sandler bomb The Cobbler, found a way to sneak up on us even months, years later after their release. I recently revisited The Visitor and it holds up admirably well, a film with a universal theme that is built to last, ditto The Station Agent.
The Big Short will be the biggest contender for The Revenant. It is a film that has built a loyal and solid fanbase since its first presss screenings at the AFI Film Fest back in very late November. It is my least favorite of the three, but stands a good chance at winning the top prize because of its PGA win. Adam McKay, known for directing Will Ferrell comedies, helms the movie and does a surprisingly decent job at conveying the frustration that came with the economy downfall. As mentioned it has its fans and the cast is uniformly perfect, especially Christian Bale as a numbers guy that predicted the collapse way before it actually happened. Hollywood loves smartly executed, not to mention flashily directed, movies about money and this could be the big reason why it'll make it all the way.
Prediction: The Revenant will just squeak by.
What should win? 2015's two masterpieces: Mad Max: Fury Road, a miracle of a movie that will be remembered more than any other 2015 film in 30 years. Carol, Todd Haynes' beautiful lesbian drama, was stupidly not nominated, another reason to take all these awards with a grain of salt.