Oscar Predictions 2015

And so it goes!  Will update post afterwards to reflect how close my predictions were.

PICTURE: The Revenant Spotlight
DIRECTOR: Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant
ACTOR: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
ACTRESS: Brie Larson, Room
SUP. ACTOR: Sylvester Stallone, Creed Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
SUP. ACTRESS: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
ORIG. SCREENPLAY: Spotlight
ADAP. SCREENPLAY: The Big Short
ANIMATED FILM: Inside Out
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Son of Saul
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Mad Max: Fury Road
CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Revenant
COSTUME DESIGN: Cinderella Mad Max: Fury Road
EDITING: Mad Max: Fury Road
SCORE: The Hateful Eight
SONG: "Til It Happens To You", The Hunting Ground "Writing's On The Wall", Spectre
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: Mad Max: Fury Road
SOUND MIXING: The Revenant Mad Max: Fury Road
SOUND EDITING: The Revenant Mad Max: Fury Road
VISUAL EFFECTS: The Revenant Ex Machina
DOCUMENTARY: Amy
DOC- SHORT SUBJECT: Body Team 12 A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
SHORT FILM- ANIMATED: World of Tomorrow Bear Story
SHORT FILM- LIVE ACTION: Shok Stutterer

The Revenant: 7 3 wins
Mad Max: Fury Road: 3 6 wins
Spotlight: 1 2 wins

We'll see how it goes.  Hollywood loves Inarritu, and all signs point to a consecutive win for Director and Picture (The Revenant- won DGA).  Maybe a split between Picture and Director, but I'll be conservative and assume it wins both. Yay, Spotlight!  A great film, and happy to see it win, though Inarritu's visuals dominated Tom McCarthy's procedural , thoughtful approach in showcasing journalism.  I'm sorry to see The Big Short (won WGA and PGA) and Spotlight (won SAG) relegated to just the Screenplay categories. Also happy to see all the Mad Max: Fury Road love.  Too bad George Miller couldn't had taken director.  I also loved seeing Ennio Morricone finally win a competitive Oscar after his long career as a composer.

Last year, I got 20 out of 24 correct.  Cleaned up in the Alamo Drafthouse Oscar pool. I don't think I'll do that good this year.  Nope, probably my worst performance ever. 14 out of 24 correct.  The tradeoff for an unpredictable year. 

Look for my more detailed reactions later.