It's an Honor Just to Be Nominated...

It's that time of year again when I get into heated arguments with co-workers, screaming matches with bar patrons that end with, "Go read Variety!", and scorched-earth Facebook comment wars with film fans. No, it's not the 2016 Presidential race, it's the Oscars and I have endless opinions about it.

And here they are: 

Best Picture

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Brooklyn

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Room

Spotlight

My guess this year is that The Revenant is going to do some sweepage. There's been lots of critical love for Mad Max, but it's just not the kind of movie that usually grabs the trophy. If I haven't nodded off into my cocktail, having overdosed on Cadillac commercials and movie trailers- perhaps there will be a surprise at the end of the Oscars telecast.

Snubbed- Inside Out, The Hateful 8, Carol, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (if the first one got nominated, why not this one?)

Best Actor

Bryan Cranston- Trumbo

Matt Damon- The Martian

Leonardo DiCaprio- The Revenant

Michael Fassbender- Steve Jobs

Eddie Redmayne- The Danish Girl

Leo should probably clear off a shelf for his first Oscar. He's a big movie star who went through physical torture for this film- and Hollywood loves when  actors suffer for a role. Watch out for the well-loved Matt Damon for anchoring Castaway in space.

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett- Carol

Brie Larson- Room

Jennifer Lawrence- Joy

Charlotte Rampling- 45 Years

Saoirse Ronan- Brooklyn

This is a great category. These ladies are all top-notch actresses- and yes, I think JLaw is a good actress. Loved her in American Hustle (2013). But don't look for Joy to generate any love. Brie Larson has all the buzz and this category loves a first-time, younger recipient. Cate could steal it- but since she gets nominated for opening her front door- it's likely she'll be in this category again real soon.

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale- The Big Short

Tom Hardy- The Revenant

Mark Ruffalo- Spotlight

Mark Rylance- Bridge of Spies

Sylvester Stallone- Creed

This category is also chocked full o' talent. My vote is for Tom Hardy because he has been working his well-toned ass off all year in Revenant, Mad Max, and Legend where he plays twins. He has publicly flipped the bird to winning the Oscar, but Brando and Kate Hepburn both stuck their tongues out at the honor and they both won multiple times. Ruffalo and Rylance are acting powerhouses who have probably earned this award many times over so there's a chance for them. Stallone might have some nostalgic support- but he already got all the Oscar gold he deserved from the Rocky franchise the first time out. Rocky beat Network! No Justice, No Peace!

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Jason Leigh- The Hateful Eight

Rooney Mara- Carol

Rachel McAdams- Spotlight

Alicia Vikander- The Danish Girl

Kate Winslet- Steve Jobs

Will Kate add to her statuette collection? Will Rooney get to homebase on her second date with Oscar? Hard to say.

Best Directing

Adam McKay- The Big Short

George Miller- Mad Max: Fury Road

Alejandro González Iñárritu- The Revenant

Lenny Abrahamson- Room

Tom McCarthy- Spotlight

Inarritu was last year's Oscar darling, so why should this year be any different? It's a good bet that the name the presenter calls out will be his... and that they will stumble all over themselves pronouncing it. Miller or McCarthy might slip in if there's an upset.

Snubbed- Todd Haynes- A brilliant auteur. He makes movies you want to watch on the big screen. Same could be said for Tarantino, but it looks like he's pissed-off everybody this year.

Best Original Score

Thomas Newman- Bridge of Spies

Carter Burwell- Carol

Ennio Morricone- The Hateful Eight

Jóhann Jóhannsson- Sicario

John Williams- Star Wars: The Force Awakens

This is a musical clash of the titans! It's Morricone vs. Williams. Williams won an Oscar for his first Star Wars score and the new one is beautifully evocative of that masterpiece. But Morricone has been cranking out some of the most beautiful film scores since the sixties and doesn't have a competitive statuette. (He was given an honorary award in 2007.) Give it to him. Give it to him before he dies.

Trivia- Thomas Newman (The Shawshank Redemption (1994), American Beauty (1999), Skyfall (2012)) has movie scoring in his genes. He's the cousin of folksy composer Randy Newman (Ragtime (1981), The Natural (1984), Toy Story (1995)) and the son of legendary studio composer Alfred Newman (All About Eve (1950), The Seven Year Itch (1955), Leave Her to Heaven (1945)).

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Big Short- Charles Randolph and Adam McKay

Brooklyn- Nick Hornby

Carol- Phyllis Nagy

The Martian- Drew Goddard

Room- Emma Donoghue

I'm leaning towards Carol on this one because the source material written by Patricia Highsmith is revered for its lesbian sexual rebellion. The Martian or Room could slip in for ingenuity.

Best Original Screenplay

Bridge of Spies- Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

Ex Machina- Alex Garland

Inside Out- Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen

Spotlight- Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy

Straight Outta Compton- Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge, Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff

I like Inside Out because the script is wonderfully imaginative- but Spotlight is more likely to win because it deals with the Catholic church molestation scandal which is up there with Holocaust dramas for Oscar love.

Best Animated Feature Film

Anomalisa- Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson and Rosa Tran

Boy and the World- Alê Abreu

Inside Out- Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera

Shaun the Sheep Movie- Mark Burton and Richard Starzak

When Marnie Was There- Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura

Inside Out. Next?

Best Documentary – Feature

Amy- Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees

Cartel Land- Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin

The Look of Silence- Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen

What Happened, Miss Simone?- Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby and Justin Wilkes

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom- Evgeny Afineevsky and Den Tolmor

Amy's going to nab this one. Miss Simone was really wonderful, but Amy was more fucked-up than Nina- and nobody really wants to give Netflix an Oscar.

Snubbed- Meru, Listen to Me Marlon, and He Named Me Malala. How awesome would it have been to see Malala go up and accept the Oscar? I mean- Amy Winehouse won't be at the ceremony.

Well, that's what I think, folks.

What do you think?