Countdown to Oscar Night: Best Adapted Screenplay

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room

Wow.... Four of my most favorite movies of the year.... and Carol. Don't get me wrong I really dug that one too, but the others are all in my current top ten of 2015 so this one is tough for me. Room is the best film, but its magic lies more in its performances and source material. Brooklyn is beautiful, but didn't really break any new screenwriting ground. So that leaves The Martian and The Big Short. The Big Short is a daringly original adaptation of a timely nonfiction book directed by a man whose most serious work up to this point was a really solid episode of Eastbound & Down. It'll most likely win, but I have to go with The Martian simply because Drew Goddard was able to distill Andy Weir's science geek masterpiece into an almost perfect screen translation without making me upset enough to throw anything at the screen. It'll also made Abby start using the phrase "we have to do the MATH Daddy!", which just gives me happy goose pimples all over!

My Ballot:
The Martian
The Big Short
Room
Brooklyn
Carol

My Pick to Win:
The Big Short

Shoulda Been Here:
Steve Jobs

Countdown to Oscar Night: Best Original Screenplay

Best Original Screenplay
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton

With the huge amount of creative and innovative screenplays this year, this is an incredibly ho-hum list. Where is Dope? Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl? Tangerine? It Follows? Beasts of No Nation? Bone Tomahawk? and, most notably, The Hateful Eight? Ex Machina and Inside Out both get points for originality but neither had enough emotional punch for me (yes, even Inside Out). Straight Outta Compton was good just felt about 45 minutes too long because of the need to squeeze in every detail of Dre, Cube, and Eazy's life story. Spotlight was solid, but completely "by-the-numbers", and I don't really get all its award season love. The only deserving winner here, especially from a screenplay standpoint, is Bridge of Spies.

My Ballot:
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Straight Outta Compton
Inside Out
Spotlight

My Pick to Win:
Spotlight

Shoulda Been Here:
The Hateful Eight

Countdown to Oscar Night: Best Makeup & Hairstyling

Best Makeup & Hairstyling
The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant

Kind of a ho-hum category here.  The Academy must really dig "old-person transformation makeup"; although it is a bit of a step up from Johnny Knoxville's "Bad Grandpa", "The 100 Year Old Man....." isn't much of a masterpiece. It was neat, but that was about it. I think The Revenant got the nod simply for making Tom Hardy and Leo Dicaprio look ugly. The only real artistry here though was the originality of Mad Max, and it will get the Oscar.

My Ballot:
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

My Pick to Win:
Mad Max: Fury Road

Shoulda Been Here:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (for the return of Chewbacca alone!)

Countdown to Oscar Night: Best Sound Editing/Mixing

Best Sound Editing                                Best Sound Mixing
Mad Max: Fury Road                               Bridge of Spies
The Martian                                              Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant                                            The Martian
Sicario                                                      The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens                 Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Probably the most misunderstood of all of the Academy's categories are the sound categories. Editing is creating new sound (i.e.: R2-D2's voice) whereas Mixing is balancing and amplifying the sound that is there (i.e.: producing the singers of Les Miserables). I'm pretty sure Mad Max is going to sweep all of these technical categories, and I believe it deserves it for Mixing for the guitar player alone. On the other hand, the editing doesn't hold up to Ben Burtt and company's flawless work on Star Wars. BB-8 deserves an Oscar by himself!

My Ballots:
Best Sound Editing                                  Best Sound Mixing
Star Wars: The Force Awakens                 Mad Max: Fury Road
Mad Max: Fury Road                                The Martian
The Martian                                               Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Sicario                                                       The Revenant
The Revenant                                             Bridge of Spies

My Picks to Win:
Best Sound Editing                                 Best Sound Mixing
Mad Max: Fury Road                                Mad Max: Fury Road

Shoulda Been Here:
Best Sound Editing                                 Best Sound Mixing
Beasts of No Nation                                  Dope

Countdown to Oscar Night: Best Visual Effects

Best Visual Effects
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I usually avoid Star Wars films on my year-end reviews, but this is the category that you simply can't ignore. The Force Awakens took us to new worlds and (whether simply because of technology or a shift in attention to detail) is the most utterly beautiful film in the franchise. Ex Machina was subtle and beautiful, but simply didn't have enough effects to compete with these others. The Revenant's beauty is in its scenery and cinematography. The Martian was perfect but never really wowed with any visuals. Mad Max will most likely win here which is unfortunate because it heralds a return to practical effects (real crashes, explosions, and stuntmen) and I'm not sure that is what this category is meant to be about.

My Ballot:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The Martian
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant

My Pick to Win:
Mad Max: Fury Road

Shoulda Been Here:
Avengers: Age of Ultron

Countdown to Oscar night: Best Score

Best Score
Bridge of Spies
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Bridge of Spies, Carol, and Sicario each had scores that, while not distracting from their film, certainly didn't add much. Every Star Wars film has been driven by its John Williams score, and while The Force Awakens was no exception, very little new was added to the saga by way of music. Every Star Wars film has added a new theme (ANH - THE theme, ESB - Imperial March, ROTJ - Yub Nub (and others), TPM - Duel of the Fates, AOTC - Across the Stars, ROTS - Battle of the Heroes), but there wasn't really a recognizable tune to any of the new music in the franchise's return to glory. That leaves Ennio Morricone's masterful work on The Hateful Eight. He has an Oscar, but it was honorary. He didn't even get nominated for any of his work on the "spaghetti westerns". This year, the award is his.

My Ballot:
The Hateful Eight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Bridge of Spies
Carol
Sicario

My Pick to Win:
The Hateful Eight

Shoulda Been Here:
Inside Out

Best of '15: When Marnie was There

In this world, there's an invisible magic circle. There's an inside and an outside... and I am outside.

As the finale in my "Best of '15" series, I present to you the most surprising, breathtaking, and heart-wrenching film of the year. Part teen angst film, part ghost story, part love story, and all of the whimsy one can fit into 103 minutes of moving pictures as gloriously beautiful as the still frame pictured above. I'm not so sure this should be your first foray into Japanese animation (that would probably be Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, or Spirited Away), but if you are open and willing, you will be treated to the best film released in the United States during the 2015 calendar year.

I have long been a fan of Studio Ghibli and especially its central filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. The mighty godfather of animation is 74 years old now and constantly speaking of retirement. It first seemed that his son Goro would be the heir to the empire, but his two films have been solid but underwhelming. I submit that we have found the man to keep the vaunted animation studio on the top of its games for years to come, Hiromasa Yonebayashi. That may be a mouthful (especially for our English mouths), but his adaptation of the Borrowers (Arriety) in 2010 was perfection, and he has improved on his craft with this masterpiece.