We Don't Need Two Metaphors

Some last minute predictions for tonight's Academy Awards. As per usual, some awards are all but sewn up whilst others are wide open. Picks for Will Win and Could Win choices are based on all nominated films, Should Win choices are only based on the films I have seen. Brief list of some of the films that I haven't seen:  The Big Short ,  Trumbo ,  The Danish Girl ,  Joy ,  Creed ,  Straight Outta Compton ,  Son of Saul. Best Film Will Win:  The Revenant Could Win:  The Big Short Should Win:  Spotlight Best Director Will Win: Alejandro G. Iñárritu ( The Revenant ) Could Win: George Miller ( Mad Max: Fury Road ) Should Win: George Miller ( Mad Max: Fury Road )

Its status as an ever present competitor in this year's awards season has perhaps caused the momentum behind Spotlight  to dwindle as the race reaches its end, which means it will likely lose to the much showier (and gruntier/more grunty/?) The Revenant .  That's a shame, not only because Spotlight  is one of the year's very best, but because it's a magnificent testimonial to the shrinking practice of long term journalism and a fascinating exploration of how the deep rooted influence of an institution such as the Catholic Church can directly and indirectly affect the people of Boston.

My final predictions for tonight's ceremony Some last minute predictions for tonight's Academy Awards. As per usual, some awards are all but sewn up whilst others are wide open. Picks for Will Win and Could Win choices are based on all nominated films, Should Win choices are only based on the films I have seen and I will only pick a Not even nominated choice if I can think of a suitable one. Brief list of films that I haven't seen: American Sniper , Wild , Still Alice , The Judge , Into The Woods , Mr Turner  and (somehow?!?)  all of the nominees in the Best Foreign Film, Best Animated Film and Best Documentary categories. Best Film Will Win: Boyhood Could Win: Birdman Should Win: Boyhood Not even nominated: Foxcatcher Best Director Will Win: Richard Linklater (Boyhood) Could Win: Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman) Should Win: Richard Linklater (Boyhood) Not even nominated: Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) Best Actor Will Win: Eddie Redmayn...

Damien Chazelle’s exhilarating new film has been riding a critical wave after premiering at Sundance (scooping up the festival’s grand jury and audience prizes on its way) and may just make it all the way to Oscar night. On the surface Whiplash may look like a jazz musical but in reality, it’s the most adrenaline fuelled roller-coaster since Gravity . Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) is an ambitious drummer at the prodigious Shaffer Conservatory music school who gets the opportunity to play in the lead jazz band, under the conductorship of Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons). Fletcher sees some talent in Andrew, but how far is Andrew willing to go to become the best.

Creating and expressing ambiguity in film is a complicated trick to perfect: how much can be left unresolved before that original intention for ambiguity becomes lost in disorganised tangle of themes and narrative threads. It’s exciting to see films that can be interpreted in different ways, but each interpretation needs to be clear and defendable. Unfortunately Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) doesn’t know what it wants to say (or fails to clearly express what it wants to say), despite all of the irrefutably enjoyable things about it. It’s so confused that it can’t even decide if it wants to use its poncey subtitle or not.

My final predictions for tonight's ceremony This year's awards race has been one of the most open and encompassing of recent years. You only have to look back at last year's race, when it was obvious from a very early stage that The Artist  was going to win, to see how uneventful the annual awards race can be. This year, most of the major films have had their ups and downs. Things have settled in the past few weeks but the unpredictability of past few months means that many awards aren't pinned down. So I shall be making my picks in each of the categories based on what I think will win, what I think might win, what I think should win and what I think should've been nominated. I'll only make picks for should win and should've been nominated where I've seen enough of the nominees. Best Film Will Win: Argo Could Win: Lincoln Should Win: Zero Dark Thirty Not even nominated: Skyfall Best Director Will Win: Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) ...