Best of 2016 (So Far)

It's that time of year again. The countdown to Oscars sunday begins this week with the Venice Film Festival, and kicks into full gear next week with the Toronto International Film Festival. Before that, let's recap the movies that have already premiered in 2016. Like I said last year, I can only write about the movies I've seen, so my apologies to fans of The Nice Guys, War Dogs, Hail! Caesar, Triple 9, Miles Ahead, Maggie's Plan, The Witch, Pete's Dragon, and others. There's only so many movies I can watch, but I'll try my best to watch these well-reviewed movies, and others like them, before the year's up. I've seen 26 movies that premiered in 2016 up to this point, and I'm not counting one that premiered in May in the states. In february, I ranked The Lobster as my #1 movie of 2015, and because of that I'm not including it in this recap. But if it qualifies for this year's Oscars, I might write about it again in my year-end lists. Let's see if any of the films premiering in Venice and Toronto in the next two weeks can knock it out of the top spot.

Enough about what's not in this recap. Let's get to it, shall we? In the first two editions of this mid-year recap, I've cut my year-end lists in half, doing a Top 5 Movies list instead of a Top 10, and 4 Top 4 Lists instead of 8 Top 8 Lists. I'm sticking to a Top 5 Movies list, but this time I'm doing 8 Top 4 Lists, so it's still kind of like cutting them in half. What can I say? I love writing about movies. I'm doing 7 positive lists, including Best Performances, Best Quotes, Funniest Moments, Best Reference to Another Movie, Best Death Scenes, Best Music Moments, Best Sidekicks, and one negative list about one movie in particular. It's been a while since I've gone negative, but I want to pile on to the hate on this movie. Before I get to that, let's get started with the Top 5 Movies of 2016 (So Far).

*WARNING : SPOILERS*

Top 5 Movies of 2016 (So Far)

5) (Tie) Star Trek Beyond and Captain America: Civil War

Two Part 3s in a trilogy, or part 13s of their respective franchise history (MCU in Civil War's case). What are the odds, right? These were, by far, the best Summer Blockbusters of a not-so-great Summer Blockbuster season for me. They might not make my year-end Top 10, and neither one is a strong Oscars contender like Mad Max was at this spot last year(Star Trek should get strong consideration for Best Makeup), but they absolutely delivered on the main thing I look for in these movies: Fun! They packed a lot of action, drama, excitement, mixed it with some great humor, and both have excellent ensemble casts that I'll never get tired of. That's why we go to the movies folks!

4) Bad Moms

The funniest movie of the year so far for me, and also the year's most pleasant surprise. I really had no intentions of watching this movie up until like a day before I saw it. I was simply not paying attention. It's written by the male duo who wrote The Hangover(the original and funny one), and it includes a cast of excellent comedic talents such as Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hann(who steals every scene as usual), and the legendary Christina Applegate as the baddest of bad moms. If you're a parent of school-aged children, like me, this one's a must watch! We all know those moms that are portrayed in this movie: the "judgy" mom, the "stay-at-home" mom, the "single" mom, the "full-time job" mom, and trust me, you will laugh your you-know-what off laughing with them, or at them, in this movie.

3) Zootopia

I've seen way too many animated movies this year(gotta please the kids, you know?), but Zootopia works for them and for me too. I have one other animated movie ranked ahead of it, but that's no knock on this one. It should easily get an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, and it will receive consideration for an Original Screenplay nomination as well. It's a Disney Film-Noir that uses an animals-in-clothing metaphor to represent the racial and immigration tension present in our society today. The whole Trump crazy-show started when this movie was already in post-production, so the timing on this one turned out to be absolutely perfect. If by some evil-twilight zone twist of the universe that man becomes president, and my oldest son asks me: "Dad, why is this man president?", I'll say: "Sit down son, let's watch Zootopia."

2) Sing Street

John Carney does it again! With his musical movies, Carney has direct access to the happy place inside my brain, and Sing Street may be his best film yet. His movies(Once, Begin Again) are pure magic, and this one is no different. It's a beautiful coming-of-age story, that's also a love story, and a great meditation on brotherly love, set in 1980's Dublin, with catchy original songs mixed with popular rock hits of the era. It's gonna be a strong year in the Best Original Song category with Moana(Lin-Manuel going for the EGOT) and La La Land(Venice opener from the director of Whiplash) coming up, but "Up" from this film absolutely belongs in the group of nominees, and from what's come out so far, it's currently the frontrunner.

1) Kubo and the Two Strings

Speaking of movie magic, this one's an instant animation classic! It features the most beautiful cinematography in any 2016 film I've seen so far. It's animation as if it were filmed by 3-time Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki. It's full of awe-inspiring shots one after the other from the opening scene to the last. Add to that a great story about the influence of past generations on our children, and vice versa, and a quest for the main character that includes funny talking animal sidekicks plus some awesome fight scenes that pay tribute to classic asian cinema, and you get a film that had me tearing up at the end(the only time that's happened so far this year) from the sheer brilliance that I had just experienced.

8 Top 4 Lists

I Best Performances (So Far)

4) Ginnifer Goodwin as "Judy Hopps" in Zootopia

    -The perfect amount of perkyness, like in her "Ready to make the world a better place?" delivery, balanced excellently in her more emotional scenes, like when "Judy" apologizes to Nick.

3) Taron Egerton as "Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards" in Eddie the Eagle

    -Another solid lead performance for this future A-Lister

2) John Goodman as "Howard" in 10 Cloverfield Lane

    -Here's hoping this terrific performance(as usual) finally lands Goodman his first Oscar nomination.

1) Ben Foster as "Lance Armstrong" in The Program

    -Foster keeps racking up great performance after great performance, but still goes mostly unnoticed by the general moviegoing audience. An Oscar nomination would help increase his profile, and he absolutely deserves one for this method transformation into the controversial cyclist.

II Best Quotes (So Far)

4) "... Because I'm Lance Armstrong and he is fucking no one. I like this. I like somebody trying to go faster than me. I like malignant cells trying to take over my body. I like some fool trying to take me down. Because I go faster. I don't die and I will not be brought down."

    - The essence of Lance Armstrong(Ben Foster), which eventually turned him into a disgraced figure in American sports history, as seen in The Program

3) "You are my quest."

    - "Beetle"(Matthew McConaughey) to "Monkey"(Charlize Theron) in Kubo and the Two Strings. There's added meaning to that line that I will leave for you to discover when you see this movie, which you absolutely must do!

2) "I know what it is."

    "What what is?"

    "My 'desert-island' band."

    "Tell somebody who gives a shit."

    - Anton Yelchin's(RIP) "Pat" tries to make conversation with Imogen Poots's "Amber" after a very, very long night, but "Amber" isn't having any of it in the final scene of the very scary Green Room

1) "What does happy-sad even mean? How can we be both things? It makes no sense."

    "It means that I'm stuck in this shithole full of morons and rapists and bullies, and I'm gonna deal with it, okay? It's just how life is. I'm gonna try and accept this and get on with it, and make some art."

    "So how does that affect our music?"

    "Positively."

    - "Conor"(Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) teaching his songwriting partner "Darren"(Ben Carolan) about what he's learned about being happy-sad from his girlfriend "Raphina", and how that benefits their music.

III Funniest Moments (So Far)

4) "Deadshot"(Will Smith) helps his daughter with her geometry homework using his particular talents as an example in Suicide Squad

3) Trip to the DMV in Zootopia

2) "Spones", that's the whole segment where "Spock"(Zachary Quinto) and "Bones"(Karl Urban) are stuck together in Star Trek Beyond

1) Bathroom scene in Bad Moms, explaining what to do if you find a 'gun on the street'. Super funny, and super informative, plus the 3 ladies in this scene are fantastic.

IV Best Reference to Another Movie

4) Deadpool. 

    - Pretty much the whole movie is one giant movie reference. In particular, the Ferris Bueller credits reference was the best.

3) Cool Runnings reference in Eddie the Eagle. 

    - Turns out these two inspiring stories happened in the same Winter Olympics, and in a quick moment, Eddie's coach "Bronson Peary"(Hugh Jackman) shuts off the radio just as a report on the Jamaican bobsled team is starting.

2) Saving Private Ryan reference in Sausage Party. 

    - When some food falls from a supermarket shopping cart, to the humans it's a small mess, but to the food it's like D-Day in Normandy beach.

1) Empire Strikes Back reference in Captain America: Civil War. 

    - In the middle of the full-on battle at the airport, a suddenly giant Ant-Man causes trouble for team Iron-Man. That's when the newest team member, Spider-Man, says: "Hey guys, you ever see that really old movie, Empire Strikes Back?"

V Best Death Scenes

4) "Shere Khan"(Idris Elba) kills "Akela"(Giancarlo Esposito) in The Jungle Book
    - An intense scene from this surprisingly good Disney live-action remake. Idris Elba, or Idris Elba's voice(Star Trek Beyond, Zootopia, Finding Dory), is the easy choice for 2016 1st half MVP.

3) "Magneto's"(Michael Fassbender) family is killed in X-Men: Apocalypse
    - The best scene by far from this disappointing 3rd chapter in the trilogy.

2) "Howard"(John Goodman) kills "Emmett"(John Gallagher Jr.) in 10 Cloverfield Lane
    - A great moment that took me completely by surprise. You think that "Howard" is just trying to scare "Emmett" and "Michelle"(Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and then, Bam!

1) "He killed my mom" scene in Captain America: Civil War. 
    - No spoiling this one. Someone kills someone else's mom and dramatic consequences ensue.

VI Best Music Moments

4) "Rapper's Delight" in Everybody Wants Some

    - Linklater working his magic.

3) "Sabotage" in Star Trek Beyond

    - The most fun I've had in theaters this year. I was toe tapping along with "Sulu" and "Checkov".

2) "I love it" in Bad Moms

    - 2nd most fun I've had in theaters this year. Watching Kathryn Hann entering the supermarket on the old lady cart I think is the hardest I've laughed all year.

1) Sing Street.

    - All of it. In particular "Up" (my favorite movie moment of the year so far) and "Drive it like you stole it".

VII Best Sidekicks

4) "Beetle" and "Monkey" in Kubo and the Two Strings

    - Funny duo who also help "Kubo" in his quest to defeat the "Moon King"

3) "Carla"(Kathryn Hann) and "Kiki"(Kristen Bell) in Bad Moms

    - The "single" mom and the "stay-at-home" mom, respectively, who help "Amy"(Mila Kunis) run for PTA president.

2) "Nick Wilde"(Jason Bateman) in Zootopia

    - Bateman is perfectly cast as the 'sly fox', which I think describes about 80% of the characters he's ever played. "Nick" is ever-skeptical, but once you learn why that is, there's no way you won't fall in love with him.

1) "Brendan"(Jack Reynor) in Sing Street

    - The best character in any John Carney movie so far, in part because of the excellent performance from Reynor, but mostly because of how Carney wrote the character. He's basically the big brother that everyone wishes they had. My two brothers are all right too, I guess.

VIII Worst things about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

4) That title. 

    - Ugh. If your superhero battle movie makes me think of a legal case, I don't think that's a good thing.

3) Whatever Jesse Eisenberg was trying with Lex Luthor

    - Seriously, what was that? Every choice was wrong.

2) Bruce Wayne meets Clark Kent

    - Why would these two ever need to be introduced to each other? Why is Clark Kent even at that party? How in the hell does Clark Kent, aka Superman, you know? not know who Bruce Wayne is? Why is Lex Luthor so excited for Bruce Wayne to meet this nobody reporter? Why can't anyone tell that Clark Kent is Superman? Does he do the Professor X thing where he gets other people to see what he wants them to see? I feel like the Riddler in Batman Forever : "So many questions."

1) Say it with me: "MARTHA!!!"

    - You know those funny scenes I mentioned from other movies before? Scratch that. Watching this scene is the hardest I've laughed in 2016.

    

The Movie Porti Hall of Fame - Class of 2010

Another MLB Hall of Fame induction ceremony is taking place today in Cooperstown, New York, and for the 3rd year now, I am doing my very own Hall of Fame induction ceremony. I use the same eligibility rules that Major League Baseball uses to determine its Hall-of-Famers: a 5 year waiting period after a player retires, which would make the movies of 2010 1st year eligibles after a waiting period from 2011 to 2015, and a minimum of 75% of votes received from all ballots cast(in my case imaginary ballots). This year, there is a clear cut, Home Run Inductee for both the MLB Hall of Fame, and the Movie Porti Hall of Fame. Both of these entries were a core part of my childhood in the 90s, and in 2010 they both gave their heartfelt, tearful goodbyes(one of them is coming back, but whatever). Ken Griffey Jr. enters Cooperstown today with the highest percentage of votes ever received for an inductee at 99%, and Toy Story 3 enters the Movie Porti Hall of Fame with the highest percentage of my imaginary votes received since I started this blog.

The second inductee today in Cooperstown is Mike Piazza, entering the MLB Hall of Fame in his 4th year of eligibility with 83% of the vote. Now, last year I wrote that I don't get how a player goes from non-Hall-of-Famer to Hall of Famer without playing a single game, but in Piazza's case(who just happens to be the greatest hitting catcher of all time), I believe he should've been rightfully enshrined in his 1st year of eligibility, and his induction today corrects that mistake. Speaking of correcting Hall of Fame mistakes, the first year I did my Hall of Fame was for the movie class of 2008. There was one movie in particular from that year that I hadn't gotten to see when I wrote that blog in 2014. I finally got to see that movie last year during the fall(too late for last year's Hall of Fame blog) and it became an instant classic for me. Since then, I've watched it 2 more times and it has only solidified its position as a Home Run Inductee to the Movie Porti Hall of Fame. So with that being said, Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York (from 2008) is the 2nd inductee today to the Movie Porti Hall of Fame. But don't get used to this type of correction, since every year that goes by I only watch more and more movies so that I can be amazed by the ones that will become "Hall of Famers" in the year they were released.

I know that there are different tastes for every movie lover out there, and that many of those movie lovers would disagree with my choice of Toy Story 3 as the best movie of 2010 and as a "Hall of Fame" movie, so I've prepared a quick Recap of the Movie Class of 2010 to refresh your memory on a movie year that was particularly strong at the top, which made for some very difficult omissions from the inductee list, with beloved movies like The Social Network, and incredible performances from Christian Bale in The Fighter and Natalie Portman in Black Swan (both Oscar winners) not receiving enough of my imaginary votes. So let's get on with the recap, shall we?

Recap

My Top 5 Movies of 2010

1. Toy Story 3 (dir. Lee Unkrich)
2. The Fighter (dir. David O. Russell)
3. The Social Network (dir. David Fincher)
4. Inception (dir. Christopher Nolan)
5. Black Swan (dir. Darren Aronofsky)
*Note: I'm on board with the consensus of The Social Network as a near-perfect movie, but my top 2 movies just had a greater emotional impact on me than that one did. Also, Christopher Nolan was totally snubbed of a Best Director nomination in my opinion. Aronofsky and O. Russell each got their 1st career directing nomination for their work, and Fincher got his 2nd. Nolan is still waiting for his 1st career directing nomination, although at least he received 2 nominations for his work on Inception for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture. In fact, all 5 of these movies were nominated for Best Picture, but none of them won(more on that later).

My Top 5 Performances of 2010
1. Christian Bale as "Dicky Ecklund" in The Fighter
2. Natalie Portman as "Nina Sayers" in Black Swan
3. Tilda Swinton as "Emma Recchi" in I Am Love
4. Jennifer Lawrence as "Ree" in Winter's Bone
5. Jesse Eisenberg as "Mark Zuckerberg" in The Social Network
*Note: Tilda Swinton was the only one from this list who wasn't nominated for an Oscar. Somehow her magnificent work keeps getting under-appreciated year after year. Her one and only Oscar nomination, and win, came about 15 Oscar worthy roles ago for her work in 2007's Michael Clayton.

Acting MVPs of 2010

Male: Michael Keaton (Toy Story 3, The Other Guys)

Female: Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass, Let Me In)

*Note: I could've gone with the Shutter Island team of Leonardo DiCaprio(also in Inception) and Michelle Williams(also in Blue Valentine), but I went with these two who absolutely stole every scene as supporting characters in their movies. Keaton started his mainstream comeback with these two roles, qualifying him as a breakout performer in 2010, and setting him on a path to receive his 1st Oscar nomination for his work in 2014's Birdman, and Moretz has never looked back after breaking out in a big way as a 13 year old in 2010. Speaking of breakout stars ...

Breakout Stars of 2010

Male: Michael Keaton(Toy Story 3, The Other Guys) , Andrew Garfield(The Social Network, Never Let Me Go) , Armie Hammer(The Social Network) , Tom Hardy(Inception) , Miles Teller(Rabbit Hole) , John Hawkes(Winter's Bone), Ben Mendelsohn(Animal Kingdom) , Aaron Johnson(Kick-Ass) , Kodi Smit-McPhee(Let Me In)

Female: Chloe Grace Moretz(Kick-Ass, Let Me In) , Jennifer Lawrence(Winter's Bone) , Emma Stone(Easy A) , Brie Larson(Greenberg, Scott Pilgrim vs The World) , Greta Gerwig(Greenberg) , Hailee Steinfeld(True Grit) , Mia Wasikowska(The Kids Are All Right, Alice in Wonderland) , Elle Fanning(Somewhere) , Rooney Mara(The Social Network) , Dakota Johnson(The Social Network) , Jacki Weaver(Animal Kingdom)

*Note: What a year for breakout stars, right?! You've got everything from older actors like Jacki Weaver(2010 Oscar nominee) and Ben Mendelsohn from the underseen gem Animal Kingdom, to younger actors making their big screen debuts like Miles Teller and Hailee Steinfeld(2010 Oscar nominee), with the whole cast of The Social Network in between. And then there's pretty much every A-Lister you know and love today, such as future Oscar nominees Tom Hardy and Emma Stone, whose "Pocketful of Sunshine" scene in Easy A is one of the best moments of 2010, and future Oscar winners Jennifer Lawrence and Brie Larson.

Most Underrated Movies of 2010

(in no particular order)

The Other Guys , I Love You Phillip Morris , Rabbit Hole , Going the Distance , Cyrus

*Note: 5 movies with great on-screen duos, some humorous and some serious. First, there's Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as mismatched cops trying to solve a case in a movie that is non-stop laughs from beginning to end, then there's Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as a scheming con artist and his lover, then there's Nicole Kidman, in an Oscar nominated role, and Aaron Eckhart as a married couple grieving the loss of their kid, then there's Justin Long and Drew Barrymore, who dated in real life, as an onscreen couple trying to maintain a long distance relationship, and finally, there's John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill as a man who's starting a relationship with a woman but has to deal with her weird son who wants to break them up.

Most Overrated Movie of 2010

A very easy choice: Best Picture winner The King's Speech, which isn't a terrible movie, but definitely didn't deserve any of the Oscars it won. To quote the late, great Joan Rivers, who's documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work coincidentally was released in 2010: 

"He's a king! So he f*cking stutters. I'd cut my tongue out for Rhode Island."

Speaking of the Academy's choices ...

How the Academy Voted / How I Would've Voted

Best Picture: Academy - The King's Speech / MP - Toy Story 3

Best Director: Academy - Tom Hooper(The King's Speech) / MP - David Fincher(The Social Network)

Best Actor: Academy - Colin Firth(The King's Speech) / MP - Jesse Eisenberg(The Social Network)

Best Actress: Academy - Natalie Portman(Black Swan) / MP - Same

Best Supporting Actor: Academy - Christian Bale(The Fighter) / MP - Same

Best Supporting Actress: Academy - Melissa Leo(The Fighter) / MP - Jacki Weaver(Animal Kingdom)

Best Original Screenplay: Academy - The King's Speech / MP - The Fighter

Best Adapted Screenplay: Academy - The Social Network / MP - Toy Story 3

Best Editing: Academy - The Social Network / MP - Same

Best Cinematography: Academy - Inception / MP - Same

Best Original Score: Academy - The Social Network / MP - Same

Best Animated Feature: Academy - Toy Story 3 / MP - Same

Best Foreign Language Film: Academy - In a Better World / MP - Dogtooth

Loving(the)Spotlight: 2016 Oscars Recap

   "... We begin our presentation at the place where every great movie begins, with a story that simply had to be told."

Last night's first presenter, Emily Blunt, spoke these lines before her co-presenter, Charlize Theron, handed the Original Screenplay Oscar to Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy, the writers of Spotlight. Spotlight also won the final, and most important, award of the night, Best Picture(as I correctly predicted), but nothing else in between. So last night's great(?) Oscars show literally began and ended with Spotlight's powerful story. Those 2 wins match the fewest for a Best Picture winner since 1952's The Greatest Show on Earth, which also only won for Best Story and Best Picture.

The movie with the most wins last night? Mad Max: Fury Road, as I correctly predicted. Every one of its 6 wins(Best Editing, Costume Design, Hair & Makeup Design, Production Design, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing) was the Moment of the Night for me.

*Mad Max: Fury Road editor Margaret Sixel, who's also the wife of the film's director, George Miller

I predicted that Mad Max would be the one, instead of The Revenant, to sweep the technical categories, therefore opening the way for a Spotlight victory. One Mad Max prediction I missed? I went out on a limb and said that George Miller would edge out Alejandro G. Iñarritu for Best Director. For the first hour and a half, as Mad Max was beating The Revenant in every tech category, and The Revenant was also losing to upset winners Ex Machina in Best Visual Effects, and Bridge of Spies' Mark Rylance in Best Supporting Actor, I was feeling pretty good about my prediction, and about Mad Max's chances to pull off the historic Best Picture upset.

*Best Supporting Actor winner Mark Rylance

But as I wrote in my Oscars preview on sunday: "If you gave me a choice, I'd say Iñarritu is more likely to win Best Director than Best Picture, seeing as how The Revenant joins Mad Max without a screenplay nomination ..." so I wasn't that far off. After last night's results, there have still only been 2 Best Pictures in the last 50 years to win without a Screenplay nomination: The Sound of Music and Titanic. But The Revenant did have a good, and historic, night. Iñarritu's win for Best Director is his 2nd consecutive win in the category, something that's only happened three times now in Oscars history, and not since 1949-1950. He gave a great speech, touching on the major theme of the night, diversity, all while the orchestra was trying to play him off, something that didn't happen to DiCaprio. When you win 2 consecutive Best Director Oscars, you don't bow down to the orchestra. Good for you, Iñarritu!

That win was also the 3rd consecutive win for Mexican directors in the category. Alfonso Cuaron preceded Iñarritu's 2 wins in 2013 for his work in Gravity. Speaking of 3 consecutive wins for Mexican filmmakers, Emmanuel Lubezki completed the 3-peat in the Best Cinematography category for his beautiful work in The Revenant. He previously won with Cuaron and Gravity in 2013, and Iñarritu and Birdman last year. He is the first filmmaker in the category to accomplish that feat.

The 3rd and final Oscar for The Revenant came in the category that was the biggest lock of the night: Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor. He finally gets his first Oscar on his 5th career Acting nomination, and 22 years after his first nomination. And he definitely didn't disappoint once he got on stage, giving what was one of the best speeches of the night that included an important message about climate change.

Other winners with important messages included: Sam Smith, who upset Diane Warren's(she loses again) and Lady Gaga's(EGOT dreams shattered for now) "Til it Happens To You"(which itself was an impactful moment featuring the victims of sexual abuse on college campuses) for Best Original Song and spoke about LGBT inclusiveness as an openly gay man, Pete Docter, who won the Best Animated Feature Oscar for Inside Out and encouraged kids to #makestuff, and Adam McKay(along with Charles Randolph), who won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for The Big Short(the only win, correctly predicted by me, for the 3rd supposed frontrunner of the night) and spoke about the evils of unrestricted campaign financing in politics.

But the one message that hogged the spotlight from Spotlight was the whole #Oscarssowhite controversy. Some of the moments worked, like Chris Rock's opening monologue(which got my predictions off to a good start as he took only 6.83 seconds to say the word "black" after he started speaking, much faster than the 30 seconds I predicted), and the bit about placing black actors in some of the nominated films, but by the halfway point it felt like every time they would come back to that topic it would grind the show to a halt. I mean, we get it, more diversity, equal opportunity for not just black actors, but hispanics, asians, and other races too, but could we please just get to who won for Best Actress ... 

It was Brie Larson, a lock going in that was the only win of the night for Room.

The other actress to win was Alicia Vikander, for her supporting(really a lead, but whatever) performance in The Danish Girl, also that film's only win. Both were young, gracious, first time winners and nominees, who stayed away from the political discourse of the night, and helped to balance things out a bit.

But in the final moments of the show, it was a little difficult to focus on the Spotlight producer's message about the catholic church sexual abuse scandal, when it was sandwiched between the sight of Morgan Freeman walking out on stage(see viewers? we let black Oscar winners announce the Best Picture winner too) and Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" playing over the closing credits(see viewers? we're hip with the black community, even though this song was released in 1990). So perhaps, in a year where so many causes and controversies were battling for the attention of over 800 million viewers, it was only fitting that the eventual winner turned out to be (the)Spotlight.

2016 Oscars: A Viewer's Guide

Welcome to Movie Porti's 3rd annual Oscars Viewer's Guide!

It's a wide open race for the top prize tonight! That means two things, one good and one bad. First, that the winner will probably be a less memorable film than in the past 2 years(12 Years a Slave in 2013, and Birdman in 2014), but secondly, that the Oscars telecast as a whole will probably be more entertaining, as the uncertain Best Picture race could produce more surprises and possibly historic upsets. Just like last year, we have 8 films battling it out in the Best Picture category. Last year I divided them into 4 tiers of 2, but this year I'm going 3-2-3.

First off, back from last year, it's the "If Grand Hotel won Best Picture, then so can we" category, featuring Brooklyn, in 8th place with 3 total nominations, Bridge of Spies, in 7th place with 6 total nominations, and The Martian, in 6th place with 7 total nominations. All 3 films have an acting nomination and a screenplay nomination, two important categories that one of the movies in the next tier got shut out of, but they failed to get nominated in either of the 2 most important categories that predict the eventual winner: Best Editing and Best Director. It's possible to win Best Picture without one of those two, as Argo did in 2012 without a Best Director nomination and Birdman did last year without a Best Editing nomination, but not both. The last film to win Best Picture without a nomination in either one of those categories was Grand Hotel way back in 1932. So those 3 movies are out, and it's looking like they'll be completely shut out too, something different from last year where every Best Picture nominee took home at least one Oscar.

On to the next tier, the "I really hope one of these movies wins, but they face an uphill climb" category, featuring Room, in 5th place with 4 total nominations, and Mad Max: Fury Road, in 4th place with 10 total nominations. Both these movies were universally adored by critics and viewers alike, including me, but both are missing some key nominations. Room is missing nominations, period. If it pulls off the shocking upset and wins Best Picture it would be the winner with the fewest total nominations since Cavalcade(also 4) in 1933. It was also left off the Best Editing shortlist, and even though Birdman pulled off the win last year, the last film to win without an Editing nomination before that was Ordinary People in 1980. 

Mad Max: Fury Road is trying to go the Gravity route by racking up technical nominations, but no screenplay nomination. But Gravity had 2 things going for it that Mad Max doesn't, first, that it was the co-favorite to win Best Picture heading into Oscars sunday, and also that it received at least one acting nomination(for Sandra Bullock's lead role). Even with those 2 factors, Gravity didn't win(it lost to 12 Years a Slave). Without a screenplay nomination, there have still only been 2 winners in the past 50 years: The Sound of Music in 1965 and Titanic in 1997. Also, there have only been 11 films to win Best Picture without an acting nomination, the last one being Slumdog Millionaire in 2008(remember that one?). And without both, the last film to win was, again, Grand Hotel in 1932.

*Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle

But the reason Mad Max belongs in this tier and not the previous one, and why I believe it has a chance to pull off a historic upset, is because it is a very strong contender in the Director and Editing categories, and the clear favorite in at least 3, if not more, of its other nominations. If it wins for Director and Editing it will most likely be the movie with the most Oscars won by the time the Best Picture winner is announced. And if the 3 frontrunners split the vote amongst themselves, which is very likely to happen, it could leave the door wide open for a movie with strong support, be it Mad Max or Room, which would also still be alive if it can beat The Big Short for Best Adapted Screenplay, to pull off the shocking win.

Speaking of the frontrunners, in 3rd place, with 5 total nominations, we have The Big Short. It's only the favorite in one category, Best Adapted Screenplay, but like I just said, watch out for the Room upset there. If that happens, it's likely that The Big Short goes home empty-handed. But I'll go with the safe prediction and say that it will hold on and win that award at least. It also has a chance to surprise in the Best Editing and Best Supporting Actor categories. If that happens, that would be the worst possible outcome of the night for me(I have The Big Short as the most overrated Best Picture nominee this year), because that would mean that the movie got a late push in the voting and would probably be the one called when the Best Picture winner is announced. Here's hoping that doesn't happen.

Then we have the 2 remaining contenders, 1A and 1B you could say, and that's not a good thing for either of them. I'm gonna say that The Revenant, with the most total nominations at 12, is actually in 2nd place. There are 2 main reasons for that. First, is the fact that history is not on this movie's side(more on that later), and second, is the fact that Alejandro G. Iñarritu won Best Director and Best Picture last year for Birdman and I don't see the Academy members wanting to reward him like that 2 years in a row. If you gave me a choice, I'd say Iñarritu is more likely to win Best Director than Best Picture, seeing as how The Revenant joins Mad Max without a screenplay nomination, but my official prediction for the Best Director category is that Mad Max's George Miller will be rewarded, one, for the excellent job he did, but two, because the old white voters at the Academy love to reward old white filmmakers

*George Miller celebrating his win for Happy Feet in the Best Animated Feature category

Even if The Revenant loses in those two categories, it will still have a pretty good night. Leonardo DiCaprio is a lock to win his first Oscar, on his 5th try, in the Best Actor category, and once again, for a 3rd year in a row(first time ever for the category), Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki is a lock to win the Best Cinematography Oscar(Aside: Is there anyone else in the world dominating their craft like Lubezki is doing right now? Maybe Lin-Manuel on Broadway? Steph Curry in the art of 3-point shooting? This shot from last night would be the equivalent to Lubezki's work in The Revenant. Speaking of the NBA, this is starting to resemble Jordan's dominance in the 90s. I'll bet that Roger Deakins dreams about Lubezki one day suddenly retiring and deciding to play Minor League Baseball). The Revenant also goes head to head with Mad Max in 5 other technical categories. If it starts to rack up 2 or 3 wins early in the night in those categories, it's likely that the late voter push went in The Revenant's direction and it would be the one most likely to win Best Picture. But I don't believe that will happen. If one movie sweeps the technical categories, it's going to be Mad Max, and that will leave the door open for option 1A, with 6 total nominations, Spotlight.

This one reminds me too much of Argo 3 years ago. That year there was no clear frontrunner and it came down to 3 choices. Out of those 3, the Academy voters went by the book. They chose a "based on a true story" procedural film about a group of people working together in the face of difficult odds, with an excellent ensemble cast, great editing that keeps you on the edge of your seat even though you already know how it ends, and excellent attention to period-specific details. That's Spotlight! It's the safe choice. It might not get the most #1 votes, but it'll get plenty of 2s and 3s. It's only a lock to win one category, Best Original Screenplay, so I could be completely wrong with this prediction, but it also has a strong chance to win Best Editing, and both Mark Ruffalo and Tom McCarthy could surprise in the Best Supporting Actor and Best Director categories respectively. If any of these wins happen then you can take this prediction to the bank, if not, it would still be alive with only the screenplay win. The 2 total wins would be the fewest for a Best Picture winner since 1952's The Greatest Show on Earth, but hey, crazier things have happened.

And now, other fun facts ...

*Again this year, none of the movies were nominated in all 5 of the major categories: Picture, Director, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, and Screenplay, so the 3 member club to have swept those prizes will stay as: 1934's It Happened One Night, 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and 1991's The Silence of the Lambs

*If Mad Max: Fury Road wins Best Picture it would be the first film that premiered before Labor Day to win since The Hurt Locker in 2009

*If Mad Max: Fury Road or Room wins Best Picture it would be the first film to win the Academy's top prize without winning any of the major guild's(Actors, Writers, Directors, and Producers) top prize since Braveheart in 1995

"History is not on The Revenant's side" segment

   -If Iñarritu wins Best Director, he would become just the 3rd person ever to win in consecutive years. The other 2 occurrences were: John Ford for The Grapes of Wrath and How Green Was My Valley in 1940-1941, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz for A Letter to Three Wives and All About Eve in 1949-1950.

   -If The Revenant wins Best Picture, Iñarritu would become the first person *ever* to direct 2 consecutive Best Picture winners.

   -If The Revenant wins Best Picture it would be the first film *ever* to win without receiving at least one of these two nominations: The SAG Best Ensemble Cast nomination, or a Writer's Guild Best Screenplay(Original or Adapted) nomination.

*Honestly, I don't get how so many Oscars pundits are saying The Revenant will win. If you're a betting man, or woman, after reading these stats there is no way you put your money on The Revenant. You can thank me later.

* Two more The Revenant-related fun facts ...

   -Iñarritu is the only one of the Best Director nominees who isn't a first-time nominee in the category. In fact, this is his 3rd career nomination in the category out of a total of 6 Full-Length Feature Films he's directed. Not a bad batting average.

   -The Revenant features the only 2 actors to appear in multiple Best Picture nominees: Domhnall Gleeson, who also stars in Brooklyn, and Tom Hardy, who also stars in Mad Max: Fury Road, which makes him the Acting MVP of 2015.

* Two other nominees competing against themselves ...

   -Andy Nelson, in the Sound Mixing category, for his work on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Bridge of Spies(he'll lose for both)

   -Sandy Powell, in the Costume Design category, for getting to dress Cate Blanchett in Carol and Cinderella(which I'm picking for the win, although she could also lose both to a Mad Max or The Revenant sweep in the below-the-line categories)

*Other two-time nominees tonight ...

   -Alejandro G. Iñarritu, in the Best Director and Best Picture categories for The Revenant

   -George Miller, in the Best Director and Best Picture categories for Mad Max: Fury Road

   -Adam McKay, in the Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay categories for The Big Short

   -Tom McCarthy, in the Best Director and Best Original Screenplay categories for Spotlight

   -Pete Docter, in the Best Original Screenplay and Best Animated Feature categories for Inside Out

*Inside Out, Up, and Monsters Inc. director Pete Docter

*Inside Out is the 8th Pixar film, out of 16 total films, to receive an Oscar nomination for its Screenplay(all Original except Toy Story 3). Again, not a bad batting average. Sadly, none of them have won. They have won 7 Best Animated Feature Oscars(most of any studio by far), and Inside Out is very likely to give them win #8.

*John Lasseter receiving a Special Achievement Oscar for Toy Story in 1996

*Charlie Kaufman's nomination in the Best Animated Feature category for Anomalisa is his 4th career nomination, but first that isn't for one of his Screenplays. He lost for Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, and won for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind(my Favorite Movie of All-Time)

*Anomalisa Co-Director, and All-Around Genius, Charlie Kaufman

"Always a bridesmaid, never a bride" segment ...

   -Diane Warren receives her 8th career nomination for co-writing, with Lady Gaga, "Til' it Happens to You" for the documentary The Hunting Ground. She finally looks like the frontrunner to win her first Oscar.

   -Roger Deakins receives his 13th career nomination for his cinematography in Sicario. Again, he'll lose to Lubezki.

   -Thomas Newman also receives his 13th career nomination for composing the Bridge of Spies Original Score. Again, it looks like he'll lose. At least he can feel proud of extending his family's legacy in the musical categories. This is the Newman family's 89th career nomination.

*Thomas' cousin, Randy Newman, celebrating one of his 2 career wins out of 20 total nominations

Speaking of legendary composers ...

*Ennio Morricone, at 87 years old, becomes the oldest person ever nominated for an Oscar. He already won an Honorary Oscar in 2007, but now he's the frontrunner to win his first competitive Oscar out of 6 career nominations for his work in The Hateful Eight.

*John Williams receives his 50th career nomination(take that, Streep!) for his work in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He's still 9 nominations shy from the All-Time leader ... Walt Disney.

One more Old-Timer ...

*Bridge of Spies is the 8th film directed by Steven Spielberg to be nominated for Best Picture, tying him with Martin Scorsese for most among living directors. It also gives him his 9th nomination as a producer, the most among living producers. His one Best Picture nominee that he didn't direct? Clint Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima. Who knew, right?

*Spielberg celebrating his Best Picture and Best Director wins for Schindler's List and his Best Director win for Saving Private Ryan

"Other A-Listers you didn't realize were nominated" segment

   -Ridley Scott was snubbed for a Best Director nomination, but at least he gets a nomination for producing The Martian, his 1st of 4 career nominations that's not in the Director category(he lost for Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, and Black Hawk Down).

   -Brad Pitt receives his 3rd career nomination as a producer for The Big Short(he lost for Moneyball and won for 12 Years a Slave). That ties his 3 career Acting nominations, for 12 Monkeys, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Moneyball.

   -The Coen brothers receive their 14th career nomination each for the Original Screenplay to Bridge of Spies. It's their 6th career nomination in one of the Screenplay categories, but first for a movie that one, or both, of them didn't direct.

*The Coen brothers celebrating their Oscars sweep in 2008 with No Country for Old Men

"Multiple Academy Award Nominated Actors" segment

   - Saoirse Ronan receives her 2nd career nomination for her lead performance in Brooklyn, 8 years after being nominated as a supporting actress in Atonement

   - Rooney Mara receives her 2nd career nomination for her supporting performance(she was really a lead, but whatever) in Carol, 4 years after she was rightly nominated as a lead actress in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

   - Michael Fassbender receives his 2nd career nomination for his lead performance in Steve Jobs, 2 years after being nominated as a supporting actor in 12 Years a Slave

   - Eddie Redmayne receives his 2nd consecutive Best Actor nomination for his performance in The Danish Girl, after winning last year for his performance in The Theory of Everything

   - Sylvester Stallone receives his 2nd career acting nomination, and 3rd total(he was also nominated for writing the Original Screenplay for Rocky), for his supporting performance as "Rocky Balboa" in Creed. He sets the record for the longest wait between nominations for playing the same character at 39 years. The record was held by Paul Newman, at 26 years, for playing "Fast" Eddie Felson in The Hustler and The Color of Money. A good sign for Stallone is that Newman won his first Oscar on that second nomination(He did have 5 other nominations in between, a little better than Stallone's 0).

*Hollywood Icon Paul Newman

   - Mark Ruffalo receives his 3rd career Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in Spotlight. He was previously nominated in 2010 for The Kids Are All Right and last year for Foxcatcher

   - Christian Bale receives his 3rd career nomination for his performance in The Big Short, 2 years after being nominated for his lead performance in American Hustle, and 5 years after winning in this category for his performance in The Fighter

   - Matt Damon receives his 3rd career acting nomination, and 4th overall(He won for writing the Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting with his pal Ben Affleck), for his lead performance in The Martian. This is his first nomination in the category since he was nominated for his performance in Good Will Hunting 18 years ago(my, how time flies!). He was also nominated for his supporting performance in Invictus in 2009

   - Jennifer Lawrence receives her 4th career nomination, and 3rd in the lead actress category, for her performance in Joy. I'm not doing a "Jennifer Lawrence fatigue" section this year, but that's only because I didn't even see Joy. So I guess that speaks for itself

   - Leonardo DiCaprio receives his 5th career acting nomination, and 6th overall(He was nominated for producing The Wolf of Wall Street), for his lead performance in The Revenant. It's Leo's time this year, as he's an absolute lock to win Best Actor in a relatively weak year for the category.

And finally, we have the 2 Cates/Kates with a DiCaprio connection ...

   - Cate Blanchett receives her 7th career nomination, and 4th in the lead actress category, for her performance in Carol. In a not so surprising coincidence, this is the 4th time that DiCaprio and Blanchett have been nominated in the same year. 2 of those times, in 2004 when they co-starred and were both nominated for The Aviator and in 2013 for Blue Jasmine, DiCaprio had to watch Blanchett walk up to the podium to accept her Oscar as he lost. This year, it's Cate's turn to watch Leo win.

   - Kate Winslet also receives her 7th career nomination, and 3rd in the supporting actress category, for her performance in Steve Jobs. Of course, you all know about Kate and Leo's Titanic connection(she was nominated, he wasn't), but Kate has also been nominated twice in the same year as both DiCaprio and Blanchett: in 2004 for one of my All-Time Favorite performances in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and in 2006 for her lead performance in Little Children. Her nomination this year is her first since she won the Best Actress Oscar 7 years ago for her performance in The Reader. I was starting to think that maybe I had jinxed her when I named my new dog "Winslet" in honor of my favorite actress back in 2010.

A final note on the host ...

In a year where the predictions in some of the main categories, particularly Best Picture, are tougher than usual, there is one prediction that I'm 100% certain will happen: Chris Rock will mention the #Oscarssowhite controversy in his opening monologue. The only uncertainty with that is just how quickly he'll mention it. My money's on the first 30 seconds. If I get that prediction correct right off the bat, I'll know that I'm going to have a pretty good night prediction-wise, which means that Spotlight will have a good night Best Picture-wise. But honestly, this year I'm rooting against myself because I want the Academy to make the bold, and right, choice of naming either Room or Mad Max: Fury Road as the Best Picture of 2015.

And the Oscar Goes To ...