Sociable Movie Guy
REVIEWS
DiCaprio! Winslet! Larson! Inarritu! Will all of those names continue their winning streak in the Oscars? Or will there be any surprise that nobody saw it coming? Who will actually win those coveted trophies? Who should win them instead? Or who has the potential to surprise us and snag the golden statuette? Stop scratching your head looking for the answers because your Sociable Movie Guy is here to the rescue! Disclaimer: The predictions below are based on my personal judgment (& hunch) and recent awards trend. I only do prediction on categories that (I believe) I have the knowledge of. I’m also aware that I haven’t seen all of the nominated movies and performances, but let’s not get too serious with these predictions shall we. Because life’s already tough without us being too serious, isn’t it? :p Without further a due, here I present you: SOCIABLE MOVIE GUY’S LAST-MINUTE OSCAR PREDICTIONS! BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Nominees:
Who will win: Kate Winslet for Steve Jobs Who should win: Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl Who might win: Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl Winslet has been winning the statuettes from the other awards for this category. It’s likely that she will continue giving her acceptance speech at the Oscars. But she has to watch out, because Vikander’s vulnerable yet powerful performance in ‘The Danish Girl’ is quietly lurking behind her and ready to steal the moment anytime. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Nominees:
Who will win: Sylvester Stallone for Creed Who should win: Jacob Tremblay for Room. Who might win: Christian Bale for The Big Short I haven’t had the time to see ‘Creed’ but Sly has been getting the accolades from the other awards. So there’s a big chance that he’ll give us another speech at the Oscars. As for Tremblay, I know he isn’t even nominated at this year’s Oscars, but have you seen his heart-breaking (and award-worthy) performance in ‘Room’? If it were up to me, he would definitely be the winner. If The Academy decides not to give the award to Sly, then Christian Bale is next in line to receive it. BEST ACTRESS Nominees:
Who will win: Brie Larson for Room Who should win: Brie Larson for Room Who might win: None. Brie Larson is too strong a contender for anyone to beat her now, although I won’t complain if the award eventually goes to Saoirse Ronan for her subtle-yet-strong performance in ‘Brooklyn’. BEST ACTOR Nominees:
Who will win: Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant Who should win: Eddie Redmayne for The Danish Girl Who might win: Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs This one is very interesting. DiCaprio absolutely nailed his ultra physically-demanding role in ‘The Revenant’. But if I had to choose, I’d definitely go with Eddie Redmayne for his absorbing and heart-crushing performance in ‘The Danish Girl’. As for Fassbender, he’s been getting a buzz that if there was one person to steal the spotlight from DiCaprio, then it would be him. BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Nominees:
Who will win: Spotlight Who should win: Spotlight or Inside Out Who might win: Ex-Machina I’m torn between two movies that I think equally deserve the award. ‘Inside Out’ clearly wins for its originality, while ‘Spotlight’ wins for its intensity. All the while ‘Ex-Machina’ is slowly sneaking behind both of them to claim the victory. BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Nominees:
Who will win: The Big Short Who should win: The Big Short or The Martian Who might win: Room Again, I’m divided into two strong movies. As much as I like ‘The Martian’ screenplay, I have a strong feeling that the recognition will finally go to ‘The Big Short’ writers. As for Room, although it has a very small chance to win, it is still has the likeliest chance to steal the award compared to the rest of the unmentioned nominees in this category. BEST ORIGINAL SONG Nominees:
Who will win: Writing’s on the Wall from Spectre (Sam Smith) Who should win: Writing’s on the Wall from Spectre (Sam Smith) Who might win: Till It Happens To You from The Hunting Ground (Lady Gaga and Diane Warren) Sam Smith is so far the front-runner to win the award. But he’s got a serious competition from fellow superstar Lady Gaga. BEST ANIMATED FEATURE Nominees:
Who will win: Inside Out Who should win: Inside Out Who might win: None Although ‘Anomalisa’ is the likeliest film in this category to steal the golden statuette, Disney-Pixar’s ‘Inside Out’ is still way too strong a contender for any other nominee to beat. BEST DIRECTOR Nominees:
Who will win: Alejandro G. Inarritu Who should win: Alejandro G. Inarritu Who might win: George Miller First of all, knowing that Ridley Scott is not among the nominated directors is upsetting because his work in helming ‘The Martian’ is absolutely terrific. Anyway, of all the names in this category, I do think that Inarritu is the most deserving. I can only imagine how challenging it was for him in bringing ‘The Revenant’ into one solid piece. But he’s got a tough competition in the form of George Miller, who successfully created the thrilling and energetic ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’. BEST PICTURE
Nominees:
Who will win: Spotlight or The Big Short Who should win: Spotlight Who might win: The Revenant I really can’t decide between ‘Spotlight’ and ‘The Big Short’. Both have the same strong themes, strong writings, and strong acting that I believe will attract most of the Oscar voters. But I do have the inclination towards ‘Spotlight’ because the movie is so gripping and hard-hitting while being modest at the same time. As for ‘The Revenant’, I’m aware that this one has been a favorite to win this biggest award (which it deserves too). But I just think that the film is too gruesome for most Oscar voters to actually give their votes to it. So there go my last-minute Oscar predictions. Let me know what you think about the predictions in the comment sections below and feel free to buzz me through my email ([email protected]/[email protected]) or my social media (@wildanahmd)! Adios and enjoy watching The Oscars!
4 Comments
A Gorgeous Disney’s Creation That Suffers from Having Too Many Messages Hi thereeeee! Been missing me a lot? Thank you if you have and sorry for abandoning this blog for the past few months. I know (and I’ve said this so many times) no excuses could make up for this. So instead of explaining why I haven’t been around providing you the reviews that you (might and probably) need, I’d just jump to my first review of 2016. The lucky one that got the chance to be reviewed by your Sociable Movie Guy is the latest animated film from Disney Animation Studios: Zootopia. Set in a universe where the entire world is populated by animals (and plants actually, but they’re not the highlight in the movie so we can just leave them) Zootopia tries to re-imagine what it would be like if animals live the life like humans would. Generally, the animals here are divided into two groups, predators and preys. Predators consist of animals who normally consume the other smaller and weaker animals, while preys obviously are the ones who normally got consumed by the hunters. I did say ‘normally’ because in the film all of the animals have left that savage way of life far behind them. Not only do they not eat each other anymore, they also wear clothes, go to work, and live the civilized life just like humans. Centered in the story is Judy Hopps, a female bunny who aspires to be a cop. There has never been a bunny cop before, so of course she is laughed and not taken seriously by the people around her. They think bunnies should only and will only be carrot farmers, because that’s what the other bunnies have been doing since forever. Thanks to her sturdiness and tenacity, Judy never lets anyone sidetracks her and she becomes a cop just like what she’s been wanting her whole life. But the challenge doesn’t stop there. She must face another discrimination from her peers all the while delve into a big conspiracy to prove that she’s worth to be a cop just like anybody else. Plus, she gets to befriend a slick fox named Nick Wilde and together they embark on a journey that will change the way they think of others and most importantly of themselves. Just like any other Disney movies, the animation here is nothing short of amazing. All of the characters here are drawn vividly and detailed in characteristics. The voiceovers are good too, though to me no one really stands out here. But the best thing about this film is hands down the world-building. Zootopia will make you amazed on how thoughtful the world-building is. They successfully adjust and incorporate things commonly found in our everyday life into the animal world. Here you will find everything from subway doors with various sizes, body-dryer in subway station for underwater animals, to giant-size popsicles for elephants.
Another thing to highlight here is the noble main messages it’s trying to convey. One of them is we, regardless of who we are or what people think we are, can be anything that we want to be. It is also supported by the original soundtrack ‘Try Everything’ from Shakira that suggests we should never give up in doing everything that we want to do. As if those two are not enough, Zootopia also includes ‘we should never prejudice or stereotype other people’ message into its already message-crowded story. This is where the biggest problem in Zootopia starts. The film simply has too many messages in it. I understand that there’s nothing wrong with each message. What’s not right is the way the film tries to convey them. Entering the second act of the film, the messages start to be overlapping with each other and it becomes convoluted. It’s not clear which one that the film wants to focus on. I personally think it would be sooo much better if it focused on one message only. All in all, Zootopia is another worthy animation from Disney that encourages us to defy all of the stereotypes that are given to us. The film is sadly let down by its noble intention: putting too many messages that ends up being confusing instead of inspiring. Score: 3.5/5 |
Archives
July 2018
Categories
All
AuthorA self-acclaimed movie guy who likes to socialize |