We’re barreling towards the last gasp here for the Best Picture race and a few questions remain.
1) Can The Martian win over enough industry voters to become the first “sci fi” film to win Best Picture?
2) Is Spotlight going to be the first film about journalists to win Best Picture?
3) Can the recent celebrity push for Beasts of No Nation make it the first film by the growing cinema pioneer Netflix to get in?
4) Can Inside Out be the first animated film to get nominated for Best Picture since the Academy shrunk its nominee ballot from 10 slots to 5?
5) Will the upcoming movies Joy, The Revenant and The Hateful Eight make it into the Best Picture race after they screen this coming week?
6) Will there be four films about women in the Best Picture race for the first time since 1977?
7) Will Star Wars do what it in 1977 and get in for Best Picture?
8) Will Creed manage to do what Rocky did in 1976 and get in for Best Picture?
9) Will Todd Haynes finally manage to earn much deserved praise from the Academy with Carol?
10) Is Steve Jobs still a lock for a nomination?
My answers to these questions are as follows:
1) YES.
2) Maybe.
3) I wish.
4) I do not believe so but I could be wrong.
5) I think at least one, two at the most, will get in. I do not think all three will.
6) I do not think there will be four. I think there will be three at the most.
7) It will have to be THAT GOOD.
8) I wish but it might be too late to rally plus snobby critics.
9) I think Best Picture yes, still not sure about director. Hope so.
10) I do believe it is, driven by actors and writers.
Feel free to answer these questions and ask me a few more if you’d like.
In the meantime, it’s a THINK FIVE poll. Instead of choosing ten, try to choose five and see where it lands up. Voters only get five choices, as opposed to the ten the Producers Guild get. With only five, things get real. You have to pick your top five favorites – with no wiggle room.
With five you have to think what movies people like most. With five, you tend to get passion choices as opposed to “much admired.” With five you tend to see the darker themed films dropped with the more optimistic and uplifting films chosen instead. Think “I LOVED it” rather than “It was good.” Given that, If I had five to choose I’d go with: The Martian, Spotlight, Room, Bridge of Spies and The Revenant. Or Steve Jobs or Carol for fifth. But that’s a tough call, my friends. It’s hard to choose only five. Give it a try.
UPDATE: Please retake the poll if you already did because we restarted it.
