The Envelope Please

Siena Schuth, Staff Writer
February 18, 2016

This has been quite a surprising year for movies; from the Oscar boycott, to a new Star Wars movie, to Sylvester Stallone being nominated for an Oscar, this year has indeed been eventful. If you are like me, the Oscars are the one time of the year where it is completely justified to spend the whole day in front of the TV, obsessing over dresses and suits and predicting who will win the coveted Best Picture award.

As most of the fans out there already know, it is obvious as to how biased this award show is. Certain directors and certain types of movies seem to always win awards. This is apparent through the lack of equal representation for all in the award show, which is discussed by my colleague- Heather Miller- but we will not get into this right now. Most winners make a political statement, has a cast of the usual suspects, and a beyond experienced director.

In an unbiased world, Spotlight should win Best Picture. It is truly controversial and makes a great point about the hidden truths of our world. Starring Michael Keaton (Birdman), Rachel McAdams (The Notebook), and Mark Ruffalo (Avengers), this movie is based on the true story of the Boston Globe journalists who exposed priests guilty of molesting children.

However, the movie that will probably win is The Big Short because of its star power and political message. Starring Christian Bale (American Hustle), Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Ryan Gosling (The Notebook), and Brad Pitt (Moneyball), the movie focuses on the 2008 housing market crash. Because we are at a crucial turning point in the political and economic handling of our country, this movie can be viewed as a parable, as it describes our shortcomings as a country and tells us to learn from our mistakes so that they are not repeated.

I also predict that Leonardo DiCaprio will finally win the Oscar for Best Actor as both a sympathy award and because of his excellent performance in the film, The Revenant. It’s almost impossible to tell what this movie is from the trailer, but it is about a man who is attacked by a bear and how he survives his journey home from the frontier. Winners of this award are typically acting giants who embark on a journey of survival.

He has probably had an acceptance speech ready since the 1990s, so him winning would be a treat for all of us.

The winner for Best Actress should be Brie Larson for her lead role in Room. She plays a wife who was trapped in a room for years and is finally released into the world. There has been a lot of buzz over Larson’s recently exposed talent and many sources are predicting her for the big win. If she does not win, we can definitely expect to see her much more in the future.

But, a lot of the fun of the Oscars does not involve predictions, but watching the underdogs, like Bridge of Spies, win even though the odds were against them.

Only one thing is for sure at this upcoming Oscar ceremony. Since he is under such great pressure to do a good job , we can expect Chris Rock to make this year’s ceremony unforgettable.

My continued list of predictions can be seen below.

If you want to keep track of your picks, the official ballot can be accessed here: http://oscars.nytimes.com/2016/ballot

If you want to share your thought on your Oscar predictions, make sure to comment below!

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