Oscar 2016 Predictions!

February 28th marks the day of the Oscars presented by Chris Rock. It is always surrounded with much publicity as it is probably the biggest event in the world of entertainment. There is also much debate to who will pick up the illustrious awards this year with the categories being filled with fierce competition. Instead of just giving my own predictions, I thought I would turn it into a bit of fun and invite a couple of my friends and fellow film enthusiasts to give their predictions as well. We haven't seen every film that has been nominated or has someone nominated in it but we'll still try our best with our predictions. Due to this we won't be doing every award as if none of us have seen any of the candidates there isn't much of a point in going over it. So lets get started!

So there will be four of us doing predictions. Obviously one will be myself. The three others are my friends and fellow college students Michael, Drew and Billy. This is all just a bit of fun for four movie fans at the biggest event of the year. I will be giving a slight insight to what has made me decide on my picks. I will only be doing the main categories as it would end up being far too long to put reasoning for each of us on each category. The other categories that we will be predicting will be in a table at the bottom for a quick summary of our picks.

Best Picture: Nominees: The Big Short, Brooklyn, Bridge of Spies, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Room, Spotlight

There's no better place to start than with Best Picture. This is considered the biggest of them all as it represents all the directing, acting, music composing, writing etc put forth into a film.

Angus: Spotlight: For me, I feel that Spotlight should win this award. This came down to The Revenant and Spotlight for this accolade. It was a tough one but I decided to go for the one that I felt was a better movie and had a bigger impact on me . And that was Spotlight. In my heart I really wanted to go with Mad Max and I would absolutely love it if it were to win.

Michael: Spotlight

Drew: The Revenant

Billy: Room

Best Actor: Nominees: Bryan Cranston, Leonardo Di Caprio, Matt Damon, Michael Fassbender, Eddie Redmayne

Second is the Best Actor award currently held by Eddie Redmayne. He is up for it again but did any of us think he had what it takes to retain his crown? Or would a certain Leonardo Di Caprio finally scoop up the award?

Angus: Leonardo Di Caprio (The Revenant): My pick for this award is Leonardo Di Caprio. However I don't feel that he should. I feel that there were better performances in this category. But I am going with my head here and I think that this will finally be Leo's time.

Michael: Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl)

Drew: Leonardo Di Caprio (The Revenant)

Billy: Leonardo Di Caprio (The Revenant)

Best Actress: Nominees: Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Rampling, Brie Larson, Saorise Ronan, Jennifer Lawrence

Best Actress is next which is currently being held by Julianne Moore. There is no possibility of that happening two years in a row but there is a chance for both Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Lawrence to pick up a second Best Actress award.

Angus: Saorise Ronan (Brooklyn): I am not entirely sure about this category due to unfortunately not being able to catch many of the movies. This is just me really going out on a limb here for my pick. I have heard many good things about Ronan's performance and look forward to seeing this in the future.

Michael: Jennifer Lawrence (Joy)

Drew: Jennifer Lawerence (Joy)

Billy: Jennifer Lawrence (Joy)

Best Supporting Actor: Nominees: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Rylance, Sylvester Stallone

Christian Bale is the only one to have lifted this award before and looks to do so again this year. He faces a lot of tough competition in what is one of the most competitive categories this year.

Angus: Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight): I think that Mark Ruffalo deserves this award. I loved his performance in Spotlight and thought he was really great. And if he doesn't win, lets just hope he doesn't get angry....

Michael: Christian Bale (The Big Short)

Drew: Tom Hardy (The Revenant)

Billy: Christian Bale (The Big Short)

Best Supporting Actress: Nominees: Rachel McAdams, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Alicia Vikander, Rooney Mara

Angus: Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl): This was one of the toughest categories for me to decide. It was between Vikander, McAdams and Winslet all the way as I loved all three of their performances and could hardly separate them. Alicia Vikander is my favourite actress right now and due to that, it gave her the edge over very tough competition.

Michael: Rachel McAdams (Spotlight)

Drew: Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)

Billy: Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

Best Director: Nominees: George Miller, Lenny Abrahamson, Tom McCarthy, Adam McKay, Alejandro G Inarritu

Angus: Alejandro G Inarritu (The Revenant): I really really want to go with George Miller here for Mad Max but I do think that Inaritu will pick up his second Oscar in a row in this category.

Michael: Alejandro G Inarritu (The Revenant)

Drew: Alejandro G Inarritu (The Revenant)

Billy: Alejandro G Inarritu (The Revenant)

Category	Angus	Michael	Drew	Billy
Best Picture	Spotlight	Spotlight	The Revenant	Room
Best Actor	Leonardo Di Caprio (The Revenant)	Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl)	Leonardo Di Caprio (The Revenant)	Leonardo Di Caprio (The Revenant)
Best Actress	Saorise Ronan (Brooklyn)	Jennifer Lawrence (Joy)	Jennifer Lawrence (Joy)	Jennifer Lawrence (Joy)
Best Supporting Actor	Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight)	Christian Bale (The Big Short)	Tom Hardy (The Revenant)	Christian Bale (The Big Short)
Best Supporting Actress	Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)	Rachel McAdams (Spotlight)	Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)	Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)
Cinematography	Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant)	John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road)	Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant)	Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant)
Best Director	Alejandro G Inarritu (The Revenant)	Alejandro G Inarritu (The Revenant)	Alejandro G Inarritu (The Revenant)	Alejandro G Inarritu (The Revenant)
Costume Design	Jacqueline West (The Revenant)	Jenny Beaven (Mad Max: Fury Road)	Jenny Beaven (Mad Max: Fury Road)	Jenny Beaven (Mad Max: Fury Road)
Make-up and Hairstyling	Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini (The Revenant)	Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin (Mad Max: Fury Road)	Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini (The Revenant)	Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini (The Revenant)
Music Original Score	John Williams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)	John Williams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)	Ennio Morricone (The Hateful Eight)	Ennio Morricone (The Hateful Eight)
Production Design	Arthur Max and Celia Bobak (The Martian)	Jack Fisk and Hamish Purdy (The Revenant)	Arthur Max and Celia Bobak (The Martian)	Arthur Max and Celia Bobak (The Martian)
Visual Effects	Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams (Mad Max: Fury Road)	Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams (Mad Max: Fury Road)	Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams (Mad Max: Fury Road)	Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett (Ex_Machina)
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)	Emma Donoghue (Room)	Charles Randolph and Adam McKay (The Big Short)	Drew Goddard (The Martian)	Drew Goddard (The Martian)
Writing (Original Screenplay)	Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)	Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)	Matt Charman, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (Bridge Of Spies)	Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Ronnie del Carmen (Inside Out)

Some very different picks and not a lot of the same in most categories. It will certainly be interesting to see what is picked to win the illustrious awards. This has just added a little extra spice to the whole event. Only one category was unanimously picked and that was Best Director. It shall be interesting to see how this all pans out.

So those are our picks. Please feel free to leave your picks for the categories in the comments and also if you agree or disagree with anything please say. Thanks for taking the time to read our picks for the 2016 Oscars, it means a lot. I'd also like to thank Michael, Drew and Billy for giving their time to predict the winners for this blog post. Please check out my reviews for some of the films nominated such as 'Spotlight', 'The Revenant' and 'The Danish Girl' Once again thanks for reading!

By Angus McGregor