Oakland A’s pitcher and long time film aficionado John Axford is well known for predicting who will win the Oscar every year. This year was no different. Here were his choices for this year:
He’s generally great at this; one year Ax went a perfect 18/18 on his predictions. Would he repeat that incredible performance for this year’s Academy Awards?
Sadly, no.
Axford did not predict every category, but let’s see the big misses of the night.
The biggest upset for most people (and on Axford’s prediction list) was “Bridge of Spies”‘ Mark Rylance’s win for Best Supporting Actor over fan pick and sentimental favorite Sylvester Stallone for “Creed”. I didn’t see “Bridge of Spies” – it looked interesting but also boring – but I did see “Creed” and absolutely loved it. Stallone was playing Rocky Balboa but returned to the character’s roots, the reason that many of us fell in love with Rocky in the first place. The mixture of tenderness, toughness, and resignation to being a lonely loser was back. He infused that movie with heart and love.
Another huge upset of the evening was Best Picture. Many critics, and Axford as well, had the Leo DiCaprio vehicle “The Revenant” winning best picture. Others thought that “The Martian” had a chance, while others were hoping to see fan favorite and critical darling “Mad Max: Fury Road” take home the Oscar. The winner was “Spotlight”, a film about the Boston Diocese priest sex scandal.
The last big upset that no one saw coming was winner of Best Original Song. Axford, along with pretty much everyone who predicts these things, had the Diane Warren/Lady Gaga penned “‘Til It Happens To You” from a rape documentary called “The Hunting Ground” winning this award. The song I enjoyed the most was “Earned It” but it’s from that terrible “Fifty Shades of Grey” movie, and I was sure it wouldn’t win just because of that fact alone. The real surprise was that a song from the most recent James Bond film won the award.
Now, Bond films in the past have had pretty good songs. Sometimes it’s the best part of the movie – “A View To A Kill” by Duran Duran? – and sometimes it heightens the film and sets the tone. All of the Shirley Bassey themes do this. Adele’s “Skyfall” won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
“Writing’s On The Wall” by Sam Smith, though? Really? Sorry, guys. The other two songs I mentioned that were nominated were way better. I think they just didn’t want to give it to “Fifty Shades of Grey” or Lady Gaga. Like that year that Bjork was nominated and one of the worst Bob Dylan songs ever written won instead.
/shrug emoji/
Fan Interference 
The only two movies I’ve seen on this list was Mad Max and Inside Out and I’m kinda pissed Inside Out didn’t win more awards. I thought Mad Max was great, but not as hyped as people made it out to be.
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OK, I just looked a few of these up and I now see why. They all look boring as hell or depressing as FUCK. Sorry if my snobby movie cred is at stake here, but I have no interest in watching a movie about a woman getting abducted, imprisoned, raped, and then give birth to said rape baby. I’ll stick to Marvel movies thank you very much.
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Supposedly the little kid in that movie was great, though. A lot of people were legitimately angry that he wasn’t nominated for best supporting actor (which it would be supporting, because he’s a tiny child).
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I’m sure it was a well written, well acted, well produced film. And I have nothing against anyone who liked the film. I’m just saying the subject material doesn’t scream out entertainment to me, and it’s a perfect example as to why I never know most of the movies that get nominated for these awards. I don’t mind a serious movie, or a touching movie, but damn the description of this movie is just depressing as hell. I guess I just don’t understand the fascination with these artsy, dull, dry, boring, crusty movies.
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Of the 8 movies nominated for best picture…I only saw Mad Max, The Revenant, and The Martian.
I love Mad Max. I’ve watched it another 5-6 times since the bluray came out. Yeah, it’s just one long chase scene, but it’s endlessly entertaining.
The Revenant and The Martian are both fine. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, they aren’t too dissimilar…one guy surviving against insane odds. But I’m in no hurry to watch either one again.
Among the other movies that were nominated for other categories….
Star Wars – Good, not great. But just not shitting down both legs is a massive step up from the prequels.
The Hateful Eight – Goddamn do I love me some Tarantino. About a month away from the bluray release, which means I’ll be watching it again.
Inside Out – Who’s your friend who likes to play?
Ex Machina – Really good flick about an artificial intelligence. It moves pretty slow, until it doesn’t.
Except for Sicario, which I’ll get around to eventually, I’ve got zero interest in the rest of the nominated movies….and I’m quite sure I enjoyed the plebian fare of Ant-Man, Kingsman, Mission Impossible, and Straight Outta Compton more than I would any of that artsy bullshit.
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Here’s the thing – Straight Outta Compton was very good. Very good.
Creed, though. Creed was excellent. Still think it got screwed in every way. Michael B. Jordan was amazing.
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Haven’t seen Creed. Kept getting pushed back by other stuff that looked more interesting…until eventually it fell off my radar completely.
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