88th Academy Awards: Predictions, Surprises & Snubs

Wow, people. This year's Oscar race is heated. Like, 400 degrees in the oven heated. While there are some frontrunners, the race is wide open. Unfortunately, we have another year of #OscarsSoWhite, but with 2015 being a stellar year in film there are a lot of good options in each category. So let's get to it!

Best Picture:
The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Room, and Spotlight
Winner: The Big Short, The Revenant, Spotlight (pictured above)
The Dark Horse: Mad Max: Fury Road
Guys. Come sit down for a bit. I have no idea what's going to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Producer's Guild chose The Big Short. The Director's Guild chose The Revenant. The Screen Actor's Guild chose Spotlight. So the race is up in the air. My heart wants Spotlight, my brain says The Big Short, but my gut has money on The Revenant (with wins at BAFTA and Golden Globes and box office glory). I have to say this is an incredible list of Best Picture nominees, even though I hated The Revenant

Major snub: Creed and Carol could have been the 9th and 10th nominees.

Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett (Carol), Brie Larson (Room), Jennifer Lawrence (Joy), Charlotte Rampling (45 Years), and Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)
Winner: Larson
The Dark Horse: Ronan
Brie Larson has won most of the pre-Oscar awards so I'm confident to say she has the award in the bag. For a while, it seemed like she was going head to head with Saoirse Ronan, but I think this race is over. I like the other nominees, but they are of the "happy to be here" variety.

Major snub: Charlize Theron for Mad Max: Fury Road.

My Masculine Jacket: Blockbusters and the Modern Man

Clothes make the man. Look good, feel good. Dress for success. What we wear is a physical representation of our inner lives, how we feel--or how we want to feel--can be demonstrated by what we put on our bodies. That's why costume design is such an important part of filmmaking. You can't just put your characters in anything What they wear has to be a conscious choice to signify their place in the story and their emotional arc. Two of the years best blockbusters Mad Max: Fury Road and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, feature key scenes where men exchange jackets. And both of these exchanges highlight differing views on manhood, as seen in the blockbuster era.

"That's my jacket." 
In Mad Max: Fury Road, Max (Tom Hardy) gets captured. A malnourished, anemic War Boy named Nux uses him as a "blood bag," rigging him up in a bizarre blood giving contraption and fixing MAx up to the hood of his car. Max is being violated and abused, seen as property rather than an actual human being. This is paralleled with the Wives of dictator Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). These women are refereed to as "breeders," raped in order to bring healthy boys to Joe's army. Nux takes Max's jacket, as a trophy. The jacket is the property of his property, a symbol of his presumption of ownership over Max.

9 Great Films to Enjoy on Valentine's Day

I'm not the biggest fan of Valentine's Day. But I do enjoy sitting down with some chocolate, some chardonnay, and a good romance movie. Here are some good romantic films to enjoy this long weekend.

Beyond the Lights
It's a simple story, told with elegance and care. Gugu Mbatha Raw stars as Noni, a pop star whose life is getting out of her control. When she meets the sweet police officer Kaz, played by Nate Parker, she starts to come together. As directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, the film glows. The romance is understated and natural. Gugu Mbatha Raw is a radiant star, and her chemistry with Parker is infectious.

HAIL, CAESAR!: A Broad, Smart Hollywood Farce (Review)

Joel and Ethan Coen are two of my favorite directors working today. They have a remarkable batting average, with only two films that are questionable. They are the masters of precise imagery, delightful irony, and characters who don't always learn the lessons presented to them. Joel and Ethan Coen are known for making both intense dramas and goofy comedies, but their thematic insights are always present. Their latest film is Hail, Caesar!, a broad Hollywood farce.

Hail Caesar! stars Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Channing Tatum, and Tilda Swinton, with Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Alison Pill, and Frances McDormand in supporting roles. The film marks the return of "always the Oscar bridesmaid, never the bride" cinematographer Roger Deakins as the Coens' go-to cameraman since True Grit, after sitting out Inside Llewyn Davis. Oscar nominee Carter Burwell (Carol) provides the score, and editing was handled by the Coens, under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes.

Success is Redefined In LUCK BY CHANCE and BEGIN AGAIN

There are two films, which feature a couple torn apart by their differing definitions of success. The first is Zoya Akhtar's 2009 satire Luck By Chance starring Konkona Sensharma and Farhan Akhtar. The other is John Carney's sophomore film Begin Again, with Keira Knightley and Adam Levine. I recently saw both films, and I thought how each film puts two artists in a relationship only for fame, success, and ambition to steer them in different directions. Luck By Chance is set in the Indian film industry, while Begin Again takes on the music industry.

In Luck By Chance, Sona (Sensharma) is a struggling actress. She meets Vikram (Akhtar), another struggling actor. By chance, Sona leaves Vikram's photos on the desk of a producer who's been cheating her and he gives the photos to another producer. This guy (Rishi Kapoor) is looking for a new actor in his next production to star alongside an actress named Nikki Walia (Isha Sharavani), daughter of veteran actress Neena Walia (Dimple Kapadia). Sona, meanwhile struggles to get film roles and has to watch Vikram reach superstardom when his debut film is a big hit.