Oscars 2015: The Screenplays
Yesterday, the Manifesto analyzed the technical categories. Today, we’re looking at the screenplays and the supporting actor/actress awards. You can find the latter here; for the former, read on. Read More
Oscars
Oscars 2015: The Big Techies
Oscars 2015: The Little Techies
The 88th Academy Awards are airing on Sunday. Are you excited? Neither am I. OK, that’s a lie. As much as we complain about the Oscars, whether because of their racial homogeneity or their self-congratulatory atmosphere, the fact remains that they routinely honor some pretty good movies. Besides, the Manifesto has been obsessively analyzing the Oscars for the last 14 years, so we aren’t about to stop now.
This means that we have 21 feature awards to predict between now and Sunday. (Per usual, I’m excluding the three short-subject categories.) Today, we’ll be looking at a number of below-the-line categories that tend to be buried early in the show. For those interested in some sexier (but still technical) fields, you can find our analysis of those here. Tomorrow and Saturday, we’ll dig into the high-profile categories. Read More
Oscars 2015, Prediction Results: The Revenant Leads the Way
My modest goal in predicting this year’s Oscar nominations was to exceed my success rate from last year, when I hit on 80% (55 of 69). Well, things really changed this time around, when I connected on… 80%. (Between the variable number of Best Picture nominees and the category ambiguity with Alicia Vikander, there’s some fuzzy math involved, but you’ll just have to take my word for it.) I can’t decide if this means I’m impressively consistent or consistently mediocre.
In any event, there’s plenty to unpack following yesterday’s announcement. Let’s take a quick category-by-category scan through the lineup and see where things stand. Read More
Oscars 2015: The Manifesto’s Official Nomination Predictions
With the 2015 Oscar nominations being announced in a matter of hours, the Manifesto is racing against the clock to finalize its predictions. Last year, we hit on a pedestrian 80% (55 of 69), so we’re hoping to top that figure this go-round. The good news is that I’ve actually seen most of the movies in contention this year, which will better inform my speculation. The bad news? I’ve seen most of the movies in contention, meaning I can’t trot out the usual “It’s not my fault, I haven’t seen it” excuse as a crutch. So it goes.
On to the predictions. Per usual, we’re predicting the eight major categories, plus five additional below-the-line fields that I consider to be of significant importance. We’ll be back on Friday with analysis of the nominations, with category-specific coverage leading up to the big show on February 28. Read More