The film industry’s biggest award show will be broadcast at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 28 on ABC. Get the scoop now and check back Feb. 29 to see the biggest winners.

By Girindra Selleck
[email protected]
In the age of video-on-demand and the Netflix binge, people often forget that as recently as 2013, movies still reigned supreme.

But for one night each year, people across America drop what they’re doing and pause the latest episode of “Orange is the New Black” to indulge in nostalgia and revel in the magic of the silver screen.

It doesn’t help that this year’s Academy Awards, which will take place Feb. 28 at 5:30 p.m. on ABC, have stirred up so much controversy in regards to the academy’s repeatedly whitewashed field of nominees that people have begun to forget the show itself is still going on.

The Oscars are one of the industry’s necessary evils — everyone knows they are rarely “right” but goes along with it because, more often than not, they put on a good show. This year should prove to be no different, as the night will witness the convergence of #OscarsSoWhite and the scathing wit of returning host Chris Rock and will include performances by The Weeknd and Lady Gaga.

A number of the categories are all but decided — looking at you Leo, even that bear can’t get in between you and the Best Actor trophy now — while others remain hotly contested, largely because of a surprisingly conflicted series of results at the season’s preliminary award shows.

The race for Best Picture is particularly cloudy. The three guilds best known for predicting the award — the Screen Actors, Producers, and Directors Guilds — each honored a different film with their top prize. The Screen Actors chose newsroom drama Spotlight, the Producers chose financial farce The Big Short, and the Directors chose Alejandra G. Innaritu’s wilderness epic The Revenant.

In an attempt to make sense of where the statuettes might end up at the ceremony’s close, here are my predictions in each of the night’s major categories. I include my personal picks for the awards, as well as one person or picture I feel was unduly snubbed.

 

Best Picture:

Will win: The Revenant

Should win: The Big Short

Should’ve been here: Carol

Best Director:

Will win: Alejandra G. Innaritu, The Revenant

Should win: George Miller, Mad Max

Should’ve been here: Todd Haynes, Carol

 

 

Best Actress:

Will win: Brie Larson, Room

Should win: Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years

Should’ve been here: Bel Powley, Diary of a Teenage Girl

Best Actor:

Will win: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Should win: Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Should’ve been here: Michael B. Jordan, Creed

 

 

Best Supporting Actor:

Will win: Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Should win: Christian Bale, The Big Short

Should’ve been here: Steve Carrell, The Big Short 

Best Supporting Actress:

Will win: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Should win: Rooney Mara, Carol

Should’ve been here: Kristen Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria

 

Best Original Screenplay:

Will win: Spotlight

Should win: Spotlight

Should’ve been here: The Hateful Eight

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Will win: Room

Should win: The Big Short

Should’ve been here: Steve Jobs

 

 

Best Animated Feature:

Will win: Inside Out

Should win: Inside Out

Should’ve been here: The Good Dinosaur

Best Documentary Feature:

Will win: Amy

Should win: The Look of Silence

Should’ve been here: Iris

Best Foreign Language Film:  

Will win: Son of Saul

Should win: Son of Saul

Should’ve been here: The Brand New Testament