Best Actor Preview – 2016 Oscars

Full disclosure: I am yet to see Trumbo or The Danish Girl, so sections involving those movies will focus on the awards buzz instead of the performances.

Well it’s about time.

While some don’t completely agree he deserves it, it’s time.

Unfollow your favourite topical meme page because Leo is winning a statue.

It may not be his best performance, or really in his best handful, but a combination of factors which is mostly lack of real competition, means Leo will have to make space on his mantle piece.

Who does this leave us as the perennial loser then?

Bradley Cooper has fallen short a couple of times recently, Amy Adams has done enough to become a loser and Joaquin Phoenix has tried, even if he denies he even knows what the Oscars are.

My hope? Brad Pitt makes another run at an actor win and crashes and burns.

Who else could have been nominated:

Will Smith and his wife staged a protest because he wasn’t nominated (and because of the lack of diversity in the nominees, but really), while Al Pacino and Mark Ruffalo were both nominated for comedy/musical Golden Globes but weren’t really in the frame here.

Christian Bale and Steve Carell were both nominated in that above a category as well, but Bale was downgraded to a supporting actor and Carell was campaigned for in that category too.

Tom Hanks made another excellent movie this year and didn’t get a look in, Tom Hardy played two people in one movie and Johnny Depp stays on the outside after his role in Black Mass.

Who was nominated:

Bryan Cranston for playing Dalton Trumbo in Trumbo

Matt Damon for playing Mark Watney in The Martian

Leonardo DiCaprio for playing Hugh Glass in The Revenant

Michael Fassbender for playing Steve Jobs in Steve Jobs

Eddie Redmayne for playing Lili Elbe/Einar Wegener in The Danish Girl

The nominees:

Bryan Cranston

Why he will win: The dark horse in this race, Cranston is a much loved, award winning figure in Hollywood. He knows how to win over votes and is a hit on the social side of things around the awards season. Could he pull enough votes away out of sheer good will?
Why he wont win: Probably not. DiCaprio likely has a stronger pull of well wishers and Trumbo was a little seen, forgetting movie that hasn’t won anything. Cranston may be everyone’s second choice, but there are no votes for second in this award.

Matt Damon

Why he will win: Damon is the only other nominee to have any serious silverware to show off this season with his Golden Globe win, and DiCaprio aside, he had to carry a film and play off nobody more than anybody else.
Why he wont win: Damon is another contender to take the throne as the win less joke of the Internet, because he isn’t going to win here.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Why he will win: He’s cornered the market in terms of good will and general love from Hollywood this season. DiCaprio is part of a film that is roaring into the final week of the awards season and his performance is at least on par with everyone else.
Why he wont win: Um, maybe people are going to tick the wrong box?

Michael Fassbender

Why he will win: Before the season officially commenced, Fassbender was probably the front runner. He carries Steve Jobs terrifically and is probably the best performance in the category.
Why he wont win: Once awards season began, Steve Jobs took a nosedive in consideration and Fassbender’s chances went with it.

Eddie Redmayne

Why he will win: Redmayne is obviously a recognised award winner and his character certainly makes the biggest transformation of any in this category.
Why he wont win: Only Tom Hanks and Spencer Tracy have won consecutive Best Actor awards and Redmayne doesn’t yet have the accepted brilliance to break into that category. Winning again recently is extremely rare at the Oscars and Redmayne just doesn’t have the power to pull it off.

Who could win: Michael Fassbender
Who should win: Michael Fassbender, Leonardo DiCaprioWho will win: Leonardo DiCaprio

The Martian – Review

“I don’t want to come across as arrogant here, but I’m the greatest botanist on the planet”

When a movie is made just as it is supposed to it can be an engrossing ride that takes audiences out of their own lives for a couple of hours and stays with them forever.

The Martian literally takes the audience into a completely different world and is just ridiculously entertaining.

Coercing a long, all star cast led by Matt Damon, the film manages to take a serious sci-fi premise and keep things light and fun throughout.

A lot of that is due to the sharp script from Drew Goddard and a terrifically charismatic performance from Damon, who perfects his public image as the cool guy you want to hang out with in this film.

Ridley Scott helms things smartly and crisply and the film does well to balance the juxtapositions of its settings, from Mars to NASA headquarters and that other NASA place.

Mars is a setting because a manned mission there goes wrong due to a freak storm. Melissa Lews (Jessica Chastain) has no choice but to liftoff in the middle of the storm as botanist Mark Watney (Damon) has gone missing and is assumed dead.

Surprisingly to everyone, Watney wakes up in the red dirt and is forced to survive on a lifeless planet with nothing but his brain.

Meanwhile on Earth, Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels) declares Watney dead until he can phone home, wherein Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) attempts to figure out a way to bring him home.

Where The Martian succeeds most is the way it manages to balance so many characters, with role players including Kristen Wiig, Michael Peña, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Mackenzie Davis, Donald Glover and Benedict Wong the way The Martian manages to give them all separate personalities and traits is exceptional. They all get their chance to crack a gag and also help out.

It’s not all rosy, having Ejiofor play Kapoor (Irrfan Khan was the original choice), clearly written as Indian and Davis playing Mindy Park – a Korean – is definitely a mistake.

There is also an unnecessary subplot involving the Chinese space administration lending a hand, but if you can do anything to sell a movie to China you may as well.

But The Martian is just one of those movies where when the light comes on there is a pause in the audience, an exhale and then a consensus round of smiles.

Sometimes movies are made just as they should, to be entertaining and fun.

If you missed it, I have a new rating style. Read up on it here.

Direction/cinematography

Scott doesn’t try too hard with his direction here, taking a back seat as the action unfolds.

He relies a lot on setting visuals through cameras that are in scene – through video diaries, cameras on buggies – as a way of allowing Damon to talk directly to the audience.

It’s a smart idea, but at times it feels robotic and mechanical.

Dariusz Wolski looks after the cinematography and in conjunction with Scott they present a desolate planet sharply.

At times, because of the technological point of view and the disappearance of scope on Mars it seems like Watney isn’t really in much danger, but actions scenes are controlled perfectly and bring that concern back immediately.

1.6/2

Writing

Taken from Andy Weir‘s novel of the same name, Goddard does a terrific job at bringing a range of characters to life.

The Martian never gets bogged down in the serious nature of the premise, as every scene seems to have a gag in there somewhere.

Damon gets the best lines, making light of his predicament consistently in the video diaries.

As mentioned, the Chinese sub-plot is a little unnecessary and the jabs at disco music quickly lose their humour.

But Goddard does a fantastic job keeping the science at the forefront of the film, but also not letting it overwhelm the dialogue and action. What Watney and the NASA folk are doing is always explained, but also allowed to occur without over-explanation.

1.7/2

Acting

Damon gets a chance to shine here and nails it, playing the charismatic role he has kind of avoided.

Perhaps only in stages during The Departed, Saving Private Ryan and Good Will Hunting has Damon ever showed the same level of fun, relatable performance he puts in here during the entire movie.

His public image as the nice, family man out of the Affleck/Damon couple has never really been reflected in his roles, but in The Martian, Damon is afforded that chance and is just about perfect for the role.

Behind Damon, Chastain and Peña are the standouts in their crew.

Chastain has the strong, leading type nailed down, while Peña’s quick talking gags are always a delight.

Ejiofor and Davis perform the best out of the NASA crew, despite their poor casting, with Ejiofor’s joyful presence jumping off the screen whenever he appears (another name to throw into the next-James-Bond hat) and Davis carrying a calming curiosity to her character.

None of the other role players get as much time as they deserve – in particular Wiig – but with a cast this deep that is they way it is going to go.

1.8/2

Re-watchability

An action movie set in space directed by Ridley Scott that is also pretty funny? Yeah, that’s re-watchable.

2/2

Zeitgeist

As two prestigious sci-fi flicks released in quick succession involving an abandoned Matt Damon, The Martian will constantly be in competition with Interstellar as the best stand alone space move of the time (no chance either can out-zeitgeist The Force Awakens).

From where I stand, Interstellar is the better all-round movie, but with two Golden Globes behind it, and a better re-watchability stand point, The Martian will probably sneak ahead.

What does that mean in terms of a zeitgeist score? Well, The Martian has fought through an incredible year in cinema to sit right near the top of the pile.

1.8/2

The Martian – 8.9 out of 10