Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actor 2015

The Contenders:

Eddie Redmayne: The Danish Girl
Matt Damon: The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio: The Revenant (winner)
Michael Fassbender: Steve Jobs
Bryan Cranston: Trumbo

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Director 2015

The Contenders:

Adam McKay: The Big Short
George Miller: Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu: The Revenant (winner)
Lenny Abrahamson: Room
Tom McCarthy: Spotlight

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 2015

The Contenders:

The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight (winner)

Bear Down

Films: The Revenant
Format: DVD from NetFlix on laptop.

When The Revenant came out last year, it because the latest film to start the chant of “Give Leo an Oscar!” Well, this time it worked, and strangely enough for the film in which Leonardo DiCaprio says less than in any other of his films. Someone needs to start that chant for Richard Deakins, by the way—the man has 13 nominations without a win. Anyway, even before I saw the teaser of the next version of the 1001 Movies book, I figured The Revenant was a virtual lock. It’s got everything the compilers of the book want in a film. It’s long, it’s daring, it’s highly acclaimed, and it’s got a star they love.

It’s also worth noting that it’s evidence that several people had a really good 2015. Tom Hardy was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this and also played the title role in Mad Max: Fury Road. Domnhall Gleeson plays prominently in this and was in Brooklyn, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the critically-acclaimed Ex Machina, a film that also starred Oscar Isaac, who was big in the latest Star Wars film and Alicia Vikander, who won a Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in The Danish Girl. It’s like Six Degrees of Oscar.