All about Eve - old

I saw it at the London premiere - I thought the man next to me was going to pass out from laughing so much! It is a very funny film with the right mix of warmth and personal tragedy too. Maryland does not phone it in. She's excellent but we expect excellence from her so much that this performance doesn't stand out from her other great ones. Any other actress would be gunning for awards on ( ironically). The real revelation is Hugh Grant. My friend who saw it thought he actually outshone Meryl!

You have to be pretty committed to watch the Oscars in the UK. The ceremony starts after 1am and can go on until 5am. Before that you have to endure the brain dead coverage of the red carpet by E presenters. I was fine with Vikander winning though I would have loved to have seen it go to Winslet. Vikander was the actress story of the year. She was great in Testament of Youth and Ex Machina and did all she could with the Danish girl role. Plus I ship Vikbender -surely the greatest combination of physical beauty +serious acting talent in one relationship since Daniel Day Lewis +Isabelle Adjani! I was torn between Stallone, a legend who created an iconic character and Rylance, one of those brilliant unsung actors who usually go without the big accolades. After seeing how happy he looked while taking selfies with Spielberg, I can't begrudge him the win. Happy for Brie Larson. Love Leo. I've wanted him to win for years. I just wish I could be happier it's for this film which will be forgotten soon. Inarritu winning back to back is the minority story which should be making headlines. Hollywood's successful minorities in the next couple of decades will be Indian, Chinese and Hispanic, imo. I would have loved to see Mad Max win best picture but Spotlight will do.

Oh, I see all that. I know there were different expectations of the two films. I suppose I'm just saying it's unfair. A great performance is a great performance. But there seems to have been gloomy cloud over his nominations (although thankfully he's been nominated for everything, so clearly voters do have integrity). Two men and a dog saw Trumbo but he's also been nominated which is great. If the Martian had flopped no way would Damon have been in any awards conversation, imo. So, it's swings and roundabouts, I suppose.

Now, that is a scary thought lol

Agree. It's funny, Room made no money but Brie Larson is a lock for actress. However, Steve Jobs' under performance has been held against Fassbender from the start of awards season. That idiot Scott Feinberg from The Hollywood reporter refused to even accept he would be nominated until he was. He actually said Fassbender was an actor not a star! Well, on that basis perhaps Daniel Day Lewis should return his oscars and hand them over to Will Smith.

Redmayne really has great PR. He wasn't even nominated by several critics groups for this mannered performance. No one thinks he should win yet he's second favourite? Okay. Not that it matters of course since Leo is a lock but it bugs me.

I agree Spotlight is the 'important ' subject film this year, not Big Short. I can't see the latter winning best picture. I never could. It's easily Revenant v Spotlight, imo and I think Revenant has it.

It's like the year JLaw won the globes and Bafta but Lupita got SAG and Oscar. So, I think the Oscar goes to Vikander but I'd love to see Winslet take it, mainly because Steve Jobs was in my top 3 of last year and Fassbender isn't going to get the best actor award he deserves. I like Vikander but I didn't care for the Danish Girl and an early win for her might not bode well for the rest of her career.

I had a simple formula last year for assessing awards potential. I just watched all the films I could and tried as objectively as possible to rate them on quality and whether I liked them. Give or take a couple of surprises I pretty accurately picked all the nominees for the Oscars and most of the precursors. In the past I got caught up in PR hype and predictions from self styled 'pundits' who just guess along with the rest of us but dress it up as some kind of inside knowledge. Bonus tip -avoid ranting bloggers like Sasha Stone and that weasel Scott Feinberg.

I would have preferred Miller to win because I loved Fury Road and saw it twice while I appreciated Revenant but have no desire to see it again. However, good for Inarritu. It makes it the third consecutive year a Mexican is poised to take one of the biggest Oscars. Wish the media and internet thought that was a story worth writing about.

The picture with Leo was just cuteness overload too.

I actually wouldn't disagree with you on either point.

I really liked Imitation Game but despite being touted as a big contender it fizzled out and got overtaken by Theory of everything. Imitation Game didn't even win best British film at the Baftas which was quite a shock. Django and Silver linings didn't win as big as he would have hoped. I'm not saying he's been out of the awards loop entirely but since the Artist he has not been the force he once was or was thought to be.

There's certainly no demand for it but who knows, some unbright spark is bound to suggest it should happen. But I agree, it probably won't happen

I agree. Vikander's role is more showy. Plus she has the advantage of Ex Machina being loved by so many. So her win for Danish Girl which many people don't care for is as much for Machina as anything. As a gossipy aside, I have to say the faces of the Mara sisters as they watched Vikander's speech were , ahem, 'interesting'! Vikander has certainly stolen Rooney's awards thunder, possibly taken her role in the Dragon tatoo sequel and is ensconced in the arms of Fassbender with whom Rooney apparently had a thing -that's a lot of grievances. Lol