MY BLEARY/CAFFEINATED LAST-SECOND OSCAR NOMINATION PICKS

4:02 a.m.

Just aboutt 90 minutes until the nominations fro the 2015 Acdemy Awards are revealed. Time to register my own guesses for whaat names are going to be announced,, and see how my own fearless last-minute prognostication measures up against. the scholarly estimation of the obsessively informed Oscar derby as represented in indsutry trade papers like Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and the Envelope section of the Los Angeles Times. Remember, tese are my predictions fro what will happen, not my own personal perfernces. Here goes.

Best Picture

ANT-MAN
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
FURIOUS 7
MAGGIE
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
MINIONS
SAN ANDREAS
SHE’S FUNNY THAT WAY
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
Z FOR ZACHARIAH

Best Actress

Toni Collette KRAMPUS
Nina Hoss PHOENIX
Sidse Babett Knudsen THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY
Julianne Moore MAPS TO THE STARS
Emma Stone IRRATIONAL MAN

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper ALOHA
Daniel Craig SPECTRE
Ed Helms VACATION
Al Pacino DANNY COLLINS
Geza Rohrig SON OF SAUL

Looks good. A little nervy in some instyances, but I like to think I have ny finger on the pulse of what’s happening in Holywood. We shall see.

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4:32 a.m.

Ai-yi-yi. One cup of coffee later and those guesses don’t look so good. (Did I dream those? Maybe I need to get to sleep earlier, and/or lay off the habanero buche taco specials just before bedtime.) Uh, let me take one last swing at this before it is too late for the record.

Best Picture

THE BIG SHORT
CAROL
CREED
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
THE MARTIAN
THE REVENANT
ROOM
SPOTLIGHT

Best Actress

CATE BLANCHETT Carol
BRIE LARSON Room
SAOIRSE RONAN Brooklyn
LILY TOMLIN Grandma
ALICIA VIKANDER The Danish Girl

Best Actor

MATT DAMON The Martian
PAUL DANO Love & Mercy
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO The Revenant
MICHAEL FASSBENDER Steve Jobs
EDDIE REDMAYNE The Danish Girl

Best Director

ALEJANDRO G. INARRITU The Revenant
RYAN COOGLER Creed
GEORGE MILLER Mad Max: Fury Road
TODD HAYNES Carol
RIDLEY SCOTT The Martian

Best Supporting Actor

STEVE CARELL The Big Short
HARRISON FORD Star Wars: The Force Awakens
TOM HARDY The Revenenat
MARK RYLANCE Bridge of Spies
SYLVESTER STALLONE Creed

Best Supporting Actress

JANE FONDA Youth
JENNIFER JASON LEIGH The Hateful Eight
ROONEY MARA Carol
KRISTEN STEWART Clouds of Sils Maria
JULIE WALTERS Brooklyn

Okay, those look a little better. I won’t be surprised—in fact, I’d be delighted if Oscar Isaac and and/or Alicia Vikander up-ends one of my picks in their respective supporting categories for Ex Machina. But other than my out-of-nowhere pick of Julie Walters in Brooklyn, which is armed, as far as I can tell, by absolutely no evidence of support to back me up by anyone in the know (persons who, of course, don’t really know anything), my picks don’t seem too outrageous. In about another half hour all will be revealed and, just like most years previous, I’ll sweep out the ashes and beginning assessing what went horribly wrong with my Oscar nomination guesses. A tradition like no other!

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