Predicting The 88th Annual Academy Awards

The 88^th Annual Academy Awards are just around the corner, so once again, it’s time to lay down my predictions for who has the best chance of winning in each of the 24 categories, along with a bit of analysis as to why they appear to be the frontrunners.

As usual, I’ll start from the smallest categories and work my way up, so let’s get started:

Best Animated Short Film

“Bear Story” Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala
“Prologue” Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton
“Sanjay’s Super Team” Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle
“We Can’t Live without Cosmos” Konstantin Bronzit
“World of Tomorrow” Don Hertzfeldt

Best Live Action Short Film

“Ave Maria” Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont
“Day One” Henry Hughes
“Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)” Patrick Vollrath
“Shok” Jamie Donoughue
“Stutterer” Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage

Best Documentary Short Subject

“Body Team 12” David Darg and Bryn Mooser
“Chau, beyond the Lines” Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck
“Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah” Adam Benzine
“A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“Last Day of Freedom” Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman

As usual, there isn’t anything to base predictions on here except for the buzz circling the supposed top nominees, and this year the buzz appears to be circling Sanjay’s Super Team, Ave Maria, and Body Team 12. Most years that seems to be enough, with it helping to select all three short categories last year, so once again, we’ll just have to hope that it’s right.

Achievement in Visual Effects

“Ex Machina” Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams
“The Martian” Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner
“The Revenant” Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould

Up until just a couple of weeks ago, I would have sworn that this year’s Visual Effects award was going to go to Mad Max: Fury Road. However, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens winning both the BAFTA for Special Visual Effects and top honors from the Visual Effects Society, it would appear to be this year’s favorite. Although, I would say to watch out for The Revenant, what with it winning all three of its VES categories, and further still for Mad Max, as it could still swoop in and take it.