If We Had an Oscar Ballot 2016
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What follows is a hypothetical scenario in which we are Academy voters who commit the ultimate sin of showing you our completed ballots. Never mind that ballots were due several days ago - we're professional procrastinators.
Note: Like many Oscar voters, we could go through the motions of voting in all 24 races, but, for the sake of honesty (and what we hope the real voters practice), we'll abstain from the categories where we have yet to see all the nominees. So no Animated Feature (though we'd cast one vote each for Moana and Zootopia of those we've seen), Foreign Film, Documentary Short, or Documentary Feature (we braved the 7+ hours of O.J.: Made in America, but still have two nominees to see for completion's sake). Oh, and no Makeup & Hairstyling either because we can't be bothered to watch Suicide Squad. But enough about what we didn't see - here's who and what we're rooting for Sunday night!
BEST PICTURE
The cream of the crop is voted on by a preferential ballot where voters are instructed to rank all the nominees for Best Picture in the order of their personal preference. While this means one could, in effect, vote against a particular film by placing it lower on their ballot, the system is in place to gauge overall support for the top films. Here's what it looks like for us:
Matt
1. Moonlight
2. Arrival
3. Hell or High Water
4. Manchester by the Sea
5. La La Land
6. Fences
7. Lion
8. Hidden Figures
9. Hacksaw Ridge
The top four were among my top ten films of the year, and only #9 is an actual dud, so it's not a bad crop of nominees overall.
Nathan
1. Moonlight
2. Arrival
3. Lion
4. Fences
5. Manchester by the Sea
6. Hidden Figures
7. La La Land
May more people make more movies like these seven. All worthy. (Also, I'm not sorry about the two I didn't see.)
BEST DIRECTOR
Matt
Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge)
*Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)
Nathan
Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge)
*Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)
It kills me not to vote for my favorite working director. There'll be a Camelot for us yet, Denis Villeneuve.
BEST ACTOR
Matt
Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)
Ryan Gosling (La La Land)
Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)
*Denzel Washington (Fences)
Were it not for Denzel's towering achievement, my vote would go to Affleck (all politics aside, those two were far and away the best leading male performances of 2016).
Nathan
Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)
Ryan Gosling (La La Land)
Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)
*Denzel Washington (Fences)
Denzel's best performance ever, and certainly the best of the year.
BEST ACTRESS
Matt
Isabelle Huppert (Elle)
Ruth Negga (Loving)
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Emma Stone (La La Land)
*Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)
Color me shocked that this very strong year for Best Actress boiled down to Streep over Negga for me among these five. Amy Adams, Annette Bening, and, especially, Viola Davis would get my vote had they placed here.
Nathan
Isabelle Huppert (Elle)
Ruth Negga (Loving)
*Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Emma Stone (La La Land)
Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)
I cosign my fella's point about Amy, Annette and Viola. But there won't be another Camelot.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt
*Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)
Dev Patel (Lion)
Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)
Mahershala gives my third favorite performance in Moonlight, but it's still a helluva performance, just edging out Hedges for my pick.
Nathan
*Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)
Dev Patel (Lion)
Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Matt
*Viola Davis (Fences)
Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
Nicole Kidman (Lion)
Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)
Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)
While we considered Davis a leading lady when she won our CineMunchie, I'm not mad enough at her placement in the supporting field to not vote for her monumental work in Fences.
Nathan
*Viola Davis (Fences)
Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
Nicole Kidman (Lion)
Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)
Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)
All hail the Queen.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Matt
Hell or High Water
La La Land
The Lobster
*Manchester by the Sea
20th Century Women
Nathan
Hell or High Water
La La Land
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea
*20th Century Women
So much truth in specificity.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Matt
Arrival
Fences
Hidden Figures
Lion
*Moonlight
Nathan
Arrival
Fences
Hidden Figures
Lion
*Moonlight
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Matt
Arrival
La La Land
Lion
*Moonlight
Silence
Nathan
Arrival
La La Land
Lion
*Moonlight
Silence
BEST FILM EDITING
Matt
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
La La Land
*Moonlight
I don't mean to be a broken record, and I hate sweeps, but Moonlight was genuinely the best shot, edited, and scripted film of the year. Arrival put up a good fight in each category though.
Nathan
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
La La Land
*Moonlight
Everything that guy to the left said.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Matt
Arrival
*Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hail, Caesar!
La La Land
Passengers
Nathan
*Arrival
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hail, Caesar!
La La Land
Passengers
The look of Arrival serves it so well.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Matt
Allied
*Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Florence Foster Jenkins
Jackie
La La Land
I dislike when voters equate "most" with "best" when it comes to the design categories, but, especially among these lackluster fields, I would give both to the Harry Potter spinoff.
Nathan
Allied
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Florence Foster Jenkins
*Jackie
La La Land
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Matt
Jackie
*La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Passengers
The one award I would gladly hand to La La Land.
Nathan
Jackie
La La Land
*Lion
Moonlight
Passengers
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Matt
"Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" (La La Land)
"Can't Stop the Feeling" (Trolls)
"City of Stars" (La La Land)
"The Empty Chair" (Jim: The James Foley Story)
*"How Far I'll Go" (Moana)
Though I would like the record to show that I think the Justin Timberlake Trolls tune is outstanding pop music and anyone who thinks otherwise is lying to themselves.
Nathan
"Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" (La La Land)
"Can't Stop the Feeling" (Trolls)
"City of Stars" (La La Land)
"The Empty Chair" (Jim: The James Foley Story)
*"How Far I'll Go" (Moana)
Sometimes voters have to rely on opinion and sometimes they can use objective truth.
BEST SOUND MIXING
Matt
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
*Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Nathan
*Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
BEST SOUND EDITING
Matt
*Arrival
Deepwater Horizon
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Sully
Nathan
*Arrival
Deepwater Horizon
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Sully
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Matt
Deepwater Horizon
Doctor Strange
*The Jungle Book
Kubo and the Two Strings
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Nathan
Deepwater Horizon
Doctor Strange
The Jungle Book
Kubo and the Two Strings
*Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
BEST SHORT FILM - LIVE ACTION
Matt
Ennemis Intérieurs
La Femme et le TGV
Silent Nights
*Sing
Timecode
Objectively, I think Ennemis Intérieurs is the best of these five, but I was really won over by both Sing and La Femme et le TGV.
BEST SHORT FILM - ANIMATED
Matt
Blind Vaysha
Borrowed Time
Pear Cider and Cigarettes
Pearl
*Piper
