This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It's Oscar week — so The Cricket is again testing his prognostication skills by predicting the winners of the 88th Academy Awards.
There are 24 categories, so let's take them in chunks. Today, it's the technical categories. Tuesday, it's the craft categories. The short-film categories will be tackled on Wednesday, and the specialty features (animation, documentary and foreign-language) on Thursday. Finishing up on Friday, both here on the blog and in The Salt Lake Tribune's print edition, will be the top eight: Best Picture, director, and the acting and screenwriting categories.
This is all preparation for the big event, the Academy Awards ceremony, happening Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood — and televised live, starting at 6:30 p.m., on ABC, KTVX, Ch. 4.
Film Editing
The nominees are • Hank Corwin, "The Big Short"; Margaret Sixel, "Mad Max: Fury Road"; Stephen Mirrione, "The Revenant"; Tom McArdle, "Spotlight"; Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
Who will win • The thing to know about the film-editing category is that it usually presages Best Picture; from 1981 to 2013, no movie won Best Picture without an editing nomination. ("Birdman" broke the string last year.) But though "Spotlight," "The Revenant" and "The Big Short" are the front-runners in in the Best Picture race, the favorite here — and in many of the technical categories — is the supercharged spectacle of "Mad Max: Fury Road."
Who should win • The subtle editing of "Spotlight" raised the tension in an imperceptible but real way — and made day-to-day journalism look as exciting as it feels.
Sound Mixing
The nominees are • Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Drew Kunin, "Bridge of Spies"; Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo, "Mad Max: Fury Road"; Paul Massey, Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth, "The Martian"; Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek, "The Revenant"; Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
Who will win • Another win for the "Mad Max" crew.
Who should win • Tough call, but I'd go with the folks behind the "Star Wars" reboot, for making the familiar sounds of that galaxy far, far away feel fresh and new.
Sound Editing
The nominees are • Mark Mangini and David White, "Mad Max: Fury Road"; Oliver Tarney, "The Martian"; Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender, "The Revenant"; Alan Robert Murray, "Sicario"; Matthew Wood and David Acord, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
Who will win • "Mad Max," again.
Who should win • "The Martian," for creating authentic noises for a planet we haven't been to yet.
Visual effects
The nominees are • Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett, "Ex Machina"; Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams, "Mad Max: Fury Road"; Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner, "The Martian"; Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer, "The Revenant"; Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
Who will win • "Mad Max" — are you sensing a pattern?
Who should win • The seamless look of "Mad Max's" visual effects is impressive, but I'd go with the sleek, sexy robotics of "Ex Machina."