It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

UPDATED: The Oscars 2016 have been and gone, and the winners have been announced. Take a look see below to discover who took home the statuettes. The winners are highlighted in red, my predictions are in bold. If I predicted correctly, it’ll look a little like this!

That’s right folks, it’s almost time for the 88th Academy Awards. Will Leo finally bag his first win? Will Sly pick up his much deserved statuette for Creed? How many #OscarsSoWhite jabs can host Chris Rock fit in over the award ceremony’s runtime? All will be revealed this Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood!

In the meantime, I’m going to take my best stab at predicting the outcome for fifteen of the categories up for grabs….wish me luck!

Best Costume Design:

• Carol
• Cinderella
• The Danish Girl
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant

I expect Mad Max to get the ball rolling on its wins for the night with the Best Costume Design award going to Jenny Beavan. I do wonder if she might be called a “bag lady” again though.

Best Original Score:

• Bridge of Spies
• Carol
• The Hateful Eight
• Sicario
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The romanticism of the legendary Ennio Morricone composing his first western score since 1981’s Buddy Goes West is likely to see him win the day. John Williams may be in for a shout with Star Wars; the classic themes from that score are iconic, but the newer themes composed for The Force Awakens? Perhaps not quite as memorable.

Best Visual Effects:

• Ex Machina
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The word that springs to mind when thinking of the Visual Effects in Mad Max – Seamless. For me it’s a clear winner, but it has some stiff competition. Star Wars again will be lurking in the shadows to try and steal this one away.

Best Production Design:

• Bridge of Spies
• The Danish Girl
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant

Do you see a theme forming? It’s Mad Max: Fury Road again! It’s a simply beautiful film. I fear that the film’s victories might dry up later in the evening, but for the technical categories, Mad Max will be hard to beat.

Best Film Editing:

• The Big Short
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Spotlight

A close call, but The Big Short has a solid chance of getting up and running here. Again, a certain “blood bag” will be waiting in the wings as well.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• The Big Short
• Brooklyn
• Carol
• The Martian
• Room

Hello again The Big Short!

Best Original Screenplay:

• Bridge of Spies
• Ex Machina
• Inside Out
• Spotlight
• Straight Outta Compton

As much as I’d like to see Inside Out win this, here’s where Spotlight enters the party.

Best Animated Feature Film:

• Anomalisa
• Inside Out
• Shaun the Sheep
• Boy and the Wild
• When Marnie Was There

Not to worry though, as Inside Out seems to have this one wrapped up. Anomalisa is the dark horse.

Best Cinematography:

• Carol
• The Hateful Eight
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant
• Sicario

Emmanuel Lubezki is untouchable at the moment. He won in 2014 for Gravity. He won in 2015 for Birdman. He’s surely going to win in 2016 for The Revenant.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

• Christian Bale – The Big Short
• Tom Hardy – The Revenant
• Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
• Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
• Sylvester Stallone – Creed

Mark Rylance, as great you are, if you take this away from Stallone there will be hell to pay!

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

• Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
• Rooney Mara – Carol
• Rachel McAdams – Spotlight
• Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
• Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs

The one and only win for The Danish Girl?

Best Actress in a Leading Role:

• Cate Blanchett – Carol
• Brie Larson – Room
• Jennifer Lawrence – Joy
• Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years
• Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn

I can only imagine that Brie Larson has had her acceptance speech typed up, practiced and ready to go for months now. I’d be flabbergasted if she doesn’t win.

Best Actor in a Leading Role:

• Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
• Matt Damon – The Martian
• Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
• Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
• Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl

On the assumption that the Academy is anti-rioting, we can all look forward to Leonardo DiCaprio picking up the Oscar. No one wants to see Leo’s sad face again…

Best Director:

• Adam McKay – The Big Short
• George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
• Alejandro González Iñárritu – The Revenant
• Lenny Abrahamson – Room
• Tom McCarthy – Spotlight

Sorry George Miller, it’s not going to be your night. Iñárritu is starting to look comfortable accepting awards left, right and centre. He’ll likely be doing so again on Sunday.

Best Picture:

• The Big Short
• Bridge of Spies
• Brooklyn
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Room
• Spotlight

Now this here is a tricky one. I would love to see it happen for Mad Max, but it’s probably going to boil down to being between The Big Short, Spotlight and The Revenant. I’m going to stick where the momentum is currently, and that’s with The Revenant. But it really couldn’t be any closer.

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Who are your picks for the Academy Awards? Sharing is caring, let me know in the comments below!