Best Supporting and Director

The Phillip Seymour Hoffman Award for Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale, The Big Short

Tom Hardy, The Revenant

Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight

Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

Sylvester Stallone, Creed

WILL WIN: Sylvester Stallone. The annual most competitive award, Stallone stands as the odds on favorite for a lifetime achievement award, spent mostly playing this same character.

SHOULD WIN: Mark Rylance. Perhaps the biggest problem with Bridge of Spies is that Rylance is too effective. Not only do we sort of like the Soviet spy, certainly a lot more than the goober playing Gary Powers…but we keep hoping there will be more of him in the movie.

WORST NOMINATION: N/A. Hardy, Bale, and Ruffalo all create convincing, fresh characters with varying levels of script support. Hardy has the worst script to work with, but does the most to turn it into something. Ruffalo once again has created someone I’ve never seen before. And Bale can’t help but always be good.

BIGGEST SNUB: Jason Statham, Spy. Statham’s extended self-parody in Spy was one of the funniest things ever put to film. Another Brit who can’t get any support from his countrymen because he worked his way up from the bottom rather than going to all the right schools. Let’s hope he always has the courage never to pretend he wants one of these trophies. Just be Statham.

Meryl Streep Award for Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight

Rooney Mara, Carol

Rachel McAdams, Spotlight

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

WILL WIN: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl – A Swedish ballet dancer plucked from obscurity to star in everything – Testament of Youth, Ex Machina, The Man from UNCLE, Burnt, The Danish Girl, Michael Fassbender’s wife; that’s a busy career, let alone in one year. Life has been very good to Ms. Vikander, not necessarily deservedly, and it’s about to get nicer.

SHOULD WIN: Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight – Life has been less fair to the more talented Jennifer Jason Leigh. After Fast Times at Ridgemont High, she grinded parts in forgettable movies for over a decade, picking up critics award nominations but no real attention, until the Coens made her timeless in Hudsucker Proxy.  And then back to the grind for another decade plus. Leigh outshines even a great Samuel L. Tarantino part in the most memorable performance this year this side of Jason Statham. Leigh deserves the attention, and this award, that someone powerful has decided will go to Vikander.

WORST NOMINATION: Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs – Rachel McAdams was merely forgettable; Winslet was actively bad. I would compare her inconstant Polish accent to Martin O’Malley’s presidential campaign: everyone feels obligated to keep mentioning its presence even as everyone just wonders when it will go away. As each inevitably did. At least O’Malley had the grace to stay gone.

BIGGEST SNUB: Erica Rivas, Relatos Salvajes. Her Romina makes reality TV Bridezillas look like the Geico Gecko.

The Spielberg Award for Best Directing

Adam McKay, The Big Short

George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant  

Lenny Abrahamson, Room

Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

WILL WIN: Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant - This follow-up to Birdman makes Mr. Inarritu out to be more a gimmick, difficult-to-execute tracking shots, than a director with a full bag of tricks. That said, the biggest revelation of my cross-country driving tour was the beauty of Big Sky Country and it’s hard to fault him for filling a dull script with high-end photography shots. The great American road trip – the original extended tracking shot.

SHOULD WIN: George Miller, Mad Max – Directing is the art of creating a world in 2 hours. No one did it better.

WORST NOMINATION: Lenny Abrahamson – Room – A good rule of thumb is to wonder, if someone else made this, what would it be like. In this case, the answer can only be...  

BIGGEST SNUB: Spielberg, Bridge of Spies – I have my issues with Spielberg’s ham-fistedness but he’s found a late career groove that suits his style. The point being, Lenny Abrahamson and NOT Spielberg? Spielberg will take his ‘un and beat your ‘un and then take your ‘un and beat his ‘un.