Showhand: 88th Oscars Final Predictions - The Royal Flush

The clock is ticking, and the red carpets will be rolled out by tomorrow! Better get your seats warmed up for the most possible big snatchers of the night, including Leonardo diCaprio, The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road etc. There may be dark horses this year, but to be frank the best house of cards have been revealed over the past few weeks through various awards announcements. In your predictions deck, it is not a surprise if you put down either The Revenant or Mad Max: Fury Road. These two are really the 'royal flush' of the year. The Big Short would be a very daring prediction for Best Picture, yet well respected if you got the guts to do so.

Speaking of guts, the dark horses of the night could be the following:

• Best Picture: The Big Short or Spotlight
• Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)
• Best Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road
• Best Film Editing: The Big Short
• Best Visual Effects: Mad Max: Fury Road

It really feels like horse-racing around the racecourse, but of course I did not put any of the dark horses into my final score sheet, except for Best Costume Design. Enough said, here are my final predictions for the night...

BEST PICTURE

The Revenant

BEST DIRECTOR

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - The Revenant

BEST ACTOR

Leonardo diCaprio - The Revenant

BEST ACTRESS

Brie Larson - Room

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Sylvester Stallone - Creed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Alicia Vikander - The Danish Girl

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Inside Out

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Son of Saul (Hungary)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Amy

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Emmanuel Lubezki - The Revenant

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Big Short

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Spotlight

BEST FILM EDITING

Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Hateful Eight

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"Til It Happens To You" - The Hunting Ground

BEST SOUND EDITING

Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST SOUND MIXING

The Revenant

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Body Team 12

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

World of Tomorrow

All You Need To Know Before Watching the 88th Oscars

Shouldn't take long, just some interesting things you should know...

When is it?

28th February! Coming Sunday at 7pm EST (For Hong Kong folks, Monday morning 8am instead!)

Who is hosting?

Yep, there goes Chris Rock. Might have Will Smith, Idris Elba or Samuel L Jackson to host next year if they and many other well-deserved actors/actresses still don't get nominated.

Including The Revenant, Leo would have been nominated 4 times for Best Actor, and still no Oscar for him at all. This should be his year and moment though!!

Leo's Oscar records:

• The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - Nominated for Best Actor
• The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - Nominated for Best Picture
• Blood Diamond (2006) - Nominated for Best Actor
• The Aviator (2004) - Nominated for Best Actor
• What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) - Nominated for Best Supporting Actor

If director Alejandro G. Inarritu wins Best Director and Best Picture for The Revenant, he will become the first ever director to win both these titles in two consecutive years.

Past directors who have won Best Director twice consecutively:

• John Ford - The Grapes of Wrath (1940) & How Green Was My Valley (1941)
• Joseph L. Mankiewicz - A Letter to Three Wives (1949) & All About Eve (1950)

Looks ancient history, eh?

Sylvester Stallone became the first ever male nominee to have been nominated twice for playing the same character, same role. He was Rocky Balboa nominated for Best Actor in Rocky (1976), and now he is still Rocky Balboa nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Creed (2015).

Stallone is still in good shape, eh? After all these 40 years, we remember Rocky and those final steps.

Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki would become the first ever to win three in a row for Best Cinematography if he were to win for The Revenant.

His last two consecutive wins:

• Birdman (2014)
• Gravity (2013)

Including his nomination for Sicario, cinematographer Roger Deakins has surmounted his number of nominations for Best Cinematography to 13. Is it time for the Oscars to show a little sympathy?

Ennio Morricone is now 87 of age and he is still writing masterpieces for film scores. Tarantino was right about him being more than Beethoven and Schubert. Including The Hateful Eight, it is his 6th nomination for Best Original Score, and yet he has never won too, except an Honorary Oscar.

That's enough for the day. More analysis to come before Monday. Stay tuned :)