Oscar nominations and where to watch them

It looks like February is upon us once again, and the most anticipated event of the year is right around the corner!

But enough about the Super Bowl. Let’s talk Oscars.

To get the worst thing out of the way, “La La Land” was nominated for 14 awards (two in the same category). In fact, the film received so many nominations that I can only assume at some point the Academy added a straight-ticket voting mechanism along the lines of “Check here to vote for La La Land in everything”. I’m almost surprised the members didn’t give it a nomination for best Foreign Language film just for the fun of it

Other tragedies include making “Suicide Squad” and Dreamworks’ “Trolls” Oscar-nominated films and getting poor Andrew Garfield’s hopes up for winning Best Actor.

Rest assured, I have been working diligently to witness every single film nominated for anything this year (only 33 to go!). Until then, there are still some basic predictions that can be made with the repertoire of movies I have already seen, combined with a knowledge of Oscar politics.

The first and most obvious prediction is that La La Land is going to sweep the awards. It is unlikely that it will win every single one of its nominations, however, and I am specifically betting that it will lose out on Sound Mixing, Original Screenplay, and possibly Best Actor. Miracles have happened before, such as last year when “The Revenant” was suspected to sweep until it was brushed aside by “Mad Max: Fury Road,” or when something similar happened with “Boyhood” back in 2015. However, this year there are few, if any, contenders with nearly as much star power, so it is almost a sure bet that it will get the most wins.

Other notable contenders are “Manchester by the Sea,” “Hell or High Water,” and “Fences”. Each has received heavy critical acclaim and is sure to win at least one of its entries. Casey Affleck, in particular, is a very strong contender for Best Lead Actor. In the Animated Feature category, “Zootopia” has a 90 percent chance of winning, due in part to its themes, but mostly because Disney/Pixar has won this category almost every year since it was invented – even when the film didn’t particularly deserve it (Ahem, “Brave,” ahem). “Moana” has about a 9.999 percent chance due to also being a Disney film, but Zootopia is definitely the preference among most critics and audiences.

Finally, the Best Picture this year is a bit of a gamble. “Arrival” and “Hidden Figures” are almost surely not going to win. Both are excellent films, but they are not generally the sort of things the Academy votes for. La La Land is the obvious choice, but this is typically the category with the most unexpected result, as shown by last year when “Spotlight” snuck under people’s noses and stole the win. As I have not yet seen “Lion,” I am forced to presume that this will end up being a toss-up of Manchester by the Sea, La La Land, and Moonlight.

But the real fun of the Academy Awards is seeing all these movies for yourself. I encourage you to seek out these movies wherever you can find them and start making your own predictions about the results. Even if you can only afford to see the Best Picture nominees, it is an enriching experience and will help your understanding of modern cinema immensely.

Sometimes finding some of the nominees can be difficult, especially those films with limited releases.

To help you out, I have created a brief guide to locate quite a few of them. And, remember, if you are ever having trouble finding a specific movie that is not on this list, Google is your friend.

In Most Theaters

• Hidden Figures
• La La Land
• Arrival

Hollywood Theatre

• Moonlight
• Manchester by the Sea
• I Am Not Your Negro
• Oscar Shorts (Animated, Live Action)

Living Room Theater

• Fences
• Hidden Figures
• La La Land
• Oscar Shorts (Animated, Live Action)
• The Salesman

Kiggins Theatre

• Moonlight
• Oscar Shorts (Animated, Live Action, Documentary)

Portland International Film Festival

• I Am Not Your Negro Feb. 9
• Land of Mine Feb. 12
• My Life as a Zucchini Feb. 12
• Fire at Sea Feb.12