This year’s awards season wound down at the star-studded 88th annual Academy Awards ceremony on Feb. 28. Memorable moments from the evening included Leonardo DiCaprio winning his first Oscar for his role in “The Revenant” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” taking home six awards.
But now we shift the focus to crowning three local winners; the three contestants who tied for first place in The Malibu Times Oscar Ballot contest.
This year’s Movie Gurus, Courtney Chapman, Brad Smith and Bob Liewald, all answered 16 out of a possible 20 correct, resulting in a three-way tie. This is the second year in a row Smith has won the award, also correctly guessing 16 out of a possible 20 in last year’s ballot — a three-way tie with Mike Levine and Mark Blake.
Smith admitted last year that he did not see any of the Oscar-nominated films; this year, he saw one: “The Martian.”
“To be honest, I decided to go see Deadpool instead of watching the Oscars,” Smith said.
Smith explained that he did not check the odds before submitting his ballot, but talked with friends to see what they like.
Liewald saw all of the movies, and Chapman saw all of the films nominated for best picture.
“Now I’m looking forward to seeing ‘Amy’ and ‘Son of Saul,’” Chapman said. Chapman’s favorite movie of the year was “Room;” she said, “It really moved me.”
Chapman was the only one of the three winners to correctly guess best picture of the year (“Spotlight”), while Smith and Liewald both guessed it was going to go to “The Revenant.”
All three correctly guessed the winners for best director (Alejandro G. Iñárritu for “The Revenant”), best actor (Leonardo DiCaprio for “The Revenant”) and best actress (Brie Larson for “Room”).
All three were incorrect for best supporting actor, each selecting Sylvester Stallone for “Creed” when the award went to Mark Rylance for “Bridge of Spies.”
Liewald told The Malibu Times that was the most surprising moment of the evening for him; Smith agreed, adding he was sure Stallone was going to win. Liewald shared that his favorite film was “The Big Short” and that he believes “Black Mass” was overlooked by the Academy.
“The most surprising recipient to me was the original song for Sam Smith,” Chapman said. “I thought Lady Gaga’s song was much better and the most powerful performance of the evening.”
The three correctly guessed that “Inside Out” would win best animated feature film, “Son of Saul” best foreign film and “Amy” best documentary.
Each of the winners will receive a certificate to Duke’s Malibu, and Liewald — the grand prize winner, who was selected by a random drawing out of the three names — will receive a one-year membership (or renewal) for the Malibu Film Society.