This is nothing more than a couple of sharpies trying to gin up interest in a Best Picture race that is not as wide open as they’re suggesting. Pete Hammond thinks the real comers are Spotlight and The Big Short because they have nominations in directing, writing, acting and editing. Hammond and O’Neill, in fact, believe that Spotlight is rebounding, and maybe so. And no one will be happier about a Spotlight win than myself. But if The Revenant sweeps or wins big at today’s Critics Choice Awards, which has historically mirrored the Academy more than the HFPA, its momentum will be all the stronger. It has 12 nominations, is going great guns at the box-office, Revbros, etc.

I’ll be driving over to Barker Hangar around 3 pm today. The show kicks off at 5 pm.

Listen to Michael Musto: Journalism films “never win,” he notes, and when you look hard and long The Revenant looks like a safer bet to win Best Picture. “Slog equals best picture…did you snuggle up to 12 Years A Slave? Did you cuddle up to No Country For Old Men?” Kudos to Musto for describing Mark Rylance‘s Bridge of Spies performance as “recessive.” On top of which Sasha Stone has predicted a no-win for Spotlight because of some BAFTA shortcoming.