2015 Awards Season: Oscars - Nominations
January 15, 2016
The Oscar nominations were announced at 5:30 am Pacific time. Nothing is good that early in the morning. Worse still, this was a terrible year for snubs, especially when it comes to diversity of the nominees. The voters for the Oscars are 94% white and 77% male... but that's still more diverse than the list of nominees. The Revenant led the way with 12 nominations and it is expected to win a few of those, while it is a serious contender in most of the categories it was nominated in.
The categories and nominations are...
BEST PICTURE
DIRECTING
- Lenny Abrahamson for Room
- Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for The Revenant
- Thomas McCarthy for Spotlight
- Adam McKay for The Big Short
- George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road
- Cate Blanchett for Carol
- Brie Larson for Room
- Jennifer Lawrence for Joy
- Charlotte Rampling for 45 Years
- Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn
- Bryan Cranston for Trumbo
- Matt Damon for The Martian
- Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant
- Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs
- Eddie Redmayne for The Danish Girl
- Christian Bale for The Big Short
- Tom Hardy for The Revenant
- Mark Ruffalo for Spotlight
- Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies
- Sylvester Stallone for Creed
- Jennifer Jason Leigh for The Hateful Eight
- Rooney Mara for Carol
- Rachel McAdams for Spotlight
- Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl
- Kate Winslet for Steve Jobs
- Bridge of Spies written by Matt Charman, Ethan Coen, and Joel Coen
- Ex Machina written by Alex Garland
- Inside Out written By Josh Cooley, Ronnie del Carmen, Pete Docter, and Meg LeFauve
- Spotlight written by Thomas McCarthy and Josh Singer
- Straight Outta Compton written by Andrea Berloff, Jonathan Herman, S. Leigh Savidge, and Alan Wenkus
- The Big Short written by Adam McKay and Charles Randolph
- Brooklyn written by Nick Hornby
- Carol written by Phyllis Nagy
- The Martian written by Drew Goddard
- Room written by Emma Donoghue
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
- Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia)
- Mustang (France)
- Son of Saul (Hungary)
- Theeb (Jordan)
- A War (Denmark)
- Amy
- Cartel Land
- The Look of Silence
- What Happened, Miss Simone?
- Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom
- Body Team 12
- Chau, Beyond the Lines
- Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
- A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
- Last Day of Freedom
- Ave Maria
- Day One
- Everything Will Be Okay
- Shok
- Stutterer
- Bear Story
- Prologue
- Sanjay's Super Team
- We Can't Live Without Cosmos
- World of Tomorrow
- Carol: Ed Lachman
- The Hateful Eight: Robert Richardson
- Mad Max: Fury Road: John Seale
- The Revenant: Emmanuel Lubezki
- Sicario: Roger Deakins
- Bridge of Spies: Rena DeAngelo, Bernhard Henrich, and Adam Stockhausen
- The Danish Girl: Michael Standish and Eve Stewart
- Mad Max: Fury Road: Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson
- The Martian: Celia Bobak and Arthur Max
- The Revenant: Jack Fisk and Hamish Purdy
- Carol: Sandy Powell
- Cinderella: Sandy Powell
- The Danish Girl: Paco Delgado
- Mad Max: Fury Road: Jenny Beavan
- The Revenant: Jacqueline West
- The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window and Disappeared: Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
- Mad Max: Fury Road: Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega, and Damian Martin
- The Revenant: Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING
- The Big Short: Hank Corwin
- Mad Max: Fury Road: Margaret Sixel
- The Revenant: Stephen Mirrione
- Spotlight: Tom McArdle
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey
- Mad Max: Fury Road: Mark Mangini and David White
- The Martian: Oliver Tarney
- The Revenant: Lon Bender and Martin Hernández
- Sicario: Alan Robert Murray
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Matthew Wood and David Acord
- Bridge of Spies: Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom, and Drew Kunin
- Mad Max: Fury Road: Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff, and Ben Osmo
- The Martian: Paul Massey, Mark Taylor, and Mac Ruth
- The Revenant: Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom, and Chris Duesterdiek
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, and Stuart Wilson
- Bridge of Spies: Thomas Newman
- Carol: Carter Burwell
- The Hateful Eight: Ennio Morricone
- Sicario: Jóhann Jóhannsson
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens: John Williams
- "Earned It" from Fifty Shades of Grey
- "Manta Ray" from Racing Extinction
- "Simple Song #3" from Youth
- "Til It Happens to You" from The Hunting Ground
- "Writing's on the Wall" from Spectre
- The Revenant led the way with 12 nominations and it could catch a wave winning the majority of those. Even on the low end, it picks up four or so Oscars.
- Mad Max: Fury Road was next with ten nominations. It could win five or so technical awards, unless The Revenant catches that wave.
- The Martian picked up seven nominations, then there was a big crowd at between two and six.
- All twenty nominees in the acting categories are white... again. The Academy needs to take steps to prevent that from happening next year, or the biggest story around the Oscars won't be the prestige of the awards, but the possible racism of the voters. That could do serious damage to the brand.
- There were so many snubs here, including Carol, Creed, Straight Outta Compton, Beasts of No Nation, Ex Machina, Inside Out... How did Inside Out not get a nomination for Best Picture?
- The Revenant seems like the favorite here, but I want The Martian to take home the top prize.
- Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu feels like the favorite, as The Revenant looks like it will be the big winner on Oscar night.
- Ridley Scott was snubbed for The Martian, as was Todd Haynes for Carol.
- The biggest surprise nomination was Lenny Abrahamson for Room. I'm not saying he didn't deserve the nomination, but it is a smaller film and I thought it would be ignored.
- I'm rooting for Brie Larson to win for Room and she seems like the favorite.
- Jennifer Lawrence is turning into Meryl Streep. She's a contender for the Oscars, even when she makes a mediocre film like Joy.
- Leonardo DiCaprio is, by far, the favorite to win for The Revenant. In fact, he's one of the biggest favorites for any category.
- On the other hand, Micheal B. Jordan should have picked up a nomination for Creed.
- Sylvester Stallone could win his first Oscar for Creed, after earning two nominations nearly 40 years ago for Rocky. He is the favorite, but not an overwhelming favorite.
- The biggest snub of the category was Idris Elba for Beasts of No Nation, although I heard a few people complain that Samuel L. Jackson didn't earn a nomination for The Hateful Eight. [Copy Ed:If they had nominated Idris Elba, that would have made 7 British nominees out of 20 in the acting categories....]
- Possibly the closest of the major categories.
- I want Jennifer Jason Leigh to win for The Hateful Eight, but I think Kate Winslet will win for Steve Jobs. The latter would be the least interesting win, which is why I think it is the most likely.
- Spotlight is the most likely winner here, but Inside Out deserves to win. In fact, it should have been nominated for Best Picture, because it is easily the best movie of the year.
- I think The Big Short is the favorite here, but any of the five films could win and I would not be shocked in the slightest. This is a close category.
- The list of nominees feels very Oscar-like, as only Inside Out was a box office hit, while the rest earned more critical praise than box office dollars. Oscar voters seem to dislike animated films that were box office smash hits.
- That said, Inside Out is the overwhelming favorite to win.
- This is a notoriously hard category to predict, but Son of Saul seems like the favorite, while Mustang is the second most likely winner.
- Amy is the favorite here, while I'm surprised Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief didn't get a nomination.
- These three categories are notoriously difficult to predict. It will take a bit of research to come up with even an educated guess.
- While I have no idea who will win, I really want World of Tomorrow to win for Best Animated Short, as Don Hertzfeldt is one of my favorite animators.
- The Revenant is the favorite here, but The Hateful Eight has a shot.
- Mad Max: Fury Road is considered the favorite here, but I'm worried it will be ignored in favor of the Oscar-friendly The Revenant.
- Sandy Powell got two nominations here and some think she will win for Cinderella or Carol, but vote-splitting might prevent that.
- Mad Max: Fury Road is the favorite, unless The Revenant gets carried in a wave.
- The first of Star Wars: The Force Awakens' five nominations. It has a good chance of winning, but Mad Max: Fury Road is the slight favorite.
- Both Age of Ultron and Ant-man were snubbed, because apparently the voters don't like Marvel.
- Mad Max: Fury Road is the favorite, unless The Revenant gets carried in a wave.
- Every single year, I have to research the difference between the two sound categories. It's like I have a hole in my brain where that information is supposed to be stored. If I'm correct, Sound Editing is for sound effects, while Sound Mixing is for placing those effects in the audio track to maximize the effect.
- ... Yes, I cut and paste that part every year. It saves time.
- Mad Max: Fury Road is the favorite, unless The Revenant gets carried in a wave.
- That's not the last time I will cut and paste that comment. It's a relatively boring year.
- And for the final time...
- Mad Max: Fury Road is the favorite, unless The Revenant gets carried in a wave.
- The Hateful Eight was snubbed a couple of times, including best original screenplay. I think the voters will make up for that mistake by giving Ennio Morricone a well-deserved, and long overdue, Oscar.
- I'm not sure which song will win, but I really hope Fifty Shades of Grey doesn't become an Oscar-winning movie.
Best Picture:
Directing:
Best Actress in a Lead Role:
Best Actor in a Lead Role:
Best Actor in a Supporting Role:
Best Actress in a Supporting Role:
Original Screenplay:
Adapted Screenplay:
Feature-Length Animated Film:
Foreign Language Film:
Documentary: Feature Length:
Documentary: Short Film
Short Film: Live Action
Short Film: Animated
Cinematography:
Production Design:
Costume Design:
Makeup:
Visual Effects:
Editing:
Sound Editing:
Sound Mixing:
Original Score:
Original Song:
Filed under: Awards Season, Ant-Man, The Danish Girl, Mad Max: Fury Road, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force Awakens, Inside Out, Fifty Shades of Grey, Cinderella, Spectre, The Martian, Joy, Bridge of Spies, Straight Outta Compton, Ex Machina, The Revenant, The Look of Silence, The Hateful Eight, Trumbo, Spotlight, Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann, Steve Jobs, Room, Brooklyn, Shaun the Sheep, The Big Short, Omoide no Mani, Sicario, The Hunting Ground, Creed, Anomalisa, Beasts of No Nation, Cartel Land, Amy, Carol, Youth, Saul fia, Theeb, Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, Mustang, 45 Years, Racing Extinction, El abrazo de la serpiente, Krigen, O Menino e o Mundo, What Happened, Miss Simone, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Samuel L. Jackson, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Jason Leigh, David Acord, Christian Bale, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Josh Cooley, Bryan Cranston, Ronnie del Carmen, Leonardo DiCaprio, Pete Docter, Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Tom Hardy, Todd Haynes, Michael B. Jordan, Brie Larson, Jennifer Lawrence, Mark Mangini, Rooney Mara, Paul Massey, Rachel McAdams, , Adam McKay, George Miller, Stephen Mirrione, Charlotte Rampling, Eddie Redmayne, Robert Richardson, Saoirse Ronan, Mark Ruffalo, Gary Rydstrom, Mark Rylance, Christopher Scarabosio, Ridley Scott, Sylvester Stallone, Mark Taylor, Randy Thom, Stuart Wilson, Matthew Wood, Carter Burwell, Ennio Morricone, Alex Garland, Charles Randolph, John Williams, Thomas Newman, Roger Deakins, Maryann Brandon, Mary Jo Markey, David White, Alicia Vikander, Drew Goddard, Jacqueline West, Sandy Powell, Celia Bobak, Jenny Beavan, Andy Nelson, Nick Hornby, Jack Fisk, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Gregg Rudloff, Chris Jenkins, Lon Bender, Emmanuel Lubezki, John Seale, Eve Stewart, Drew Kunin, Margaret Sixel, Adam Stockhausen, Arthur Max, Alan Robert Murray, Frank A. Montano, Mac Ruth, Jon Taylor, Tom McArdle, Hamish Purdy, Paco Delgado, Rena DeAngelo, Oliver Tarney, Hank Corwin, Josh Singer, Alan Wenkus, Ed Lachman, Lesley Vanderwalt, Andrea Berloff, Lenny Abrahamson, Colin Gibson, Matt Charman, Emma Donoghue, Phyllis Nagy, Meg LeFauve, Jonathan Herman, S. Leigh Savidge, Michael Standish, Robert Pandini