2015 Awards Season: Oscars - Nominations

January 15, 2016

The Revenant

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

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

BEST WRITING - ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

BEST WRITING - ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

BEST DOCUMENTARY - FEATURE LENGTH

BEST DOCUMENTARY - SHORT FILM

  • 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
SHORT FILM - LIVE ACTION

  • Ave Maria
  • Day One
  • Everything Will Be Okay
  • Shok
  • Stutterer
SHORT FILM - ANIMATED

  • Bear Story
  • Prologue
  • Sanjay's Super Team
  • We Can't Live Without Cosmos
  • World of Tomorrow
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DIRECTING

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG

Notes and Reactions...

  • 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.
Going category by category, my initial reactions were.

    Best Picture:

  • 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.

  • Directing:
  • 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.

  • Best Actress in a Lead Role:
  • 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.

  • Best Actor in a Lead Role:
  • 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.

  • Best Actor in a Supporting Role:
  • 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....]

  • Best Actress in a Supporting Role:
  • 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.

  • Original Screenplay:
  • 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.

  • Adapted Screenplay:
  • 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.

  • Feature-Length Animated Film:
  • 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.

  • Foreign Language Film:
  • This is a notoriously hard category to predict, but Son of Saul seems like the favorite, while Mustang is the second most likely winner.

  • Documentary: Feature Length:
  • Amy is the favorite here, while I'm surprised Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief didn't get a nomination.

  • Documentary: Short Film
    Short Film: Live Action
    Short Film: Animated
  • 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.

  • Cinematography:
  • The Revenant is the favorite here, but The Hateful Eight has a shot.

  • Production Design:
  • 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.

  • Costume Design:
  • Sandy Powell got two nominations here and some think she will win for Cinderella or Carol, but vote-splitting might prevent that.

  • Makeup:
  • Mad Max: Fury Road is the favorite, unless The Revenant gets carried in a wave.

  • Visual Effects:
  • 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.

  • Editing:
  • Mad Max: Fury Road is the favorite, unless The Revenant gets carried in a wave.

  • Sound Editing:
  • 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.

  • Sound Mixing:
  • And for the final time...
  • Mad Max: Fury Road is the favorite, unless The Revenant gets carried in a wave.

  • Original Score:
  • 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.

  • Original Song:
  • I'm not sure which song will win, but I really hope Fifty Shades of Grey doesn't become an Oscar-winning movie.

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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