The Oscar® nominations were announced this morning and the Academy of Film Arts & Sciences did their usual job of mixing brilliant choices and WTF ones. Most were easy to see coming – The Martian and The Revenant picking up multiple noms; Stars Wars: The Force Awakens getting only a couple of tech nods – but in a year with so many great movies, how is it that there are only eight nominations for Best Picture? That makes no sense at all – I could name a handful of movies that would be as good as, or better than the official selections.
In terms of numbers, The Revenant led with 12 nominations, with Mad Max: Fury Road grabbing ten.
So! The Academy has spoken. For the complete (with occasional commentary) follow the jump.
Chris Rock will host the the 88th Academy Awards, live on ABC, on Sunday, February 24th.
Best Picture
The Big Short
Producers: Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner
Bridge of Spies
Producers: Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger
Brooklyn
Producers: Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey
Mad Max: Fury Road
Producers: Doug Mitchell and George Miller
The Martian
Producers: Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer and Mark Huffam
The Revenant
Producers: Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Inarritu, Mary Parent and Keith Redmon
Room
Producer: Ed Guiney
Spotlight
Producers: Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin and Blye Pagon Faust
Okay. So where are Ex Machina, Inside Out, Paddington, Straight Outta Compton or Love & Mercy?
The Academy’s reluctance to nominate an animated film for Best Picture makes no sense when Inside Out is a better film than, say Brooklyn (and says something that’s just as important as The Big Short, or Spotlight).
Ex Machina got some tech nods, but Alicia Vikander’s performance was much better – and more complex – than the one she gave in The Danish Girl and Ex Machina had something to say about what constitutes humanity.
And just how long has it been since a quality family film got a Best Picture nod? Paddington does something no other film did this year – it entertained families in a gentle, surprisingly sophisticated manner.
As for Love & Mercy – which only chronicled in juxtaposition, a genius’ descent into madness and ascension from it, or Straight Outta Compton – which gave the music of N.W.A. historical and musical context while dealing with the group members as individuals with hopes and dreams – why aren’t they worthy of one of the two slots that were left vacant?
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
I have no problem with the first four nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role, but submit that Jacob Tremblay (Room) and Tom Courtenay (45 Years) were at least as deserving.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed
Idris Elba or Benicio Del Toro instead of Tom Hardy – more complex performances in more important films. Sly deserves to be here – he might even deserve to win!
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander. The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Alicia Vikander should have been nominated for Ex Machina, otherwise, this is a pretty terric category.
Best Animated Feature Film
Anomalisa
Producers: Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson and Rosa Tran
Boy and the World
Producer: Ale Abreu
Inside Out
Producers: Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera
Shaun the Sheep Movie
Producers: Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
When Marnie Was There
Producers: Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura
Shaun the Sheep Movie made it! Huzzah!
Best Cinematography
Carol, Ed Lachman
The Hateful Eight, Robert Richardson
Mad Max: Fury Road, John Seale
The Revenant, Emmanuel Lubezki
Sicario, Roger Deakins
Nothing wrong to see here. Move along.
Best Costume Design
Carol, Sandy Powell
Cinderella, Sandy Powell
The Danish Girl, Paco Delgado
Mad Max: Fury Road, Jenny Beavan
The Revenant, Jacqueline West
Best Directing
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamson, Room
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn and The Martian must have directed themselves. This category needs to expand to include the directors of every Best Picture nominee.
Best Documentary Feature
Amy
Producers: Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees
Cartel Land
Producers: Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin
The Look of Silence
Producers: Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Producers: Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby and Justin Wilkes
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom
Producers: Evgeny Afineevsky and Den Tolmor
Best Documentary Short
Body Team 12
Producers: David Darg and Bryn Mooser
Chau, Beyond the Lines
Producers: Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
Producer: Adam Benzine
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Producer: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Last Day of Freedom
Producers: Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman
Best Film 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
Best Foreign-Language Film
Embrace of the Serpent, Colombia
Mustang, France
Son of Saul, Hungary
Theeb, Jordan
A War, Denmark
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Mad Max: Fury Road, Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
The Revenant, Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini
Only three nominations here? Definitely a Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moment.
Best Music – Original Song
“Earned It” from Fifty Shades of Grey
Music and lyrics by Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala Quenneville and Stephan Moccio
“Manta Ray” from Racing Extinction
Music by J. Ralph and lyrics by Antony Hegarty
“Simple Song #3” from Youth
Music and lyrics by David Lang
“Til It Happens to You” from The Hunting Ground
Music and lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga
“Writing’s on the Wall” from Spectre
Music and lyrics by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith
The worst Bond theme of all time gets nominated? That’s just wrong!
Best Music – Original Score
Bridge of Spies, Thomas Newman
Carol, Carter Burwell
The Hateful Eight, Ennio Morricone
Sicario, Johann Johannsson
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, John Williams
Best Production Design
Bridge of Spies
Production design: Adam Stockhausen; set decoration: Rena DeAngelo and Bernhard Henrich
The Danish Girl
Production design: Eve Stewart; set decoration: Michael Standish
Mad Max: Fury Road
Production design: Colin Gibson; set decoration: Lisa Thompson
The Martian
Production design: Arthur Max; set decoration: Celia Bobak
The Revenant
Production design: Jack Fisk; set decoration: Hamish Purdy
Sorry, The Danish girl, but Star Wars: The force Awakens should have been given your nom.
Best Short Film – Live Action
Ave Maria, Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont
Day One, Henry Hughes
Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut), Patrick Vollrath
Shok, Jamie Donoughue
Stutterer, Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage
Best Short Film – Animated
Bear Story
Producers: Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala
Prologue
Producers: Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton
Sanjay’s Super Team
Producers: Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle
We Can’t Live Without Cosmos
Producer: Konstantin Bronzit
World of Tomorrow
Producer: Don Hertzfeldt
Best Sound Editing
Mad Max: Fury Road, Mark Mangini and David White
The Martian, Oliver Tarney
The Revenant, Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender
Sicario, Alan Robert Murray
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Matthew Wood and David Acord
Best Sound Mixing
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. Montano, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson
Best Visual Effects
Ex Machina, Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett
Mad Max: Fury Road, Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams
The Martian, Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner
The Revenant, Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould
Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay
The Big Short, screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
Brooklyn, screenplay by Nick Hornby
Carol, screenplay by Phyllis Nagy
The Martian, screenplay by Drew Goddard
Room, screenplay by Emma Donoghue
Best Writing – Original Screenplay
Bridge of Spies
Written by Matt Charman, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
Ex Machina
Written by Alex Garland
Inside Out
Screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
Spotlight
Written by Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy
Straight Outta Compton
Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; story by S. Leigh Savidge, Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff
Funny thing – it seems we’ve swung back to another all-white-all-the-time year for acting nominations. That’s kinda deplorable.
But there you have it – the complete list of Oscar® nominations for the 2016 Academy Awards®.