2016 Oscar Nominations: Let the Games Begin!

I’m sure like many of you, news of Alan Rickman’s sad passing to cancer took an emotional front seat to the Oscar nominations this morning.
What a wonderful legacy he created, he was a splendid actor who left us far too soon.

Once again, it’s a white man’s Oscars, you just can’t ignore it. No Michael B. Jordan (Creed), no Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation), no Samuel L. Jackson (The Hateful Eight) and no Will Smith (Concussion). 

Chris Rock is going to have a field day during the broadcast. 

Let’s talk about omissions. No Ridley Scott (The Martian) nomination!!! The film did great with seven nominations, including one for screenwriter Drew Goddard, but even though he got love from the Director’s Guild, no Oscar nomination. That’s a truly egregious snub. 

No Best Picture nom for Star Wars: The Force Awakens – just five technical nominations. When it came to Best Picture, the Academy chose to emphasize films like Room, Brooklyn,and The Big Short, over more commercially successful films like Star Wars, with Mad Max (10 nominations!) and The Martian being the exceptions.

Also surprising that Johnny Depp was overlooked for Black Mass. 

It was a great morning for Brooklyn, nabbing a Best Picture nomination, as well as Best Actress for Saoirse Ronan and Adapted Screenplay for Nick Hornby.

I was happy to see Cinematography recognition go to John Seale (Mad Max), Roger Deakins (Sicario), and finally, Robert Richardson for The Hateful Eight, whose director, Quentin Tarantino, took it on the chin – no Picture, Director or Screenplay nominations, though the film did get acknowledged for Best Original Score, and rather delightfully, Jennifer Jason Leigh, for Best Supporting Actress. Still – to overlook Samuel L. Jackson’s and Walton Goggins’ work is a real shame, to say nothing of Kurt Russell. 

In addition to Drew Goddard, I was happy to see Alex Garland get nominated for Ex Machina’s Original Screenplay. Aaron Sorkin was overlooked for Steve Jobs, which is surprising. 

But it’s clearly The Revenant’s year, which dominated with 12 nominations, including a first-time nod for Tom Hardy as Supporting Actor. I’m going to be really surprised if it doesn’t take home Picture, Director and Best Actor, though I suspect Hardy will be watching his category go to Sylvester Stallone.

A lot to digest, a lot to think about. 

Let the drinking, influencing and dieting begin!

Here’s the complete list of the nominees for you:

BEST PICTURE

The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

BEST DIRECTOR

Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Lenny Abrahamson, Room

BEST ACTOR

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Matt Damon, The Martian
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christian Bale, The Big Short
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Rooney Mara, Carol
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl 
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, Spotlight
Matt Charman, Joel Coen, and Ethan Coen, Bridge of Spies
Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, S. Leigh Savidge, and Alan Wenkus, Straight Outta Compton
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley, Inside Out
Alex Garland, Ex Machina

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Drew Goddard, The Martian
Nick Hornby, Brooklyn
Adam McKay and Charles Randolph, The Big Short
Phyllis Nagy, Carol
Emma Donoghue, Room

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Emmanuel Lubezki, The Revenant
Edward Lachman, Carol
Roger Deakins, Sicario
John Seale, Mad Max: Fury Road
Robert Richardson, The Hateful Eight

BEST FILM EDITING

The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Ex Machina

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
Bridge of Spies
The Martian
The Revenant

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

The Revenant
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight
Carter Burwell, Carol
John Williams, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Thomas Newman, Bridge of Spies
Johann Johannson, Sicario

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"Earned It,” Fifty Shades of Grey
“Manta Ray,” Racing Extinction
“Til It Happens to You,” The Hunting Ground
“Simple Song #3,” Youth
“Writing's On the Wall,” Spectre

BEST SOUND EDITING

Mad Max: Fury Road
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The Martian
Sicario
The Revenant

BEST SOUND MIXING

Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Inside Out
Anomalisa
Shaun the Sheep Movie
Boy and the World
When Marnie Was There

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Son of Saul
Mustang
A War
Embrace of the Serpent
Theeb

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond the Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of Shoah
A Girl in the River Last Day of Freedom

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Okay
Shok Stutterer

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team
We Can’t Live Without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow