My Thoughts on the 2016 Oscar Nominations

My Thoughts 

This morning the Oscars nominations were released so I will once again cover them in similar fashion to my post last year (2015 87th Academy Award Nominations and My Thoughts). I've gone back and updated all my reviews with the nominations they've earned as well as updating the Academy Award Nominees tab with this years nominees. So I noticed that this year I did a much better job in reviewing awards contenders as I reviewed 5 of the 8 Best Pictures nominees compared to 0 last year at the time the nominations were released. I will once again like last year review or share a review (since I've already reviewed a few of them) each of the Best Picture nominees, spaced out till the Academy Awards. That weekend I will once again make a post with my predictions of who will likely win and who I personally feel should win and then the night of the Academy Awards I will write out a post as winners are announced that will show my predictions and the actual winners. So as to my thoughts on this year's nominees, I obviously haven't seen every film nominated in each category (however in a few categories I have seen each of the nominees/nominated films) therefore I can't quite provide my full thoughts on each nominee. I was't quite expecting certain films to get as much love from the Academy as they did (notably Bridge Of Spies and Mad Max: Fury Road). I'm also surprised by the absence of a few films from the visual effects category including Avenger: Age Of Ultron, Ant-Man, and the lack of any of the spy films released last year. As I spoke of in my review of Mad Max: Fury Road I feel it's slightly over rated and I don't quite see why it's regarded by many critics as the best film of 2015 and thought it was simply an awesome action film. However, I do understand and appreciate the nominations it was given in the technical categories. I didn't feel there were many snubs this year in regards to nominations but in year's past some incredible animated films were also given a Best Picture nomination and I would have liked to see Inside Out be gifted that honor as well. I also was surprised Will Smith wasn't nominated for Best Actor given his phenomenal performance but all of the actors nominated were incredible and there's some stiff competition amidst that category so I understand why he wasn't nominated. All in all, I'm quite pleased with this years nominations and can't wait for the Oscars.

Nominations

Best Picture

"The Big Short"

"Bridge of Spies"

"Brooklyn"

"Mad Max: Fury Road"

"The Martian"

"The Revenant"

"Room"

"Spotlight"

Best Director

Adam McKay, "The Big Short"

Alejandro G. Ińarritu, "The Revenant"

George Miller, "Mad Max: Fury Road"

Lenny Abrahamson, "Room"

Tom McCarthy, "Spotlight"

Best Actress

Brie Larson, "Room"

Cate Blanchett, "Carol"

Charlotte Rampling, "45 Years"

Jennifer Lawrence, "Joy"

Saoirse Ronan, "Brooklyn"

Best Actor

Bryan Cranston, "Trumbo"

Matt Damon, "The Martian"

Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant"

Michael Fassbender, "Steve Jobs"

Eddie Redmayne, "The Danish Girl"

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Jason Leigh, "The Hateful Eight"

Rooney Mara, "Carol"

Rachel McAdams, "Spotlight"

Alicia Vikander, "The Danish Girl"

Kate Winslet, "Steve Jobs"

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale, "The Big Short"

Tom Hardy, "The Revenant"

Mark Ruffalo, "Spotlight"

Mark Rylance, "Bridge of Spies"

Sylvester Stallone, "Creed"

Best Adapted Screenplay

Adam McKay, Charles Randolph, "The Big Short"

Nick Hornby, "Brooklyn"

Phyllis Nagy, "Carol"

Drew Goddard, "The Martian"

Emma Donoghue, "Room"

Best Original Screenplay

Matt Charman, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, "Bridge of Spies"

Alex Garland, "Ex Machina"

Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer, "Spotlight"

Pete Docter, Ronnie Del Carmen, Josh Cooley, Meg LeFauve, "Inside Out"

Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, S. Leigh Savidge, Alan Wenkus, "Straight Outta Compton"

Best Foreign Language Film

"Mustang" 

"Son of Saul" 

"Theeb"

"A War"

"Embrace the Serpent"

Best Documentary Feature

"Amy"

"Cartel Land"

"The Look of Silence"

"What Happened, Miss Simone?"

"Winter of Fire: Ukraine’s Fight For Freedom"

Best Animated Feature

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

Best Film Editing

"The Big Short"

"Mad Max: Fury Road"

"The Revenant"

"Spotlight"

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Best Original Song

“Earned It” from "Fifty Shades of Grey" (written by The Weekend, Belly, TBD, and Stephan Moccio)
“Manta Ray” from "Racing Extinction"(written by J. Ralph and Antony Hegarty)
“Simple Song #3” from "Youth" (written by David Lang)
“Til It Happens To You” from "The Hunting Ground" (written by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga)
“Writing’s On The Wall” from "Spectre" (written by Sam Smith and James Napier)

Best Original Score

Ennio Morricone, "The Hateful Eight"

Thomas Newman, "Bridge of Spies"

Carter Burwell, "Carol"

Jóhann Jóhannsson, "Sicario"

John Williams, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Best Cinematography

Robert Richardson, "The Hateful Eight"

Edward Lachman, "Carol"

Roger Deakins, "Sicario"

Emmanuel Lubezki, "The Revenant"

John Seale, "Mad Max: Fury Road"

Best Costume Design

"Carol"

"Cinderella"

"The Danish Girl"

"Mad Max: Fury Road"

"The Revenant"

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

"Mad Max: Fury Road"

"The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out A Window and Disappeared"

"The Revenant"

Best Production Design

Adam Stockhausen, "Bridge of Spies"

Eve Stewart, "The Danish Girl"

Colin Gibson, "Mad Max: Fury Road"

Arthur Max, "The Martian"

Jack Fisk, "The Revenant"

Best Sound Editing

"Mad Max: Fury Road"

"The Martian"

"The Revenant"

"Sicario"

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Best Sound Mixing

"Bridge of Spies"

"Mad Max: Fury Road"

"The Martian"

"The Revenant"

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Best Visual Effects

"Ex Machina"

"Mad Max: Fury Road"

"The Martian"

"The Revenant"

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Best Short Film, Live Action

"Ave Maria"

"Day One"

"Everything Will Be Okay"

"Show"

"Stutterer"

Best Short Film, Animated

"Bear Story"

"Prologue"

"Sanjay’s Super Team"

"We Can’t Live Without Cosmos"

"World of Tomorrow"

Best Documentary, Short Subject

"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"