Thoughts on Oscar Nominations

by Philip Price
Here we are once again with the 2016 Oscar nominations and while I attempt to limit any coverage of the awards season hoopla (simply because there are so many to cover and too little to care about) the Academy Awards are obviously the biggest show of the season and so it was with great anticipation I awaited this morning’s announcements. My initial reactions are that of being generally pleased. I’m happy to see “The Big Short” get a lot of love (mainly Adam McKay’s Best Director nod) while also somewhat taken aback by the lack of love for “Steve Jobs” (especially in the lack of an adapted screenplay nom for Aaron Sorkin). There are no glaring admissions this year as there was with “Selma” in 2015, but many have already started complaining that once again the actor’s race is completely whitewashed. Out of 20 nominations not a single person up for an award is not Caucasian. The admission of the likes of Idris Elba for “Beasts of No Nation,” Will Smith for “Concussion” and both Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler for their work on “Creed” are being called out, but as awards analyst Sasha Stone reminds us, “Chris Rock is the host so I'm pretty sure he'll get them where they live.” “The Revenant” starring Leonardo DiCaprio (who will undoubtedly win Best Actor this year) and directed by last year’s Best Director/Best Picture winner Alejandro González Iñárritu leads the pack with 12 nominations, followed closely by “Mad Max: Fury Road” with 10 then “The Martian” with seven (with director Ridley Scott strangely omitted from the Best Director list) and “Spotlight” with six.

Notable snubs include the aforementioned absence of Ridley Scott in the directing category who, prior to this seemed like a shoo-in. Instead of Scott, “Room” director Lenny Abrahamson made the cut as did McKay who I had being left out in my predictions in favor of Todd Haynes for “Carol.” Speaking of “Carol,” the Cate Blanchett starrer garnered a solid six nominations, but was shut out of both the Best Picture and Best Director categories. Blanchett and her co-star Rooney Mara were honored with acting nominations while Phyllis Nagy also received a nod for her adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel. The surprising nod for the film came in the Original Score category as I expected both “Inside Out” and “Spotlight” to garner noms. The other two nominations for “Carol” came in the form of Cinematography and Costume Design (Sandy Powell was nominated in this category for both “Carol” and “Cinderella,” both of which starred Blanchett).
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While I’m not as big on “Mad Max: Fury Road” as everyone else it is refreshing to see an unabashed action blockbuster make the Best Picture list and almost more gratifying to see its director, 70-year old George Miller, get nominated for his work as well. While I don’t think anyone expects the film to pick up any wins outside of the technical categories it was nominated in I would have loved to have seen Charlize Theron get an acting nomination over, say, Jennifer Lawrence. That said, I don’t think Lawrence’s nomination for “Joy” is undeserved despite it receiving mixed reviews and it being the only nomination for the film. Not that it matters as, unless the climate really shifts in the next month, Brie Larson has the Best Actress category as locked down as DiCaprio does Best Actor. It is in the supporting categories that things get interesting. With the only nomination for “Creed” coming in the form of Sylvester Stallone for Best Supporting Actor it is his to lose as far as I’m concerned. While it is nice to see Tom Hardy recognized in some fashion with this supporting actor nod being his first and him starring in the two films that lead the nominations this year I’m slightly bummed that both Michael Keaton and Steve Carell were left out (though they could have given either of them the honor in Best Actor over Bryan Cranston for “Trumbo”). None of this matters though as Stallone’s biggest competition is Mark Rylance of “Bridge of Spies,” who is arguably the better actor, but Stallone is the bigger name with a fan base that will be rooting for him. I must admit, I am.

It is the Supporting Actress category that isn’t nearly as clear cut as the rest of the major fields. I was happy to have called Rachel McAdams getting a nod for her work in “Spotlight” as it is my personal pick for the best film of the year, but I don’t think she stands a chance in hell of winning. If I were to pick a winner today I would go with either Rooney Mara or Jennifer Jason Leigh for “The Hateful Eight.” Alicia Vikander has had a wonderful year with both “The Danish Girl” and “Ex Machina” (woot woot on the Best Original Screenplay for Alex Garland) as well as the underrated “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and she could end up being the dark horse of this category, but Kate Winslet is also an Academy favorite and she’s already won the Golden Globe. Still, it is Mara who holds the emotional core of “Carol” together and it is Leigh’s performance in Tarantino’s latest that is being talked about most. Ultimately, I’d put my money on Leigh if I had to call it right now. Speaking of Quentin Tarantino the guy was shut out of the Best Original Screenplay category in favor of Garland’s nod which I’m really OK with given I liked “Ex Machina” more than “Hateful Eight,” but it is in this category that “Straight Outta Compton” also received its only nomination and for four white screenwriters nonetheless. Despite knowing none of the actors nor director F. Gary Gray would get a nod for ‘Compton’ I was really rooting for it in the expanded Best Picture field, but alas no such luck.

I was happy to see films like “Ex Machina,” “Sicario” and even ‘Star Wars’ get a few mentions in the technical categories, but in talking about the Best Picture field I’m also really happy that some of my favorite films of the year such as “Brooklyn” and “The Big Short” were given recognition not only in this major category, but in many of the other highbrow categories including adapted screenplay and both Saoirse Ronan and Christian Bale in the acting categories. While I enjoyed both “The Martian” and “Bridge of Spies” well enough (both fine films from seasoned professionals) I don’t know that they warranted the attention they were given here. Documentary Feature and Animated Feature more or less played out without surprise with the notable exclusions of both “The Peanuts Movie” and “The Good Dinosaur” in the Animated field, but it is the Best Picture category that might end up being the most interesting of the year and certainly dictating the directing winner. Given the sum total of the votes it seems the Academy is keen to both “The Big Short” and “Spotlight” with those being my picks as of right now for the two front-runners with either of their respective directors potentially winning as well. But then again, “The Revenant” could sweep the whole thing and give Iñárritu his second consecutive Best Picture/Best Director wins. One thing is for certain about Revenant though, and that is that it will garner cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki his third consecutive win in the category.

Check out the full list of nominees below and catch the broadcast on February 28th at 6 p.m. on ABC hosted by Chris Rock. 


Nominations for the 88th Academy Awards
 
 
Best Picture

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

Best Director

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

Best Actor

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

Best Supporting Actor 

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

Best Actress

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

Best Supporting Actress

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

Best Animated Feature

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

Cinematography

Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant) 
John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road) 
Dariusz Wolski (The Martian) 
Robert Richardson (The Hateful Eight) 
Roger Deakins (Sicario)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Drew Goddard (The Martian) 
Phyllis Nagy (Carol) 
Emma Donoghue (Room) 
Nick Hornby (Brooklyn) 
Adam McKay & Charles Randolph (The Big Short) 

Best Original Screenplay

Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer (Spotlight) 
Alex Garland (Ex Machina)  
Meg LeFauve, Pete Docter, & Josh Cooley (Inside Out) 
Matt Charman, Joel & Ethan Coen (Bridge of Spies) 
Jonathan Herman & Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton) 

Best Documentary Feature

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

Film Editing

Tom McArdle (Spotlight) 
Margaret Sixel (Mad Max: Fury Road) 
Hank Corwin (The Big Short) 
Stephen Mirrione (The Revenant) 
Mary Jo Markey & Maryann Brandon (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Best Foreign Language Film

Son of Saul 
Mustang 
A War
Theeb 
Embrace the Serpent

Best Original Score

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

Best Original Song

"Writings on the Wall" from SPECTRE 
"Manta Ray" from Racing Extinction 
"Earned It" from Fifty Shades of Grey 
"Simple Song 3" from Youth 
"Til It Happens to You" from The Hunting Ground 

Sound Mixing

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

Sound Editing

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

Production Design

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

Visual Effects

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

Costumes

Sandy Powell (Carol) 
Sandy Powell (Cinderella) 
Jenny Beavan (Mad Max: Fury Road) 
Paco Delgado (The Danish Girl) 
Jacque (The Revenant) 

Makeup and Hairstyling

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

Best Documentary Short Subject

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

Best Short Film (Animated)

Sanjays Super Team 
Bear Story 
Prologue 
We Can't Live Without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow

Best Short Film (Live Action)

Shok 
Stutterer 
Everything Will Be Okay 
Day One 
Ave Maria

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