2015 Awards Season: Oscar Preview

February 28, 2016

It’s Oscar day and, if all goes to plan, I will be live-blogging the ceremony tonight. Here is the list of nominees marked according to predictions from our readers, and my personal wishes. Nominees in Bold are the ones predicted to win by our readers (we’ll have a full rundown of the predictions at noon, after the contest ends). If I am predicting a different film, those are in Italics. Meanwhile, the nominees I want to win, but don’t think will win, are Underlined. There are a few categories where the film I really think deserves the award was not even nominated, plus a few I don’t have a real opinion on.

If you haven’t done so already, it’s not too late to enter our Oscar competition, and win all Best Picture nominees on Blu-ray or DVD.

One observation on our readers predictions… We agree on all but three categories: the short films. These are historically the hardest to predict, so it is no surprise that there is some disagreement here. Agreeing on everything else is impressive though.

The categories and nominations are...

BEST PICTURE

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

DIRECTING

• Lenny Abrahamson for Room
• Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for The Revenant
• Thomas McCarthy for Spotlight
• Adam McKay for The Big Short
• George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

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

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

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

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

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

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

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

BEST WRITING - ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

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

BEST WRITING - ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

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

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

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

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia)
• Mustang (France)
• Son of Saul (Hungary)
• Theeb (Jordan)
• A War (Denmark)

BEST DOCUMENTARY - FEATURE LENGTH

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

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

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

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Bridge of Spies: Rena DeAngelo, Bernhard Henrich, and Adam Stockhausen
• The Danish Girl: Michael Standish and Eve Stewart
• Mad Max: Fury Road: Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson
• The Martian: Celia Bobak and Arthur Max
• The Revenant: Jack Fisk and Hamish Purdy

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN

• Carol: Sandy Powell
• Cinderella: Sandy Powell
• The Danish Girl: Paco Delgado
• Mad Max: Fury Road: Jenny Beavan
• The Revenant: Jacqueline West

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP

• The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window and Disappeared: Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
• Mad Max: Fury Road: Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega, and Damian Martin
• The Revenant: Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS

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

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN 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 ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING

• Mad Max: Fury Road: Mark Mangini and David White
• The Martian: Oliver Tarney
• The Revenant: Lon Bender and Martin Hernández
• Sicario: Alan Robert Murray
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Matthew Wood and David Acord

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN 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. Montaño, Randy Thom, and Chris Duesterdiek
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, and Stuart Wilson

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE

• Bridge of Spies: Thomas Newman
• Carol: Carter Burwell
• The Hateful Eight: Ennio Morricone
• Sicario: Jóhann Jóhannsson
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens: John Williams

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG

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

- C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: Awards Season, The Danish Girl, Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force Awakens, Inside Out, 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, Creed, Anomalisa, 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, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Jason Leigh, David Acord, Christian Bale, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Josh Cooley, Bryan Cranston, Ronnie del Carmen, Leonardo DiCaprio, Pete Docter, Michael Fassbender, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Tom Hardy, 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, 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