When you are talking about the Oscars (or the Academy Awards as they are more officially called), there are really 6 awards that stand out as the most important of the night. Nobody is talking around the water cooler at work about who got nominated for Best Documentary Short or Best Sound Mixing. That is not to say that those aren’t important films, roles and awards, they just aren’t as sexy as the top 6. Those 6 are:
- Best Picture
- Best Actor
- Best Actress
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Supporting Actress
- Best Director
But we can’t throw any of them aside, because they are all critical, even you Hair and Makeup. But I wonder if they have ever thought about treating the ceremony like a heavyweight fight. You have your undercard with all of the technical, foreign, documentary, and short films, then the atmosphere changes as we move into the final few highly coveted awards. I would argue that there should be a handful more that elicit just as much respect and attention.
- Best Original Screenplay (And Adapted Screenplay to a lesser extent)
- Best Cinematography
- Best Original Score
- Best Animated Feature*
- Best Documentary Feature*
- Best Foreign Feature*
*I believe that all three of these categories should be done away with and rolled into the Best Picture race. The Best picture should be the best of all categories. Documentary filmmakers shouldn’t aspire to make the best documentary, but rather, the best film possible.
With all of that said, here are the 2016 Nominations for all of the various categories. You can also print a ballot here and play along in the Oscars Challenge with me and your other Facebook friends, you do like me on Facebook right… You could win $1000 and a trip to the 2017 Oscars! I will be breaking down my picks of these top categories in later posts. Find out if your picks were correct on Sunday, February 28th at 7pm EST on ABC.
MAIN EVENT
BEST PICTURE
- The Big Short
- Bridge of Spies
- Brooklyn
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The Martian
- The Revenant
- Room
- Spotlight
BEST ACTOR
- Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
- Matt Damon – The Martian
- Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
- Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
- Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl
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
- Tom Hardy – The Revenant
- Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
- Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
- Sylvester Stallone – Creed
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
- Rooney Mara – Carol
- Rachel McAdams – Spotlight
- Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
- Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs
DIRECTING
- Adam McKay – The Big Short
- George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
- Alejandro G. Iñárritu – The Revenant
- Lenny Abrahamson – Room
- Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
- Anomalisa
- Boy and the World
- Inside Out
- Shaun the Sheep Movie
- When Marnie Was There
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
- Amy
- Cartel Land
- The Look of Silence
- What Happened, Miss Simone?
- Winter on Fire
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
- Embrace of the Serpent
- Mustang
- Son of Saul
- Theeb
- A War
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- The Big Short
- Brooklyn
- Carol
- The Martian
- Room
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- Bridge of Spies
- Ex Machina
- Inside Out
- Spotlight
- Straight Outta Compton
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Carol
- The Hateful Eight
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The Revenant
- Sicario
UNDERCARD
ORIGINAL SCORE
- Bridge of Spies
- Carol
- The Hateful Eight
- Sicario
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
COSTUME DESIGN
- Carol
- Cinderella
- The Danish Girl
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The Revenant
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
- Body Team
- Chau, Beyond the Lines
- Claude Lanzmann
- A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
- Last Day of Freedom
MAKEUP AND HAIR STYLING
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
- The Revenant
ORIGINAL SONG
- “Earned It” – Fifty Shades of Grey
- “Manta Ray” – Racing Extinction
- “Simple Song #3” – Youth
- “Til It Happens to You” – The Hunting Ground
- “Writing’s on the Wall” – Spectre
ANIMATED SHORT
- Bear Story
- Prologue
- Sanjay’s Super Team
- We Can’t Live Without Cosmos
- World of Tomorrow
SOUND EDITING
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Sicario
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- The Martian
- The Revenant
FILM EDITING
- The Big Short
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The Revenant
- Spotlight
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
PRODUCTION DESIGN
- Bridge of Spies
- The Danish Girl
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The Martian
- The Revenant
VISUAL EFFECTS
- Ex Machina
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- The Martian
- The Revenant
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Did you even make it all the way down here? If you did, I applaud your enthusiasm and stamina! Leave me a comment and let me know that you are as excited as I am.