Academy Awards - UPDATED WITH WINNERS

The biggest awards ceremony of the year is almost upon us. The nominations were announced this morning, and there have already been many, many discussions. (Somewhat overshadowed by the world learning of the death of Alan Rickman. My heart is broken.) Most of these discussions center around the fact that the nominations are...pretty white-centric. And they are. They always are. This needs to change, but we need to be changing the Academy roster to do this. They're working on it, but it's going to take a long time to roll over. People are invited every year (I usually post this list too), but it depends on those people. And politics are a huge factor that people like to either mock or pretend don't exist. Politics are the main way the Academy Awards happen at all.

However, this ceremony still fascinates me. I like to see what's obviously Oscar material. It's an interesting cultural view. A really good thing, though, is that Mad Max: Fury Road actually got a ton of nominations, and I have to say, I wasn't expecting it to see it in anything but the technical categories. Nice surprise, I'll take it!

BEST PICTURE
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revanant
Room
Spotlight

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

There aren't really any surprises in this category, as usual. I'm glad to see Bryan Cranston. And maybe this will be the year poor Leonardo DiCaprio actually gets his damn Oscar! (I haven't seen The Revenant so I can't comment on whether or not he would deserve it for this specific role.)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

It's weird that I haven't seen J-Law's new film; usually, I watch everything she's in. I've heard next to nothing about Joy, though - she did win the Globe, so there must be a little merit there. And I'm happy for Saoirse Ronan - she's incredible! I'm thinking Brie Larson or Cate Blanchett, though.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

This could be the year for Sly; a lot of people are gunning for him to win. Glad to see Mark Rylance in there; a bit of a different lineup!

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

I'm just happy to see my girl Rachel McAdams back in the film world. I can't wait to see Spotlight. And I sort of can't believe this is her first Oscar nod! I'm also hearing a lot about Alicia Vikander suddenly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

FILM EDITING
Hank Corwin, The Big Short
Margaret Sixel, Mad Max: Fury Road
Stephen Mirrione, The Revenant
Tom McArdle, Spotlight
Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

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

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

This is one category in which I'm not at all surprised to see Mad Max nominated.

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

ORIGINAL SONG
"Earned It," Fifty Shades of Grey - Music and Lyric by Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Deheala Quenneville and Stephen Moccio
"Manta Ray," Racing Extinction - Music by J. Ralph; Lyric by Antony Hegarty
"Simple Song #3," Youth - Music and Lyric by David Lang
"Til It Happens to You," The Hunting Ground - Music and Lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga
"Writing's On the Wall," Spectre - Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith

THIS WAS CRAZY. Can't believe Bond won over a song with an essential message, sung so incredibly by Gaga. (And introduced by Joe Biden, randomly but amazingly.)

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

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay's Super Team
We Can't Live Without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
Shok
Stutterer

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

SOUND MIXING
Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Drew Kunin, Bridge of Spies
Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo, Mad Max: Fury Road
Paul Massey, Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth, The Martian
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek, The Revenant
Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

VISUAL EFFECTS
Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett, Ex Machina
Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams, Mad Max: Fury Road
Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner, The Martian
Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer, The Revenant
Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

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


ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Matt Charman and Ethan & Joel Coen, Bridge of Spies
Alex Garland, Ex Machina
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen, Inside Out
Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff, Straight Outta Compton