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

The Golden Globes Nominations

So, the Golden Globe nominations were announced, and I'm going to keep my tradition of tracking the award season on my blog! Here we go, for the 2014 Golden Globes. The 71st Annual Globes will be airing on January 12, 2014 - hosted once again by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

Check out www.goldenglobes.com for full details.

BEST ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR TV MOVIE
Matt Damon - Behind the Candelabra
Chiewetel Ejiofor - Dancing on the Edge
Idris Elba - Luther
Al Pacino - Phil Spector
Michael Douglas - Behind the Candelabra

BEST ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
Chiewetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club
Tom Hanks - Captain Phillips
Robert Redford - All Is Lost
Idris Elba - Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

BEST ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Bruce Dern - Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street
Christian Bale - American Hustle
Oscar Isaac - Inside Llewyn Davis
Joaquin Phoenix - Her

BEST ACTOR IN A TV SERIES, COMEDY
Jason Bateman - Arrested Development
Don Cheadle - House of Lies
Michael J. Fox - The Michael J. Fox Show
Jim Parsons - The Big Bang Theory
Andy Samberg - Brooklyn Nine-Nine

BEST ACTOR IN A TV SERIES, DRAMA
Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad
Michael Sheen - Masters of Sex
Kevin Spacey - House of Cards
James Spader - The Blacklist
Liev Schreiber - Ray Donovan

BEST ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR TV MOVIE
Helena Bonham Carter - Burton and Taylor
Rebecca Ferguson - The White Queen
Jessica Lange - American Horror Story: Coven
Helen Mirren - Phil Spector
Elisabeth Moss - Top of the Lake

BEST ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock - Gravity
Emma Thompson - Saving Mr. Banks
Judi Dench - Philomena
Kate Winslet - Labor Day

BEST ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Meryl Streep - August: Osage County
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Enough Said
Amy Adams - American Hustle
Julie Delpy - Before Midnight
Greta Gerwig - Frances Ha

BEST ACTRESS IN A TV SERIES, COMEDY
Zooey Deschanel - New Girl
Lena Dunham - Girls
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Veep
Amy Poehler - Parks and Recreation
Edie Falco - Nurse Jackie

BEST ACTRESS IN A TV SERIES, DRAMA
Julianna Margulies - The Good Wife
Kerry Washington - Scandal
Tatiana Maslany - Orphan Black
Robin Wright - House of Cards
Taylor Schilling - Orange Is the New Black

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Frozen
The Croods
Despicable Me 2

BEST DIRECTOR - MOTION PICTURE
Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity
Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave
David O. Russell - American Hustle
Paul Greengrass - Captain Phillips
Alexander Payne - Nebraska

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Blue Is the Warmest Color (France)
The Past (France)
The Hunt (Denmark)
The Wind Rises (Japan)
The Great Beauty (Italy)

BEST MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
12 Years a Slave
Gravity
Captain Phillips
Rush
Philomena

BEST MOTION PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Nebraska
American Hustle
The Wolf of Wall Street
Inside Llewyn Davis
Her

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - MOTION PICTURE
Steven Price - Gravity
John Williams - The Book Thief
Hans Zimmer - 12 Years a Slave
Alex Ebert - All Is Lost
Alex Heffes - Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

BEST ORIGINAL SONG - MOTION PICTURE
Atlas - Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion)
Let It Go - Frozen (Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez)
Ordinary Love - Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., Brian Burton)
Please Mr Kennedy - Inside Llewyn Davis (T-Bone Burnett, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Justin Timberlake, George Cromaty, Ed Rush)
Sweeter Than Fiction - One Chance (Jack Antonoff, Taylor Swift)

BEST SCREENPLAY - MOTION PICTURE
John Ridley - 12 Years a Slave
Bob Nelson - Nebraska
Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell - American Hustle
Jeff Pope - Philomena
Spike Jonze - Her

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE
Michael Fassbender - 12 Years a Slave
Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club
Bradley Cooper - American Hustle
Daniel Bruhl - Rush
Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR TV MOVIE
Rob Lowe - Behind the Candelabra
Josh Charles - The Good Wife
Aaron Paul - Breaking Bad
Corey Stoll - House of Cards
Jon Voight - Ray Donovan

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE
Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave
Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
Julia Roberts - August: Osage County
June Squibb - Nebraska
Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR TV MOVIE
Hayden Panetierre - Nashville
Jacqueline Bisset - Dancing on the Edge
Janet McTeer - The White Queen
Monica Potter - Parenthood
Sofia Vergara - Modern Family

BEST TV MOVIE OR MINISERIES
American Horror Story: Coven
Behind the Candelabra
Dancing on the Edge
Top of the Lake
The White Queen

BEST TV SERIES, COMEDY
The Big Bang Theory
Modern Family
Girls
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Parks and Recreation

BEST TV SERIES, DRAMA
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
House of Cards
Masters of Sex
The Good Wife

Whew! There's quite a different crop here than in previous years. I'm excited to see these awards! I'm also determined to actually see all the nominees - excluding the TV series, because there's no way I could catch up on all of those in time.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Idris Elba have cleaned up here - both are nominated in TWO categories. That's the first time I've ever seen this! It should be a banner year. Also, why was I not INFORMED that Helena Bonham Carter played Elizabeth Taylor in a movie?! That is now an absolute must see for me!

I still have a problem with the fact that the Globes categorize musicals and comedies in the same category - as we saw with Les Mis last year, it is not a comedy just because it's a musical, and it shouldn't be going up against comedies. Musicals either need their own category, or they need to be included where appropriate. Unfortunately, that's probably not going to change any time soon. So, we'll just have to see how everything goes.

As always, I'm a fan of Jennifer Lawrence, and I am rooting for Coop to win something this year after being snubbed for Silver Linings last year. I cannot wait to see American Hustle; it looks great and it's David O. Russell, who usually hits it out of the park for me.

Keep checking back for more blog posts! I'll be covering as many award shows as possible, and hopefully culminating with the Academy Awards in February. (Seriously. I book off work so I can watch it and I run a live blog during the broadcast!)