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The 2016 Academy Award Nominations

By Dustin Rowles | Industry | January 14, 2016 |

Here are my “thoughtful insights” into this year’s Oscar nominations: I have zero complaints with the list of Best Picture nominees, although I might have liked to have seen the additions of Inside Out and Ex Machina (and The Revenant bored me sh*tless, though I understand why it was nominated). Of the nominated films for Best Picture, they chose the right directors to nominate.

There is plenty to complain about as far as lack of diversity goes (no Will Smith, No F. Gary Gray, Michael B. Jordan or Kitana Kiki Rodriguez). There were also no women nominated in the directing category. Sylvester Stallone got a crowd-pleasing nomination for best supporting actor that could’ve gone to a more deserving Idris Elba for Beasts of No Nation.

As for snubs? Ridley Scott for The Martian and Aaron Sorkin for his Steve Jobs screenplay seem to be the major ones, but the directing category was tough this year, and no one likes Sorkin. Whaddya gonna do? If they’d nominated Sorkin, he might have won, and no one wants to hear that speech.

Here’s the nominations, and by this point in the year, there’s rarely any surprises.

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

Best Director
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamson, Room
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
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, Hateful 8
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Best Original Screenplay
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room

Best Animated Feature
Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out
When Marnie Was There
Shaun the Sheep

Best Original Score
Bridge of Spies
Hateful 8
Carol
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Original Song
“Earned It,” 50 Shades of Grey
“Manta Ray,” Extinction
“Simple Song #3,” Youth
“Til It Happens to You,” The Hunting Ground
“Writing’s on the Wall,” Spectre

Best Documentary
Amy
The Look of Silence
Listen to Me Marland
Cartel Land
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom

Best Foreign Language Feature
Son of Saul
Embrace of the Serpent
Mustang
Theeb
A War

Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here or follow him on Twitter.

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The 2016 Academy Award Nominations

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