Movie Talk: 88th Academy Awards Nominations

Welcome to another episode of moviemanMDG’s Movie Talk, where I talk about everything film-related, whether it’s news, trailers, or my thoughts on a specific film.  Every year, many people gather around for a spectacular event that honors not only the best in film, but the people who worked hard on creating cinematic experiences that inspire and entertain.  That event is known as the Academy Awards, aka the Oscars.  Today, the nominations have been announced at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater by directors Guillermo Del Toro and Ang Lee, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, and “13 Hours” actor John Krasinski.  The 88th Academy Awards, hosted by Chris Rock, will air on Sunday, February 28th at 5:30pm PST / 8:30pm EST.  For this episode of Movie Talk, I will be sharing my brief thoughts on the films that are nominated in 24 categories, including Best Picture.  Some of the films were surprising to us and some of them were pretty much what everybody else was expecting.  So without further ado, let’s check out the nominations.


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


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


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


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 Film:
-Anomalisa
-Boy & the World
-Inside Out
-Shaun the Sheep Movie
-When Marnie Was There


Best Foreign Language Film:
-A War (Denmark)
-Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia)
-Mustang (France)
-Son of Saul (Hungary)
-Theeb (Jordan)


Best Documentary - Feature:
-Amy
-Cartel Land
-The Look of Silence
-What Happened, Miss Simone?
-Winter on Fire


Best 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


Best Live Action Short Film:
-Alles wird gut
-Ave Maria
-Day One
-Shok
-Stutterer


Best Animated Short Film:
-Historia de un oso
-Mi ne mozhem zhit bez kosmosa
-Prologue
-Sanjay’s Super Team
-World of Tomorrow


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


Best 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)


Best Sound Editing:
-Mad Max: Fury Road
-The Martian
-The Revenant
-Sicario
-Star Wars: The Force Awakens


Best Sound Mixing:
-Bridge of Spies
-Mad Max: Fury Road
-The Martian
-The Revenant
-Star Wars: The Force Awakens


Best Production Design:
-Bridge of Spies
-The Danish Girl
-Mad Max: Fury Road
-The Martian
-The Revenant


Best Cinematography:
-Carol
-The Hateful Eight
-Mad Max: Fury Road
-The Revenant
-Sicario


Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
-Mad Max: Fury Road
-The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
-The Revenant


Best Costume Design:
-Carol
-Cinderella
-The Danish Girl
-Mad Max: Fury Road
-The Revenant


Best Film Editing:
-The Big Short
-Mad Max: Fury Road
-The Revenant
-Spotlight
-Star Wars: The Force Awakens


Best Visual Effects:
-Ex Machina
-Mad Max: Fury Road
-The Martian
-The Revenant
-Star Wars: The Force Awakens


I found it quite surprising that Mad Max: Fury Road got 10 Oscar nominations while The Revenant got 12.  Don’t get me wrong, I really liked Fury Road, but the amount of nominations it had was just mind-boggling to me.  The Revenant is a dark, yet astounding, film despite its running time and slow pacing, in my opinion, but Inarritu did a great job at showcasing people’s actions and motives in the harsh winter landscapes.  He should be a lock-in for Best Director unless Tom McCarthy steals the “Spotlight” from him (get it, because he directed “Spotlight”).  One of my favorite films of all time, Inside Out, received two Oscar nominations including Best Animated Film and Best Original Screenplay.  It was obvious that it would get a Best Animated Film nomination because it’s the type of animated film that touches everybody of all ages, including myself.  I was hoping that Inside Out would receive a Best Picture nomination as well like the other Pixar films, Up and Toy Story 3, but nope, they have to give it to The Big Short which, in my opinion, was good, but not “Best Picture-worthy” good.  In terms of visual effects, I believe that Mad Max and Star Wars are going to provide some tough competition because both of these films used a lot of practical effects along with bits of CGI.  Mad Max: Fury Road provided loads of practical effects to create the world’s longest, dangerous, and realistic car chase ever to be shown on the big screen, while Star Wars: The Force Awakens provided nostalgia by adding realistic backgrounds, explosions, and costumes to create the universe that we all know and love back in the 1970s.  Both of these films provided excellent uses of visual effects and I hope either of them win.


There are a few films nominated that I haven’t seen yet, such as Spotlight, Room, The Danish Girl, and Carol, but I'm hoping to see them soon before the Oscars on February 28th.  So those were my brief thoughts on the nominations for the 88th Academy Awards.  To those who are nominated, congratulations and good luck.  To those who are not, better luck next year.  Let me know in the comments section what you think of the Oscar nominations and stay tuned for this weekend where I review three new films: The Michael Bay action thriller 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, the action comedy sequel Ride Along 2, and the animated comedy Norm of the North.