2015 Academy Awards Nominations - Predictions - How did I go?

A bit of a mixed bag really...


Films in Green - nominated
Films in Red - not nominated
Commentary in blue

Best Picture

• Bridge of Spies
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian 
• The Revenant
• Spotlight

 If more than five:

• The Big Short
• Straight Outta Compton
• Carol
• Inside Out
• Sicario

Should be nominated: Inside Out

#Oscarssowhite? Room and Brooklyn are both films with female leads, which is good to see. However, given how the nominations played out, I'm surprised that Carol (six nominations, including two in acting plus adapted screenplay) missed out. Inside Out is the kind of films that were getting nominated when AMPAS went to a 10 nominee format. Under the current implemenation though, animated films are likely to be shunted aside in the top category.

Best Director

• Adam McKay - The Big Short
• George Miller - Mad Max: Fury Road
• Ridley Scott - The Martian 
• Alejandro Gonzalez Inaritu - The Revenant
• Thomas McCarthy - Spotlight

Lenny Abrahamson getting in for Room was nowhere near my radar - Spielberg for Bridge of Spies would have been my alternate.

Best Actor

• Steve Carell - The Big Short
• Bryan Cranston - Trumbo
• Matt Damon - The Martian 
• Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant
• Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs

My gut feeling was that The Danish Girl would underwhelm and that Redmayne would miss out as a consequence. Given how strong The Big Short was, Carrell was likely pretty close to a nomination.

Best Actress

• Cate Blanchett - Carol
• Brie Larson - Room 
• Charlotte Rampling - 45 Years
• Saorise Ronan - Brooklyn 
• Alicia Vikander - The Danish Girl

Well, technically four from five, as Vikander was nominated in the supporting category for this performance.

Best Supporting Actress

• Jennifer Jason Leigh - The Hateful Eight
• Rachel McAdams - Spotlight
• Kristen Stewart - Clouds of Sils Maria
• Alicia Vikander - Ex Machina
• Kate Winslet - Steve Jobs

I was thrown off by the category fraud for both Mara (Carol) and Vikander (The Danish Girl).

Best Supporting Actor

• Christian Bale - The Big Short
• Paul Dano - Love and Mercy
• Idris Elba - Beasts of No Nation
• Mark Rylance - Bridge of Spies
• Sylvester Stallone - Creed

I underestimated the support for The Revenant (Hardy) and Spotlight (Ruffalo).

Best Original Screenplay

• Bridge of Spies
• The Hateful Eight
• Inside Out
• Spotlight
• Straight Outta Compton

Ex Machina in for Tarantino?

Best Adapted Screenplay

• The Big Short
• Carol 
• The Martian
• Room
• Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs won the Golden Globe for screenplay, so it missing here is a bit of a shock.

Best Animated Feature

• Anomalisa
• Boy and the World
• Inside Out
•  The Peanuts Movie
• Shaun the Sheep

Yay me for foreseeing The Good Dinosaur's omssion. Didn't see The Peanuts Movie dipping out as well. But got to say, I really like the diversity that you see in this category - it's now far removed from the days of nominating anything due to box office.
 
Best Foreign Language Film

• Embrace of the Serpent
• Mustang
• Son of Saul
• Viva
• A War

This was a total crap shoot based on the shortlist - haven't seen any of the nominated films.

Best Documentary Feature

• Amy
• Cartel Land
• Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief 
• The Look of Silence
• Where to Invade Next

Another crap shoot... still think that Kurt Cobain: A Montage of Heck should have been amongst the nominees.
 
Best Art Direction

• Bridge of Spies
• Brooklyn
• Carol
• The Danish Girl
• Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Cinematography

• Bridge of Spies 
• Carol
• The Danish Girl
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant

Best Costume Design

• Brooklyn
• Carol
• Cinderella
• The Danish Girl 
• Sufragette

Mad Max and The Revenant don't represent the typical Best Costume Design nominee. I'd almost like to see the Academy differentiate between Period/Fantasy and Contemporary, similar to the way that the Costume Designers Guild does.

Best Film Editing

• The Big Short
• Bridge of Spies 
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenent

If documentaries got their due: Kurt Cobain: A Montage of Heck

Yeah, I still say A Montage of Heck was screwed.

Best Makeup and Hair

• Black Mass
• Mr Holmes
• The Revenant

Year in, year out, this is probably my worst category as far as predictions go.

Best Original Score

• Carol
• The Hateful Eight
• Inside Out 
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Original Song

• “See You Again” - Furious 7
• "Til It Happens To You" - The Hunting Ground 
• "Feels Like Summer" - Shaun the Sheep
• “Writing’s On The Wall”  - Spectre
• "Simple Song #3" - Youth

Thanks to this category, we can now honestly describe 50 Shades of Grey as an Oscar nominated film.

Best Sound Editing

• Bridge of Spies 
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenent
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The nomination here had me hopeful that Sicario would place in some of the bigger categories. Alas, not meant to be.

Best Sound Mixing

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenent
• Sicario
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Straight Outta Compton

I would have placed Sicario here too, particularly over Bridge of Spies.

Best Visual Effects

• Jurassic World 
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• The Walk

Most common themes in the Australian media 

1. Australian's George Miller and Cate Blanchett nominated/snubbed for Oscar nominations
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2. Star Wars misses out on Best Picture nomination despite huge box office
   Here are the five most glaring and inglorious Oscar snubs of the year.
   
3. Leonardo DiCaprio has a chance to win his first Oscar
   ... he’s also tipped for Oscar triumph. 

 To be fair, this was probably the easiest category.