So, the BFCA nominees were announced. Now, if you look at previous years, they’re mostly pretty accurate to your final Oscar lineup. So, ideally, these nominees should clear things up a bit.
They didn’t.
BEST PICTURE
“The Big Short”
“Bridge Of Spies”
“Brooklyn”
“Carol”
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
“The Martian”
“The Revenant”
“Room”
“Sicario”
“Spotlight”
What bothers me personally is not the inclusions of The Big Short or Sicario, and it’s not the exclusion of Steve Jobs, Joy, or The Hateful Eight.
No, look at that list a second time – there’s no Inside Out.
At first I thought that BFCA just has a big animation bias. But no, not only did Up and Toy Story 3 both get recognized by this guild, but because there were always ten nominees when the Academy just had five, it meant that WALL-E, Finding Nemo, and even Shrek all got to be Best Picture nominees. So, when Inside Out fails to join the lineup, it’s a bad, bad sign.
BEST ACTOR
Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
Matt Damon – The Martian
Johnny Depp – Black Mass
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl
I’m pretty confident it’s going to boil down to five of these six actors… but which one is going to be left out?
BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett – Carol
Brie Larson – Room
Jennifer Lawrence – Joy
Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn
Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road
Blanchett, Larson, and Ronan are all locked in at this point. Some people think Rampling can get nominated. I think she needed SAG for that. There’s a possibility that Theron can be nominated if the Academy falls hard for Mad Max. Lawrence… uh, as of right now I’m predicting her, but her movie wasn’t as critically acclaimed as we were expecting it to be.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Paul Dano – Love & Mercy
Tom Hardy – The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Michael Shannon – 99 Homes
Sylvester Stallone – Creed
Outside of these people, Idris Elba, Michael Keaton, Jacob Tremblay or even Christian Bale could get in. That’s right. Ten supporting actors. Only five can be nominated. Let’s get ready for a bloodbath!
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara – Carol
Rachel McAdams – Spotlight
Helen Mirren – Trumbo
Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs
A lot of this depends on which category Mara and Vikander end up in. Is Mirren really going to be a thing in the race? From what I hear she’s just fine. Also, is there any possibility Vikander could get double nominated with both Danish Girl and Ex Machina? That globe nomination certainly made things interesting.
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Abraham Attah – Beasts of No Nation
RJ Cyler – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Shameik Moore – Dope
Milo Parker – Mr. Holmes
Jacob Tremblay – Room
On one hand, I want to say that Tremblay’s gonna win this by a mile. But on the other hand, I personally thought Attah was better.
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
The Big Short
The Hateful Eight
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton
Trumbo
At least they included Hateful Eight, but it doesn’t make this a great lineup.
BEST DIRECTOR
Todd Haynes – Carol
Alejandro González Iñárritu – The Revenant
Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
Ridley Scott – The Martian
Steven Spielberg – Bridge of Spies
Basically, it’s the Globe nominees, just with Spielberg added.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
The Hateful Eight
Inside Out
Spotlight
It’s great to see Inside Out getting some love, But what really peaks my interest is Ex Machina – does it actually have a chance to get a Screenplay nomination?
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Big Short
Brooklyn
The Martian
Room
Steve Jobs
Carol‘s bound to get in over one of these films, but I’m not sure which one.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
I’m thinking it’s likely gonna be five of these, but it’s hard to figure out which one won’t make it. Also, don’t be surprised if Room or even Ex Machina makes it on. This is a tight year for cinematography.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Carol
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
I thought Cinderella would get in for sure. Not sure what this means for the Oscar category.
BEST EDITING
The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Spotlight
Still trying to figure out exactly what kind of mark The Big Short will leave on this year’s Oscar race.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Brooklyn
Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
Sandy Powell’s sure to win for either Carol or Cinderella.
BEST HAIR & MAKEUP
Black Mass
Carol
The Danish Girl
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Well, it’ll probably be three of these.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Ex Machina
Jurassic World
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
The Walk
Could we possibly have THREE Best Picture nominees nominated for VFX? Also, you’ll notice Star Wars isn’t here, likely because it hasn’t screened yet.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Anomalisa
The Good Dinosaur
Inside Out
The Peanuts Movie
Shaun the Sheep Movie
BEST ACTION MOVIE
Furious 7
Jurassic World
Mad Max: Fury Road
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Sicario
Note: if you’re nominated against Fury Road in this category, you don’t need to bother showing up to the ceremony.
BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Daniel Craig – Spectre
Tom Cruise – Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Tom Hardy – Mad Max: Fury Road
Chris Pratt – Jurassic World
Paul Rudd – Ant-Man
Well, Hardy’s bound to get something for his amazing year.
BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Emily Blunt – Sicario
Rebecca Ferguson – Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Bryce Dallas Howard – Jurassic World
Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road
Come on. We all knew Theron was winning this when we watched the movie.
BEST COMEDY
The Big Short
Inside Out
Joy
Sisters
Spy
Trainwreck
Inside Out‘s nomination here is interesting. No other animated film has ever gotten into this category. It shows that the film has support, but does it have enough? If the film actually won this category, that would be ideal.
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Christian Bale – The Big Short
Steve Carell – The Big Short
Robert De Niro – The Intern
Bill Hader – Trainwreck
Jason Statham – Spy
No Matt Damon, and yet it’s slightly less embarrassing than the Globes category.
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Tina Fey – Sisters
Jennifer Lawrence – Joy
Melissa McCarthy – Spy
Amy Schumer – Trainwreck
Lily Tomlin – Grandma
Well, good to know that Lawrence is winning something this year.
BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE
Ex Machina
It Follows
Jurassic World
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Probably Fury Road again, but The Martian could take it. Or they could go in the complete opposite direction with Ex Machina or It Follows.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Assassin
Goodnight Mommy
Mustang
The Second Mother
Son of Saul
Probably Son Of Saul.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Amy
Cartel Land
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
He Named Me Malala
The Look of Silence
Where to Invade Next
Probably Amy.
BEST SONG
Fifty Shades of Grey – Love Me Like You Do
Furious 7 – See You Again
The Hunting Ground – Til It Happens To You
Love & Mercy – One Kind of Love
Spectre – Writing’s on the Wall
Youth – Simple Song #3
It turns out ‘One Kind Of Love’ isn’t eligible for the Oscar. That makes it clear for See You Again to win.
BEST SCORE
Carol
The Hateful Eight
The Revenant
Sicario
Spotlight
Okay, now they’re just being stupid. There is no way the score in Spotlight is better than Michael Giacchino’s work in Inside Out. I thought for sure Giacchino would win, but now it’s becoming a challenge for him to even be nominated?
Well, those are the Critics Choice nominations. I decided I probably won;t release an Oscar Predictions article until the day before the nominations are announced, because my predictions seem to change on a day-to-day basis with all this crazy stuff going on.
Predicting the Oscars: How can something be so fun and yet give you such a headache?
CONMAN AT THE MOVIES 