Now I realize I am so late to this party. But a combination of school, being busy, and actually being sick kept me from posting these.

These are just quick little reactions, don’t expect too much. I’ve also seen quite a few movies that I haven’t gotten around to writing reviews for. (Tangerine, The Revenant, Me & Earl & The Dying Girl,  and Shaun The Sheep Movie). Reviews are coming soon, I promise.

BEST PICTURE

The Big Short
Bridge Of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

8/8, but I predicted ten.

HOW DO YOU SNUB INSIDE OUT? I guess in hindsight I should have seen this coming, but both Up and Toy Story 3 got nominations.

And Carol is arguably the bigger surprise for most people. Yeah, that’s a real shame.

Last year, only one of the eight nominees had a female in a leading role (The Theory Of Everything). This year, three of the Best Picture nominees have that distinction (Brooklyn, Mad Max, Room.) Sure, Carol and Inside Out would have been very welcome here, but this is a step in the right direction.

BEST DIRECTOR

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

3/5. By far my favorite surprise nod this year is Lenny Abrahamson. Room is not an easy book to adapt, but Abrahamson put his all into it and created something truly beautiful. Pretty shocked about Ridley Scott missing out, though.

BEST ACTOR

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

5/5. I think most of us got this category right.

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

4/5. Rampling came out of nowhere. More movies for me to see, I guess.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge Of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

4/5. Considering how crazy this category is, I’m humbled to have gotten four of them right! But I am really worried about #oscarssowhite, especially with Chris Rock hosting. But to be totally honest, I think the lack of non-white nominees has less to do with the Academy being racist and more to do with the lack of roles given to non-white actors.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jennifer Jason-Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

4/5. Technically, I predicted Vikander for the wrong movie. Stupid category fraud.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton

4/5. That Compton nod was a big surprise. Can we start a campaign for Inside Out to win here?

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room

4/5. Wow. Never thought Steve Jobs would be the one to get the shaft, especially after that Globe win. Also, how curious is it that The Revenant doesn’t get on despite the sudden surge of love that the film is getting?

BEST FILM EDITING

The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

4/5. How crazy is it that one space movie gets swapped out for another?

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Carol
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Sicario

5/5 – YAY. I really don’t know what’s gonna win in most of these categories. I’ll have plenty of time to decide that later.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

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

4/5. The Revenant for Production Design? There are very few buildings in the film, it’s all just trees and nature. All the pretty production design in this movie was done by God. But I guess it is good to finally see God get an Oscar nomination.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Brooklyn
Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road

4/5. So Cinderella is the one film to have no other nominations. And the funny thing is, it looks like it can actually win.

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

The 100-Year-Old Man
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant

2/3. Let’s do ourselves a favor and just call it “The 100-Year-Old Man” without saying the rest.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

5/5. And three of them star Domnhall Gleeson!

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Bridge Of Spies
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

3/5. Talk about a snub.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Earned It” – Fifty Shades Of Grey
“Manta Ray” – Racing Extinction
“Simple Song #3” – Youth
“Till It Happens To You” – The Hunting Ground
“Writing’s On The Wall” – Spectre

2/5. Wow, I only got two right. I know a lot of people will complain about 50 Shades getting an Oscar nomination, but I think it earned it. (slow clap)

BEST SOUND EDITING

Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

4/5. No Sicario seems like an odd nominee.

BEST SOUND MIXING

Bridge Of Spires
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

4/5. 4 of these are Best Picture nominees. I would have much rather seen Inside Out or Bridge Of Spies get a sound nod.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Anomalisa
Boy & The World
Inside Out
Shaun The Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There

3/5. No Peanuts. No Good Dinosaur. The Academy is keeping hand drawn animation alive by nominating those films, too bad nobody ever goes to see them.

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

Embrace of the Serpent
Mustang
Son of Saul
Theeb
A War

4/5. I got this one pretty close.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Winter On Fire

3/5. They went big for Netflix here.

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Okay
Skok
Stutterer

3/5. These last three categories were only guesswork, and I got lucky.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team
We Can’t Live Without The Cosmos
World Of Tomorrow

3/5.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond The Lines
Claude Lanzman: Spectres Of The south
The Girl In The River: The Price Of Forgiveness
Last Day Of Freedom

3/5

So, my final score is 93/122, which averages to about 76%. Which is a new record for me, so yay!

I promise you that more reviews and stuff are coming as soon as the time comes. And starting in February, you’re going to see my day by day predictions for who I think is going to win.

Until then, I have movies to see, and reviews to write.

BEST SURPRISE: Lenny Abrahamson for Director

WORST SNUB: Inside Out for Picture/Original Score.