Oscar Noms - 2015

[Frayed Knot]

Or at least the ones in categories anyone cares about ...

BEST PICTURE

The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revanant
Room
Spotlight


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


DIRECTING

The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight


ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room


ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton

[Vic Sage]

305 films were eligible this year.

Here's what i've seen so far and how i rank them:

My top 10 [in order]:
The Revenant
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Big Short
Steve Jobs
Ex Machina
Mr. Holmes
Inside Out
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Spy
Trainwreck

honorable mentions:
Black Mass
The Hateful Eight
The Martian
Star Wars:TFA

these were just ok:
American Ultra
Ant-Man
Avengers: Age Of Ultron
The Circle
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
Jurassic World
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Sicario
Spectre
The Visit

these were BAD:
Fantastic Four
Jupiter Ascending
The Last Five Years
Pitch Perfect 2

Movies i'd still like to see:
Absolutely Anything
Age of Adeline
Anomalisa
Bone Tomahawk
Bridge Of Spies
Creed
Crimson Peak
The Good Dinosaur
Grandma
In The Heart Of The Sea
Irrational Man
Joy
Legend
The Man from UNCLE
Pawn Sacrifice
Terminator Genisys
Trumbo
Victor Frankenstein

Movies I'm supposed to pretend i want to see:
Amy
Beasts Of No Nation
Brooklyn
Carol
The Danish Girl
45 Years
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Room
Southpaw
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton
The Walk

All eligible films this past year:
Adult Beginners
After Words
The Age Of Adaline
Alleluia
Aloft
Aloha
Altered Minds
Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Road Chip
American Ultra
Amy
Anomalisa
Ant-Man
Ardor
Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Beasts Of No Nation
Becoming Bulletproof
Before We Go
Best Of Enemies
Beyond The Reach
The Big Short
Big Stone Gap
Black Mass
Blackbird
Blackhat
Bone Tomahawk
A Borrowed Identity
The Boy And The Beast
Boy And The World
The Boy Next Door
Boychoir
Brand: A Second Coming
Bridge Of Spies
A Brilliant Young Mind
Brooklyn
Buen Día, Ramón
Burnt
By The Sea

Captive
Capture The Flag
Care Of Footpath 2
Carl(a)
Carol
Cartel Land
Carter High
Censored Voices
Champs
Chappie
Chi-Raq
Child 44
A Christmas Star
Cinderella
Clouds Of Sils Maria
Coming Home
Concussion
Cop Car
Creed
Criminal Activities
Crimson Peak
The Cut

The D Train
Daddy’s Home
The Danish Girl
Danny Collins
Delka: Stand-Up Tall Or Fall
The Diary Of A Teenage Girl
The Divergent Series: Insurgent
Dixieland
Dope
The Duke Of Burgundy
Dukhtar

Eden
Effie Gray
The End Of The Tour
Entourage
Escobar: Paradise Lost
Everest
Every Thing Will Be Fine
Ex Machina
Experimenter

Fantastic Four
Far From The Madding Crowd
Felt
Fifty Shades Of Grey
5 Flights Up
5 To 7
Focus
45 Years
Frame By Frame
Freaks Of Nature
Freedom
Freeheld
Furious Seven
Futuro Beach

The Gallows
Gemma Bovery
Get Hard
The Gift
Girlhood
Gloria
Godspeed: The Story Of Page Jones
The Good Dinosaur
Good Kill
Goodnight Mommy
Goosebumps
Grandma
Guidance

Hamlet’s Ghost
The Hateful Eight
He Named Me Malala
Heaven Knows What
Hemalkasa
Hitman: Agent 47
Home
Hot Pursuit
Hot Tub Time Machine 2
Hotel Transylvania 2
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
The Hunting Ground

I Smile Back
I’ll See You In My Dreams
In The Heart Of The Sea
Infinitely Polar Bear
Ingrid Bergman - In Her Own Words
Inside Out
The Intern
Irrational Man
It Follows

Jalam
James White
Jem And The Holograms
Jenny’s Wedding
Jimmy’s Hall
Joy
Jupiter Ascending
Jurassic World
Just Before I Go

Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet
Killing Them Safely
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Krampus
Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck

La Jaula De Oro
Labyrinth Of Lies
The Lady In The Van
Lambert & Stamp
The Last Five Years
The Last Witch Hunter
The Laws Of The Universe - Part 0
Learning To Drive
Legend
A LEGO Brickumentary
The Letters
Lila And Eve
Little Accidents
The Longest Ride
The Look Of Silence
Lost Birds
Lost River
Love & Mercy
Love At First Fight

Macbeth
Mad Max: Fury Road
Maggie
Magic Mike XXL
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Manglehorn
The Martian
Match
Max
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
McFarland, USA
Me And Earl And The Dying Girl
Meadowland
Mediterranea
Meru
Minions
Misery Loves Comedy
Miss You Already
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Mississippi Grind
Mr. Holmes
Mistress America
Moomins On The Riviera
Mortdecai
Muhammad: The Messenger Of God
Mustang
My All American

Nachom-Ia Kumpasar
The Night Before
99 Homes
No Escape

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared
Our Brand Is Crisis

Pan
Paper Towns
Paranoid Girls
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2
Paulo Coelho’s Best Story
Pawn Sacrifice
The Peanuts Movie
The Perfect Guy
Pink & Blue: Colors Of Hereditary Cancer
Pitch Perfect 2
Pixels
Poached
Pod
Point Break
Poltergeist
Project Almanac

Queen And Country

Racing Extinction
Rangitaranga
Regular Show: The Movie
Remember
A Reunion
The Revenant
Ricki And The Flash
Ride The Thunder - A Vietnam War Story Of Victory & Betrayal
The Road Within
Rock The Kasbah
Room
The Rumperbutts
Run All Night

Saint Laurent
Salt Bridge
The Salvation
Samba
San Andreas
Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Secret In Their Eyes
Serena
Set Fire To The Stars
Seventh Son
‘71
Seymour: An Introduction
Sharkskin
Shaun The Sheep Movie
Shelter
Sicario
Sisters
Sleeping With Other People
Son Of Saul
Southpaw
Spectre
The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water
Spotlight
Spy
The Stanford Prison Experiment
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Steve Jobs
Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans
Stonewall
Straight Outta Compton
Strange Magic
Suffragette
The Summer Of Sangaile
Sweet Micky For President

Taken 3
Tangerine
Ted 2
10,000 Km
Terminator Genisys
Testament Of Youth
These Final Hours
The 33
Time Out Of Mind
Tinker Bell And The Legend Of The Neverbeast
Tom At The Farm
Tomorrowland
Trainwreck
The Tribe
True Story
Trumbo
Truth
Twinsters
Two Men In Town

Uncle John
Unfinished Business
Unfriended

Vacation
Victor Frankenstein
Victoria
The Visit

The Walk
A Walk In The Woods
War Room
The Water Diviner
We Are Your Friends
The Wedding Ringer
Welcome To Me
When Marnie Was There
Where To Invade Next
While We’re Young
White God
The Widowmaker
Wolf Totem
The Wolfpack
Woman In Gold

Xenia

You Carry Me
Youth

Z For Zachariah

Edited January 19, 2016 by Guest

[Frayed Knot]

My list goes to 11 -- mainly because it appears that I saw exactly 11 2015 movies
Roughly in order of good-ness

THE BIG SHORT
SPOTLIGHT
-------------
EX MACHINA
THE MARTIAN
TRUMBO
--------------
CONCUSSION
WHILE WE’RE YOUNG
DANNY COLLINS
CREED
--------------
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION
EVEREST


None of these really sucked, just kind of get more meh towards the bottom.

Edited January 20, 2016 by Guest

[Benjamin Grimm]

Wow, it looks like I only saw three movies in 2015, all of them of the popcorn variety.

Here they are, in my order of preference:

Ant Man
Avengers Age of Ultron
Jurassic World

I'll probably eventually see a bunch of these movies on cable in the next couple of years, but trips to the theater are pretty rare.

[Vic Sage]

of my top 10, I saw EX-MACHINA and KINGSMEN on cable.

I now generally prefer watching at home, due to both the expense of going out as well as the behavior of the movie-going public. Also, the improvement of the technical quality of the home-viewing experience has made it less of a trade off.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Ant Man - typical superhero movie but small-scale helped them avoid the city-destroyed finale of most of them.
Pixels - awful
Peanuts - good heart, not great
Martian - Pretty OK, not great
Spy - Kinda funny but also, fell asleep

Only Pixels and Peanuts in the theater

[dgwphotography]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - The best movie I've seen this year. Yes, it borrowed heavily from the source material, but i think that was done to provide a firm launching point for the next two movies. Hopefully, JJ won't shit all over the next movie like he did while making the second Nu Trek movie.

Creed - Much better than it had any right to be, mainly due to Michael B. Jordan's performance.

Ant Man - This was a fun movie that was better than the non-existant expectations that I had.

Jurassic World - My God was this movie ludicrous, but it was really good fun.

Avengers: Age Of Ultron - A complete Shitfest. This movie confirmed what I feared: Kevin Feige killed Joss Whedon, and replaced him with an animatronic duplicate from Disney. This had none of the heart of the original, and CGI was shit.

The Good Dinosaur - I could not get past the animation. First rule of animation is to get the basic biology right.

With the exception of Star Wars and Creed, The offerings I watched on Netflix (Broadchurch, Jessica Jones, and Daredevil) surpassed what I saw in the theater.

[Guest themetfairy]

Overall I found this to be a year without any really great films. My top three would be Trumbo, Spotlight and The Big Short. I'm still working on seeing all of the Best Picture, acting and screenplay Oscar nominees, but I'm not expecting anything else out there to really knock my socks off (although Best Original Screenplay nominee Inside Out, which we caught on On Demand last night, was a pleasant surprise).

I really want Bryan Cranston's nuanced performance in Trumbo to beat out Leonardo DiCaprio's grunting in The Revenant. And I'm waiting for the opportunity to see Brie Larson's performance in Room. Other than that, for the first time in memory, I don't have any great rooting interest in this year's Oscars - this year's films simply haven't impressed me.

[seawolf17]

What I saw in 2015, from fave to least fave:

Inside Out
Star Wars:TFA
Jurassic World
Minions
Tomorrowland

[Guest sharpie]

The 12 eligible movies I've seen, in order (in rough groups of liked a lot, liked enough, was ok, was less than ok):

Spotlight
The Big Short
The Diary Of A Teenage Girl

Brooklyn
While We’re Young
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Mistress America

Beasts Of No Nation
Clouds Of Sils Maria
Tangerine

The Wolfpack
Sicario

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Reminds me I also saw Inside Out (good) and Minions (dogshit) this year

[Vic Sage]

Sharpie, I heard SICARIO was good -- no?

[Guest sharpie]

I was really disappointed in it. Started off as an interesting, character-driven caper feature and devolved into a pretty standard shoot-em-up. While, as a film it is probably better than a few of the other I had near the bottom, I wasn't really expecting much out of The Wolfpack or Tangerines. Emily Blunt was good but it featured a cartoon performance by Josh Brolin and a resolution you could see coming. Everyone is corrupt, the good guys are the bad guys and the naive girl learns a lesson.

[Guest themetfairy]

Add Room to my best of the year list. It was powerful, human and extremely well done. Brie Larson was phenomenal as the young woman who is raising her son in captivity, and young Jacob Tremblay was extraordinary as the son. It's one of the few really gripping films of the year.

[RealityChuck]

Haven't seen many this year, but my list would be:

Mr. Holmes. Ian McKellan was brilliant as Holmes, in a movie that was extremely well written and cleverly plotted. It possibly was the most complex and smart movie I've seen in a long time.
Inside Out. Pixar has been weak lately; this is their best in a while..
The Martian. Nicely acted and a breath of fresh air. Like Mr Holmes, it actually has a smart protagonist.
Trainwreck. Very funny, and also gets the romance right. Schumer was excellent.
The Hateful Eight. Not Tarantino's best, but plenty to like.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Good, but no real depth or characterization Star Wars ripped off many other movies, this only ripped off Star Wars.
Shaun the Sheep. A children's film and good as such. Also the lack of dialog gets a big plus.

[ashie62]

themetfairy wrote: Add Room to my best of the year list. It was powerful, human and extremely well done. Brie Larson was phenomenal as the young woman who is raising her son in captivity, and young Jacob Tremblay was extraordinary as the son. It's one of the few really gripping films of the year.

'
Totally. Saw it today.

[Frayed Knot]

Looks like it’s either to be THE REVENANT or SPOTLIGHT.
I’m of the mind that SPOTLIGHT is going to win — moral story, great cast, etc. while opinions on REVENANT probably vary too much for some voters, plus that director won last year — but maybe part of that is wishful thinking on my part.
THE BIG SHORT was more clever fun than *great* picture. MAD MAX gets honored simply by being a non-traditional Oscar movie that gets nominated. ROOM & BROOKLYN weren’t seen enough, and THE MARTIAN & BRIDGE OF SPIES are a cut below in quality.

Leo, on the other hand, is the lockiest lock that ever locked to get his acting Oscar this year. On-screen suffering is maybe second only to playing handicapped as sure-fire Oscar bait.
Actress sounds like it’s going to Larson for ROOM, unless the oldies who don’t see any black movies want to give a nod to the veteran Rampling because she’s closer to their age.

Supporting Actor: I’m afraid this will go to Stallone for the sort-of ‘Lifetime Achievement’ thing, although ideally actors get those for recognition of a lengthy and varied body of work rather than just playing the same character for the 19th time. All of the others deserve it more in any order you’d like to pick but ‘deserve’, in this world, ain’t got nuthin’ to do with it. If he does win it would be nice if (unlike at the Golden Globes) he acknowledges that Michael B. Jordan was actually in the picture during this year of ‘Black Roles Matter’ or whatever the hashtag of the moment is.

Supporting Actress: Traditionally the toughest call of all the major categories. I’ll say Winslet for STEVE JOBS over McAdams or Mara, plus Alicia Vikander who may have gotten the right nom for the wrong movie (DANISH GIRL vs EX MACHINA)

Adapted Screenplay: Probably BIG SHORT for turning a complicated non-movie topic into some watchable, although this could be THE MARTIAN's big moment.
Original Screenplay: SPOTLIGHT

[Guest themetfairy]

My Picks -

Best Picture - I'd like to see The Big Short win, but I think it's going to The Revenant. The Revenant isn't a great film and in a better year would have more competition, but this is a weak year and it seems to have a lot of sentiment behind it.

Best Director - The Revenant. It's a weak year and it has a lot of sentiment behind it, for whatever reason.

Best Actor - The smart money is on Leonardo DiCaprio. But I'd love to see Bryan Cranston win, because he was terrific in Trumbo.

Best Actress - Brie Larson. She was magnificent and towers above the competition.

Best Supporting Actor - I'm going with Sylvester. The competition isn't compelling, so Sly will win as a lifetime achievement award (and he really did do a great job in the film).

Best Supporting Actress - IMO this is the widest open I've ever seen this or any other category. I loved Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hateful Eight, plus she did some nice voice work in Anomalisa, so I'm picking her but wouldn't be shocked if anyone else in this category wins instead.

Best Original Screenplay - Spotlight

Best Adapted Screenplay - The Big Short

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: On-screen suffering is maybe second only to playing handicapped as sure-fire Oscar bait.

And when the Academy has an "oops" moment, they try to make up for it quickly. Jane Fonda suffered enough to deserve one for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? She didn't win, but got one the next year for her ordinary performance in Klute.
But I'm still waiting for the Academy to make it up to Edward Norton after not giving him the Best Supporting Actor award for Primal Fear.

Later

[MFS62]

The four women commenting on the red carpet fashions are about as appropriate and competent as Angel Hernandez running an umpiring school.

Later

[MFS62]

Chris Rock was great. He dealt with the outcry about no people of color being nominated for major awards in a funny manner.
But by the middle of the show, it looked like they had sent busses into West LA to find people of color to present awards.
OK. we got it. There were no Black nominees for the major awards.

But the Academy tried to over compensate for that like the guy with the small dick who buys the big truck with the gun rack.

Academy, we got it.

Other than that, the best moment of the show was Luis CK's introduction of the Best Short Documentary Award.

We got it.

Later

[Vic Sage]

Glad to see MAX get 6 Oscars, and REVENANT 3. I didn't see SPOTLIGHT, so i don't have any view on that. Sorry BIG SHORT didn't do more, but it did get a well-deserved award for its screenplay. Happy the woman from EX-MACHINA won best supporting actress, but it was for the wrong movie (DANISH GIRL). Congrats to Leo DiCaprio and composer Ennio Morricone for finally winning theirs. And sorry, Sly... no lifetime achievement award for once again playing the only good character you've ever done over the last 40 years.

As for the show itself, Chris Rock was funny as usual, particularly in calling out the subtle "sorority girl racism" of Hollywood, but also going after the protesters, too. "Jada Smith boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rhianna's panties -- i wasn't invited!" And why now, he asked? Over the 88 years of Oscars, there have certainly been many other years without black actor nominees (probably most of them). But, he noted, back in the 50s and 60s, Black people weren't protesting the Oscars; they were too busy protesting things that mattered! "When Grandma is swinging from a tree, you don't worry too much about who wins Best Cinematography!"

Still, did every single monologue and film bit throughout the entire show have to be about race? I think the point was made and then the show could've moved on. But, instead, from the opening red carpet/backstage reporters (Michael Strahan and Robin Roberts) to Rock as host, as well as many presenters, and the opening pre-show interviews (Whoopie), and the black Academy President and her speech, the Academy tripped all over itself to be black this year. They even changed the order of the awards. Typically, the first awards are given to the supporting actor/actress categories. This year, they decided to start with the screenplay awards, where the only black-themed movie to get attention (STRAIGHT OUT OF COMPTON) "happened" to be nominated (voters were left to consider the question of whether it was better to honor a movie about black people written by white people, or to just ignore it entirely -- so they did both, by nominating the white writers but not giving them the award, and ignoring the movie otherwise). The acceptance speeches, too, leaned a little more on the politics than usual (from racism, to sexual abuse, to LGBT, to global warming).

The best moments for me in any Oscar telecast are always the completely awkward, cringe-worthy ones: Chris Rock introducing Stacey Dash (the Black actress/FOX News pundit who has called for the end of black history month, the BET network, and attacked the protests over the Oscars) as the "director of our new minority outreach program," resulting in stunned silence as she took her bow. Also, Rock's taped interviews with moviegoers in Compton, who demonstrated many stereotypical behaviors (just short of eating fried chicken and watermelon) and new nothing about many of the big "white" movies that were nominated. Now THAT was a hoot, and made the audience squirm. Also, a taped bit where Angela Bassett did a PSA about Black History month that you think is about Will Smith, but ends up about Jack Black. Black! Get it? My favorite moment was probably Louis CK presenting the best short documentary award. It's his favorite award because, unlike everybody else getting Oscars that night, these folks don't make ANY money, so the Oscar actually means something to them. "This award is going home in a Honda Civic tonight!" Hilarious and true. I was impressed, too, by the unrestrained, over-the-top presentation of Gaga's sexual abuse song, TIL IT HAPPENS TO YOU, first introduced by VP Biden, then emoted by Gaga with melodramatic flair as she is silently encircled by rape survivors with messages of hope drawn on the arms with markers (Still, this didn't help it beat Sam Smith for Best Song; even his boring Bond ditty got more votes than Gaga's tune, which had about 10 actual lyrics in it). And another Holocaust move won for best Foreign Film!

Emotional manipulation, thy name is Hollywood! Kudos! You just can't find this sort of self-indulgent self-importance anywhere else except an industry of rich, narcissistic white people creating audience-researched movies who gather in glorious frocks and bling (the aggregate cost of which could pay for food for hungry children in any country in the world) once a year to pat themselves on the back and declare what problems of the world they want to solve with their little songs and movies.

Even at its worst, this show never disappoints me. Bravo once more!

Edited February 29, 2016 by Guest

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I watched The Walking Dead instead

[Vic Sage]

i watched WD afterwards.

[Frayed Knot]

Vic Sage wrote: i watched WD afterwards.

Meaning at 2 in the morning.

[Vic Sage]

12am-1am, actually. But then TALKING DEAD until 2, yeah.

[Frayed Knot]

I was just glad to see that someone was able to do all the legwork and convince both Lady Gaga and Dave Grohl to go in front of a camera.