The nominees for the 88th annual Academy Awards ceremony were announced this morning, serving as further proof that 2015 was a pretty great year for movies, especially starry, sweeping, big-studio movies. As expected, the furtive fur-trapping epic The Revenant---featuring recent WIRED cover boy Leonardo DiCaprio---led the pack, earning 12 nominations in total. But there was also lots of love for fantastical box-office hits like Mad Max: Fury Road and The Martian; crowd-pleasers like Straight Outta Compton; and small-scale gems like *Spotlight *and *Brooklyn. *Even *Star Wars: The Force Awakens *grabbed five nominations (including one for long-time composer John Williams), though it didn't end up in the line-up for Best Picture.
There were some surprising snubs, of course: Despite The Martian landing seven nominations, director Ridley Scott wasn't named for Best Director. Meanwhile, previous winners Aaron Sorkin (Steve Jobs) and Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight) were shut out of their screenwriting categories. And Todd Haynes' Carol---a mainstay on many year-end lists and critics' awards---was snubbed in both the Best Picture and Best Director categories. The biggest letdown, though, was that the acting nominee categories were rigidly, ridiculously lily-white---galling in any year, but especially stinging when such films as *Creed *and *Beasts of No Nation *featured awards-worthy performances from the likes of Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, and Idris Elba. We imagine Chris Rock will have some choice words about that as the host of this year's ceremony, which takes place in Los Angeles on Feb. 28. The complete list of nominees are below:
Best Picture
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence*, Joy*
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Best Actor
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
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 Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed
Best Director
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamson, Room
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room
Best Original Screenplay
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton
Best Foreign Film
*Embrace of the Serpent *(Colombia)
*Mustang *(France)
*Son of Saul *(Hungary)
*Theeb *(Jordan)
*A War *(Denmark)
Best Documentary
Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom
Best Animated Feature
Anomolisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out
Shaun the Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There
Best Cinematography
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Sicario
Film Editing
The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Visual Effects*
*
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Production Design
Bridge of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Best Original Song
Fifty Shades of Grey
Age of Extinction
Youth
The Hunting Ground
Spectre
Best Original Score
Bridge of Spies
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Costume Design
Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Mad Max: Fury Road
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
The Revenant
Sound Editing
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Sound Mixing
Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Short Film (Live Action)
Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
Shok
Stutterer
Short Film (Animated)
Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay's Super Team
We Can Live without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow
____Documentary Short Subject
Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond the Line
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoab
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Last Day of Freedom
