And the nominees are...

[Smokey]

The 88th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science (AMPAS), will honor the best English-language films of 2015 and will take place on February 28, 2016 in Hollywood.

During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 24 categories.

Here are movies nominated for each category:

BEST PICTURE

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

• Adam McKay - The Big Short
• George Miller - Mad Max: Fury Road
• Alejandro G. Iñárritu - The Revenant
• Lenny Abrahamson - Room
• Tom McCarthy - Spotlight

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

• Anomalisa
• Boy and the World
• Inside Out
• Shaun the Sheep Movie
• When Marnie Was There

COSTUME DESIGN

• Carol
• Cinderella
• The Danish Girl
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

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

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

• Body Team
• Chau, Beyond the Lines
• Claude Lanzmann
• A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
• Last Day of Freedom

MAKEUP AND HAIR STYLING

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
• The Revenant

ORIGINAL SONG

• "Earned It" - Fifty Shades of Grey
• "Manta Ray" - Racing Extinction
• "Simple Song #3" - Youth
• "Til It Happens to You" - The Hunting Ground
• "Writing's on the Wall" - Spectre

ANIMATED SHORT

• Bear Story
• Prologue
• Sanjay's Super Team
• We Can't Live Without Cosmos
• World of Tomorrow

SOUND EDITING

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

FILM EDITING

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

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

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

ORIGINAL SCORE

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

PRODUCTION DESIGN

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

VISUAL EFFECTS

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

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• The Big Short
• Brooklyn
• Carol
• The Martian
• Room

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Bridge of Spies
• Ex Machina
• Inside Out
• Spotlight
• Straight Outta Compton

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

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

[Feanor]

Smokey, you come through for us yet again. Thanks for this update.

Sadly this year I haven't seen any of the nominees, however there are several I like to catch at some point:

From 'Best Picture':

• The Big Short, (I read the book!)
• Bridge of Spies
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Spotlight

Also ...

• Steve Jobs
• Creed
• ... others I may think of

The last flick I saw was, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, is 'way over rate, especially by the critics who ought to know better. Basically it's just a trivial reworking of themes from the original series, especially New Hope and Return of the Jedi.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Smokey, you come through for us yet again. Thanks for this update.

Sadly this year I haven't seen any of the nominees, however there are several I like to catch at some point:

From 'Best Picture':

• The Big Short, (I read the book!)
• Bridge of Spies
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Spotlight

Also ...

• Steve Jobs
• Creed
• ... others I may think of

The last flick I saw was, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, is 'way over rate, especially by the critics who ought to know better. Basically it's just a trivial reworking of themes from the original series, especially New Hope and Return of the Jedi.

You found it a reworking but I found it to be a continuation of the original story so it will have some familiarity with the older movies. It needed that to tie the stories together. It brought me back to 1983 and Return of the Jedi and that's what I wanted from this movie with new characters mixed in with the older characters for back fill.

I've seen only The Martian of the nominated movies, but want to see Mad Max and Bridge of Spies. The others don't interest me except for maybe Brooklyn.

[Hyfi]

How did that Horrid Mad Max even get on the list?

I will never get those 2 hours back. What a bunch of nonsense.

I saw the Hateful Eight and it was a disappointment after Django but still a little entertaining.

Ex Machina was way cool.

[Jack in Wilmington]

How did that Horrid Mad Max even get on the list?

I will never get those 2 hours back. What a bunch of nonsense.

I saw the Hateful Eight and it was a disappointment after Django but still a little entertaining.

Ex Machina was way cool.

That's what my friends said about Mad Max. They can't believe it's up for best picture and it won 9 Critics Choice awards the other night. I blamed it on them because she thought "50 Shades of Grey was good, so I figured it was just their taste in movies. I figured I'd watch it on HBO and if it's as bad as you guys say, I can turn it off. It certainly wouldn't be the first time that I thought the nominating committee was nuts on their selections.

[dean_martin]

I saw the Hateful Eight and it was a disappointment after Django but still a little entertaining.

Ex Machina was way cool.

Hey, Hyfi. My son was able to see a 70mm presentation of Hateful Eight in Philadelphia. That presentation of the film would've interested me. The closest 70mm screening to me was 5-6hrs away. I'll just wait for the blu-ray. I can't not watch a Tarantino film, but I've become less enthusiastic over the years. What did you think of the original score? Did Morricone bring the old magic?

I've heard/read good things about Ex Machina.

Finally, did anyone see any of the nominated foreign language films?

P.S. - we need more posts/topics on this board. I'll try to do more. The last movies I watched from start to finish (within the last couple of weeks) were "Mudhoney" and "Waco-The Rules of Engagement". Due to their age, I doubt they'd generate much discussion on their own, but they might in genre discussions of southern gothic and documentaries, respectively, e.g., the feeling of not being able to trust the narrator of a documentary is a strange one. Normally, I'd turn off obvious spin, but Waco has so much raw footage and interesting interviews that you can draw your own conclusions or do further research rather than going in the direction the narrator suggests. OTOH, I don't think the narrator was intentionally trying to deceive in total. I remember watching this event on the news as it unfolded as well as the Congressional hearings afterwards. Certainly stirred up some sh*t. As a film, the doc is well-made and compelling. It should be easier now to put politics aside and judge it on its film-making merits, err. . .I guess.

[JoeE SP9]

I watched Ex Machina via a Roku and Netflix. I liked it. Intelligent Sci-Fi is not all that common. This was well done.

[Feanor]

I watched Ex Machina via a Roku and Netflix. I liked it. Intelligent Sci-Fi is not all that common. This was well done.

I give Ex Machina the nod too. It hints at a few issue around the concept of humanoid robots, e.g. if robots are smarter, strong, better looking than humans, who needs us? 4/5*