Btw, who's Alejandro G. Iyateeto?

I hear he's working with Adele Dazeem this year.

Do the tech categories feel more concentrated than normal? It seems everywhere I look, Mad Max, Revenant, and The Martian showed up. Normally Costume Design and Makeup are categories that produce more variety, but the first two made it there too. The only outlier is Score, but even there all are films with multiple nominations.

I haven't done the math but I read somewhere the pool of below-the-line nominees is shallow this year. It sounds right.

There is no such film.

Yes, that is something that struck me about the nominations too - that they were more concentrated among a few films. Hopefully there is a nerd out there who can do the math relative to some previous years, as I am curious how it breaks down.

Peace,
Mike

Yes. Best Costume Design, for example, previously saw nominations for I Am Love, Anonymous, W.E., Anna Karenina, The Grandmaster, The Invisible Woman, etc. This year only Cinderella fits the bill as a left-field nominee driven by the idiosyncratic passion of the specific branch. Victims of this concentration include Crimson Peak, Far from the Madding Crowd, Macbeth, Mr. Holmes, Suffragette, Testament of Youth, etc.

To be honest, it is downright ridicuous that the Academy snubbed Crimson Peak for Production Design and Costume Design.

And then invited Del Toro to announce the nominations.

Lol

Do you think many have seen The Invisible Woman or W.E. in their respective years?

This is what I see now:

The Big Short

Best Picture
Best Director
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Editing

The Revenant

Best Actor
Best Cinematography

Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Visual Effects
Best Makeup
Best Costume Design
Best Production Design

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing

Spotlight

Best Original Screenplay

Room

Best Actress

Creed

Best Supporting Actor

The Danish Girl

Best Supporting Actress

The Hateful Eight

Best Score

Spectre

Best Song

___________________________________________________________________________________

Without a PGA, a SAG and a WGA win, The Reenant and Mad Max don't really have a chance at BP anymore, IMO. Spotlight can only turn the race if it somehow wins SAG Ensemble, WGA and either BAFTA or DGA, but that is probably not happening.

Also George Miller's chances are not lookig that great without a PGA win and without a BAFTA nom. If there is a split, it will be with The Revenant.

Think there is little chance of Spotlight winning BAFTA given McCarthy isn't nominated there.

I'm pretty perplexed that In The Heart of the Sea received zero nominations. I mean, I've been present through the season and not seen any buzz for it, but it was obviously made and released with awards in mind, so to not get even a costume-makeup-production design nod is really disappointing. A year ago, I'd have said it got at least a few technical nominations. Howard must be pissed.

It was only after it moved off the original March release date that people assumed it was an Oscar player. That sort of afterthought rarely pans out. Spring films in general typically don't survive to become Oscar contenders, so it has to be assumed that while they were making it it wasn't with an eye towards award season.

Had the box office been respectable, I think it would have received some support from the marketing team and therefore might have nabbed one or two awards.

Gurus have updated their charts -

BP - Spotlight
BD - Mad Max: Fury Road
Actor - Leo
Actress - Brie
Supporting Actor - Sly
Supporting Actress - Alicia
Original Screenplay - Spotlight
Adapted Screenplay - The Big Short
Cinematography - The Revenant
Documentary - Amy

http://moviecitynews.com/2016/02/gurus- ... ng-begins/

I love it when one film dominates. Looks like we'll never get that ever again

Interestingly the last Best Picture winner to absolutely demolish the competition was also the last winner in a field of five.

It might happen this year.

After the DGA win, The Revenant certainly does stand a chance.

If the Academy goes crazy for it, it could end up winning:

Picture
Director
Actor
Cinematography
Editing
Visual Effects
Makeup
Sound Editing
Sound Mixing

Nine out of its twelve nominations. I am not quite predicting it yet, but this is not impossible at all. Worst-case it will take 4-5 Oscars.

It would be a cool to have another year where a film wins the 'big 5' (Silence of the Lambs is the last film to do so).

Peace,
Mike

EW reveals its annual secret Oscar ballots

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/12/os ... ow_twitter