WGA and ASC Announce Nominees

So, the Writer's Guild announced their picks today, and this is always a weird one because there are SO many Oscar contenders every year that aren't eligible for this guild. For example, Room and Brooklyn weren't eligible for adapted, and Inside Out, The Hateful Eight and Ex Machina weren't in for original. So expect to see some of these swapped out at the Oscars, most likely Trainwreck and Trumbo, in my opinion.

WRITER'S GUILD

Original Screenplay

  • Bridge of Spies
  • Sicario
  • Straight Outta Compton
  • Trainwreck
  • Spotlight

Adapted Screenplay

  • The Big Short
  • Carol
  • The Martian
  • Steve Jobs
  • Trumbo

I think Inside Out will take the place of Trainwreck, and either Brooklyn or Room, or maybe both, will make into adapted in place of at least Trumbo. The next most vulnerable script is probably Carol if both make it. Hateful Eight hasn't been showing up at the guilds, so even though Tarantino is an Academy favorite, he may not make it there this time. Ex Machina is a question mark as well- if anything takes another spot it will kick out either Sicario or Compton, probably Sicario. Compton has now hit the WGA, PGA and SAG, and the last movie to do that and not make a BP nomination was Bridesmaids in 2011. But that was a raunchy comedy they never take seriously, and this being a musical biopic gives it more weight, so I do think it's in.

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS

The ASC is a small group that is actually one of the guilds most closely aligned with Oscar, so these nominees will probably match at least 4 for 5, if not all  of them.

  • Bridge of Spies
  • Carol
  • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • The Revenant
  • Sicario

It's nice to see Carol finally show up in the guilds today, even if the movie is still following Far From Heaven's trajectory exactly and doesn't bode all that well for AMPAS. People were expecting The Hateful Eight's stunning cinematography to show up here, and that could be the one that makes it in at the Oscars, in place of Bridge of Spies, perhaps. Although honestly, this could be the exact lineup in this category as well.

North Carolina and Oklahoma Critics Like 'Spotlight'

Just as the first guild snubbed the frontrunner today, critics continue to support it, as it picked up two more Best Picture accolades from regional critics.

NORTH CAROLINA

These guys didn't do anything particularly interesting, but I like their picks for the lead acting categories- of course, that's because  they'd be my choices too.

  • Best Film: Spotlight
  • Best Documentary: Amy
  • Best Foreign Language Film: Phoenix
  • Best Animated Film: Inside Out
  • Best Actor: Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
  • Best Actress: Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
  • Best Supporting Actor: Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
  • Best Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
  • Best Director: George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
  • Best Original Screenplay: Spotlight
  • Best Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short

OKLAHOMA

By contrast, this group awarded the two actors who likely will win the Oscars for lead acting, so they can congratulate themselves on being the better Oscar predictors I guess. They still agreed with NC on the Picture/Director split for Spotlight and George Miller though.

Best Actor – Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant"

Best Actress – Brie Larson, "Room"

Best Animated Film - "Inside Out"

Best Body of Work – Alicia Vikander, "Ex Machina," "The Danish Girl," "Testament of Youth," "Burnt"

Best Director – George Miller, "Mad Max: Fury Road"

Best Documentary - "Amy"

Best First Feature – Alex Garland, "Ex Machina"

Best Foreign Language Film - "Son of Saul"

Best Original Screenplay - "Spotlight"

Best Adapted Screenplay – Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, "The Big Short"

Best Supporting Actor – Michael Keaton "Spotlight" and Sylvester Stallone "Creed" (tie)

Best Supporting Actress – Alicia Vikander, "Ex Machina"

Most Disappointing Film - "Tomorrowland"

Best PIcture - "Spotlight"

North Texas Critics Like 'The Martian'

I wasn't a big fan of The Martian, but it's nice to see at least one group pick a movie that's not Mad Max or Spotlight. These picks are refreshingly different in the top categories at least.

NORTH TEXAS FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION

BEST PICTURE
The Martian

BEST DIRECTOR
Ridley Scott/The Martian

BEST ACTOR
Leo DiCaprio/The Revenant

BEST ACTRESS
Brie Larson/Room

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Idris Elba/Beasts of No Nation

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Jason Leigh/The Hateful Eight

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki/The Revenant

BEST ANIMATED
Inside Out

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Amy

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Son of Saul

National Society of Film Critics Gives 'Spotlight' Best Picture

The NSFC is the last of the four "major" critics groups, along with New York, LA and the NBR, but they tend to want to go really idiosyncratic with their choices, like last year, when they picked not a single contender that was on anyone's radar, barely even critics themselves. But this time they were much more mainstream, going for critical darlings Spotlight, Charlotte Rampling, Mark Rylance, Amy, and Todd Haynes. The biggest out of left field pick was Michael B. Jordan for Creed, which is very cool. I wonder if he has an outside chance to land a Best Actor nomination, since that field isn't exactly packed this year. Also, Kristen Stewart is still a major long shot for a nomination, since there were no screeners sent out for that film, so despite her remarkable run with major critics this year, I'd still be shocked if that happened. Now, with only a couple of stragglers left for the critics groups, it's time to move on to the guilds, starting with the ACE Eddie nominees tomorrow, followed by the all important PGA noms the day after, and a major guild every day this week, ending with the BAFTA nominations on Friday. This is where the real hints come in.

  • Best Actor: Michael B. Jordan, Creed
  • Best Actress: Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
  • Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
  • Best Supporting Actress: Kristen Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria
  • Best Screenplay: Spotlight
  • Best Cinematography: Carol
  • Best Documentary: Amy
  • Best Foreign Language Film: Timbuktu
  • Best Director: Todd Haynes, Carol
  • Best Picture: Spotlight