2015 Awards -- BAFTA Nominations (British Academy of Film and Television Arts)

The British Academy JUST announced their nominees for this year's awards, and as always, there are surprises and snubs everywhere! A few quick notes before the full list of nominees...

• Big bump for BRIDGE OF SPIES, which garnered 9 total nominations including Director and Picture. Mark Rylance has been a mainstay in the awards race this year, but the film overall has been surprisingly quiet. Not anymore.
• After missing out with a few guilds recently, CAROL comes on strong to tie the lead in nods with 9 as well, also including Director and Picture to match the dual nominated performances of Blanchett & Mara.
• THE REVENANT is next with 8 nods total, including Actor for Leo, Director and Picture. With such a strong showing, it's a bit surprising to not see Tom Hardy show up, tho.
• Hitting the tech categories hard as expected, with 7 nominations we have MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. But a snub in the big categories!!! No Picture, no director!!
• 2 films tied with 6 nominations in BROOKLYN and THE MARTIAN, but neither film found a spot in the Best Picture race. We do have acted nods for both, as well as a Director nod for Ridley Scott, and a Best British Film nod to Brooklyn.
• THE BIG SHORT lands with 5 nods, including Best Picture and Director for Adam McKay! Christian Bale is up for supporting actor, but no Steve Carell.
• SPOTLIGHT takes up the last Best Picture spot, but only got 3 total nominations. The others are for Mark Ruffalo is supporting, and screenplay. No director, no Keaton, no McAdams, no techs.
• THE DANISH GIRL and EX MACHINA both land 5 nods, and for each film, 1 of those nods goes to Alicia Vikander, but is up for Lead Actress AND Supporting Actress this year. Good for her. I doubt it'll repeat at the Oscars, but who knows. Eddie Redmayne is also up for Best Actor again.
• And STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS picks up nods in 4 categories, all techs. Production Design, Sound, Visual Effects & Original Music.
• Strangely, only 3 nominees in Animated Feature, with INSIDE OUT as the definite frontrunner. It also picked up a screenplay nod. But Minions??? Come on, really?
• The Foreign Language category doesn't help us with the Oscars at all. Only 1 of the 5 films is even in the running for the Academy, and that's Theeb.  The Assassin missed out on the shortlist of finalists, and Force Majeure, Timbuktu and Wild Tales were all from last year.

BEST PICTURE

• The Big Short
• Bridge of Spies
• Carol
• The Revenant
• Spotlight

BEST DIRECTOR

• Todd Haynes - "Carol"
• Alejandro G. Inarritu - "The Revenant"
• Adam McKay - "The Big Short"
• Ridley Scott - "The Martian"
• Steven Spielberg - "Bridge of Spies"

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"
• Saoirse Ronan - "Brooklyn"
• Maggie Smith - "The Lady in the Van"
• Alicia Vikander - "The Danish Girl"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Christian Bale - "The Big Short"
• Benicio Del Toro - "Sicario"
• Idris Elba - "Beasts of No Nation"
• Mark Ruffalo - "Spotlight"
• Mark Rylance - "Bridge of Spies"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Jennifer Jason Leigh - "The Hateful Eight"
• Rooney Mara - "Carol"
• Alicia Vikander - "Ex Machina"
• Julie Walters - "Brooklyn"
• Kate Winslet - "Steve Jobs"

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Bridge of Spies
• Ex Machina
• The Hateful Eight
• Inside Out
• Spotlight

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• The Big Short
• Brooklyn
• Carol
• Room
• Steve Jobs

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• Inside Out
• Minions
• Shaun the Sheep Movie

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

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

BEST FILM EDITING

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

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Bridge of Spies
• Carol
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

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

BEST SOUND

• Bridge of Spies
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

• Ant-Man
• Ex Machina
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

BEST MAKEUP & HAIR

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

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC

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

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• The Assassin
• Force Majeure
• Theeb
• Timbuktu
• Wild Tales

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• Amy
• Cartel Land
• He Named Me Malala
• Listen To Me Marlon
• Sherpa

BEST BRITISH FILM

• 45 Years
• Amy
• Brooklyn
• The Danish Girl
• Ex Machina
• The Lobster

BEST BRITISH SHORT FILM

• Elephant
• Mining Poems or Odes
• Operator
• Over
• Samuel-613

BEST BRITISH ANIMATED SHORT

• Edmond
• Manoman
• Prologue

OUTSTANDING BRITISH DEBUT

• Stephen Fingleton (Writer/Director) - "The Survivalist"
• Alex Garland (Director) - "Ex Machina"
• Debbie Tucker Green (Writer/Director) - "Second Coming"
• Sean Mcallister (Director/Producer) & Elhum Shakerifar (Producer) - "A Syrian Love Story"
• Naji Abu Nowar (Writer/Director) & Rupert Lloyd (Producer) - "Theeb"

EE RISING STAR

• John Boyega
• Taron Egerton
• Dakota Johnson
• Brie Larson
• Bel Powley