Post-nomination thoughts and reactions...

Just off the cuff thoughts as I hear the nominations this morning, with a tear in my eye for the news of Alan Rickman's passing....RIP Professor Snape. These will be expressed in the order of the categories announced...

1. Nooooooo! Not Fifty Shades of Grey! What a putrid pile of awful, pointless, ridiculous film. With 3 songs in the running, I had a gut feeling that it would get it for Best Song, but I was really hoping against it. And even worse, no "See You Again" from Furious 7???? WTF Academy! I give up with this category. Seems like they make more dumb decisions in song than all the other categories combined! This is right up there with Norbit being an Oscar nominee. Terrible terrible choice.

2. Very happy Sicario wasn't forgotten and showed up in a few categories, particularly in the Cinematography category. Yet ANOTHER nod for Roger Deakins. One day......

3. Doc Feature hurt me a bit this year. With the love of Hollywood usually on display, I'm a bit surprised that Listen To Me Marlon missed out. Also, only 2 matches with the PGA choices. I was very close to predicted Winter on Fire, but didn't know enough about the film to call it.

4. Okay, I missed the boat on Mad Max for costumes. In the only tech that it didn't sell me on, but I guess it should've. And The Revenant??? Great choice, but did anyone see that one coming? Sure as hell no one predicted it!

5. Once again the Makeup branch throws in a monster curveball that few people has seen and even less have heard of. I was rightly secure with Mad Max and Revenant, but no Black Mass or Mr. Holmes? That's the real surprise.

6. No Peanuts Movie? NO PEANUTS MOVIE???? That's one of the saddest things to come out of this morning's announcement. Even though I highly enjoyed The Good Dinosaur, Inside Out covers the Pixar spot as the frontrunner. And I'm happy When Marnie Was There got into the mix. But if it came as the expense of Peanuts Movie.....that's just wrong. This is the first year where I can honestly say I wish there could be more than 5 nominees. Boy and the World...GKids must be ecstatic. This is the 4th film in the last couple of years that they've squeaked into the Animated category. Haven't seen it so can't comment yet, but looks interesting in it's simplicity.

7. Why didn't I predict Tom Hardy?? I had a feeling it would happen, and even put him as an alternate choice. Even with missing precursor after precursor, I still had the feeling once I saw the film. Damn. But yay for him being an Oscar nominee now!

8. Very happy Alicia Vikander got in. She had an absolute monster of a breakout year. But to be a bit nitpicky, I wish it was for Ex Machina. Her role in Danish Girl is really a lead. Also happy to see Rachel McAdams get in, even though I didn't call it. Underrated actress.

9. 2nd highest grossing film of the year, and one of the biggest movie worldwide all-time, hugely effects driven, and Jurassic World gets completely shut out. Not a visual nod. Not a sound nod. Nada. Also, Marvel didn't have a good year, missing out completely with Avengers 2 and Ant-Man both going empty-handed.

10. Star Wars grabs a nod I didn't see coming, and a biggie in the best Film Editing category. Nothing else to say but congrats on that one!

11. I picked Sicario for Score when very few did. And woah, John Williams just got his 50TH OSCAR NOMINATION! Wow.

12. Woah Lenny Abrahamson for Room? I don't think ANYBODY saw that one coming?! It's deserved, but with the buzz on the film cooling lately, it's still a shocker. And more to the point, it comes at the expense of Ridley Scott! Again, who predicted a snub here? Wasn't he supposed to be one of the frontrunners to win?????

13. Nailed both lead acting categories 5/5. Boom.

14. No Carol? Wow. After landing the most nods at both the Bafta and the Golden Globes, the film is snubbed for not only director but Best Picture as well? Definitely a real breaker in the predicting cirlces. Didn't foresee that one as even a possibility.