Oscar Nominations: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

THE GOOD

Isabelle Huppert, a legend of French cinema, is finally an Oscar nominee!

Mel Gibson, who's an amazing filmmaker, is back in the good graces of the Academy.

20th nomination for Meryl Streep, the "most overrated" actress according to one Donald Trump.

Eight nominations for Arrival!

I failed to predict it but the production design of Passengers is astonishing.

With those two nominations in the Best Original Song category, Emma Stone will very likely sing twice during the Oscar ceremony.

THE BAD

After getting all sorts of pre-Oscar citations, Deadpool couldn't muster even one nomination in at least Makeup and Hairstyling.

Only one nomination (Doctor Strange for Visual Effects) for MCU films this year.

No nominations for Emily Blunt, Amy Adams, and Hugh Grant.

"We Know the Way," the superior song in Moana (IMO), was not nominated.

Not a single nomination, even in the technical categories, for The Witch, still one of 2016's greatest films regardless of genre.

THE UGLY

Only one nomination for the work of art that is Silence.

Your Name was shut out of the Best Animated Feature race after winning among Los Angeles critics and being the best-selling Japanese animated film of all time in the world.

89th Academy Awards Nominees

PICTURE
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

Score: 9/10. Predicted Silence as the 10th nominee.

DIRECTING
Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)
Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge)
Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Score: 4/5. Predicted Martin Scorsese (Silence) instead of Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge).

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)
Ryan Gosling (La La Land)
Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)
Denzel Washington (Fences)

Score: 5/5.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Isabelle Huppert (Elle)
Ruth Negga (Loving)
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Emma Stone (La La Land)
Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Score: 4/5. Predicted Amy Adams (Arrival) instead of Ruth Negga (Loving).

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)
Dev Patel (Lion)
Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)

Score: 4/5. Predicted Hugh Grant (Florence Foster Jenkins) instead of Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals).

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Viola Davis (Fences)
Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
Nicole Kidman (Lion)
Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)
Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

Score: 5/5.

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
Eric Heisserer, based on the short story by Ted Chiang (Arrival)
August Wilson, based on his play (Fences)
Allison Schroeder, Theodore Malfi, based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly (Hidden Figures)
Luke Davies, based on the book by Saroo Brierley (Lion)
Barry Jenkins, based on the play by Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight)

Score: 4/5. Predicted Silence instead of Hidden Figures.

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water)
Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou (The Lobster)
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
Mike Mills (20th Century Women)

Score: 4/5. Predicted Jackie instead of 20th Century Women.

ANIMATED FEATURE
Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings)
Ron Clements, John Musker (Moana)
Claude Barras (My Life as a Zucchini)
Michael Dudok de Wit (The Red Turtle)
Byron Howard, Rich Moore (Zootopia)

Score: 4/5. Predicted Your Name instead of The Red Turtle.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Land of Mine (Denmark)
A Man Called Ove (Sweden)
The Salesman (Iran)
Tanna (Australia)
Toni Erdmann (Germany)

Score: 3/5. Predicted Paradise (Russia) and My Life as a Zucchini (Switzerland) instead of Land of Mine (Denmark) and Tanna (Australia).

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Bradford Young (Arrival)
Linus Sandgren (La La Land)
Greir Fraser (Lion)
James Laxton (Moonlight)
Rodrigo Prieto (Silence)

Score: 4/5. Predicted Jackie instead of Lion.

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
Joanna Johnston (Allied)
Colleen Atwood (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)
Consolata Boyle (Florence Foster Jenkins)
Madeline Fontaine (Jackie)
Mary Zophres (La La Land)

Score: 3/5. Predicted The Handmaiden and Silence instead of Allied and Florence Foster Jenkins.

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
Joe Walker (Arrival)
John Gilbert (Hacksaw Ridge)
Jake Roberts (Hell or High Water)
Tom Cross (La La Land)
Joi McMillon, Nat Sanders (Moonlight)

Score: 4/5. Predicted Silence instead of Hell or High Water.

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Eva von Bahr and Love Larson (A Man Called Ove)
Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo (Star Trek Beyond)
Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini, and Christopher Nelson (Suicide Squad)

Score: 1/3. Predicted Deadpool and Florence Foster Jenkins instead of A Man Called Ove and Suicide Squad.

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Mica Levi (Jackie)
Justin Hurwitz (La La Land)
Dustin O'Halloran, Hauschka (Lion)
Nicholas Britell (Moonlight)
Thomas Newman (Passengers)

Score: 4/5. Predicted Moana instead of Passengers.

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
"Audition: The Fools Who Dream" (La La Land)
"Can't Stop the Feeling" (Trolls)
"City of Stars" (La La Land)
"The Empty Chair" (Jim: The James Foley Story)
"How Far I'll Go" (Moana)

Score: 3/5. Predicted "Runnin'" (Hidden Figures) and "We Know the Way" (Moana) instead of "Can't Stop the Feeling" (Trolls) and "The Empty Chair" (Jim: The James Foley Story).

ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN
Patrice Vermette (Production Design); Paul Hotte (Set Decoration) (Arrival)
Stuart Craig (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration) (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)
Jess Gonchor (Production Design); Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration) (Hail, Caesar!)
David Wasco (Production Design); Sandy Reynolds-Wasco (Set Decoration) (La La Land)
Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design); Gene Serdena (Set Decoration) (Passengers)

Score: 2/5. Predicted The Handmaiden, Jackie, and Silence instead of Arrival, Hail, Caesar!, and Passengers.

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
Sylvain Bellemare (Arrival)
Wylie Stateman and Renée Tondelli (Deepwater Horizon)
Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright (Hacksaw Ridge)
Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan (La La Land)
Alan Robert Murray and Bob Asman (Sully)

Score: 2/5. Predicted Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story instead of Arrival, Deepwater Horizon, and Sully.

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye (Arrival)
Kevin O'Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie, and Peter Grace (Hacksaw Ridge)
Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee, and Steve A. Morrow (La La Land)
David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio, and Stuart Wilson (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush, and Mac Ruth (13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi)

Score: 4/5. Predicted Moana instead of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton (Deepwater Horizon)
Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli, and Paul Corbould (Doctor Strange)
Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones, and Dan Lemmon (The Jungle Book)
Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean, and Brad Schiff (Kubo and the Two Strings)
John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel, and Neil Corbould (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)

Score: 3/5. Predicted Arrival and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them instead of Deepwater Horizon and Kubo and the Two Strings.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Fire at Sea
I Am Not Your Negro
Life, Animated
O.J.: Made in America
13th

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
"Extremis"
"4.1 Miles"
"Joe's Violin"
"Watani: My Homeland"
"The White Helmets"

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
"Blind Vaysha"
"Borrowed Time"
"Pear Cider and Cigarettes"
"Pearl"
"Piper"

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
"Ennemis Intérieurs"
"La Femme et le TGV"
"Silent Nights"
"Sing"
"Timecode"