BAFTA Nominations: Deserving/Undeserving/Snubs

Tom Hanks in Bridge of Spies (Variety)

Best Film

The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Carol
The Revenant
Spotlight

Deserving: Bridge of Spies, Carol I am very pleased with the nominations for.  I'm a bit surprised Bridge of Spies has tickled BAFTA voters' fancy that much, but considering the lack of love it's found around most awards circles thus far, I'm very happy for it. Need I say more about Carol? If it HADN'T been here I'd have a lot more to say, but as it stands...just pleased.

Undeserving: The Revenant. Actually I'm a bit torn over The Revenant as I thought it was an effecitvely directed and shot film, with several outstanding performances, production-wise I think it's one of the best films of the year, but I also think it's a tad bit overrated due to its weak script and plot structure, and the lack of depth for its lead performance. It's not a bad choice, but could think of better choices. Can't comment on The Big Short and Spotlight but I'm sure there's a reason they're there. Anyway I think these five films are basically locks for the Best Picture nomination at the Oscars now.

Snubs: Hm. Obviously I'd have a long line of films I wished I could've seen nominated but we have to be realistic here. I can't think of any big omissions as a lot of the other best films of the year that would've realistically been nominated for BAFTAs have been covered in the 'Outstanding British film' section. I guess I would've liked to see The Martian or Sicario on here, especially considering the amount of love they got in other categories. Would've also been nice to see Creed, The End of the Tour, The Force Awakens  get some love, but that was never really a possibility. Oh, and Mad Max: Fury Road I was kind of expecting to get in, but it's getting enough love elsewhere so a BAFTA snub won't hurt that much.

Outstanding British film

Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling in 45 Years (Telegraph)

45 Years
Amy
Brooklyn
The Danish Girl
Ex Machina
The Lobster

Deserving: 45 Years, Brooklyn, Ex Machina. One thing I love about the BAFTAs is that potentially overlooked, brilliant small-scale British films like these can find some awards love on a similarly important scale through the 'Outstanding British film' category. I don't think any of these three are going to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture (actually Brooklyn might if it gets a bit more momentum.

Undeserving: Again, N/A. I STILL haven't seen Amy but I think I'll catch that sometime soon on DVD, and as for The Danish Girl I'll be checking it out very soon, so will keep everyone posted. I thought The Lobster was a decent, enjoyably quirky enough film, nothing amazing but I certainly don't mind it being nominated here.

Snubs: Would've liked to see some love for Mr Holmes here, or Far From the Madding Crowd, but I guess different strokes, different folks. With regards to this category I saw that Brooklyn was nominated, I was satisfied and left it at that.

Outstanding debut by British writer, director or producer

Alex Garland and Oscar Isaac on the set of Ex Machina (Slashfilm.com)

Alex Garland (director, Ex Machina)
Debbie Tucker Green (writer/director, Second Coming)
Naji Abu Nowar (writer/director, Theeb), Rupert Lloyd (producer, Theeb)
Sean McAllister (director/producer, A Syrian Love Story), Elhum Shakerifar (producer, A Syrian Love Story)
Stephen Fingleton (writer/director, The Survivalist)

Have only seen Alex Garland's work on Ex Machina from this list and he's very deserving, so no further comment here.

Best director

Ridley Scott on the set of The Martian (20th Century Fox)

Adam McKay, The Big Short
Steven Spielberg, Bridge of Spies
Todd Haynes, Carol
Ridley Scott, The Martian
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, The Revenant

Deserving: Speilberg, Haynes, Scott, Iñárritu. The first three all did near-career best work with their respective films, and in particular I'd love to see Scott win as a sort of lifetime achievement-cum-praiseworthy direction for The Martian even if Haynes is my favourite. As for Iñárritu though I didn't love his film I thought he did an excellent job with his direction on it, so no qualms with his nomination here.

Undeserving: Again, haven't seen The Big Short so cannot comment.

Snubs: George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road stands out as a particularly egregious snub, but I guess that same could be said for a lot of other excellent directors this year. It's just been such a fantastic year for films. Was kind of hoping John Crowley's or Ryan Coogler's criminally underrated work for Brooklyn and Creed, respectively, would be acknowledged here but oh well, I guess I should be happy with the nominations since I loved three of the nominees, and liked the other one I've seen a great deal.

Best original screenplay

Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
The Hateful Eight
Inside Out
Spotlight

Deserving: Bridge of Spies, Ex Machina, The Hateful Eight, Inside Out. I was pleasantly surprised by much of the love Ex Machina found here and overjoyed to see its excellent screenplay got a nomination. Bridge of Spies and Inside Out were also finely written films, although I don't think the screenplays were the main strengths of the film, and though I have yet to see The Hateful Eight I've read its script already, funnily enough, and enjoyed it massively. And based on the feedback I've got from film fanatic friends thus far the film contains some of Tarantino's finest work of his career so I've no reason to consider it undeserving.

Undeserving: Again, haven't seen Spotlight (I really need to) but, I presume its praise is well-warranted.

Snubs: Only one I can think off the top of my head would be Sicario which I know I'll have many dissenters on. Oh, and Spectre, but I know many people despised the writing behind it so I'll stop there.

Best adapted screenplay

Nick Hornby (right) and the author of Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín (LA Times)

The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
Room
Steve Jobs

Deserving: Brooklyn, Carol, Room. I'm rooting for a win for one of my favourite contemporary authors, Nick Hornby, as he did a marvellous job with Brooklyn. Carol had a pretty much flawless screenplay buy Phyllis Nagy as well, and I think the script for Room was probably its biggest strength, in my opinion.

Undeserving: N/A. Again, haven't seen The Big Short and while I merely liked, and wasn't in love with the script for Steve Jobs I also thought it was by far the best thing about the film, so can't really call it undeserving.

Snubs: Creed, Mr Holmes, The Martian, The End of the Tour, I could go on and on but really I'm not that upset at their snubs as they were never going to get in anyway. On a separate note, glad to see that the paper-think screenplay for The Revenant didn't get in.

Best actor

MATT DAMON (screenrant.com)

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Matt Damon, The Martian
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

REALLY Deserving: Damon. He's the only one out of this lot I really love (though I still haven't seen Redmayne yet so that might change). His nomination was a pleasant surprise for me, and hope this will boost his chances of getting an Oscar nomination.

Kind of deserving: Cranston, DiCaprio. Both I felt gave solid turns in very different styles of autobiographical roles. Cranston was entertaining and moving, as well as giving a convincing enough impersonation of Dalton Trumbo, so I don't really have any issue with him getting nominated. Now I've made it clear that I do think DiCaprio is being overrated a great deal for The Revenant but that doesn't mean I think he's bad, or undeserving.  He gives an excellent physical performance and it's not his fault there's not really much else there.

undeserving: michael fassbender in steve jobs. The BAFTAs of all people could've nominated him for Macbeth. Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. British. British film. The Scottish play. Fassbender. Oh goddamit, have it your way, nominate him for yet another Oscar baiting biographical turn. This must've been how people felt back in the day when Jimmy Stewart was nominated for The Phildelphia Story and not The Shop Around the Corner, or DiCaprio when he was nominated for Blood Diamond and not The Departed, or Jessica Chastain for The Help instead of The Tree of Life or Take Shelter.

Snubs: I guess this spells the end of any chance of an Oscar nomination for Ian McKellen, if he can't even get BAFTA love. Everyone else's loss. Other 'snubs' of mine, outside of Johnny Depp for Black Mass (surprised this awards body has snubbed him too), were never going to get in., although I'd always thought Tom Hardy was going to be a shoo-in for Legend. Darned annoying how he's going to be snubbed once again for the Oscars, the best actor working today deserves better.

Best actress

 

 

Maggie Smith in Lady in the Van (Guardian)

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Brie Larson, Room
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Maggie Smith, The Lady in the Van
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Deserving: Larson, Blanchett, Smith, Ronan. There's an iffy issue of category fraud that's transpired with these nominations I'll get into in a bit but these four ladies give great/very good performances in their respective films, I'll be rooting for Ronan to win but any of these four would be worthy.

Undeserving: N/A. Haven't seen Vikander yet so can't comment, but glad she's being rightfully campaigned in lead unlike a certain someone else...

Snubs: Someone who should be on this list isn't on this list but is nominated in another category. Other than that was hoping that hometown gal Emily Blunt would get a nomination for her work in Sicario but I guess not. Also, though I didn't love her performance, Charlotte Rampling's snub is a surprise.

Best supporting actor

Benicio del Toro in Sicario (Comingsoon.net)

Benicio del Toro, Sicario
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

VERY DESERVING: DEL TORO has finally gotten a bit of a push towards that prospective Oscar nomination. Good on him!! So pleased with this, it has made my day.

Deserving: Elba, Rylance. I knew they were getting in, but that doesn't make any difference to my utmost pleasure to see these two clearing up nominations all through awards season. Elba, in particular, I'm very happy to see gaining momentum even through awards bodies that don't seem to love the film itself.

Snubs: Was a nomination for Schoenaets/Sheen in Far From the Madding Crowd, Oscar Isaac in Ex Machina, Emory Cohen in Brooklyn or Nicholas Hoult in Mad Max too much to hope for? I guess I should be happy that Del Toro was nominated. and keep my mouth shut otherwise. Also I guess I would've liked to see Stallone nominated but I don't mind his exclusion as he's gotten enough momentum towards an Oscar already.

Best supporting actress

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

 

 

 

ROONEY MARA IS LEAD IN CAROL. I REPEAT, LEAD IN CAROL.

Better give her the win if you're all that insistent on putting her in supporting. It's kind of demeaning to her role in the film though. Also, I find it a bit patronising by the campaigners, as if to say 'well we don't think you're good enough to win in Lead but we think you might just make it in supporting'. Bullshit, Supporting this year is equally as strong as Actress, and also Rooney Mara gave the best performance of the year so yeah.

Deserving: Vikander, Winslet, Mara (okay, okay, fine), Walters. Vikander was fantastic and I've been so happy with the overwhelming amount of love she's been getting for her performance (which is also rightfully placed in supporting). Winslet gave the best performance in her film and deserves all the praise she's been getting. As for Walters, I thought she was hilarious and was one of the many excellent factors about Brooklyn, so I think she's deserving even though she's definitely a step down from the other nominees in terms of complexity of her performance.

Undeserving: N/A. Leigh remains a mystery for me, but based on everyone else's responses I'm guessing there's no way she's undeserving.

Snubs: If the BAFTAs had bothered to consider Mara Lead like they should've, they might have found some space for Joan Allen in Room, or (dare I mention it) Elizabeth Debicki in The Man From U.N.C.L.E., or Marion Cotillard in Macbeth.

Best film not in the English language

The Assasin (mubi.com)

The Assassin
Force Majeure
Theeb
Timbuktu
Wild Tales

Best documentary

Amy
Cartel Land
He Named Me Malala
Listen to Me Marlon
Sherpa

Best animated film

Inside Out (ladygeekgirl.files.wordpress)

Inside Out
Minions
Shaun the Sheep the Movie

Deserving: Inside Out, Shaun the Sheep: The Movie. The former was probably one of the most affecting films I've seen all year and really spoke to lots of people, while being an entertaining watch, so yeah, fully deserving of a nod here. The latter was just a thoroughly enjoyable watch,

Undeserving: N/A. Haven't seen Minions yet, but I guess I should check it out now.

Snubs: Since they probably could've nominated one or two more films, I hear Anomalisa directed by Charlie Kaufman is a masterpiece. Still haven't seen it...(gosh I've been missing out on a lot more films than I'd expected).

Best original music

 

And just in case like me, you want to loop 'Jedi Steps' from Star Wars 24/7

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

All deserving (pleasantly surprised but oh so happy with the Sicario love). Personally I'll be rooting for John Williams the man for The Force Awakens but all other nominees here have sterling scores too. I guess I would've liked to see Carol here but maybe they just thought it was too derivative of Philip Glass' soundtrack for The Hours.

Best cinematography

This breathtaking fan-made video showcases some of the cinematography highlights of Carol

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

Again, all deserving. I haven't seen many praises for the excellent cinematography for Bridge of Spies thus far so glad with that and Sicario love extending to the technical categories here is most pleasing. The Force Awakens and Creed had some great cinematography too but I can't complain too much, since I wouldn't take out any of the nominees here.

Best editing

 

(An underrated well-edited scene in The Martian)

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

Deserving: Again, excellent, excellent choices all round since I thought The Martian had some of the most seamless editing techniques I've seen in ages that made the film flow so, so smoothly, Mad Max was a mastercut in cutting from one action setpiece to another and all the cool stuff in between, the equivalent work on Bridge of Spies in that respect was also great in invoking that 1950's vibe of the film and while again, I didn't love The Revenant the editing for some of those scenes, especially the climax of the film, was brilliant.

Yes, I know I need to see The Big Short.

Best production design

Even Cate is impressed (chapter1-take1.blogspot.com)

 

Bridge of Spies (mediabrewpub.com)

Bridge of Spies

Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

All deserving. You know the Star Wars franchise is back in the groove with a BAFTA nomination, and the ingenuity of its set design and production values just impressed me with re-watches, bringing us all back into that world we know and love, but with little titbits of new things to enjoy too. Carol, Mad Max, The Martian, Carol, Bridge of Spies all so successfully recreated the specific time periods/places/planets they were set on so quite frankly, this is probably the single category I am most pleased with as two of these films make my top 5, and all my top 10.

Best costume design

Cate Blanchett in Carol

Brooklyn
Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road

Also, interesting article here: http://fashionista.com/2015/11/carol-costumes

Deserving: All of them. Say what you want about Cinderella but those princess costumes were so fire. Pleasantly surprised to see that it's not always just about who has the quirkiest/coolest costumes (although in that respect Mad Max is the frontrunner here and deservedly so) but that period pieces like Brooklyn and Carol also get their fair due. Haven't seen The Danish Girl but based on trailers alone the costume design in it is fabulous too, so I guess I'll reserve judgement but still put it in deserving.

Undeserving: N/A for The Danish Girl but see above.

Snub: Was kind of hoping Crimson Peak or The Force Awakens would get some love here but I guess the former just isn't to many awards bodies' tastes, and I'm being too greedy for the latter. Macbeth also had very nice costumes but again, the BAFTAs didn't seem to take to it, so there you are, different strokes different folks.

Best make-up and hair

The Danish Girl (indianexpress.com)

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

All deserving, I guess, and I can say that without even having seen The Danish Girl on account of just having seen so many examples of its excellent make-up and hair design plastered around advertisements and trailers. Brooklyn and Carol gave their characters simply sublime appearances all round, Mad Max and The Revenant on the opposite spectrum of glorious grotesqueness.

Best sound

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

All deserving, though I'd give particular credit to Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, and The Force Awakens here as I thought they creates just through the auditory experience alone, such a vivid immersion in their respective oddities and epic-ness of their environments. Would've nominated Sicario in the place of The Revenant or Bridge of Spies here but since it's gotten love in other technical categories, again, I should not complain.

Best special visual effects

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

Deserving: Ex Machina, The Martian, The Force Awakens. The special effects in Ex Machina were so subtle, you might've thought they were just part of the makeup and set design, but looking behind the scenes the work they put in really was fantastic. The Martian again is a Ridley Scott sci-fi movie so excellent special effects were a given, and Star Wars is Star Wars.

Undecided: Mad Max: Fury Road. On one hand it had excellent special effects. On the other hands, look at the video below, 'Mad Max: Fury Road without special effects is still freaking awesome'. I think a lot of the technical excellence of the film is more due to the stuntwork (who should really get their own category), camerawork, editing, etc. Not that the effects aren't great, I just don't think they're the main reason the film is great, at all.

Undeserving: Controversial, controversial, but Ant-Man. I thought the film was very enjoyable but wasn't excellently bamboozled by the SFX on display there. Maybe I'm suffering from Marvel overdosage.

Snubs: Though I didn't care much for the film itself, I thought Jurassic World would've made a far more worthier contender in this category.

Best British short animation

Edmond
Manoman
Prologue

Best British short film

Elephant
Mining Poems or Odes
Operator
Over
Samuel-613

EE Rising Star (voted for by the public)

John Boyega (movieweb.com)

Bel Powley
Brie Larson
Dakota Johnson
John Boyega
Taron Egerton

Deserving: I wouldn't call Larson a 'Rising Star' of 2015 exactly as she's been a rising star for quite a while now for her excellent film work over the years, but since she's terrific in Room I'll advocate her win here. I thought Egerton and Boyega were excellent choices, especially Boyega, he's come such a long way from the also excellent Attack the Block that I'm glad the Star Wars: The Force Awakens star is now being considered a star. I haven't seen Powley but based on the rave reviews for her work in The Diary of a Teenage Girl she's definitely a rising star.

Undeserving: As for Johnson...I'm assuming they're referring to her work on Fifty Shades of Gray as opposed to Black Mass. Well I think she was good in both and is definitely a rising star, however, in contrast to the snubs...

Snubs: I was shocked that Emory Cohen or Daisy Ridley weren't included here. The former completely reinvented himself as probably the most charismatic, endearing, lovely and pitch-perfect onscreen presence of 2015 in Brooklyn (how could you not love Tony?), and the latter was a revelatory lead in The Force Awakens. I would also put Domnhall Gleeson in but I do think, despite his strong body of work this year, his breakthrough was from 2013-2014 through About Time, Frank and Calvary.