It is Hollywood’s biggest night, and something we love to predict. Yesterday, the nominations for the 89th Annual Academy Awards were announced, and this year the mix is simply amazing. While 2016 felt a little lackluster for most of the year, especially at the box office, the second half of the year seemed to really run on all cylinders and offered some amazing film choices.
Nominations for the 89th Academy Awards
Performance by an actor in a leading role
* CASEY AFFLECK in “Manchester by the Sea”
* ANDREW GARFIELD in “Hacksaw Ridge”
* RYAN GOSLING in “La La Land”
* VIGGO MORTENSEN in “Captain Fantastic”
* DENZEL WASHINGTON in “Fences”
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
* MAHERSHALA ALI in “Moonlight”
* JEFF BRIDGES in “Hell or High Water”
* LUCAS HEDGES in “Manchester by the Sea”
* DEV PATEL in “Lion”
* MICHAEL SHANNON in “Nocturnal Animals”
Performance by an actress in a leading role
* ISABELLE HUPPERT in “Elle”
* RUTH NEGGA in “Loving”
* NATALIE PORTMAN in “Jackie”
* EMMA STONE in “La La Land”
* MERYL STREEP in “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
* VIOLA DAVIS in “Fences”
* NAOMIE HARRIS in “Moonlight”
* NICOLE KIDMAN in “Lion”
* OCTAVIA SPENCER in “Hidden Figures”
* MICHELLE WILLIAMS in “Manchester by the Sea”
Best animated feature film of the year
* “KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS” Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner
* “MOANA” John Musker, Ron Clements and Osnat Shurer
* “MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI” Claude Barras and Max Karli
* “THE RED TURTLE” Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki
* “ZOOTOPIA” Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer
Achievement in cinematography
* “ARRIVAL” Bradford Young
* “LA LA LAND” Linus Sandgren
* “LION” Greig Fraser
* “MOONLIGHT” James Laxton
* “SILENCE” Rodrigo Prieto
Achievement in costume design
* “ALLIED” Joanna Johnston
* “FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM” Colleen Atwood
* “FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS” Consolata Boyle
* “JACKIE” Madeline Fontaine
* “LA LA LAND” Mary Zophres
Achievement in directing
* “ARRIVAL” Denis Villeneuve
* “HACKSAW RIDGE” Mel Gibson
* “LA LA LAND” Damien Chazelle
* “MANCHESTER BY THE SEA” Kenneth Lonergan
* “MOONLIGHT” Barry Jenkins
Best documentary feature
* “FIRE AT SEA” Gianfranco Rosi and Donatella Palermo
* “I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO” Raoul Peck, Rémi Grellety and Hébert Peck
* “LIFE, ANIMATED” Roger Ross Williams and Julie Goldman
* “O.J.: MADE IN AMERICA” Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow
* “13TH” Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick and Howard Barish
Best documentary short subject
* “EXTREMIS” Dan Krauss
* “4.1 MILES” Daphne Matziaraki
* “JOE’S VIOLIN” Kahane Cooperman and Raphaela Neihausen
* “WATANI: MY HOMELAND” Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis
* “THE WHITE HELMETS” Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
Achievement in film editing
* “ARRIVAL”Joe Walker
* “HACKSAW RIDGE” John Gilbert
* “HELL OR HIGH WATER” Jake Roberts
* “LA LA LAND” Tom Cross
* “MOONLIGHT” Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon
Best foreign language film of the year
* “LAND OF MINE” Denmark
* “A MAN CALLED OVE” Sweden
* “THE SALESMAN” Iran
* “TANNA” Australia
* “TONI ERDMANN” Germany
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
* “A MAN CALLED OVE” Eva von Bahr and Love Larson
* “STAR TREK BEYOND” Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo
* “SUICIDE SQUAD” Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and
Christopher Nelson
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
* “JACKIE” Mica Levi
* “LA LA LAND” Justin Hurwitz
* “LION” Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka
* “MOONLIGHT” Nicholas Britell
* “PASSENGERS” Thomas Newman
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
* “AUDITION (THE FOOLS WHO DREAM)” from “La La Land”
Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
* “CAN’T STOP THE FEELING” from “Trolls”
Music and Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster
* “CITY OF STARS” from “La La Land”
Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
* “THE EMPTY CHAIR” from “Jim: The James Foley Story”
Music and Lyric by J. Ralph and Sting
* “HOW FAR I’LL GO” from “Moana”
Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Best motion picture of the year
* “ARRIVAL” Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Aaron Ryder and David Linde,
Producers
* “FENCES” Scott Rudin, Denzel Washington and Todd Black, Producers
* “HACKSAW RIDGE” Bill Mechanic and David Permut, Producers
* “HELL OR HIGH WATER” Carla Hacken and Julie Yorn, Producers
* “HIDDEN FIGURES” Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping,
Pharrell Williams and Theodore Melfi, Producers
* “LA LA LAND” Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt, Producers
* “LION” Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Angie Fielder, Producers
* “MANCHESTER BY THE SEA” Matt Damon, Kimberly Steward, Chris Moore,
Lauren Beck and Kevin J. Walsh, Producers
* “MOONLIGHT” Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner,
Producers
Achievement in production design
* “ARRIVAL” Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Paul
Hotte
* “FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM” Production Design: Stuart
Craig; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
* “HAIL, CAESAR!” Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration:
Nancy Haigh
* “LA LA LAND” Production Design: David Wasco; Set Decoration: Sandy
Reynolds-Wasco
* “PASSENGERS” Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration:
Gene Serdena
Best animated short film
* “BLIND VAYSHA” Theodore Ushev
* “BORROWED TIME” Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj
* “PEAR CIDER AND CIGARETTES” Robert Valley and Cara Speller
* “PEARL” Patrick Osborne
* “PIPER” Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer
Best live action short film
* “ENNEMIS INTÉRIEURS” Sélim Azzazi
* “LA FEMME ET LE TGV” Timo von Gunten and Giacun Caduff
* “SILENT NIGHTS” Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson
* “SING” Kristof Deák and Anna Udvardy
* “TIMECODE” Juanjo Giménez
Achievement in sound editing
* “ARRIVAL” Sylvain Bellemare
* “DEEPWATER HORIZON” Wylie Stateman and Renée Tondelli
* “HACKSAW RIDGE” Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright
* “LA LA LAND” Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
* “SULLY” Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Achievement in sound mixing
* “ARRIVAL” Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye
* “HACKSAW RIDGE” Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and
Peter Grace
* “LA LA LAND” Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow
* “ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY” David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio
and Stuart Wilson
* “13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI” Greg P. Russell, Gary
Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth
Achievement in visual effects
* “DEEPWATER HORIZON” Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and
Burt Dalton
* “DOCTOR STRANGE” Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli
and Paul Corbould
* “THE JUNGLE BOOK” Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and
Dan Lemmon
* “KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS” Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean
and Brad Schiff
* “ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY” John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and
Neil Corbould
Adapted screenplay
* “ARRIVAL” Screenplay by Eric Heisserer
* “FENCES” Screenplay by August Wilson
* “HIDDEN FIGURES” Screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
* “LION” Screenplay by Luke Davies
* “MOONLIGHT” Screenplay by Barry Jenkins; Story by Tarell Alvin
McCraney
Original screenplay
* “HELL OR HIGH WATER” Written by Taylor Sheridan
* “LA LA LAND” Written by Damien Chazelle
* “THE LOBSTER” Written by Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou
* “MANCHESTER BY THE SEA” Written by Kenneth Lonergan
* “20TH CENTURY WOMEN” Written by Mike Mills
Some things to briefly talk about, Pixar gets snubbed for pretty much the first time in history with Finding Dory. While not being a fan of it myself, the movie did amazingly well at the Box Office. Two Disney animated films- Moana, and Zootopia got the nod this year, along with the amazing and extremely underrated Kubo and the Two Strings. There’s also the incredibly beautiful, Red Turtle along with the bizarre but touching My Life as a Zucchini. It pretty much means that Pixar is no longer a shoe-in for a Best Picture spot in the animation field. The company has been tossing down a number of sequels in the past few years. Last year, Pixar picked up the much deserved win for it’s original film, Inside Out. This year, Pixar will see another Cars sequel, but also the original Coco.
Predictable films like Rogue One, and Fantastic Beasts made up the visual effects category, along with the animated Kubo and the Two Strings. Very important films like Hidden Figures and Fences were nominated this year, but the Academy has a huge task in front of them with this year’s nominees, as all of them were pretty amazing. However, it’s our prediction that La La Land is going to be the clear cut winner, as the film is really a great love letter to the arts, at a time when the current political landscape is looking to cut the arts.
Stay tuned in the next few weeks as we track down the nominated films and highlight them in upcoming reviews. What do you think of this year’s nominees? Who’s going to be the big winner?
Stay tuned for more, and be sure to get social with us on Facebook and follow along with us on Twitter @BehindThrills for the latest updates!
