UPDATE: Oscar Nomination Morning!

UPDATED WITH COMMENTARY:

The Revenant walked out with 12 nominations, the highest total for a film this year. And Jesus Christ did they love this movie, nominating it in every conceivable category for which it was eligible, save Best Adapted Screenplay (I think unless you have a really quotable line or five, you'll miss out on a Screenplay nod -- what line do you remember besides "My boyyyyyyyyyy"?). I'm happy for The Revenant, though! If you recall, that was in my Top 15.

Oh my goodness! Ridley Scott, who many experts had pegged as the front-runner for Best Director, missed out on a nomination! His spot went to Lenny Abrahamson for Room, which I'm not mad about -- I wasn't crazy about the film, but I admired what he was trying to do; besides, an unexpected nomination is an exciting nomination! Hooray for surprises!

#OscarsSoWhite will trend once again, thanks to another all-white lineup in the acting categories. What are ya gonna do? For that matter, who would you have nominated? Sure, whoever voted for Stallone probably could have noticed the raw performance at the center of Creed (hey, Michael B. Jordan, you made my ballot!). And Will Smith's inclusion would have given credence to my Jane Fonda Rule. I think the only Actor of Color who even came close was Idris Elba, whose performance in Beasts of No Nation is among his worst, in this writer's opinion.

That criticism has even trickled down to Original Screenplay -- TMZ's headline reads: 'STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON' SHUT OUT OF OSCARS Except for 2 White People'. It's actually four white people -- the writers. But if I recall correctly, Dre and Cube had approval over that. Anyway, one of the Straight Outta Compton screenwriters is a woman, Andrea Berloff -- and she's one of four ladies up for a screenplay Oscar! Meg LeFauve also shares a nod with three men (one of them Filipino!) for Inside Out; and in Adapted Screenplay, Emma Donoghue and Phyllis Nagy are up for Room and Carol, respectively.

Is this one of the best Best Actress lineups ever? Blanchett, Rampling, and Ronan made my own ballot, five stars for all; Lawrence was this close to getting in, four and a half stars; Larson is somewhere between three and four stars for me, but I also adore her in general, so that's a win!

The nominees and earlier non-commentary, after the jump.

Predicting Tomorrow's Oscar Noms!

Ok, folks. I know I've been unusually mum about this Awards Season (with the exception of a theory that I'm about to place a lot of faith in). But it's to talk the Oscar Nominations. They are tomorrow. That is exciting. It's time to predict things.

I'm not in rooms with industry members who are "buzzing." I've been following the guilds and the Globes, but most of us seem to agree there's a general mix of consensus and confusion. Here, then, is how I think it could go down.

I have no clue with Foreign Film, Animated, Doc, or shorts. Don't ask me.

BEST PICTURE
Anywhere between five and ten nominees. I'm thinking ten.

The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight
Steve Jobs

BEST DIRECTOR
The exact DGA lineup.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, The Revenant
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Ridley Scott, The Martian

More predictions, after the jump

Why Will Smith May Benefit from the Jane Fonda Rule

I am giving my full Oscar predictions tomorrow, but I want to talk about Best Actor right now. Actually, I want to tell you why I'll be predicting Will Smith for Concussion to be among the nominees.

I call it The Jane Fonda Rule.

Jane Fonda, in case you didn't know, is a two-time Oscar winning actress, Academy Member, blogger, and Tweeter. And it's as a blogger and a Tweeter that she has stumped for certain films and performances over the past couple of years.

CHECK IT OUT AFTER THE JUMP.

The 2015 Hollmann Awards Nominees!

Finally, the nominees for (if you can believe it) THE TENTH ANNUAL HOLLMANN AWARDS!

Who would have guessed that I had the attention span to not only keep this going, but to also spin it off into the Retro Hollmann Awards? And we just keep growing and growing, baby!

Each category is presented in the order in which I finalized them, eighteen in all.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Chi-Raq - "Pray 4 My City"

music and lyrics by Rico Cox/Robert Amparan/Leroy Griffin, Jr./Nick Cannon

Fifty Shades of Grey - "Earned It"
music and lyrics by The Weeknd/Stephan Moccio/Jason "DeHaela" Quenneville/Ahmad Balshe

Fifty Shades of Grey - "Love Me Like You Do"

music and lyrics by Max Martin/Savan Kotecha/Ilya Salmanzadeh/Ali Payami/Tove Lo

Fifty Shades of Grey - "Salted Wound"

music and lyrics by Brian West/Gerald Eaton/Sia Furler/Oliver Kraus

Youth - "Simple Song #3"

music and lyrics by David Lang


BEST SCORE

The 33
James Horner


Carol
Carter Burwell


It Follows
Disasterpeace


Steve Jobs
Daniel Pemberton

The Throne
Bang Jun-seok

Non-music-related categories after the jump!

2015 in Review: The Longlists

Before I announce the nominees for the Hollmann Awards, it's traditional that I provide the long lists: the 15 finalists in each category. It's great fun for Best Picture, because now that you know my Top Ten, you can see the five films that almost made it in! And it also allows you to see the full breadth of films I'm considering, from Carol to Mortdecai.

BEST PICTURE

The Beauty Inside
Best of Enemies
Brooklyn
Carol
Creed
Girlhood
Grandma
Joy
Our Brand is Crisis
Paddington
The Revenant
Spotlight
Steve Jobs
Tangerine
The Throne

Remaining semi-finalists after the jump

2015 in Review: My Top Ten

Later than most everyone else's, but here it is: my Top Ten of 2015. Presented in alphabetical order -- full rankings to come in the days ahead, what with the Hollmann Awards on their way. For a complete list of the 124 films I saw this year, click here.

Brooklyn

dir: John Crowley
scr: Nick Hornby, from the novel by Colm Tóibín
cin: Yves Bélanger
Perfectly captures the bittersweetness of leaving home and everything you know behind for the first time; on the flip side, also perfectly captures how you don't realize how much you've changed until you return home. Love watching Saoirse Ronan's performance grow from an overwhelmed quiet to a more refined confidence. Indeed, the whole ensemble is engaging, realistic, from the giggly young boarders to gossipy Irish villagers. One of the great endings of the year.

Carol

dir: Todd Haynes
scr: Phyllis Nagy, from the novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
cin: Edward Lachman
Speaking of great endings, the last act of this one was one of the more pulse-pounding experiences I had in a theater this year. From Carol's words to Therese before their dinner's interrupted, all the way to the last shot. Everything before it is great, too. At one point, Therese asks a male would-be suitor, "How many times have you been in love?" This is the movie that perfectly captures that first love, the love that left you clammy-handed but more Yourself than anything before or after.

More stories of women, tales of despair, and fascinating true stories after the jump...

2015 in Review: The Films

Happy New Year! I have much to celebrate -- of the many films released in 2015, I saw 123 of them. Which sounds impressive to some, small time to others I'm sure -- and know, too, that even after all that, I missed Slow West, Li'l Quinquin, Southpaw, Sisters....

Oh, well. Here's the full list of 2015 releases that I actually saw in 2015. How many have you seen?:

The 33

45 Years

The Age of Adaline

Aloha

American Ultra

Amy

Ant-Man
The Assassin

Assassination

Beasts of No Nation

The Beauty Inside

Best of Enemies

The Big Short

Black Mass

Blackbird

The Boy Next Door

Bridge of Spies

Brooklyn

Burnt

C'est Si Bon

Carol

Chappie

Chi-Raq

Child 44

Cinderella

Clouds of Sils Maria

The Con Artists

Concussion

Creed

Crimson Peak

The Danish Girl

Dope

The DUFF

The Duke of Burgundy

Effie Gray

The End of the Tour

Everest

Ex Machina

Fantastic Four

Far from the Madding Crowd

Fifty Shades of Grey

The Final Girls

Focus

Forever Young

Freeheld

The Gift

Girlhood

The Good Dinosaur

Grandma

The Hateful Eight

I Smile Back

I'll See You in My Dreams

In the Heart of the Sea

Inside Out

The Intern

Irrational Man

It Follows

Jem and the Holograms

Joy

Jupiter Ascending

Jurassic World

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Krampus

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter

The Lady in the Van

Learning to Drive

Legend

Lost in the Sun

Love & Mercy

Love the Coopers

Macbeth

Mad Max: Fury Road

Magic Mike XXL

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

The Martian

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Memories of the Sword

Minions

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Mr. Holmes

Mortdecai

Northern Limit Line

Our Brand is Crisis

Paddington

Pan

The Piper

The Peanuts Movie

Point Break

The Priests

The Revenant

Ricki and the Flash

Room

Saint Laurent

San Andreas

Saving Mr. Wu

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Serena

Set Fire to the Stars

Seventh Son

Shanghai

Sicario

SPECTRE

Spotlight

Spy

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Steve Jobs

Straight Outta Compton

Suffragette

Tangerine

Ted 2

The Throne

Trainwreck
Trash

Trumbo

Truth

Twenty

Vacation

A Walk in the Woods

Welcome to Me

What Happened, Miss Simone?

What We Do in the Shadows

White God

Woman in Gold

Youth

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