Best Film
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight
Frontier adventure The Revenant leads the field with 12 nominations, closely followed by exhilarating blockbuster-with-brains Mad Max: Fury Road (10 nominations). With six nominations apiece, financial-crash comedy The Big Short and investigative-journalism drama Spotlight are also in contention. All four movies boast victories on this year's awards circuit, but Bafta-winning The Revenant is the clear frontrunner.
Will win: The Revenant
Should win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Who’s missing: Carol
Best Director
Lenny Abrahamson – Room
Alejandro G Inarritu – The Revenant
Tom McCarthy - Spotlight
Adam McKay – The Big Short
George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
Only twice before has a director won back to back Oscars (John Ford in 1941 and 1942 and Joseph L Mankiewicz in 1950 and 1951), but Alejandro G Inarritu, winner last year for Birdman, is on a roll with victories at the Directors Guild Awards, Golden Globes and Baftas and looks set to repeat the feat for his ferociously gripping tale of survival and revenge, The Revenant.
Will win: Alejandro G Inarritu – The Revenant
Should win: George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
Who’s missing: Todd Haynes – Carol
Best Actor
Bryan Cranston - Trumbo
Matt Damon – The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl
Following his triumph in The Theory of Everything last year, could Eddie Redmayne pull off an Oscar double with his performance as The Danish Girl's transgender pioneer? No, frankly. Having gone through the Academy-impressing on-set ordeals of eating raw bison liver and sleeping inside a horse carcass for The Revenant, fith-time nominee Leonardo DiCaprio is a shoo-in for this award.
Will win: Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Should win: Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
Who’s missing: Ralph Fiennes – A Bigger Splash
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett - Carol
Brie Larson – Room
Jennifer Lawrence - Joy
Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan - Brooklyn
This year's Best Actress field is exceptionally strong. Each one of the five nominees would make a worthy winner. Saoirse Ronan is surely destined to join past winners Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Lawrence in the Oscars hall of fame – just not this year. Brie Larson's heartrending portrayal of a young mother held prisoner in a shed with her five-year-old son in Room is justifiably the favourite here.
Will win: Brie Larson – Room
Should win: Brie Larson – Room
Who's missing: Emily Blunt - Sicario
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Big Short
Tom Hardy – The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo - Spotlight
Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone - Creed
#OscarsSoWhite began trending on social media as soon as the 2016 nominations were announced and this is the category where the furore about a lack of diversity is most telling. Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation) and Benicio Del Toro (Sicario) both have good reason to feel aggrieved at their omission from this lineup. As things stand, expect Hollywood veteran Sylvester Stallone, playing Rocky Balboa for the seventh time in Creed, to ride to victory on a tide of Academy sentiment, although Bafta winner Mark Rylance has a good shot.
Will win: Sylvester Stallone - Creed
Should win: Tom Hardy – The Revenant
Who's missing: Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara – Carol
Rachel Adams – Spotlight
Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs
Kate Winslet picked up an Oscar in 2009 for The Reader and has a strong chance of adding to her collection for her role in Steve Jobs following her Bafta triumph last month. She faces strong competition from Alicia Vikander, although her rival has arguably been nominated in the wrong category (she’s clearly The Danish Girl’s co-lead, as is Carol’s Rooney Mara) or possibly for the wrong film, given her astonishing performance as Ex Machina's robot.
Will win: Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Should win: Rooney Mara – Carol
Who's missing: Kristen Stewart, The Clouds of Sils Maria
Animated Feature Film
Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out
Shaun the Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There
Will win: Inside Out
Cinematography
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Sicario
Will win: The Revenant
Costume Design
Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Will win: Cinderella
Documentary Feature
Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom
Will win: Amy
Documentary Short Subject
Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond the Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
A Girl in the River: The Prince of Forgiveness
Last Day of Freedom
Will win: Body Team 12
Film Editing
The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Will win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Foreign Language Film
Embrace of the Serpent
Mustang
Son of Saul
Theeb
A War
Will win: Son of Saul
Makeup and Hairstyling
Mad Max: Fury Road
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared
The Revenant
Will win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Music Original Score
Bridge of Spies
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Will win: The Hateful Eight
Music Original Song
‘Earned It’ – Fifty Shades of Grey
‘Manta Ray’ – Racing Extinction
‘Simple Song’ – Youth
‘Til It Happens To You’ – The Hunting Ground
‘Writing’s on the Wall’ - Spectre
Will win: ‘Til It Happens To You’ – The Hunting Ground
Production Design
Bridge of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Will win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Animated Short Film
Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team
We Can’t Live Without the Cosmos
World of Tomorrow
Will win: Sanjay’s Super Team
Live Action Short Film
Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
Shok
Stutterer
Will win: Ave Maria
Sound Editing
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Will win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Sound Mixing
Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Will win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Visual Effects
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Will win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Adapted Screenplay
The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room
Will win: The Big Short
Original Screenplay
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton
Will win: Spotlight
