IT'S A TIE! MOTION PICTURE SOUND EDITORS AWARDS

As if to offer up confirmation as to the deadlocked state of the Oscar sound category races this year, the Motion Picture Sound Editors has declared a tie in its top award between the two frontrunners, Mad Max: Fury Road and The Revenant. Across the group's seven categories there were eight different winners, with each of the three most-nominated titles (the aforementioned two plus Star Wars: The Force Awakens) among the recipients. Take a look at what the MPSE nominated here, and their choices for award winners below:

Best Sound Effects & Foley

Chris Aud, Phil Barrie, Cate Cahill, Nigel Christensen, Jared Dwyer, Mario Gabrielli, Scott Hecker, Rick Lisle, Mark A. Mangini, Chuck Michael, Andrew Miller, Emma Mitchell, Michael Mitchell, Stuart Morton, Wayne Pashley, Fabian Sanjurjo, John Simpson, Blair Slater, Julian Slater, Alicia Slusarski and David White (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Gregg Barbanell, Lon Bender, Bill Dean, Dino DiMuro, Andrea Gard, Hector Gika, Vincent Guisetti, Catherine Harper, Martin Hernandez, Adam Kopald, Mark Larry, Nancy McCleod, David McMoyler, Rick Owens, Stephen Robinson, Katy Rose, Pernell L. Salinas, Geordy Sincavage, D. Chris Smith, Aran Tanchum, Randy Thom, Gretchen Thomas, Jon Title, Todd Toon and Randy Wassil (The Revenant)

Best Dialogue & ADR

Brian Chumney, Richard Hymns, Gary Rydstrom and Steve Slanec (Bridge of Spies)

Best Music Score Editing

Paul Apelgren and Ramiro Belgardt (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Best Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue & ADR - Animation

Jeremy Bowker, Tom Brennan, Stephen M. Davis, Alyson Dee Moore, Malcolm Fife, David C. Hughes, Ren Klyce, Daniel Laurie, Shannon Mills and John Roesch (Inside Out)

Best Sound Editing - Documentary

Cameron Frankley, Dan Kenyon and Jon Michaels (Cobain: Montage of Heck)

Best Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue & ADR - Foreign Film

Beke Tamas, Szekely Tamas and Zanyi Tamas (Son of Saul)

Best Music Editing in a Musical

Nicholas Renbeck (Love & Mercy)

COSTUME DESIGNERS GUILD ANNOUNCES ITS AWARD WINNERS FOR 2015

If you ask me, the Oscar is no longer down to Sandy Powell vs. Sandy Powell - it's down to Sandy Powell vs. Jenny Beavan. The bag lady wins a Costume Designers Guild award for Mad Max: Fury Road, adding to the BAFTA she won just over a week ago, while fellow Oscar nominee Paco Delgado pulled off a slight surprise, winning for The Danish Girl. The double win was facilitated by the CDG's splitting of the Costume Design category, and it wasn't a double win - it was a triple, with Beasts of No Nation's Jenny Eagan also winning. I'm still calling Powell for the Oscar (for Cinderella, not Carol), but it could be a close one, with four potential winners in the one category. Have a look at this guild's nominees here, and their award winners below.

Excellence in Period Film

Paco Delgado (The Danish Girl)

Excellence in Fantasy Film

Jenny Beavan (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Excellence in Contemporary Film

Jenny Eagan (Beasts of No Nation)

Distinguished Service Award

Edwina Pellikka

Distinguished Collaborator Award

Quentin Tarantino

Lacoste Spotlight Award

Cate Blanchett

Career Achievement Award

Ellen Mirojnick

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD WINS TWO MAKE-UP ARTISTS AND HAIR STYLISTS GUILD AWARDS

Just as it led the nominations, Mad Max: Fury Road led the award winners at the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild awards. It won two of its three nominations, while other awards were collected by Cinderella, Furious 7 and Pitch Perfect 2. Johnny Depp was on hand to hand out Lifetime Achievement Awards to two very deserving recipients: makeup designer Ve Neill, with whom Depp has worked on several occasions, and hairstylist Yolanda Toussieng. Nominees can be perused here, winners below:

Best Period and/or Character Make-Up

Nadine Prigge, Ailie Smith and Lesley Vanderwalt (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Period and/or Character Hair Styling

Orla Carroll, Carol Hemming and Yoshihara Wakana (Cinderella)

Best Contemporary Make-Up

Autumn Butler, Rory d'Alonzo and James MacKinnon (Furious 7)

Best Contemporary Hair Styling

Daina Daigle, Meagan Herrera and Cheryl Marks (Pitch Perfect 2)

Best Special Make-Up Effects

Damian Martin, Jaco Snyman and Elka Wardega (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Lifetime Achievement Award

Ve Neill

Yolanda Toussieng

INSIDE OUT AND THE REVENANT WIN CINEMA AUDIO SOCIETY AWARDS

The Revenant has staked another claim for dominance in the sound categories at next weekend's Oscar with a victory at the Cinema Audio Society awards. It won the Live Action prize for its crew of sound mixers, with the Animated prize going to Inside Out's crew, among a field of five non-Oscar nominees. Check out what the CAS nominated here, and what they chose to award below:

Best Sound Mixing - Live Action

Chris Duesterdiek, Conrad Hensel, Michael Miller, Frank A. Montano, Geordy Sincavage, Jon Taylor and Randy Thom (The Revenant)

Best Sound Mixing - Animated

Joel Iwataki, Tom Johnson, Doc Kane, Mary Jo Lang and Michael Semanick (Inside Out)

EMMANUEL LUBEZKI WINS THIRD CONSECUTIVE ASC AWARD

The American Society of Cinematographers has voted to give Emmanuel Lubezki his fifth award and his third in three years, for The Revenant. That's a decision that should surprise few, as he continues his sweep of the Cinematography awards this season, and as The Revenant picks up ever more Best Picture buzz. Check out the ASC's nominations here, and their award winners below:

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography

Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant)

Spotlight Award

Adam Arkapaw (Macbeth)

Erdely Matyas (Son of Saul)

Lifetime Achievement Award

John Toll

Bud Stone Award of Distinction

Grover Crisp

WGA AWARDS GO AS PLANNED: SPOTLIGHT AND THE BIG SHORT WIN

Oh, look! The Writers Guild of America held its 2015 awards ceremony yesterday! You didn't notice? You didn't hear the awards season tectonic plates shifting? You didn't hear Hollywood's collective jaw dropping? Funny, that. Anyway, here were their nominations, and there are their awards:

Best Original Screenplay

Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Adam McKay and Charles Randolph - based on the book by Michael Lewis (The Big Short)

Best Documentary Screenplay

Alex Gibney (Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief)

ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU WINS SECOND CONSECUTIVE DGA AWARD, DOESN'T DESERVE THIS ONE EITHER

You ever hear of the director who won two back-to-back DGA awards? No, you didn't, because it's never happened before. But it happened yesterday, as Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won the Feature Film category for The Revenant, beating four other nominees who each and all a) had never won before, and b) deserved to win more than he did. Kinda reminds me of last year, when almost exactly the same shit transpired. The winner of the Documentary category was Matthew Heineman for Cartel Land - a much finer choice, imo - and Ex Machina's Alex Garland in the inaugural First Time Director category. The 2015 DGA nominations can be viewed at this link.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS WINS TOP VES AWARD

As with many of the technical Oscar categories this year, Visual Effects is a tough one to call. But not between Mad Max: Fury Road and The Revenant, as in many cases - instead, it's between Mad Max and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the latter film has received the Visual Effects Society's seal of approval. Indeed, there were awards only for all three films mentioned above in the Photoreal categories,  with The Revenant claiming the Best Supporting Visual Effects award. The Good Dinosaur fairly cleaned up in the Animated categories, missing only one award to fellow Pixar feature Inside Out. Check out VES' nominees here, and their award winners below:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Chris Corbould, Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, Luke O'Byrne and Patrick Tubach (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Ivy Agregan, Nicolas Chevallier, Richard McBride, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer (The Revenant)

Outstanding Models in a Photoreal or Animated Project

Matthew Denton, Landis Fields, Cyrus Jam and Joshua Lee - 'BB-8' (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

Colin Benoit, Paul Kavanagh, Greg Salter and Yukuhiro Susumu - 'Falcon chase / graveyard' (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

T. C. Harrison, Charles Lai, Donny Rausch and Alan Travis - 'Bear attack' (The Revenant)

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

Yannick Dusseault, Quentin Marmier, Justin van der Lek and Mike Wood - 'Falcon chase / graveyard' (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Outstanding Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

Dan Bethell, Clinton Downs and Chris Young' - 'Toxic storm' (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature

Karin Cooper, Leandro Estebecorena, Gaelle Morand and Matt Shumway - 'The bear' (The Revenant)

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

Sanjay Bakshi, Denise Ream, Jon Reisch and Michael Venturini (The Good Dinosaur)

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

Matt Kuruc, Tom Miller, David Munier and Matthew Webb - 'The farm' (The Good Dinosaur)

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

Hemagiri Arumugam, Michael Hall, Stephen Marshall and Magnus Wrenninge (The Good Dinosaur)

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature

Alexis Angelidis, Tanja Krampfert, Shawn Krause and Jacob Merrell - 'Joy' (Inside Out)

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

Francesco Faranna and Andreas Feix (Citipati)

OSCAR CONTENDERS WIN ART DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS

Since Cinderella failed to pick up a richly deserved Oscar nomination for its stunning production design, my prediction that it'd win an ADG award faltered. Instead, voters chose films for their three awards which not only carried corresponding Oscar nods but which also carried Oscar Best Picture nods. In particular, The Revenant's success in the Period category confirms its status as one to watch in Oscar's tech categories, where it has otherwise appeared to mostly lag behind Mad Max: Fury Road. See for yourself both the Art Directors Guild nominations, and, below, their award winners.

Excellence in Production Design - Period

Jack Fisk (The Revenant)

Excellence in Production Design - Fantasy

Colin Gibson (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Excellence in Production Design - Contemporary

Arthur Max (The Martian)

OSCAR CONTENDERS WIN ART DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS

Since Cinderella failed to pick up a richly deserved Oscar nomination for its stunning production design, my prediction that it'd win an ADG award faltered. Instead, voters chose films for their three awards which not only carried corresponding Oscar nods but which also carried Oscar Best Picture nods. In particular, The Revenant's success in the Period category confirms its status as one to watch in Oscar's tech categories, where it has otherwise appeared to mostly lag behind Mad Max: Fury Road. See for yourself both the Art Directors Guild nominations, and, below, their award winners.

Excellence in Production Design - Period

Jack Fisk (The Revenant)

Excellence in Production Design - Fantasy

Colin Gibson (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Excellence in Production Design - Contemporary

Arthur Max (The Martian)

DIVERSITY DOMINATES AT SAG AWARDS; SPOTLIGHT WINS ENSEMBLE CAST

We have ourselves an Oscar race! The feeling that The Big Short could have the Best Picture category locked down after its PGA award a week ago was upset tonight by closest rival Spotlight's Ensemble Cast prize at the Screen Actors Guild awards. SAG rarely gives this award to a film that doesn't win one of its four individual acting categories, but this was far from the biggest surprise of the evening: Idris Elba's Supporting Actor win for Beasts of No Nation (one of two for Elba, including a TV award for Luther) makes him the first person in history to win a SAG award for film without a corresponding Oscar nomination. Pair that with the fact that only one TV award for which no POC were nominated went to a white person, and you have quite the statement to the Academy... Check out SAG's film nominations here, and their film awards below:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Brie Larson (Room)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Billy Crudup, Brian d'Arcy James, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery and Stanley Tucci (Spotlight)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Mad Max: Fury Road

ACE EDDIE AWARDS: MAD MAX AND THE BIG SHORT ADVANCE IN OSCAR RACE

It was a done deal, lbr. Hank Corwin for The Big Short and Margaret Sixel for Mad Max: Fury Road both won ACE Eddie awards yesterday, cementing their position as joint frontrunners in the Oscar Best Editing race. That award will be tougher to call, though, with potential spoiler The Revenant right at their heels. Check out the American Cinema Editors' nominations at this link, and their winners below:

Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic)

Margaret Sixel (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy)

Hank Corwin (The Big Short)

Best Edited Animated Feature Film

Kevin Nolting (Inside Out)

Best Edited Documentary (Feature)

Chris King (Amy)

MPSE NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED: MAD MAX, REVENANT, STAR WARS LEAD

Nominations for the 63rd Motion Picture Sound Editors awards have been announced - yes, that's 63 years of awards for sound editors, and how many of them can you even recall? It's also 63 years of practice for the MPSE, yet they still can't perfect the names of their own nominees, crediting What Happened, Miss Simone? as 'What Happened to Miss Simone', bizarrely. Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant and Star Wars: The Force Awakens nab the total number of nominations available to each - three - and will face off against one another in all of those categories. Also claiming three nods are ace sound editor Martin Hernandez (all for The Revenant), who has worked on some of the most notable soundscapes in film since his debut on collaborator Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Amores Perros in 2000 (I've made my feelings on The Revenant pretty clear, but it thoroughly deserves all these sound nominations), and Paul Apelgren, whose work on three of 2015's blockbuster films sees him recognised with three mentions in the Music Score Editing category. Winners will be announced on the 27th of February, one day before the Oscars. Check out the nominees below:

Best Sound Effects & Foley

Lon Bender, Martín Hernández and Randy Thom (The Revenant)

Scott Hecker and Mark A. Mangini (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Daniel Laurie and Shannon Mills (Ant-Man)

Alan Robert Murray (Sicario)

Al Nelson and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle (Jurassic World)

Oliver Tarney (The Martian)

Mandell Winter (Southpaw)

Matthew Wood (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Best Dialogue & ADR
Lon Bender, Martín Hernández and Randy Thom (The Revenant)

Niall Brady (Room)

Scott Hecker and Mark A. Mangini (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Greg Hedgepath and Mark P. Stoeckinger (Straight Outta Compton)

Richard Hymns (Bridge of Spies)

Alan Robert Murray (Sicario)

Oliver Tarney (The Martian)

Matthew Wood (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Best Music Score Editing

Paul Apelgren (Jupiter Ascending)

Paul Apelgren (Jurassic World)

Paul Apelgren (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Bob Badami (Mad Max: Fury Road)

John Finklea (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation)

Martín Hernández (The Revenant)

Tony Lewis (The Martian)

Ronald Webb (Creed)

Best Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue & ADR – Animation

Christopher S. Aud and Aaron Glascock (Anomalisa)

Anthony Bayman and Adrian Rhodes (Shaun the Sheep Movie)

Ren Klyce and Shannon Mills (Inside Out)

Dennis Leonard (Minions)

Shannon Mills (The Good Dinosaur)

Geoffrey G. Rubay (Hotel Transylvania 2)

Randy Thom and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle (The Peanuts Movie)

Best Sound Editing – Documentary

Christopher Barnett and Tim Nielsen (Racing Extinction)

Bob Bronow (The Wrecking Crew)

Cameron Frankley (Cobain: Montage of Heck)

Luke Gibleon and Mark P. Stoeckinger (A Faster Horse)

Stephen Griffiths and Andy Shelley (Amy)

Pete Horner (Best of Enemies)

Oleg Kulchytskyi (Winter on Fire)

Tony Volante (What Happened, Miss Simone?)

Best Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue & ADR – Foreign Film

Amrit Pritam Dutta and Resul Pookutty (Unfreedom)

Markus Glunz and Peter Staubli (Northmen: A Viking Saga)

Enrique Greiner and Frédéric le Louet (Days of Grace)

Zányi Tamás (Son of Saul)

Best Music Editing in a Musical

Amanda Goodpaster (Pitch Perfect 2)

Nicholas Renbeck (Love & Mercy)

Jason Ruder (Straight Outta Compton)

SPANNER, MEET WORKS: THE BIG SHORT WINS PGA

Here's the confirmation you needed - this Oscar race could go any which way from here. Beating Critics' Choice champ Spotlight and Golden Globe winner The Revenant, The Big Short takes the top prize from the Producers Guild of America. It's an important win for the film, as it failed - like last year's winner, Birdman - to win the Comedy / Musical Globe earlier this month, and because no PGA winner has missed the Best Picture Oscar since the two groups simultaneously expanded their lineups and adopted a preferential ballot seven years ago. Check out the PGA nominees at this link, and the award winners below:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

The Big Short (Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Brad Pitt)

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

Inside Out (Jonas Rivera)

Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures

Amy (James Gay-Rees)

THE BIG SHORT, ROOM AND STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON WIN ARTIOS AWARDS

Here are the results of Artios Award voting by the Casting Society of America. Seven categories, seven different winners as no film was eligible to compete in more than one field. Major awards season players intermingle with lesser-celebrated titles, which is a pleasant and refreshing change from the usual slate of usual suspects. Check out the CSA's nominations for 2015 here, and their award winners below:

Best Casting (Big Budget - Drama)

Meagan Lewis, Pat Moran, Carolyn Pickman, Beth Sepko, Lucinda Syson, Victoria Thomas and Cindy Tolan (Straight Outta Compton)

Best Casting (Big Budget - Comedy)

Meagan Lewis and Francine Maisler (The Big Short)

Best Casting (Studio or Independent - Drama)

Robin D. Cook, Jonathan Oliveira and Fiona Weir (Room)

Best Casting (Studio or Independent - Comedy)

Angela Demo, Nancy Mosser and Katie Shenot (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl)

Best Casting (Low Budget - Drama)

Angela Demo (The Stanford Prison Experiment)

Best Casting (Low Budget - Comedy)

Kim Coleman (Dope)

Best Casting (Animation)

Natalie Lyon and Kevin Reher (Inside Out)

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD LEADS MAKE-UP ARTISTS AND HAIR STYLISTS GUILD NOMINATIONS

Who's surprised? Mad Max: Fury Road takes three nominations from the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild award nominations, leading the field. Guild voters disagreed with the Academy, shunning five of the seven films from its bake-off list entirely, including its two eventual fellow nominees alongside Mad Max. A whole bunch of films all received two nominations. Winners will be announced on the 20th of February. Check out their choices below:

Best Period and/or Character Make-Up

Naomi Donne and Norma Webb (Cinderella)

Morna Ferguson, Niamh O’Loan and Marlène Rouleau (Brooklyn)

Renata Gilbert and Jan Sewell (The Danish Girl)

Nadine Prigge, Ailie Smith and Lesley Vanderwalt (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Patricia Regan (Carol)

Best Period and/or Character Hair Styling

Lorraine Brennan, Michelle Côté and Lorraine Glynn (Brooklyn)

Orla Carroll, Carol Hemming and Yoshihara Wakana (Cinderella)

Kylie Clark, Anita Morgan and Kerstin Weller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Jack Curtain, Jerry DeCarlo and Kay Georgiou (Carol)

Renata Gilbert and Jan Sewell (The Danish Girl)

Best Contemporary Make-Up

Autumn Butler, Roxy d’Alonzo and James MacKinnon (Furious 7)

Julie Hewett and Pamela Westmore (The Big Short)

Melanie Hughes-Weaver and Judy Yonemoto (Pitch Perfect 2)

Donald Mowat (Sicario)

Matteo Silvi and Maurizio Silvi (Youth)

Best Contemporary Hair Styling

Daina Daigle, Meagan Herrera and Cheryl Marks (Pitch Perfect 2)

Linda Flowers and Sarah Love (Spy)

Linda Flowers, Jennifer Santiago and Lesa Williams (Furious 7)

Sian Grigg and Charlotte Rogers (Ex Machina)

Zoe Tahir (Spectre)

Best Special Make-Up Effects

Sian Grigg, Charlotte Rogers and Tristan Versluis (Ex Machina)

Joel Harlow, Kenny Niederbaumer and Khanh Trance (Black Mass)

Glenn Hetrick and Ve Neill (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2)

Damian Martin, Jaco Snyman and Elka Wardega (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Neal Scanlan (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

GONZALEZ INARRITU, MCCARTHY, MCKAY, MILLER, SCOTT - DGA NOMINATIONS

In the 2015 Boys' Club nominations, five big boys got nominations for their big boy films. There's Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for his angsty big-boy Western The Revenant! There's Tom McCarthy for his working-boys drama Spotlight! There's Adam McKay for his banker-boy comedy-drama The Big Short! There's Ridley Scott for his space-boy thriller The Martian! And there's George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road, which isn't rly a boys' movie, and that's why PLZ MOVIE GODS LET IT WIN! But look: a new category, for debut directors, and the movie gods are already at work, nominating a w-, a wo-, a... w-o-m-a-n? Is that what they're called? Winners announced at the ceremony on the 6th of February. Noms, including for the Documentary category, can be viewed below:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant)

Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

Adam McKay (The Big Short)

George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Ridley Scott (The Martian)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Meru)
Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?)
Alex Gibney (Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief)
Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land)
Asif Kapadia (Amy)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director

Fernando Coimbra (A Wolf at the Door)

Joel Edgerton (The Gift)

Alex Garland (Ex Machina)

Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl)

Nemes Laszlo (Son of Saul)

SAN ANDREAS SURPRISES IN VISUAL EFFECTS SOCIETY NOMINATIONS

I'm all for surprises, but this is a particularly questionable one: Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jurassic World make way for underdog San Andreas in the Visual Effects Society's top nominations category. The VES has 12 categories to cover the best effects work of the year, including animated features, so there's a wide range of titles up for awards, including both Avengers and Jurassic World, though not a mention of Oscar shortlisted Ex Machina. Award winners will be revealed on the 2nd of February. Have a look:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Chris Corbould, Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, Luke O’Byrne and Patrick Tubach (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Brian Cox, Bryan Grill, Nordin Rahhali, Randall Starr and Colin Strause (San Andreas)

Barrie Hemsley, Chris Lawrence, Matt Sloan, Richard Stammers and Steven Warner (The Martian)

Martin Hill, Kevin McIlwain, Karen Murphy, Daniel Sudick and Mike Wassel (Furious 7)

Andrew Jackson, Dan Oliver, Holly Radcliffe, Andy Williams and Tom Wood (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Ivy Agregan, Nicolas Chevallier, Richard McBride, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer (The Revenant)

Kevin Baillie, Camille Cellucci, Sébastien Moreau and Viktor Muller (The Walk)

Matthias Bjarnason, Dadi Einarsson, Roma O’Connor, Glen Pratt and Richard van den Berghe (Everest)

Bryan Hirota, Mark Holt, Jody Johnson, Leslie Lerman and Sean Stranks (In the Heart of the Sea)

Sven Martin, Jennifer Meislohn, Gerd Nefzer, Charlie Noble and Sean Stranks (Bridge of Spies)

Outstanding Models in a Photoreal or Animated Project

Pétur Arnórsson, Matthias Bjarnason, Olfaur Haraldsson and Kjartan Hardarson – ‘Mt. Everest’ (Everest)

Myriam Catrin, Daniel Gonzalez, Robert Marinic and Howie Weed – ‘Hulkbuster’ (Avengers: Age of Ultron)

Matthew Denton, Landis Fields, Cyrus Jam and Joshua Lee – ‘BB-8’ (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Aaron Grey, Steve Jubinville, Martin Murphy and Kevin Reuter – ‘Indominus Rex’ (Jurassic World)

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

Christopher Anciaume, Vincent Aupetit, Margaux Durand-Rival and Robert Elswit – ‘Underwater Torus chamber’ (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation)

Rebecca Baehler, James Baker, Alex Kahn and Thomas Luff – ‘Macro Action’ (Ant-Man)

Colin Benoit, Paul Kavanagh, Greg Salter and Yukuhiro Susumu – ‘Falcon chase / graveyard’ (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Suzanne Cipolletti, Shawn Hull, Laurent Taillefer and Dariusz Wolski – ‘Towers walk’ (The Walk)

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

Lindsay Adams, Chris Davies, Phil Outen and Matthew Wynne (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Sandro Blattner, Nicholas Kim, Mario Rokicki and Hamish Schumacher – ‘Los Angeles destruction’ (San Andreas)

Jay Cooper, Jean Lapointe, Marian Mavrovic and Alex Prichard (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Peter Demarest, Conny Fauser, François Lambert and Jean Lapointe (Tomorrowland)

T. C. Harrison, Charles Lai, Donny Rausch and Alan Travis – ‘Bear attack’ (The Revenant)

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

Michael Billette, Martyn Culpitt, Shimizu Yuta and Joao Sita – ‘Jungle chase’ (Jurassic World)

Yannick Dusseault, Quentin Marmier, Justin van der Lek and Mike Wood – ‘Falcon chase / graveyard’ (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Brian Flora, Jim Gibbs, Pavel Kolar and Laurent Taillefer – ‘World Trade Center’ (The Walk)

Alexis Hall, Heath Kraynak, Taylor Shaw and Florian Witzel – ‘The Microverse’ (Ant-Man)

Greg Kegel, Thang Le, Quentin Marmier and Barry Williams – ‘Tomorrowland centre’ (Tomorrowland)

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

Hemagiri Arumugam, Michael Hall, Stephen Marshall and Magnus Wrenninge (The Good Dinosaur)

Amit Baadkar, Dave Hale, Paul Mendoza and Vincent Serritella (Inside Out)

Chris Chapman, Ilan Gabai, Alen Lai and Douglas Seiden (The Peanuts Movie)

Chris de St. Jeor, Greg Gladstone, Michael Losure and Alex Timchenko (Home)

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature

Joel Bodin, Ian Comley, Stephen Cullingford and Arslan Elver – ‘Maz’ (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Robert Bourgeault, Earl Fast, Chris Harvey and Mark Wendell – ‘Chappie’ (Chappie)

Sean Comer, Lana Lan, Jakub Pistecky and John Walker – ‘Hulk’ (Avengers: Age of Ultron)

Karin Cooper, Leandro Estebecorena, Gaelle Morand and Matt Shumway – ‘The bear’ (The Revenant)

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

Sanjay Bakshi, Denise Ream, Jon Reisch and Michael Venturini (The Good Dinosaur)

Nick Bruno, Scott Carroll, Steve Martino and Michael J. Travers (The Peanuts Movie)

Michael Fong, Paul Mendoza, Victor Navone and Jonas Rivera (Inside Out)

Alan Hawkins, Karl Herbst, Skye Lyons and Genndy Tarkatovsky (Hotel Transylvania 2)

John Joyce, Joe Passarelli, Derek Smith and Rosa Tran (Anomalisa)

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

Amy L. Allen, Eric Andraos, Steve Karski and José Luis Ramos – ‘Imagination land’ (Inside Out)

Andy Brown, Charles Copping, Alfred Llupiá and Matt Perry – ‘Under the arches’ (Shaun the Sheep Movie)

Angel Camacho-Torres, Cleveland Hibbert, Ken Lee and Jon Townley – ‘Charlie Brown’s neighbourhood’ (The Peanuts Movie)

Matt Kuruc, Tom Miller, David Munier and Matthew Webb – ‘The farm’ (The Good Dinosaur)

Outstanding Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

Florent Andorra, Michael Balog, Georg Kaltenbrunner and Jim van Allen – ‘Hulk vs. Hulkbuster’ (Avengers: Age of Ultron)

Dan Bethell, Clinton Downs and Chris Young – ‘Toxic Storm’ (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Dan Bornstein, John Doublestein, Rick Hankins and Gary Wu – ‘Starkiller base’ (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Yves d’Incau, Marcel Kern, Lukas Lepicovsky and Joe Scarr – ‘Hoover Dam / San Francisco tsunami’ (San Andreas)

Niall Flinn, Victor Grant, Marc Horsfield and Remy Torre – ‘Los Angeles destruction’ (San Andreas)

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature

Alexis Angelidis, Tanja Krampfert, Shawn Krause and Jacob Merrell – ‘Joy’ (Inside Out)

Joseph Antonuccio, Ignacio Barrios, Sabine Heller and Jeff Gabor – ‘Snoopy’ (The Peanuts Movie)

Jacob Brooks, Lou Hamou-Lhadj, Mark C. Harris and Ana Gabriela Lacaze – ‘Spot’ (The Good Dinosaur)

Matthew Doble, Stephen Gressak, Nikki Tomiano and Steve Vanseth – ‘Charlie Brown’ (The Peanuts Movie)

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

Vincent Desgrippes, Jessie Hereng, Guillaume Menard and Tangi Vaillant (Korser)

Francesco Faranna and Andreas Feix (Citipati)

Fabian Fricke, Yafes Sahin, Vincent Ullmann and Julian Weiss (Jagon)

Marco Hakenjos, Manuel Seifert, Timm Wagener and Christian Zehetmeier (Skål)