SPOTLIGHT SHINES ON A NIGHT OF SHOCKS: THE 88TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS

Nobody thought it was possible: win the Best Picture Oscar with only one other win? And at that, the first award of the night? Half way through, it looked like even The Revenant wasn't going to be able to pull off the big win, as its tally was being depleted by an astonishing surge by Mad Max: Fury Road - six wins for George Miller's film! The later awards favoured Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's western, however, and indeed both he and Leonardo DiCaprio won their expected trophies. But the gasps and cheers that greeted Morgan Freeman's announcement of Spotlight as the surprise Best Picture winner - and with only one other award won, Original Screenplay, to The Revenant's three and Mad Max's six - were confirmation: not only was this our Best Picture winner for 2015, it was also our most surprising winner since 2005's Crash, after our most unpredictable race in who knows how long.
     And there were even bigger shocks in other categories: Sylvester Stallone's widely predicted victory in Supporting Actor failed to materialise, as BAFTA champ Mark Rylance won instead. The Visual Effects award went to perhaps the most left-field winner in memory: Ex Machina, only the second time a Best Picture nominee has failed to win that award (when nominated) in history, and a choice utterly no-one had predicted. And Best Original Song went to 'Writing's on the Wall' from Spectre - the night's most reviled decision by a clear distance, and featuring the most mocked (and inaccurate) acceptance speech statement from singer Sam Smith, who claimed to be the first openly gay man to win an Oscar (he's not). Check out the nominations at this link, and grin gleefully over the award winners in full, below:

Best Picture

Spotlight (Blye Pagon Faust, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin and Michael Sugar)

Best Directing

Alejandro González Iñárritu (The Revenant)

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Brie Larson (Room)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

Best Writing – Original Screenplay

Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)

Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay

Adam McKay and Charles Randolph (The Big Short)

Best Cinematography

Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant)

Best Film Editing

Margaret Sixel (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Production Design

Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Costume Design

Jenny Beavan (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Sound Mixing

Chris Jenkins, Ben Osmo and Gregg Rudloff (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Sound Editing

Mark A. Mangini and David White (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Visual Effects

Mark Ardington, Sara Bennett, Paul Norris and Andrew Whitehurst (Ex Machina)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Damian Martin, Lesley Vanderwalt and Elka Wardega (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Music (Original Score)

Ennio Morricone (The Hateful Eight)

Best Music (Original Song)

Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith – ‘Writing’s on the Wall’ (Spectre)

Best Animated Feature Film

Inside Out (Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera)

Best Documentary Feature

Amy (James Gay-Rees and Asif Kapadia)

Best Foreign Language Film

Son of Saul – Hungary (Nemes László)

Best Short Film (Live Action)

Stutterer (Serena Armitage and Benjamin Cleary)

Best Short Film (Animated)

Bear Story (Pato Escala and Gabriel Osorio)

Best Documentary Short

A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy)

REVIEW OF 2015 - BEST SOUND

1. The Walk

2. Knight of Cups

3. Goodnight Mommy

4. The Assassin

5. The Witch

6. The Revenant

7. Sicario

8. Mad Max: Fury Road

9. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

10. The Nightmare

REVIEW OF 2015 - BEST MAKEUP

1. Mr. Holmes

2. Mad Max: Fury Road

3. Tale of Tales

4. Bone Tomahawk

5. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

6. The Revenant

7. Black Mass

8. Avengers: Age of Ultron

9. The Witch

10. Crimson Peak

REVIEW OF 2015 - BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. The Walk

3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

4. The Revenant

5. Avengers: Age of Ultron

6. Jupiter Ascending

7. Ex Machina

8. Spectre

9. Jurassic World

10. The Martian

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)

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD WINS FIVE SOS CRITICS' TALLY AWARDS!

Nearly three months after the first critics group announced its choices, here are the results of the 2015 Screen On Screen Critics' Tally. Carol claims the most nominations with eight, but wins none, as the competition is steamrolled by Mad Max: Fury Road, which wins five of seven nominations. Of the five films nominated for Best Picture, only three appear on Oscar's list of eight, and neither The Big Short nor The Revenant, each tipped to win Oscar's top award by many pundits, appear here. The only category to perfectly match the Academy's is Leading Actor, where Eddie Redmayne secures a nomination for The Danish Girl despite his co-star Alicia Vikander missing; never mind, she wins the Supporting Actress award for Ex Machina. These awards were devised by assigning point values to awards and polls from critics groups, with more influential groups carrying greater values to less influential ones.

Best Picture

Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, Doug Mitchell and P. J. Voeten)

Carol (Todd Haynes, Elizabeth Karlsen, Tessa Ross, Christine Vachon and Stephen Woolley)

Inside Out (Ronnie del Carmen, Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera)

Room (Lenny Abrahamson, David Gross and Ed Guiney)

Spotlight (Blye Pagon Faust, Steve Golin, Tom McCarthy, Nicole Rocklin and Michael Sugar)

Best Director

George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Alejandr Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant)

Todd Haynes (Carol)

Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

Ridley Scott (The Martian)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Bryan Cranston (Trumbo)

Matt Damon (The Martian)

Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)

Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Brie Larson (Room)

Cate Blanchett (Carol)

Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)

Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)

Paul Dano (Love & Mercy)

Benicio del Toro (Sicario)

Michael Shannon (99 Homes)

Sylvester Stallone (Creed)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)

Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight)

Rooney Mara (Carol)

Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria)

Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)

Best Original Screenplay

Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)

Matt Charman, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen (Bridge of Spies)

Josh Cooley, Pete Docter and Meg LeFauve (Inside Out)

Alex Garland (Ex Machina)

Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Emma Donoghue (Room)

Nick Hornby (Brooklyn)

Adam McKay and Charles Randolph (The Big Short)

Phyllis Nagy (Carol)

Aaron Sorkin (Steve Jobs)

Best Cinematography

John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Roger Deakins (Sicario)

Edward Lachman (Carol)

Lee Ping Bin (The Assassin)

Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant)

Best Editing

Margaret Sixel (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Hank Corwin (The Big Short)

Tom McArdle (Spotlight)

Stephen Mirrione (The Revenant)

Pietro Scalia (The Martian)

Best Production Design

Colin Gibson (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Judy Becker (Carol)

Thomas E. Sanders (Crimson Peak)

Francois Seguin (Brooklyn)

Eve Stewart (The Danish Girl)

Best Music

Ennio Morricone (The Hateful Eight)

Carter Burwell (Carol)

Bryce Dessner, Carsten Nicolai and Sakamoto Ryuichi (The Revenant)

Tom Holkenborg (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Johann Johannsson (Sicario)

Best Ensemble Cast

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

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Louis C. K., Bryan Cranston, David James Elliott, Elle Fanning, John Goodman, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Michael Stuhlbarg and Alan Tudyk (Trumbo)

Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Melissa Leo, Hamish Linklater, John Magaro, Brad Pitt, Rafe Spall, Jeremy Strong, Marisa Tomei and Finn Wittrock (The Big Short)

Demian Bichir, Bruce Dern, Walton Goggins, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth and Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight)

Neil Brown, Paul Giamatti, Corey Hawkins, Aldis Hodge, O'Shea Jackson and Jason Mitchell (Straight Outta Compton)

Best Animated Feature

Inside Out (Ronnie del Carmen and Pete Docter)

Anomalisa (Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman)

The Good Dinosaur (Peter Sohn)

The Peanuts Movie (Steve Martino)

Shaun the Sheep Movie (Mark Burton and Richard Starzak)

Best Documentary

Amy (Asif Kapadia)

Best of Enemies (Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville)

Cartel Land (Matthew Heineman)

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

The Look of Silence (Joshua Oppenheimer)

Best Foreign Language Film

Son of Saul (Nemes Laszlo)

The Assassin (Hou Hsiao Hsien)

Goodnight Mommy (Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz)

Mustant (Deniz Gamze Erguven)

Phoenix (Christian Petzold)

SATELLITE AWARDS HONOUR SPOTLIGHT

Awards season has almost come to a complete close, but while The Revenant may be picking up ever more speed in the Oscar race, one critics group has stayed faithful to one of the former critics' favourites: Spotlight. Tom McCarthy's film won four awards from the Press Academy's Satellite Awards, while The Revenant won just one, for lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio. You can see the Satellite award nominees here, and their award winners below.

Best Motion Picture

Spotlight

Best Director

Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

Best Actor in a Motion Picture

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Best Actress in a Motion Picture

Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale (The Big Short)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

Best Screenplay, Original

Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)

Best Screenplay, Adapted

Aaron Sorkin (Steve Jobs)

Best Cinematography

John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Film Editing

Joe Walker (Sicario)

Best Art Direction and Production Design

Adam Stockhausen (Bridge of Spies)

Best Costume Design

Huang Wen Ying (The Assassin)

Best Sound (Editing and Mixing)

The Martian

Best Visual Effects

The Walk

Best Original Score

Carter Burwell (Carol)

Best Original Song

Stefani Germanotta and Diane Warren - ''Til It Happens to You' (The Hunting Ground)

Best Ensemble

Spotlight

Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media

Inside Out

Best Motion Picture, Documentary

Amy

The Look of Silence

Best Motion Picture, International

Son of Saul

Best First Feature

Jayro Bustamante (Ixcanul)

Best Breakthrough Performance

Jacob Tremblay (Room)

Breakthrough Comedian of the Year

Amy Schumer (Trainwreck)

Mary Pickford Award for Contributions to the Entertainment Industry

Louise Fletcher

Auteur Award

Robert M. Young

Humanitarian Award

Spike Lee

Tesla Award

Jon Edward Miller and Robert Rutherford

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)

THE BIG SHORT WINS THE 2015 USC SCRIPTER AWARD

Not much to report here. One award went to one film that no-one doubted would win. Adam McKay and Charles Randolph have won the USC Scripter award for their adaptation of Michael Lewis' book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. The great thing about this award is that the person responsible for the winning screenplay's original source (since this is an award for adapted works only) also wins, so Lewis can claim the prize too. If this meant another step forward in the Oscar campaign for anything but The Revenant, I'd be much happier, but since The Big Short was wholly expected to triumph here, let's say this is, at least, not a step backward. Check out the Scripter nominees here.

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

FIVE BAFTAS FOR THE REVENANT ON THE ROAD TO OSCAR

The Revenant took one step further still to Oscar victory with yesterday's BAFTAs. Five awards for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's western, though Mad Max: Fury Road put up a show of strength in the tech categories, where it claimed four. Brits Mark Rylance and Kate Winslet won in the supporting acting categories, putting each of them in a strong position to upset Oscar frontrunners Sylvester Stallone and Alicia Vikander two weeks from now. Check out BAFTA's nominations list at this link, and their winners below:

Best Film
The Revenant (Steve Golin, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Arnon Milchan, Mary Parent and Keith Redmon)

Best Director
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant)

Best Leading Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Best Leading Actress
Brie Larson (Room)

Best Supporting Actor
Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)

Best Supporting Actress
Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)

Best Original Screenplay
Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Adam McKay and Charles Randolph (The Big Short)

Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant)

Best Editing
Margaret Sixel (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Production Design
Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Costume Design
Jenny Beavan (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Sound
Lon Bender, Chris Duesterdiek, Martin Hernandez, Frank A. Montano, Jon Taylor and Randy Thom (The Revenant)

Best Special Visual Effects
Chris Corbould, Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh and Neal Scanlan (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Best Makeup & Hair
Damian Martin and Lesley Vanderwalt (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Original Music
Ennio Morricone (The Hateful Eight)

Best Animated Film
Inside Out (Pete Docter)

Best Documentary
Amy (James Gay-Rees and Asif Kapadia)

Best Film Not in the English Language
Wild Tales (Damian Szifron)

Outstanding British Film
Brooklyn (John Crowley, Finola Dwyer, Nick Hornby and Amanda Posey)

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
Rupert Lloyd - producer; and Naji Abu Nowar - writer / director (Theeb)

Best British Short Film
Operator (Caroline Bartleet and Rebecca Morgan)

Best British Short Animation
Edmond (Nina GAntz and Emilie Jouffroy)

The EE Rising Star Award
John Boyega

INSIDE OUT SWEEPS THE ANNIE AWARDS

The Academy didn't see fit to give Inside Out the same treatment they've given other, equally-successful, equally-acclaimed Pixar films in recent years, fobbing it off with two token nominations. At least Annie voters saw some sense, handing it out 10 awards from its 14 nominations; double noms in some categories mean that Inside Out misses only one potential win, taking every single other. While this does mean that other, deserving titles have slim pickings to choose from, I'm not complaining - this from the once-DreamWorks-dominated group that gave Kung Fu Panda every award it could find, snubbing WALL-E in the process. Pixar may be no underdog, but I was always rooting for it anyway. Here are their nominations, and below, their awards:

Best Animated Feature

Inside Out

Outstanding Directing in an Animated Feature Production

Pete Docter (Inside Out)

Outstanding Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

Phyllis Smith (Inside Out)

Outstanding Writing in an Animated Feature Production

Josh Cooley, Pete Docter and Meg LeFauve (Inside Out)

Outstanding Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

Tony Rosenast (Inside Out)

Outstanding Editorial in an Animated Feature Production

Kevin Nolting (Inside Out)

Outstanding Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

Ralph Eggleston (Inside Out)

Outstanding Animated Effects in an Animated Production

Michael Hall, Stephen Marshall, Michael K. O'Brien, Jon Reisch and Magnus Wrenninge (The Good Dinosaur)

Outstanding Animated Effects in a Live Action Production

Florent Andorra, Michael Balog, George Kaltenbrunner and Jim van Allen (Avengers: Age of Ultron)

Outstanding Music in an Animated Feature Production

Michael Giacchino (Inside Out)

Outstanding Character Animation in an Animated Production

Allison Rutland (Inside Out)

Outstanding Character Animation in a Live Action Production

Kevin Lan, Adrian Millington, Alexander Poei, Matthew Shumway and Blaine Toderian - 'Judy' (The Revenant)

Outstanding Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

Albert Lozano and Chris Sasaki (Inside Out)

Best Animated Feature - Independent

The Boy and the World

Best Student Film

Ed (Taya Neyestani)

Best Animated Short Subject

World of Tomorrow (Don Hertzfeldt)

Best Animated Special Production

He Named Me Malala

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)