The Seattle Film Critics Survey announced their nominees for the best of 2015 earlier today and I have to say, their nominations are pretty interesting!  (Also interesting to note is that they did not nominate Oscar front runner Spotlight.) Way to go, Seattle!

BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR:

• BROOKLYN (Fox Searchlight)
• CAROL (The Weinstein Company)
• CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA (Sundance Selects)
• EX MACHINA (A24)
• INSIDE OUT (Walt Disney Studios)
• MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (Warner Bros.)
• THE MARTIAN (20^TH Century Fox)
• THE REVENANT (20^TH Century Fox)
• ROOM (A24)
• SICARIO (Lionsgate)

BEST DIRECTOR:

• Todd Haynes – CAROL
• Alejandro G. Iñárritu – THE REVENANT
• George Miller – MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
• Ridley Scott – THE MARTIAN
• Denis Villenueve – SICARIO

BEST ACTOR in a LEADING ROLE:

• Matt Damon – THE MARTIAN
• Leonardo DiCaprio – THE REVENANT
• Michael Fassbender – STEVE JOBS
• Samuel L. Jackson – THE HATEFUL EIGHT
• Michael B. Jordan – CREED

BEST ACTRESS in a LEADING ROLE:

• Cate Blanchett – CAROL
• Nina Hoss – PHOENIX
• Brie Larson – ROOM
• Rooney Mara – CAROL
• Saoirse Ronan – BROOKLYN

BEST ACTOR in a SUPPORTING ROLE:

• Benicio del Toro – SICARIO
• Tom Hardy – THE REVENANT
• Oscar Isaac – EX MACHINA
• Mark Rylance – BRIDGE OF SPIES
• Sylvester Stallone – CREED

BEST ACTRESS in a SUPPORTING ROLE:

• Jennifer Jason Leigh – THE HATEFUL EIGHT
• Kristen Stewart – CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA
• Mya Taylor – TANGERINE
• Alicia Vikander – EX MACHINA
• Kate Winslet – STEVE JOBS

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST:

• THE BIG SHORT
• THE HATEFUL EIGHT
• MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
• SPOTLIGHT
• STEVE JOBS

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

• EX MACHINA – Alex Garland
• THE HATEFUL EIGHT – Quentin Tarantino
• INSIDE OUT – Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley (screenplay); Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen (story)
• SICARIO – Taylor Sheridan
• SPOTLIGHT – Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

• BROOKLYN – Nick Hornby
• CAROL – Phyllis Nagy
• THE MARTIAN – Drew Goddard
• ROOM – Emma Donoghue
• STEVE JOBS – Aaron Sorkin

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:

• ANOMALISA – Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, directors
• INSIDE OUT – Pete Docter, director
• THE PEANUTS MOVIE – Steve Martino, director
• SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE – Mark Burton, Richard Starzak, Julie Lockhart and Paul Kewley, directors
• WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE – Hiromasa Yonebayashi, director

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

• AMY – Asif Kapadia, director
• CARTEL LAND – Matthew Heineman, director
• GOING CLEAR: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE POWER OF BELIEF – Alex Gibney, director
• KURT COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK – Brett Morgen, director
• THE LOOK OF SILENCE – Joshua Oppenheimer, director

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

• THE ASSASSIN – Hou Hsiao-Hsien, director
• MUSTANG – Deniz Gamze Ergüven, director
• PHOENIX – Christian Petzold, director
• SON OF SAUL – László Nemes, director
• WHITE GOD – Kornél Mundruczó, director

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

• CAROL – Edward Lachman
• THE HATEFUL EIGHT – Robert Richardson
• MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – John Seale
• THE REVENANT – Emmanuel Lubezki
• SICARIO – Roger Deakins

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:

• BROOKLYN – Odile Dicks-Mireaux
• CAROL – Sandy Powell
• CINDERELLA – Sandy Powell
• MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – Jenny Beaven
• THE REVENANT – Jacqueline West

BEST FILM EDITING:

• THE BIG SHORT – Hank Corwin
• MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – Margaret Sixel
• THE MARTIAN – Pietro Scalia
• SICARIO – Joe Walker
• STEVE JOBS – Elliot Graham

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING:

• CAROL – Patricia Regan, Jerry DeCarlo
• MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – Lesley Vanderwalt, Damian Martin, Elka Wardega
• THE REVENANT – Graham Johnston, Robert Pandini

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

• CAROL – Carter Burwell
• THE HATEFUL EIGHT – Ennio Morricone
• MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – Tom Holkenborg
• SICARIO – Jóhann Jóhannsson
• STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS – John Williams

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:

• CREED – “Grip”, Ludwig Göransson, Sam Dew, Tessa Thompson (composers)
• FIFTY SHADES OF GREY – “Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)”, Abel Tesfaye, Stephan Moccio, Jason  Quenneville, Ahmad Balshe (composers)
• FURIOUS 7 – “See You Again”, Justin Franks, Andrew Cedar, Charlie Puth, Cameron Thomaz (composers)
• THE HUNTING GROUND – “Til It Happens To You”, Lady Gaga, Diane Warren (composers)
• SPECTRE – “Writing’s On The Wall”, Sam Smith, James Napier (composers)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:

• CAROL – Judy Becker (production design); Heather Loeffler (set decorator)
• CRIMSON PEAK – Tom Sanders (production design); Shane Vieau, Jeffrey A. Melvin (set decorator)
• MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – Colin Gibson (production design); Lisa Thompson (set decorator)
• THE REVENANT – Jack Fisk (production design); Hamish Purdy (set decorator)
• STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS – Rick Carter and Darren Gilford (production design); Lee Sandales (set decorator)

BEST SOUND DESIGN:

• MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – Ben Osmo, Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff (sound mixing); Scott Hecker, Mark Mangini, David White (sound editing)
• THE MARTIAN – Mac Ruth, Paul Massey, Mark Taylor (sound mixing); Oliver Tarney (sound editing)
• THE REVENANT – Chris Duesterdisk, Jon Taylor, Frank A. Moñtano, Randy Thom (sound mixing); Martin Hernandez, Randy Thom, Lon Bender (sound editing)
• SICARIO – John Reitz, Tom Ozanich, William Sarokin (sound mixing); Alan Robert Murray (sound editing)
• STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS – Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, Stuart Wilson (sound mixing); Matthew Wood, David Acord (sound editing)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

• EX MACHINA – Andrew Whitehurst
• JURASSIC WORLD – Tim Alexander, Glen McIntosh, Tony Plett, Michael Meinardus
• MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver, Andy Williams
• THE MARTIAN – Richard Stammers, Chris Lawrence, Anders Langlands, Steven Warner
• STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS – Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan, Chris Corbould