Mad Max: Fury Road

The Bafta Awards is the biggest night on the UK film calendar and there's just five weeks to go until the 2016 winners were announced - it doesn't seem five minutes since we were getting excited about the 2015 ceremony.

Yesterday morning, the nominations were announced with Carol and Bridge of Spies leading the way with nine nominations each - including a nod in for Best Film.

However, while many of the big films and stars were in the mix as expected, there were a few noticeable omissions... we take a look at the Bafta snubs that did cause a bit of a stir.

Mad Max: Fury Road has a large presence in the technical categories, it was one of the big snubs from the Best Film nominations. The movie is in the Best Picture mix at the Golden Globes and has been picking up critics' awards left, right, and centre.

While all the films that are in the Best Film categories are worthy nominees, it would have been nice to see Bafta recognise that the blockbusters have a place in the awards mix. George Miller was also overlooked for Best Director.

Mad Max: Fury Road - which was one of the most acclaimed movies of 2015 - did pick up nominations for Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Make Up & Hair, Sound and Special Visual Effects.

Charlotte Rampling is an actress that was expected to be in the mix at all of the major award ceremonies for her stunning performance in 45 Years. However, Rampling and the film in general really has been overlooked when it comes to award nominations.

Sadly, Rampling has missed out on a Best Actress nomination once again and it looks like her chance of an Oscar nod has perhaps gone. While 45 Years has been recognised in the Best British Film category, this is a movie that should have picked up more Bafta nominations.

Having said that, the Best Actress category really is a tough one and you could easily have added a handful more names to the list. One of the big surprises came in this category as Maggie Smith received a nod for her fantastic turn in The Lady in the Van.

This was to be the only nomination for The Lady in the Van as if failed to pick up a Best British Film nod, which is a real shame as it is a gem of a movie.

Johnny Depp was another name that was overlooked as he failed to pick up a Best Actor nomination for his central performance in gangster film Black Mass. Depp has been nominated by the Screen Actors Guild but was also overlooked at the Baftas. Depp's performance in the film is widely regarded as one of the best of his career but Black Mass was totally overlooked by Bafta yesterday.

Despite having a stellar 2015 with roles in Mad Max: Fury Road, Legend and the upcoming The Revenant, Tom Hardy was another actor who was overlooked. While a nod for his performance in Mad Max: Fury Road was unlikely, perhaps a Best Supporting Actor nomination for The Revenant could have been expected.

When it comes to the Baftas, I am very much in favour for celebrating British movies. In recent years, the Baftas have fell more in line with the movies that the Golden Globes and the Oscars have nominated... and 2016 is no different.

While all of the Best Picture nominees are terrific - The Big Short, Carol, The Revenant, Bridge of Spies, and Spotlight make up the list - it would have been nice to see a British film in the mix. I know that there is a Best British Film category where homegrown movies are celebrated, but there really should be a British film in this mix here and I cannot understand why a film like Brooklyn has been overlooked.

Room is a movie that has been whipping up a storm in the U.S. and has been picking up award nominations all over the place. While Brie Larson has picked up a Best Actress nod for her performance, the film has not picked up as many nominations as perhaps expected.

Room is based on the novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue - who adapted her own book into a screenplay. Donoghue has picked up a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay but it missed out on Best Film and Jacob Tremblay was overlooked for Best Supporting Actor.

Suffragette was another movie that was making a lot of noise back in the autumn and many expected to be a major threat come the awards season. That is not how it has played out for the film, and it has been overlooked once again with no nominations at all, despite wonderful performances from Carey Mulligan and Anne-Marie Duff.

Another British film that did not get any love from Bafta yesterday morning was Spectre. Despite being one of the most successful British movies of all time, the Bond film failed to pick up a single nomination.

The EE British Academy Film Awards take place on Sunday 14 February.


by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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