It’s that time of year again: Oscar season is finally upon us. Throughout the course of 2015, many films were made that have deemed themselves Oscar-worthy, whether it be because of the talented actors and actresses that star in them, the directors and screenwriters who bring the stories to life, or maybe even the make-up artists and set designers who help make the movies a reality. With the Academy Awards just around the corner, a list of nominations has been published and includes 56 different movies from the past year.

The big categories that most people care about are Best Picture, Best Actor and Actress (either in a leading or supporting role), and Best Director. This year, a remarkable eight films are nominated for Best Picture. The Big Short, The Revenant, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, Room, and Spotlight all share the privilege of being in the category. 

Lenny Abrahamson, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Tom McCarthy, Adam McKay and George Miller are all nominated for Best Director for their work on Room, The Revenant, Spotlight, The Big Short, and Mad Max: Fury Road, respectively. Personally, I believe that The Revenant will win. At the 73 Annual Golden Globes, the film took home the awards for both Best Picture and Best Director, and typically, the Golden Globes are a strong indicator of Oscar winners. 

For actors and actresses, the Academy Awards are the be-all and end-all of their careers. For 2016, 20 men and women are nominated for an Oscar. Beginning with Best Actress in a Leading Role, Cate Blanchett, Brie Larson, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlotte Rampling, and Saoirse Ronan are all up for the award. I hope that Lawrence will win for her amazingly talented performance in Joy, however Blanchett might win for her role in Carol where she played a lesbian woman in 1950s Manhattan. 

The nominations for Best Actor and Actress in a Supporting Role include Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Mark Ruffalo, Mark Rylance, Sylvester Stallone, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rooney Mara, Rachel McAdams, Alicia Vikander, and Kate Winslet. Since Stallone and Winslet won Golden Globes for their performances, they may just win again at the Oscars.

The five men nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role are Eddie Redmayne, Bryan Cranston, Matt Damon, Michael Fassbender, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Redmayne stunned audiences with his progressive portrayal of a transwoman in the early twentieth century and very well might win an Academy Award. He previously won for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in last year’s The Theory of Everything. 

When it comes to screenplays, there are two categories: Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay. The writers for Straight Outta Compton, Spotlight, Inside Out, Bridge of Spies, and Ex Machina are nominated for the former and the writers of The Big Short, Brooklyn, Carol, The Martian, and Room are all nominated for the latter. Spotlight‘s detailed exposure of the Catholic Church might win the award.

The next three categories are Best Animated Feature, Best Foreign Language Feature, and Best Documentary Feature. These films and categories do not get as much recognition as they deserve. For the animated movies, Inside Out, Anomalisa, Boy and the World, When Marnie Was There, and Shaun the Sheep Movie all share the nomination. Colombia, France, Hungary, Jordan, and Denmark all brought us the foreign films that are being nominated for an Oscar. These films include Embrace of the Serpent, Mustang, Son of Saul, Theeb, and A War.

This last year was met with numerous documentaries, five of which are up for the award. Stories such as famous musicians, uprisings against drug cartels, and a country’s fight for freedom are all depicted in Amy, Cartel Land, The Look of Silence, What Happened, Miss Simone?, and Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom.

Best Original Score nominations are from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Sicario, The Hateful Eight, Carol, and Bridge of Spies and “Earned It,” “Manta Ray,” “Simple Song #3,” “Writings on the Wall,” and “Til It Happens To You” are all nominated for Best Original Song.

Cinematography nominations include Carol, The Hateful Eight, Sicario, The Revenant, and Mad Max: Fury Road. The Big Short, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, Spotlight, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens are all nominated for Best Editing. I firmly believe that Star Wars: The Force Awakens will win awards for all the categories for which it is nominated. 

Costume Design and Production Design go to Carol, Cinderella, The Danish Girl, Mad Max: Fury Road, and The Revenant and Bridge of Spies, The Danish Girl, The Martian, Mad Max: Fury Road, and The Revenant, respectively. The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road, and The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared share the nomination for Best Hair Styling and Make-up. 

Other categories include Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short, and Best Documentary Short Subject with no new movies being nominated.

On Feb. 28, the 88th Annual Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles, California, and twenty-four awards will be given out to dozens of unsuspecting people.  Be sure to catch the action!