2016 Oscar Nominations: No Surprises, but Gaga & Sam Smith Up for Best Original Song

Well, looks like it will be another lily-white year at the Oscars, save for host Chris Rock. Despite a number of great performances by and movies featuring actors of color, the Academy of Motion Pictures stuck with the safe, same old choices, although Lady Gaga and Sam Smith both scored their first nominations.

Smith was nominated for his song from the James Bond flick Spectre, "Writing's on the Wall," while Gaga was nominated for her song about campus rape, "Til It Happens to You," which was featured in the documentary The Hunting Ground. They'll compete against The Weeknd's "Earned It" from multiple Razzie nominee50 Shades of Grey, as well as trans singer Antony Hegarty (of Antony and the Johnsons) who is nominated for "Manta Ray" from Racing Extinction.

[Ed. note: Hegarty is only the second trans person in the Academy's history to be nominated for an Oscar (!!!).]

It's been a banner year for Gaga, who has reinvented herself as a serious actress, recently nabbing a Golden Globe for her performance in American Horror Story: Hotel. Meanwhile, Smith, no stranger to accolades at this point, may be the frontrunner having won a Best Original Song Golden Globe for "Writing's on the Wall."

Related | 2016 Golden Globe Awards: The Good, the Gay & the Gaga

Notable snubs include Straight Outta Compton, one of the best reviewed films of the year and a global box office hit, though it did get an original screenplay nod; Chi-Raq, Spike Lee's extremely topical take on violence in Southside Chicago; and Tangerine, whose trans star Mya Taylor was an early Oscar hopeful.

Related | In an Unprecedented Year of Trans Visibility, Tangerine Stands Out

Todd Haynes was overlooked for his masterful direction of Carol, which also failed to score a Best Picture nom. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, despite being probably the biggest movie of all time, was also shut out of the Best Picture category. Meanwhile, only eight of the 10 Best Picture slots were filled, so....shade.

On the queer side of things, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara were both nominated for Carol, as Best Actress and Supporting Actress, respectively, and Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Viaknder were nominated for Best Actor and Supporting Actress for The Danish Girl.

Related | Eddie Redmayne: An Education

You can tune into the 88th annual Academy Awards on February 28 at 7pm ET to see Leo and Gaga duke it out once again. And this time, it's personal. Check out the rest of the nominees below:

Best Motion Picture
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Best Actor
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Best Director
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamson, Room
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room

Best Original Screenplay
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton

Best Animated Feature Film
Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out
Shaun the Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There

Best Cinematography
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Sicario

Best Documentary Feature
Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

Best Documentary Short Subject
Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond the Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Last Day of Freedom

Best Film Editing
The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Foreign Language Film
Embrace of the Serpent
Mustang
Son of Saul
Theeb
A War

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Mad Max: Fury Road
The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared
The Revenant

Best Original Score
Bridge of Spies
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Original Song
"Earned It"
"Manta Ray"
"Simple Song No. 3"
"Till It Happens to You"
"Writing's on the Wall"

Best Production Design
Bridge of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant

Best Costume Design
Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant

Best Sound Editing
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Sounds Mixing
Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Visual Effects
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens