Poster Roundup: 2016 Oscars

The Academy Awards are coming in just a few weeks, and in preparation, we're taking a look at the posters of the many nominated films. 

Spotlight is nominated for 6 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Rachel McAdams), and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Mark Ruffalo)

Not overly artistic, but this highlights the overall topic of the movie: just a bunch of reporters, working hard and working together. The names of the cast are also justified to mimic a newspaper. Spotlight is nominated for Best Picture. 

Mad Max: Fury Road is nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Costume Design, and Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Fury Road has many great qualities, but one of its greatest is its brilliant gender equality. All of the film's posters brilliantly reflect this by placing Charlize Theron's name right alongside Tom Hardy's, symbolizing their characters' equal contributions towards the plot of the movie. Curiously, in this poster particularly, Theron's Furiosa takes center stage while Hardy's Max seems like her inferior sidekick. 

Brooklyn is nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Saoirse Ronan), and Best Adapted Screenplay 

A woman with a big bag in an even bigger city. The old-fashioned car in the lower right corner sets the time period of the 1950s. The Brooklyn Bridge in the background gives us the location (as if the title of the film wasn't clear enough), but either intentionally or unintentionally, it looks pretty darn fake, like a painting. 

Bridge of Spies is nominated for 6 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Mark Rylance), and Best Original Screenplay.

The American flag, the Soviet Flag, and some serious star power in-between. Nothing more is needed. 

The Big Short is nominated for 5 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Christian Bale), and Best Adapted Screenplay

So the houses represent the housing market and the dollar bills represent money and the water represents...um... Well, you don't need to know the tedious details of the film's subject, because the poster is cool and it has all these actors you love. 

The Revenant is nominated for 12 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Leonardo DiCaprio), and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Tom Hardy)

Disheveled DiCaprio and a snowy forest. That's pretty much all you need to know about the movie. 

The Martian is nominated for 7 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Like The Revenant, this poster relies on the face of an incredibly famous actor, along with an appearance (space helmet, to be precise) that conveys the general gist of the film. 

Room is nominated for 4 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Brie Larson), and Best Achievement in Directing 

It looks like a typical sweet tale about a mother and her son...until you notice how that sky has a corner. No, the titular Room isn't actually painted like that in the film, but the point is that Ma (Brie Larson) substitutes the real world for the confined space in which her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay) is raised. 

Carol is nominated for 6 Oscars, including Best Actress in a Leading Role (Cate Blanchett), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Rooney Mara), and Best Achievement in Cinematography

Carol is completely and utterly centered on the romantic relationship between Carol (Cate Blanchett) and Therese (Rooney Mara), and so are all of the posters. Each of their faces are half-obscured, as if they complete each other.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is nominated for 5 Oscars, including Best Achievement in Editing, Best Achievement in Music, Original Score, and Best Achievement in Visual Effects

It doesn't seem like legendary poster artist Drew Struzan (known for the previous Star Wars films) created this, but whoever did (probably a whole squad of Photoshop experts) clearly took inspiration from Struzan's work. There are plenty of familiar faces and starships to be found, but this poster rightfully puts the spotlight on the new characters, especially Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Rey (Daisy Ridley), and Finn (John Boyega). 

Steve Jobs is nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Michael Fassbender) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Kate Winslet)

Michael Fassbender stands in Steve Job's iconic pose, but rotated 90 degrees, indicating that we're seeing a different side of the Apple co-founder. 

The Danish Girl is nominated for 4 Oscars, including Best Actor in a Leading Role (Eddie Redmayne), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Alicia Vikander), and Best Achievement in Production Design

Alicia Vikander and Eddie Redmayne stand intimately close to each other. The slight graininess of the poster sets the time of the mid-1920s. 

Sicario is nominated for Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Music, Original Score, and Sound Editing

Sicario has many great posters (including five amazing "Loteria Cards"), but this one is the most commonly used. Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, and other scary-looking armed men pose with Emily Blunt's head in the background. It can't be a coincidence that the barbed wire seems to be sprouting from her head, but what does it mean? 

The Hateful Eight is nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Best Achievement in Cinematography, and Best Achievement in Music, Original Score

Eight mysterious figures walk up to a lodge. Who are they? Why are they here? This poster divulges nothing, but with the Tarantino name, you can bet that they won't be playing hopscotch. And no, that red splatter visible in the lower left corner isn't spaghetti sauce on your screen. 

Ex Machina is nominated for Best Achievement in Visual Effects and Best Original Screenplay

The title of the film is a bit ambiguous and the poster reveals little about the plot, but showcasing the film's most visually and psychologically complex character perfectly suffices as advertisement. A sexy female robot? Face it, that's every nerd's dream. 

Which poster is your favorite? Tell me in the comments, and feel free to subscribe.