Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

I think the two front-runners are the most likely. The Revenant is beautifully filmed, while Mad Max: Fury Road is stunning as well. Deakins could surprise, with sentiment as an added factor.

I'd vote for Carol with Sicario my second choice. Hopefully the Academy will show some taste and do the same.

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

Another very interesting race with all five nominees doing interesting, awards-worthy work. Can Emmanuel Lubezki really win three-in-a-row and be the first person in Oscar history to do so? I say yes. If he did, I can't really begrudge him that. What I'd like to point out that the three films he would win for are for three VERY different cinematography works with different challenges in each one (the CGI 3D work in Gravity, the long extended takes in Birdman and the natural-light cinematography of The Revenant). Will Roger Deakins FINALLY win in his 13th nomination? I doubt it. He's at best #4 in this race. I did love his work in the film (making night-vision photography look pretty is no easy task). I would say either Carol lush 16mm photography or Mad Max's painterly like way of photographing post-apocalyptic mayhem would be gunning for second place. I'd probably rank Robert Richardson's 70 mm photography of The Hateful Eight higher had the film done better overall.