A two-time nominee, Big Willie Style should have scored the hat trick for Concussion, an uneven movie that nevertheless allowed Smith to revisit his most virtuosic tendencies.

Sylvester Stallone wasn’t the only actor revitalizing the Rocky franchise: Jordan’s star-making turn in Creed made good on the promise of his early career and rightfully bumped him up to the A-list.

Movies built on an unabashed love for fun don't often get Oscar love, but one perfect way to recognize Magic Mike XXL's (narratively resonant) excellence would be to give it up for Jada, as good here as she's been in years. In a sea of shining performances, her club owner and stripper-competition emcee Rome sizzled from start to finish.

Although Del Toro already won an Oscar for best supporting actor, back in 2000 for Traffic, he deserved to return to the category for his harrowing performance in the critically acclaimed Sicario.

Pulling together the stories of the N.W.A members while capturing the heart of what made the group essential is no easy task. Gray pulled it off, while showing a new generation why the collective resonated after years of being counted out.

Tangerine got a lot of attention for being filmed on an iPhone, but it'd be nothing without its starring turns from first-time actress Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and very-new newcomer Mya Taylor. The Academy loves to champion strong debut performances (Quvenzhané Wallis, Hailee Steinfeld, Barkhad Abdi and Lupita Nyong'o in recent years) and didn't need to look any further than Tangerine.

The visual virtuoso and True Detective alum showed a new level of scope and performance-pulling with Beasts of No Nation, a film he spent seven years writing and developing.

As Adonis Creed’s supportive but fiercely independent girlfriend, Tessa Thompson fleshed out a character that could have been a one-note romantic interest.

The Cuban-Guatemalan actor officially became the Internet's boyfriend with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but his performance as a dead-eyed drunken zillionaire who's programmed the best artificial-intelligence ever is a well-recognized turn of low-key brilliance. I mean, the dance scene...

Despite breathing life back into one of the most beloved franchises in movie history, director Ryan Coogler—snubbed two years ago for Fruitvale Station—is once again overlooked by The Academy.

Great, Star Wars got nominations for four technical categories and the obligatory soundtrack nod for John Williams. But don't act like English 23-year-old John Boyega didn't give one of the most electric, lovable and hilarious performances in all seven of the franchise's films.