Memo to the Academy 2015: Please pay attention!

My choices for the films, performances and achievements that should not be forgotten in the 2015 Oscar nomination game. These are all my outside the box choices (as much as their outsider stances often surprise me), and so I have left out what I consider to be the usual suspects at this point. My #1 choice, in each category, is both the first mentioned and the film pictured.

BEST PICTURE
The Congress (Ari Folman)
Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh)
Whiplash (Damian Chazelle)
Force Majeure (Ruben Ostlund)
Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy) 
Gone Girl (David Fincher) 

BEST DIRECTOR
Jonathan Glazer, Under the Skin
Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Ari Folman, The Congress
Ruben Ostlund, Force Majeure
Mike Leigh, Mr. Turner
David Fincher, Gone Girl 
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler

BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Robin Wright, The Congress
Lisa Loven Kongsli, Force Majeure 
Lisa Haas, The Foxy Merkins
Jackie Monahan, The Foxy Merkins
Scarlet Johansson, Under the Skin
Essie Davis, The Babadook
Shailene Woodley, The Fault in Our Stars
Thora Bjorg Helga, Metalhead
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Nymphomania
Hillary Swank, The Homesman

BEST ACTOR
Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner
Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Chadwick Boseman, Get On Up
Ben Affleck, Gone Girl
Miles Teller, Whiplash
Johannes Bah Kuhnke, Force Majeure
Tommy Lee Jones, The Homesman

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Katherine Waterston, Inherent Vice
Tilda Swinton, Snowpiecer
Lorelei Linklater, Boyhood
Kim Dickens, Gone Girl
Rene Russo, Nightcrawler 
Dorothy Atkinson, Mr. Turner
Marion Bailey, Mr. Turner
Carrie Coons, Gone Girl

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Gary Poulter, Joe
Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice
Martin Savage, Mr. Turner
Martin Short, Inherent Vice
Danny Huston, The Congress
Tyler Perry, Gone Girl
Riz Ahmed, Nightcrawler

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Cheatin’ (Bill Plympton)
The Tale of Princess Kayuga (Isao Takahata) 
The Congress (Ari Folman) (If THE LEGO MOVIE, with its extremely lame live action climax, can be considered the frontrunner for this award, then why can't THE CONGRESS, with its supremely moving live action component frontloaded so, compete in this category?)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
NOTE: What a ridiculously rich genre this is now! Whether or not these films have fulfilled the requirements of the Academy, these are the best documentaries I saw this year which are not on the shortlist of those in the running for the award, and in all cases I mourn this fact. By the way: the body count doesn't make for a better documentary. Increasingly, I love the docs that make way for the adoration, and not the decimation of, humanity, and so: 
A Chair Fit for an Angel (Raymond St. Jean)
National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman)
Red Army (Gabe Polsky)
Stray Dog (Debra Granik)
The Oracles of Pennsylvania Avenue (Tim Wilkerson) 
Sunshine Superman (Marah Strauch) 
Levitated Mass (Doug Pray)
Iris (Albert Maysles)
The Great Chicken Wing Hunt (Matt Reynolds)
Kids for Cash (Robert May) 
Out of Print (Julia Marchese)
Limo Ride (Gideon Kennedy and Marcus Rosentrater)
120 Days (Ted Roach)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
Ruben Ostlund, Force Majeure 
Mike Leigh, Mr. Turner
Justin Simien, Dear White People
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Two Days, One Night
Jonathan Raymond and Kelly Reichardt, Night Moves

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
James Gunn and Nicole Perlman, Guardians of the Galaxy
Gary Hawkins, Joe
Bong Joon-ho and Kelly Masterston, Snowpiecer
Marion Nelson, Tracks

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sharone Mair, Whiplash
Robert Elswit, Inherent Vice
Robert Elswit, Nightcrawler
Mandy Walker, Tracks
Fredric Wentzel, Force Majeure 
Robert Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jean-Francois Lord, A Chair Fit for an Angel
Kyun-pyo Hong, Snowpiercer

BEST ART DIRECTION
Snowpiercer
Foxcatcher 
Saint Laurent
Gone Girl
Inherent Vice 
The Babadook

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Saint Laurent
Belle
Jersey Boys
Get On Up

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Marco Beltrami, The Homesman
Mica Levi, Under The Skin
Garth Stevenson, Tracks
Antonio Sanchez, Birdman, or: The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
Gary Yershon, Mr. Turner

BEST SOUND MIXING
Edge of Tomorrow
Force Majeure
Whiplash
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

BEST SOUND EFFECTS EDITING
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Snowpiercer
Edge of Tomorrow

BEST EDITING
Whiplash
Nightcrawler
Gone Girl
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Edge of Tomorrow 
Under The Skin

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Under The Skin
Edge of Tomorrow
Snowpiercer
Birdman, or: The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance

BEST MAKEUP
Mr. Turner
Snowpiercer
Get On Up