Oscars 2016 Nominations: 15 Insane Shocks & Snubs

14. Shock: Ex Machina & Straight Outta Compton Beat Quentin Tarantino For Best Original Screenplay

One of the most unpredictable categories this year was the Best Original Screenplay field, which saw Ex Machina and Straight Outta Compton getting nominated, while Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight missed out. Though it's just expected that a QT film will get a screenplay nod these days, it's likely that Oscar voters were turned off by his film's excessive run-time, which has been deemed self-indulgent in some quarters. It seems that the Academy's patience with Tarantino's refusal to self-edit has finally come back to bite him. On the other hand, it was fantastic to see two movies that weren't really in the Oscar conversation much at all get recognised, especially Compton, which very few surely saw coming.
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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.