With the announcement of the 2015 nominees for the Academy Awards mere days away, critics and pundits alike are scrambling to come up with their guesses for the selections in the major categories.
Many of them are still very up in the air—Best Picture and Best Director among them—but one thing is certain: women will dominate this year's ceremony.
From "Carol" to to "Mad Max: Fury Road," 2015 has been rife with strong, elegant, fully-developed female characters unlike anything we've seen in the past. Making a strong impression with the Academy isn't hard when you're an actor; screenings of the year's best received films are sent to each member months prior to the announcement of the nominees.
The real problem this year lies not with the performances but with the voters: how can they possibly choose from the plethora of womanly magic at their disposal?
Will we see young rising star Brie Larson take home the statuette for her portrayal of a woman kept captive for years in a room with her son? Or will Cate Blanchett, already a proud owner of the golden accolade, steal it away as a 1950s woman in love with another woman?
Even stranger still, Charlize Theron has been touted as a frontrunner for playing a one-armed warrior intent on saving the lives of fellow women at any cost. Then there's Amy Schumer, left-field, hoping for some glimmer of recognition, however unlikely it may be.
Undoubtedly 2015 was the women's year for film. Pixar's smash hit "Inside Out" featured several female characters in prominent roles, without whom the story could not continue. Denis Villeneuve's drug cartel thriller "Sicario" was carried by star Emily Blunt's nuanced performance (and the film is also being considered as a contender for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Soundtrack).
Amy Schumer made a triumphant splash into the Hollywood A-list with her wry, sarcastic "Trainwreck," which put being a modern adult woman out in the open for the masses to enjoy.
Almost every list any news source like Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and IMDB has thrown up their hands in confusion at the Best Actor category possibilities this year. No one knows who will get the nomination for sure -- Matt Damon, Michael Keaton, Eddie Redmayne? -- but with the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories, their choices are nearly unanimous.
The most discrepancy comes from "Carol," whose two female actresses (Blanchett and Rooney Mara) are in stiff competition with each other to either duke it out as leads or which one will be relegated to Supporting.
This is the first time in the history of the ceremony that the Oscars are so up in the air just before the nominees are revealed, and it all can be blamed on the fantastic performances from our culture's greatest women. Celebrating them this year is as important as ever.
