Awards Season 2023: The 95th Academy Awards

So the curtain has come down on awards season 2023 with tonight's 95th Academy Awards. No slaps, no f-bombs, no awards accidentally given to other films, and no massively major shocks. Overall, a joyous evening. 

Returning to host for a third time, Jimmy Kimmel did pretty well in his opening monologue, starting by being parachuted in by Tom Cruise's Maverick. Yes, there were mentions of the slap a few time but didn't overdo it, and also a sly dig at the traditional (over)length of the telecast [although the broadcast took about 3hrs 30m which is average], and one of two little barbs slung at Matt Damon (Kimmel's nemesis, or so he would have us believe). Kimmel was an affable presence, even if him asking Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai if she thought Harry Styles did spit on Chris Pine was one of the more WTF moments of the night. 

Musical numbers were a mixed bag - whilst the production of "Naatu Naatu" from RRR was an absolute riot, and the stripped-back version of "Hold My Hand" was sublime, I can only describe the performance of "This Is A Life" from Everything Everywhere All At Once as a sixth-form drama student's fever-dream (complete with David Byrne wearing hot-dog fingers). 

The set design for this year's even was beautifully done, very art deco (well, we are technically back in the Roaring Twenties). There was also an interesting use of technology with QR codes shown onscreen which would give more information about nominees in an upcoming category. 

Onto the awards themselves.

Five out of six ain't bad, although I expected the category I would struggle to get right was Best Actress. The audience reaction to Ke Huy Quan's win was just wonderful; he had a lot of goodwill in that room, and he was clearly very moved by it all. Jamie Lee Curtis' lovely acceptance speech highlighted the people around her, by saying "we won an Oscar". Ruth Carter very touchingly dedicated her award for Costume Design for her work on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to her 101-year old mother who sadly passed away this week. Another particularly lovely bit was the cast and crew of An Irish Goodbye using part of their acceptance speech time to get the assembled audience to sing "happy birthday" to cast member James Martin.  

 

The biggest winner of the evening was Everything Everywhere All At Once, taking home seven awards. All Quiet On The Western Front won four Oscars, whilst the only other film to win multiple awards was The Whale (winning two of its three nominations)

Despite multiple nominations, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, The Fabelmans, Tár, Babylon, The Batman, and Triangle Of Sadness all went away empty-handed. 

Below is the full list of winners at the 95th Academy Awards:

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Actor: Brendan Fraser (The Whale)

Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Supporting Actress: Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Director: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Original Screenplay: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Sarah Polley (Women Talking)

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

Best International Feature Film of the Year: All Quiet On The Western Front

Best Cinematography: All Quiet On The Western Front

Best Film Editing: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Production Design: All Quiet On The Western Front

Best Costume Design: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: The Whale

Best Original Score: All Quiet On The Western Front

Best Original Song: "Naatu Naatu" (RRR)

Best Sound: Top Gun: Maverick

Best Visual Effects: Avatar: The Way Of Water

Best Documentary (Feature): Navalny

Best Documentary (Short Subject): The Elephant Whisperers

Best Animated Short Film: The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, And The Horse

Best Live Action Short Film: An Irish Goodbye

Congratulations to all winners!

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to bed. It's very nearly 5:30am here. Time to pack this nonsense away until the end of the year. 

Awards Season 2023: Razzies Winners

So, it's Oscars Eve. The great and good of Hollywood will be primping, preening, and preparing for one of the biggest nights of the year. It's also the day that the Golden Raspberry (Razzie) Awards get handed out, dishonouring the cinematic crapulence of the previous year.  

So here are this year's "winners":

Worst Picture: Blonde

Worst Director: Machine Gun Kelly and Mod Sun (Good Mourning)

Worst Actor: Jared Leto (Morbius)

Worst Actress: The Golden Raspberry Awards

Worst Supporting Actor: Tom Hanks (Elvis)

Worst Supporting Actress: Adria Arjona (Morbius)

Worst Remake, Sequel Or Rip-Off: Disney's Pinocchio

Worst Screen Combo: Tom Hanks and his latex-laden face (and ludicrous accent) (Elvis)

Worst Screenplay: Blonde

Razzie Redeemer: Colin Farrell

You may be wondering "Awards Guru Tez, why are the Golden Raspberry Awards the 'winners' of the Worst Actress award?" Well, gather round, my award fans, and I'll tell ye a tale...

When the nominations were announced on 22nd January, Ryan Kiera Armstrong was included in the Worst Actress category for her performance as Charlie in the 2022 remake of Firestarter; she is 12 years old. 

A little history lesson: the Razzies have previous in nominating child actors: at the 3rd Razzie Awards (1983), they gave the Worst Supporting Actress award to 11-year old Aileen Quinn for her performance in Annie. Other minors who have been nominated include:

• Gary Coleman (Worst Actor for On The Right Track [1981], when he was 13);
• Jake Lloyd (Worst Supporting Actor for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace [1999] when he was 10)
• Macaulay Culkin (a Worst Actor nominee for three films- Getting Even With Dad [1994], The Pagemaster [1994], and Ri¢hie Ri¢h [1994]- all when he was 14); and 
• Olivia d'Abo (nominated for Worst Supporting Actress for her roles in Conan The Destroyer [1984] and Bolero [1984]- in which she appears nude- when she was 15). 

Unsurprisingly (and rightly so), the backlash was quick and fierce. Razzies co-founder John J.B. Wilson made a statement that said "The intent was to be funny. In this particular instance, we seem to have misstepped very badly." No shit, Sherlock. 

Armstrong was subsequently removed from the ballot, and the organisation will no longer allow actors under the age of 18 to be nominated in any category. And, as something of a public mea culpa, the Razzies have given themselves this award. 

Other nominees for the Razzie Redeemer this year- which is given to a former Razzie nominee or winner who has come back from critical and/or commercial failure-  were Val Kilmer (going from The Island Of Dr. Moreau to the subject of acclaimed documentary Val) and Mark Wahlberg (from three-time Worst Actor nominee to biopic Father Stu). 

Blonde, Elvis, and Morbius each won two Razzies apiece. Elvis has the dubious distinction of winning in each category it was nominated for. 

Congratulations to all "winners"!

So, that just leaves the big one: the 95th Academy Awards. I'll be posting my predictions for who will win in six major categories tomorrow afternoon. 

Awards Season 2023: Producers Guild Awards (PGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards Winners

Another two-for-one offer on awards news today, as this most recent weekend has seen two of the major guilds give out their awards, both of which are seen as bellwethers for the Oscars (which is in a couple of weeks).

So, let's find out who needs to make some room on the shelf for some shiny new silverware (well, glass and bronzewear to be more precise)

PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS (PGA)

The Producers Guild Awards (PGA) were handed out on Saturday (25th February). The film winners are:

Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Documentary Film: Navalny

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

The final round of Oscar voting is still to come (it's happening between 2nd-7th March), but it's looking likely that we've found this year's Best Picture Oscar winner. The other guild awards that happened this weekend also point towards this.  

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD (SAG) AWARDS

The 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards were held last night (Sunday 26th February) in a ceremony which was not televised, but was streamed live via Netflix's YouTube channel (ahead of the streaming service broadcasting it from next year).

Here are the film winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Brendan Fraser (The Whale)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Top Gun: Maverick

Everything Everywhere All At Once has become the most-awarded film in SAG history, with four awards. It's always been a bit of a two-horse race between Michelle Yeoh and Cate Blanchett for Best Actress, and it's still wide open (especially as both of them are nominated for Best Lead Performance at the Independent Spirits).

I think Ke Huy Quan has pretty much tied on Best Supporting Actor, and it's now between Brendan Fraser and Austin Butler for Best Actor. 

The icon that is Sally Field received the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award, after Helen Mirren last year. 

Congratulations to all winners!

Next weekend (Saturday 4th March) sees the Film Independent Spirit Awards ceremony, with everything coming to a head the following weekend (Sunday 12th March) with the 95th Academy Awards.

Awards Season 2023: Razzies Nominations

 

Newton's Third Law of Motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. We can therefore deduce from this that the Golden Raspberries (which dishonour the cinematic bilge of the previous year) are the equal and opposite reaction to the Oscars. Who says this blog can't be entertaining and educational at the same time?

So here are the full nominations for the 43rd Annual Razzie Awards, and there's a rather surprising film in the lead.

WORST PICTURE

Blonde

Disney’s Pinocchio

Good Mourning     

The King’s Daughter

Morbius 

WORST ACTRESS

Ryan Kiera Armstrong (Firestarter)

Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic Park: Dominion)

Diane Keaton (Mack & Rita)

Kaya Scodelario (The King’s Daughter)

Alicia Silverstone (The Requin)

WORST ACTOR

Colson Baker (Good Mourning)

Pete Davidson (Voice Only) (Marmaduke)

Tom Hanks (Disney’s Pinocchio)

Jared Leto (Morbius)

Sylvester Stallone (Samaritan)

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Pete Davidson (Good Mourning)

Tom Hanks (Elvis)

Xavier Samuel (Blonde)

Mod Sun (Good Mourning)

Evan Williams (Blonde)

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Adria Arjona (Morbius)

Lorraine Bracco (Voice Only) (Disney’s Pinocchio)

Penélope Cruz (The 355)

Fan Bingbing (The 355 and The King’s Daughter)

Mira Sorvino (Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend) 

WORST SCREEN COUPLE

Colson Baker & Mod Sun (Good Mourning)

Both Real Life Characters in the Fallacious White House Bedroom Scene (Blonde)

Tom Hanks & His Latex-Laden Face (and Ludicrous Accent) (Elvis)

Andrew Dominik & His Issues with Women (Blonde)

The Two 365 Days Sequels 

WORST REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL

Blonde

Both 365 Days Sequels (365 Days: This Day and The Next 365 Days)

Disney’s Pinocchio 

Firestarter

Jurassic World: Dominion

WORST DIRECTOR

Judd Apatow (The Bubble)

Colson Baker & Mod Sun (Good Mourning)

Andrew Dominik (Blonde)

Daniel Espinosa (Morbius)

Robert Zemeckis (Disney’s Pinocchio)

WORST SCREENPLAY

Blonde

Disney’s Pinocchio

Good Mourning

Jurassic World: Dominion

Morbius

Blonde leads the pack with eight nods, with stoner "comedy" Good Mourning (written by, co-directed by and starring Colson Baker [a.k.a. Machine Gun Kelly]) in second place with seven. Disney's Pinocchio gets six nominations, while Morbius gets five. I'm surprised, I was expecting Morbius to maybe get a few more. 

Blonde is the film adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' novel based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. It's not a biopic in the strictest sense, because it's based on Oates' novel and not a biography or autobiography. It's come in for some flack- as a film which criticises the exploitation of Marilyn Monroe by... exploiting the very same persona- but Ana de Armas' performance has been widely praised. She has remained unscathed with today's announcement; director Andrew Dominik, not so much. 

There's a couple of films which can count their lucky stars not to be included on this list- Death On The Nile and Halloween Ends, I'm looking at you. 

As is tradition, the Razzies will be handed out the day before the Oscars, meaning that we'll see which of these stinkers walks away with the prizes on Saturday 11th March 2023.

As is also tradition, I'll be posting my predictions for the main six categories for the 95th Academy Awards a little later today, ahead of the announcement tomorrow afternoon.

Awards Season 2023: Golden Globes Winners

 

Last night (Tuesday 10th January 2023), the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced the winners of the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards, for both television and film.

Last year's ceremony was not broadcast, due to NBC declining to air the show in support of the various boycotts of the HFPA (which came from the lack of diversity of the membership, and its financial malfeasance). However, a one-year contract was struck to bring the ceremony back on air, with Jerrod Carmichael (Bad Neighbours, The Carmichael Show, Rothaniel) acting as MC for the first time. 

Here is the full list of film winners.

Best Motion Picture (Drama): The Fabelmans

Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy): The Banshees Of Inisherin

Best Director: Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans)

Best Actor (Drama): Austin Butler (Elvis)

Best Actor (Comedy or Musical): Colin Farrell (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Best Actress (Drama): Cate Blanchett (Tár)

Best Actress (Comedy or Musical): Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Supporting Actress: Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)

Best Screenplay: Martin McDonagh (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Best Original Score: Justin Hurwitz (Babylon)

Best Original Song: "Naatu Naatu" (RRR)

Best Foreign Language Film: Argentina, 1985

Best Animated Feature Film: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

Cecil B. DeMille Award: Eddie Murphy

The Banshees Of Inisherin takes away the most awards, with three. The Fabelmans and Everything Everywhere All At Once have two. 

The Golden Globes have always been a more rough-and-ready affair, so it's no surprise that the ceremony was a bit less slick than one may expect. That said, there was an annoying habit of starting to play acceptance speeches off far too early, which led to several winners mentioning it (with Michelle Yeoh's "Shut up, please. I can beat you up" being the funniest quip). 

Carmichael was OK as host, addressing the HFPA's woes in his opening monologue (Carmichael was the first solo Black host of the Golden Globes, and that point was made) but he often struggled to keep control of events, and some of his jokes really failed to land (such as the jab about using Tom Cruise's three Globes- which he returned- to free the notoriously absent wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige). There was also far too many jokes about Will Smith which started to grate a little.  

Onto the awards. A couple of surprises, namely: Austin Butler's win (over the highly-favoured Brendan Fraser who [like several nominees and winners] was absent from the event); Argentina, 1985 taking the Best Foreign Language Film over Decision To Leave and All Quiet On The Western Front; and "Naatu Naatu" from Bollywood action drama RRR taking Best Original Song over "Hold My Hand" from Top Gun: Maverick (which went home empty-handed) or "Lift Me Up" from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (although the MCU sequel did take home one award, for Angela Bassett's stoic supporting turn as the grieving Queen Ramonda). 

Personally, I'm happy to see the love for The Banshees Of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All At Once. 

Congratulations to all winners!

As if all of this awards excitement wasn't enough for you, today (Wednesday 11th January) sees the announcement of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards AND the Directors Guild (DGA) Awards nominations. I'd very much expect to see a lot of the names featured here in those as well.  

The Watchers Film Show Review Of 2022

Our Review of 2022 is here!

In our twelfth (twelfth!) annual review of the year, we discuss what made our nice lists and our naughty lists- with one film from someone's nice list made the naughty list of another! But what was it? 

Could it be Thor: Love & Thunder? Death On The Nile? Or maybe it was Morbius? (Just kidding, it definitely wasn't Morbius)

Documentaries, awards fodder, horror movies, whodunits and comic book movies all get a mention - we are nothing if not diverse! Take a listen and let us know your best (and worst) films of 2022.

Enjoy!