Awards Season 2016: Independent Spirit Awards and Razzies Results

This is the first of two posts today about awards season, as it all comes to the grand finale tonight with the 88th Annual Academy Awards. They can be viewed on a dedicated Sky Movies channel in the UK and on ABC in the US. 

Before we get to that, this weekend also saw another two sets of awards handed out.

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS

Yesterday- Saturday 28th February- saw the handing out of the Independent Spirit Awards, in a ceremony hosted by Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live, Ghostbusters) and Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, Adventure Time). These honour films made (partly or wholly) outside the major film studio system. Some of the winners are below.

Best Feature: Spotlight

Best Female Lead: Brie Larson (Room) 

Best Male Lead: Abraham Attah (Beasts Of No Nation)

Best Supporting Female: Mya Taylor (Tangerine)

Best Supporting Male: Idris Elba (Beasts Of No Nation)

Best Director: Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

Best Screenplay: Spotlight

Best First Screenplay: Room

Best Cinematography: Carol

Best First Feature: The Diary Of A Teenage Girl

Best International Film: Son Of Saul

Best Documentary: The Look Of Silence

John Cassavetes Award: Krisha

The John Cassavetes Award is given to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $500,000. The full list of winners can be found here.

I'm overjoyed that Spotlight swept the board, with four awards (and was also given the Robert Altman Award), and I'd like to see that repeated tonight- although probably not. Beasts Of No Nation and Room picked up two awards, and Brie Larson adds another trophy to her impressive haul (with surely one more to come tonight). Many of these films also have Oscar presence as well, which shows that independent filmmaking isn't always the niche people think it is.
  

RAZZIES

As is traditional, last night (the night before the Oscars ceremony) also saw the 36th Annual Golden Raspberry Awards. One film really stood out against the pack this year, garnering five awards. 

Here's the full 'winners' list:

Worst Picture: Fantastic Four and Fifty Shades Of Grey

Worst Director: Josh Trank (Fantastic Four)

Worst Actor: Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades Of Grey)

Worst Actress: Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades Of Grey)

Worst Supporting Actor: Eddie Redmayne (Jupiter Ascending)

Worst Supporting Actress: Kaley Cuoco (Alvin & The Chipmunks: Road Chip/The Wedding Ringer)

Worst Remake, Sequel Or Rip-Off: Fantastic Four

Worst Screen Combo: Jamie Dornan & Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades Of Grey)

Worst Screenplay: Fifty Shades Of Grey

Razzie Redeemer: Sylvester Stallone

Fifty Shades Of Grey was the runaway 'winner' with the utter trainwreck that was Fantastic Four snapping at its heels with three. I very much doubt Eddie Redmayne will be losing too much sleep about his win, as he'll be more concerned with the Oscars tonight. It's also heartening to see Stallone get another Razzie- he is the all-time greatest Razzie winner- but this time it's for turning it all around with Creed. 

So that's awards season almost wrapped up. All that remains is the big one: the Oscars. So next up will be  my predictions for Best Picture, Best Director and the four acting categories.

Tez

Awards Season 2016: Screen Actors' Guild Awards Winners

Yesterday (30th January), the Screen Actors' Guiold Awards were announced. Here are the film winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture: 

Spotlight

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role: 

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role: 

Brie Larson (Room)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role: 

Idris Elba (Beasts Of No Nation)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role: 

Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

A good night for Idris Elba who also won Best Actor in a Miniseries for Luther. More awards for DiCaprio and Larson which really strengthen their Oscar chances (especially as the SAG Awards are voted on by actors, who also make up the voting arm of the Academy). A second win for Alicia Vikander (after the Critics' Choice win) might increase her chance of the Oscar win as well. Spotlight winning the Best Cast award (essentially Best Picture) does its chances no harm either in what is shaping up to be a rather unpredictable year for several categories. 

Next up with awards season will be the Directors' Guild Awards on February 6th.

Awards Season 2016: Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

So here we go, Awards Season 2016 is off with today's announcement of the 31st Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations. These awards recognise films made wholly or partly outside the traditional studio system. 

Below is a selection of nominations:

Best Feature

Anomalisa

Beasts Of No Nation

Carol

Spotlight

Tangerine

Best Director

Sean Baker (Tangerine)

Cary Joji Fukunaga (Beasts Of No Nation)

Todd Haynes (Carol)

Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson (Anomalisa)

Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

David Robert Mitchell (It Follows)

Best Male Lead

Christopher Abbott (James White)

Abraham Attah (Beasts Of No Nation)

Ben Mendelsohn (Mississippi Grind)

Jason Segel (The End Of The Tour)

Koudous Seihon (Mediterranea)

Best Female Lead

Cate Blanchett (Carol)

Brie Larson (Room)

Rooney Mara (Carol)

Bel Powley (The Diary Of A Teenage Girl)

Kitana Kiki Rodriguez (Tangerine)

Best Supporting Male

Kevin Corrigan (Results)

Paul Dano (Love & Mercy)

Idris Elba (Beasts Of No Nation)

Richard Jenkins (Bone Tomahawk)

Michael Shannon (99 Homes)

Best Supporting Female

Robin Bartlett (H.)

Marin Ireland (Glass Chin)

Jennifer Jason Leigh (Anomalisa)

Cynthia Nixon (James White)

Mya Taylor (Tangerine)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

Carol leads the field with six nominations in total (including, rather interestingly, two Best Actress nods- rather than relegating one of them to the Supporting Actress category), while Beasts Of No Nation and Spotlight each have five. 

The next major announcement for awards season isn't until 9th December with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, so you get a bit of a break from this vapid nonsense until then.

Tez