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: Tez's Official Academy Award Nomination Predictions

 

Tomorrow morning (5:30AM PT/8:30AM ET/1:30PM GMT), the nominations for the 95th Academy Awards will be announced. This year, they will be announced by Riz Ahmed (Sound Of Metal, Rogue One, Four Lions) and Allison Williams (Get Out, M3gan, Girls).

Since 2003, I have tried to predict who will be nominated in several of the major categories (Best Picture, Best Director and the four acting awards). Below is my list of who I think will be named tomorrow.

BEST PICTURE

All Quiet On The Western Front

Avatar: The Way Of Water

Babylon

The Banshees Of Inisherin

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Fabelmans

Tár

Top Gun: Maverick

Women Talking

BEST DIRECTOR

Todd Field (Tár)

Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Martin McDonagh (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Sarah Polley (Women Talking)

Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans)

BEST ACTOR

Austin Butler (Elvis)

Colin Farrell (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Brendan Fraser (The Whale)

Paul Mescal (Aftersun)

Bill Nighy (Living)

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett (Tár)

Viola Davis (The Woman King)

Ana de Armas (Blonde)

Danielle Deadwyler (Till)

Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Paul Dano (The Fabelmans)

Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Barry Keoghan (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Eddie Redmayne (The Good Nurse)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)

Hong Chau (The Whale)

Kerry Condon (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

As we now have 10 Best Picture nominees (in addition to the 20 for acting and 5 for directing), I will be happy with any score over 20. Last year, it was 26/35 (74%)

I'm confident of seven (maybe eight) of the Best Picture nominees; Babylon and/or All Quiet On The Western Front may well be replaced by Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and/or Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. 

With Best Director, there's been a core of four [well, technically five] consistent names (the Daniels, Field, McDonagh and Spielberg) so it's working out who would join them. I went for Sarah Polley in a rather optimistic mood that they'd continue the streak of female directors, but it's far from definite. We could easily see James Cameron (Avatar: The Way Of Water) or Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) get a nod, with Kosinski nominated at the DGAs.

Given the Academy's form over the previous couple of years, a nomination for a foreign-language film director- potentially S.S. Rajamouli (RRR), Park Chan-wook (Decision To Leave), or Edward Berger (All Quiet On The Western Front)- might not be out of the question. Hell, they may still nominate a female director: Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King). 

Best Actor seems fairly secure, although you might see Jeremy Pope (The Inspection) or even potentially Hugh Jackman (The Son) in place of Paul Mescal. Best Actress has been a wide field this year, with a lot of superb performances getting nominated across the various awards bodies. I went with the five SAG Awards nominees, although the Academy could seek to honour Olivia Colman (Empire Of Light), Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans), or Margot Robbie (Babylon) instead.

With Best Supporting Actor, I'm confident of three at the very least- Gleeson, Keoghan, and Quan. Dano seems fairly secure, but there's been a lot of good supporting performances which might sneak in, including Brad Pitt (Babylon), Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway), and Dano's co-star in The Fabelmans, Judd Hirsch. Ben Whishaw could get a nod for his turn in Women Talking.

As for Best Supporting Actress, Hsu is the only one I'm not very sure of. You could easily see Carey Mulligan (She Said), Janelle Monáe (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), Dolly de Leon (Triangle Of Sadness) or Jessie Buckley and/or Claire Foy from Women Talking. 


We'll see what the Academy comes up with tomorrow afternoon. There'll be a post up as soon as I can afterwards with the official nominations.

So what do you think of my predictions? Pretty solid or way off the mark? Who do you think will (or should) get a nomination tomorrow? Let me know by commenting below.

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.