So, we can finally say that Awards Season 2020 is over, as the Razzie Awards have announced their picks for the worst films and performances of 2019.
Originally, the ceremony- celebrating 40 years of the Razzies- was due to be broadcast last Saturday (14th March); however, due to the coronavirus pandemic, plans were somewhat changed and a video was released instead (with usual Razzie tongue-in-cheek humour, this was referred to as the "Lock-Down Edition").
Here are all the "winners":
Worst Picture: Cats
Worst Director: Tom Hooper (Cats)
Worst Actor: John Travolta (The Fanatic and Trading Paint)
Worst Actress: Hilary Duff (The Haunting of Sharon Tate)
Worst Supporting Actor: James Corden (Cats)
Worst Supporting Actress: Rebel Wilson (Cats)
Worst Remake, Sequel Or Rip-Off: Rambo: Last Blood
Worst Screen Combo: Any Two Half-Feline/Half-Human Hairballs (Cats)
Worst Screenplay: Cats
Worst Reckless Disregard For Human Life And Public Property: Rambo: Last Blood
Razzie Redeemer: Eddie Murphy (for his performance in Dolemite Is My Name)
So, to nobody's surprise, Cats takes the lion's share of the awards (sorry, couldn't resist) snaffling 6 awards from its 8 nominations [although to be fair, it had two nominations in both Worst Supporting Actress and Worst Screen Combo, so a clean sweep was never going to be possible]. Rambo: Last Blood limps away with 2.
Thankfully, this year's experiment of a truncated awards season will NOT be repeated for 2021, with the Oscars going back to the end of February next year. So, just eight months to go until this circus starts up again...
As we all know, the Academy Awards honour film-making and all its facets- direction, production, screenwriting, visual effects, music and so on- so occasionally a film that might be considered less likely to get an Oscar nomination will be nominated in one of these other categories (the sound mixing/sound editing categories of late read like the summer blockbuster lists for those years, for instance). Here then are five unlikely films that have been nominated for at least one Oscar:
1. South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut
Proof that occasionally the Academy voters have a sense of humour, this film was nominated for Best Original Song. Sadly not for the frankly jaw-dropping song about fornicating with your mother's brother, but for the rather epic 'Blame Canada'. Sadly, it didn't win (the honour went to 'You'll Be In My Heart' from Tarzan) but it was a special moment to see it even nominated.
2. Norbit (2007)
Never mind the eight Razzie nominations and three Razzie wins (all for Eddie Murphy), this irredeemable racist and sexist mess can officially call itself an Oscar-nominated film (which is surely against all laws of man and nature). Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji picked up the film's only nomination for Best Achievement in Make-Up, but were beaten by Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald for their work on La Vie En Rose.
3. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
I don't know what was more of a surprise; that this film even got an Oscar nomination or the category that it was nominated in. Sacha Baron Cohen and his screenwriting team actually got nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay (presumably on the grounds that Borat originated in Da Ali G Show, rather than being a specially created character for the film). It was up against more 'traditional' Oscar fare- Children Of Men, Notes On A Scandal, Little Children and The Departed- with The Departed taking home the main prize.
4. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Who'd have thought that penning a line as eloquent as 'get the f*** out of here' could net you an Oscar nomination? Yet it's true; Beverly Hills Cop was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 57th Academy Awards. But no win; the award actually went to Robert Benton for the screenplay to Places In The Heart instead.
5. Basic Instinct (1992)
This film is probably best known for graphic sex, violence and a certain shot of Sharon Stone than its editing or original score, but these were the areas that Academy voters focused on when the film was awarded two nominations at the 65th Academy Awards. The awards went to Unforgiven (for editing) and Aladdin (for original scory).
