Awards Season 2017: SAG Awards Nominations

More awards shenanigans with today's announcement of the nominations for the 23rd Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards. These are for actors voted on by actors (so are usually a pretty good barometer for the Oscar acting awards as there's a lot of crossover between AMPAS and SAG memberships).

Below is a list of film nominations:

Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Motion Picture

Captain Fantastic

Fences

Hidden Figures

Manchester By The Sea

Moonlight

Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor In A Leading Role

Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea)

Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)

Ryan Gosling (La La Land)

Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)

Denzel Washington (Fences)

Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Leading Role

Amy Adams (Arrival)

Emily Blunt (The Girl On The Train)

Natalie Portman (Jackie)

Emma Stone (La La Land)

Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor In A Supporting Role

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Jeff Bridges (Hell Or High Water)

Hugh Grant (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Lucas Hedges (Manchester By The Sea)

Dev Patel (Lion)

Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Supporting Role

Viola Davis (Fences)

Nicole Kidman (Lion)

Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)

Michelle Williams (Manchester By The Sea)

A lot of the same names cropping up again, which is no surprise. I'm actually quite pleased at Meryl Streep's inclusion as I thoroughly enjoyed Florence Foster Jenkins in general (and her performance in particular). Manchester By The Sea gets four nods, with Moonlight and Fences with three.

For those of you who aren't fans of the awards season stuff, you'll be pleased to know we take a brief hiatus from it now until the new year with the nominations for the Writers' Guild Awards announced on 4th January with the Golden Globes handed out on January 8th.

Tez

Awards Season 2017: Critics' Choice Movie Awards Winners and Golden Globes Nominees

Right, we've got a double-whammy of awards stuff to deal with. I'm just gonna jump straight into it without any more ado.

CRITICS' CHOICE MOVIE AWARD WINNERS

Last night (11th December), the Critics' Choice Awards were handed out. Here's a full list of film winners:

Best Picture: La La Land

Best Actor: Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea)

Best Actress: Natalie Portman (Jackie)

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis (Fences)

Best Acting Ensemble: Moonlight

Best Director: Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Best Animated Feature: Zootopia

Best Original Screenplay: La La Land and Manchester By The Sea (tie)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Arrival

Best Comedy: Deadpool

Best Actor In A Comedy: Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool)

Best Actress In A Comedy: Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Best Action Movie: Hacksaw Ridge

Best Actor In An Action Movie: Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)

Best Actress In An Action Movie: Margot Robbie (Suicide Squad)

Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie: Arrival

Best Foreign Language Film: Elle

Best Score: La La Land

Best Song: 'City Of Stars' (La La Land)

Best Production Design: La La Land

Best Editing: La La Land

Best Costume Design: Jackie

Best Hair & Makeup: Jackie

Best Visual Effects: The Jungle Book

Best Cinematography: La La Land

Best Young Actor/Actress: Lucas Hedges (Manchester By The Sea)

La La Land was the standout winner of the evening with eight awards, with Jackie and Manchester By The Sea each taking three. 

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GOLDEN GLOBES NOMINATIONS

Today (December 12th) sees the announcement of the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards, awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). The HFPA split their awards, giving certain categories for both Drama and Musical or Comedy, rather than just going for the out-and-out drama as most awards tend to do.

Below is a list of some of the nominees:

Best Picture - Drama

Hacksaw Ridge

Hell Or High Water

Lion

Manchester By The Sea

Moonlight

Best Picture - Musical or Comedy

20th Century Women

Deadpool

Florence Foster Jenkins

La La Land

Sing Street

Best Director

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals)

Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By The Sea)

Best Actor - Drama

Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea)

Joel Edgerton (Loving)

Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)

Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)

Denzel Washington (Fences)

Best Actor - Musical or Comedy

Colin Farrell (The Lobster)

Ryan Gosling (La La Land)

Hugh Grant (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Jonah Hill (War Dogs)

Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool)

Best Actress - Drama

Amy Adams (Nocturnal Animals)

Jessica Chastain (Miss Sloane)

Isabelle Huppert (Elle)

Ruth Negga (Loving)

Natalie Portman (Jackie)

Best Actress - Musical or Comedy

Annette Bening (20th Century Women)

Lily Collins (Rules Don't Apply)

Hailee Steinfeld (The Edge Of Seventeen)

Emma Stone (La La Land)

Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Jeff Bridges (Hell Or High Water)

Simon Helberg (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Dev Patel (Lion)

Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nocturnal Animals)

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis (Fences)

Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

Nicole Kidman (Lion)

Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)

Michelle Williams (Manchester By The Sea)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

I'm truly baffled by Nocturnal Animals' nods (not quite so much for Amy Adams', but definitely for Aaron Taylor-Johnson's and Tom Ford's) but have to say I'm loving the love for Deadpool (both with the Critics' Choice and here). The same names are starting to come up frequently which is usually a good indicator of which way the wind is blowing, so to speak. La La Land has the most total nominations with seven nods, whilst Moonlight gets six and Manchester By The Sea has five.

Next up in awards season will be the announcement of this year's Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) Awards nominations, which will be revealed on Wednesday (14th December).

Review: Florence Foster Jenkins (UK Cert PG)

The story of American soprano Florence Foster Jenkins may not be known to many, but that will change with the latest film by Stephen Frears (Philomena, Mrs Henderson Presents, The Queen) which stars Meryl Streep in the title role. 

Jenkins was famed for being one of the worst singers to perform in public (a posthumous collection of her recordings has the slightly arch title Murder On The High Cs). An eccentric New York heiress, Jenkins wanted to become an opera singer and had the money to indulge that desire- despite not having the requisite talent to go with it. She was consistently flat, with very little sense of pitch or rhythm, appalling foreign pronunciation and attempted songs that were far beyond her range and ability (such as the challenging 'Queen Of The Night' aria from The Magic Flute). She only ever gave one recital to which the general public could attend, booking out Carnegie Hall in October 1944 when she was at the grand age of 76. She was once quoted as saying 'People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing' (an admirable sentiment)

Frears' film takes a standard biopic approach, with the climax being the Carnegie Hall performance. 

Streep's performance is, as you would expect, flawless (even if the script doesn't always match). She plays Jenkins' eccentric little tics broadly but without ever lapsing into caricature, whilst also showing a more tender and emotional side- Jenkins had a tragic early marriage to a man who would give her syphilis on her wedding night (which may have accounted for some of her difficulties in later life). Her bad singing is very bad, so bad as to almost be good (much like playing the piano, it seems one has to be very good at something to do it badly). 

Hugh Grant gives one of his best performances in years as St Clair Bayfield, Jenkins' second husband, a Shakespearean actor who later acted as her manager. He's sweetly indulgent of Jenkins' plans, never once pulling her short or bringing her back to earth, supporting her and protecting her even in the face of public ridicule (on the morning after the Carnegie Hall recital, he tries to buy every copy of a newspaper he knows has written a scathing review). There's a bit of unnecessary padding showing his relationship with another woman- because of Jenkins' illness, arrangements were made for Bayfield in what appears to be a kind of 'don't ask, don't tell'- which, for me, detracted from the main story, although there is a good turn by Rebecca Ferguson as 'the other woman'.

There's a lovely, gauche and very unassuming performance by The Big Bang Theory's Simon Helberg who plays Jenkins' accompianist Cosme McMoon. We see him auditioning for her at the beginning and is aghast at the first time he actually hears Jenkins sing. He is much more the voice of reason- although only ever to Bayfield, never to Jenkins herself. Yet, he remains loyal throughout despite his reservations.  

It's a gentle, almost Sunday afternoon film- there's no strong swearing, no violence, no graphic sex- and veers between laugh-out-loud comedy and a touching drama about a woman who never let her lack of talent hold her back. Joyous.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tez