Awards Season 2015: Tez's Official Academy Award Nomination Predictions

Tomorrow, the nominations for the the 87th Academy Awards will be announced. But they're doing things a little differently this year.

At 5.30am PST, directors J.J. Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron (last year's Best Director winner) will take to the stage and announce the first twelve categories, which will be mostly technical (Best Sound Design, Best Visual Effects and such). Then at 5.38am PST, Cheryl Boone Isaacs (president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and Chris Pine (Star Trek, Into The Woods) will announce the other twelve categories (which will include Best Picture and the acting awards). It is the first time that all 24 categories will reveal their nominations in the broadcast- usually it's just the major awards with the technical awards being announced by a press release shortly afterwards.

As has been my practice for the last few years, I like to try and predict who will be nominated (this is done for Best Picture, Best Director and the four acting awards). Below is my list of who I think will be named on Thursday.

NB. Just like the last few years, the Academy rules state that there could be anywhere between five and ten Best Picture nominees. I have selected ten films. If the total number of films nominated is less than ten, but one of the movies selected is named in my list of ten, I will count it as a successful prediction.

BEST PICTURE

Birdman

Boyhood

Foxcatcher

Gone Girl

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Nightcrawler

Selma

The Theory Of Everything

Whiplash

BEST DIRECTOR

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Ava DuVernay (Selma)

Clint Eastwood (American Sniper)

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

BEST ACTOR

Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)

Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)

Michael Keaton (Birdman)

Eddie Redmayne (The Theory Of Everything)

BEST ACTRESS

Jennifer Aniston (Cake)

Felicity Jones (The Theory Of Everything)

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Robert Duvall (The Judge)

Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)

Edward Norton (Birdman)

Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)

J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)

Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)

Emma Stone (Birdman)

Meryl Streep (Into The Woods)

American Sniper could well sneak in a Best Picture nomination (with Selma looking to be the most likely replacement if it does). Best Director has been a bit of a crapshoot, given the DGA's announcement yesterday; I've still included Ava DuVernay but it's open.

Best Actor could see Steve Carell bumped in favour of David Oyelowo or possibly Ralph Fiennes. It could well be that Academy voters see Carell's performance as more of a supporting role and place him accordingly. The Academy do have previous on this; the year that Kate Winslet won, in every other awards ceremony, she'd been a Best Supporting Actress nominee for The Reader. The Academy bumped her to Best Actress. If Carell does get placed in Supporting Actor, the most likely casualty will be Robert Duvall. 

Best Actress seems fairly settled, although a surprise nomination for Amy Adams (Big Eyes) or Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night) in place of Jennifer Aniston could happen. Similarly, whilst the Supporting Actress category is pretty fixed, Carmen Ejogo (Selma) or even Rene Russo (Nghtcrawler) could get named. 

Usually a score of 15 is adequate, but given the fact that there could be anywhere between 5 and 10 Best Picture awards, I'ill be happy with a prediction of 18 or higher. Last year, I got 28 out of 34. I'm not that confident this year.

I'll add the official nominations once they're announced on Thursday afternoon.

Tez

Awards Season 2015: Guild Awards Nominations

When I report on Awards Season, I don't tend to mention the Guild Awards (or, if I do, it'll only be to mention the winners). Because the Guild Awards tend to be voted on by members of the Academy, it's a good barometer of the way the Oscar nominations may go. This year's Guild nominations have thrown up some interesting things so I thought I'd go through them. 

PRODUCERS' GUILD AWARDS NOMINATIONS

The nominations were announced on 5th January, and will be awarded on 24th January.

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

American Sniper

Birdman

Boyhood

Foxcatcher

Gone Girl

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Nightcrawler

The Theory Of Everything

Whiplash

Selma's lack of nomination was a bit of a surprise, as was the inclusion of American Sniper. It's the first real serious shot the film has had during awards season, so it could sneak in for a Best Picture nod. That aside, the usual suspects are in attendance and I fully expect to see at least 9 of these names on Thursday.

WRITERS' GUILD AWARDS NOMINATIONS

The nominations were announced on 7th January, and will be awarded on 14th February.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Boyhood

Foxcatcher

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Nightcrawler

Whiplash

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

American Sniper

Gone Girl

Guardians Of The Galaxy

The Imitation Game

Wild

I don't tend to focus on the screenplay Oscars, but- as a writer and a film fan- I do have an interest in what's been nominated. Whiplash has had a bit of controversy over where to put the script (the full-length film was originally based on a short directed by Damian Chazelle and expanded from that short) but the WGA have declared it original. The main reason I want to bring it up is Guardians Of The Galaxy getting recognised in the Adapted Screenplay category. It makes me happy.

DIRECTOR'S GUILD AWARD NOMINATIONS

The nominations were announced on 13th January, and will be awarded on 7th February.

FEATURE FILM NOMINEES

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Clint Eastwood (American Sniper)

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)

Right... now this is where things get interesting. Anderson, Inarritu and Linklater have been fixtures on the Best Director lists from the start so their nominations are no surprise. However, this is the first mention for both Eastwood and Tyldum in this awards season, over others such as Ava DuVernay (Selma) and David Fincher (Gone Girl).  I think it means the Best Director nominations are far from locked and Thursday might see some curveballs.


Tomorrow (Wednesday 14th) will see the nominations for the Razzie Awards and I will get off the fence and come up with my official Oscar nomination predictions.

Tez

Awards Season 2015: BAFTA Film Awards Nominations

Today (Friday 9th January) saw the nominations for this year's BAFTA Film Awards. Below is a selection of the nominations:

BEST FILM

Birdman

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

The Theory Of Everything

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

'71

The Imitation Game

Paddington

Pride

The Theory Of Everything

Under The Skin

ACTOR

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)

Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)

Michael Keaton (Birdman)

Eddie Redmayne (The Theory Of Everything)

ACTRESS

Amy Adams (Big Eyes)

Felicity Jones (The Theory Of Everything)

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)

Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)

Edward Norton (Birdman)

Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)

J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)

Rene Russo (Nightcrawler)

Imelda Staunton (Pride)

Emma Stone (Birdman)

DIRECTOR

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Damian Chazelle (Whiplash)

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

James Marsh (The Theory Of Everything)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

The Grand Budapest Hotel got 11 nominations, with Birdman and The Theory Of Everything with 10 apiece and The Imitation Game with 9. Most of the familiar names are present and correct, but there were a few surprises- Amy Adams' nomination for Best Actress being one (although I don't think Cake has had a UK release yet), with Steve Carell's Foxcatcher performance nominated for Supporting Actor another. There's a chance that the Academy might follow suit, to free up a Best Actor slot for David Oyelowo (although Selma failed to get a single BAFTA nomination). Also intriguing is Damian Chazelle's nod for Best Director. 

The BAFTA Film Awards will be handed out on Sunday 8th February, in a ceremony hosted by the inimitable Stephen Fry. 

Next week is a busy one for Awards Season, starting with the Golden Globes on Sunday (11th). Tuesday (13th) sees the Directors' Guild Awards nominations, which will pretty much lock the Best Director Oscar category. Wednesday (14th) will see the nominations for the Razzies (if there's any justice in the world, Transformers: Age Of Extinction and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will sweep the boards), whilst on Thursday (15th) this year's Oscar nominations will be announced.

Enjoy your weekend!


Tez

Awards Season 2015: Critics' Choice Movie Awards Nominations

Another week, another awards nomination announcement. Today saw the nominees annouced for the 20th Annoual Critics Choice Movie Awards, handed out by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. 

Here is a selection of their nominations:

Best Picture

Birdman

Boyhood

Gone Girl

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Nightcrawler

Selma

The Theory Of Everything

Unbroken

Whiplash

Best Director

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Ava DuVernay (Selma)

David Fincher (Gone Girl)

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

Angelina Jolie (Unbroken)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Best Actor

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)

Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)

Michael Keaton (Birdman)

David Oyelowo (Selma)

Eddie Redmayne (The Theory Of Everything)

Best Actress

Jennifer Aniston (Cake)

Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)

Felicity Jones (The Theory Of Everything)

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

Best Supporting Actor

John Brolin (Inherent Vice)

Robert Duvall (The Judge)

Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)

Edward Norton (Birdman)

Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)

J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)

Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)

Emma Stone (Birdman)

Meryl Streep (Into The Woods)

Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

What is cool about the Critics' Choice Awards is that, aside from the usual cinema awards that most ceremonies give out, they also give out separate awards for genre films (eg. Best Action Movie,  Best Comedy, Best Sci-Fi/Horror) and also have Best Actor and Actress categories for some of these films as well.

There is some overlap this year with Michael Keaton and Ralph Fiennes both nominated for in the Best Actor and Best Actor In A Comedy categories for their roles in Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Birdman leads the way with a whopping 13 nominations with The Grand Budapest Hotel coming in second with 11. Boyhood got 8 while The Imitation Game got 6.

Some column inches have been given to the fact that, even in an expanded field of six nominees, Fiennes was nominated for Best Actor in the place of Steve Carell for Foxcatcher. However, given the Academy's notorious snobbery towards broadly comic roles, the chances of Fiennes getting an Oscar nod are slim- although not impossible. 

Those who follow these awards season blogs- and bless you if you do- will recognise a lot (and I mean A LOT) of the names and films. 

Awards season gets a bit quiet for the next few weeks, over the Christmas and New Years period, but the next big announcement will be the Producers' Guild Awards nominations on January 5th (always a good indicator of some of the Best Picture Oscar nominees) with the BAFTA nominations later that week (January 9th).

Tez

Awards Season 2015: Golden Globe Nominations

Today (Thursday 11th December) saw the nominations announced for the 72nd Golden Globes. 

 

The Golden Globes split the films into Drama and Musical/Comedy strands for some awards, which does mean that films and performances that may generally get overlooked when it comes to the Oscars do get recognition (it's rare that a purely comedic role will get an Oscar nod - the last one probably being Melissa McCarthy's turn in Bridesmaids). As usual, there's a high level of correspondence between these and some of the other award nominations announced meaning that several films and performances take another step closer to the coveted Oscar nomination.

Here are a selection of the Golden Globes' film nominations:

Best Motion Picture - Drama

Boyhood

Foxcatcher

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory Of Everything

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Birdman

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Into The Woods

Pride

St Vincent

Best Director - Motion Picture

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Ava DuVernay (Selma)

David Fincher (Gone Girl)

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)

Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)

David Oyelowo (Selma)

Eddie Redmayne (The Theory Of Everything)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Jennifer Aniston (Cake)

Felicity Jones (The Theory Of Everything)

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Michael Keaton (Birdman)

Bill Murray (St Vincent)

Joaquin Phoenix (Inherent Vice)

Christoph Waltz (Big Eyes)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Amy Adams (Big Eyes)

Emily Blunt (Into The Woods)

Helen Mirren (The Hundred-Foot Journey)

Julianne Moore (Maps To The Stars)

Quvenzhane Wallis (Annie)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Robert Duvall (The Judge)

Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)

Edward Norton (Birdman)

Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)

J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)

Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)

Emma Stone (Birdman)

Meryl Streep (Into The Woods)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

The Supporting Actor category brings all five nominees from the SAG Awards over, as does the Best Actress (Drama), with four of the five SAG nominees in Supporting Actress also appearing on the list (here, Chastain- who received an Independent Spirit Award nominee for the same role-  is favoured over Naomi Watts). 

It's abolutely brilliant to see Pride get a nod for Best Musical/Comedy. It's also nice to see The Grand Budapest Hotel get some recognition, garnering four nominations overall (three more than Interstellar that got one nod for Hans Zimmer's score). 

Next up in awards season is the Critics' Choice Awards whose nominations are announced on Monday (15th December)

Awards Season 2015: Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

And so it starts.

Awards season has begun, folks. I apologise to the vast majority of our readers who probably have absolutely no interest whatsoever in this ridiculous pageant of backslapping and smug self-congratulation, but I like it. 

So the Film Independent Spirit Awards announced their nominations today. They virtually bookend the awards season as a whole- they are the first nominations to be announced and the awards ceremony is traditionally the day before the Oscars (so they will be handed out on Saturday 21st February).

The Film Independent Spirit Awards, as the name suggests, honours films made outside the major Hollywood studio system. Here are a selection of this year's nominees:

Best Film

Birdman

Boyhood

Love Is Strange

Selma

Whiplash

Best Director

Damien Chazelle (Whiplash)

Ava DuVernay (Selma)

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

David Zellner (Kumiko The Treasure Hunter)

Best Actor

Andre Benjamin (All Is By My Side)

Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)

Michael Keaton (Birdman)

John Lithgow (Love Is Strange)

David Oyelowo (Selma)

Best Actress

Marion Cotillard (The Immigrant)

Rinko Kikuchi (Kumiko The Treasure Hunter)

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Jenny Slate (Obvious Child)

Tilda Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive)

Best Supporting Actor

Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler)

Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)

Alfred Molina (Love Is Strange)

Edward Norton (Birdman)

J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)

Carmen Ejogo (Selma)

Emma Stone (Birdman)

Andrea Suarez Paz (Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors)

There's been a fair bit of overlap between these and the mainstream awards over the last few years, so they can act as a good barometer to see which way the land lies (at least early on). Last year, 12 Years A Slave (the eventual Best Picture Oscar winner) featured heavily in these awards and both Cate Blanchett and Matthew McConaughey were nominated for Blue Jasmine and Dallas Buyers Club. 

Birdman, about a washed-up actor (Keaton) who once played an iconic superhero, leads with six nominations, whilst Boyhood, Nightcrawler and Selma (about the Civil Rights movement with Oyelowo as Martin Luther King) all have five.

Congratulations to all nominees! (and commiserations to readers who don't give a monkey's about awards season, cause there'll be articles about it from now til the end of February!)

Tez

Review: Nightcrawler (UK Cert: 15)

Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a petty thief, selling stolen fence wire and manhole covers to make money. When he witnesses a horrific car crash and the freelance film crew hovering around the scene, Bloom is inspired to start his own news crew business, tuning into the police radio and being first at the scene to record all the news worthy crimes and accidents: stabbings, home invasions, mass pile-ups. Selling his footage to the local morning news, the station’s editor (Rene Russo) demands more shocking, attention-grabbing stories, forcing Bloom to go to any lengths to cover the stories that will have wealthy, middle class America talking.

Screenwriter Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut is a mishmash of satire, comedy, and pulse-pounding thrills, with Gyllenhaal giving his best screen performance thus far. Gilroy has come up with a lead who will be looked on as one of the decade’s most memorable antiheroes. Bloom admits he never did well at school, but he studies articles and pours over videos on the internet. His dialogue is straight out of a business studies textbook; impressive words that, when you pick them apart, don’t mean anything. This isn’t a man who wants to be successful in the traditional sense – flash car, a pot of money that never runs out – he wants to run a business where he’s at the top of the ladder, with people below him, telling them what to do.

You’ll be surprised just how much you’ll laugh whilst watching Nightcrawler; a fifty-fifty split between brilliantly funny set pieces as the socially awkward, initially clueless Bloom blunders his way round crime scenes, shoving his camera in the face of witnesses and police officers, and nervous laughter, struggling to believe that Bloom and the TV station can get away with their morally bankrupt ideas as to what counts as news; the more grotesque and intrusive the footage, the higher the viewing figures. As Russo explains, politics, world news, current affairs makes up less than thirty seconds of their news summary, while five minutes is spent on “rich white folks getting killed by poor minorities.”

Gilroy’s script is a near-perfect character driven piece, which Gyllenhaal more than makes the most of. Wide eyed, barely blinking and stick-thin, his dialogue cold and detached; he’s saying one thing but thinking five steps ahead. You know there is something wrong with Bloom, but we’re never told what. Gyllenhaal keeps you guessing as to what’s going on inside his head, wondering how low he can sink so he can get his hands on some ratings-grabbing footage. This is a performance up there with Brando, De Niro or Pacino at the peak of their careers; Gyllenhaal is that stunning to watch.

The supporting cast all give performances you can’t fault. It’s hard to tell whose worse, Bloom or Russo’s editor, Nina. The TV station is under pressure with its falling ratings, Nina knowing she has a month to save her job. All she thinks about is whether the footage breaks any laws, never showing sympathy or concern for the victims or families. During one of many stand-out scenes, the news anchors are commentating on Bloom’s footage from a crime scene. Nina talks to the anchors through their ear pieces, telling them word-for-word what to say; she’s not interested in the facts, only in shocking and scaring the viewers. Four Lions’ Riz Ahmed is given another great role as Bloom’s skittish right-hand man and conscience, Rick. Rick is desperate for money and takes on the job as Bloom’s assistant, listening in to the police radio, giving directions, and filming. From the outset, Rick isn’t comfortable with his job, firing questions at Bloom that the viewer is thinking. When Bloom tampers with and breaks in to crime scenes, Rick wants out, but stays because he has no other job.

The only issue with Nightcrawler that stops it being flawless is its ending, or lack of it. Like the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men, the film just stops. There is no tie up all the loose ends, wrap things up conclusion. You get the feeling that’s the point, Gilroy’s casting a judging eye on these materialistic, technology-obsessed times, where it’s increasingly difficult to get the facts about a news story instead of some misconstrued details. There’s no satisfying, happy ending here. This doesn’t ruin Nightcrawler, and it’s certainly not as jarring as the Coen’s film, but in the screening I watched, there was this this reaction of “Huh?” when the credits appeared. That aside, Nightcrawler is gripping, entertaining and mercilessly satirical; Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom is a character who will be compared to the likes of De Niro’s Travis Bickle or Dustin Hoffman’s Ratso. Slick, smart and nightmarish stuff.

4 out of 5

Matt