Programme 46: John Wick 2, Oscars 2017, Logan

We are back! with our new Podcast - we look at John Wick 2, the Oscars, 4DX Cinema and Logan

Enjoy - Rhys

Awards Season 2017: The 89th Annual Academy Awards

Well, that was quite something. 

There's several things for which this Oscars ceremony will be remembered for, but giving the biggest award of the night to the wrong film will be right up there for years to come. Due to some form of cock-up, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly named La La Land as the Best Picture winner, only to then find out that Moonlight had won it instead! Cue a lot of embarrassment and a very gracious deferral from the producers of La La Land. 

This was the first time in a few years that I was actually able to watch the broadcast live (via Sky Cinema). I thought Jimmy Kimmel was an affable host. Despite his very self-effacing demeanour, the vast majority of his jokes hit (and he was able to admit the ones that didn't). His opening monologue was political without being tubthumping, and I did particularly enjoy his banter with Meryl Streep and the comment that, given the Trump administration, at least the Oscars don't look so racist now. I quite liked the mean tweets section and the stunt with the tour bus mostly worked, if it did drag on a little. 

As you can imagine, several of the speeches were political in nature, some more subtle than others. The most pointed came when the Best Foreign Language Film of the Year was announced. Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (who directed The Salesman) was initially unable to attend the event due to the imposed travel ban. When the ban was lifted, he chose to boycott the event and instead sent Iranian engineer Anousheh Ansari to represent him. When The Salesman won, Ansari read a politically charged statement on Farhadi's behalf. 

Other noteworthy happenings from the ceremony: sound mixer Kevin O'Connell won his first Oscar (for Hacksaw Ridge) on his twenty-first nomination; Best Documentary Feature winner O.J.: Made In America is now officially the longest film to win an Oscar (coming in at an impressive 7hrs 47mins); Damien Chazelle is now the youngest Best Director winner at the tender age of 32. 

I wasn't surprised by 'City Of Stars' winning Best Original Song, although I think of the two songs nominated from La La Land I actually prefer 'Audition'. The musical numbers were scattered nicely through the evening, with Justin Timberlake kicking the evening off with a performance of 'Can't Stop The Feeling' then a wonderfully assured performance of 'How Far I'll Go' from Moana, sung by 16-year old Auli'i Cravalho. There was also a very moving In Memoriam section, beautifully accompanied by Sara Bareilles singing 'Both Sides Now' by Joni Mitchell. 

I was also really pleased by the Best Costume Design win for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, although it still feels very wrong that you can now call Suicide Squad an Oscar-winning film (picking up Best Make-Up and Hairstyling)

As for my predictions... well, 5 out of 6 is alright (especially given the Best Picture farrago). As I said in my predictions, if any film was going to usurp La La Land from Best Picture, it would be Moonlight. All other predictions were correct and I thought Mahershala Ali, Viola Davis and Emma Stone all gave very lovely acceptance speeches. 

Despite the mistake at the end, La La Land was still the runaway winner of the night with six Oscars to its name. Moonlight had three, with Manchester By The Sea and Hacksaw Ridge both winning two. Despite multiple nominations, there was nothing for Lion, Hell Or High Water, Hidden Figures or Jackie. 

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Below is the full list of winners at the 89th Annual Academy Awards:

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Moonlight

Best Actor: Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea)

Best Actress: Emma Stone (La La Land)

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis (Fences)

Best Director: Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Best Original Screenplay: Manchester By The Sea

Best Adapted Screenplay: Moonlight

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Zootopia

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year: The Salesman

Best Cinematography: La La Land

Best Editing: Hacksaw Ridge

Best Production Design: La La Land

Best Costume Design: Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Suicide Squad

Best Original Score: La La Land

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

Best Sound Mixing: Hacksaw Ridge

Best Sound Editing: Arrival

Best Visual Effects: The Jungle Book

Best Documentary (Feature): O.J.: Made In America

Best Documentary (Short Subject): The White Helmets

Best Animated Short Film: Piper

Best Live Action Short Film: Sing


Congratulations to all winners!

So that's it. Awards season is over for another year (and what a way to end it too!). As William Makepeace Thackeray says at the very end of Vanity Fair: 'Come children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out.'

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to bed. It's been something of a long night.

Tez

Awards Season 2017: Tez's Official Oscar Predictions 2017

Tonight, the great and good of Hollywood will convene to celebrate the best of film-making in 2016 at the 89th Annual Academy Awards, which will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel for the first time.

It has become a tradition for me to predict the nominations and the winners in the main six categories (the four acting categories, Best Director and Best Picture).  I've done this since 2003 with varying degrees of success. 

So, without further ado, here are my predictions for who will win.

Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis (Fences)

Whilst an argument could be made that the role of Rose is more of lead actress one, it still doesn't take away from the intensity and passion of Davis' performance. She's won the Critics' Choice, Golden Globes, BAFTA and SAG awards, so I'm as confident as I can be that she'll be up on the stage tonight collecting a well-deserved Oscar. 

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

A finely-observed supporting turn by Ali, who plays local drug dealer and father figure to young Chiron. Again, he's been a stand out winner for most awards so I fully expect to see him named tonight. 

Best Actress: Emma Stone (La La Land)

With wins at the Golden Globes, SAG Awards and BAFTA, it puts Stone ahead of the pack. Her performance as Mia is arguably the stronger of the two leads (sorry, Ryan). That said, I am less confident about my pick for this one, as it there's always the possibility that another actress (likely Natalie Portman or Isabelle Huppert) could win. 

Best Actor: Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea)

Affleck has been the runaway winner for his taut, muscular turn as Lee Chandler in Kenneth Lonergan's quiet study of grief. Much like Viola Davis, I don't see any other name being called out in this category tonight. 

Best Director: Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Best Picture: La La Land

OK, here's the thing. I am as certain as I can get that Chazelle will win Best Director, and it will be deserved, because La La Land is a technically very accomplished film, from the amazing opening song-and-dance number on the LA freeway to the quiet and melancholic ending. La La Land has also been the stand-out winner of Best Picture awards (plus it won the PGA). Films about films, acting and the like do well at the Academy and its heady air of escapism is exactly what's needed at the moment. But that said, if there's any film that could rain on La La Land's parade, it's most likely to be Moonlight. Whilst I fully expect La La Land to take the main prize tonight, I wouldn't be surprised if Moonlight pulls off a surprise win at the end of the evening. 

Last year, I got 5 out of 6, with my Best Supporting Actor prediction going to Sylvester Stallone rather than eventual winner Mark Rylance. I feel pretty confident about 4 of my 6; Best Actress has a question mark on it and I'm wavering over Best Picture. But it's time to pin my colours to the mast as it were.

There'll be a full blog tomorrow discussing my thoughts on the ceremony and a list of all the winners.

Good luck to all nominees and may the odds be ever in your favour.

Tez

Awards Season 2017: Academy Award Nominations

As announced earlier today, here is a selection of the nominations for the 89th Academy Awards:

BEST PICTURE

Arrival

Fences

Hacksaw Ridge

Hell Or High Water

Hidden Figures

La La Land

Lion

Manchester By The Sea

Moonlight

BEST DIRECTOR

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By The Sea)

Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

BEST ACTOR

Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea)

Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)

Ryan Gosling (La La Land)

Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)

Denzel Washington (Fences)

BEST ACTRESS

Isabelle Huppert (Elle)

Ruth Negga (Loving)

Natalie Portman (Jackie)

Emma Stone (La La Land)

Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Jeff Bridges (Hell Or High Water)

Lucas Hedges (Manchester By The Sea)

Dev Patel (Lion)

Michael Shannon (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.

That's 32 out of 34 which is an all time record for me (94%)

Unsurprisingly, La La Land has swept the board with fourteen nominations (which equals the record held by All About Eve and Titanic). 

Meryl Streep also becomes the most nominated actress in Academy history, chalking up her twentieth nomination (and her sixteenth Best Actress nomination).

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story gets two nods (Sound Mixing and Visual Effects), while Doctor Strange is also nominated in the Visual Effects category. Animated film Kubo And The Two Strings pulls off a rare achievement in also being nominated for Visual Effects as well as Best Animated Feature. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them gets two nominations but sadly nothing for Deadpool. Ah well, can't win them all. 

There's more awards season stuff happening later this week with the Producers' Guild (PGA) Awards on Saturday (28th January) and the Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) Awards on Sunday (29th January). There'll be a post about both of these on Monday.

Huge congratulations to all nominees!

Awards Season 2017: Tez's Official Academy Award Nomination Predictions

Tomorrow, the nominations for the 89th Academy Awards will be announced.

This year, the Academy will break with tradition and dispense with the usual early morning press conference in Beverly Hills. They'll still be announcing them ridiculously early (5.18am PST/1.18pm GMT) but will instead announce the nominations via a live stream on online and digital platforms. Announcing the nominees will be actors Brie Larson, Jennifer Hudson, and Ken Watanabe, director Jason Reitman, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezski and AMPAS President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.

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 tomorrow.

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

Arrival

Fences

Hacksaw Ridge

Hell Or High Water

Hidden Figures

La La Land

Lion

Loving

Manchester By The Sea

Moonlight

BEST DIRECTOR

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By The Sea)

Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

BEST ACTOR

Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea)

Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)

Ryan Gosling (La La Land)

Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)

Denzel Washington (Fences)

BEST ACTRESS

Amy Adams (Arrival)

Ruth Negga (Loving)

Natalie Portman (Jackie)

Emma Stone (La La Land)

Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Jeff Bridges (Hell Or High Water)

Hugh Grant (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Lucas Hedges (Manchester By The Sea)

Dev Patel (Lion)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Viola Davis (Fences)

Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

Nicole Kidman (Lion)

Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)

Michelle Williams (Manchester By The Sea)

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 33.

As usual with my predictions, there's a few cast-iron guarantees, a few maybes and possibly a few WTFs. 

This year, it's been the Lead Actress category which has been really fluid with performances by Annette Bening (20th Century Women), Isabelle Huppert (Elle) and Emily Blunt (The Girl On The Train) also being mentioned, so I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised to see only 2 of my 5 picks nominated (Natalie Portman and Emma Stone are pretty much guaranteed a nod). If Meryl Streep is nominated for her role in Florence Foster Jenkins, that would be her twentieth- yes, twentieth- competitive acting Oscar nomination, more than any actress in the history of the Academy. I've included her in due to the Golden Globe, SAG and BAFTA nods.  There's also always the chance that if Amy Adams is nominated tomorrow, it could be for Nocturnal Animals.

Joel Edgerton could get a nod for Best Actor for Loving; most likely to lose their place would then be either Viggo Mortensen or Denzel Washington.

Best Supporting Actor is fairly locked, I reckon, although there could always be a surprise nomination for Aaron Taylor-Johnson or Michael Shannon for Nocturnal Animals in place of Hugh Grant.

Best Director seems like it could be a place for surprises (see last year's nomination for Lenny Abrahamson for Room), although I'd say I think 3 of the 5 (Chazelle, Jenkins and Lonergan) are pretty secure. There could be surprise nods for Denzel Washington (Fences), Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals) or maybe even Pablo Larrain (Jackie) or Theodore Melfi (Hidden Figures)

Guess we'll find out tomorrow!

For Your Consideration: Possible Contenders For Awards Season 2017

Just like Christmas, it feels like awards season starts earlier and earlier every year. Well, this year, that's especially true. It actually starts tomorrow- 14th November 2016- as the Critics' Choice Awards have been brought forward by a month or so meaning that the blog is going to start filling up with awards season shenanigans about two weeks early (usually it'd start with the Independent Spirit Awards towards the end of the month). So, as usual, welcome if you like this sort of thing and apologies if you don't.

[Edit 14/11/16: The Critics' Choice Awards television nominations were announced today; the movie nominations will be on Thursday 1st December. I've updated the timetable below accordingly]

So I've had a look in the crystal ball and come up with some films which I think might get a good showing during this awards season. Virtually all of these have yet to open in the UK so it's all wild prognostication. I might be well off the mark with a lot of these.

La La Land is Damien Chazelle's follow-up to the frankly brilliant Whiplash. Starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a jazz pianist and an aspiring actress respectively, it won the People's Choice Award at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (usually a good sign of award season success). Expect to see Gosling and Stone nominated for Best Actor and Actress respectively (Stone won the Best Actress accolade at the Venice Film Festival this year) with the film getting Best Picture awards and maybe even Chazelle as Best Director. 

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see The Birth Of A Nation getting nominated a lot. A biopic of Nat Turner (a literate slave who orchestrated an uprising in the South), written, directed and starring Nate Parker, it's got a lot of the usual awards season bait in it.  Winning the Audience award and the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival and given the success of 12 Years A Slave, I think this stands a good chance of featuring heavily. 

Certain Women might not be everyone's cup of tea, but this portmanteau picture following the lives of three women in a small town in Montana looks like it will do well. There's the possibility of Best Actress nods for Laura Dern and Michelle Williams, or even a Supporting Actress nod for Kristen Stewart. Yes, that Kristen Stewart. Bella-Swan-from-Twilight Kristen Stewart. As implausible as it may sound, she's getting a lot of love for her performance in the film. And in a world where Matthew McConaughey has an Oscar and Donald Trump has become President of the USA, it's not beyond the realms of possibility for this to happen. 

Manchester By The Sea, Kenneth Lonergan's thoughtful drama about a man forced to look after his teenage nephew after the death of his brother (the boy's father) might do well, with Best Actor accolades for Casey Affleck and potentially Best Supporting Actress for Michelle Williams and Best Supporting Actor for Lucas Hedges as the nephew. 

Amy Adams seems virtually guaranteed to get her sixth Oscar nomination this awards season, although whether it's for her lead role as an art gallery owner facing up to her past in Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals or her performance as a linguist helping out the military to translate alien communications in Denis Villeneuve's Arrival is yet to be seen.

Biopics tend to get a good run out during awards season, so I fully expect at least some of these films to get a mention:

Bleed For This, based on the story of boxer Vinny Pazienza who recovered from a severe car accident to fight in the ring again. Miles Teller could be in the frame for Best Actor whilst Aaron Eckhart could also be nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Vinny's trainer Kevin. 

Lion, starring Dev Patel, which tells the story of a young Indian boy who is adopted by an Australian couple and then uses Google Earth twenty-five years later to find his biological family. Patel might be up for Best Actor, whilst Supporting Actress nods could go to Rooney Mara as his girlfriend and Nicole Kidman as his adoptive mother. 

Sully, Clint Eastwood's latest film about pilot Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger who landed his damaged plane on the Hudson avoiding massive loss of life. Tom Hanks will probably get Best Actor nods for it, with the possibility of Supporting Actor plaudits for Aaron Eckhart. Potentially Eastwood as Best Director too. 

Christine, the tragic true-life tale of 1970s news anchorwoman Christine Chubbuck, could see Rebecca Hall getting nominated for Best Actress. 

Hidden Figures, Theodore Melfi's biopic of the three female African-American mathematicians who calculated John Glenn's launch into orbit. There could be Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress nominations for Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae. 

Queen Of Katwe, the inspirational true-life story of chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi. There could be Supporting Actor and Actress nominations for David Oyelowo as chess coach Robert Katende and Lupita Nyong'o as Phiona's mother Harriet. 



The timetable for the major awards in 2017 is as follows:

Film Independent Spirit Awards
Nominations announced: November 22nd 2016
Awards ceremony: February 25th 2017

Critics' Choice Awards
Nominations announced: December 1st 2016
Awards ceremony: December 11th 2016

Golden Globes
Nominations announced: December 12th 2016
Awards ceremony: January 8th 2017 (hosted by Jimmy Fallon)

Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards
Nominations announced: December 14th 2016
Awards ceremony: January 29th 2017

Writers' Guild Of America (WGA) Award
Nominations announced: January 4th 2017
Awards ceremony: February 19th 2017

Producers' Guild Of America (PGA) Award
Nominations announced: January 10th 2017
Awards ceremony: January 28th 2017

BAFTA Film Awards
Nominations announced: January 10th 2017
Awards ceremony: February 12th 2017

Directors' Guild Of America (DGA) Award
Nominations announced: January 12th 2017
Awards ceremony: February 4th 2017

Golden Raspberry Awards (Razzies)
Nominations announced: January 23rd 2017
Awards ceremony: February 25th 2017

Academy Awards (Oscars)
Nominations announced: January 24th 2017
Awards ceremony: February 26th 2017