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!

Review: Jackie (UK Cert 15)

The assassination of John F. Kennedy is one of the defining moments of American history. Pablo Larrain's latest film Jackie is a character study of his wife, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, in the week after her husband's death. Whilst still in mourning, Jackie (Natalie Portman) invites a journalist (Billy Crudup) to interview her where she recounts the events of that fateful week.

At first I found Portman's performance a little mannered, the way she spoke a little discordant. It sounded wrong. However, having found footage of the real Jackie Kennedy (the 1961 White House tour is available to view online), it's a remarkable facsimile. The real First Lady had a very distinct way of talking which Portman successfully captures. But the performance goes beyond impersonation to embodiment as Jackie's tumultuous emotions- ranging from anger and sorrow to steely determination- play across her face. There are a lot of scenes with very little dialogue but you know exactly how she's feeling at any given time. One scene- when Jackie returns to the White House after the assassination, still wearing the blood-stained clothes- is particularly powerful.

Such is the power of Portman's performance, that other performances don't quite reach the same level. Crudup's reporter is really only there to ask questions and to prompt the story forwards (I do wonder whether this framing device was strictly necessary). Peter Sarsgaard is strong as Bobby Kennedy, attempting to support Jackie in her grief whilst managing his own and trying to ensure the Kennedy legacy. Greta Gerwig is good as Jackie's friend and confidante Nancy, whilst there's a surprising turn by John Hurt as an Irish priest who counsels Jackie in her darkest hours. 

Larrain mixes in real-life cinefootage with recreation to mostly good effect, although there are a couple of instances where this really jars (part of the funeral cortege, for example). The recreations, not only of the funeral procession but the assassination itself, are handled very well although the level of detail in the shooting may be too graphic for some people. The score- by Mica Levi- is also particularly strong.

Anchored by a very strong central performance, this is an absorbing study of a woman in crisis. It doesn't quite reach its full potential but is a strong drama nonetheless.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Tez

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!

Awards Season 2017: Razzies Nominations

As is now traditional (the day before the Oscar nominations), this year's Golden Raspberry Awards nominations have been announced. Ever since 1981, the Razzies dishonour the very worst of film in the preceding 12 months and, by the old Gods and the new, there was a lot of subpar crap to hit the cinema screens in 2016. 

So much so, there's been a change to the Razzies' usual format. As the press release for the Razzies nominations states 'The crop of cinematic crap in 2016 was so extensive that this year's 37th Annual Razzie® Awards is expanding from 5 nominees to an unprecedented 6 contenders in each of its 9 Worst Achievement in Film categories.'

Yep, last year was that bad, they've had to expand the number of nominees. 

So here is the full list of nominations:

WORST PICTURE 

   Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice  

   Dirty Grandpa 

   Gods of Egypt 

   Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party 

   Independence Day: Resurgence  

   Zoolander No. 2 

WORST ACTOR  

   Ben Affleck (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)   

   Gerard Butler (Gods of Egypt, London Has Fallen) 

   Henry Cavill (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)   

   Robert  de Niro (Dirty Grandpa)

   Dinesh D'Souza [as Himself] (Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party) 

   Ben Stiller (Zoolander No. 2) 

WORST ACTRESS  

   Megan Fox (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows) 

   Tyler Perry (BOO! A Medea Halloween)

   Julia Roberts (Mother's Day)  

   Becky Turner [as Hillary Clinton]  (Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party) 

   Naomi Watts (Divergent Series: Allegiant, Shut-In) 

   Shailene Woodley (Divergent Series: Allegiant)

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS   

   Julianne Hough (Dirty Grandpa)  

   Kate Hudson (Mother's Day)  

   Aubrey Plaza (Dirty Grandpa)  

   Jane Seymour (Fifty Shades of Black) 

   Sela Ward (Independence Day: Resurgence)  

   Kristen Wiig (Zoolander No. 2) 

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR 

   Nicolas Cage (Snowden)  

   Johnny Depp (Alice Through the Looking Glass) 

   Will Ferrell (Zoolander No. 2)

   Jesse Eisenberg (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)   

   Jared Leto (Suicide Squad)  

   Owen Wilson (Zoolander No. 2) 

WORST SCREEN COMBO 

   Ben Affleck & Henry Cavill (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)  

   Any 2 Egyptian Gods or Mortals (Gods of Egypt) 

   Johnny Depp & His Vomitously Vibrant Costume (Alice Through the Looking Glass) 

   The Entire Cast of Once Respected Actors (Collateral Beauty)  

   Tyler Perry & That Same Old Worn Out Wig (BOO! A Medea Halloween)

   Ben Stiller & Owen Wilson (Zoolander No. 2)  

WORST DIRECTOR  

   Dinesh D'Souza & Bruce Schooley (Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party) 

   Roland Emmerich (Independence Day: Resurgence) 

   Tyler Perry (BOO! A Medea Halloween)

   Alex Proyas (Gods of Egypt)  

   Zack Snyder (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)   

   Ben Stiller (Zoolander  No. 2) 

WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF  or SEQUEL  

   Alice Through the Looking Glass 

   Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Dawn of Justice   

   Fifty Shades of Black 

   Independence Day: Resurgence 

   Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows 

   Zoolander No. 2 

WORST SCREENPLAY  

   Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice    

   Dirty Grandpa  

   Gods of Egypt  

   Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party 

   Independence Day: Resurgence  

   Suicide Squad

Zoolander No. 2 gets the most nods with 9, with Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice behind on 8. I was expecting to see Ghostbusters plastered all over this, but not a single nomination.   

There's no details as yet for the Razzie Redeemer Award- maybe 2016 was such a bad year there's nobody worth nominating? Who knows? If these details do come through, I'll update the post accordingly.

So that just leaves tomorrow's announcement of the nominees for the 89th Academy Awards. So it's time for me to get off the fence, decide on who I think will be nominated and share it with you fine people.

Awards Season 2017: Directors' Guild of America (DGA) Awards Nominations

Just a quick update today, as the Directors' Guild Awards announced its shortlist earlier for their Feature Film category. These awards will be handed out on February 4th.

The nominees are:

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Garth Davis (Lion)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By The Sea)

Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

The big surprise here is Garth Davis' inclusion. Lion has been well regarded in this awards season, but generally in the Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor/Actress categories. This is the first mention of Davis as Best Director. Some have called Villeneuve's inclusion a surprise but several other bodies have nominated him (BAFTA and Critics' Choice) so it's not as if it's come out of nowhere.

We get a bit of a break from awards season for a week or so - the next instalment comes on Monday 23rd January when they'll announce the nominees for this year's Razzies. 

Review: Manchester By The Sea (UK Cert 15)

Terse and troubled Boston janitor Lee Chandler's life is thrown into freefall upon the death of his brother Joe. Travelling back to his hometown of Manchester By The Sea to break the news to his sixteen year old nephew Patrick, Lee is shocked to find out that Joe has named him Patrick's legal guardian. To take this up would mean Lee having to return permanently to a town full of ghosts.

This is director Kenneth Lonergan's third feature film, after You Can Count On Me (2000) and Margaret (2011), for which he also wrote the screenplay. At the Golden Globes, Jimmy Fallon described the film in his opening monologue as 'the only thing more depressing than 2016'. And whilst the film is an emotional slog- dealing as it does with grief, loss, and the pain of the past- it's also surprisingly funny in places. There are a couple of moments of levity to lighten the darkness.

Casey Affleck is Oscar-bound for his performance as Lee. It's a taut and muscular performance, very naturalistic. At no point does it ever tip into 'I am acting' territory (the same can be said for all the cast, actually). Lee is a man adrift in the world after a terrible tragedy and thrown into a situation he doesn't know how to deal with. Affleck can say so much with a look; you can almost see the thought processes happen behind his eyes.  He has never been better on film and deserves the awards hype and critical praise he's getting.

So too do Michelle Williams and Lucas Hedges who play Lee's ex-wife Randi and Lee's nephew Patrick. Williams doesn't get a lot of screen-time but is devastatingly effective as a tough woman, later haunted by the past. Hedges is endearingly gauche and geeky as Patrick, although there's much more to the character than that- he gets a few moments of real emotion which are difficult to watch. The rest of the cast are uniformly strong, with particular standout performances by C.J. Wilson as Joe's friend George and Kyle Chandler as Joe (seen primarily in flashback). My only complaint in terms of the casting is having Matthew Broderick pop up towards the end- the scene he's in is very short but it feels like it belongs in a different film.

The script is pretty tight, jumping back and forth in time, so you need to keep your wits about you. It's a weighty, sombre piece, by no means popcorn fodder, but it boasts some of the best performances I've seen on screen for some time. One for drama aficionados.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Manchester By The Sea is on general release from 13th January 2017

Awards Season 2017: BAFTA Film Awards and Producers' Guild Awards (PGA) Nominations

It's a double dose of awards season news today, so let's get right on with it!

* * *

BAFTA FILM AWARDS NOMINATIONS

This morning, the nominations for this year's BAFTA Film Awards was announced by Dominic Cooper and Sophie Turner.

Here is a selection of the nominees::

BEST FILM

Arrival

I, Daniel Blake

La La Land

Manchester By The Sea

Moonlight

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

American Honey

Denial

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

I, Daniel Blake

Notes On Blindness

Under The Shadow

BEST ACTOR

Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea)

Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)

Ryan Gosling (La La Land)

Jake Gyllenhaal (Nocturnal Animals)

Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)

BEST ACTRESS

Amy Adams (Arrival)

Emily Blunt (The Girl On The Train)

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)

Dev Patel (Lion)

Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nocturnal Animals)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Viola Davis (Fences)

Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

Nicole Kidman (Lion)

Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake)

Michelle Williams (Manchester By The Sea)

BEST DIRECTOR

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals)

Ken Loach (I, Daniel Blake)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By The Sea)

Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

A full list of nominees can be found here

La La Land has the most nominations with 11, with Arrival and Nocturnal Animals on 9 apiece.

A couple of surprises here- mostly, the love for Nocturnal Animals. This is Gyllenhaal's first nomination for the film in this awards season- the film's other main cast (Amy Adams, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Michael Shannon) have all been previously recognised by other award bodies. I'm really pleased to see Hayley Squires' nomination as her performance in I, Daniel Blake was stunning; I think Dave Johns can count himself unlucky not to be similarly nominated in what is a very strong field. I'm surprised not to see Ruth Negga nominated for Best Actress for Loving (but that may be down to eligibility issues if the film hasn't been released here yet; it's for that same reason that Paul Verhoeven's Elle isn't in the Best Foreign Language Film category and why Isabelle Huppert was ineligible for nomination for Best Actress).

This year's BAFTA Rising Star award nominees are Laia Costa, Lucas Hedges, Tom Holland, Ruth Negga and Anya Taylor-Joy. This award is voted on by the general public and you can vote for your favourite here.

The BAFTA Film Awards will be handed out on Sunday 12th February at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, once again hosted by the frankly wonderful Stephen Fry.

* * *

PRODUCERS' GUILD OF AMERICA (PGA) AWARDS NOMINATIONS

This morning also saw the announcement of the nominees for the Producers' Guild of America (PGA) Awards. 

Below are the film nominations:

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

Arrival

Deadpool

Fences

Hacksaw Ridge

Hell Or High Water

Hidden Figures

La La Land

Lion

Manchester By The Sea

Moonlight

One big surprise name on this list: Deadpool! All the rest are- or have been- tipped as potential Best Picture Oscar nominees. Maybe the Merc With The Mouth could break the duck and actually stop comic book movies from just getting technical awards? Unlikely, as AMPAS can choose anywhere between five and ten films in a year. Besides, PGA has got previous in recognising 'genre' films (having previously nominated Star Trek, Skyfall and Ex Machina)

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

Finding Dory

Kubo And The Two Strings

Moana

The Secret Life Of Pets

Zootopia

Four of these five films were also nominated for the Best Animated Feature BAFTA earlier today (sorry, The Secret Life Of Pets). Zootopia's been a strong contender this year so I'd expect to see it win here.

Documentary Film

(previously announced)

Dancer

The Eagle Huntress

Life, Animated

O.J.: Made In America

Tower

Unfortunately, I'm only familiar with one of these films- The Eagle Huntress- so I'm unable to give any informed opinion on this.

The PGA Awards will be handed out on Saturday 28th January.


The next stop on the awards season trail will be the announcement of the Directors' Guild of America (DGA) Awards on Thursday (12th January)