Sunday, February 26, 2017

Best of 2016 in Film: The Awards

      (From: L to R: Midnight Special, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Demolition, Ghostbusters, 
       Cafe Society, Captain America: Civil War, Everybody Wants Some!!, Little Sister, Lion
 King Cobra, The Witch, The Neon Demon, Suicide Squad)

Hollywood's annual celebration of the prior year in film returns tonight with the Academy Awards celebrating 2016. For once the Oscars actually did an overall solid selection for the year. Every single film nominated for Best Picture is worthy of that title. The acting categories also are overall very strong as well with the Best Actress category an embarrassment of riches.  2016 overall brought us many treasures and a couple of complete slogs to sit through, but brought us the best film since Blue is the Warmest Color in 2013.

Here are my personal picks for the best of 2016.

Nominees in alphabetical order, winner in bold. (Six nominees in each category, except Best Actress because I am weak, and cannot cut one of them.) 

Best Picture:
Arrival
Elle
La La Land
Other People 
The Edge of Seventeen
Toni Erdmann 

Best Director:
Maren Ade, Toni Erdmann
Andrea Arnold, American Honey
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Robert Eggers, The Witch
Paul Verhoeven, Elle
Denis Villeneuve, Arrival



Best Actress: 
Amy Adams, Arrival
Rebecca Hall, Christine
Sandra Hueller, Toni Erdmann
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Hailee Steinfeld, The Edge of Seventeen
Emma Stone, La La Land



Best Actor:
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Joel Edgerton, Loving
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Connor Jessup, Closet Monster
Peter Simonischek, Toni Erdmann


Best Supporting Actress:
Viola Davis, Fences
Greta Gerwig, 20th Century Women
Gillian Jacobs, Don't Think Twice
Riley Keough, American Honey
Janelle Monae, Moonlight
Molly Shannon, Other People


Best Supporting Actor:
Tom Bennett, Love & Friendship
Alden Ehrenreich, Hail,Caesar!
John Goodman, 10 Cloverfield Lane
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Andre Holland, Moonlight
Ashton Sanders, Moonlight

Original Screenplay:
20th Century Women
Hell or High Water
Manchester by the Sea
Other People
The Edge of Seventeen
Toni Erdmann

Adapted Screenplay:
Arrival
Elle
Fences
Indignation
Love & Friendship
Moonlight

Cinematography:
Arrival
Don't Breathe
Jackie
La La Land
Lion
The Neon Demon

Score:
Arrival
Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice
Elle
Jackie
La La Land
The Neon Demon

Film Editing:
Arrival
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Demolition
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Moonlight

Production Design:
Hail, Caesar!
Jackie
La La Land
Love & Friendship
The Nice Guys
The Witch

List of eligible 2016 films: 
The Forest
The Witch
Hail, Caesar!
Deadpool
Zootopia
How to Be Single
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
10 Cloverfield Lane
Everybody Wants Some!!
Batman vs. Superman
Civil War
The Jungle Book
X-Men: Apocolypse
Neighbors 2
Popstar
The Shallows
Ghostbusters
Indignation
Swiss Army Man
Eddie the Eagle
Maggie's Plan
Don't Breathe 
Bad Moms
Sully
Other People 
American Honey
King Cobra
Hacksaw Ridge
Mascots
Arrival
Café Society
Midnight Special
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Hell or High Water
Finding Dory
Fantastic Beasts 
Moonlight
The Edge of Seventeen
Florence Foster Jenkins
Captain Fantastic
Demolition
Rogue  One
Passengers
Manchester by the Sea
Moana
Love & Friendship
The Nice Guys
Suicide Squad
Goat
Nocturnal Animals
Little Men
La La Land
Little Sister
Elle
Closet Monster
Christine
20th Century Women
Jackie
A Bigger Splash
Alice: Through the Looking Glass
Fences
Lion
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
Don't Think Twice
The Neon Demon
Loving 
Toni Erdmann 


Friday, February 24, 2017

Final Oscar Predictions



Sunday brings us the Academy Awards ceremony celebrating the year 2016 in film. Another year has already flown by, it feels like not that long ago that Leonardo DiCaprio was still without his beloved Oscar. (RIP Leo-Oscar Memes, we will never forget you!)

I'll post my awards for 2016 on Sunday, but overall the Academy did a pretty solid job this year. While the BP nominees aren't the nine films I would of selected, overall there isn't one bad film in the bunch. Fences comes in as the weakest selection for me, but that script is just so powerful that you could never say it was a bad film.

Much has been already said about La La Land joining All About Eve and Titanic as the films with the most Oscar nominations EVER. All About Eve is a Top-5 all-time film in my opinion, and Titanic made enough money to fill up the ocean. La La Land is fantastic and I have a hard time debating its merit as a most-nominated film. Is it an all-time great? Probably not. However it happened to come along at the right time and it is more than worthy of winning Best Picture this year. Oh yeah, spoiler alert of the year, IT'S WINNING.

Best Actress is an extremely solid category this year. I'll be watching Loving between now and Sunday, so I haven't seen Ruth Negga in action yet. I'm sure she is fantastic. Huppert, Stone and Portman all give brilliant performances in their respective films. All would be solid winners most years. Meryl is great in Florence Foster Jenkins as well, even if it wasn't my cup of tea as a film overall. Of course I'll forever be shouting from the rooftops how Amy Adams was robbed for Arrival, but this category is tremendous.

Casey Affleck and Denzel Washington are battling it out in the tightest category of the night for Best Actor. Casey has been an early favorite since Sundance last year, but his personal baggage and subtle role have slowed down his victory roll. The character of Lee Chandler is not a role that usually wins Oscars. The Oscars aren't known for loving subtle performances. Affleck's performance is that towering that he has overcome that hold-up. However his past personal trouble and caveman like appearances on the red carpet have voices speaking up about him losing the prize. His biggest competition is Denzel Washington who has a role that screams "OSCAR!" However Denzel already has two Oscars, he would join rare company in winning a third. I do see Denzel winning a third Oscar before he retires, but does it come this weekend? Garfield and Gosling are fantastic in their roles, but are just here for the party. Viggo is always great in everything, but I hated Captain Fantastic with every fiber of my being. Glad for Viggo to return though. Plus there really was no alternative for sixth place.

The Supporting categories are pretty locked and loaded. Supporting Actress will go to Viola Davis who it feels like has been owed an Oscar since Doubt. Ali will likely be winning Supporting Actor, but watch out for Dev Patel who has a slight chance.

Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea seem likely to be rewarded in the Screenplay categories and it has felt that way for quite awhile now. Lion is a strong dark horse in Adapted against Moonlight, and there is always a strong chance that La La Land sweeps Original Screenplay along with everything else. Wouldn't be shocked at all to see Lion and La La Land win.

For the tech categories I expect La La Land to basically sweep everything with a sound prize or two going to Hacksaw Ridge.

Speaking of Hacksaw Ridge, can we believe that the Academy went for Mel Gibson in Best Director? He directs the hell out of Hacksaw Ridge, but I really never thought he would make his return to any sort of in-crowd event. It will be interesting to see his reception. Either way Chazelle is winning that category.

Final Predictions:

Best Picture: La La Land
Runner-Up: Moonlight

Best Director: Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Runner-Up: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight

Best Actor: Denzel Washington, Fences
Runner-Up: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

Best Actress: Emma Stone, La La Land
Runner-Up: Isabelle Huppert, Elle

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Runner-Up: Dev Patel, Lion

Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis, Fences
Runner-Up: Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

Original Screenplay: Manchester by the Sea by Kenneth Lonergan
Runner-Up: La La Land by Damien Chazelle

Adapted Screenplay: Moonlight by Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney
Runner-Up: Lion by Luke Davies

Cinematography: Linus Sandgren, La La Land
Runner-Up: Greig Fraser, Lion

Costume Design: Mary Zophres, La La Land
Runner-Up: Madeline Fontaine, Jackie

Sound Mixing: Hacksaw Ridge
Runner-Up: La La Land

Film Editing: Tom Cross, La La Land
Runner-Up: Joe Walker, Arrival

Sound Editing: Hacksaw Ridge
Runner-Up: La La Land

Visual Effects: The Jungle Book
Runner-Up: Doctor Strange

Make-Up and Hairstyling: Star Trek Beyond
Runner-Up: Suicide Squad

Original Song: "City of Stars" from La La Land
Runner-Up: "How Far I'll Go" from Moana

Original Score: Justin Hurwitz, La La Land
Runner-Up: Thomas Newman, Passengers

Documentary: 13th
Runner-Up: O.J.: Made in America

Foreign Language Film: The Salesman
Runner-Up: Toni Erdmann

Animated Feature: Zootopia
Runner-Up: The Red Turtle

Production Design: La La Land
Runner-Up: Passengers

Enjoy the show!