'The Big Short' Takes the PGA, Becomes Oscar Frontrunner

Well, we had another shocker here, guys. The year after Birdman stunned everyone by upsetting at the PGA and going on to win the Oscar, now The Big Short takes out the competition and solidifies itself as the Best Picture contender to beat. In fact, I'll go ahead and tell you right now that I trust the PGA winner over every other predictor when it comes to Best Picture, simply because it's matched up the last 7 years in a row. And the Producers Guild uses the same exact ballot that the Academy does and have roughly about the same number of members in its organization- that's why it's been so reliable in recent years. And the truth is it shouldn't be that surprising, considering how well this movie has performed with all the guilds, hitting everywhere it needed to, including in the Oscar nominations. It's clearly the industry's favorite. We've got some more guilds to weigh in, including SAG next weekend, and DGA in a few weeks, but right now I'm saying it's Big Short for Picture and Adam McKay for director. Your best bet is always to stick with the guilds overall, and if it comes down to it, the PGA in particular, and it has now spoken.

2015 PGA WINNERS:

• Feature: The Big Short
• Animated Feature: Inside Out
• Documentary Feature: Amy

Key and Peele Search for 'Keanu' in Their First Movie

Okay, this looks hilarious. The brilliant Comedy Central duo make their movie debut with Keanu, and I'm so there. These guys are awesome.

Kevin Smith Introduces New 'Wonder Woman' Footage

This early look at the 2017 Wonder Woman movie showcases what looks to me like Zack Snyder's typical washed out, slo-mo action, videogame crap in the vein of 300 and everything he's done since. He's not even directing this one, but his signature "style" is all over it. How did a guy like that manage to get his hands on creative control of the DC universe? This is why all the movies with my favorite heroes (I prefer DC guys to Marvel in general), are going to suck so hard. What a shame. If I sound like I'm not giving it a chance, it's because I sat through Man of Steel twice and lived to regret it.

Harley Quinn Showcased in 'Suicide Squad' Trailer

Boy, someone wants to rip off Guardians of the Galaxy, don't they? In the trailer at least. This one takes a totally different tone than the first, super serious teaser did, and it doesn't look half as bad as Batman v Superman- although what could? Not sure though. I think more than half the effect is "Bohemian Rhapsody" playing throughout it. And they're not teasing Batman, who is supposed to show up in this movie, as played by Ben Affleck.

Seth Rogen Takes On a Sorority in 'Neighbors 2'

I wasn't a big fan of the first Neighbors movie, and frankly, this one looks even dumber. But it was a big hit, so maybe this one will continue the series- I'm starting to wonder if Chloe Moretz really has it in her to be a successful actress as an adult though. The best thing she's ever done is still Kick Ass.

Surprise Trailer for 'Cloverfield 2' Comes Out

I'm not sure how many fans there were of this movie, but apparently it's now become a cinematic universe of its own. Yay? I gotta admit, I never saw the first one.

BOX OFFICE 1/15-1/17: 'Ride Along 2' Beats Out 'Star Wars' Over MLK Weekend

The four day weekend proved profitable for the sequel to Kevin Hart's Ride Along, which opened with 41 million over the weekend, off by about 7 million from the first movie's debut. It was pretty dreadfully reviewed, but it managed to dethrone Star Wars' 4-week run at the box office, which fell to third, bringing in 32 million, as its total crept to 858 million through Monday.

Meanwhile, The Revenant benefited from leading the Oscar nominations last week to come in with 39 million, basically a zero percent drop from last week. At this rate, and with Dicaprio's all but certain Oscar win to come, the movie could end up getting close to 175 million or so. The new Michael Bay Benghazi movie 13 Hours opened in fourth with 19 million, and earned over 40 percent of its total from the South. Will Ferrell's Daddy's Home rounded out the top five, having made 132 million to date.

Top 5:

1. Ride Along 2- 41.6 million
2. The Revenant- 39 million
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens- 32.6 million
4. 13 hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi- 19.7 million
5. Daddy's Home- 12 million

In limited release, the movies that benefited most from the Oscar nominations were Spotlight, Brooklyn and Room, which all got boosts and will be expanded further in the weeks to come before Oscar night. The only things opening next week are Dirty Grandpa and The Third Wave, both dumped in this sorry month of releases, likely because they suck. We'll see you next week.

'Mad Max' and '45 Years' Dominate London Critics Circle Winners

The London film critics went all in for Mad Max in Picture and Director, with 45 Years taking top honors for Actor and Actress, along with British/Irish film of the year. Yay for Charlotte Rampling, who got nominated at the Oscars too. 

LONDON CRITICS WINNERS

Film of the year - Mad Max: Fury Road

British/Irish film of the year - 45 Years

Actor of the year - Tom Courtenay (45 Years)

Actress of the year - Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)

Supporting actor of the year - Mark Rylance (Bridge Of Spies)

Supporting actress of the year - Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)

Director of the year: George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Screenwriter of the year - Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

British/Irish actor of the year - Tom Hardy (Legend, London Road, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant)

British/Irish actress of the year - Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn, Lost River)

Young British/Irish performer of the year - Maisie Williams (The Falling)

Documentary of the year - Amy

Dilys Powell award for excellence in film - Sir Kenneth Branagh

Foreign language film of the year - The Look Of Silence

Philip French award for breakthrough British/Irish filmmaker - John Maclean (Slow West)

British/Irish short film of the year: Stutterer

'Mad Max' Leads Critics Choice Wins but 'Spotlight' Takes Best Picture

The BFCA gave out their insanely high number of statuettes last night. Is there a world in which any awards show needs to give out 51 trophies? More than half of them didn't air on the show. But they slobbered all over Mad Max, handing it every tech award and Best Director, but not Best Picture, which they gave to Spotlight, which won just one other award for Screenplay. Those cowardly, cowardly "critics." These are not real critics by the way, they're movie bloggers and video interviewers mostly. And their number one goal is trying to predict what wins the Oscar, so they don't even have the guts to stick with what was clearly their favorite movie. These awards mean nothing to the Oscar race- it's still totally up in the air until the PGA next weekend. Still between Spotlight, Big Short, Revenant and Mad Max. No one has any idea what the industry prefers yet. The best moment of the night was Jacob Tremblay's adorable acceptance speech for Best Young Actor- the rest of the show was an embarrassing mess as usual.

2015 BFCA WINNERS

BEST PICTURE
Spotlight

BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

BEST ACTRESS
Brie Larson, Room

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Jacob Tremblay, Room

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
Spotlight

BEST DIRECTOR
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, The Big Short

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Revenant

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Colin Gibson, Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST EDITING
Margaret Sixel, Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Jenny Beavan, Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Inside Out

BEST ACTION MOVIE
Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Tom Hardy, Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST COMEDY
The Big Short

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Christian Bale, The Big Short

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Amy Schumer, Trainwreck

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE
Ex Machina

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Son of Saul

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Amy

BEST SONG
“See You Again”, Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa, Furious 7

BEST SCORE
Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight

'Room's Jacob Tremblay steals the show

Alan Rickman 1947-2016

Some really sad news today, as the great British actor Alan Rickman passed away at 69, after a battle with cancer. Rickman was a longtime stage actor who made his first screen appearance in 1988's Die Hard, as the terrorist Hans Gruber, one of the most memorable action movie villains in history. After that he became known for roles in all kinds of movies that everyone remembers, from Truly, Madly, Deeply to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Sense and Sensibility, Dogma, Galaxy Quest, Love Actually, Sweeney Todd, and known to a generation of children in every Harry Potter film as Severus Snape. He could move back and forth between comedy and drama with ease, and was known for his deep, drawling, iconic voice. Incredibly, he was never even nominated for an Oscar, having been up for 4 BAFTA awards and won for Robin Hood in 1992.

Trailer for Truly, Madly, Deeply:

Trailer for Die Hard:

Snubs and Surprises of This Year's Oscar Noms

Well, the nominations actually held few outside the box choices in the end, but there was the usual amount of grumbling to contend with. We'll start with outrageous snubs first.

SNUBS

• The return of #OscarSoWhite. Yup, for the second year in a row, the Academy put out a list of zero non-white acting nominations. And it's not like they had no options- Idris Elba had been a strong contender for Beasts of No Nation, Straight Outta Compton had a fine ensemble cast that boasted a great supporting performance from newcomer Jason Mitchell, and then there was Michael B. Jordan in Creed, who was snubbed two years ago for Fruitvale Station. He could have replaced Eddie Redmayne or Bryan Cranston, come on, guys.  Not to mention Will Smith, who failed to get in for Concussion, and Benicio Del Toro, who was so amazing in Sicario. What to make of this? Well, the demographics of the Academy remain impossible to break through apparently- over 90 percent of them are old, white and male, and they just don't seem to think outside their own worldview, probably not even seeing many of these films. But I'm gonna say here that critics should not be left off the hook- they rallied around Mad Max this year and their efforts paid off big time, but no such group effort took off to put some minority contenders in voter's faces, from films like what I mentioned, and indies like Tangerine. The whole industry is to blame here, along with a system that routinely offers hardly any roles for people of color at all and especially women. It remains a sad situation that sees no real change, year after year.
• Ridley Scott getting skunked for The Martian. Not sure what to make of that, really- many thought he had a chance to win, but now the veteran slot belongs to George Miller, who can maybe pull off an upset. I guess the directors just don't like Scott that much? 
• Aaron Sorkin snubbed for his Steve Jobs screenplay- that was a real shocker to me. I expected Tarantino to be rejected this year, but Steve Jobs had pretty much gotten in everywhere except the Scripter, which foretold this I guess. It's too bad- definitely one of the best scripts of the year, but at least they didn't kick out the female screenwriters this time, like they did last year with Gillian Flynn and Gone Girl.
• Since they liked Room so much, I'm surprised they didn't nominate Jacob Tremblay, who really carried that movie, one of the strongest child performances in film history, in my opinion. I wonder if they just couldn't bring themselves to place him in lead, since he really was never a supporting performance at the end of the day.
• Carol left out of Picture/Director, but gets six below the line nominations. This is another problem with the Academy demographics- they've never responded to Todd Haynes movies, no matter what, aside from the performances. He probably will not be recognized from them unless he makes a movie someday about straight, white men, which...yeah. Don't count on it. He's no sellout.

Little Jacob Tremblay should have definitely gotten in for 'Room'

SURPRISES

• Charlotte Rampling makes it into Best Actress! Woo-hoo! She was so great in 45 Years and received nothing except some key critics wins- the Academy paid attention though, just like they did with Marion Cotillard last year. Good choice,but seriously- does Jennifer Lawrence really deserve a fourth nomination in Best Actress for a mixed-negatively reviewed movie? Is she Meryl Streep now, just gets her name checked off by default? They could have gone with Lily Tomlin, Charlize Theron...
• Room's  Lenny Abrahamson getting a Best Director nomination out of nowhere- he really didn't get any precursor love at all for that film, and it's just like the Academy director's branch to pluck out someone like that for recognition. That's a huge boost for the Irish filmmaker's career.
• Straight Outta Compton gets a Screenplay nomination- of course, that's cool and all, but couldn't they have nominated the movie too? 
• Sly Stallone! Many had hoped, but since it was the sole nomination for Creed, and he's, you know, Stallone, it was never a sure thing. But now, and especially after that heartfelt and immediate standing ovation from the Golden Globes crowd the other day, I think he's winning this, don't you? It's the John Wayne in True Grit, "thank you for being you" award. And honestly, I loved him in Creed, so I don't really have a problem with it.
• The Academy does not ignore two female led films and nominates both Brooklyn, my second fave of the year, and Room, which also made my top ten list. Awesome.
• Fun fact: the Razzie nominated 50 Shades of Grey is also an Oscar nominated film now, and why the hell do these people keep nominating that god awful Sam Smith Bond song? Does the music branch not hear their own ears bleeding from the sounds of that mess? And now we have to hear it performed on the telecast? No, academy. Just no.

Ridley Scott and Idris Elba snubbed, Sly gets in

'The Revenant' and 'Mad Max: Fury Road' Lead the 2015 Academy Award Nominations

We're here everyone- the moment of truth. And the truth turned out to be the utter dominance of Alejandro Inarritu's The Revenant, with 12, count 'em, 12 nominations. Following with 10 nods was George Miller's Mad Max, which pretty much hit everywhere, even in places like costumes and production design- I'm betting this is our tech favorite, destined to pick up six trophies in the below the line categories on Oscar night. Carol was shut out of Best Picture and Best Director, but both Room and Brooklyn made it into the top eight, with the shocker being Room's Lenny Abrahamson nodded in director, replacing Ridley Scott, who was snubbed for The Martian, which picked up seven nods, including Matt Damon. And Spotlight did exactly what it needed to, landing six nominations in all the key categories, and getting actors Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams in from the ensemble, which had been having trouble getting its actors nominated anywhere. The Big Short got five nominations too, but it looks to me like this race is between The Revenant and Spotlight, with Big Short as a possible upset? I'll go over the snubs and controversies later.

2015 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS

Best Picture
"The Big Short"
"Bridge of Spies"
"Brooklyn"
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The Martian"
"The Revenant"
"Room"
"Spotlight"

Best Director
Lenny Abrahamson, "Room"
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, "The Revenant"
Tom McCarthy, "Spotlight"
Adam McKay, "The Big Short"
George Miller, "Mad Max: Fury Road"

Best Actor
Bryan Cranston, "Trumbo"
Matt Damon, "The Martian"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant"
Michael Fassbender, "Steve Jobs"
Eddie Redmayne, "The Danish Girl"

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, "Carol"
Brie Larson, "Room"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Joy"
Charlotte Rampling, "45 Years"
Saoirse Ronan, "Brooklyn"

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, "The Big Short"
Tom Hardy, "The Revenant"
Mark Ruffalo, "Spotlight"
Mark Rylance, "Bridge of Spies"
Sylvester Stallone, "Creed"

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh, "The Hateful Eight"
Rooney Mara, "Carol"
Rachel McAdams, "Spotlight"
Alicia Vikander, "The Danish Girl"
Kate Winslet, "Steve Jobs"

'Spotlight' remains a strong contender for the win, but what will the PGA choose?

Best Original Screenplay
"Bridge of Spies"
"Ex Machina"
"Inside Out"
"Spotlight"
"Straight Outta Compton"

Best Adapted Screenplay
"The Big Short"
"Brooklyn"
"Carol"
"The Martian"
"Room"

Best Cinematography
"Carol"
"The Hateful Eight"
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The Revenant"
"Sicario"

Best Costume Design
"Carol"
"Cinderella"
"The Danish Girl"
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The Revenant"

Best Film Editing
"The Big Short"
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The Revenant"
"Spotlight"
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared"
"The Revenant"

'Mad Max' seems to be the frontrunner for nearly every technical category

Best Production Design
"Bridge of Spies"
"The Danish Girl"
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The Martian"
"The Revenant"

Best Score
"Bridge of Spies"
"Carol"
"The Hateful Eight"
"Sicario"
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Best Song
"Fifty Shades of Grey" - "Earned It"
"The Hunting Ground" - "Til it Happens to You"
"Racing Extinction" - "Manta Ray"
"Spectre" - "Writing's on the Wall"
"Youth" - "Simple Song #3"

Best Sound Editing
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The Martian"
"The Revenant"
"Sicario"
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Best Sound Mixing
"Bridge of Spies"
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The Martian"
"The Revenant"
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Best Visual Effects
"Ex Machina"
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The Martian"
"The Revenant"
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

'The Martian' landed seven nominations, but Ridley Scott was shockingly left off the Best Director list

Best Animated Feature
"Anomalisa"
"Boy and the World"
"Inside Out"
"Shaun the Sheep Movie"
"When Marnie Was There"

Best Documentary Feature
"Amy"
"Cartel Land"
"The Look of Silence"
"What Happened, Miss Simone?"
"Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom"

Best Foreign Language Film
"Embrace of the Serpent"
"Mustang"
"Son of Saul"
"Theeb"
"A War"

Best Animated Short
"Bear Story"
"Prologue"
"Sanjay's Super Team"
"We Can’t Live without Cosmos"
"World of Tomorrow"

Best Documentary Short
"Body Team 12"
"Chau, Beyond the Lines"
"Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah"
"A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness"
"Last Day of Freedom"

Best Live Action Short
"Ave Maria"
"Day One"
"Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)"
"Shok"
"Stutterer"

Having made the cut for the nomination, Amy is now the favorite for Best Documentary