Tom Holland Returns as Spidey in 'Spider-Man: Far From Home'

So I guess with the release of this trailer they’re not worried about spoiling the fact that Peter is not dead, as Infinity War tried to make us believe. I know no one was buying that anyway, but in order to get promotion out for the movie, they can’t even pretend. I actually really liked the last Spider-Man movie, so I’m looking forward to this, even if the villain looks pretty generic. I always want them to go through with an actual romance in one these movies, but this looks like it’ll be flirting between him and Zendaya’s non-canon “MJ,” until he gets distracted by the plot and it doesn’t go anywhere. Sigh. What was I expecting? It’s Marvel. They hate romance.

'Roma' Wins Best Picture and Director At Critics Choice Awards

Roma was the big winner with the BFCA tonight, unsurprisingly, since it’s been the overwhelming favorite for the critics all season. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s ahead with the Oscars though. This is the end of the critics season, and now the industry starts to weigh in, beginning next Saturday with the PGA. That’s when we’ll really find out what could be the winner in the Oscar race. In other areas, Christian Bale won Best Actor twice with the critics tonight, and Glenn Close and Lady Gaga tied for Best Actress, while Olivia Colman won in the comedy category. That race is definitely coming down to SAG. The screenplay awards might be open, as the BFCA chose the non-frontrunner in both categories, with First Reformed and If Beale Street Could Talk over BlacKkKlansman and The Favourite or Green Book. We’ll have to see what the WGA and BAFTA do for those.

• BEST PICTURE: “Roma”

• BEST DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón – “Roma”

• BEST ACTOR: Christian Bale – “Vice”

• BEST ACTRESS – TIE: Glenn Close – “The Wife” & Lady Gaga – “A Star Is Born”

• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Mahershala Ali – “Green Book”

• BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Regina King – “If Beale Street Could Talk”

• BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS: Elsie Fisher – “Eighth Grade”

• BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE: “The Favourite”

• BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: “First Reformed”

• BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: “If Beale Street Could Talk”

• BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: “Roma”

• BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: “Black Panther”

• BEST EDITING: “First Man”

• BEST COSTUME DESIGN: “Black Panther”

• BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP: “Vice”

• BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: “Black Panther”

• BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”

• BEST ACTION MOVIE: “Mission: Impossible – Fallout”

• BEST COMEDY: “Crazy Rich Asians”

• BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY: Christian Bale – “Vice”

• BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY: Olivia Colman – “The Favourite”

• BEST SCI-FI OR HORROR MOVIE: “A Quiet Place”

• BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: “Roma”

• BEST SONG: Shallow – “A Star Is Born”

• BEST SCORE: “First Man”

Crazy Rich Asians won Best Comedy Movie- would not have been my choice

Lightning Round Reviews 2018: January, Part 1

Yes, I’m still catching up on the movies from last year, and I’m going to try to get several of these review round-ups out this month (I still have to make my top ten!). So here’s part one:

YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE * (Dir. Lynne Ramsay)

Quite honestly one of the worst movies I saw last year

I hate to use the term “pretentious arthouse drivel,” thinking it’s a (mostly) unfair way to disparage well-intentioned, innovative filmmakers who are trying to do something different than your usual cliched storytelling, but in some cases, that is entirely what comes to mind and I just can’t shake it. Lynne Ramsey, who garnered a lot of attention for 2011’s We Need to Talk About Kevin, is back with a story about a traumatized veteran who finds missing girls and hurts the bad guys who kidnap them, but this time falls into a conspiracy surrounding the particular kidnapping of the daughter of a state senator. Sounds like a fairly basic revenge action plot, right? Well it is, but this movie is not about the plot. It’s also not about the the acting, the characters, or the dialogue. What it is is an excuse to string together some well lit scenes that add up to virtually nothing while Joaquin Phoenix struggles to hold together this flat, emotionless, cypher of a movie that has no interest in engaging the audience on even the most minimal storytelling level. People stare off into the distance, mumble their dialogue (I had no idea what was happening or being said in a crucial death scene) and move aimlessly from one scene to the next with no throughline to carry any semblance of story to a conclusion or involve us, the audience, in what’s taking place onscreen. Like I said, there are some well lit, nicely staged shots here, like an underwater burial/suicide attempt, yet no single scene holds any significance or meaning- this is all just one long, hollow attempt at “artfulness” for its own sake, making it impossible to care about anything or anyone in this film. Skip it if you value your time.

FIRST MAN * * * 1/2 (Dir. Damien Chazelle)

An elegiac retelling of Neil Armstrong and the moon landing

The moon landing is one of those seminal events in history that feels inevitable. Of course that happened, and of course we walked on the moon. And then we eventually lost interest in space flight and exploration, NASA funding decreased and now those long ago ideals espoused by President Kennedy are nothing but the goals of another, more optimistic time. But it’s easy to forget how uncertain it all was, and how the moon landing in reality was anything but inevitable, encompassing the deaths of multiple men in the years leading up to Apollo 11. Damien Chazelle’s ambitious biopic of Neil Armstrong and that crucial mission takes all of this seriously and soberly, as it documents Neil’s evergreen professionalism and impenetrable facade as he prepares for the moonshot in the years following the death of his three-year-old daughter. Ryan Gosling plays Armstrong, but is a bit too boyish and young seeming for the role- even at the right age, he doesn’t quite convey the weight or depth of experience needed to embody Armstrong’s sturdiness, and I couldn’t help but wish that Jason Clarke, who plays fellow astronaut and Neil’s friend Ed White, had been cast as the lead instead. In spite of this however, First Man feels like an intimate epic, a realistic docudrama recalling the dangers and trials of each and every test run, with Claire Foy stellar in support as Janet Armstrong, who in contrast to Gosling, disappears into the part and is entirely convincing as a 1960’s housewife married to an inscrutable man and left to mind the family while he ascends further and further away from them. After showing such talent and potential with Whiplash and La La Land, Chazelle partners once more with composer Justin Hurwitz (whose majestic score is easily the year’s most memorable) to create what is his most complete and fully realized film, with the moon landing itself an incredible climactic sequence filled with breathtaking visual splendor and existential awe. Chazelle sees this as a celebratory moment for all of humanity, rather than simply an American one, and he has made a grounded yet soaring, very humane movie to document that spectacular feat, and all the promise it once held.

BURNING * * * 1/2 (Dir. Lee Chang-dong)

A strange, sensuous cinematic experience

Lee Chang-dong’s Burning is the cinematic equivalent of an autostereogram whose image never quite emerges. It’s elliptical, vague and prone to many meanings and interpretations, not that you can ever piece together the puzzle in a way that fits exactly. For all we know, there are no answers to this riddle. Lee Jong-su, a young man and aspiring novelist in South Korea, happens to meet a free spirited young woman named Shin Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo) by chance one day, and falls into a vaguely romantic relationship with her until she brings home another man she met on a trip to Africa. He’s Ben, played by Steven Yeun and compared by Jong-su to Jay Gatsby, a mysteriously rich patron who finds Jong-su and Hae-mi “interesting,” from far above his perch in the upper class elite. The dynamic between the three of them is complicated and appears to be evolving, but just when you think this is a kind of Jules and Jim-esque triangle, the plot flips on its head and now we’re in a Hitchcockian thriller. Or are we? The fascinating thing about Burning is the experience of the film after it’s over. To give yourself to it fully you need to be able to dissect what you’ve seen in retrospect, really pay attention to what might have been hinted at in the slow, methodic burn of the first half, and then second guess seemingly bizarre moments from later on that may not have meant what they did at first glance. Is anything straightforward or objective in this dreamlike mystery of reality? I have my theories. You will undoubtedly have yours. Chang-dong films masterfully in haunting sequences that elude your grasp as you start to lose yourself in the possible meanings, while subtly portraying the seeds of discontent and class resentment in South Korean society. Steven Yeun in particular is captivating as the mysterious Ben, whose charisma and presence confounds Jong-su and Hae-mi for good reason. The title is apt for the questions and symbolism left unanswered by the film, and possibly unanswerable. But it is mesmerizing, all the same.

RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET * * 1/2 (Dir. Rich Moore & Phil Johnston)

Ralph and Vanellope’s return was a bit of a letdown

I always thought the world created in 2011’s Wreck-it Ralph lent itself to potentially endless sequels, by introducing us to a universe of video game arcade characters that live and hang out in a kind of city behind the scenes at night when the machines are closed down, like the toys in Toy Story. It seemed like there could be limitless possibilities for characters to meet and stories to tell in that world. I didn’t imagine that the creative team would instead decided to make a sequel about Ralph’s creepily obsessive and possessive relationship with Vanellope that would border on abusive if they hadn’t significantly altered aspects of the character that we met in the first film, but apparently that was the story they really wanted to tell. In theory, it could be interesting. Ralph in the first movie was a mean loner with anger issues who hates being the villain of his game and wants a friend, which finally happens when he and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), the best racer of the Sugar Rush game, bond, but in this movie they’ve become inseparable and his overt neediness and insecurity bind him to her so much that he wants to crush her dreams of leaving her game and finding a life somewhere else (in this case, the world of online gaming with more varied and unpredictable races for her to run). Ralph (still played by John C. Reilly) has become noticeably dumber in this film, likely to hide the fact that if his defining character trait was still anger and temper tantrums, his obsession with Vanellope would be considerably more disturbing. But this is a kids movie (a Disney one at that) and that was always going to be the case, so why then was the weirdly unhealthy relationship between these two the central focus of this film to begin with? I think the writers and directors wanted to tell a more complex story (in lieu of having a standard villain for example), but the more adult oriented themes they’re trying to insert don’t mesh well with the fundamental jokey innocence of the world these movies are set in. On the surface level, the plot involves Ralph and Vanellope going into the internet to find a part for her broken arcade game, but the references and jokes pulled from this setting are pretty lame, and the much hyped Disney princess scene feels like an odd mockery of Disney’s past, at its own expense (really, Disney? You’re going to diss your own properties like that?). It also can’t go into the real dark side of the internet, as the nasty comments Ralph finds about himself are the mildest imaginable, and a forage into the Dark Web reveals only mean viruses rather than, you know, the illegal criminal activity that really goes on in the dark web. But again, it’s a Disney kids movie, which begs the question, why go near this stuff to begin with? This movie was about half the movie it wanted to be, but with no possibility that it would have ever been allowed to be more than that. So why make it at all?

,

THE FAVOURITE * * 1/2 (Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)

Not a huge fan of this one, but Emma Stone’s never been better

The Favourite is a dark, nasty, mean little period piece about Queen Anne (who sat on the English throne in the early 18th century) and the women who battled each other (quite literally) for her favor. Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz are the rival ladies-in-waiting, distant cousins who play every angle they can in order to survive in the harsh, cold world of the late 1600’s/early 1700’s, a place unkind to most people, but especially cruel to women, who are used, raped, tossed aside and thrown around at every turn. Stone is Abigail, a former member of the nobility who was sold into servitude by her father to pay his debts and will now do anything to crawl her way back up, befriending and even seducing the monarch by any means necessary. Weisz is Sarah, the lifelong friend and lover of Anne, who manipulates, controls and babysits the childish Queen, while using her position as the royal favorite and wife of a general, Lord Marlborough, to essentially rule the country and make political decisions. Yorgos Lanthimos, who made The Lobster, directs this backbiting chamber drama with a rabidly unsentimental eye and a frank, cruel touch, with not a single character worth rooting for as they go about the business of seduction and maneuvering their way into power. You feel the stakes are high, with the dangers of being outside the hand of power spelled out in the candid, brutal reality of life as an unmarried, poor woman at the mercy of men, but the savage cruelty and humiliation on display makes for an uncomfortable experience rather than a darkly comedic one at times. The splendid costumes and production design are top notch and the tour de force performances from all three leads, Stone, Weisz and Coleman make for a sight to behold, but the sour note struck by the tone isn’t exactly enjoyable to sit through. It’s an admirably made, wonderfully acted, cleverly written film, but one that is very hard to like, and made me feel a bit turned off. 

ROMA * * * * (Dir. Alfonso Cuaron)

Cuaron’s masterpiece will stand the test of time

When Alfonso Cuaron decided to go back to his home country to make a personal, intimate film after the success of the big budget Hollywood sci-fi Gravity, few could have predicted he would turn out the most poetic film of his career, a towering achievement in filmmaking that stands on par with the masterworks of Fellini and Bergman, like Amarcord or Fanny and Alexander. This is a personal, intimate movie with the look and feel of an epic, shot in breathtaking black and white (Cuaron did the cinematography himself) and filmed through the lens of nostalgic memory, a love letter to the women who raised him as child in early 1970’s Mexico. 25-year-old Yalitza Aparicio, in her screen debut, plays Cleo, who works as a live-in housemaid and nanny to an upper middle class family with four children. Her experiences in this house play out as the wonderment of minutia, covering a year in the life of a woman who has a loving relationship with this family, yet the class differences between herself, her fellow maid and her employers are starkly illustrated through subtle interactions of human behavior. You might mistake this look at life in Mexico at a certain time for a kind of neorealist approach, but Cuaron is far too much of a stylistic showman for that, filming in his signature long takes and steady camerawork, following over ever expansive locations, capturing the richness of life and filling the screen with details to consume multiple viewings as you let this miraculous experience wash over you. There are sequences in this movie that are unforgettable, from a meticulously staged riot as seen through an upper floor department store window, to a stunning rescue of children lost in the too strong waves of a low tide, to the topping of his own previous graphic childbirth scene from Children of Men in a tragic incident that marks a turning point in Cleo’s young life. The stunning filmmaking aside, Roma exists as a powerful tribute to a woman overlooked by society, a woman whose existence as a servant in the home of a well off family is one of thousands in Mexican and Latin American society, the anonymous women who come from indigenous villages for the chance to work in these homes in exchange for room and board, and are never paid more than a moment’s notice. Cuaron took notice however, and this is his testimonial to the maid he grew up with, as well as to his mother and grandmother, who had to step up and do the work of raising and supporting the family after being abandoned by his father. Cleo faces her own abandonment by a selfish, cruel man and must face the consequences alone, though the family once more bands together to support her in the way they know how. Long after this experience is over, it’s Cleo’s face that haunts your memory, as these childhood memories haunt Cuaron, her silent suffering, dignity and perseverance a searing endorsement of the power of love in all its forms.

Costume Designers & Makeup Guilds Announced

The Costume Designers Guild and Makeup & Hairstyling have announced their nominees for 2018. These two guilds don’t indicate much of anything except their own categories- they aren’t so much bellwethers for Best Picture strength, since Oscar nominees can often not even be BP nominees at all. But as for what will make it in at the Oscars, I’m going to guess Black Panther, The Favourite, Mary Poppins Returns, Crazy Rich Asians and Nutcracker for costumes, and Bohemian Rhapsody, Vice and Stan & Ollie for Makeup & Hair.

CDG NOMINEES

Period Film

Black Panther’s elaborate costumes will likely manage an Oscar nod

• BlacKkKlansman

• Bohemian Rhapsody

• The Favourite

• Mary Poppins Returns

• Mary, Queen of Scots

Fantasy Film

• A Wrinkle in Time

• Aquaman

• Avengers: Infinity War

• Black Panther

• The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

Contemporary Film

• A Star is Born

• Crazy Rich Asians

• Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

• Ocean’s 8

• Widows

MAKEUP ARTISTS & HAIRSTYLING GUILD NOMINEES

This is a guess on my part, but The Academy tends to like the fat suit effect

Best Special Makeup Effects 
Aquaman
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Black Panther 
Stan & Ollie 
Vice 

Best Contemporary Makeup 
Beautiful Boy 
Boy Erased
Crazy Rich Asians
A Star is Born
Welcome to Marwen
Widows

Contemporary doesn’t usually make it in, but the costumes in Crazy Rich Asians were maybe the one thing I liked about it

Best Contemporary Hair Styling 
Crazy Rich Asians
Nappily Ever After
A Star is Born
Vox Lux
Widows

Best Period And/Or Character Makeup 
Bohemian Rhapsody
Mary Poppins Returns
Mary Queen of Scots
Stan & Ollie
Vice

Best Period And/Or Character Hair Styling
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody 
Mary Poppins Returns
Mary Queen of Scots

'The Favourite' Leads the BAFTA Nominations

BAFTA noms are officially here! The British Film Academy Awards count as an industry award, because there’s significant overlap with AMPAS voters. Aside from The Favourite doing well here, which everyone knew would happen, the biggest takeaways for me are 1) the continuing strength of BlacKkKlansman- it’s hit everywhere (most didn’t know if it would do so well with the Brits) and I’m seriously starting to wonder if it could be the stealth Best Picture winner after all; if the movie were to win the PGA or SAG ensemble (or both), it could easily become the frontrunner, 2) the mini-resurgence of First Man after it’s decent guild run- no Best Picture nomination but lots of tech nods, so there’s still a chance for this movie to pop up as a Picture nominee on Oscar morning, and 3) the near shutout of Black Panther, which only got in for visual effects. The superhero bias is still inherent and I shouldn’t have fooled myself over its chances to win.

BEST PICTURE
“BlacKkKlansman”
“The Favourite”
“Green Book”
“Roma”
“A Star is Born”

BEST DIRECTOR
Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman”
Pawel Pawlikowski, “Cold War”
Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Favourite”
Alfonso Cuaron, “Roma”
Bradley Cooper, “A Star is Born”

BEST ACTOR
Bradley Cooper, “A Star is Born”
Christian Bale, “Vice”
Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Steve Coogan, “Stan & Ollie”
Viggo Mortensen, “Green Book”

BEST ACTRESS
Glenn Close, “The Wife”
Lady Gaga, “A Star is Born”
Melissa McCarthy, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Olivia Colman, “The Favourite”
Viola Davis, “Widows”

Viola Davis lands a surprise nod for Widows while the British Emily Blunt is snubbed for Mary Poppins- there’s definitely a slot open in Best Actress for the Oscar nominations and I still think it could go to Yalitza Aparicio

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Adam Driver, “BlacKkKlansman”
Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”
Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Sam Rockwell, “Vice”
Timothee Chalamet, “Beautiful Boy”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, “Vice”
Claire Foy, “First Man”
Emma Stone, “The Favourite”
Margot Robbie, “Mary Queen of Scots”
Rachel Weisz, “The Favourite”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Janusz Glowacki, Pawel Pawlikowski, “Cold War”
Deborah Davis, Tony Mcnamara, “The Favourite”
Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, “Green Book”
Alfonso Cuaron, “Roma”
Adam McKay, “Vice”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel, Kevin Wilmott, “BlacKkKlansman”
Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Josh Singer, “First Man”
Barry Jenkins, “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters, Eric Roth, “A Star is Born”

Cold War keeps popping up in certain areas- could it get a surprise Best Director nomination from the Academy?

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Newton Thomas Sigel, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Lukasz Zal, “Cold War”
Robbie Ryan, “The Favourite”
Linus Sandgren, “First Man”
Alfonso Cuaron, “Roma”

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“Mary Queen of Scots”

BEST FILM EDITING
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“First Man”
“Roma”
“Vice”

BEST MAKE UP & HAIR
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“Mary Queen of Scots”
“Stan & Ollie”
“Vice”

Claire Foy makes it in for First Man and the movie gets 7 nominations- but no score for Justin Hurwitz??? Supposed supporting actress frontrunner Regina King was also inexplicably snubbed here like she was at SAG- I think she’ll still make it at the Oscars, but it’s a mystery how Beale Street is playing with the Academy

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”
“The Favourite”
“First Man”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“Roma”

BEST SCORE
“BlacKkKlansman”
“If Beale Street Could Talk”
“Isle of Dogs”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“A Star is Born”

BEST SOUND
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“First Man”
“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”
“A Quiet Place”
“A Star is Born”

BEST SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
“Avengers: Infinity War”
“Black Panther”
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”
“First Man”
“Ready Player One”

BEST ANIMATED FILM
“Incredibles 2”
“Isle of Dogs”
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”

BEST DOCUMENTARY
“Free Solo”
“McQueen”
“RBG”
“They Shall Not Grow Old”
“Three Identical Strangers”

Lauded with nods, but the Brits couldn’t bring themselves to nominate Bohemian Rhapsody in Best Film overall, so congratulations to them for having some shame

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Capernaum”
“Cold War”
“Dogman”
“Roma”
“Shoplifters”

BEST BRITISH FILM
“Beast”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“McQueen”
“Stan & Ollie”
“You Were Never Really Here”

BEST DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Daniel Kokotajlo (writer/director), “Apostasy”
Michael Pearce (writer/director), “Beast”
Chris Kelly (writer/director/producer), “A Cambodian Spring”
Leanne Welham (writer/director), Sophie Harman (producer), “Pili”
Richard Billingham (writer/director), Jacquie Davies (producer), “Ray & Liz”

BEST BRITISH ANIMATED SHORT
“I’m OK”
“Marfa”
“Roughhouse”

BEST BRITISH LIVE-ACTION SHORT
“73 Cows”
“Bachelor”
“The Blue Door”
“The Field”
“Wale”

John C. Reilly had gotten some mentions for Stan & Ollie, but the Brits went for hometown boy Steve Coogan in Best Actor for the film, which was also nominated for Best British Film and Makeup

2018 DGA Nominees Announced

Yay, Spike Lee! Gets his first ever DGA nomination and headed towards his first ever Oscar nomination, if you can believe it. The Directors Guild is the most important guild for Best Picture, because this tells us what five movies can actually win the top Oscar. Even if all five directors don’t get nominated (they might, but the directors branch is quirky and might replace McKay with someone else), these are the movies that are the top five overall. The only surprise here is probably Adam McKay, which tells us Vice is much stronger than we might have thought (I thought that was on the edge of a BP nomination- now it’d be a surprise if it doesn’t get in). And the snub of Ryan Coogler tells us Black Panther is not a top five pick after all, which makes it unlikely that it could win Best Picture now. With that, Roma, A Star is Born and BlacKkKlansman are the only movies to hit all the major guilds. I think Best Picture will be one of those.

2018 DGA NOMINEES

• Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born

• Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

• Peter Farrelly, Green Book

• Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman

• Adam McKay, Vice

FIRST-TIME DIRECTOR NOMINEES

• Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade

• Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born

• Carlos Lopez Estrada, Blindspotting

• Matthew Heineman, A Private War

• Boots Riley, Sorry to Bother You

Writing, Editing, Production Design and Cinematography Guild Nominations Announced

Whole bunch of guild nominations coming at you today. We’ll start with the WGA, which nominates the best screenplays of the year and is usually a strong sign for Oscar nominations, unless the script was ineligible for union reasons (like The Favourite this year).

WGA NOMINATIONS

Will Can You Ever Forgive Me get that script nod on Oscar morning?

Adapted Screenplay

• BlacKkKlansman

• Black Panther

• Can You Ever Forgive Me?

• If Beale Street Could Talk

• A Star is Born

No big surprises here- most likely all of these will repeat at the Oscars, since most are inevitable Best Picture nominees, although I suppose there’s a chance that The Death of Stalin could replace Can You Ever Forgive Me (but both are very writerly movies, so it’s a tough call). Black Panther could miss as well, but unlikely I think, since it’s surely a BP nominee.

Original Screenplay

I don’t think this movie makes it into the Oscar nominations

• Eighth Grade

• Green Book

• A Quiet Place (left)

• Roma

• Vice

These will be the same except for A Quiet Place, which I can almost guarantee will be replaced by The Favourite. I think Eighth Grade might also be a little vulnerable to something like First Reformed, but that should have been eligible here. I’m really surprised that didn’t make it. The Academy writers branch might correct that oversight.

ACE (EDDIE) NOMINATIONS

This is another all important guild for the Best Picture winner. The biggest snub here was Black Panther, since it’s very tough to win without a guild editing nomination (and it loses out to Bohemian Rhapsody? Should have been stronger than that). The rest were mostly expected, and it’s nice to see First Man get in somewhere. I still wonder if that’s a dark horse Best Picture contender (for a nomination I mean). It should also be noted that BlacKkKlansman is having no trouble making it into every guild, so that could also be a stealth BP contender for the win, especially if it could win something big, like the SAG award.

Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic)

First Man has a nice guild run today

• BlacKkKlansman

• Bohemian Rhapsody

• First Man

• Roma

• A Star is Born

Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy)

• Crazy Rich Asians

• Deadpool 2

• The Favourite

• Green Book

• Vice

ADG NOMINATIONS

The art directors! This is a guild that’s less important for Best Picture, it mostly just signifies what’s ahead for the production design award (and there could be surprises there on Oscar morning too- not everything that made it in here slips through with the Academy art directors). But there’s Bohemian Rhapsody again, showing that strength across the entire industry. My guess for the five Oscar picks would be Black Panther, The Favourite, Roma, Mary Poppins Returns and maybe Fantastic Beasts?

Period Film

Can this movie be stopped? It’s showing up everywhere

• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

• Bohemian Rhapsody

• The Favourite

• First Man

• Roma

Fantasy Film

• Black Panther

• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

• The House With a Clock in its Walls

• Mary Poppins Returns

• Ready Player One

Contemporary Film

• A Quiet Place

• A Star is Born

• Crazy Rich Asians

• Mission: Impossible- Fallout

• Welcome to Marwen

ASC NOMINATIONS

Cold War rightfully acknowledged for its cinematography

• Roma

• A Star is Born

• The Favourite

• First Man

• Cold War

Finally, the cinematographers weigh in, with a guild that can occasionally signal just how strong certain movies are, if something got in that didn’t strike you as having great cinematography, necessarily. But here the obvious snubs would be Black Panther and If Beale Street Could Talk, while the surprise might be Cold War (it did have stunning cinematography) and hey, First Man again. Hmm. Adding that all up, the only movie to hit every guild so far is A Star is Born, with BlacKkKlansman right behind it, having hit all but the ASC.

'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Green Book' Win Best Picture Prizes at Golden Globes

Welp. I guess the Globes didn’t like A Star is Born after all. This insane love for Bohemian Rhapsody, one of the worst reviewed movies to ever be in the awards conversation, is quite something. I need to see this thing. Can it really be that bad and if so, why do so many people seem to love it so much? Amazing. On the comedy side, the love for Green Book wasn’t totally unexpected (I thought they’d like The Favourite more), but that one is also running headfirst into some major backlash from critics and press who firmly believe it’s a white savior movie of the kind that would have been made decades ago, that we should have outgrown by now. So basically, the Globes give NO direction to the Oscars over what to go for this year (and voting for nominations starts tomorrow). I’d say this ought to be huge boost for Roma- if the Academy sees this and wants to pick a GOOD movie to win the top film prize of 2018, there’s a solid masterpiece sitting right in front of them, awarding the opportunity. Consider that, please. And if “popularity” is the biggest concern, due to the feeling that high art movies have no connection to audiences anymore, well- Black Panther’s right there too. Either one of those are legitimate- these Globe choices are not.

• BEST SCORE: First Man

• BEST SONG: “Shallow,” A Star is Born

• BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

• BEST SCREENPLAY: Green Book

• BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM: Roma

• BEST ACTOR DRAMA: Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

• BEST ACTRESS DRAMA: Glenn Close, The Wife

• BEST  ACTOR COMEDY/MUSICAL: Christian Bale, Vice

• BEST ACTRESS COMEDY/MUSICAL: Olivia Colman, The Favourite

• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Mahershala Ali, Green Book

• BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

• BEST DRIECTOR: Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

• BEST PICTURE DRAMA: Bohemian Rhapsody

• BEST PICTURE COMEDY/MUSICAL: Green Book

In other news, Glenn Close upset Lady Gaga for Best Actress and gave a really moving speech, so I think the Oscar is between her and Olivia Colman (and it’ll probably be whoever wins the SAG). A career award for Glenn wouldn’t be a terrible thing, after so many nominations (seven!) and not a win to her name. And it looks like Rami Malek has a really strong shot at the Oscar, but again, it’ll come down to SAG. Christian Bale is still in the running for that too, I think.

Glenn Close gives a moving acceptance speech for Best Actress- down to her or Olivia Colman for the Oscar

National Society of Film Critics Choose 'The Rider' As Best of 2018

So here it is, the last of the four major critics groups picked The Rider for Best Picture this afternoon, followed by Roma and Burning in second and third place. That’s an interesting choice. I guess to need to see this movie, huh? (It was also on Obama’s best movie list, so I think I’ll have to weigh in on it). I also love the nods here to The Death of Stalin in screenplay and Steven Yeun, who really is great in Burning.

• Best Picture: The Rider

• Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

• Best Actor: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed

• Best Actress: Olivia Colman, The Favourite

• Best Supporting Actor: Steven Yeun, Burning

• Best Supporting Actress: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

• Best Screenplay: The Death of Stalin

• Best Cinematography: Roma

• Best Foreign-Language Film: Roma

• Best Documentary: Minding the Gap

Golden Globe Predictions for Sunday

This weekend is the Golden Globes and it’s time to do predictions! These are fun, because they tend to be all over the place and the Globe winner for Best Picture is not necessarily the Oscar winner (there’s about a 50/50 ratio over the years). The Hollywood Foreign Press sometimes like big stars and more Euro-centric films, but occasionally they go indie too. I’ve noticed they tend to flip back and forth in recent years, depending on what they’re trying to prove, although since it’s a group of just 100 foreign journalists, they are always susceptible to the nominees and publicists who woo them the most. Let’s see how well (or not) I can read these guys this year.

BEST PICTURE (DRAMA)

• BlacKkKlansman

• Black Panther

• Bohemian Rhapsody

• If Beale Street Could Talk

• A Star is Born

I think this is between Black Panther and A Star is Born, although BlacKkKlansman has a chance as well. And this is really tough actually- I think A Star is Born is more of a Globes-y pick and it has a lot more nominations, like directing and acting, but with Black Panther being such a phenomenon this year, can it be denied? 

Winner: A Star is Born

Alternate: Black Panther

Dark Horse: BlacKkKlansman

BEST PICTURE (COMEDY/MUSICAL)

• Crazy Rich Asians

• The Favourite

• Green Book

• Mary Poppins Returns

• Vice

This one’s even harder for me. The HFPA obviously loved Vice, but the nominations were in before the movie’s reviews came out, which were quite mixed. Will that make the voters wary of picking it? The Favourite has been quite popular, especially with overseas voters, but it missed a director nomination here, so maybe it’s not as strong. Green Book has all the right nominations, including director and screenplay. Could that win? They still love musicals traditionally, so could it even be Mary Poppins Returns? I honestly don’t know. I’ll have to go with the one that has the most nominations.

Winner: Vice

Alternate: Green Book

Dark Horse: The Favourite


BEST ACTRESS- DRAMA

• Glenn Close, The Wife

• Lady Gaga, A Star is Born

• Nicole Kidman, Destroyer

• Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

• Rosamund Pike, A Private War

I think this is easily Lady Gaga, right? Such a Globes style pick and they loved the movie. 

Winner: Lady Gaga

Alternate: Glenn Close

BEST ACTOR- DRAMA

• Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born

• Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate

• Lucas Hedges, Boy Erased

• Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

• John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman

This one has to be between Bradley Cooper and Rami Malek. I’m honestly not sure, because I think A Star is Born will win in other places, so will it win everywhere? Malek’s movie was a huge hit and it got a Best Picture nomination here too. I think this is a coin toss.

Winner: Bradley Cooper

Alternate: Rami Malek

BEST ACTRESS- COMEDY/MUSICAL

• Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns

• Olivia Colman, The Favourite

• Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade

• Charlize Theron, Tully

• Constance Wu, Crazy Rich Asians

This is either Olivia Colman or Emily Blunt, and I’m going with Colman, given the The Favourite’s critical acclaim. But Blunt’s not a wild card choice, she’s pretty loved by the Globes, and musicals have historically been popular with them.

Winner: Olivia Colman

Alternate: Emily Blunt

BEST ACTOR- COMEDY/MUSICAL

• Christian Bale, Vice

• Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Poppins Returns

• Viggo Mortensen, Green Book

• Robert Redford, The Old Man and the Gun

• John C. Reilly, Stan & Ollie

It’s definitely Mortensen or Bale, and given the level of Christian Bale’s physical transformation, I think that gives him the edge. 

Winner: Christian Bale

Alternate: Viggo Mortenson

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Amy Adams, Vice

• Claire Foy, First Man

• Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

• Emma Stone, The Favourite

• Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

I think this is Amy Adams or Regina King, but the Globes love Amy Adams, so I think she’ll probably win. It could also be one of the two from The Favourite, but there being two of them likely cancels each other out.

Winner: Amy Adams

Alternate: Regina King

Dark Horse: Rachel Weisz


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Mahershala Ali, Green Book

• Timothee Chalamet, Beautiful Boy

• Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman

• Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

• Sam Rockwell, Vice

I’m thinking Mahershala Ali here, for Green Book, but Adam Driver or Richard E. Grant has a chance too. I also wonder what else BlacKkKlansman could win, if they want to spread the wealth at all.

Winner: Mahershala Ali

Alternate: Adam Driver

Dark Horse: Richard E. Grant

BEST DIRECTOR

• Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born

• Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

• Peter Farrelly, Green Book

• Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman

• Adam McKay, Vice

So I assume that Cuaron is going to sweep the directing awards this whole season, and it’ll start here. Roma isn’t up for Picture because the Globes inexplicably ban movies in foreign languages from being submitted in the Best Picture categories (I know- insane, right?). But they’ll make up for that by giving him Best Director. I suppose Spike Lee does have a chance here, and possibly Bradley Cooper, if they love that movie enough (and he doesn’t win Best Actor).

Winner: Alfonso Cuaron

Alternate: Bradley Cooper

Dark Horse: Spike Lee

BEST SCREENPLAY

• Roma

• The Favourite

• If Beale Street Could Talk

• Vice

• Green Book

This is where I think Vice will win, but The Favourite could easily take this too.

Winner: Vice

Alternate: The Favourite

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• Incredibles 2

• Isle of Dogs

• Mirai

• Ralph Breaks the Internet

• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

I used to think Incredibles 2 was going to walk away with the animated awards, but the amazing success of Into the Spider-Verse has me thinking otherwise. People LOVE that movie (I haven’t seen it yet). I think I’m going to say that the Globes with go with it too, but it’s not a sure thing. They may even like Isle of Dogs here.

Winner: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Alternate: Incredibles 2

Dark Horse: Isle of Dogs

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• A Quiet Place

• Isle of Dogs

• Black Panther

• First Man

• Mary Poppins Returns

On quality alone, this really needs to go to First Man. The fact that the Globes nominated it here, despite ignoring the movie entirely everywhere else, makes me think they can at least recognize the greatness of that score, but will it win? Mary Poppins might have the edge for this, or even Isle of Dogs. Also, Black Panther probably has to win something (if it doesn’t get Best Picture). Now that I think about it, that probably gives it a leg up in this category, which is the only other place it’s nominated (besides song, but I think “Shallow” has that one walking in).

Winner: Black Panther

Alternate: Mary Poppins Returns

Dark Horse: Isle of Dogs

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

• Capernaum

• Girl

• Never Look Away

• Roma

• Shoplifters

Now this one’s Roma, hands down. Anything else would be an upset.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• “All the Stars,” Black Panther

• “Revelation,” Boy Erased

• Girl in the Movies,” Dumplin’

• “Shallow,” A Star is Born

• “Requiem for a Private War,” A Private War

Most likely A Star is Born. Easy call, I think. But there is a chance for Kendrick Lamar too.

Winner: “Shallow”

Alternate: “All the Stars”

2018 Producers Guild Nominees Announced

The PGA is a very important industry guild, the only one that uses the same kind of voting system that the Academy does, which is why their winner is very often the Best Picture winner as well (as it was last year, with The Shape of Water). Their nominees match Oscar Best Picture by about 80-90%. Take out Crazy Rich Asians and A Quiet Place and this list looks like the Best Picture list to me (the Academy doesn’t have the full ten, like the PGA does). Remember how I said if Bohemian Rhapsody got a PGA nomination it was probably happening in Best Picture? Well it just did, so it looks like that’s a thing. The only chance for something to make it in that didn’t here is probably the critical darling If Beale Street Could Talk, but it’s looking like that one might not be as loved by the industry, so this could just be it. Too bad about First Reformed and First Man too- those were really great movies that deserved more recognition.

• BlacKkKlansman

• Black Panther

• Bohemian Rhapsody

• Crazy Rich Asians

• The Favourite

• Green Book

• A Quiet Place

• Roma

• A Star is Born

• Vice

Barack Obama's Favorite Movies of 2018

Sigh. Remember when we had a real president, one with exceedingly good taste and a real appreciation for culture and the arts? Not only is this list amazing (Minding the Gap, Roma, Black Panther, The Death of Stalin and BlacKkKlansman are all going to be on my top ten this year as well, and I have yet to see Beale Street, Burning, and Shoplifters), but it could very well have come from a well rounded critic or cinephile who has a deep knowledge and love of film. I’ve seen people question that someone made up this list for him, but who are you kidding, people? He’s not a liar, unlike the worthless fraud squatting in the people’s house right now, who can’t read and couldn’t make it through five minutes of any of these movies. I miss my president so much. My only question is, what’s on your TV list, sir??

President Obama’s Favorite Movies of 2018

• Annihilation

• Black Panther

• BlacKkKlansman

• Blindspotting

• Burning

• The Death of Stalin

• Eighth Grade

• If Beale Street Could Talk

• Leave No Trace

• Minding the Gap

• The Rider

• Roma

• Shoplifters

• Support the Girls

• Won’t You Be My Neighbor