Here Are The Writer’s Guild Nominations!

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Earlier today, The Writer’s Guild of America announced their nominations for the best screenplays of 2013. While it’s only natural to look at these nominations and try to use them as an Oscar oracle, it should be remembered that only 95 of the 289 Oscar-eligible films were also eligible for a WGA nomination.* Among those films not eligible to be nominated: 12 Years A Slave, Philomena, Fruitvale Station, and Rush.

Here are the nominees:

Original Screenplay:

American Hustle,

Blue Jasmine,

Dallas Buyers Club,

Her,

Nebraska

Adapted Screenplay:

August: Osage County,

Before Midnight,

Captain Phillips,

Lone Survivor,

The Wolf of Wall Street

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* As much as I wish I could say that I was responsible for coming up with that statistic, all credit should actually go toGoldderby.

Here Are The 2013 SAG Nominations!

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This morning the SAG Award nominees were announced and, perhaps not surprisingly, the story is less who was nominated and more who was snubbed. For instance, Oscar front-runner Robert Redford’s performance in All Is Lost was ignored while Forest Whitaker’s rather one-note turn in The Butler was nominated. Tom Hanks was not nominated for Saving Mr. Banks but the late and missed James Gandolfini picked up a nomination for Enough Said. Myself, I’m more surprised that Octavia Spenser was not nominated for her performance in Fruitvale Station.

As has been pointed out over at Goldderby, the SAG Awards are no longer the fool-proof Oscar prediction tool that they used to be. Getting a SAG nomination no longer guarantees you an Oscar nomination and, by that same standard, getting snubbed is no longer an automatic cause for concern.

That said, the SAG winners do typically end up receiving an Oscar nomination in January.

The film nominees can be found below:

BEST FILM ENSEMBLE
“12 Years a Slave”
“American Hustle”
“August: Osage County”
“The Butler”
“Dallas Buyers Club”

BEST FILM ACTOR
Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
Tom Hanks, “Captain Phillips”
Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Forest Whitaker, “The Butler”

BEST FILM ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”
Judi Dench, “Philomena”
Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”
Emma Thompson, “Saving Mr. Banks”

BEST FILM SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips”
Daniel Bruhl, “Rush”
Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”
James Gandolfini, “Enough Said”
Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”

BEST FILM SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”
Julia Roberts, “August: Osage County”
June Squibb, “Nebraska”
Oprah Winfrey, “The Butler”

BEST FILM STUNT ENSEMBLE*
“All is Lost”
“Fast & Furious 6”
“Lone Survivor”
“Rush”
“The Wolverine”

The full list of nominees can be found here.

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* Isn’t it about time that stunt performers get an Oscar category all their own?

2013: What Type of Year Has It Been So Far?

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Lisa Marie Bowman

We are now at the halfway mark as far as 2013 is concerned. This is the time of year that self-important film critics (both online and elsewhere) tell their readers what type of year it’s been so far.

So, without further ado — what type of year has 2013 been so far?

(By the way, you can also check out my thoughts from last year, July of 2011 and July 2010 as well.)

(Also, please understand that my opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the any other contributor here at TSL. And I reserve the right to change my opinion.)

Best Film Of The Year (So Far): Upstream Color (with The Bling Ring, This Is The End, Spring Breakers, Before Midnight, Frances Ha, Iceman, and Much Ado About Nothing as close runner-ups.)

Best Male Performance Of The Year (So Far): Michael Shannon in Iceman (with James Franco in Spring Breakers as a close runner-up).

Best Female Performance of the Year (So Far): Greta Gerwig in Frances Ha (with Emma Watson in The Bling Ring as a close runner-up.)

Best Voice Over Performance Of The Year (So Far): Steve Carell in Despicable Me 2.

Best Ending of the Year (So Far): Upstream Color

Best Horror Film Of The Year (So Far): Maniac

Most Underrated Film Of The Year (So Far): The Last Exorcism Part 2

Best Bad Film Of The Year (So Far): Safe Haven

Worst Film Of The Year (So Far): Tyler Perry’s Temptation, which was a guilty pleasure up until it turned out that Tyler Perry is apparently a messenger from God.

Biggest Example Of A Missed Opportunity For This Year (So Far): Man of Steel, which started out so strong before it became just another series of mind-numbing CGI sequences.

The Get Over It Already Award For The First Half of 2012: Disconnect. Hey, everyone, did you know that the Internet makes people feel disconnected from others? If this is news to you, then you’ll probably think Disconnect is a really profound movie.

The Cameron/Fincher Bandwagon Trophy (Awarded To The Upcoming Film That, Regardless Of Quality, Will Probably Be So Violently Embraced By People Online That You’ll Be Putting Your Life In Danger If You Dare Offer Up The Slightest Amount Of Criticism): Elysium

The Trailer That Has Most Outgrown Its Welcome: Elysium

The Sasha Award (Awarded To The Film That I Am Predicting Will Be The Most Overrated Of The Year): August: Osage County

The Stone Award (Awarded to the upcoming film that will probably get positive reviews based on the film’s political context as opposed to the film itself): The Butler

The Roland Emmerich/Rod Lurie Award For The Film That I’m Predicting Will Be The Worst Of 2012: Could any film possibly be worst than Tyler Perry’s Temptation?

Films I’m Looking Forward To Seeing In The Future (An incomplete list): American Hustle, Anchorman: The Legend Continues, Carrie, Dallas Buyers Club, Foxcatcher, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Inside Llewyn Davis, Insidious Chapter 2, Nebraska, Only God Forgives, Oldboy, Pacific Rim, Thor: The Dark World, The Wolf of Wall Street

Let’s hope that the second half of 2013 is better than the first.

Seriously, just because the Mayans were wrong, that’s no excuse for bad cinema.