What if Lisa Picked The Oscar Nominees — 2016 Edition

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

With the Oscar nominations due to be announced tomorrow, now is the time that the Shattered Lens indulges in a little something called, “What if Lisa had all the power.” Listed below are my personal Oscar nominations. Please note that these are not the films that I necessarily think will be nominated. The fact of the matter is that the many of them will not. Instead, these are the films that would be nominated if I was solely responsible for deciding the nominees this year. Winners are starred and listed in bold.

(You’ll also note that I’ve added four categories, all of which I believe the Academy should adopt — Best Voice-Over Performance, Best Casting, Best Stunt Work, and Best Overall Use Of Music In A Film.)

(Click on the links to see my nominations for 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010!)

Best Picture

*American Honey*

Arrival

Hell or High Water

Kubo and the Two Strings

Best Director

*Andrea Arnold for American Honey

Shane Black for The Nice Guys

Barry Jenkins for Moonlight

David MacKenzie for Hell or High Water

Nicholas Winding Refn for The Neon Demon

Denis Villeneuve for Arrival

Best Actor

Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge

Ryan Gosling in The Nice Guys

Tom Hanks in Sully

Chris Pine in Hell or High Water

Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool

*Denzel Washington in Fences

Best Actress

*Amy Adams in Arrival

Kate Beckinsale in Love & Friendship

Viola Davis in Fences

Sasha Lane in American Honey

Emma Stone in La La Land

Anya Taylor-Joy in The Witch

Best Supporting Actor

*Mahershala Ali in Moonlight

Tom Bennett in Love & Friendship

Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water

Alden Ehrenreich in Hail Caesar!

John Goodman in 10 Cloverfield Lane

Patrick Stewart in Green Room

Best Supporting Actress

*Naomie Harris in Moonlight

Felicity Jones in A Monster Calls

Riley Keough in American Honey

Jena Malone in The Neon Demon

Helen Mirren in Eye in the Sky

Angourie Rice in The Nice Guys

Best Voice Over and/or Stop Motion Performance

Auli’i Cravalho in Moana

Ellen DeGeneres in Finding Dory

Ginnifer Goodwin in Zootopia

*Liam Neeson in A Monster Calls

Art Parkinson in Kubo and the Two Strings

Charlize Theron in Kubo and the Two Strings

Best Original Screenplay

American Honey

*Hell or High Water

Kubo and the Two Strings

La La Land

The Nice Guys

The Witch

Best Adapted Screenplay

Best Animated Film

Finding Dory

*Kubo and the Two Strings

Moana

Sausage Party

The Secret Life of Pets

Zootopia

Best Documentary Feature

The Confessions of Thomas Quick

Holy Hell

O.J.: Made in America

Best Casting

Everybody Wants Some!!

Best Cinematography

Best Costume Design

Best Editing

Kubo and the Two Strings

*La La Land

Moonlight

A Monster Calls

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Captain America: Civil War

Deadpool

Doctor Strange

Everybody Wants Some!!

Hail, Caesar!

*The Neon Demon

Best Original Score

Hell or High Water

Kubo and the Two Strings

Best Original Song

*”Audition (The Fool Who Dreams)” from La La Land

“How Far I’ll Go” from Moana

“Waving Goodbye” from The Neon Demon

“I’m so Humble” from Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping

“Drive It Like You Stole It” from Sing Street

“Go Now” from Sing Street

Best Overall Use Of Music

*American Honey

The Conjuring Part Two

Best Production Design

Best Sound Editing

Captain America: Civil War

Best Sound Mixing

Captain America: Civil War

Best Stunt Work

Captain America: Civil War

The Legend of Tarzan

Best Visual Effects

Arrival

*Doctor Strange

The Jungle Book

Kubo and the Two Strings

A Monster Calls

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Films Listed By Number of Nominations:

13 Nominations — La La Land

1o Nominations — Hell or High Water

9 Nominations — Moonlight, The Neon Demon

8 Nominations — American Honey, Arrival, Kubo and the Two Strings, A Monster Calls

6 Nominations — The Nice Guys

5 Nominations — Deadpool, Love & Friendship

4 Nominations — Captain America: Civil War, Hacksaw Ridge, Hail Caesar!, Moana, Sully

3 Nominations — Doctor Strange, Green Room, Sing Street

2 Nominations — The Conjuring 2, Everybody Wants Some!!, Fences, Finding Dory, The Jungle Book, 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Witch, Zootopia

1 Nomination — The Confessions of Thomas Quick, Don’t Breathe, Eye in the Sky, Holy Hell, Jason Bourne, The Legend of Tarzan, O.J.: Made in America, Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping, Rigged 2016, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Sausage Party, The Secret Life of Pets, Weiner, The Witness

Films Listed By Number of Oscars Won:

4 Oscars — American Honey

3 Oscars — La La Land

2 Oscars — Arrival, Moonlight, The Neon Demon

1 Oscar — Deadpool, Doctor Strange, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Kubo and the Two Strings, Love & Friendship, A Monster Calls, Sully, 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Witness

Will the Academy agree with my predictions? Probably not but we’ll find out on Tuesday!

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists Announced Their Picks For The Best of 2016!

Posted on December 22, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (of which I am not a member and what’s up with that!?) announced their picks for the best of 2016 earlier this week.

And here they are:

AWFJ BEST OF AWARDS
These awards are presented to women and/or men without gender consideration.
Best Film
Arrival
Hell or High Water
La La Land
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

Best Director
Damien Chazelle – La La Land
Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
David Mackenzie – Hell or High Water
Denis Villeneuve – Arrival

Best Screenplay, Original
20th Century Women – Mike Mills
Hail Caesar – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Hell or High Water – Taylor Sheridan
La La Land – Damien Chazelle
Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan

Best Screenplay, Adapted
Arrival – Eric Heisserer
Lion – Luke Davies
Love & Friendship – Whit Stillman
Moonlight – Barry Jenkins
Nocturnal Animals –Tom Ford

Best Documentary
13th – Ava DuVernay
Gleason – Clay Tweel
I Am Not Your Negro – Raoul Peck
OJ Made in America – Ezra Edelman
Weiner – Elyse Steinberg and Josh Kriegma

Best Animated Film
Finding Dory – Andrew Stanton andAngus MacLane
Kubo and the Two Strings- Travis Knight
Moana – Ron Clements, Don Hall, John Musker, Chris Williams
Zootopia – Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush

Best Actress
Amy Adams – Arrival
Isabelle Huppert – Elle
Ruth Negga – Loving
Natalie Portman – Jackie
Emma Stone – La La Land

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Viola Davis – Fences
Greta Gerwig – 20th Century Women
Naomie Harris – Moonlight
Octavia Spencer – Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea

Best Actor
Casey Affleck – Manchester By The Sea
Joel Edgerton – Loving
Ryan Gosling – La La Land
Tom Hanks – Sully
Denzel Washington – Fences

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali – Moonlight
Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
Ben Foster – Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges – Manchester By the Sea
Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals

Best Ensemble Cast – Casting Director
20th Century Women – Mark Bennett and Laura Rosenthal
Hail Caesar – Ellen Chenoweth
Hell or High Water – Jo Edna Boldin and Richard Hicks
Manchester by the Sea – Douglas Aibel
Moonlight – Yesi Ramirez

Best Cinematography
Arrival – Bradford Young
Hell or High Water – Giles Nuttgens
La La Land – Linus Sandgren
Manchester by The Sea – Jody Lee Lipes
Moonlight – James Laxton

Best Editing
Arrival – Joe Walker
I Am Not Your Negro — Alexandra Strauss
La La Land – Tom Cross
Manchester By The Sea – Jennifer Lame
Moonlight – Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders

Best Non-English-Language Film
Elle – Paul Verhoeven, France
Fire At Sea – Gianfranco Rossi, Italy
The Handmaiden – Chan-Wook Park, South Korea
Julieta – Pedro Almodovar. Spain
Toni Erdmann – Maren Ede, Germany

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS
These awards honor WOMEN only

Best Woman Director
Andrea Arnold – American Honey
Ava DuVernay -13TH
Rebecca Miller – Maggie’s Plan
Mira Nair – Queen of Katwe
Kelly Reichardt – Certain Women

Best Woman Screenwriter
Andrea Arnold – American Honey
Rebecca Miller – Maggie’s Plan
Kelly Reichardt – Certain Women
Lorene Scafaria – The Meddler
Laura Terruso – Hello, My Name is Doris

Best Animated Female
Dory in Finding Dory –Ellen DeGeneres
Judy in Zootopia – Ginnifer Goodwin
Moana in Moana – Auli’i Cravalho

Best Breakthrough Performance
Sasha Lane – American Honey
Janelle Monáe – Moonlight and Hidden Figures
Madina Nalwanga – Queen of Katwe
Ruth Negga – Loving

Outstanding Achievement by A Woman in The Film Industry
Ava DuVernay – For 13TH and raising awareness about the need for diversity and gender equality in Hollywood
Anne Hubbell and Amy Hobby for establishing Tangerine Entertainment’s Juice Fund to support female filmmakers
Mynette Louie, President of Gamechanger Films, which finances narrative films directed by women
April Reign for creating and mobilizing the #OscarsSoWhite campaign

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

Actress Defying Age and Ageism
Annette Bening – 20th Century Women
Viola Davis – Fences
Sally Field – Hello, My Name is Doris
Isabelle Huppert – Elle and Things to Come
Helen Mirren – Eye in the Sky

Most Egregious Age Difference Between The Lead and The Love Interest Award
Dirty Grandpa – Robert De Niro (b. 1943) and Aubrey Plaza (b. 1984)
Independence Day: Resurgence – Charlotte Gainsbourg (b 1971) and Jeff Goldblum (b 1952)
Mechanic Resurrection – Jason Statham (b. 1967) and Jessica Aba (b. 1981)
Rules Don’t Apply – Warren Beatty (b. 1937) and Lily Collins (b. 1989)

Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent
Jennifer Aniston – Mother’s Day and Office Christmas Party
Melissa McCarthy – The Boss and Ghostbusters
Margot Robbie – Suicide Squad and Tarzan
Julia Roberts – Mother’s Day
Shailene Woodley – Divergent Series

Bravest Performance
Jessica Chastain – Miss Sloane
Naomie Harris – Moonlight
Isabelle Huppert – Elle
Sasha Lane – American Honey
Ruth Negga – Loving

Remake or Sequel That Shouldn’t have been Made
Ben-Hur
Ghostbusters
Independence Day: Resurgence
The Magnificent Seven
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2

AWFJ Hall of Shame Award
Sharon Maguire and Renee Zellweger for Bridget Jones’s Baby
Nicholas Winding Refn and Elle Fanning for The Neon Demon
David Ayer and Margot Robbie for Suicide Squad
David E. Talbert and Mo’Nique for Almost Christmas

The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Go Crazy For La La Land!

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oscar season continued today as the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics announced their picks for the best of 2016! What films and performers were honored in America’s capitol?

Here the complete list!

Best Film

Arrival
Hell or High Water
La La Land — Winner
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

Best Director

Damien Chazelle (La La Land) — Winner
Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water)
Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

Best Actor

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) — Winner
Joel Edgerton (Loving)
Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)
Ryan Gosling (La La Land)
Denzel Washington (Fences)

Best Actress

Amy Adams (Arrival)
Annette Bening (20th Century Women)
Ruth Negga (Loving)
Natalie Portman (Jackie) — Winner
Emma Stone (La La Land)

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) — Winner
Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
Ben Foster (Hell or High Water)
Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)
Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis (Fences) — Winner
Greta Gerwig (20th Century Women)
Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
Molly Shannon (Other People)
Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

Best Acting Ensemble

Fences
Hell or High Water — Winner
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
20th Century Women

Best Youth Performance:

Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea) — Winner
Lewis MacDougall (A Monster Calls)
Sunny Pawar (Lion)
Hailee Steinfeld (The Edge of Seventeen)
Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch)

Best Voice Performance

Jason Bateman (Zootopia)
Auli’i Cravalho (Moana)
Ellen DeGeneres (Finding Dory)
Ginnifer Goodwin (Zootopia)
Liam Neeson (A Monster Calls) — Winner

Best Motion Capture Performance

Liam Neeson (A Monster Calls)
Mark Rylance (The BFG) — Winner

Best Original Screenplay

Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water)
Damien Chazelle (La La Land) — Winner
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
Barry Jenkins, Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight)
Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou (The Lobster)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Eric Heisserer, Based on the Story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang (Arrival) — Winner
August Wilson, Based on his Play (Fences)
Luke Davies, Adapted from the Memoir “A Long Way Home” by Saroo Brierley (Lion)
Patrick Ness, Based on his Novel (A Monster Calls)
Tom Ford, Based on the Novel “Tony and Susan” by Austin Wright (Nocturnal Animals)

Best Animated Feature

Best Documentary

Gleason
I Am Not Your Negro
O.J.: Made in America
13th — Winner
Weiner

Best Foreign Language Film

Elle — Winner
Julieta
The Handmaiden
The Salesman
Toni Erdmann

Best Production Design

Production Designer: Patrice Vermette; Key Decorator: Paul Hotte (Arrival)
Production Designer: Stuart Craig; Set Decorator: Anna Pinnock (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)
Production Designer: Jean Rabasse, ADC; Set Decorator: Véronique Melery (Jackie)
Production Designer: David Wasco; Set Decorator: Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, SDSA (La La Land) — Winner
Craig Lathrop (The Witch)

Best Cinematography

Bradford Young, ASC (Arrival)
Stéphane Fontaine, AFC (Jackie)
Linus Sandgren, SFS (La La Land) — Winner
James Laxton (Moonlight)
Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC (Nocturnal Animals)

Best Editing

Joe Walker, ACE (Arrival)
Sebastián Sepúlveda (Jackie)
Tom Cross, ACE (La La Land) — Winner
Nat Sanders, Joi McMillon (Moonlight)
Blu Murray (Sully)

Best Original Score

Jóhann Jóhannsson (Arrival)
Mica Levi (Jackie)
Justin Hurwitz (La La Land) — Winner
Nicholas Britell (Moonlight)
Cliff Martinez (The Neon Demon)

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC

Jackie — Winner
Jason Bourne
Loving
Miss Sloane
Snowden

Film Review: Moana (dir by Ron Clements and John Musker)

Posted on November 30, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Look, I get it.

Everyone’s depressed right now.

You’re depressed.

He’s depressed.

She’s depressed.

That random guy over there is depressed.

Your cat’s depressed because you’re so depressed that you’re probably not feeding him on time.

I’m not depressed but I’m currently pretending that I am in order to show solidarity for the people.

Everyone’s depressed!

But you know what? No matter how depressed you are, don’t take it out on the movies. I actually had someone tell me recently that he didn’t see how I could worry about movies with so many terrible things happening in the world! Well, listen up — the world may be a terrible movie but movies help to make it a lot more bearable.

For instance, there’s Moana. Moana is the latest Disney film and it is a burst of pure joy, a wonderfully entertaining animated adventure that also carries with it an important, timely, and welcome message of empowerment. Some day, when I have a daughter, Moana is one of the many films that I look forward to watching with her. We’ll watch Moana and then we’ll watch Brave. And then we’ll close things out with Frozen. I can’t wait!

Now, I’ll be honest. The film’s plot, in many ways, sounds like almost every other Disney princess film. Moana (voiced by Auli’i Cravalho) is the headstrong daughter of the chief of a Polynesian tribe. Moana dreams of sailing to the ends of the Earth but her loving but protective father refuses to allow her to go beyond the reef. However, when a force of darkness threatens to consume the island that Moana calls home, she defies her father and sets sail with her pet rooster. The only way to stop the darkness is to track down a demigod named Maui (Dwayne Johnson) and go with him to return a sacred stone to Te Fiti, the island Goddess. (The stone is Te Fiti’s heart.)

Now, that may all sound like typical Disney fare but the brilliant thing about Moana is that it realizes that the plot sounds like typical Disney fare. When Moana finds Maui, he asks her where he animal sidekick is because all princesses travel with an animal sidekick. Moana argues that she’s not a princess but then realizes that, as the chief’s daughter, she kind of is. Moano is full of self-referential humor, the type that tells the audience that we’re all in this together.

Maui himself is a brilliantly animated, written, and voiced parody of the type of muscle-bound character who, in the past, would have automatically been this film’s main character. Dwayne Johnson has always been willing to have fun with his persona and he continues to do that with Maui. For that matter, Heihei the Rooster also pokes fun at the typical Disney animal sidekick. As opposed to the usual all-knowing, often snarky sidekick that we’ve come to expect from Disney, Heihei spends most of his time searching for something to eat. It doesn’t matter if it’s edible or not. He’ll eat it. As a result, Heihei doesn’t really do much to help Moana on her journey but he’s still adorable.

But ultimately, this film is all about Moana and what a wonderful character she is! Strong, independent, intelligent, and occasionally just a little unsure of herself, Moana is perhaps the most 3-dimensional Disney character since Brave‘s Merida. It’s her character (and Auli’i Cravalho’s voicework) that brings the film its humanity and makes it a truly special viewing experience.

Moana is wonderfully animated and if you don’t fall in love with the coconut pirates then there is no hope for you. (Is this film worth seeing in 3D? I would say that it is.) The insanely catchy songs are provided by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Opetaia Foa’i and I’m looking forward to the inevitable Broadway adaptation.

So, seriously — stop feeling sorry for yourself for two hours and go see Moana! You’ll be glad you did.

Here Are The Annie Nominations!

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The nominations for the Annie Awards were announced yesterdat! The Annie Awards honor the best in animation. Looking over the list of nominees, my initial thought is, “Wow, that’s a really long list!” So, I’m just going to post the nominations for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Achievement For Voice Acting In A Feature Film. You can view the complete list over at one of my favorite site for Oscar news, Awards Circuit!

Anyway, here are (some of) the Annie nominations!

Best Animated Feature:

Finding Dory

Kubo and the Two Strings

Kung Fu Panda 3

Moana

Zootopia

Voice Acting In An Animated Feature

Art Parkinson in Kubo and the Two Strings

Auli’i Cravalho in Moana

Katie Crown in Storks

Zooey Deschanel in Trolls

Jason Bateman in Zootopia

Disney’s First Official Teaser Trailer for Moana

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Arleigh

Since 2012’s surprise hit Wreck-It Ralph, Walt Disney Animation Studio (you know the other one that’s not named Pixar) has been on quite a winning streak. With each new film this animation studio cranks out it’s building a portfolio of critically-acclaimed animated films that’s also huge hits with the audience. This year, the studio released Zootopia which seems to have surprised many with it’s staying power.

This Thanksgiving we’ll see the second feature-length film from this studio with the fantasy adventure Moana.

A story set in ancient Oceania and about a young girl with the natural born gift of being a navigator who goes on a quest to find a fabled island with the help of Maui, her favorite hero who also happens to be a demigod (voiced by Dwayne Johnson, who is as close to a real-life demigod).

Moana is set for a November 23, 2016 release date. Just in time for Thanksgiving.