I really don’t know much about the New York Film Critics Online but, for whatever reason, the people at Awards Daily seem to hate them. And that’s more than enough reason for me to like them! Anyway, the NYFCO met today and announced their picks for the best of 2015.
And the big winner was Mad Ma…oh wait. No, sorry. The big winner was Spotlight. Check out the rest of the winners below:
Best Picture: Spotlight
Best Director: Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
Best Actress: Brie Larson – Room
Best Actor: Paul Dano – Love & Mercy
Best Supporting Actress: Rooney Mara – Carol
Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Breakthrough Performance: Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Best Screenplay: Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer – Spotlight
Best Use of Music: Love & Mercy
Best Debut Director: Alex Garland – Ex Machina
Best Ensemble Cast: Spotlight
Best Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul
Best Documentary Feature: Amy
Best Animated Feature: Inside Out
With three major groups of critics scheduled to announce their picks for the best of 2015, today is a big day for those of us who love Awards Season. First off, here are the picks of the Boston Society of Film Critics! While the awards are nicely spread around, it’s not surprising that the Boston Society of Film Critics picked a Boston film for best picture.
One good thing about Mad Max: Fury Road doing so well during award seasion is that it gives me an excuse to say that “So-and-so Is Mad About Max!” Thank you, film critics, for making my job a lot easier.
Anyway, yesterday, the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics announced their nominees for the best of 2015! And, once again, a lot of love was shown to Fury Road. However, I am even happier to see that they also gave some attention to one of my favorite films of the year, Ex Machina.
Best Original Screenplay:
Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen (Bridge of Spies)
Alex Garland (Ex Machina)
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley (Original Story by Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen) (Inside Out)
Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)
Amy Schumer (Trainwreck)
So, like a lot of people, I was expecting the National Board of Review to name Spotlight as best picture of the year. I haven’t seen Spotlight yet but I have to admit that I’m already kind of bored of hearing about how it’s the Oscar front-runner. I mean, for all I know, Spotlight could be the best film ever made but I like it when my awards season is interesting. It’s boring when one film — like The Social Network a few years ago — keeps winning every single award.
So, with all that in mind, I was really happy to hear that the National Board of Review picked Mad Max: Fury Road for best picture. I was happy because not only is Fury Road a really great movie that deserves the love but also because it was just so unexpected! Way to go, NBR!
(The only thing that would have made things better would have been if the Guitar Guy had won Best Supporting Actor.)
Hi, everyone! It’s Thanksgiving! Well, actually, it’s the final hours of Thanksgiving. In fact, it’s 10:03 as I start this and it’s totally possible that I won’t be ready to post it until midnight so, by the time you read this, Thanksgiving will probably be over and you’ll be in a Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/None of the Above type of mood. Well, no matter…
So, every year, I make out a list of what I’m thankful for and I post it on this site. Today, as I relaxed at my uncle’s house and I listened to all my cousins talking about football, I realized that I wasn’t really quite sure what I was specifically going to mention.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s a lot that I am thankful for. I’m thankful to be alive. I’m thankful that I have people in my life who love me and I’m thankful that there are people who I love. I’m thankful that my sprained foot is much, much better. I’m thankful that it rained today so I would have an excuse not to lay out in the sun and pretend like I’m actually capable of getting a tan. Seriously, I’m a redhead. We don’t tan, we just burn.
And, because this is an entertainment-related site, this would be a good time to mention that I’m thankful that 2015 has been a pretty good year for film. Mad Max, Ex Machina, Sicario, 88, Inside Out…I’m not even beginning to scratch the surface of how many good films have been released this year. As for the bad films — well, The Fantastic Four, Ted 2, and Vacation were all terrible but you know what? None of them did a bit of good at the box office so at least the movie going public is not adding insult to injury.
It’s been a good year and, as a lover of the Oscars, I’m especially excited by the fact that there is no clear front runner. Oscar season is going to be exciting! Sure, it would appear that The Martian and Spotlight appear to be early favorites but neither has dominated. Seriously, this is going to be fun.
So, there’s a lot that I am thankful for but you know what I’m really thankful for? I’m thankful that I have thoughts to share and I am even more thankful that are people out there who are actually interested in learning them. There is nothing more wonderful than the freedom to say whatever the Hell you want. That, along with so many other things, is what I’m thankful for in 2015.
So, instead of coming up with a big list and trying to show off how witty I am, I’m just going to use this holiday to say “Thank you.” Thank you to all of the writers and reviewers at the Shattered Lens. Thank you to Arleigh Sandoc for asking me, 5 years ago, if I would be interested in contributing to an entertainment blog that he had just started. Thank you to all of the writers who were here before me and thank you to everyone who joined after me. Thank you for keeping this site alive. Thank you for keeping this site interesting. Thank you for keeping things lively. Thank you to all of you. Thank you for everything.
Even more importantly, thank you to all of our readers. They you to everyone who subscribes to this site. Thank you to everyone who has ever left a comment. Thank you to everyone who has ever clicked the like button. Whether you’re a regular reader or if you just found us through a google search, thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Whether today was Thanksgiving or just another Thursday, I hope it was a wonderful one for you!
All my love — Lisa.
P.S. Wow, it’s 10:26 and I’m already ready to post. Happy Thanksgiving!
P.P.S. By the way, since it’s Thanksgiving, here’s the NSFW trailer for Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving. Hurry up and get this movie done, Eli!
P.P.P.S. Finally, since it is Thanksgiving, why not read my review of the classic killer turkey film, Blood Freak?
It’s shaping up to be a strange Oscar race. Here we are halfway through the year and, yet, there are no front-runners. Some very acclaimed films have been released this year and yet, few of them seem to be getting the type of buzz that usually accompanies a surprise Oscar nomination. Last year at this time, there was cautious buzz for Grand Budapest Hotel while almost everyone felt pretty safe assuming that Sundance favorites like Boyhoodand Whiplash would be players in the Oscar race and many of us were highly anticipating the release of films like Birdman and The Imitation Game. (For that matter, a lot of people were also still convinced that Unbroken would win best picture. The buzz is not always correct but still, the buzz was still there.)
This year, some people are hoping that Mad Max: Fury Road will somehow break through the Academy’s aversion to “genre” filmmaking. (And seriously, the Doof Warrior deserves some sort of award, don’t you think?) Quite a few are hoping that Ex Machina will not be forgotten. Personally, I have high hopes for Inside Out.The buzz around Bridge of Spies is respectful, largely because it seems like the type of film that usually would be be nominated. (That said, this film also seems like it could bring out the worst impulses of both Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, leading to a movie that will have more in common with The Terminal than with War Horse.) Carol was beloved at Cannes.
So there are definitely possibilities out there. When I made my Oscar predictions for this month, I didn’t quite have to blindly guess as much as I did way back in January. But still, it cannot be denied that — as of right now — this race is wide open and there’s a lot of room for surprise.
Below, you’ll find my Oscar predictions for July. You can also check out my previous Oscar predictions for January, February, March,April, May, and June!
Earlier today, Jeff and I saw Ex Machina and we thought it was brilliant! Now, before I (among others here at the TSL) get around to posting a full review later this week, I thought I would share a scene that I loved from the film. This is the scene that, when it happened, everyone in the theater suddenly realized that they were watching a movie that they would never forget.
I’m not going to go into the details of just why Oscar Isaac and his “friend” are dancing in this scene. For now, all that’s important is that they are.
So, this looks like it might be good. Ex Machina is the directorial debut of novelist and screenwriter Alex Garland. Judging from the trailer, it appears to be another film about humans getting too close to a machine. If nothing else, it has a great cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, and Alicia Vikander.
Through the Shattered Lens 