The Art Directors Guild announced their nominees today!
And here they are:
Period Film
Inherent Vice
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything
Unbroken
Fantasy Film
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Contemporary Film
American Sniper
Birdman
Foxcatcher
Gone Girl
Nightcrawler
Yes, awards season is still going on and critics and guilds from across the country and the industry are still announcing their picks for the best of 2014!
The latest group to make their picks known? The Georgia Film Critics Association! Here are their nominees for the best of 2014!
Best Picture
BIRDMAN
BOYHOOD
GONE GIRL
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
IDA
A MOST VIOLENT YEAR
NIGHTCRAWLER
SELMA
SNOWPIERCER
WHIPLASH
Best Director
Richard Linklater BOYHOOD
David Fincher GONE GIRL
Wes Anderson THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
Ava DuVernay SELMA
Damien Chazelle WHIPLASH
Best Actor
Ralph Fiennes THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
Jake Gyllenhaal NIGHTCRAWLER
Michael Keaton BIRDMAN
David Oyelowo SELMA
Eddie Redmayne THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING.
Best Actress
Marion Cotillard TWO DAYS ONE NIGHT
Scarlett Johansson UNDER THE SKIN
Felicity Jones THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
Lisa Loven Kongsli FORCE MAJEURE
Julianne Moore STILL ALICE
Rosamund Pike GONE GIRL
Best Supporting Actor
Riz Ahmed NIGHTCRAWLER
Ethan Hawke BOYHOOD
Edward Norton BIRDMAN
Mark Ruffalo FOXCATCHER
JK Simmons WHIPLASH
Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette BOYHOOD
Jessica Chastain A MOST VIOLENT YEAR
Rene Russo NIGHTCRAWLER
Emma Stone BIRDMAN
Tilda Swinton SNOWPIERCER
Best Original Screenplay
BOYHOOD
CALVARY
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
NIGHTCRAWLER
SELMA
Best Adapted Screenplay
GONE GIRL
THE IMITATION GAME
INHERENT VICE
SNOWPIERCER
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
WILD
Best Cinematography
BIRDMAN
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
IDA
INHERENT VICE
INTERSTELLAR
Best Production Design
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
INHERENT VICE
INTERSTELLAR
INTO THE WOODS
SNOWPIERCER
UNDER THE SKIN
Best Original Score
BIRDMAN (Antonio Sánchez)
GONE GIRL (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross)
INTERSTELLAR (Hans Zimmer)
LIFE ITSELF (Joshua Abrams)
UNDER THE SKIN (Mica Levi)
Best Original Song
“Everything is Awesome” from THE LEGO MOVIE
“Glory” from SELMA
“We Will Not Go” from VIRUNGA
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from GLEN CAMPBELL: I’LL BE ME
“Something So Right” from MUPPETS MOST WANTED
Best Ensemble Cast
BIRDMAN
BOYHOOD
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
GONE GIRL
SELMA
Best Foreign Language Film
FORCE MAJEURE
IDA
SEPIDEH
TWO DAYS ONE NIGHT
WE ARE THE BEST!
Best Animated Feature Film
BIG HERO 6
THE BOOK OF LIFE
THE BOXTROLLS
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2
THE LEGO MOVIE
Best Documentary Feature Film
CITIZENFOUR
FINDING VIVIAN MAIER
KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON
LIFE ITSELF
SEPIDEH
Breakthough of the Year
Ellan Coltrane
Ava DuVernay
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Jenny Slate
Tessa Thompson
Earlier today, the National Society of Film Critics announced their picks for the best films of 2014! By one vote, they named Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye To Language as best picture of the year.
Thank you, National Society of Film Critics, for reminding us that, occasionally, unexpected things do happen!
Check out the winners and the runner-ups below!
Continuing our look back at the previous year, today I present you with my choices for the 16 worst films of 2014!
I have to admit that 2014 was a strange year for me. While I saw a lot of films that I didn’t think were very good, none of them quite inspired the amount of loathing that I felt while watching previous TSL worst film “winners” like Love and Other Drugs and Man of Steel. Looking at the 16 films below, I’m struck by how many of them were simply films that failed to live up to my expectations. (The Judge and Endless Love are obvious examples.) Some of the other entries are films that we all knew ahead of time would never be good but they made the list because they represent everything that annoys me about mainstream film making. (Case in point: Transformers: Let’s Deafen The Audience or whatever the Hell that thing was called.)
Of course, some of the films listed below are on the list because they just plain sucked. In fact, one made-for-Lifetime movie was so mind-numbingly awful that it made the list despite having never actually been released in theaters! That’s pretty bad!
(Be sure to click on the links in this sentence if you want to see what I considered to be the worst of 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013!)
Without further ado, here’s the list!
16) Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart
15) Ride Along
14) The Judge
13) Into the Storm
12) Endless Love
11) Nuse 3D
10) Barefoot
9) The Best Of Me
8) I, Frankenstein
7) Left Behind
6) Paranormal Activity — The Marked Ones
5) The Legend of Hercules
4) Transformers: The Age of Extinction
3) A Million Ways To Die In The West
2) The Unauthorized Saved By The Bell Story
And finally, without further ado, here is the worst film of 2014!
1) April Rain
Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments!
Tomorrow, I’ll be presenting my 10 favorite songs of 2014!
Others Entries In TSL’s Look Back At 2014:
The Eddies! Isn’t that a perfectly adorable name for an award?
Anyway, the Eddies are given out by the American Cinema Editors and they honor the best editing in film and television. The Eddies make for an interesting precursor because (much like the SAG awards), they’re a guild award and the nominees and winners are being determined by many of the same people who will be voting on the Oscars.
Add to that, films that get a nomination for best editing often also get nominated for best picture. (One huge exception to that rule would be David Fincher’s rehash The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which actually won best editing despite not being nominated for best picture.)
The big news from the Eddie nominations is that potential Oscar front-runner Selma was snubbed. However, American Sniper was not. While I doubt that the makers of Selma have anything to worry about, this does seem to indicate that — despite not making a huge showing as far as the critics awards are concerned — American Sniper might still be a factor in the best picture race.
(Then again, Oscar watchers like me are notorious for overanalyzing stuff like this…)
The film nominees can be found below.
Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic)
“American Sniper” (Joel Cox, ACE & Gary Roach, ACE)
“Boyhood” (Sandra Adair, ACE)
“Gone Girl” (Kirk Baxter, ACE)
“The Imitation Game” (William Goldenberg, ACE)
“Nightcrawler” (John Gilroy, ACE)
“Whiplash” (Tom Cross, ACE)
Best Editing Feature Film (Comedy or Musical)
“Birdman” (Douglas Crise & Stephen Mirrione, ACE)
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Barney Pilling)
“Guardians of the Galaxy” (Fred Rasking, Hughes Winborn, ACE & Craig Wood, ACE)
“Into the Woods” (Wyatt Smith)
“Inherent Vice” (Leslie Jones, ACE)
Best Edited Animated Feature Film
“Big Hero 6” (Tim Mertens)
“The Boxtrolls” (Edie Ichioka, ACE)
“The LEGO Movie” (David Burrow & Chris McKay)
Best Edited Documentary (Feature)
“CITIZENFOUR” (Mathilde Bonnefoy)
“Finding Vivian Maier” (Aaron Wickenden)
“Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me” (Elisa Bonora)
Hello there and welcome to January!
This is the time of year that the Shattered Lens usually takes one final look back at the best and worst of the previous year’s offerings in cinema, television, literature, and music! Last year, I kicked things off by taking a look at the best that the SyFy network had to offer.
Unfortunately, SyFy didn’t produce as many original films in 2014 as they did in 2013.
However, my beloved Lifetime network remained a consistent showcase for some of the best and worst melodrama that one could hope for.
With that in mind, here are my nominees for the best films and performances that were featured on either the SyFy or the Lifetime network last year! As always, winners are listed in bold.
Best Film
Battle of the Damned
Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever
Starving in Suburbia
Best Actress
Kate Beckinsale in The Trials of Cate McCall
Maria Bello in Big Driver
Annie Heise in The Good Mistress
Tara Reid in Sharknado 2
*Christina Ricci in Lizzie Borden Took An Axe*
Kierna Shipka in Flowers in the Attic
Best Supporting Actress
Kendra Anderson in The Good Mistress
*Ellen Burstyn in Flowers in the Attic*
Clea DuVall in Lizzie Borden Took An Axe
Heather Graham in Petals on the Wind
Tina Ivlev in Death Clique
Izabella Miko in Starving in Suburbia
Best Actor
Trevor Donavon in Bermuda Tentacles
Mason Dye in Flowers in the Attic
Michael Keaton in Blindsided
Dolph Lundgren in Battle of the Damned
Patrick Muldoon in Finders Keepers
*Ian Ziering in Sharknado 2*
Best Supporting Actor
James Cromwell in The Trials of Cate McCall
David Field in Battle of the Damned
*Griff Furst in Status Unknown*
Judd Hirsch in Sharknado 2
Mark McGrath in Sharknado 2
John Savage in Bermuda Tentacles
Best Director
Doug Campbell for Death Clique
Deborah Chow for Flowers in the Attic
Anthony C. Ferrante for Sharknado 2
*Nick Gomez for Lizzie Borden Got An Axe*
Christopher Hutton for Battle of the Damned
Tara Miele for Starving in Suburbia
Best Screenplay
Kayla Alpert for Flowers in the Attic
Tim Hill and Jeff Morris for Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever
Stephen Kay for Lizzie Borden Took An Axe
Thunder Levin for Sharknado 2
*Tara Miele for Starving in Suburbia*
Griff Furst and Marcy Holland for Status Unknown
Tomorrow, I’ll continue my look back at 2014 by revealing my picks for the 16 worst films of 2014!
Previous Entries in Our Look Back At 2014:
Things That I Dug In 2014 Off The Top Of My Head
So, I should start out by explaining that this is not the latest entry in my soon-to-be-revived series, Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Film Trailers. Instead, these are 6 trailers for 6 films that you will have a chance to see in 2015!
Seriously, it’s always good to start a new year with something to look forward to, right?
1) 71
This one look intense, no? Jack O’Connell plays a British soldier who, during the British occupation of Northern Ireland, finds himself lost behind enemy lines in Belfast. Jack O’Connell is a rising star and the film won best director at the British Independent Film Awards.
2) Veronika Decides to Die
This was actually filmed in 2008, premiered in Brazil in 2009, played in Germany in 2010, and, seven years later, it’s finally getting a U.S. release. It’ll premiere in theaters and on VOD on January 20th and then, in March, it’ll be released on DVD. That would seem to indicate that First Look International, the film’s distributor, doesn’t have much faith in it. But you know what? Some of the best films ever made were distributed by people who had no faith. This could be a challenging, edgy film. Or it could be crap.
We’ll find out!
3) A Little Chaos
This historical drama stars Kate Winslet and it was directed by Alan Rickman! The trailer looks gorgeous. I majored in art history so I have to admit that I will always have a weakness for films like this.
4) Woman in Gold
Will Ryan Reynolds ever star in another good film? That’s a question that I often find myself pondering. Reynolds is the type of talented actor who deserves more than co-starring in R.I.P.D. and showing up in a cameo in A Million Ways to Die In The West (BLEH!).
While Woman in Gold does not look to be the type of film that’s going to help re-establish Reynolds as being a rising star, it does look like a film that will give him a chance to remind people that he actually can act. Undoubtedly, it’ll help that he will be co-starring with Helen Mirren. Woman in Gold is scheduled to be released on April 3rd.
5) Wild Card
It’s not January unless Jason Statham is killing someone. 2015’s Jason Statham film will be Wild Card. It’ll be released on January 30th.
6) Blackhat
And finally, we have Blackhat. It’s scheduled to be released on January 16th. It’s directed by Michael Mann and stars the official sexiest man alive, Chris Hemsworth. Apparently, Hemsworth will be helping to capture whoever it was who hacked Sony.
What do you think, Trailer Kitty?
Here’s one final bit of late Oscar news. 83 countries submitted films to be considered for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Earlier last week, the Academy announced the 9 semi-finalists!
To the shock of many, Two Days One Night was not a semi-finalist! That’s surprising, considering that Marion Cotillard’s performance has been receiving a lot of Oscar season attention. If anything, the snubbing of Two Days One Night would indicate that Jennifer Aniston probably had a better chance of being the fifth Best Actress nominee than Cotillard.
The Canadian film Mommy was also not on the list of semi-finalists, which surprised many. However, this does mean that Sasha Stone will now have something else to complain about over on Awards Daily.
And finally, the Palme d’Or winner Winter’s Sleep did not make the top 9 either.
What did make the top 9?
Check them out below!
Argentina, “Wild Tales,” Damián Szifrón, director;
Estonia, “Tangerines,” Zaza Urushadze, director;
Georgia, “Corn Island,” George Ovashvili, director;
Mauritania, “Timbuktu,” Abderrahmane Sissako, director;
Netherlands, “Accused,” Paula van der Oest, director;
Poland, “Ida,” Paweł Pawlikowski, director;
Russia, “Leviathan,” Andrey Zvyagintsev, director;
Sweden, “Force Majeure,” Ruben Östlund, director;
Venezuela, “The Liberator,” Alberto Arvelo, director.
Somehow, I missed this one in my previous awards roundup. Way back on December 18th, the Utah Film Critics announced their picks for the best of 2014. Here’s what won!
Best Picture
“Birdman”
(Runner-up: “The Imitation Game”)
Best Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu, “Birdman”
(Runner-up: Jonathan Glazer, “Under the Skin”)
Best Actor
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
(Runner-up: TIE – Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game” and Ralph Fiennes, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Best Actress
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”
(Runner-up: Marion Cotillard, “Two Days, One Night”)
Best Supporting Actor
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”
(Runner-up: Edward Norton, “Birdman”)
Best Supporting Actress
Jessica Chastain, “A Most Violent Year”
(Runner-up: Tilda Swinton, “Snowpiercer”)
Best Adapted Screenplay
(TIE) “Inherent Vice” and “Snowpiercer”
Best Original Screenplay
“Birdman”
(Runner-up: “Nightcrawler”)
Best Cinematography
“Nightcrawler”
(Runner-up: “Under the Skin”)
Best Animated Feature
“The LEGO Movie”
(Runner-up: “The Boxtrolls”)
Best Non-English Feature
“We Are the Best!”
(Runner-up: “Two Days, One Night”)
Best Documentary Feature
“CITIZENFOUR”
(Runner-up: “The Overnighters”)
The Florida Film Critics have voted and they’ve named Birdman the best film of 2014! You can find all of the Florida winners below and check out the Florida nominees by clicking here!
Best Picture:
Birdman
Runner-up: Boyhood
Best Director:
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Runner-up: Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman
Best Actress:
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Runner-up: Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Best Actor:
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Runner-up: Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Best Supporting Actor:
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
Runner-up: Edward Norton – Birdman
Best Supporting Actress:
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Runner-up: Emma Stone – Birdman
Best Ensemble:
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Runner-up: Boyhood
Best Original Screenplay:
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
Runner-up: Birdman (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo)
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)
Runner-up: Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Best Cinematography:
Interstellar (Hoyte Van Hoytema)
Runner-up: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Robert D. Yeoman)
Best Visual Effects:
Interstellar
Runner-up: Guardians of the Galaxy
Best Art Direction/Production Design:
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Runner-up: Interstellar
Best Score:
Under the Skin (Micah Levi, aka Micachu)
Runner-up: Gone Girl (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross)
Best Documentary:
Life Itself
Runner-up: Citizenfour
Best Foreign-Language Film:
The Raid 2
Runner-up: Force Majeure
Best Animated Film:
The Lego Movie
Runner-up: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Pauline Kael Breakout Award:
Damien Chazelle (writer/director: Whiplash)
Runner-up: Gugu Mbatha-Raw (actress: Belle, Beyond the Lights)
Through the Shattered Lens