Lisa Makes Her Oscar Predictions!

Posted on February 25, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Okay, here’s the moment that I’m sure you’ve all been looking forward to!

It’s time for me to make my Oscar predictions!

Yay! It’s good to see that everyone’s excited!

Here is who I think will win tomorrow night:

Best Picture — La La Land

Best Director — Barry Jenkins, Moonlight

Best Actor — Denzel Washington, Fences

Best Actress — Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

Best Supporting Actor — Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

Best Supporting Actress — Viola Davis, Fences

Best Original Screenplay — Manchester By The Sea

Best Adapted Screenplay — Arrival

Best Animated Feature — Zootopia

Best Art Direction — La La Land

Best Cinematography — La La Land

Best Costume Design — La La Land

Best Editing — La La Land

Best Makeup — A Man Called Ove

Best Sound Mixing — La La Land

Best Sound Editing — Hacksaw Ridge

Best Visual Effects — The Jungle Book

Best Original Song — “City of Stars” from La La Land

Best Original Score — La La Land

Best Documentary Feature — 13th

Best Foreign Language Film — The Salesman

Best Animated Short — Pear and Cider Cigarettes

Best Documentary Short — The White Helmets

Best Live Action Short — Timecode

To be honest, the only prediction that I’m 100% comfortable making is that this year’s Oscar ceremony is probably going to be the most political one in history. Some people will love that. Some people will be outraged. Me, I just care about movies.

The Oscar air tomorrow on ABC, at 4 eastern and 7 pacific. I will be live tweeting the awards and, of course, we’ll be posting Oscar-related stuff here on the Shattered Lens all through Sunday!

Even Charles Foster Kane is excited!

And by the way, if you want get a head start on next year’s Oscars, why not check out my way too early predictions for January and February?

Enjoy!

Lisa Marie’s Thoughts On The Oscar Nominations

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Okay, I’ve had plenty of time to think about today’s Oscar nominations and now I’m ready to share my thoughts. Obviously, my picks were a lot different from what the Academy selected. That’s okay. That’s the way it goes every year. I don’t mind being a contrarian.

So, let’s take a look at what was nominated, category-by-category.

(If you need a refresher as to what was nominated, here’s a complete list of nominees!)

Best Live Action Short, Best Animated Short, Best Documentary Short: I’m sure that these three categories are full of wonderful nominees that were created by wonderful people but I don’t believe that I’ve seen a single one of them. So, with that in mind, I can only imagine that the Academy did a perfect job selecting all 15 of these nominees! Good work, Academy!

Best Foreign Language Film: Again, I have seen none of the nominees so I really can’t comment one way or another. Normally, this would make me feel like a failure but I imagine that 90% of the people reading this post are in the same boat. I imagine Toni Erdmann will win, just because of all the good things I’ve read about it. But, since I haven’t actually seen any of the nominees, I will refrain from making any sort of prediction.

Best Documentary Feature: I’m disappointed that my favorite documentary, The Witness, was not nominated. And, quite frankly, I’m shocked that Weiner was not nominated. That said, I can’t complain about any of the documentaries that actually were nominated. It was a good year for documentaries. In fact, it could be argued that it was a better year for documentaries than for features.

Should Win: O.J.: Made in America

Will Win: 13th

Best Original Song: Not a single song from Sing Street was nominated and that is amazingly disappointing. Original song can be surprising. Remember last year when that terrible song from SPECTRE somehow won? That said, I’m expecting that this year will see a huge sweep by La La Land and one of its nominated songs will probably win.

Should Win: Audition (The Fools Who Can Dream) from La La Land

Will Win: City of Stars from La La Land

Best Original Score: The Neon Demon deserved a nomination but I’m not surprised it was snubbed. There’s no way the Academy was going to honor Nicholas Winding Refn’s subversive masterpiece. La La Land is going to win this one easily.

Should Win: La La Land

Will Win: La La Land

Best Visual Effects: I was glad to see that Kubo and the Two Strings was nominated and I wish that Arrival had been nominated as well. I’m going to go ahead and predict that Doctor Strange will be the first MCU film to win an Oscar.

Should Win: Doctor Strange

Will Win: Doctor Strange

Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing: Let’s be honest. I couldn’t explain the difference between sound editing and sound mixing and, unless you specifically work in the sound department, neither could you. As a result, these categories are always difficult to predict. But Hacksaw Ridge has to get some love somewhere and I bet it would happen here if not for La La Land.

Should Win (Both): Hacksaw Ridge

Will Win (Both): La La Land

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: As soon as I saw that Deadpool wasn’t nominated here, I knew it wouldn’t be nominated anywhere. Can you believe that fucking Suicide Squad is now an Oscar nominee? I haven’t seen A Man Called Ove but I’m going to predict its victory because I just can’t imagine the Academy honoring either Star Trek Beyond or Suicide Squad.

Should Win: Star Trek Beyond (that had good makeup in it, right?)

Will Win: A Man Called Ove

Best Film Editing: I can’t complain about any of the films nominated here. La La Land is pretty much a guaranteed winner here.

Should Win: La La Land

Will Win: La La Land

Best Costume Design: I was shocked that Love & Friendship was not nominated. If La La Land sweeps, it’ll win here. When I made out my list of my personal picks for the Oscars, I gave the costuming Oscar to La La Land but now that I’m looking at the actual nominees, I’m remembering just how good everyone looked in Allied.

Should Win: Allied

Will Win: La La Land

Best Cinematography: My personal pick for this award was The Neon Demon but it wasn’t nominated. Out of the nominated films, I would go with Moonlight but I think La La Land is going to sweep.

Should Win: Moonlight

Will Win: La La Land

Best Production Design: Well, it won’t be Passengers! How the Hell did that get nominated for anything? I think, of the nominees, Arrival deserves the award for making science fiction feel and look like science fact. But, again, I think La La Land is going to win here. (Are you sensing a theme in my predictions?)

Should Win: Arrival

Will Win: La La Land

Best Animated Feature: I was happy that Kubo and the Two Strings, Zootopia, and Moana were all nominated. I haven’t seen The Red Turtle or My Life as a Zucchini but, on the whole, the Academy has a record of nominating the right films for this award. I loved Kubo and I think it might win, just because it picked up that Visual Effects nomination as well. Zootopia, however, would allow the Academy to make a political point and Moana has Lin-Manuel Miranda. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict a Kubo victory but I wouldn’t be surprised if any of these five nominees won.

Should Win: Kubo and the Two Strings

Will Win: ~~Zootopia~~ ~~Kubo and the Two Strings~~ ~~Moana Zootopia~~ Kubo and the Two Strings

Best Adapted Screenplay: With La La Land likely to sweep the technical awards and Manchester By The Sea and Moonlight set to pick up some acting awards, this category will give the Academy a chance to acknowledge Arrival.

Should Win: Arrival

Will Win: Arrival

Best Original Screenplay: I think this is one of the few awards that La La Land will not win. This category gives the Academy a chance to honor Hell or High Water.

Should Win: Hell or High Water

Will Win: Hell or High Water

Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis is a guaranteed winner, even though her performance was a lead role.

Should Win: Naomie Harris, Moonlight

Will Win: Viola Davis, Fences

Best Supporting Actor: I was really happy to see that Michael Shannon got a nomination because Shannon is a great actor who always seems to be taken for granted. That said, Mahershala Ali is almost as much of a lock as Viola Davis.

Should Win: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

Will Win: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

Best Actress: Let’s just get this out of the way. Amy Adams not only deserved a nomination, she also deserved the Oscar. Arrival works because of a twist that occurs halfway through the film. The twist works because of Amy Adams’s performance. If not for Amy Adams, Arrival would never have been nominated for best picture. The fact that she was not nominated will be remembered as one of the biggest mistakes in Academy history.

This morning, I was happy to see that a lot of people on twitter agreed with me about the Amy Adams snub. What took me by surprise was how many people also agreed with me that Meryl Streep essentially took a spot that should have been given to Amy Adams. This morning, among other things, I discovered that there’s actually a growing backlash against the annual tradition of automatically nominating Meryl Streep, regardless of whether the film was any good or not.

Could Meryl win yet again? It depends on whether or not the Academy wants to hear another Meryl Streep speech. Given the political climate, I wouldn’t discount that as a possibility. Since I’m on the subject and it’s possible that everyone stopped reading a few categories ago, I’m going to go ahead and admit my unpopular opinion. While I’m definitely not a fan of the new President, Meryl’s Golden Globe speech felt like almost a parody of upper class white liberalism. Listening to her, it was easy to imagine Meryl at a cocktail party, bragging about how she’s on a first name basis with her maid.

But, I’m in the minority as far as that opinion is concerned. The Industry loved Meryl’s speech and, after Donald Trump’s overreaction to it, giving an Oscar to Meryl and giving her a chance to repeat the speech on a much bigger stage would be the perfect way to give the finger to the current administration.

That said, I think Emma Stone will be carried along in the La La Land sweep. Whether justified or not, many members of the Academy will look at her character and see themselves.

Should Win: Amy Adams in Arrival (Yes, she wasn’t nominated but she should still win, goddammit.)

Will Win: Emma Stone in La La Land

Best Actor: Could anyone other than Casey Affleck win this one? Denzel Washington is popular and giving him an Oscar for Fences would be a nice to way to reward all of the effort that he put into bringing this acclaimed play to the screen. Affleck was sued for sexual harassment by a producer and a cinematogrpaher and ended up settling with both of them. However, I doubt if it will stop him from winning the Oscar. If the allegations were going to hurt Affleck’s chances, it would have happened long before now.

As for the nominees — well, I have no complaints. While I wasn’t as impressed with Affleck’s performance as some, I think he did well enough. I would have liked to have seen either Sully‘s Tom Hanks or Hell or High Water‘s Chris Pine nominated. I’m glad that Andrew Garfield picked up his first nomination.

Should Win: Denzel Washington, Fences

Will Win: Casey Affleck, Manchester By The Sea

Best Director: I’m going to go out on a limb and predict a minor upset. I think La La Land is going to win in a lot of categories but I think that Moonlight‘s Barry Jenkins will win this Oscar. Best Picture and Director have been split fairly regularly over the past few years and, after both the #OscarsSoWhite controversy and the 2016 presidential election, it may be felt that it’s time for a black director to finally win the Oscar. Based on the skill shown in Whiplash and La La Land, Damien Chazelle will have other opportunities.

Should Win: Denis Villeneuve, Arrival

Will Win: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight

Best Picture: Though I don’t necessarily think it was one of the best films of the year, I would have loved it if Deadpool had actually scored a nomination. It would have been an unexpected surprise and it would have shaken up a race that’s gotten rather predictable.

But no. Deadpool received no nominations and the expected films were nominated. Perhaps the only thing that could be considered surprising (though not that surprising) was that Martin Scorsese’s passion project, Silence, was not only snubbed for best picture but also only picked up one nomination. Passengers picked up more nominations that Martin Scorsese’s latest film. When it comes to total number of nominations, Silence is tired with Suicide Squad.

La La Land is going to win. It’s probably going to win nearly all 14 of the Oscars it has been nominated for. My pick for the best film of 2016 was American Honey. Of the nominees, I think Arrival is the one that deserves to win. But La La Land is an exuberant valentine to both the Academy and the industry.

La La Land‘s going to win.

Should Win: Arrival

Will Win: La La Land

Here Are The Oscar Nominations!

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here are the Oscar nominations. La La Land tied Titanic’s record with 14 nominations and I’m going to predict right now that it’ll win nearly everything that it’s been nominated for. Amy Adams was totally snubbed. Meryl Streep was technically nominated for Florence Foster Jenkins but we all know it was actually for her Golden Globes speech.

I may have more to say about this later but until then, here are the noms:

Best Picture

“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“Hidden Figures”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”

Best Director

Mel Gibson – “Hacksaw Ridge”
Kenneth Lonergan – “Manchester by the Sea”
Barry Jenkins – “Moonlight”
Denis Villeneuve – “Arrival”
Damien Chazelle – “La La Land”

Best Actor

Casey Affleck – “Manchester by the Sea”
Andrew Garfield – “Hacksaw Ridge”
Ryan Gosling – “La La Land”
Viggo Mortensen – “Captain Fantastic”
Denzel Washington – “Fences”

Best Actress

Isabelle Huppert – “Elle”
Ruth Negga – “Loving”
Natalie Portman – “Jackie”
Emma Stone – “La La Land”
Meryl Streep – “Florence Foster Jenkins”

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali – “Moonlight”
Jeff Bridges – “Hell or High Water”
Lucas Hedges – “Manchester by the Sea”
Dev Patel – “Lion”
Michael Shannon – “Nocturnal Animals”

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis – “Fences”
Naomie Harris – “Moonlight”
Nicole Kidman – “Lion”
Octavia Spencer – “Hidden Figures”
Michelle William – “Manchester by the Sea”

Best Original Screenplay

“20th Century Women”
“Hell or High Water”
“La La Land”
“The Lobster”
“Manchester by the Sea”

Best Adapted Screenplay

“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hidden Figures”
“Lion”
“Moonlight”

Best Animated Feature

“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Moana”
“My Life as a Zucchini”
“The Red Turtle”
“Zootopia”

Best Production Design

“Arrival”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“Hail, Caesar!”
“La La Land”
“Passengers”

Best Cinematography

“Arrival”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Moonlight”
“Silence”

Best Costume Design

“Allied”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“Florence Foster Jenkins”
“Jackie”
“La La Land”

Best Film Editing

“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“La La Land”
“Moonlight”

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

“A Man Called Ove”
“Star Trek Beyond”
“Suicide Squad”

Best Sound Mixing

“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“La La Land”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi”

Best Sound Editing

“Arrival”
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“La La Land”
“Sully”

Best Visual Effects

“Deepwater Horizon”
“Doctor Strange”
“The Jungle Book”
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”

Best Original Score

“Jackie”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Moonlight”
“Passengers”

Best Original Song

“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from “La La Land”
“Can’t Stop the Feeling” from “Trolls”
“City of Stars” from “La La Land”
“The Empty Chair” from “Jim: The James Foley Story”
“How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”

Best Documentary Feature

“Fire at Sea”
“I Am Not Your Negro”
“Life, Animated”
“OJ: Made in America”
“13th”

Best Foreign Language Film

“Land of Mine”
“A Man Called Ove”
“The Salesman”
“Tanna”
“Toni Erdmann”

Best Live Action Short

“Ennemis Interieurs”
“La Femme et le TGV”
“Silent Nights”
“Sing”
“Timecode”

Best Documentary Short

“Extremis”
“4.1 Miles”
“Joe’s Violin”
“Watani: My Homeland”
“The White Helmets”

Best Animated Short Film

“Blind Vaysha”
“Borrowed Time”
“Pear Cider and Cigarettes”
“Pearl”
“Piper”

Here Are The Nominations of the Costume, Make-Up, and Cinematography Guilds!

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Three more guilds announced their nominees for the best of 2016 last week and while none of them may have gotten as much attention as the DGA or the PGA, they all play in role in our attempts to predict which films will actually be nominated when the Oscar nominations are announced on Tuesday!

So, to help you out when you’re making your bets, here are the guilds!

Costume Designers Guild

Excellence in Contemporary Film

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie – Rebecca Hale

Captain Fantastic – Courtney Hoffman

La La Land – Mary Zophres

Lion – Cappi Ireland

Nocturnal Animals – Arianne Phillips

Excellence in Period Film

The Dressmaker – Marion Boyce, Margot Wilson

Florence Foster Jenkins – Consolata Boyle

Hail, Caesar! – Mary Zophres

Hidden Figures – Renee Ehrlich Kalfus

Jackie – Madeline Fontaine

Excellence in Fantasy Film

Doctor Strange – Alexandra Byrne

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Colleen Atwood

Kubo and the Two Strings – Deborah Cook

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Colleen Atwood

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – David Crossman, Glyn Dillion

American Society of Cinematographers

Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS for “Lion”
James Laxton for “Moonlight”
Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC for “Silence”
Linus Sandgren, FSF for “La La Land”
Bradford Young, ASC for “Arrival”

Make-up And Hairstylists Guild

1. FEATURE-LENGTH MOTION PICTURE – BEST CONTEMPORARY MAKE-UP

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Make-Up Artists: Karen McDonald, Akemi Hart
LA LA LAND
Make-Up Artists: Torsten Witte, Angel Radefeld-Wright
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Make-Up Artists: Liz Bernstrom, Sherryn Smith
NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
Make-Up Artists: Donald Mowat, Malanie J. Romero, Elaine Offers
ZOOLANDER 2
Make-Up Artist: Maurizio Silvi

2. FEATURE-LENGTH MOTION PICTURE – BEST CONTEMPORARY HAIR STYLING

LA LA LAND
Hair Stylists: Barbara Lorenz, Jackie Masteran, Frida Aradottir
NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
Hair Stylists: Yolanda Toussieng, Jules Holdren
SULLY
Hair Stylists: Patricia Dehaney, Jose Zamora
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
Hair Stylist: Alan D’Angerio
ZOOLANDER 2
Hair Stylist: Aldo Signoretti

3. FEATURE-LENGTH MOTION PICTURE – BEST PERIOD AND/OR CHARACTER MAKE-UP

DOCTOR STRANGE
Make-Up Artist: Jeremy Woodhead
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Make-Up Artists: Fae Hammond, Marilyn MacDonald
HAIL, CAESAR!
Make-Up Artists: Jean Ann Black, Julie Hewett, Zoe Hay
LOVING
Make-Up Artists: Julia Lallas, Katie Middleton
SUICIDE SQUAD
Make-Up Artist: Alessandro Bertolazzi

4. FEATURE-LENGTH MOTION PICTURE – BEST PERIOD AND/OR CHARACTER HAIR STYLING

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Hair Stylists: Fae Hammond, Marilyn MacDonald
FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS
Hair Stylist: J. Roy Helland
HAIL, CAESAR!
Hair Stylists: Cydney Cornell, Pauletta Lewis-Irwin, Matt Danon
JACKIE
Hair Stylists: Catherine Leblanc-Caraes, Tony Rochetti
LOVING
Hair Stylists: Kenneth Walker, Elizabeth Paschall

5. FEATURE-LENGTH MOTION PICTURE – BEST SPECIAL MAKE-UP EFFECTS

DEADPOOL
Make-Up Artists: Bill Corso, Andrew Clement
DOCTOR STRANGE
Make-Up Artist: Jeremy Woodhead
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Make-Up Artist: Fae Hammond
STAR TREK BEYOND
Make-Up Artists: Joel Harlow, Richie Alonzo
SUICIDE SQUAD
Make-Up Artists: Christopher Nelson, Sean Sansom, Greg Nicotero

The Georgia Film Critics Association Names Moonlight The Best of 2016!

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Georgia Film Critics Association announced their picks for best of 2016 on January 13th!

Here’s what won:

Best Picture
“Moonlight”
Best Director
Damien Chazelle – “La La Land”
Best Actor
Casey Affleck – “Manchester By The Sea”
Best Actress
Natalie Portman – “Jackie”
Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali – “Moonlight”
Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis – “Fences”
Best Original Screenplay
“Manchester By The Sea”
Best Adapted Screenplay
“Moonlight”
Best Cinematography
“Moonlight”
Best Production Design
“La La Land”
Best Score
Justin Hurwitz – “La La Land”
Best Original Song
“City Of Stars” – “La La Land”
Best Documentary
“O.J.: Made In America”
Best Foreign Film
“Elle”
Best Animated Feature
“Zootopia”’
Breakthrough Award
Mahershala Ali (“Free State Of Jones,” “Hidden Figures,” “Kicks” & “Moonlight”)
Best Ensemble
“Moonlight”
Oglethorpe Award For Excellence In Georgia Cinema
“The Nice Guys”

The Hawaii Film Critics Society Embraces La La Land

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

On January 16th, the film critics of Hawaii (and who wouldn’t want to be a member of that group?) announced their picks for the best of 2016! They really, really liked La La Land!

BEST FILM:
La La Land

BEST DIRECTOR:
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
BEST ACTOR:
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
BEST ACTRESS:
Viola Davis, Fences
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water (tie)
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Tom Ford (Based on the Novel by Austin Wright), Nocturnal Animals
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Linus Sandgren, La La Land

BEST EDITING:
Tom Cross, La La Land
BEST ART DIRECTION:
Austin Gorg, La La Land
BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
Madeline Fontaine, Jackie
BEST MAKE-UP:
Bill Corso, Deadpool
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
Arrival (tie)
Doctor Strange
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Justin Hurwitz, La La Land
BEST SONG:
Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, “Audition (Fools Who Dream),” La La Land (tie)
Lin-Manuel Miranda, “How Far I’ll Go,” Moana
BEST ANIMATED FILM:
Kubo and the Two Strings (dir. Travis Knight) (tie)
Zootopia (dir. Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush)
BEST DOCUMENTARY:
OJ: Made in America (dir. Ezra Edelman)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
The Handmaiden (dir. Chan-wook Park), (South Korea) (tie)
Neruda (dir. Pablo Larrain), (Chile)
BEST HAWAII FILM:
Moana (dir. Ron Clements, Don Hall, John Musker and Chris Williams)
BEST NEW FILMMAKER:
Dan Trachtenberg, 10 Cloverfield Lane
BEST FIRST FILM:
10 Cloverfield Lane (dir. Dan Trachtenberg)
BEST OVERLOOKED FILM:
Hell or High Water (dir. David Mackenzie)
BEST SCI-FI/HORROR FILM:
Arrival (dir. Denis Villeneuve)
BEST STUNTS:
The Magnificent Seven
BEST VOCAL/MOTION CAPTURE PERFORMANCE:
Charlize Theron/ Kubo and the Two Strings
WORST FILM OF THE YEAR:
Fifty Shades of Black (tie)
Zoolander 2

Oscar Season Continues with the Denver Film Critics Society!

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, with the Oscar nominations due to be announced next Tuesday, there’s just a few more precursors left to consider. And, since nomination voting has been closed, it’s debatable whether any of these remaining precursors matter.

But you know me. I love three things: movies, lists, and awards.

So, let’s get things started with the Denver Film Critics Society! On the 17th, they announced their picks for the best of 2016. And here they are:

Best Picture: “Moonlight”

Best Director: Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”

Best Actor: Casey Affleck, “Manchester By the Sea”

Best Actress: Natalie Portman, “Jackie”

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”

Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis, “Fences”

Best Animated Film: “Zootopia”

Best Science Fiction/Horror Film: “Arrival”

Best Comedy: “Deadpool”

Best Original Screenplay: Taylor Sheridan, “Hell or High Water”

Best Adapted Screenplay: Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”

Best Documentary: “O.J.: Made in America”

Best Visual Effects: “Doctor Strange”

Best Original Song: “Drive It Like You Stole It” from “Sing Street”

Best Score: Justin Hurwitz, “La La Land”

Best Foreign Language Film: “Toni Erdmann”

2016 in Review: Lisa Marie Picks The 26 Best Films of 2016!

Posted on January 14, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, the time is here! It’s time for me to reveal my picks for the best 26 films of 2016!

If there’s been any theme that I’ve found myself constantly returning to while looking back at the previous year, it’s that 2016 just wasn’t as good as 2015. That’s certainly true as far as movies are concerned. Whereas 2015 provided us with an embarrasment of riches, 2016 was — overall — a pretty bland year as far as cinema is concerned.

That doesn’t mean there weren’t some great films released in 2016. I’m proud of this list below. At the same time, I’m also a little bit frustrated. As happens every year, there are a few films that, as of this writing, I have yet to see. Weather permitting, I will see Silence and Jackie tomorrow and on Monday. If I feel that they need to be included in my top 26, I will come back and edit this list. And, of course, I still need to see some of the films that are no longer playing in theaters — Captain Fantastic, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and some others. The list below should be considered my picks for the best 2016 films that I actually got to see.

Also, I still need to write reviews for two of the films listed below. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do that today. As soon as those reviews are posted, I’ll add links.

With all that in mind, here’s the list!

You can check out my picks for previous years by clicking on 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015!

Agree? Disagree? Have a list of your own? Let us know in the comments!

Previous Entries In The Best of 2016:

Here Are The DGA nominations!

Posted on January 12, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Director’s Guild announced their feature film nominations earlier today.

A DGA nomination is one of the biggest prizes of the precursor season. In general, if the DGA nominates a film then it’s likely that film will also get nominated for best picture. There have been exceptions, of course. (David Fincher was nominated for his bastardized rehash of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.) But, for the most part, the DGA is the most reliable precursor available.

Five directors were nominated. The usual suspects were there — Lonergan, Jenkins, and Chazelle. Fortunately, Denis Villeneuve picked up a nomination, which is good news for Arrival. The fifth nominee was a bit of a surprise. Garth Davis was nominated for Lion, which I guess means I’ll have to go see that movie now, even though I have little real desire to do so.

Martin Scorsese was not nominated for Silence, which probably means that the film will be dead-in-the-water as far as Oscar nominations are concerned.

Also not nominated — Tim Miller for Deadpool, a film that’s been doing surprisingly well with the precursors. If Tim Miller had been nominated, heads would have exploded. It would have been fun to watch the twitter reaction.

Instead, we just got this —

Garth Davis? #DGA

— Lisa Marie Bowman (@LisaMarieBowman) January 12, 2017

Dammit, does that mean I have to go see Lion now? #DGA

— Lisa Marie Bowman (@LisaMarieBowman) January 12, 2017

Just to make it official, here are the five DGA nominees:

Denis Villeneuve — Arrival

Damien Chazelle — La La Land

Garth Davis — Lion

Kenneth Lonergan — Manchester By The Sea

Barry Jenkins — Moonlight

Here Are The Producers Guild Nominations!

Posted on January 10, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Producer’s Guild of America, who are traditionally one of the most reliable of the Oscar precursors, announced their ten nominees for the best film of 2016 earlier today!

Not on the list: Martin Scorsese’s Silence. Last year, at this time, Silence was the most anticipated of the potential Oscar nominees. Now, 12 months later, whatever momentum that Silence had seems to have fizzled.

You know what film was on the list?

Deadpool!

Somehow, Deadpool has emerged as a legitimate Oscar contender. That doesn’t mean that it’s going to be nominated, of course. Last year, a lot of people made the mistake of getting excited when both Carol and Straight Outta Compton showed up among the Producers Guild’s nominations.

Here’s what we have to remember — every years, the PGA nominates 10 films. However, the Academy never nominates a full slate of 10 films. While the best picture nominees probably will all have received a PGA nomination, that doesn’t mean that every PGA nominee is going to be nominated for best picture.

Still, Deadpool is coming on strong with the guilds. It has some support among the industry.

A best picture nomination for Deadpool? Normally, I’d laugh that off. Then again, at one time, I also laughed off the idea that Mad Max: Fury Road would get a nomination, despite the fact that I thought Mad Max was one of the best films of 2015.

In the end, anything can happen. That’s one reason why Oscar watchers like me are always a little disappointed when the Oscar nominations are announced and the precursor season ends. During the precursor season, anything is possible.

Anyway, here are the PGA nominations:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures: