And Here Are The San Francisco Film Critics Nominations!


Winners will be voted on tomorrow!

San Francisco Film Critics Nominations

Best Picture

Best Director

Best Actor

Best Actress

  • Cate Blanchett (Carol)
  • Brie Larson (Room)
  • Rooney Mara (Carol)
  • Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)
  • Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actress

  • Elizabeth Banks (Love & Mercy)
  • Helen Mirren (Trumbo)
  • Mya Taylor (Tangerine)
  • Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)
  • Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)

Best Screenplay, Original

Best Screenplay, Adapted

Best Cinematography

Best Film Editing

Best Production Design

Best Animated Feature

Best Documentary

  • Amy
  • Best of Enemies
  • Listen to Me Marlon
  • The Look of Silence
  • Meru

Best Foreign Language Picture

Here Are The Confusing San Diego Film Critics Society Nominations!


The San Diego Film Critics Society announced their nominees for the best of 2015 and … well, there’s a little bit of confusion.  As Paddy Mulholland of Screen on Screen points out, the San Diego film critics did not list their nominees alphabetically.  But, at the same time, the SFDC hasn’t acknowledged that the nominees were listed as a ranked slate either.  So, when they list Ex Machina as their first nominee for Best Picture and Brooklyn as their second, were they announcing that Ex Machina was their pick for best picture and Brooklyn was the runner up?  Or did they just decided to randomly list the nominees?

The official winners will be announced on December 14th, at which point we will have clarity!

Anyway, here are the San Diego nominees.  And again, h/t on this goes to Screen on Screen:

Best Picture
1. Ex Machina
2. Brooklyn
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
4. Room
5. Spotlight

Best Director
1. George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)
2. John Crowley (Brooklyn)
3. Lenny Abrahamson (Room)
4. Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)
5. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant)

Best Actor, Male
1. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)
2. Jason Segel (The End of the Tour)
3. Matt Damon (The Martian)
4. Bryan Cranston (Trumbo)
5. Jacob Tremblay (Room)

Best Actor, Female
1. Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)
2. Brie Larson (Room)
3. Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)
4. Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road)
5. Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)

Best Supporting Actor, Male
1. Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)
2. Tom Noonan (Anomalisa)
3. Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina)
4. Paul Dano (Love & Mercy)
5. R. J. Cyler (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl)

Best Supporting Actor, Female
1. Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)
2. Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight)
3. Helen Mirren (Trumbo)
4. Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria)
5. Olivia Cooke (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl)

Best Original Screenplay
1. Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig (Mistress America)
2. Alex Garland (Ex Machina)
3. Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows)
4. Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight)
5. Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)

Best Adapted Screenplay
1. Nick Hornby (Brooklyn)
2. Emma Donoghue (Room)
3. Charlie Kaufman (Anomalisa)
4. Donald Margulies (The End of the Tour)
5. Drew Goddard and Andy Weir (The Martian)

Best Cinematography
1. Roger Deakins (Sicario)
2. Yves Belanger (Brooklyn)
3. Dariusz Wolski (The Martian)
4. John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road)
5. Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant)

Best Editing
1. Margaret Sixel (Mad Max: Fury Road)
2. Joe Walker (Sicario)
3. Pietro Scalia (The Martian)
4. Michael Kahn (Bridge of Spies)
5. Nathan Nugent (Room)
6. Stephen Mirrione (The Revenant

Best Production Design
1. Colin Gibson (Mad Max: Fury Road)
2. Mark Digby (Ex Machina)
3. Arthur Max (The Martian)
4. Francois Seguin (Brooklyn)
5. Adam Stockhausen (Bridge of Spies)

Best Sound Design
1. The Martian
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Ex Machina
4. Sicario
5. Love & Mercy

Best Visual Effects
1. The Martian
2. Ex Machina
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
4. The Walk
5. Jurassic World

Best Use of Music in a Film
1. The Hateful Eight
2. Love & Mercy
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
4. Sicario
5. Straight Outta Compton

Best Ensemble
1. Spotlight
2. The Hateful Eight
3. Straight Outta Compton
4. Inside Out
5. The Big Short
6. What We Do in the Shadows

Best Animated Film
1. Inside Out
2. Anomalisa
3. Shaun the Sheep Movie
4. The Good Dinosaur
5. The Peanuts Movie

Best Documentary
1. Amy
2. He Named Me Malala
3. Cartel Land
4. Meru
5. The Wrecking Crew

Best Foreign Language Film
1. Phoenix
2. Taxi
3. White God
4. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
5. Goodnight Mommy

Best Breakthrough Artist
1. Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl / Ex Machina)
2. Jacob Tremblay (Room)
3. Emory Cohen (Brooklyn)
4. Abraham Attah (Beasts of No Nation)
5. Sean Baker (Tangerine)

 

The Washington Area Film Critics Honor Spotlight!


Spotlight
The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics announced their picks for the best of 2015 today.  In a move that many are predicting may be imitated by the Academy, they named Spotlight best film while giving director to Mad Max Fury Road‘s George Miller.
Best Film:
Spotlight
Best Director:
George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)
Best Actor:
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)
Best Actress:
Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

 

Best Supporting Actor:
Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation)

Best Supporting Actress:
Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)

Best Acting Ensemble:
Spotlight

Best Youth Performance:
Jacob Tremblay (Room)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Emma Donoghue (Room)

Best Original Screenplay:
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley (Original Story by Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen) (Inside Out)

Best Animated Feature:
Inside Out

Best Documentary:
Amy

Best Foreign Language Film:
Son of Saul

Best Production Design:
Production Designer: Colin Gibson, Set Decorator: Lisa Thompson (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Cinematography:
Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC (The Revenant)

Best Editing:
Margaret Sixel (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Original Score:
Jóhann Jóhannsson (Sicario)

Here Are The Online Film Critics Society Nominations and They’re Great!


Sicario_poster

I love the Online Film Critics Society, I really do.  Every year, when they announce the nominees for their end-of-the-year awards, they always seem to honor the films that truly deserve to be honored.  For instance, this year, they found room to not only nominate the Academy front runners — like Spotlight, The Martian, Carol, Brooklyn, and Mad Max — but they also gave nominations to Ex Machina, Sicario, and Inside Out.  Ex Machina, Sicario, and Inside Out all deserve to be in the Oscar conversation and hopefully, these nominations will help them stay there.

Here are the nominations from the Online Film Critics Society!

Best Picture:
Brooklyn
Carol
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant

Room
Sicario
Spotlight

Best Animated Feature:
Anomalisa
The Good Dinosaur
Inside Out
The Peanuts Movie
Shaun the Sheep Movie

Best Film Not in the English Language:
The Assassin (Taiwan)
Goodnight Mommy (Austria)
Mustang (France)
Phoenix (Germany)
Son of Saul (Hungary)

Best Documentary:
Amy
Best of Enemies
Cartel Land
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
The Look of Silence

Best Director:
Todd Haynes (Carol)
Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)
George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)
Ridley Scott (The Martian)
Denis Villeneuve (Sicario)

Best Actor:
Matt Damon (The Martian)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)
Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)
Michael B. Jordan (Creed)
Ian McKellen (Mr. Holmes)

Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett (Carol)
Brie Larson (Room)
Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)
Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)
Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Supporting Actor:
Benicio Del Toro (Sicario)
Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina)
Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight)
Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)
Sylvester Stallone (Creed)

Best Supporting Actress:
Rooney Mara (Carol)
Cynthia Nixon (James White)
Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria)
Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)
Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)

Best Original Screenplay:
Ex Machina (Alex Garland)
Inside Out (Pete Docter, Ronnie Del Carmen, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley)
Mistress America (Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach)
Sicario (Taylor Sheridan)
Spotlight (Josh Singer, Tom McCarthy)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Brooklyn (Nick Hornby)
Carol (Phyllis Nagy)
The Martian (Drew Goddard)
Room (Emma Donoghue)
Steve Jobs (Aaron Sorkin)

Best Editing:
Mad Max: Fury Road (Margaret Sixel)
The Martian (Pietro Scalia)
The Revenant (Stephen Mirrione)
Sicario (Joe Walker)
Steve Jobs (Elliot Graham)

Best Cinematography:
The Assassin (Ping Bin Lee)
Carol (Edward Lachman)
Mad Max: Fury Road (John Seale)
The Revenant (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Sicario (Roger Deakins)

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association Goes Mad For Max But Even Madder For Spotlight!


MadMaxFuryRoad

Boston and New York were not the only critics to vote today!  The Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced their picks for the best of 2015 as well!  Mad Max: Fury Road won best director but Spotlight won best picture with Fury Road as the runner-up.  In other words, the LAFCA liked Fury Road but decided to play it safe.  Let’s not forget that this is the same group of people who once named The Descendants best picture with The Tree of Life as the runner-up.

(Dear award-giving groups: Just so you know, playing it safe is really freaking boring.)

Here’s all that what won:

Best Picture
Winner: Spotlight
Runner-up: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Director
Winner: George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Roard
Runner-up: Todd Haynes, Carol

Best Actor
Winner: Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Runner-up: Geza Rohrig, Son of Saul

Best Actress
Winner: Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Runner-up: Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Michael Shannon, 99 Homes
Runner-up: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
Runner-up: Kristen Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria

Best Screenplay
Winner: Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, Spotlight
Runner-up: Charlie Kaufman, Anomalisa

Best Cinematography
Winner: John Seale, Mad Max: Fury Road
Runner-up: Ed Lachmann, Carol

Best Production Design
Winner: Colin Gibson, Mad Max: Fury Road
Runner-up: Judy Becker, Carol

Best Editing
Winner: Hank Corwin, The Big Short
Runner-up: Margaret Sixel, Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Music Score
Winner: Carter Burwell, Anomalisa and Carol
Runner-up: Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight

Best Foreign-Language Film
Winner: Son of Saul
Runner-up: The Tribe

Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film
Winner: Amy
Runner-up: The Look of Silence

Best Animation
Winner: Anomalisa
Runner-up: Inside Out

New Generation Award: Ryan Coogler for Creed

The Boston Online Film Critics Are Mad for Max!!!!


The Boston Online Film Critics announced their picks for the best of 2015 earlier today and once again, my expectations have been defied!  I figured that since Spotlight is a Boston-story, it would be an easy pick for the Boston critics.

But no!  The Boston Online Critics went for … MAD MAX: FURY ROAD!  According to Awards Circuit, Creed was the runner-up.  (Though, to be clear, the Boston Online Critics definitely did like Spotlight, naming it the 5th best film of 2015 and giving it awards for screenplay and ensemble.)  Now again, that doesn’t mean that either Fury Road or Creed is going to be Oscar-nominated.  But, every bit helps.  With each victory, the idea of a Fury Road best picture nomination becomes just a little more plausible.

Here’s my question — one month ago, would you have believed that the early critics awards would be dominated by Mad Max, Sylvester Stallone, and Kristen Stewart?

Here are the winners!

BEST PICTURE:
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

BEST DIRECTOR:
George Miller, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

BEST ACTOR:
Michael B. Jordan, CREED

BEST ACTRESS:
Saoirse Ronan, BROOKLYN

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Sylvester Stallone, CREED

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Kristen Stewart, CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA

BEST ENSEMBLE:
SPOTLIGHT

BEST SCREENPLAY:
Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer, SPOTLIGHT

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
SON OF SAUL

BEST DOCUMENTARY:
AMY

BEST ANIMATED FILM:

INSIDE OUT

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
John Seale, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

BEST EDITING:
Margaret Sixel, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Junkie XL, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

THE TEN BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR:

  1. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
  2. CREED
  3. BROOKLYN
  4. CAROL
  5. SPOTLIGHT
  6. CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA
  7. BRIDGE OF SPIES
  8. THE MARTIAN
  9. ANOMALISA
  10. TANGERINE