What If Lisa Had All The Power And Picked The Oscar Nominees: 2015 Edition

Posted on January 13, 2016 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 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010!)

Best Picture
Brooklyn
*Carol*
Clouds of Sils Maria
Ex Machina
The Final Girls
Inside Out
Mad Max: Fury Road
Room
Sicario
Straight Outta Compton

Best Director
John Crowley for Brooklyn
Alex Garland for Ex Machina
F. Gary Gray for Straight Outta Compton
Todd Haynes for Carol
*George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road*
Denis Villeneuve for Sicario

Best Actor
John Cusack in Love & Mercy
Gerard Depardieu in Welcome To New York
Johnny Depp in Black Mass
Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant
Michael B. Jordan in Creed
*Jacob Tremblay in Room*

Best Actress
Katharine Isabelle in 88
Brie Larson in Room
Rooney Mara in Carol
Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn
Amy Schumer in Trainwreck
*Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina*

Best Supporting Actor
Michael Angarano in The Stanford Prison Experiment
Paul Dano in Love & Mercy
*Benicio Del Toro in Sicario*
Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Maggie
Sylvester Stallone in Creed

Best Supporting Actress
*Malin Akerman in The Final Girls*
Elizabeth Banks in Love & Mercy
Cate Blanchett in Carol
Jessica Chastain in Crimson Peak
Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hateful Eight
Kristen Stewart in Clouds of Sils Maria

Best Voice Over Performance
Jon Hamm in Minions
Richard Kind in Inside Out
Jason Mantzoukas in The Regular Show Movie
*Amy Poehler in Inside Out*
James Spader in Avengers: The Age Of Ultron
Steve Zahn in The Good Dinosaur

Best Original Screenplay
Clouds of Sils Maria
*Ex Machina*
The Final Girls
Inside Out
Sicario
Trainwreck

Best Adapted Screenplay
Brooklyn
*Carol*
The End of the Tour
Love & Mercy
Room
The Walk

Best Animated Film
*Inside Out*
The Good Dinosaur
Minions
The Peanuts Movie
The Regular Show Movie
Shaun The Sheep

Best Documentary Feature:
3 ½ Minutes 10 Bullets
*Amy*
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s The Island of Dr. Moreau
Prophet’s Prey
The Wolfpack

Best Foreign Language Film
The Connection
Gloria
The Mafia Only Kills In Summer
Misunderstood
A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Contemplating Existence
*The Tribe*

Best Casting
*Brooklyn*
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
Sicario
Straight Outta Compton
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Cinematography
Carol
Clouds of Sils Maria
The Green Inferno
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
*Sicario*

Best Costume Design
Brooklyn
*Carol*
Cinderella
Ex Machina
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Suffragette

Best Editing
Carol
Ex Machina
*Mad Max: Fury Road*
Room
Sicario
Straight Outta Compton

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Black Mass
Brooklyn
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
*Maggie*
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Original Score
*Carol*
The Hateful Eight
It Follows
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Original Song
“Love Me Like You Do” from Fifty Shades of Grey
“See You Again” from Furious 7
“Better When I’m Dancing” from The Peanuts Movie
“Flashlight” from Pitch Perfect 2
“Feels Like Summer” from Shaun the Sheep
*“Who Can You Trust” from Spy*

Best Overall Use Of Music
Furious 7
The Hateful Eight
Joy
Love & Mercy
The Martian
*Straight Outta Compton*

Best Production Design
*Crimson Peak*
Ex Machina
The Final Girls
Mad Max: Fury Road
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Unfriended

Best Sound Editing
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Furious 7
The Revenant
*Sicario*
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Straight Outta Compton

Best Sound Mixing
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Furious 7
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
*Straight Outta Compton*

Best Stunt Work
Furious 7
Kingsman: The Secret Service
*Mad Max: Fury Road*
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Spy
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Visual Effects
Ant-Man
Avengers: The Age of Ultron
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
*Star Wars: The Force Awakens*
The Walk

Films By Number of Nominations:
11 Nominations – Carol
10 Nominations – Mad Max: Fury Road
9 Nominations – Sicario, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
8 Nominations – Ex Machina
7 Nominations – Brooklyn, Straight Outta Compton
5 Nominations – Furious 7, Inside Out, Love & Mercy, The Revenant, Room
4 Nominations – Avengers: The Age of Ultron, Clouds of Sils Maria, The Final Girls
3 Nominations – The Hateful Eight
2 Nominations – Black Mass, Creed, Crimson Peak, The Good Dinosaur, Maggie, Minions, The Peanuts Movie, The Regular Show Movie, Shaun the Sheep, Spy, Trainwreck, The Walk
1 Nomination – 3 ½ Minutes 10 Bullets, 50 Shades of Grey, 88, Amy, Ant-Man, Beasts of No Nation, Cinderella, The Connection, The End of The Tour, Gloria, Going Clear, The Green Inferno, It Follows, Joy, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Mafia Only Kills in Summer, The Martian, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Misunderstood, A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence, Pitch Perfect 2, Prophet’s Prey, The Stanford Prison Experiment, Suffragette, The Tribe, Unfriended, Welcome to New York, The Wolfpack

Films By Number of Oscars Won:
4 Oscars – Carol
3 Oscars – Mad Max: Fury Road, Sicario
2 Oscars – Ex Machina, Inside Out, Straight Outta Compton
1 Oscar – Amy, Brooklyn, Crimson Peak, The Final Girls, Maggie, Room, Spy, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Tribe

Will the Academy be smart enough to agree with me on these picks? We will find out on Thursday!

Lisa and Evelyn at the Oscars

Here Are The Dorian Award Nominees!

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Dorian Awards are handed out by the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Film Critics Association. Here are their film nominations for 2015.

FILM OF THE YEAR
The Big Short / Paramount, Regency
Brooklyn / Fox Searchlight
Carol / The Weinstein Company
Mad Max: Fury Road / Warner Bros., Village Road Show
Spotlight / Open Road, Participant, First Look

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
(Film or Television)
Sean Baker, Tangerine / Magnolia Pictures
Todd Haynes, Carol / The Weinstein Company
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, The Revenant / Fox
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight / Open Road, Participant, First Look
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road / Warner Bros., Village Road Show

PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR — ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Carol / The Weinstein Company
Brie Larson, Room / A24
Rooney Mara, Carol / The Weinstein Company
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years / Sundance Selects
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn / Fox Searchlight

PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR — ACTOR
Matt Damon, The Martian / Fox
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant / Fox
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs / Universal
Tom Hardy, Legend / Universal, Cross Creek
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl / Focus, Working Title

LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR
Carol / The Weinstein Company
The Danish Girl / Focus, Working Title
Freeheld / Summit
Grandma / Sony Pictures Classics
Tangerine / Magnolia Pictures

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
The Assassin / Central Motion Pictures, Well Go USA
Mustang / Cohen Media Group
Phoenix / Sundance Selects
Son of Saul / Sony Pictures Classics
Viva / Magnolia Pictures

SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR
Emma Donoghue, Room / A24
Phyllis Nagy, Carol / The Weinstein Company
Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, The Big Short / Paramount, Regency
Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy, Spotlight / Open Road, Participant, First Look
Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs / Universal

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
(theatrical release, TV airing or DVD release)
Amy / A24
Best of Enemies / Magnolia Pictures, Magnet
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief / HBO
Making a Murderer / Netflix
What Happened, Miss Simone? / Netflix

VISUALLY STRIKING FILM OF THE YEAR
(honoring a production of stunning beauty, from art direction to cinematography)
Carol / The Weinstein Company
The Danish Girl / Focus, Working Title
Mad Max: Fury Road / Warner Bros., Village Road Show
The Martian / Fox
The Revenant / Fox

UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR
The Diary of a Teenage Girl / Sony Pictures Classics
Ex Machina / A24
Grandma / Sony Pictures Classics
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl / Fox Searchlight
Tangerine (Magnolia)

CAMPY FLICK OF THE YEAR
The Boy Next Door
Fifty Shades of Grey
Magic Mike XXL
Jupiter Ascending
Stonewall

Here Are The DGA Nominations!

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Directors Guild of America announced their nominees today! The DGA is usually one of the best of the Oscar precursors. Getting a DGA nomination usually translates to a Best Picture nomination.

Here are the nominees. There really aren’t any surprises among them, though, based on its strength with the other guilds, I did think that Steven Spielberg might sneak in there with Bridge of Spies.

Alejandro G. Inarritu for The Revenant

Tom McCarthy for Spotlight

Adam McKay for The Big Short

George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road

Ridley Scott for The Martian

And here are the nominees for a new award that the DGA is giving out this year!

Outstanding Directorial Achievement for a First-Time Feature Film Director

The nominees are:

Fernando Coimbra, “A Wolf at the Door”

Joel Edgerton, “The Gift”

Alex Garland, “Ex Machina”

Marielle Heller, “The Diary of a Teenage Girl”

Laszlo Nemes, “Son of Saul”

The best thing about this new category? Knowing that Sasha Stone is probably pissed off that Diary of a Teenage Girl received a nomination.

Here Are The Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Nominations!

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

MOTION PICTURE – LIVE ACTION

Bridge of Spies
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

MOTION PICTURE—ANIMATED

The Good Dinosaur
Hotel Transylvania 2
Inside Out
Minions The Peanuts Movie

Here Are The Visual Effects Society Nominations!

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

FEATURE FILM

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Furious 7

San Andreas

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

In The Heart of The Sea

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

The Walk; World Trade Center

Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Falcon Chase / Graveyard

Ant-Man; The Microverse

Jurassic World; Jungle Chase

Tomorrowland; Tomorrowland Center

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature

Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Maz

The Revenant; The Bear

Avengers: Age of Ultron; Hulk

Chappie; Chappie

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

Ant-Man; Macro Action

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation; Underwater Torus Chamber

Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Falcon Chase / Graveyard

The Walk; Towers Walk

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

San Andreas; Los Angeles Destruction

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Tomorrowland

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant; Bear Attack

Outstanding Models in a Photoreal or Animated Project

Star Wars: The Force Awakens; BB-8

Avengers: Age of Ultron; Hulkbuster

Everest; Mt. Everest

Jurassic World; Indominus Rex

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

Mad Max: Fury Road; Toxic Storm

Avengers: Age of Ultron; Hulk vs Hulkbuster

San Andreas; Hoover Dam / San Francisco Tsunami

San Andreas; Los Angels Destruction

Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Starkiller Base

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

The Peanuts Movie

Inside Out

Anomalisa

Hotel Transylvania 2

The Good Dinosaur

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature

The Peanuts Movie; Snoopy

The Peanuts Movie; Charlie Brown

Inside Out; Joy

The Good Dinosaur; Spot

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

The Good Dinosaur; The Farm

Inside Out; Imagination Land

The Peanuts Movie; Charlie Brown’s Neighborhood

Shaun the Sheep Movie; Under the Arches

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

Inside Out

The Peanuts Movie

The Good Dinosaur

Home

Here’s What Won At The Golden Globes!

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Golden Globes just ended and here’s what won the film categories this year. (Check out a full list of nominees here.)

Best Motion Picture (Drama) — The Revenant

Best Motion Picture (Comedy) — That freaking hilarious comedy The Martian

Best Actor (Comedy) — Matt Damon in that freaking hilarious comedy The Martian

Best Actor (Drama) — Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant

Best Actress (Comedy) — Jennifer Lawrence in Joy

Best Actress (Drama) — Brie Larson in Room

Best Supporting Actor — Sylvester Stallone in Creed

Best Supporting Actress — Kate Winslet in Steve Jobs

Best Director — Alejandro G. Inarritu for The Revenant

Best Screenplay — Aaron Sorkin for Steve Jobs

Best Original Score — Ennio Morricone for The Hateful Eight

Best Original Song — Writing’s on the Wall, that boringass song from Spectre

Best Animated Film: Inside Out

Best Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul

Here Are The Costume Designers Guild Nominations!

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Costume Designers Guild Nominations were announced today and here they are! Ex Machina received a nomination, which would seem to be another indication that it’s popular with Academy voters. (Then again, remember how excited we were last year when Nightcrawler kept getting love from the guilds?)

Excellence in Contemporary Film

“Beasts of No Nation” – Jenny Eagan
“Joy” – Michael Wilkinson
“Kingsman: The Secret Service” – Arianne Phillips
“The Martian” – Janty Yates
“Youth” – Carlo Poggioli

Excellence in Period Film

“Brooklyn” – Odile Dicks-Mireaux
“Carol” – Sandy Powell
“Crimson Peak” – Kate Hawley
“The Danish Girl” – Paco Delgado
“Trumbo” – Daniel Orlandi

Excellence in Fantasy Film

“Cinderella” – Sandy Powell
“Ex Machina” – Sammy Sheldon Differ
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” – Kurt and Bart
“Mad Max: Fury Road” – Jenny Beavan
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” – Michael Kaplan

Here Are The USC Scripter Nominations!

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The USC Scripter nominations are meant to honor film scripts that were adapted from previously published material. You’ll find their film nominations below and you may immediately notice that Oscar front runner Carol is missing. Make of that what you will.

The Big Short
Screenwriters Adam McKay and Charles Randolph, adapted from Michael Lewis’s nonfiction work “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine”
Paramount Pictures and W.W. Norton

Brooklyn
Novelist Colm Tóibín and screenwriter Nick Hornby
Fox Searchlight and Viking

The End Of The Tour
Screenwriter Donald Margulies, adapted from David Lipsky’s memoir “Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace”
A24 and Broadway Books

The Martian
Novelist Andy Weir and screenwriter Drew Goddard
Twentieth Century Fox and Crown Publishing Group

Room
Emma Donoghue for the novel and screenplay
A24 and Little, Brown and Company

Here Are The WGA Nominations!

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Writers Guild of America announced their film nominations earlier today! As always, the WGA nominations should be taken with a grain of salt, as several potential Oscar nominees — Brooklyn, Room, The Hateful Eight — were not eligible to be nominated for a WGA award.

With that in mind, here are the nominees!

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Bridge of Spies, Written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen; DreamWorks Pictures

Sicario, Written by Taylor Sheridan; Lionsgate

Spotlight, Written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy; Open Road Films

Straight Outta Compton, Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff; Universal Pictures

Trainwreck, Written by Amy Schumer; Universal Pictures

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Big Short, Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay; Based on the Book by Michael Lewis; Paramount Pictures

Carol, Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy; Based on the Novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith; The Weinstein Company

The Martian, Screenplay by Drew Goddard; Based on the Novel by Andy Weir; Twentieth Century Fox

Steve Jobs, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin; Based on the Book by Walter Isaacson; Universal Pictures

Trumbo, Written by John McNamara; Based on the Biography by Bruce Cook; Bleecker Street Media
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Being Canadian, Written by Robert Cohen; Candy Factory Films

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Written by Alex Gibney; HBO Documentary Films

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, Written by Brett Morgen; HBO Documentary Films

Prophet’s Prey, Written by Amy J. Berg; Showtime Documentary Films

The American Society of Cinematographers Has Spoken!

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The American Society of Cinematographers announced their 5 nominees for the best cinematography of 2015 and here they are:

Bridge of Spies – Janusz Kaminski
Carol – Edward Lachman
Mad Max: Fury Road – John Seale
The Revenant – Emmanuel Lubezki
Sicario – Roger Deakins

This is Roger Deakins’s 14th ASC nomiantion! If Sicario scores a best picture nomination, I wouldn’t be surprised if Deakins finally picks up an Oscar as a result.

Though a lot of critics don’t want to admit it (for obvious reasons), the guild awards are actually a far better Oscar precursor than the critic awards. If you want to know what films are popular with the people who actually make movies, look to the guild awards.

And looking at the guild awards so far, it really does appear that there are quite a few films that have wide industry support. Interestingly enough, both Sicario and Straight Outta Compton have been making something of a comeback with the guild awards. (Even though Compton was not nominated by ASC, it has been recognized by the PGA, WGA, and SAG.) As well, Bridge of Spies and Trumbo have both received more guild support than either has gotten from the critics.

For that matter, both Mad Max: Fury Road and The Big Short have received more guild support than Spotlight. I know that Sasha Stone and Jeff Wells have pretty much declared Spotlight to be unbeatable but who knows? Things could still get interesting.

(Correction: Over on Gold Derby, Sasha Stone is now predicting victory for The Big Short.)