SAG Awards 2017

Posted on January 29, 2017 at 11:01 pm

The presenters and the awardees brought a strong message of justice and inclusion to this year’s SAG awards, which were given out at the end of a long, combative weekend following the new restrictions on people entering the country.

The awards were satisfyingly spread out, honoring a range of productions and sources. Long-time awards favorites and newcomers were recognized, from Denzel Washington (“Fences”) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Veep”) to Claire Foy (“The Crown”) and the cast of “Stranger Things.” The SAG Award show is always straightforward and elegant. It does not waste time on musical numbers or elaborately produced opening sequences. There are no high-profile hosts. Members of the Screen Actors Guild spoke simply and sincerely about what being an actor meant to them, and then it was just a matter of introducing the nominees and presenting the awards, plus the in memoriam segment and the Lifetime Achievement Award to Lily Tomlin, presented by her “Nine to Five” co-star Dolly Parton (a bit nervous and giggly because her co-presenter, Jane Fonda, had to cancel due to illness).

The awardees:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Hidden Figures

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Denzel Washington, Fences

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Emma Stone, La La Land

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Viola Davis, Fences

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
Hacksaw Ridge

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Stranger Things

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Orange Is the New Black

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
John Lithgow, The Crown

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Claire Foy, The Crown

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
William H. Macy, Shameless

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Bryan Cranston, All the Way

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Sarah Paulson, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
Game of Thrones

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Actors Awards

Online Film Critics Association Award Nominations 2016

Posted on December 30, 2016 at 5:11 pm

I am honored to be a member of the Online Film Critics Association and delighted to share our nominations for the best of what we saw in 2016.

Best Picture
Arrival
The Handmaiden
Hell or High Water
Jackie
La La Land
Manchester By the Sea
Moonlight
O.J.: Made in America
Paterson
The Witch

Best Animated Feature
Finding Dory
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
The Red Turtle
Zootopia

Best Director
Damien Chazelle – La La Land
Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
Pablo Larraín – Jackie
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester By the Sea
Denis Villeneuve – Arrival

Best Actor
Casey Affleck – Manchester By the Sea
Adam Driver – Paterson
Ryan Gosling – La La Land
Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington – Fences

Best Actress
Amy Adams – Arrival
Isabelle Huppert – Elle
Ruth Negga – Loving
Natalie Portman – Jackie
Emma Stone – La La Land

Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali – Moonlight
Tom Bennett – Love & Friendship
Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges – Manchester By the Sea
Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals

Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis – Fences
Lily Gladstone – Certain Women
Naomie Harris – Moonlight
Octavia Spencer – Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams – Manchester By the Sea

Best Original Screenplay
Hell or High Water – Taylor Sheridan
Jackie – Noah Oppenheim
La La Land – Damien Chazelle
The Lobster – Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou
Manchester By the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan

Best Adapted Screenplay
Arrival – Eric Heisserer, Ted Chiang
Elle – David Birke, Philippe Djian
Love & Friendship – Whit Stillman
Moonlight – Barry Jenkins, Tarell Alvin McCraney
Nocturnal Animals – Tom Ford

Best Editing
Arrival – Joe Walker
Cameraperson – Nels Bangerter
Jackie – Sebastian Sepulveda
La La Land – Tom Cross
Moonlight – Joi McMillon, Nat Sanders

Best Cinematography
Arrival – Bradford Young
Jackie – Stéphane Fontaine
La La Land – Linus Sandgren
Moonlight – James Laxton
The Neon Demon – Natasha Braier

Best Film Not in the English Language
Elle – France
The Handmaiden – South Korea
Neruda – Chile
The Salesman – Iran
Toni Erdmann – Germany

Best Documentary
13th
Cameraperson
I Am Not Your Negro
O.J.: Made in America
Weiner

Best Non-U.S. Release
After the Storm
The Death of Louis XIV
The Girl With All the Gifts
Graduation
Nocturma
Personal Shopper
A Quiet Passion
Staying Vertical
The Unknown Girl
Yourself and Yours

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Awards

Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards 2016

Posted on December 21, 2016 at 4:56 pm

I am proud to be a member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists and proud of our awards for 2016. We give out traditional awards for the best of what we saw this year and also the EDA awards for the best and worst treatment of female filmmakers and characters.

Best Film: Moonlight

Best Director: Barry Jenkins – Moonlight

Best Screenplay, Original: Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan

Best Screenplay, Adapted: Moonlight – Barry Jenkins

Best Documentary: 13th – Ava DuVernay

Best Animated Film: Zootopia – Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush

Best Actress: Ruth Negga – Loving

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Viola Davis – Fences

Best Actor: Casey Affleck – Manchester By The Sea

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Mahershala Ali – Moonlight

Best Ensemble Cast – Casting Director: Moonlight – Yesi Ramirez

Best Cinematography: Moonlight – James Laxton

Best Editing: Moonlight – Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders

Best Non-English-Language Film: The Handmaiden – Park Chan-Wook

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS

These awards honor WOMEN only.

Best Woman Director: Ava DuVernay -13th

Best Woman Screenwriter: Kelly Reinhardt – Certain Women

Best Animated Female (tie):

Judy in Zootopia – Ginnifer Goodwin

Moana in Moana – Auli’i Cravalho

Best Breakthrough Performance: Ruth Negga – Loving

Outstanding Achievement by A Woman in The Film Industry:

Ava DuVernay – For 13th and raising awareness about the need for diversity and gender equality in Hollywood

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

Actress Defying Age and Ageism (tie):

Annette Bening – 20th Century Women

Isabelle Huppert – Elle and Things to Come

Most Egregious Age Difference Between The Lead and The Love Interest Award : Rules Don’t Apply – Warren Beatty (b. 1937) and Lily Collins (b. 1989)

Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent: Jennifer Aniston – Mother’s Day and Office Christmas Party

Bravest Performance: Isabelle Huppert – Elle

Remake or Sequel That Shouldn’t have been Made: Ben Hur

AWFJ Hall of Shame Award: Sharon Maguire and Renee Zellwegger for Bridget Jones’s Baby

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS: AWFJ, a not-for-profit corporation, is an international association of professional female movie critics, reporters and feature writers working in print, broadcast and online media, dedicated to raising the volume on women’s voices in the film community by broadening opportunities for women who write about film and supporting films by and about women – both in front of and behind the cameras – through intra-group promotional activities, outreach programs and by presenting EDA awards in recognition of outstanding accomplishments (the best and worst) by and about women in the movies.

ABOUT THE EDA AWARDS: The AWFJ presents EDA Awards to honor women’s achievements in front of and behind the cameras. In addition to the annual end of the year awards, AWFJ presents EDA Awards for Best Female-Directed Films at select film festivals,including IDFA, Whistler Film Festival, DOXA. Edinburgh Film Festival. St. Louis International Film Festival and others. The EDAs are named in honor of AWFJ founder Jennifer Merin’s mother, Eda Reiss Merin, a stage, film and screen actress whose career spanned more than 60 years. A dedicated foot soldier in the industry, Eda was one of the founders of AFTRA and a long standing member of AMPAS.

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Awards

Tonight: The Critics Choice Awards on A&E

Posted on December 11, 2016 at 8:00 am

Be sure to tune in to A&E tonight for the Critics Choice Awards, hosted by TJ Miller (“Office Christmas Party,” “Silicon Valley,” “Deadpool”). This is the awards show I love most, and only partly because as a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association I get to vote in it. I also appreciate the award categories, with special attention to non-“prestige” but popular genres: action and comedy. I’ve attended in person three times, but this year I’ll be watching with all of you.

The nominations are:

BEST PICTURE

Arrival

Fences

Hacksaw Ridge

Hell or High Water

La La Land

Lion

Loving

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

Sully

BEST ACTOR

Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea

Joel Edgerton – Loving

Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge

Ryan Gosling – La La Land

Tom Hanks – Sully

Denzel Washington – Fences

BEST ACTRESS

Amy Adams – Arrival

Annette Bening – 20th Century Women

Isabelle Huppert – Elle

Ruth Negga – Loving

Natalie Portman – Jackie

Emma Stone – La La Land

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mahershala Ali – Moonlight

Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water

Ben Foster – Hell or High Water

Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea

Dev Patel – Lion

Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Viola Davis – Fences

Greta Gerwig – 20th Century Women

Naomie Harris – Moonlight

Nicole Kidman – Lion

Janelle Monáe – Hidden Figures

Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea

Alex R. Hibbert – Moonlight

Lewis MacDougall – A Monster Calls

Madina Nalwanga – Queen of Katwe

Sunny Pawar – Lion

Hailee Steinfeld – The Edge of Seventeen

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

20th Century Women

Fences

Hell or High Water

Hidden Figures

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

BEST DIRECTOR

Damien Chazelle – La La Land

Mel Gibson – Hacksaw Ridge

Barry Jenkins – Moonlight

Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea

David Mackenzie – Hell or High Water

Denis Villeneuve – Arrival

Denzel Washington – Fences

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Damien Chazelle – La La Land

Barry Jenkins – Moonlight

Yorgos Lanthimos/Efthimis Filippou – The Lobster

Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea

Jeff Nichols – Loving

Taylor Sheridan – Hell or High Water

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Luke Davies – Lion

Tom Ford – Nocturnal Animals

Eric Heisserer – Arrival

Todd Komarnicki – Sully

Allison Schroeder/Theodore Melfi – Hidden Figures

August Wilson – Fences

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Stéphane Fontaine – Jackie

James Laxton – Moonlight

Seamus McGarvey – Nocturnal Animals

Linus Sandgren – La La Land

Bradford Young – Arrival

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Arrival – Patrice Vermette, Paul Hotte

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Stuart Craig/James Hambidge, Anna Pinnock

Jackie – Jean Rabasse, Véronique Melery

La La Land – David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco

Live by Night – Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh

BEST EDITING

Tom Cross – La La Land

John Gilbert – Hacksaw Ridge

Blu Murray – Sully

Nat Sanders/Joi McMillon – Moonlight

Joe Walker – Arrival

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Colleen Atwood – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Consolata Boyle – Florence Foster Jenkins

Madeline Fontaine – Jackie

Joanna Johnston – Allied

Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh – Love & Friendship

Mary Zophres – La La Land

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP

Doctor Strange

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Hacksaw Ridge

Jackie

Star Trek Beyond

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

A Monster Calls

Arrival

Doctor Strange

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

The Jungle Book

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Finding Dory

Kubo and the Two Strings

Moana

The Red Turtle

Trolls

Zootopia

BEST ACTION MOVIE

Captain America: Civil War

Deadpool

Doctor Strange

Hacksaw Ridge

Jason Bourne

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE

Benedict Cumberbatch – Doctor Strange

Matt Damon – Jason Bourne

Chris Evans – Captain America: Civil War

Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge

Ryan Reynolds – Deadpool

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE

Gal Gadot – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Scarlett Johansson – Captain America: Civil War

Margot Robbie – Suicide Squad

Tilda Swinton – Doctor Strange

BEST COMEDY

Central Intelligence

Deadpool

Don’t Think Twice

The Edge of Seventeen

Hail, Caesar!

The Nice Guys

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Ryan Gosling – The Nice Guys

Hugh Grant – Florence Foster Jenkins

Dwayne Johnson – Central Intelligence

Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic

Ryan Reynolds – Deadpool

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Kate Beckinsale – Love & Friendship

Sally Field – Hello, My Name Is Doris

Kate McKinnon – Ghostbusters

Hailee Steinfeld – The Edge of Seventeen

Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE

10 Cloverfield Lane

Arrival

Doctor Strange

Don’t Breathe

Star Trek Beyond

The Witch

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Elle

The Handmaiden

Julieta

Neruda

The Salesman

Toni Erdmann

BEST SONG

Audition (The Fools Who Dream) – La La Land

Can’t Stop the Feeling – Trolls

City of Stars – La La Land

Drive It Like You Stole It – Sing Street

How Far I’ll Go – Moana

The Rules Don’t Apply – Rules Don’t Apply

BEST SCORE

Nicholas Britell – Moonlight

Jóhann Jóhannsson – Arrival

Justin Hurwitz – La La Land

Micachu – Jackie

Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka – Lion

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Awards

Washington Area Film Critics Awards 2016

Posted on December 5, 2016 at 10:57 am

This morning the Washington Area Film Critics announced our award winners for 2016.

“La La Land” was singing a happy tune when The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) announced their top honorees for 2016 this morning. Sparkling musical love story “La La Land” was the big winner, racking up seven awards, including Best Film and Best Director (Damien Chazelle).

“La La Land,” a song-and-dance romance about two star-crossed lovers struggling to make their professional dreams a reality, also earned the Best Original Screenplay prize for Chazelle’s adept balance of intimate human drama and heart-soaring musical set-pieces. The film swept the technical categories, including Best Original Score for Justin Hurwitz’s lushly beautiful compositions and Best Cinematography for Linus Sandgren’s resplendent lensing.

WAFCA awarded Best Actor to Casey Affleck for his quietly devastating work in touching family drama “Manchester by the Sea.” In the film, Affleck plays a grieving handyman who is given custody of his teenage nephew following the sudden death of the boy’s father. Lucas Hedges, who portrays his nephew, took home the award for Best Youth Performance.

For her exquisitely authentic turn in “Jackie,” Natalie Portman was feted with Best Actress honors. Portman portrays First Lady Jackie Kennedy during the week following President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

Best Supporting Actor was awarded to Mahershala Ali, as a sympathetic drug dealer who offers solace to a bullied and neglected young boy, in “Moonlight.”

Best Supporting Actress went to Viola Davis for her searing work in “Fences,” based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by August Wilson. Of special note, Davis previously earned a Tony Award for playing the same role in a 2010 Broadway production.

The Best Acting Ensemble award went to gritty Texas-set crime drama “Hell or High Water,” starring Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges, Gil Birmingham and Katy Mixon.

In thoughtfully adapting author Ted Chiang’s short story “Story of Your Life,” Eric Heisserer earned Best Adapted Screenplay honors for humanist science-fiction drama “Arrival.”

Lyrical stop-motion animated adventure “Kubo and the Two Strings,” set in Ancient Japan, was awarded Best Animated Feature.

Best Documentary kudos went to “13th,” director Ava DuVernay’s incisive look at racism and the United States criminal justice system.

Paul Verhoeven’s electrifying psychological thriller “Elle” won Best Foreign Language Film.

WAFCA introduced two new categories this year. For his delicious turn as a big friendly giant who befriends a young orphaned girl in “The BFG,” Mark Rylance won the award for Best Motion Capture Performance. Tenderly playing a different kind of giant who comes to the aid of a child in need, Liam Neeson earned Best Voice Performance for “A Monster Calls.”

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC, given each year in honor of one of WAFCA’s cherished late members, went to “Jackie.”

The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association comprises 50 DC-VA-MD-based film critics from television, radio, print and the Internet. Voting was conducted from December 2-4, 2016.

THE 2016 WAFCA AWARD WINNERS:

Best Film:
La La Land

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 Acting Ensemble:
Hell or High Water

Best Youth Performance:
Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)

Best Voice Performance:
Liam Neeson (A Monster Calls)

Best Motion Capture Performance:
Mark Rylance (The BFG)

Best Original Screenplay:
Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Eric Heisserer, Based on the Story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang (Arrival)

Best Animated Feature:
Kubo and the Two Strings

Best Documentary:
13th

Best Foreign Language Film:
Elle

Best Production Design:
Production Designer: David Wasco;
Set Decorator: Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, SDSA (La La Land)

Best Cinematography:
Linus Sandgren, SFS (La La Land)

Best Editing:
Tom Cross, ACE (La La Land)

Best Original Score:
Justin Hurwitz (La La Land)

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC:
Jackie

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Awards