Film Awards 2017

[Bad Ambassador]

The season's started with the much-respected National Board of Review announcing its winners.

Best Film: The Post
Other nominees: Baby Driver, Call Me By Your Name, The Disaster Artist, Downsizing, Dunkirk, The Florida Project, Get Out, Lady Bird, Logan and Phantom Thread.

Best Foreign Film: Foxtrot
Other nominees: A Fantastic Woman, Frantz, Loveless, The Square and Summer 1993.

Best Documentary: Jane
Other nominees: Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, Brimstone and Glory, Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars, Faces Places and Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS.

Best Independent Films: Beatriz at Dinner, Brigsby Bear, A Ghost Story, Lady Macbeth, Logan Lucky, Loving Vincent, Menashe, Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer, Patti Cake$ and Wind River.

Best Director: Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Best Directorial Debut: Jordan Peele, Get Out
Best Actor: Tom Hanks, The Post
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, The Post
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Best Breakthrough Performance: Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Best Animated Film: Coco
Best Original Screenplay: Phantom Thread
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Disaster Artist

Spotlight Award: Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman
Freedom of Expression Awards: First They Killed My Father, Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992

The next notable announcement is the Critics' Choice nominations in a week.

[DukeDeMondo]

Best Film: The Post
Other nominees: ...Get Out...

Baffling.

Also, I have seen very, very few pictures of the (2017) variety this year. Usually I'm right up on top of it all, and have half a dozen lists made ready for rhyming off at folk before Halloween is ever halfway out the door. Not this year. Next to nothing, have I looked at. And for the most part what I did see - the likes of Get Out, for example, or Trainspotting 2 - I rather wish I hadn't.

Still, looking forward to all these other year end lists and awards things coming through to give me some idea of what I've been missing and what I should be making some time for.

[bgmnts]

This week I rewatched The Sting and Big Trouble in Little China.

To save me time, are any of these films better than those two?

[Bad Ambassador]

This week I rewatched The Sting and Big Trouble in Little China.

To save me time, are any of these films better than those two?

Dunkirk, Get Out, Logan and Wonder Woman, although at least half of the rest haven't been released in the UK yet.

New York Film Critics Circle:
Best Film: Lady Bird
Best Director: Sean Baker, The Florida Project
Best Actor: Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Best Actress: Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Best Supporting Actress: Tiffany Haddish, Girls Trip
Best Screenplay: Phantom Thread
Best Cinematography: Mudbound
Best Animated Feature: Coco
Best Foreign Language Film: BPM
Best Documentary Feature: Faces Places
Best First Feature: Get Out

John Waters's Top 10 of the year is always quite interesting. This year's, in descending order:

Baby Driver, I, Olga Hepnarová, The Strange Ones, Nocturama, Wonderstruck, Graduation, The Wizard of Lies (bit of a cheat as it was made for TV), Lady Macbeth, Wonder Wheel and Tom of Finland.

[Gwen Taylor on ITV]

I thought Wonder Woman was awful.  Terrible pro-war gung-ho jingoism disguised with an anti-war message.  The idea that this was feminist film because the lead character was a woman who could jump very high without asking for man's permission first is frankly insulting; it does however show up the dearth of female-led mainstream Hollywood films that this would be praised so much.

[Bad Ambassador]

Terrible pro-war gung-ho jingoism disguised with an anti-war message.

You're going to have to explain this. It's a film where the villain is the concept of war itself, and is defeated by the power of love.

[Bad Ambassador]

The BFI's top 25:

1. Get Out, dir: Jordan Peele
2. Twin Peaks: The Return, dirs: Mark Frost, David Lynch
3. Call Me by Your Name, dir: Luca Guadagnino
4. Zama, dir: Lucrecia Martel
5. Western, dir: Valeska Grisebach
6. Faces Places, dir: Agnes Varda, JR
7. Good Time, dirs: Ben and Josh Safdie
8. Loveless, dir: Andrey Zvyagintsev
9. Dunkirk, dir: Christopher Nolan
9. The Florida Project, dir: Sean Baker
11. A Ghost Story, dir: David Lowery
12. BPM, dir: Robin Campillo
12. Lady Macbeth, dir: William Oldroyd
12. You Were Never Really Here, dir: Lynne Ramsay
15. God's Own Country, dir: Francis Lee
16. Personal Shopper, dir: Olivier Assayas
16. The Shape Of Water, dir: Guillermo del Toro
16. Strong Island, dir: Yance Ford
19. I Am Not Your Negro, dir: Raoul Peck
19. Lady Bird, dir: Greta Gerwig
19. Let the Sunshine In, dir: Claire Denis
19. Moonlight, dir: Barry Jenkins
19. mother!, dir: Darren Aronofsky
19. Mudbound, dir: Dee Rees
25. The Other Side Of Hope, dir: Aki Kaurismaki
25. Silence, dir: Martin Scorsese

[Gwen Taylor on ITV]

You're going to have to explain this. It's a film where the villain is the concept of war itself, and is defeated by the power of love.

It's a film where the moral of the story is that it's better to do something than do nothing (Chris Pine's character says it), because apparently when you do nothing (i.e. don't fight), that's when the bad guys win.  It's a very simplistic post-9/11 message.  The God of War in the film is introduced as a character calling for peace - of course as we find out, people calling for peace turn out to be insidious bad guys trying to destroy the human race.  You'd think because this is set in WW1 and not WW2 they would have gone for the idea that people on both sides of the trenches are innocent humans being set up for slaughter by wealthy interests safe at home, but instead most of the action scenes are the good guys killing the bad guy Germans and we're supposed to cheer for that, most notoriously when Wonder Woman jumps over the trench and leads her side to victory.  I wonder where power of love fits in when Wonder Woman and her mates are killing all these Germans.

And that's not forgetting that one of main characters with PTSD is bullied into joining the gang on their mission because he used to be good at being a sniper - that character was really jarring.

[Bad Ambassador]

It's a film where the moral of the story is that it's better to do something than do nothing (Chris Pine's character says it), because apparently when you do nothing (i.e. don't fight), that's when the bad guys win.  It's a very simplistic post-9/11 message.

"Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing." John Stuart Mill, 1867.

The God of War in the film is introduced as a character calling for peace - of course as we find out, people calling for peace turn out to be insidious bad guys trying to destroy the human race.

It's a disguise. He's not going to masquerade as a warmonger, is he? In fact, given the armistice he's trying to negotiate was a key trigger in starting WWII, he's perfectly positioned to start a bigger and more destructive conflict.

You'd think because this is set in WW1 and not WW2 they would have gone for the idea that people on both sides of the trenches are innocent humans being set up for slaughter by wealthy interests safe at home, but instead most of the action scenes are the good guys killing the bad guy Germans and we're supposed to cheer for that, most notoriously when Wonder Woman jumps over the trench and leads her side to victory.

Why do you think we are supposed to cheer for German soldiers being killed? The only way to foil Ares is to fight through No Man's Land, but it in no way presents violence as positive, only a terrible means to an end. Don't forget the scene where Diana is horrified by the endless stream of dead and wounded soldiers returning from the Front. The film presents a conflict with villains on both sides, with Ludendorff and Ares on opposite sides of the wire but still determined the slaughter continue.

I wonder where power of love fits in when Wonder Woman and her mates are killing all these Germans.

Necessary action and the greater good. As I said, there is no attempt to glamorise war. I have no idea where you get the idea the film is pro-war.

And that's not forgetting that one of main characters with PTSD is bullied into joining the gang on their mission because he used to be good at being a sniper - that character was really jarring.

Or is it that they are persuading him because they can't complete the mission without him? His PTSD is treated sympathetically and I thought the character was well-handled.

[Gwen Taylor on ITV]

"Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing." John Stuart Mill, 1867.

"And that's why we invaded Iraq.  Because Saddam was a bad guy and to hell with anyone who gets in our way".  The problem with that quote is too reductionist.  Everyone thinks they're the good guys and that any plan of action is better than no plan.

It's a disguise. He's not going to masquerade as a warmonger, is he? In fact, given the armistice he's trying to negotiate was a key trigger in starting WWII, he's perfectly positioned to start a bigger and more destructive conflict.

He's the only character in the film calling for the war to end rather than trying to end it with more slaughter, and then it turns out he's actually the bad guy all along and that the good guys were right to continue the fighting.  I know it doesn't make much of an action film to show the diplomats as the heroes but I found it uncomfortable that the only pacifist character was the bad guy all along.  Maybe instead the film's band of heroes could have been soldiers from both sides of the trenches fighting against the big baddy rather than American Brits reluctantly (/s) killing off all the Germans to get to him.

Why do you think we are supposed to cheer for German soldiers being killed? The only way to foil Ares is to fight through No Man's Land, but it in no way presents violence as positive, only a terrible means to an end. Don't forget the scene where Diana is horrified by the endless stream of dead and wounded soldiers returning from the Front. The film presents a conflict with villains on both sides, with Ludendorff and Ares on opposite sides of the wire but still determined the slaughter continue.

Necessary action and the greater good. As I said, there is no attempt to glamorise war. I have no idea where you get the idea the film is pro-war.

The violence itself isn't shown as terrible when it's Wonder Woman heroically leading the good guys in combat.  The only time the war is shown as bad is when it affects the good guys, hence the scene where the soldiers are returning from the front.  My problem with 'the greater good' in this film apparently meaning they have to shoot up more conscripts in the German trenches before they can get to the final boss level.  We're supposed to cheer Wonder Woman and her friends courageously slaughtering Germans with her magic lasso and arm gauntlets.

Or is it that they are persuading him because they can't complete the mission without him? His PTSD is treated sympathetically and I thought the character was well-handled.

I disagree, I thought it was weird that they showed him suffering the effects of PTSD and being incapable of performing his role as a sniper, but still bullying him into joining them as if there are no other snipers around to help.  Really bizarre storytelling.

'Hey mate you know how you've got that PTSD and that?'
'Yeah I can't sleep and I can't even hold a gun without shaking'
'Yeah great you have to come with us to shoot some more Germans'

[Bad Ambassador]

There is also the issue of overall tone, which you haven't mentioned. I'm really struggling to see how you could have reached some of these conclusions without imposing them onto the film, or forcing the narrative to conform to your ideas regardless of the impact on coherence.

Your compassion for the enlisted men of the Wehrmacht is laudable, but remember that they have guns as well. Much of the action is along the lines of Kill Or Be Killed, and the film shouldn't be blamed for failing to tell the story you wanted it to.

And no, no one's supposed to cheer when characters die. Why do you keep saying that?

[Gwen Taylor on ITV]

We're not cheering that characters die, we're supposed to cheer that Wonder Woman has saved the day again.  Although the German soldiers are reduced to the role of non-characters, none are humanised or given a role of anything more than puppet that gets shot by the heroes, and that's ok because the puppets are holding guns. 

I take your point that the film shouldn't be blamed for failing to tell the story I wanted it to, but I would like to think it's possible to make a version of this film that steers away from tired WW2-style tropes where because every enemy solider is a Nazi we're happy to see the good guys kill them all.

As regards the tone.. well I think that's what I'm getting at.  When they storm the enemy trenches it's meant to be this great, triumphalist moment where Wonder Woman has saved the day with no reflection the violence committed to the Germans in the same way that we're shown sympathetic scenes of the Allies returning from the front.

Edit: it's the having their cake and eating it that I dislike.  Wonder Woman is spurred to action at the thought of the atrocities committed between men on some far off continent, and her solution is to lead one side into battle against the other.

[bgmnts]

To be honest, (I know it's probably a cliche opinion), you'd have thought fighting Nazis would be very old hat by now.

[Gwen Taylor on ITV]

To be honest, (I know it's probably a cliche opinion), you'd have thought fighting Nazis would be very old hat by now.

Well, yes.  I guess they avoided it as well to avoid comparisons with the Captain America film.  But given that this is WW1 and not WW2, why treat the film the same way anyway by reducing German soldiers to the role of gun hole receptacles led by an evil general?

[The Duck Man]

Your compassion for the enlisted men of the Wehrmacht is laudable, but remember that they have guns as well.

Tedious point, but that's the Nazi term for German forces during their period in power.

[Bad Ambassador]

Los Angeles Film Critics Circle:
Best Film: Call Me By Your Name
Best Director: Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water and Luca Guadagnino, Call Me By Your Name (tie)
Best Actor: Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Best Screenplay: Get Out
Best Cinematography: The Shape of Water
Best Music Score: Phantom Thread
Best Production Design: Blade Runner 2049
Best Editing: Dunkirk
Best Animated Feature: The Breadwinner
Best Foreign Language Film: BPM and Loveless (tie)
Best Documentary Feature: Faces Places
Best First Feature: Get Out
Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Award: Purge This Land
New Generation Prize: Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird

Detroit Film Critics Circle:
Best Film: The Florida Project
Best Director: Sean Baker, The Florida Project
Best Actor: James Franco, The Disaster Artist
Best Actress: Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Best Supporting Actress: Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Best Ensemble Cast: The Post
Best Screenplay: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Soundtrack: Baby Driver
Best Animated Feature: The LEGO Batman Movie
Best Foreign Language Film: BPM and Loveless (tie)
Best Documentary Feature: Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond
Breakthrough Award: Jordan Peele, Get Out

[zomgmouse]

How come pretty much every single awards or best list features predominantly films from the past couple of months? Do critics not have memories?

[Bad Ambassador]

It's other way round. Prestige films are usually released at the end of the year so they are fresh in voters' minds. Besides, Get Out came out in February.

[EOLAN]

Don't award fodder films also look to be released late in year (or primarily released in New Year with limited releases at end of year to qualify for awards) so that they can benefit from Awards season buzz at the box office.

[Bad Ambassador]

The American Film Institute's 10 Films of the Year (in alphabetical order): The Big Sick, Call Me By Your Name, Dunkirk, The Florida Project, Get Out, Lady Bird, The Post, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Wonder Woman.

[Z]

I see James ivory wrote call me by your name. I was going to go to it tomorrow but that's put me right off. Is it very typical miramax/Oscar's type fare, except in Italian?

[Bad Ambassador]

I see James ivory wrote call me by your name. I was going to go to it tomorrow but that's put me right off. Is it very typical miramax/Oscar's type fare, except in Italian?

From what I gather it isn't, and is largely in English.

[zomgmouse]

It's other way round. Prestige films are usually released at the end of the year so they are fresh in voters' minds. Besides, Get Out came out in February.

That's why I said "predominantly". But yes okay that makes a lot more sense, I hadn't really thought of it that way. Though I can think of heaps of films from earlier in the year that would also make the cut.

[WestHill]

Mark Kermode's top 10:

Raw
Julia Ducournau devours her audience with this fearless feature debut.

Moonlight
Barry Jenkins's Oscar winner is a miracle in a minor key.

The Levelling
Love, loss and reconciliation in Hope Dickson Leach's family drama.

The Red Turtle
Swoon and swoon again at the beauty of Michaël Dudok de Wit's heartbreaker.

The Florida Project
Sean Baker finds a modern-day Our Gang on Disney's doorstep.

Kitty Empire's best pop of 2017
From Jay-Z to Taylor Swift, it's been a year of high political and personal drama in the worlds of rap, pop and rock

My Life As a Courgette
Stop-motion magic from director Claude Barras and screenwriter Céline Sciamma.

Toni Erdmann
Sandra Hüller shines in Maren Ade's bittersweet comedy.

Blade Runner 2049
Denis Villeneuve doesn't disappoint with this belated sci-fi sequel.

Get Out
Shades of Ira Levin in Jordan Peele's razor-sharp chiller.

In Between
Three women in Tel Aviv find their own space in Maysaloun Hamoud's feature debut.

[Paaaaul]

Great list.
I can't believe no-one else mentioned Kitty Empire's best pop of 2017 in their annual highlights.

[WestHill]

No one would dare to copy Kermode.

[Bad Ambassador]

Golden Globe nominations:

Best Picture: Drama
"Call Me by Your Name"
"Dunkirk"
"The Post"
"The Shape of Water"
"Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Best Picture: Comedy or Musical
"The Disaster Artist"
"Get Out"
"The Greatest Showman"
"I, Tonya"
"Lady Bird"

Best Actor: Drama
Timothee Chalamet, "Call Me by Your Name"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "Phantom Thread"
Tom Hanks, "The Post"
Gary Oldman, "Darkest Hour"
Denzel Washington, "Roman J. Israel, Esq."

Best Actor: Comedy/Musical
Steve Carell, "Battle of the Sexes"
Ansel Elgort, "Baby Driver"
James Franco, "The Disaster Artist"
Hugh Jackman, "The Greatest Showman"
Daniel Kaluuya, "Get Out"

Best Actress: Drama
Jessica Chastain, "Molly's Game"
Sally Hawkins, "The Shape of Water"
Frances McDormand, "Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Meryl Streep, "The Post"
Michelle Williams, "All the Money in the World"

Best Actress: Comedy or Musical
Judi Dench, "Victoria and Abdul"
Helen Mirren, "The Leisure Seeker"
Margot Robbie, "I, Tonya"
Saoirse Ronan, "Lady Bird"
Emma Stone, "Battle of the Sexes"

Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe, "The Florida Project"
Armie Hammer, "Call Me by Your Name"
Richard Jenkins, "The Shape of Water"
Christopher Plummer, "All the Money in the World"
Sam Rockwell, "Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Best Supporting Actress
Mary J. Blige, "Mudbound"
Hong Chau, "Downsizing"
Alison Janney, "I, Tonya"
Laurie Metcalf, "Lady Bird"
Octavia Spencer, "The Shape of Water"

Best Screenplay
Greta Gerwig, "Lady Bird"
Aaron Sorkin, "Molly's Game"
Liz Hannah, Josh Singer, "The Post"
Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor, "The Shape of Water"
Martin McDonough, "Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Best Director
Guillermo del Toro, "The Shape of Water"
Martin McDonough, "Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Christopher Nolan, "Dunkirk"
Ridley Scott, "All the Money in the World"
Steven Spielberg, "The Post"

Best Original Score
Carter Burwell, "Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Alexandre Desplat, "The Shape of Water"
Johnny Greenwood, "Phantom Thread"
John Williams, "The Post"
Hans Zimmer, "Dunkirk"

Best Original Song
"Remember Me" ("Coco")
"Home" ("Ferdinand")
"This Is Me" ("The Greatest Showman")
"A Mighty River" ("Mudbound")
"The Star" ("The Star")
 
Best Foreign Language Film
"A Fantastic Woman"
"First They Killed My Father"
"In the Fade"
"Loveless"
"The Square"
 
Best Animated Feature
"The Boss Baby"
"The Breadwinner"
"Coco"
"Ferdinand"
"Loving Vincent"

Plummer was hired less than a month ago, and he's already got a nomination.

[Bad Ambassador]

Oscar nominations out shortly. My predictions:

Best Picture
"Call Me by Your Name"
"Dunkirk"
"The Florida Project"
"Get Out"
"I, Tonya"
"Lady Bird"
"The Post"
"The Shape of Water"
"Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Best Director
Greta Gerwig, "Lady Bird"
Martin McDonagh, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Christopher Nolan, "Dunkirk"
Steven Spielberg, "The Post"
Guillermo del Toro, "The Shape of Water"

Best Actor
Timothée Chalamet, "Call Me by Your Name"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "Phantom Thread"
James Franco, "The Disaster Artist"
Daniel Kaluuya, "Get Out"
Gary Oldman, "Darkest Hour"

Best Actress
Sally Hawkins, "The Shape of Water"
Frances McDormand, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Margot Robbie, "I, Tonya"
Saoirse Ronan, "Lady Bird"
Meryl Streep, "The Post"

Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe, "The Florida Project"
Armie Hammer, "Call Me by Your Name"
Woody Harrelson, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Richard Jenkins, "The Shape of Water"
Sam Rockwell, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Best Supporting Actress
Mary J. Blige, "Mudbound"
Hong Chau, "Downsizing"
Allison Janney, "I, Tonya"
Laurie Metcalf, "Lady Bird"
Octavia Spencer, "The Shape of Water"

Best Original Screenplay
"The Big Sick"
"Get Out"
"I, Tonya"
"Lady Bird"
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Best Adapted Screenplay
"Call Me by Your Name"
"The Disaster Artist"
"Logan"
"Molly's Game"
"Mudbound"

Best Original Score
"Dunkirk"
"Phantom Thread"
"The Post"
"The Shape of Water"
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

[Funcrusher]

I haven't seen 'Call Me By Your Name', but I did see Guadagnino's earlier film, 'I Am Love', which was a load of ridiculous tosh that somehow seemed to build up some critical reputation - it seemed to come out st the right time for everyone to swoon over a film starring Tilda Swindon. I'll bet any money that this latest one is more of the same. I see from Wikipedia that his next project is a remake of Suspiria, which has to be the most pointless and redundant film project ever.

[Bad Ambassador]

I found CMBYN incredibly coy and quaint, and making a fatal mistake of leaning on the leads on-screen chemistry of which they have none.