The Best and Worst of Film in 2016: OSCARS AND RAZZIES REPORT
2:26 PM
Resurrecting the post I did two years ago,
I'm going to be covering the main winners of the major award ceremonies that
occurred in the past week. The categories I will spotlight are: picture, actor,
actress, supporting actor and supporting actress. I will also look at
surprises, snubs and oh that iconic but embarrassing Oscars moment...
I’ll start with the Oscars and then move on to the Razzies….
The Oscars:
Best Picture: Moonlight. I think it is important that Moonlight won this award – I didn’t think
it was a remarkable film but for the Oscars to go from #OscarsSoWhite one year
to a film with a black cast and made by black talent is pretty nice to see. I
also think the subject matter of the film is quite important – stories are not
usually told by characters like this, Hollywood needs more of it. I fell in
love with the first two acts of the film, the third isn’t as good and did take
a lot away for me. While we’re talking about Moonlight, I suppose we should
talk about the action ‘Best Picture’ segment – for a couple of minutes, La La Land was falsely named Best
Picture and what was even worse is a couple of the producers had enough time to
complete their speeches before anyone noticed. However, La La Land were very honourable losers. However, after seeing both
films, I would have actually gone with La
La Land – this film is truly a piece of art and I think it was the best
option. In an ideal world, I would have loved to have seen Hidden Figures take home the win but La La Land was the film I think was technically the best made.
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea.
For many, this win for Affleck was a disappointment and a snub for Denzel
Washington (especially Brie Larson). For me, it was a well-deserved win as I
thought Affleck was terrific in Manchester by the Sea. Controversially, I saw Fences and thought Denzel Washington was
simply just good – that was Viola Davis’ movie. Affleck brought a very nuanced,
subtle and captivating performance to the film. I am well aware Affleck doesn’t
seem to be a very good person at all but nobody can deny his work is excellent
in this film – he’s not being rewarded as a person but for his talent.
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Emma Stone, La La Land. I am truly
happy for Emma Stone – she was great in the film and I really like her as an
actress in general – Easy A is one of my favourite comedies of all time so it’s
great to see her star rise and reach such a career-high. Emma Stone’s speech
was humble and lovely – she just seems like such a nice person. Stone’s career
will last forever now and I think her performance was very good so it is nice
to see her rewarded for it. However, I think I would possibly consider giving
the Oscar to Natalie Portman for Jackie.
She really transformed into The First Lady in that film and I was amazed by her
performance. Of course though, I think Amy Adams for Arrival and Emily Blunt for The
Girl On the Train were also deserving of the win, despite not getting nominations.
Best Director: Damien Chazelle, La La Land. Chazelle is two for
three, his first ever film? Nobody really payed attention to it. His second? A
big awards contender and a fantastic film in general (Whiplash). His third? An awards and box office juggernaut. He’s
relatively early into his career and he’s already an Academy award winner for
his directing. It’s pretty amazing. At just 32, he has directed two
multi-academy award winnign films. I think he is completely deserving of the
award, there’s only one other guy I would have gave it to – Denis Villeneuve
for Arrival – Villeneuve has quickly become
one of my favourite directors after Prisoners,
Sicario and now Arrival – maybe he’ll
finally get the award he deserves after the Blade
Runner sequel? Chazelle really helped to make La La Land a piece of art – the creative decisions he made were
great, this film really was something special.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight. This is
one award I actually question – Ali basically swept all ceremonies leading to
the Oscars and was a lock – but why? I thought his performance was good but I
don’t actually think Ali was given much material to work with. Some could say
he was quite subtle and understated but I think there were other nominees who
were more deserving. My choice for the award would have either been Michael
Shannon for Nocturnal Animals or Dev
Patel for Lion – Shannon was
brilliant and Patel was a key element of Lion’s
strongest elements. I feel like I am missing something when it comes to Ali but
honestly, he wasn’t the best supporting actor this year was he?
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Viola Davis, Fences. The one
award for Fences was for the area it
deserved it most in – Viola Davis’ performance. She honestly blew me away – the
other nominees just don’t have a patch on her. Davis in Fences was one of the best performances I ever seen and I think it
is one that will be remembered for many years to come. Absolutely fantastic.
Notable Mentions:
Suicide Squad, Oscar Winner. For me, this honestly wasn’t much of a
surprise and I think it was deserving. However, this was surprising for
everyone who slated this film and tried to call it one of the worst films to
walk the earth. Yes, the win was in Makeup and Hair and let’s all admit it, it
deserves that win. The character design in Suicide
Squad is already iconic – what was everyone dressing up like for Halloween
in 2016? Harley Quinn and The Joker.
A Spread. It is rare that the wins are spread out across so many
films – La La Land may have won the most but films like The Jungle Book, Fantastic Beasts, Hacksaw Ridge, Arrival, Fences,
Zootopia all received deserved praise.
Auli’i Cravalho’s Performance. This isn’t anything to do with the
actual awards but I thought this was definitely the best performance of the
night – I’ve watched it numerous times since on Youtube and showed it to
others, it’s simply beautiful. The stage design, the Lin Manuel Miranda intro
(I originally wasn’t keen on), her voice, her outfit – everything. It was
stunning to watch.
The Biggest Winners:
La La Land – 6
Moonlight – 3
Hacksaw Ridge – 2
The Razzies:
Worst Picture: Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic
Party. I haven’t seen this film and I do not intend it. From what I’ve
heard, this film is simply just propaganda and not even good propaganda. I don’t
really understand what the film is supposed to be about. Someone on Wikipedia
has tried to call the film a box office success - $13 million total is not a success
and the film peaked at number 9! What a success...not. There are two other
films in the category that I would have given the Razzie to – Dirty Grandpa or Zoolander 2 – two horrendous films that were the lowest of the low
of last year. However, Hillary’s America gets 4% on Rotten Tomatoes so I’m sure
it’s a joy, just try to avoid it at all costs.
Worst Actor in a Leading Role: Dinesh D’Souza, Hillary’s America: The
Secret History of the Democratic Party. It’s really hard to write about a
film I’ve not seen but also barely heard anything about. D’Souza is also
director of the film and apparently he plays himself – he must be really bad if
he can’t even act as himself. Some may think, why not research into a film
before writing about it? But I ask, would you research a literal piece of sh*t?
No, the same thing applies here. Excluding D’Souza, Affleck and Cavill are
nominated for Batman v Superman: Dawn of
Justice – they didn’t deserve the nominations, they weren’t even bad! I
would have given the award to Robert De Niro for putting his career in jeopardy
in Dirty Grandpa or Gerard Butler for
his constant pouting in London Has Fallen
and being part of white-washing in Gods
of Egypt.
Worst Actress in a Leading Role: Rebekah Turner, Hillary’s America: The
Secret History of the Democratic Party. Turner is basically an unknown and
she’s only becoming known for bad things. Once again, not much to say on the
performance itself but it’s likely terrible and Turner’s career is a
nonstarter. Looking at the other ladies, I’m surprised Tyler Perry didn’t win
for A Madea Halloween – the Razzies
love giving the raspberries to men acting as women. I would have definitely
have given the award to Julia Roberts for Mother’s
Day though – she was horrendous in that film…and so was her wig.
Worst Director: Dinesh D’Souza, Hillary’s America: The Secret History
of the Democratic Party. This Hillary’s America film must be pure trash – winning
in all of the main categories. Who knows if there is some bias in the Razzies
voting as it’s strange a very political film is sweeping everything – should we
really class it as a legitimate film? It’s actually pretty hard to pick someone
to win this though – Ben Stiller for Zoolander
2 is a possibility and so is Rolan Emmerich for Independence Day: Resurgence – both very poor films.
Worst Supporting Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, Batman v Superman: Dawn of
Justice. I am actually quite saddened by this ‘win’ as I didn’t think
Eisenberg was that bad, and certainly not Razzie worthy. An excerpt of my of my
original BvS review: “I was impressed though with
Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor - I liked him as a villain and I thought it was
over the top and crazy which is what made his performance so strong”. I think that over-the-top and crazy performance must
have a niche appeal. I would have happily and easily have given this award to Johnny
Depp for Alice Through the Looking Glass –
he was at the heart of such an awful film and I think Depp’s appeal is really
wearing off.
Worst
Supporting Actress: Kristen Wiig, Zoolander 2. Oh Razzies, I really do not
agree with these supporting category wins at all. I liked her performance – “her performance was good but she was
very underused” – I think the voters are mistaking ridiculous and
over-the-top for bad. For me, a bad performance is unconvincing and forced –
kind of like Aubrey Plaza in Dirty
Grandpa who I would have gave this award to. Honestly though, I don’t think
they’ve filled this category very well as nobody is that bad – where is Cara
Delevigne for Suicide Squad?!
Notable Mentions:
The Absence of Nine Lives. The most critically hated film last year was Nine
Lives – I avoided it and I think most Razzie voters must have too as it is
absent from all major categories that it probably deserves wins for. I think
that’s why BvS actually got so many nominations – it may not have deserved them
but it was a film lots of people saw and it disappointed many so people
probably didn’t have many other options.
Razzie Redeemer. Mel Gibson has been awarded this for his incredible
work on Hacksaw Ridge – ignoring Gibson’s
personal life and views, it is always nice to see someone turn things around
and the Razzie Redeemer is a physical representation of that. I kind of want
Gibson to direct Suicide Squad 2 even more now!
The Biggest Losers:
Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party – 4
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – 4
Zoolander 2 – 1
See
You Soon!
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