Month: November 2017

National Board of Review Names ‘The Post’ the Year’s Best Film

Steven Spielberg’s “The Post” has been named the best film of 2017 by the National Board of Review, the NBR announced on Tuesday.

Other films in the group’s Top 10 included “Lady Bird,” “Get Out,” “The Disaster Artist” and “The Florida Project.”

The NBR also saluted a few films that are less obvious awards contenders, including “Baby Driver,” “Downsizing” and “Logan,” while leaving out three films that are thought to be major contenders: Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” and Joe Wright’s “Darkest Hour.”

Acting awards went to Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep for “The Post,” Willem Dafoe in “The Florida Project” and Laurie Metcalf in “Lady Bird.” The breakthrough acting winner was Timothee Chalamet for “Call Me by Your Name.”

“Coco” was named best animated film, “Jane” won for best documentary and “Foxtrot” took the award for best foreign-language film.

Last year, the NBR had seven of the nine Oscar Best Picture nominees on its Top 10 list; the year before, it had five of the eight. Over the last five years, about two-thirds of the Best Picture nominees — 28 out of 43 — were first included on the NBR list.

In the last decade, the NBR and the Academy have only agreed on the year’s best picture twice, with “No Country for Old Men” in 2007 and “Slumdog Millionaire” in 2008. But only one NBR winner in the last 17 years, 2014’s “A Most Violent Year,” failed to land an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, and “The Post” seems unlikely to become the second.

The National Board of Review is often mistakenly considered a critics’ organization, but in its own words, the group is made up of “knowledgeable film enthusiasts and professionals, academics, young filmmakers and students” in the New York area. Much of its relatively high profile comes from the fact that it is one of the first groups to pick the year’s best films. (The more prestigious New York Film Critics Circle will make its own picks on Thursday.)

The group was established in 1909 by theater owners protesting the New York mayor’s attempt to block the exhibition of motion pictures in the city. It has been picking the best films since 1930.

The complete list of winners:

Best Film: “The Post”
Best Director: Greta Gerwig, “Lady Bird”
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 Original Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson, “Phantom Thread”
Best Adapted Screenplay: Scott Neustadter and Michael H Weber, “The Disaster Artist”
Best Animated Feature: “Coco”
Best Breakthrough Performance: Timothee Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”
Best Directorial Debut: Jordan Peele, “Get Out”
Best Foreign Language Film: “Foxtrot”
Best Documentary: “Jane”
Best Ensemble: “Get Out”
Spotlight Award: Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot, “Wonder Woman”
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: “First They Killed My Father,” Angelina Jolie; and “Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992,” John Ridley

Top 10 Films
“Baby Driver”
“Call Me by Your Name”
“The Disaster Artist”
“Downsizing”
“Dunkirk”
“The Florida Project”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Logan”
“Phantom Thread”

Top 5 Foreign Language Films
“A Fantastic Woman”
“Frantz”
“Loveless”
“Summer 1993”
“The Square”

Top 5 Documentaries
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
“Brimstone and Glory”
“Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars”
“Faces Places”
“Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS”

Top 10 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$”
“Wind River”

Jay-Z leads Grammy noms with 8 as rap, R&B take centre stage

Jay-Z is the leader of the 2018 Grammy Award nominations in a year where the top four categories are heavily dominated by rap and R&B artists, giving the often overlooked genres a strong chance of winning big.

The U.S. Recording Academy announced Tuesday that Jay-Z is nominated for eight honours, including album, song and record of the year. Bruno Mars is also nominated for the big three, while Kendrick Lamar — who earned seven nominations — and Childish Gambino are also up for major awards.

Canadian singers Alessia Cara and Justin Bieber are also among nominees in the top four categories.

Jay-Z’s personal and revealing album, 4:44, is nominated for album of the year alongside:
– Mars’s ’90s-inspired R&B adventure 24K Magic.
– Lamar’s hard-hitting rap masterpiece DAMN.
– Gambino’s funk-soul project Awaken My Love!
– Lorde’s critically acclaimed pop album, Melodrama.

Record of the year nominees include:
– Jay-Z’s The Story of O.J., a song about blackness and managing money that also references O.J. Simpson.
– Mars’s Top 5 hit, 24K Magic.
– Lamar’s No. 1 smash, Humble.
– Gambino’s Redbone, which peaked at No. 12 on the Hot 100.
– The year’s biggest hit, Despacito,by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Bieber.

Despacito is also nominated for song of the year — a songwriter’s award — along with:
– Mars’s No. 1 hit, That’s What I Like.
– The title track from Jay-Z’s 4:44.
– Rapper Logic’s suicide prevention anthem, 1-800-273-8255, featuring Cara.
– Issues by Julia Michaels, the singer who has written hits for Bieber, Selena Gomez and other pop stars.

Michaels is also nominated for best new artist, where R&B and rap rule again: Her competition includes singers SZA, Khalid and Cara, as well as rapper Lil Uzi Vert.

No rock or country acts were nominated in the top four categories. The rap- and R&B-heavy nominations, which include numerous black and Latino artists, come after the Grammys were criticized earlier this year when some felt Beyoncé’s multi-genre Lemonade album should have won album of the year over Adele’s 25.

In her acceptance speech as well as when speaking to reporters backstage, Adele also expressed that Beyoncé should have received the prize.

The win for Adele, though, marked another year when the Grammys awarded its biggest prizes to an artist outside of the rap or R&B genre.

Kanye West, Eminem, Mariah Carey and others have also lost in the top categories over the years to pop, rock and country acts despite owning the year in music, critically and commercially.

“We have a current membership that is savvy and certainly timely, is current, and reflective of what music is about today and in the future. And clearly the diversification work that we’ve done for our membership is evident in all of the nominations this year,” Neil Portnow, the academy’s president and CEO, said in an interview.

“I think it’s a testimony to our hard work and intention of having a very vibrant, current, relevant, diverse voting membership.”

The album 4:44, which includes songs about Jay-Z’s relationship with Beyoncé and family life, marks the rap icon’s first nomination for album of the year as a lead artist; it is Lamar’s third in the top category.

Lamar will compete with Jay-Z in all seven categories he is nominated in, including best rap album, best rap song, best rap performance, best rap sung performance and best music video.

Mars is behind Jay-Z and Lamar with six nominations, including best R&B album, best R&B song and best R&B performance. Gambino, better known as Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actor Donald Glover, scored five nominations.

Others who earned five nominations include SZA, Khalid and No I.D., who produced Jay-Z’s album and is up for non-classical producer of the year.

Ed Sheeran, who has the second-best selling album of the year with Divide, was snubbed in the top categories. Divide earned a nomination for best pop vocal album, while his No. 1 hit, Shape of You, is up for best pop solo performance.

Nominees for best pop vocal album include Lady Gaga’s Joanne, Coldplay’s five-song EP Kaleidoscope, Evolve by Imagine Dragons, Lana Del Rey’s Lust for Life and Kesha’s Rainbow, marking her first Grammy nomination. Kesha, who has been in a legal war with former mentor and producer Dr. Luke, is also nominated for best pop solo performance for Praying.

Leonard Cohen and Chris Cornell are both nominated for best rock performance; other deceased nominees include Glen Campbell, Gregg Allman and Carrie Fisher, who is nominated for best spoken word album, where Bernie Sanders, Mark Ruffalo and Bruce Springsteen are also nominated.

In the country categories, Chris Stapleton leads with three nominations. Miranda Lambert, who earned two nominations, was surprisingly shut out of best country album though her double album, The Weight of These Wings, was a critical favourite.

Others who earned multiple nominations include Pharrell, Ledisi, Nothing More, Alison Krauss, Daniel Caesar and Foo Fighters. Randy Newman’s song Putin, his sardonic ode to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is nominated for best arrangement, instruments and vocals.

Taylor Swift, who didn’t earn nominations for her single Look What You Made Me Do — released before the Grammy cutoff date — did earn a nod for best country song for writing Little Big Town’s No. 1 hit, Better Man. Swift is also nominated for best song written for visual media for I Don’t Wanna Live Forever, her collaboration with Zayn from the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack. Her new album, reputation, will qualify for nominations at the 2019 Grammys.

Cardi B, who had one of the year’s biggest hits with Bodak Yellow (Money Moves), earned two nominations: best rap song and best rap performance. Another female rapper scored nominations, too: Rapsody is up for best rap song for Sassy and best rap album for Laila’s Wisdom. In the latter category, she will compete with Jay-Z, Lamar, Migos and Tyler, the Creator. Snubs include Future, J. Cole and DJ Khaled, who has two of the year’s biggest hits with Wild Thoughts and I’m the One.

Jay-Z or Lamar could make history next year when the Grammys take place in New York City on Jan. 28: Either album could become only the third rap-based album to win album of the year; and either song could become the first in the rap genre to win record or song of the year.

Albums and songs eligible in the 84 categories at the 60th annual Grammys had to be released between Oct. 1, 2016, and Sept. 30, 2017.

This year is the first year the Grammys used online voting for its main awards show; it started online voting for the Latin Grammys last year.

Spirit Awards likely to sync up with the Oscars — again

he past four winners of the Independent Spirit Awards’ best feature — “12 Years a Slave,” “Birdman,” “Spotlight” and “Moonlight” — have gone on to take the Oscar for best picture.

Whether that streak extends to five will likely depend on how deeply motion picture academy voters embrace Steven Spielberg’s journalism drama, “The Post,” or Christopher Nolan’s war survival tale, “Dunkirk,” features ineligible for the Spirits because their budgets exceed the group’s $20-million threshold rule.

But with this year shaping up as one of the most indie-focused slates in awards season history, the slate that Spirit Awards voters put forth Tuesday will likely mirror the movies the academy salutes at its ceremony in March.

Spirit Awards nominees for best feature included “Call Me by Your Name,” “The Florida Project,” “Get Out,” “Lady Bird” and “The Rider.”

The luminous love story “Call Me by Your Name,” opening in limited release Friday, led the Spirits field with six nominations, including nods for director Luca Guadagnino and actors Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer.

Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” a horror movie boasting a scathing social satire, earned five nominations, with Peele picking up nods for writing and directing and Daniel Kaluuya finding recognition for his lead turn.

Peele’s movie, made for $4.5 million and released by Universal Pictures, is one of the biggest commercial hits to be feted by the Spirit Awards. Released in February, “Get Out” has grossed $253 million worldwide, becoming one of the more substantial indie film success stories in recent years. Recent awards season screenings for guild and academy members have been packed.

Josh and Benny Safdie’s “Good Time,” an immersive heist thriller that earned raves at Cannes, also netted five nominations, including nods for its sibling directors and cast members Robert Pattinson, Taliah Lennice Webster and Benny Safdie, who memorably portrayed a vulnerable character with an unspecified learning disability.

Dee Rees’ absorbing, ambitious drama “Mudbound” was given the Robert Altman Award, an honor presented to the film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast.

The recognition for “Mudbound” was one of several nods for minority filmmakers, including the multiple nominations for Peele and recognition for “Columbus” director Kogonada and actresses Salma Hayek (“Beatriz at Dinner”), Shinobu Terajima (“Oh Lucy!”) and Regina Williams (“Life and Nothing More”).

Voters — composed of committees of industry professionals, critics and members of Film Independent’s board — completely ignored Guillermo del Toro’s lavish fantasy romance, “The Shape of Water,” set to open next month.

Shutting out Del Toro’s well-liked movie, which won the Golden Lion for best film at the Venice Film Festival, rated as the day’s biggest surprise. Lead actress Sally Hawkins’ beautiful turn as a mute cleaning woman finding love with a water creature won solid praise at Venice and Toronto and still figures to be a strong Oscar contender.

But Spirit voters went their own way, nominating Frances McDormand (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”), Margot Robbie (“I, Tonya”) and Saoirse Ronan (“Ladybird”), as well as Hayek, Terajima and Williams.

As for best feature nominee “The Rider,” a melancholy drama about a South Dakota cowboy directed by Chloé Zhao, it’s currently scheduled to open in April, according to a Sony Pictures Classics spokesperson. It earned strong reviews at its Cannes Film Festival premiere and also earned Spirit nominations for cinematography, editing and direction.

If nothing else, the Spirit Awards’ stamp of approval provides cues for which movies academy members should watch over the long Thanksgiving weekend.

The nominated films can also trumpet the bevy of nominations as they look to expand — and survive — in a commercial marketplace crowded with awards-season contenders and big-budget studio movies.

Winners, selected by Film Independent Members, will be announced at the Spirit Awards on March 3 at a ceremony co-hosted by Nick Kroll and John Mulaney in Santa Monica. The show will broadcast live on IFC at 2 p.m. PT.

Oscars: ‘Get Out’ and ‘Dunkirk’ Fight to Get Voters’ Attention After Early Release

Both critically acclaimed films hit theaters months ago, which is why their respective directors, Jordan Peele and Christopher Nolan, are stumping hard.
In February, on the same weekend as the 89th Oscars, a little $4.5 million horror movie called Get Out opened and immediately struck a nerve, capturing the top spot at the box office with $33 million on its way to a worldwide gross of $253.4 million — not that Academy members necessarily noticed at the time. Then, in late July — as Hollywood folks were fleeing town for far-flung summer vacations — a much bigger movie, the $100 million Dunkirk, hit theaters with a $50.5 million bow and ultimately garnered $525 million worldwide.

Both films debuted to critical cheers. Get Out scored a nearly unanimous 99 percent positive score on Rotten Tomatoes, and Dunkirk checked in at 92 percent. And both now are angling for best picture Oscar noms. But they face a potential roadblock. Between now and the Christmas holidays, about two dozen new films will be making bids for awards attention. And because the Academy tends to favor shiny new objects — seven of last season’s nine best picture nominees were released in November and December — Get Out and Dunkirk are in danger of feeling like old news. And so, the filmmakers behind both are now out on the hustings.

To be sure, even before Get Out — a satirical look at the pernicious racism that lurks behind the facade of even seemingly enlightened white liberals — could make a serious best picture run, it first had to establish its bona fides as a “serious” movie. So way back in May, when Universal held a party on its lot to mark the film’s home entertainment release, that routine promotional event was used as an excuse to invite awards bloggers and Academy members to get the conversation started. In June, the film’s cred got a big boost when its writer-director, Jordan Peele, appeared at the PGA’s Produced By Conference, where he was interviewed by none other than Norman Lear, who testified, “I lose words when I think about how much this man’s film affected me.”

Since then, Peele and his team, including producer Jason Blum and actor Daniel Kaluuya, have been making nonstop appearances. There they were shaking hands at the Nov. 11 Governors Awards. Writer-producer Damon Lindelof hosted a screening to which DGA, WGA and Academy members were invited. Peele delivered a keynote at the Film Independent Forum on Oct. 22 and dropped by AFI Fest for a Nov. 10 conversation about 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? — to which his own film owes a debt. And on Nov. 17, Universal threw yet another reception, featuring an exhibit of fan art inspired by the movie, to toast Get Out, which already has picked up four Gotham Awards noms.

Dunkirk faced a different challenge: Once Christopher Nolan’s film roared into theaters, no one could deny the film rose to the challenge of re-creating the fabled World War II British military retreat. But Nolan has never been an Academy favorite. He has received only one best picture nomination (for 2010’s Inception), two screenplay noms and no directing noms. So while Nolan usually prefers to have his films speak for themselves, this time he’s also working the room.

In an unusual move, the film crashed the Toronto Film Festival — “Haven’t you all seen this already?” TIFF director Piers Handling joked before the screening, which ostensibly marked Imax’s 50th anniversary — and artistic director Cameron Bailey hosted a chat with Nolan afterward. The director is now fronting a series of L.A. screenings — one of which was moderated by writer-producer John Wells. He also made the requisite pit stop at the Governors Awards and, as an ardent proponent of celluloid, visited the Library of Congress on Nov. 2 to speak about film preservation, one of his pet causes.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle facing Dunkirk is that the film will lose a lot of its power if Academy members simply watch it on screeners, and so Warners has jumped into the breach, announcing it will be rereleased Dec. 1 in 34 markets, where it will play in 50 Imax and 70mm theaters. It’s the studio’s way of insisting that attention must be paid.