Lukewarm Off the Presses: More Precursor Prizes!
Monday, January 29, 2018 at 1:14PM by Nathaniel R
Time to catch up with developments in movie awards land! Much has been happening these past few days.
London Film Critics Award
The event was held over the weekend with Three Billboards continuing its triumphant awards run by taking Picture, Actress, and Screenplay. Isn't it peculiar how if you believe the internet it's the most hated movie that ever existed but IRL it keeps winning prizes that actual humans vote on. In news that will strike others as much happier Timothée Chalamet and Lesley Manville took Best Actor and Supporting Actress respectively. And Hugh Grant emerged victorious in Supporting Actor (for the Oscar ineligible Paddington 2), quipping:
Brexit, Trump, and now me getting prizes. Truly, we are in the end of days.
It was actually a great year for queer films with the London critics because in addition to Chalamet's win actor Harris Dickinson and writer/director Francis Lee took the breakthrough prizes for Beach Rats and God's Own Country respectively.
ACE "Eddie" Awards
The American Cinema Editors guild gave out their prizes recently, too. They went with Dunkirk (Drama), I Tonya (Comedy), and Coco (Animated) as the year's best edited features. Other winners included Hulu's hugely popular and lauded series The Handmaid's Tale, the doc miniseries Five Came Back, and the Oscar snubbed Jane for best documentary editing.
MPSE Nominations
Sound Editors REALLY like getting awards. The Motion Picture Sound Editors have abundant categories within their own guilds prizes which you should check out if you're interested. The nomination leaders were Baby Driver, Blade Runner 2049, Dunkirk and The Shape of Water. Despite those very familiar titles their own awards do have more variety within them than Oscar's two correlative categories (which exactly match this year as if mixing and editing are the same arts). I was happy to see a nomination for Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit (I didn't much like the film but the sound work was quite impressive). They even have a foreign film sound editing category (most guilds ignore the subtitled features) and we're thrilled that both Thelma and BPM (Beats Per Minute) which have expressive uses of sound were both recognized.
ADG Awards
The Art Directors Guild awards were also held this week. The winners were Blade Runner 2049 (fantasy), The Shape of Water (period), Logan (contemporary - great choice. Loved Professor X's shell shocked interior in particular) and Coco (in the first year for an animated category). We suspect the Oscar race for production design will go to The Shape of Water but the period winner at the ADG is no automatic transfer to Oscar (statistically) so we shall see.
Next up in the world of film guid prizes are both the Directors Guild of America and the Annie Awards for animated films on Saturday, February 3rd.
Reader Comments (9)
Paddington 2 is not Oscar-ineligible. It's just not eligible for 2017.
raul - that's what i meant. but my guess is they dont submit it next year. weirdly the previous Paddington also opened in January but did an awards qualifying run for a week in LA for the previous year. so strange.
Maybe with the chance of Hugh Grant getting a Supporting Actor nomination (stranger things have happened), they'll remember to submit it for consideration.
I would love to see Chalamet, Manville, and Grant repeat at the BAFTAs.
Nathaniel--the transfer from Weinstein Company to Warner Bros kind of threw off the marketing for Paddington 2. I hope they do an awards campaign for it for 2018. Hugh Grant would be a delightful nominee and the film's art direction is awesome.
Nathaniel
I don't know if 3BBs is the most "hated" mivie in Internet. But I do know some of us who hated it really have some valid points on this calculated misfire. Although the London Critics really nailed it with the other awards, McDonagh's film didn't need any kind of push. Which I'n not meaning they didn't like it: If anything, I'm starting to think he's the Brit Aaron Sorkin. A babbler who likes his blah so much (over whatever visual representation which is film's raison d'être) that he's able to cheat anyone with a fond for "witty dialogues". So we can let films die as an art form and dedicate to Masterpiece Theater.
In other news, I would really love some people who likes I, Tonya to check out "To Die For" which is all kinds better acted, more hilarious and nuancer. And Nicole Kidamn is aces, too.
But the ACEs did prefer Gillespie's over 3BBs, so I must think there is some kind of weakness within the Industry with the film. Just a ray of hope.
Are there moviegoers who hate Three Billboards who like (or love) I, Tonya? Because talk about a manipulative, mean-spirited film. Any comparison to To Die For misses the mark completely, as one is operating on a much higher level of satirical, social commentary while the other is trafficking in cynical, revisionist history (Nancy Kerrigan’s P.O.V. being seemingly immaterial).
Paddington 2 will be the best-reviewed film of 2017 *or* 2018. Amazing.
I agree with the Eddies
I'm really thinking DUNKIRK surprises I takes editing and cinematography and probably sound mixing. I'm not sensing enthusiasm to reward BLADE RUNNER, but maybe it's there. I'm even wondering if APES can finally snag a visual effects Oscar.