AARP "Movies for Grownups" Nominations & Winners
Monday, February 8, 2021 at 3:00PM by Nathaniel R
George Clooney is the Career Achievement Honoree this year at the Movies for Grownups Awards
The AARP's "Movie for Grown-Ups" dont get much press. That's probably because the media in general is populated with younger people or in competition to snag as many young eyeballs as possible. But the groups nominations are interesting primarily because their very raison d'etre forces them to be different from the norm. They advocate for the 50+ crowd and fight ageism in the film industry so their nominations naturally can't be copied and pasted from other prizes. This directive frees them from the restraints that shackle a lot of critics and industry groups (who all want to predict or influence the Oscars on some level, even if they vehemently claim to be above that).
Unfortunately it doesn't free them from all the other standard awards show problems like recency bias, prizing dramas and message movies above other genres, and questionable taste. You'll see the recency bias in raging force this time, in that most of the movies they're honoring either aren't released yet or are just starting to let non-festivalgoers see them. In fact, the only pre-awards season title that receives multiple nominations is Da 5 Bloods though there are a few single nominations in specialty categories for other early birds (Emma, Bacurau, A Secret Love, Bad Boys for Life)
UPDATD 3/8 Their awards will be broadcast on March 28th on PBS but they've already announced their winners which you can see below...
FILM
Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups
Minari
Nomadland
One Night in Miami
The Trial of the Chicago 7
The United States vs. Billie Holiday ★
Best Actress
Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Sophia Loren (The Life Ahead) ★
Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
Michelle Pfeiffer (French Exit)
Robin Wright (Land)
Best Actor
Ralph Fiennes (The Dig)
Tom Hanks (News of the World)
Anthony Hopkins (The Father) ★
Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods)
Gary Oldman (Mank)
Best Supporting Actress
Candice Bergen (Let Them All Talk)
Ellen Burstyn (Pieces of a Woman)
Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy)
Jodie Foster (The Mauritanian) ★
Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari)
Best Supporting Actor
Demián Bichir (Land) ★
Bill Murray (On the Rocks)
Clarke Peters (Da 5 Bloods)
Paul Raci (Sound of Metal)
Mark Rylance (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Best Director
Lee Daniels (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)
Regina King (One Night in Miami)
Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods)
Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7) ★
George C. Wolfe (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Best Ensemble
Da 5 Bloods
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
One Night in Miami ★
Promising Young Woman
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Intergenerational
Hillbilly Elegy
Minari ★
On the Rocks
The Father
The Life Ahead
Best Buddy Picture
Bad Boys for Life
Bill & Ted Face the Music
Da 5 Bloods ★
Let Them All Talk
Standing Up, Falling Down
Best Screenwriter
Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods)
Paul Greengrass, Luke Davies (News of the World)
Kemp Powers (One Night in Miami)
Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7) ★
Best Time Capsule
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank ★
One Night in Miami
The United States vs. Billie Holiday
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Grownup Love Story
Emma
Ordinary Love
Supernova ★
Wild Mountain Thyme
Working Man
Best Documentary
A Secret Love ★
Crip Camp
Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy
Dick Johnson Is Dead
Sky Blossom: Diaries of the Next Greatest Generation
Best Foreign Language Film
Another Round (Denmark)
Bacurau (Brazil)
Collective (Romania) ★
The Life Ahead (Italy)
The Weasels’ Tale (Argentina)
Television
This is the first year they're doing TV awards. Pity that they opted not to honor supporting players but you know that's a common affliction with awards groups.
Best Series
Perry Mason
Succession
Ted Lasso
The Crown
This Is Us ★
Best TV Movie/Limited Series
Mrs. America
Small Axe
The Queen’s Gambit ★
Unorthodox
Watchmen
Best Actress (TV/Streaming)
Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show)
Cate Blanchett (Mrs. America)
Regina King (Watchmen)
Laura Linney (Ozark)
Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek) ★
Best Actor (TV/Streaming)
Jason Bateman (Ozark)
Ted Danson (The Good Place)
Hugh Grant (The Undoing)
Ethan Hawke (The Good Lord Bird)
Mark Ruffalo (I Know This Much Is True) ★
Reader Comments (12)
Finally, Mark Rylance, and not Sacha Baron Cohen, gets the nomination from Trial of the Chicago 7
There's so much to love about these nominations (Robin Wright, Ralph Fiennes, Candice Bergen, Jodie Foster, Yuh-Jung Youn, the Best Supporting Actor lineup, Perry Mason) that I'll refrain from getting into how oddly inconsistent they are.
This awards seasons is demonstrating one indisputable fact: Glenn Close may not be the most beloved actress in the industry, but she is certainly the most respected.
Next Oscars, Glenn Close will get the Ruby Thewes’s treatment.
This Had Oscar Buzz fandom rejoice.
Boy.... we now live in a world where Streep is even snubbed by the AARP awards!?!
I really hate that "movies for grownups" name. Such unearned smugness.
Better than Critics Choice.
Jamie -- i assume it's just a fluke for this year. I guess people really didn't like either of those movies. She'll be back.
At least Candice showed up somewhere!
Remove Fiennes and Bergen and I could support it.
The Dig and Let Them All Talk were absolute bores and the performances were correct but unchallenging and could be done by accomplished actors like them, sleepwalking.
Candice Bergen was the only good thing about Let Them All Talk.
Is LAND just NOMADLAND but in the mountains? Seriously asking, both films are "woman lives off grid". Haven't seen either.
'A secret love' finally getting noticed. A touching documentary that sadly is not in the Oscar shortlist