Critics Choice Documentary Winners

by Nathaniel R

"Jane," now in theaters, took the top prize at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards

Perhaps if I'm too stay in the BFCA (home to the "Critic's Choice Awards") I should run for actual office within them. Why? Well, change from within. I literally never understand their decisions like awards ceremonies where there are no rules as to how large a category is or isn't. They have this same problem in their main movie awards to a small degree but their documentary competition is even more unruly/nonsensical. These awards, held last night in Brooklyn, had (pause for shuddering) 16 nominees for Best Documentary Feature but 10 nominees for Best Director and only 6 nominees for Debut Documentary and so on and so on. No rhyme or reason! 

But herewith, this year's winners (links go to reviews if we've covered them). All of the feature film winners are on Oscar's long list (previously shared):

Documentary: JANE
Director: [tie] Frederick Wiseman for EX-LIBRIS and Evgeny Afineevsky for CRIES FROM SYRIA
First Documentary: KEDI
Political Documentary: ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL
Sports Documentary: ICARUS
Music Documentary: CLIVE DAVIS: THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES
Most Innovative: [tie] LAST MEN IN ALEPPO and DAWSON CITY: FROZEN TIME 
Best Song: "Jump" from STEP 
Limited Series: THE VIETNAM WAR on PBS
Ongoing Series: AMERICAN MASTERS on PBS

There was also a non-competitive category called "Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary" and the following people/creatures were honored: The cats of KEDI, Al Gore for AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL, Etty for ONE OF US, Dolores Huerta for DOLORES, Gigi Lazzarato for THIS IS EVERYTHING: GIGI GORGEOUS, and The Sung family for ABACUS

Related:
Oscar Prediction Documentary Chart
Glenn's series "Doc Corner"

121 sea-faring days 'til Oscar

Oscar night will be here before you know it! It's time for your daily Oscar trivia. Today's is Biblical epic style... sort of.

So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
-Genesis 1:21

Oscar's favorite sea-faring and/or sea-creature adventures are after the jump but soon we will have to add The Shape of Water (now opening December 1st -- one week earlier than as originally planned) to this list. Where do you think it will land in the following list:

OSCAR'S DOZEN FAVORITE 
SEA-FARING or SEA-CREATURE MOVIES

01 Titanic (1997) - 14 nominations | 11 wins including Best Picture

02 Life of Pi (2012) - 11 nominations including Best Picture | 4 wins

03 Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) - 8 nominations | 1 win for Best Picture (and by extension it's remake Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) 7 nominations including Best Picture...

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A "Four Weddings & A Funeral" Revamp!

Chris here. As Mindy Kaling wraps up the final season of The Mindy Project, she is probably about to be on our minds more than ever before. In the next year, she will be in two of our most anticipated movies: Ava DuVernay's A Wrinkle in Time and gay oasis Ocean's Eight. But she is currently lining up another project to fawn over: a television series revisit of Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Kaling will executive produce with the film's Oscar-nominated screenwriter Richard Curtis for Hulu, and the idea is to craft each season around a different group of friends. While it may seem like yet another revisit for the offing, Kaling has exactly the point of view to make something very special out of this particular reboot. And a rotating cast allows for all different kinds of possibilities for romantic pairings - not to mention Andie MacDowell as different wedding guests / white wine connoisseurs.

Is it maybe time for a reassessment of the original? I admittedly haven't seen it in some time, but it's worthwhile to remember that it ushered in the era of 90s romantic comedies and also was a rare contemporary Best Picture nominee for the genre. And let's not forget the hats! Have you any fond Four Weddings memories?

Review: "Thor: Ragnarok"

by Chris Feil

The hilariously self-absorbed God of Thunder returns for Thor: Ragnarok, a top tier addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to the smart and snappy voice of director Taika Waititi. Even though the film is comedy first and action second in its priorities, it is like getting stuck in the best game in the arcade for two hours.  

This time around, Thor faces the unshackling of his apocalypse-hungry sister Hela, played by a horned and horny Cate Blanchett. Hela aims to make good on her prophecy to destroy Asgard in retribution for her banishment, and presents Thor’s greatest physical threat to date. Once Thor is cast off himself to the technicolor planet Sakaar, he finds a cast of characters that might help him save his home, including lost Avenger Bruce Banner.

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Blueprints: "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"

This week on Blueprints, Jorge Molina takes a drive to the pride of the inland empire to talk about musical numbers in screenplays, only two hours from the beach. 

Fundamentally, scripts serve as a blueprint for what has to appear on screen, hence the name of this series. A blueprint that some people choose to follow more closely than others. However, there are instances where following a script meticulously is vital not only for the benefit of the story, but for the costs and efficiency of an entire production. There are times when a script is a literal choreographed dance, gigantic pretzel and all.

So let’s take a look into the idyllic suburban fantasy of the The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, where if every location, note, and twirl hadn’t been precisely mentioned in the script, there may have never been a show...

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