OSCAR NOMINATIONS! LET THE RACE BEGIN (but no browns)!

I stole image this from Movieweb

Jim from "The Office" and his friends got up early this morning to announce the nominees for the 2016 Academy Awards. Most went along with what most were predicting, but there were a few surprises. Some got nods that few saw coming, and some we thought were shoo-ins got swept under the red carpet. Another thing to notice is the lack of melanin in just about every category. I mean, the only people nominated from the very good Straight Outta Compton are the white screenwriters! From what I can tell, the only person of color nominated at all was R&B sensation The Weeknd. For his song in the terribly-reviewed hit Fifty Shades of Grey. That song isn't even that good. And only Sylvester Stallone for that VERY well-recieved boxing sequel?? ANYWAY, here's the complete list of nominees. Over the next few weeks we'll take a look at the Big 5 categories individually, along with a few of the other big deal categories. Get your office pool started now!!

Best Animated Feature
Anomalisa
Boy And The World
Inside Out
Shaun The Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There

Best Sound Editing
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Sound Mixing
Bride Of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Makeup & Hairstyling
Mad Max: Fury Road
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared
The Revenant

Best Costume Design
Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant

Best Song
"Earned It" from Fifty Shades Of Grey
"Manta Ray" from Racing Extinction
“Til It Happens To You” from The Hunting Ground
“Simple Song 3” from Youth
"Writing's On The Wall" from Spectre

Best Documentary Feature
Amy
Cartel Land
The Look Of Silence
What Happened Miss Simone
Winter On Fire: Ukraine's Fight For Freedom

Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins - Sicario
Edward Lachman - Carol
Emmanuel Lubezki - The Revenant
Robert Richardson - The Hateful Eight
John Seale - Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Live-Action Short Film
Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Okay
Shok
Stutterer

Best Documentary Short Film
Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond The Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres Of The Shoah
A Girl In The River
Last Day Of Freedom

Best Animated Short Film
Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay's Super Team
We Can't Live Without Cosmos
World Of Tomorrow

Best Visual Effects
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Production Design
Bridge Of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant

Best Foreign Language Feature
Embrace Of The Serpent
Mustang
Son Of Saul
Theeb
A War

Best Score
Carter Burwell - Carol
Ennio Morricone - The Hateful Eight
Thomas Newman - Bridge Of Spies
Johann Johannson - Sicario
John Williams - Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Film Editing
Hank Corwin - The Big Short
Margaret Sixel - Mad Max: Fury Road
Tom McArdle - Spotlight
Stephen Mirrione - The Revenant
Maryann Brandon, Mary Jo Markey - Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Adapted Screenplay
Drew Goddard - The Martian
Nick Hornby - Brooklyn
Adam McKay & Charles Randolph - The Big Short
Phyllis Nagy - Carol
Emma Donoghue - Room

Best Original Screenplay
Matt Charman, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - Bridge Of Spies
Alex Garland - Ex Machina
Josh Cooley, Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve - Inside Out
Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer - Spotlight
Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, S. Leigh Savage, Alan Wenkus - Straight Outta Compton

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh - The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara - Carol
Rachel McAdams - Spotlight
Alicia Vikander - The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet - Steve Jobs

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale - The Big Short
Tom Hardy - The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo - Spotlight
Mark Rylance - Bridge Of Spies
Sylvester Stallone - Creed

Best Actor
Bryan Cranston - Trumbo
Matt Damon - The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant
Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne - The Danish Girl

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett - Carol
Brie Larson - Room
Jennifer Lawrence - Joy
Charlotte Rampling - 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan - Brooklyn

Best Director
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - The Revenant
Adam McKay - The Big Short
George Miller - Mad Max:Fury Road
Lenny Abrahamson - Room
Tom McCarthy - Spotlight

Best Picture
The Big Short
Bridge Of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

THE #1 BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR IS...

When I started this blog, it was to cast light on the disparity of critics everywhere. Not that disagreement is bad, quite the opposite: it means there's stuff out there worth arguing about. Most years there's a favorite, but it would be hard to say which was the absolute best movie of any given year. That's why I decided that maybe a points system would help to shed some sort of competitive light on all the movies released over the course of one year. Think of each publication's list as a race unto itself. Like, the Village Voice top 10 is akin to the Coca-Cola 600.
So, after going over 35 races in which 79 films were lucky enough to be mentioned, three came out way ahead. Of these three, one leaped into the lead early and never looked back, leaving every other film eating dust and spray paint.
THE NUMBER ONE BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR IS:

1. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (199 total points, 13 #1 votes)
2. CAROL (163, 4)
3. SPOTLIGHT (140, 7)
4. INSIDE OUT (63)
5. THE ASSASSIN (54, 2)
6. SON OF SAUL (53, 1)
7. ANOMALISA (46)
8. BROOKLYN (44, 1)
EX-MACHINA (44)
10. TANGERINE (38)

As you can see, there was no way Mad Max was not going to be the #1BMotY. Thirteen first place finishes! That's how much motherfuckers loved this movie. Spotlight was next in #1 finishes, but too many absences from other lists is what did it in. Carol took advantage of that and got second or third in just about every list it was mentioned (which was just about all of them). Inside Out rode a late wave of love that put it just ahead of early frontrunner The Assassin. A big plus for me was for seeing Tangerine with a top ten finish. Such a fun and heartfelt movie and that Mya Taylor should be a star.
If you haven't already, you should avail yourself of the chances to see these great movies! Many of the top 10 finishers are playing now and others are readily available for viewing at home. I'm unsure about The Assassin, as it hasn't really played in many places as of yet, but I'm sure someone knows a work-around for Netflix Asia! Many of the 69 other titles mentioned are already available for streaming on all sorts of movie sites. When a movie is mentioned for the first time on this blog, it's linked to a trailer. Click on that one and then check out canistream.it to see if you can watch if from the comfort of your own La-Z-Boy.
I hope you can find something awesome to watch!

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned!

AUSTIN FINALLY CHIMES IN AND A LIST I MISSED

WHOOPS! Just realized that amongst all the revelry last week, I neglected to post a tally for last week's lists. Oh, well. Doesn't matter, as I've already started working on the tally for this week, the final one! We got lists today from two very different parts of the country. New York City and Austin. As to be expected, all the top contenders make their appearances in these three lists. We've already got a clear winner, but how will the rest of the top 10 shake out?
The first list today is one I overlooked a few weeks ago and it's from the Village Voice. They polled their critics and came up with a list that looks not unlike the two from Austin. Check it out:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10)
2. Carol (9)
3. Spotlight (8)
4. Phoenix (7)
5. Tangerine (6)
6. Anomalisa (5)
7. Clouds of Sils Maria (4)
8. Inside Out (3)
9. Brooklyn (2)
10. The Assassin (1)

Next up, we've got a list from my town's version of the Village Voice, the Austin Chronicle. I've got to give the critics at the Chron a tip of the hat as they seem to be getting better all the time, even though one or two are too genre-focused. Check their picks:
1) Mad Max: Fury Road (10)
2) Son of Saul (9)
3) Spotlight(8)
4) Victoria (7)
5) Inside Out (6)
6) Carol (5)
The Tribe (5)
8) Phoenix (3)
9) The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2)
10) Chi-Raq (1)

Finally, we've got the picks from the Austin Film Critics' Association, which seems to exist solely to release a yearly top-10 list. Interesting to note that this is the only list today to not feature any foreign-language films. Here is that list:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10)
2. Spotlight (9)
3. Carol (8)
4. Anomalisa (7)
5. Room (6)
6. Ex Machina (5)
Inside Out (5)
8. Creed (3)
9. The Big Short (2)
10. Sicario (1)

Mad Max pulling off the hat trick today, pulling WAY ahead. We'll see just how far ahead next post.

STAR WARS CRASHES THE PARTY ON THREE NEW LISTS

Not content with owning the box office for the past two weeks, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is starting to get some mentions on year-end best-of lists. It has been mentioned several times over the past few days, even getting the top spot in one critic's list.
A few of these lists were published this week, but one that won't be counted here is the Seattle Times'. They've got two critics, but they couldn't be bothered to come up with a composite list, instead choosing to put out two separate lists which included one in alphabetical order. What the shit? Get it together people. I know this sounds somewhat hypocritical seeing as I counted each New York Times' critic's lists individually. Well, that's because the Times is a big fucking deal and each of its' critics are very well known and somewhat influential. I never heard of these two over in Seattle. On the other hand, we did get a look at lists from the Great White North, a good movie blog, and a bunch of computer nerds. Let's check them out, shall we?

First up is Peter Howell of the Toronto Star. He's got the titles you're expecting, but is also the first I've seen to give top honors to The Force Awakens. Howell also names a movie on no other lists to this date (which I now want to see). Here it is:
1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (10)
2. Carol (9)
3. Son of Saul (8)
4. Mad Max: Fury Road (7)
5. Spotlight (6)
6. The Martian (5)
7. Sleeping Giant (4)
8. Inside Out (3)
9. Amy (2)
10. Tangerine (1)

Twitchfilm has also given us their list. This is how you do it, Seattle! These guys were able to compile a top-10 using votes from 29 writers. 29! That's 27 more than your publication, Seattle Times! Geez. That said, if you don't already read Twitch, I suggest you do. Here are their picks:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10)
2. Sicario (9)
3. Victoria (8)
The Martian (8)
5. Ex-Machina (6)
6. Carol (5)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (5)
Spotlight (5)
9. The Assassin (2)
It Follows (2)

Wired has taken time from testing new gadgets and software to let the world know that they saw a bunch of movies this year, as well. The only real surprise on their list is the inclusion of Creed, which seems to have lost all the critical steam it had going for it at one point. It's all good, though, as it's been making some money along the way. Can't say the same for Steve Jobs, though. It has fallen out of favor with the critics and won't make enough money to buy the latest iPhone. Check out how Wired ranked their favorites:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10)
2. Ex-Machina (9)
3. Creed (8)
4. The Revenant (7)
5. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (6)
6. Sicario (5)
7. The Martian (4)
8. Spotlight (3)
9. It Follows (2)
10. Steve Jobs (1)

Stay tuned to this blog! Totals for the end of the week will be up shortly. I think Star Wars has blasted its' way into the upper echelons of critical favor!!

ROLLING STONE ROLLS OUT THEIR TOP 10

No surprises from Peter Travers over at Rolling Stone! His list pretty much adheres to the standard set by most every other critic turning in a list of their favorites for 2015. Travers includes Steve Jobs, though, which has been acclaimed but isn't really riding high in the year-end polls. Jobs was good enough for the #2 spot on this list. I missed it when it played here in Austin very briefly.
Here's the Rolling Stone list:
1. Spotlight
2. Steve Jobs
3. Carol
4. Mad Max: Fury Road
5. Brooklyn
6. Straight Outta Compton
7. Tangerine
8. The Martian
9. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
10. Inside Out
Anomalisa

While it played well at home, Straight Outta Compton didn't seem to translate well. I've noticed that only American critics have shown any love toward the NWA bio. Oh, well, more "Dopeman" for me.

VARIETY POST THEIR LIST AND MIXES UP THE WEEK ENDING 12/20

One more list before we close out the week here at #1BMotY. Variety posted their picks for the top 10 movies of 2015 and it didn't have any big surprises, but it did allow for one movie to jump back in the race. Every other title seems to have settled into their usual positions, but we'll see if the last two weeks of the year manage to shake anything up. As I'm writing this up I noticed that I skipped over Rolling Stone's list, but it will be included in next week's count for sure.
Here's the Variety list:
1. Carol (10 pts)
2. The Assassin (9)
3. Mad Max: Fury Road (8)
4. Spotlight (7)
5. Phoenix (6)
6. The Look of Silence (5)
7. Inside Out (4)
8. Brooklyn (3)
9. 45 Years (2)
10. Son of Saul (1)

So, with that list, the race to be the NUMBER ONE BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR closes out for another week. The top 3 candidates are way ahead of the rest of the field, but I'm betting the upcoming week will provide a few lists that may shake one or two titles loose. I'm also hoping that Sicario gets some more love and makes it to the top 5.
Here's how it shakes out for this week:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (135 pts)
2. Carol (119)
3. Spotlight (91)
4. The Assassin (51)
5. Inside Out (45)
6. Brooklyn (36)
Son of Saul (36)
8. 45 Years (35)
9. Anomalisa (32)
10. Sicario (29)

What will next week hold? Can the excellent The Force Awakens follow up its box office domination with some critical love, as well. I loved it, but we'll have to wait and see if the wags like it enough to rank it. We're getting closer to crowning the #1BMotY!!

SOMEONE FINALLY MENTIONS COMPTON

Two more lists have been published. Yesterday, the American Film Institute gave us their list and today, website The A/V Club named their choices. Both lists have the titles you'd expect to see, but the AFI list (alphabetical, so lazy) mentions two real crowd pleasers, one of which is Straight Outta Compton. Compton is definitely one of my favorites of the year and while I know it's not the #1BMotY, I'm surprised I hadn't seen it mentioned yet. It was snubbed by the Golden Globes, too. Well, at least it made a shit-ton of money. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is also on the AFI list, which is weird because it only started screening for critics last week. Maybe it's great, I don't know. I'm seeing it tonight, so I'm sure I'll have something to say about it in the next post. So let's check out these lists and the pointage they bestow.

Here's the AFI list (alphabetical, so everybody gets 3 points):
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Carol
Inside Out
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Room
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Straight Outta Compton

The A/V Club and their critics have named their choices for the best 20 movies of the year. Here are the top 10 from that list:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10 pts)
2. Phoenix (9)
3. It Follows (8)
4. The Duke of Burgundy (7)
5. The Look of Silence (6)
6. Sicario (5)
7. The Assassin (4)
8. Carol (3)
9. Brooklyn (2)
10. Anomalisa (1)

It's good to see It Follows and Sicario getting some love. They are sure to be on my list. I've still got time and a few movies I need to see before I start to think about getting a list together. I'ma do one, though!