2016 in movies provides a sea change in my relationship with movies. This was the first year where I felt certain that I no longer had a hold on movies in popular culture. It has been a feeling seeping in for quite awhile, but now I know it for certain. I perhaps saw 50 or 60 movies this year and only saw half of those in theaters. That is not nearly enough to have seen all the best. The revolution in movie making that has cheapened the process (see the great documentary by Keanu Reeves "Side by Side") has taken away the ability for even an avid-movie watcher as me to even be aware of everything that is out there. Two of my greatest experiences in the medium of this last year weren't even movies. They were television series: "American Crime Story: The O.J. Simpson Story" and "Stranger Things." These shows were extraordinary examples of story-telling but they aren't even allowed in my picks this year because they aren't movies (I don't know, I'm generally flexible, maybe next year I will include TV series in my Oscar picks).
The diversity and sheer amount of movies gives light to the idea that we are becoming more and more insulated by our own neighborhoods. A couple movies I saw this year that were terrible (i.e. Birth of a Nation) were excitedly advocated by the New York City crowd that I am apart of. At the same time, a couple movies I saw because they showed up unexpectedly in the Oscar Race but had not been mentioned at all by anyone I knew personally (i.e. Hacksaw Ridge) turned out to be great. That was the best movie I had seen this year. Nobody I know has seen it.
In the end, I think this is a good thing. The utter cheapness of movies allows anybody anywhere to make them. This allows culture to grow in places that would be otherwise fallow. In "Hearts of Darkness," Francis Ford Coppola remarked that his dream was that movies would become so cheap that a fat girl in the Midwest could make a masterpiece. That day I feel is probably here. The unexpected problem is that my Netflix queue is already so long that I will probably never see it.
Here are my Oscars 2017 (for the 2016 year Picks)
WRITING (ORIGINAL
SCREENPLAY)
The Lobster
Hell or High Water
Hacksaw Ridge
10 Cloverfield Lane
Hail Ceasar!
To say that "The Lobster" is a romantic comedy is to truly push the definition of that category. And yet like "Punch Drunk Love" there is no other way to put it. It is really the most Original of all the Screenplays this year. It creates its own world with its own rules and then follows them to the unsuspecting but logical end. It works and for me at least, it was romantic.
WRITING (ADAPTED
SCREENPLAY)
Arrival
Moonlight
Silence
Deadpool
Deepwater Horizon
The maturation of Peter Berg, director of not only "Deepwater Horizon" but also "Patriot's Day" this year is one of the best stories of the year. This the guy who once directed "Battleship." His last several movies are some of the smartest, and given their non-fictional basis, some of the most important movies being made. "Deepwater Horizon" is a textbook example of good screenwriting tackling really complicated engineering problems. There is only so much screenwriting can do in this medium to explain complex engineering. "Deepwater Horizon" does it better than most movies ever made.
VISUAL EFFECTS
Dr. Strange
Deepwater Horizon
Captain America:
Civil War
Deadpool
Hacksaw Ridge
It is a rare thing when I watch a movie and I'm blown away by visual effects. They are so dime a dozen nowaday. But "Dr. Strange" showed me something of a kind I had never seen before.
SOUND EDITING/SOUND
MIXING
La La Land
Deepwater Horizon
Hacksaw Ridge
Sully
Arrival
I can't say I fully understand this category (see all previous Oscar Picks), but the Oscars seemed to think "Arrival" knew what it was doing, and I see no reason to disagree. It was a very good movie, and as I am not honoring it elsewhere, I'm glad to do it here.
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Hail, Ceasar!
Arrival
La La Land
Silence
The Handmaiden
That 1950s movie studio had great sets.
MUSIC (BEST USE OF A
SONG)
“No Dames” -
Hail, Ceasar!
“Die Zauberflote,
K. 620” - Florence Foster Jenkins
“Hello
Stranger” - Moonlight
“On the Nature of
Daylight” - Arrival
“The Greatest Love
of All” - Toni Erdmann
Well, right? Sometimes the right choice of a song speaks so much more than a thousand speeches and proves my theory that a song doesn't need to be original to garner attention and respect.
MUSIC (ORIGINAL
SCORE)
Moonlight
La La Land
Lion
Christine
Arrival
I know, there were original songs in "La La Land," but I figured they were all the same song and should work more like a Score. Of course La La Land had the best music of the year.
MAKEUP AND
HAIRSTYLING
Hail Ceasar!
Nocturnal Animals
The Handmaiden
Actually I think both "The Handmaiden" and "Hail Ceasar!" have better makeup and hairstyling but I'm honoring them elsewhere here. This is for Laura Linney's big hair and Amy Adams red hair.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Toni Erdmann
I only saw one Foreign Film this year, but I would be surprised if it weren't the best one. There will be an American remake with Jack Nicholson and Kristin Wiig and I'm sure that movie will be great too. What is especially interesting is that it is a German film, takes place for the most part in Romania, and as it concerns international business contains a good deal of English. Which parts are which languages speaks quite a bit about how people speak in the Europe of 2017.
FILM EDITING
La La Land
Nocturnal Animals
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
Moonlight
It is interesting how "Hacksaw Ridge" won the Film Editing Oscar and was never considered part of the race for Best Picture because Film Editing is usually so intertwined with what makes a great movie. It is an editor's medium as many filmmakers have said. "Hacksaw Ridge" although only arguably the best movie the year, was certainly the most unappreciated, at least where I'm from.
DOCUMENTARY
O.J.: Made in
America
All I'm saying is I wish I had seen more documentaries. This one it is fair to say, is a great one.
DIRECTING
Damien Chazelle –
La La Land
Mel Gibson – Hacksaw Ridge
Scott Derrickson – Dr. Strange
Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
Peter Berg – Deepwater Horizon
Damien Chazelle is somebody special. I hope to see what he can do with a story that is not about musicians or Hollywood.
COSTUME DESIGN
Hail Ceasar!
Doctor Strange
Allied
La La Land
The Handmaiden
This one is for the Kimonos.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Handmaiden
Silence
La La Land
Moonlight
Hail Ceasar!
La La Land was the best looking movie of the year. period.
La La Land was the best looking movie of the year. period.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kate McKinnon –
Ghostbusters
Naomie Harris – Moonlight
Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea
Nicole Kidman - Lion
Rachel Weisz – The Lobster
It is weird how I didn't see a better performance by a Female Supporting Actress. This is always a weak category and Kate McKinnon, well she's great.
BEST SUPPORTING
ACTOR
John Goodman - 10 Cloverfield Lane
Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
Mahershala Ali -
Moonlight
Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals
Tom Bennett – Love and Friendship
I'll let this clip speak for itself. I liked Michael Shannon, but I picked him for Best Actor already a couple years ago. Mahershala Ali has been great and not been picked for awhile now.
BEST ACTRESS
Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins
Amy Adams – Arrival
Rebecca Hall – Christine
Sandra Huller –
Toni Erdmann
Kate Beckinsale – Love and Friendship
There is something really special about this performance. Because the movie is so low key, the performance sneaks up on you. I'm attaching here my favorite clip, but without the first two hours, you won't understand why its' so great
BEST ACTOR
Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic
Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
Joel Edgerton – Loving
Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
Denzel Washington
– Fences
This one was tough, but I have to give credit to Denzel. He made a movie that was so obviously based and confined by its play setting a verve and direction that a less actor wouldn't have made possible.
BEST PICTURE
Deadpool
Hell or High Water
Deepwater Horizon
Moonlight
Doctor Strange
Hacksaw Ridge
Loving
Arrival
La La Land
The Lobster
This was one year when I really did not have a clear preference. There was that mixup at the Oscars telecast and I was like, okay, I'm cool with either one. But "Hacksaw Ridge" touched me in a way no other movie did this year.
