My last posting for the year, so it is time for my annual awards!
All in all a very good year, with something of note coming out nearly every week. Inevitably, there are some films that almost certainly would have featured had I only had the time to see them. Most notably, The Spirit of ’45, The Sessions, Arbitrage, A Hijacking, Upstream Colour and The Great Beauty. So, with apologies to the makers of those…
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
Can’t really pick the worst film of year, as I generally don’t shell out my hard earned cash for dross, though I suspect that it would be one of Grown Ups 2, Man of Steel, Diana or The Christmas Candle if only I had seen them! Instead, the films that I was looking forward to that most disappointed me:
Winner: The Counsellor
Runners up: I’m So Excited, Stoker, A Good Day to Die Hard and A Field in England
HARDEST WATCH
Some films I can admire more than enjoy because of their gruelling subject matter. This year:
Winner: Act of Killing
Runner Up: Compliance
OVERLOOKED FILM
Every year there is a film that seems to fly completely under the radar, with a very small release that turns out to be a gem…
Winner: In a World
Runner up: Seduced and Abandoned
UNFAIRLY DISMISSED FILM
Whilst I usually agree with a critical consensus, there are always some movies that I seem to be the only one enjoying:
Winner: Gangster Squad
Runners up: Identity Thief and Olympus Has Fallen
SHOULD HAVE BEEN LONGER AWARD
Definitely not given out every year, but a couple of contenders this time…
Winner: Parkland
Runner Up: Zero Dark 30
SHOULD HAVE BEEN SHORTER AWARD
Not bad films but could have been so much better if a sharp pair of scissors had been used…
Winner: Blue is the Warmest Colour
Runner Up: Place Beyond the Pines (by removing all of the 3rd part!)
POPCORN MOVIE
I tend to shy away from a lot of the blockbusters, as superhero movies bore me, but there has been a couple of enjoyable ‘Saturday night’ movies this year:
Winner: Olympus Has Fallen
Runner Up: World War Z
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A BAD MOVIE
Winner: Brad Pitt (The Counsellor)
Runners Up: Laura Linney (Hyde Park on Hudson), Nicole Kidman (The Paperboy), Frederic Pierrot (Jeune and Jolie) and Geraldine Pailhas (Jeune and Jolie)
WORST PERFORMANCE IN A GOOD MOVIE
Winner: Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained)
Runners Up: Emory Cohen (The Place Beyond the Pines) and Nat Faxon (The Way, Way Back)
BEST SINGLE SCENE / SEQUENCE
Trying not to spoil…
Winner: The final scene of Captain Phillips
Runner Up: The raid on Osama Bin Laden (Zero Dark 30), The Klu Klux Klan scene in Django Unchained, Warrington Parr Hall ticket sale scene (Stone Roses: Made of Stone) , Fool’s Gold at Heaton Park scene (Stone Roses: Made of Stone), Alan losing his trousers (Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa), the first date (Enough Said), discovering the body (Philomena)
And for the more conventional awards…
BEST ACTOR
Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)
Runners Up: Bruce Dern (Nebraska), Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips), Michael Douglas (Behind the Candelabra), James Gandolfini (Enough Said), Jean-Pierre Bacri (Looking for Hortense), Steve Coogan (Philomena), Matthey McConaughey (Mud), Robert Redford (All Is Lost), Jake Gyllenhaal (Prisoners) and Ryan Gosling (The Place Beyond the Pines)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner: Sam Rockwell (The Way, Way Back)
Runners Up: Vithaya Pansringarm (Only God Forgives), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained), Andrew Dice Clay (Blue Jasmine), Bobby Cannavale (Blue Jasmine), Rob Lowe (Behind the Candelabra), James Badge Dale (Parkland), Ray McKinnon (Mud), Max Martini (Captain Phillips) and Ben Foster (Aint Them Bodies Saints)
BEST ACTRESS
The hardest category to call, in any other year, the first 7 on the runners up list would probably have won…
Winner: Adele Exarchopolous (Blue is the Warmest Colour)
Runners Up: Judi Dench (Philomena), Rooney Mara (Aint Them Bodies Saints), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark 30), Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Lake Bell (In a World), Emma Thompson (Saving Mr Banks), Dreama Walker (Compliance) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Enough Said)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner: June Squibb (Nebraska)
Runners Up: Ann Dowd (Compliance), Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine), Helen Mirren (Hitchcock), Alona Tal (Broken City), Imogen Poots (The Look of Love), Isabelle Carre (Looking for Hortense), Isla Fisher (Now You See Me) and Alison Janney (The Way, Way Back)
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner: Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark 30)
Runners Up: Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said), Woody Allen (Blue Jasmine), Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips), Alfonso Cuaran (Gravity), Steven Sodebergh (Side Effects and Behind the Candelabra), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), Alexander Payne (Nebraska) and Lake Bell (In a World)
BEST FILM
A pretty strong year, so I am listing a top 20
20. The Place Beyond the Pines
19. Rush
18. Only God Forgives
17. The World’s End
16. Behind the Candelabra
15. Mud
14. Stone Roses: Made of Stone
Numbers 5 to 13 are almost interchangeable:
13. The Way, Way Back
12. In a World
11. Captain Phillips
10. Aint Them Bodies Saints
9. Blue Jasmine
8. Side Effects
7. Gravity
6. Django Unchained
5. Nebraska
The top 4 are probably some way ahead of the rest with the number one pretty certain as soon as I saw it…
4. Philomena
3. Lincoln
2. Enough Said
1. Zero Dark 30
Hopefully 2014 will start where 2013 left off, with American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave and the Wolf of Wall Street all due out in January…