Friday, February 24, 2017

LALLY MOVIE AWARDS

Back when I started this blog, in 2006 I think, I also started my own yearly movie awards as a minuscule counter to the other yearly awards. I covered pretty much every category the Oscars did, and added a few of my own. But the brain operation removed my compulsion to make lists, so it became more and more work just to do what I originally was doing for fun, and I stopped.

But this year I was so blown away by MOONLIGHT, I wanted to acknowledge that, for my taste, it deserves just about every award possible, from acting (I'd give actors in this film awards in every category, including for Best Actor the three actors who played the lead character, Alex R. Hibbert, Aston Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes, and Best Supporting to Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris) and directing and writing (Barry Jenkins so deserves this), to cinematography, editing and art direction.

And since I'm doing that, I thought I'd at least acknowledge other movies of 2016 that impressed me, if only for acting and directing.

Some of my favorite acting was done by:
Taraj P. Henson, Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer, Kristen Dunst, and Mahershala Ali in HIDDEN FIGURES;
Annette Bening, Greta Gerwing, and Billy Crudup in 20TH CENTURY WOMEN;
Dev Patel, Sunny Pawar, and Nicole Kidman in LION;
Emma Stone in LA LA LAND;
Chris Pine, Ben Foster, and Jeff Birdges in HELL OR HIGH WATER;
Viggo Mortensen and the entire cast of CAPTAIN FANTASTIC;
the entire cast of SING STREET;
the entire cast of DON'T THINK TWICE (especially Gillian Jacobs);
Laura Linney in GENIUS;
Kate Beckinsale, Xavier Samuel, and Reginald De Courcy in LOVE  & FRIENDSHIP;
Keri Russell, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Matthew McConaughy in FREE STATE OF JONES;
the cast of CAFE SOCIETY;
Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, and Simon Helberg in FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS;
Miles Teller, Jonah Hill, and Bradley Cooper in WAR DOGS;
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Timothy Olyphant, and Nicolas Cage in SNOWDEN;
the cast of EVERYBODY WANTS SOME;
Greta Gerwig and Billy Crudup in JACKIE.

And for directing I'd single out (after Barry Jenkins for MOONLIGHT):
Damian Chazelle for LA-LA LAND (also wrote it)
John Carney for SING STREET (also wrote it)
Richard Linklater for EVERYBODY WANTS SOME (also wrote it)
David Mackenzie for HELL OR HIGH WATER
Mike Birbiglia for DON'T THINK TWICE (also wrote it)
Gary Ross for FREE STATE OF JONES (also wrote it)
Whit Stillman for LOVE & FRIENDSHIP (wrote the screenplay based on Austen)
Matt Bass for CAPTAIN FANTASTIC (also wrote it)
Woody Allen for CAFE SOCIETY (also wrote it).

My brain's freezing up so that's it, let me know what you think.

No comments: