Category Archives: MovieMinis Awards

The MovieMini Awards for the Films of 2019

Neon/Courtesy

Film in 2019 was about family. It was about love. It was about defiance. And it was about growing old. From the March sisters to Jimmy Hoffa, Rick Dalton to Lance Corporal Schofield, Mr. Rogers to best friends Amy and Molly, the characters of 2019 embodied what keeps us human, even when things, or even people, are at their worst. It was yet another beautiful year in film, so let’s celebrate. Here are the MovieMini Awards for the Films of 2019:

(These awards were voted on and compiled by Danielle Gutierrez, Levi Hill, Kyle Kizu, Miyako Singer, and Hooman Yazdanian.)

Best Specialty Performance

Winner: Tom Hanks as Woody — Toy Story 4

Disney/Courtesy

Runner-up: Tony Hale as Forky — Toy Story 4
3. Shirley Henderson as Babu Frik — Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
4. Billy Eichner as Timon — The Lion King
5. Zach Galifianakis as Mr. Link/Susan — Missing Link

Next Group:
Rosa Salazar as Alita — Alita: Battle Angel
Jay Baruchel as Hiccup — How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Chris Pratt as Emmet/Rex — The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu — Pokémon Detective Pikachu
Keegan-Michael Key as Ducky — Toy Story 4

Best Feature Debut

Winner: Olivia Wilde — Booksmart

François Duhamel/Annapurna Pictures/Courtesy

Runner-up: Alma Har’el — Honey Boy
3. Joe Talbot — The Last Black Man in San Francisco
4. Jérémy Clapin — I Lost My Body
5. Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz — The Peanut Butter Falcon

Next Group:
Vince Gilligan — El Camino
Nia DaCosta — Little Woods
Melina Matsoukas — Queen & Slim
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson — Someone Great
Josh Cooley — Toy Story 4

Best Original Song

Winner: “Control” — Her Smell

Don Stahl/Gunpowder & Sky/Courtesy

Runner-up: “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” — Rocketman
3. “La Jeune Fille en Feu” — Portrait of a Lady on Fire
4. “Pulled Down” — Her Smell
5. “Jose and Mark” — The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience

Next Group:
“Show Yourself” — Frozen II
“A Glass of Soju” — Parasite
“The Ballad of the Lonesome Cowboy” — Toy Story 4
“IHOP” — The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience
“Glasgow (No Place Like Home)” — Wild Rose

Special Mention: Jessica Only Child Illinois Chicago — Parasite

Best Original Score

Winner: Thomas Newman — 1917

François Duhamel/Universal Pictures/Courtesy

Runner-up: Daniel Lopatin — Uncut Gems
3. Emile Mosseri — The Last Black Man in San Francisco
4. Alexandre Desplat — Little Women
5. Matt Morton — Apollo 11

Next Group:
Max Richter, Lorne Balte — Ad Astra
James Newton Howard — A Hidden Life
Dan Levy — I Lost My Body
Jail Jung — Parasite
Michael Abels — Us

Best Sound

Winner: Donald Sylvester, Paul Massey, David Giammarco, Steven Morrow — Ford v Ferrari

Twentieth Century Fox/Courtesy

Runner-up: Oliver Tarney, Rachael Tate, Mark Taylor, Stuart Wilson — 1917
3. Eric Milano, Brian Eimer — Apollo 11
4. Gary Rydstrom, Brad Semenoff, Tom Johnson, Mark Ulano — Ad Astra
5. Matthew Wood, David Acord, Christopher Scarabosio, Andy Nelson, Stuart Wilson — Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Next Group:
Ryan M. Price, Patrick Southern — Her Smell
Damian Volpe, Mariusz Glabinski, Robert Fernandez, Alexander Rosborough — The Lighthouse
Wylie Stateman, Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler, Mark Ulano — Once upon a Time… in Hollywood
Matthew Collinge, John Hayes, Mike Prestwood Smith, Danny Sheehan — Rocketman
Warren Shaw, Skip Lievsay, Tom Fleischman — Uncut Gems

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

Winner: Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis, Rebecca Cole — 1917

François Duhamel/Universal Pictures/Courtesy

Runner-up: Fríða Aradóttir, Judy Chin — Little Women
3. Janine Rath, Heba Thorisdottir — Once upon a Time… in Hollywood
4. Mónika Tóth, Katalin Jakots, Iván Pohárnok — Midsommar
5. Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, Victoria Money, Barrie Gower — Rocketman

Next Group:
Debra Denson, Carla Farmer, Stacey Morris, Vera Steimberg — Dolemite Is My Name
Emma Strachman, Elissa Ruminer, Amy L. Forsythe — Her Smell
Nicki Ledermann, Sean Flanigan, Michael Marino — The Irishman
Traci Loader, Linda Flynn, Adrien Morot — The Lighthouse
Scott Wheeler, Camille Friend — Us

Best Costume Design

Winner: Julian Day — Rocketman

Paramount Pictures/Courtesy

Runner-up: Jacqueline Durran — Little Women
3. Arianne Phillips — Once upon a Time… in Hollywood
4. Ruth E. Carter — Dolemite Is My Name
5. Albert Wolsky — Ad Astra

Next Group:
Mitchell Travers — Hustlers
Sandy Powell, Christopher Peterson — The Irishman
Mayes C. Rubeo — Jojo Rabbit
Dorothée Guiraud — Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Miyako Bellizzi — Uncut Gems

Best Production Design

Neon/Courtesy

Winner: Lee Ha-jun, Cho Won-woo — Parasite

Runner-up: Barbara Ling, Nancy Haigh — Once upon a Time… in Hollywood
3. Dennis Gassner, Lee Sandales — 1917
4. Craig Lathrop, Ian Greig — The Lighthouse
5. Jess Gonchor, Claire Kaufman — Little Women

Next Group:
Kevin Thompson, Karen O’Hara — Ad Astra
Bob Shaw, Regina Graves — The Irishman
Henrik Svensson — Midsommar
Thomas Grézaud, Hélène Delmaire — Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Sam Lisenco, Kendall Anderson — Uncut Gems

Best Stunts

Winner: Hayley Saywell, Ben Cooke, Rhye Copeman — 1917

Universal Pictures/Courtesy

Runner-up: Robert Nagle, Brian Simpson, Chris Palermo — Ford v Ferrari
3. Jonathan Eusebio, Scott Rogers, Cale Schultz — John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
4. Robert Alonzo, Jacob Dewitt, Samuel Le — Ad Astra
5. Monique Ganderton, Sam Hargrave, Daniel Hernandez, James Young, Terry Notary, Michael Hugghins, Ralf Koch — Avengers: Endgame

Next Group:
Mindy Kelly — The Art of Self-Defense
Chris O’Hara, Simon Crane, Ralf Koch, Greg Rementer, Randy Beckman — Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw
Ian Mclaughlin, Tabitha Dumo — Hustlers
Gáspár Szabó, Ildikó Szücs, Anna Vnuk — Midsommar
Ku Huen-Chiu, Feng Weilun, Lin Zhitai, Tang Tengfei — Shadow

Best Visual Effects

Winner: Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler, Dominic Tuohy — 1917

Universal Pictures/Courtesy

Runner-up: Allen Maris, Guillaume Rocheron, Scott R. Fisher, Jedediah Smith — Ad Astra
3. Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach, Dominic Tuohy — Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
4. Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken, Daniel Sudick — Avengers: Endgame
5. Guillaume Rocheron, Robert Winter, Eric Frazier, Brian Connor, Peter Nofz — Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Next Group:
Louis Morin, Annie Godin, Christian Kaestner, Ara Khanikian, Michael Dawson — The Aeronauts
Richard E. Hollander, Joe Letteri, Kevin L. Sherwood, Eric Saindon, Richard Baneham, Bob Trevino, Nick Epstein — Alita: Battle Angel
Bill Westenhofer, Karen M. Murphy, Guy Williams, Sheldon Stopsack, Mark Hawker — Gemini Man
Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda, Stephane Grabli — The Irishman
Jonathan Fawkner, Carlos Monzon, Dale Newton — Pokémon Detective Pikachu

Best Cinematography

Winner: Roger Deakins — 1917

Universal Pictures/Courtesy

Runner-up: Jarin Blaschke — The Lighthouse
3. Claire Mathon — Portrait of a Lady on Fire
4. Adam Newport-Berra — The Last Black Man in San Francisco
5. Hoyte van Hoytema — Ad Astra

Next Group:
Phedon Papamichael — Ford v Ferrari
Rodrigo Prieto — The Irishman
Yorick Le Saux — Little Women
Robert Richardson — Once upon a Time… in Hollywood
Hong Kyung-pyo — Parasite

Best Film Editing

Winner: Nick Huoy — Little Women

Wilson Webb/Columbia Pictures/Courtesy

Runner-up: Yang Jin-mo — Parasite
3. Todd Douglas Miller — Apollo 11
4. Thelma Schoonmaker — The Irishman
5. Fred Raskin — Once upon a Time… in Hollywood

Next Group:
Lee Smith — 1917
Andrew Buckland, Michael McCusker — Ford v Ferrari
David Marks — The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Julien Lacheray — Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie — Uncut Gems

Best Documentary Feature

Winner: Apollo 11

Neon/CNN Films/Courtesy

Runner-up: Diego Maradona
3. American Factory
4. Honeyland
5. Knock Down the House

Next Group:
The Biggest Little Farm
For Sama
Fyre
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
The Legend of Cocaine Island

Best Animated Feature

Winner: I Lost My Body

Netflix/Courtesy

Runner-up: How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
3. Toy Story 4

Next Group:
Klaus
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
Missing Link

Best International Feature

Winner: Parasite

Neon/Courtesy

Runner-up: Portrait of a Lady on Fire
3. Pain and Glory
4. I Lost My Body
5. Slut in a Good Way

Next Group:
Ash Is the Purest White
Everybody Knows
Honeyland
Monos
Shadow

Best Scene/Sequence

Winner: The Peach Scam — Parasite

Neon/Courtesy

Runner-up: The Final Bet — Uncut Gems
3. Sixteen Hundred Men — 1917
4. The Trailer — Once upon a Time… in Hollywood
5. The Benoit Blanc Breakdown — Knives Out
6. It’s What It Is — The Irishman
7. The Night Window — 1917
8. Leaving China and Nai Nai — The Farewell
9. The Laurie-Jo Devastation — Little Women
10. She Didn’t Notice Me — Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Next Group:
Leave It Open a Little Bit — The Irishman
Beth — Little Women
Shirtless Cliff Booth — Once upon a Time… in Hollywood
Lovers — Pain and Glory
I’ll Remember — Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Best Adapted Screenplay

Winner: Greta Gerwig — Little Women

Wilson Webb/Columbia Pictures/Courtesy

Runner-up: Steve Zaillian — The Irishman
3. Noah Harpster, Micah Fitzerman-Blue — A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
4. Taika Waititi — Jojo Rabbit
5. Matthew Michael Carnahan, Mario Correa — Dark Waters

Next Group:
Mike Flanagan — Doctor Sleep
Terrence Malick — A Hidden Life
Lorene Scafaria — Hustlers
Jérémy Clapin, Guillaume Laurant — I Lost My Body
Andrew Stanton, Stephany Folsom, Martin Hynes, Josh Cooley, Valerie LaPointe, Rashida Jones, Will McCormack — Toy Story 4

Best Original Screenplay

Winner: Bong Joon-ho, Han Jin-won — Parasite

Neon/Courtesy

Runner-up: Lulu Wang — The Farewell
3. Céline Sciamma — Portrait of a Lady on Fire
4. Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie, Ronald Bronstein — Uncut Gems
5. Quentin Tarantino — Once upon a Time… in Hollywood

Next Group:
Shia LaBeouf — Honey Boy
Rian Johnson — Knives Out
Noah Baumbach — Marriage Story
Joe Talbot, Jimmie Fails — The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Pedro Almodóvar — Pain and Glory

Best Ensemble

Winner: Parasite

Neon/Courtesy

Runner-up: The Irishman
3. Little Women
4. Once upon a Time… in Hollywood
5. Knives Out

Next Group:
1917
Booksmart
The Farewell
Hustlers
Uncut Gems

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: Al Pacino — The Irishman

Netflix/Courtesy

Runner-up: Joe Pesci — The Irishman
3. Song Kang-ho — Parasite
4. Shia LaBeouf — Honey Boy
5. Jonathan Majors — The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Next Group:
Dean Charles-Chapman — 1917
Tom Hanks — A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Chris Cooper — Little Women
Alan Alda — Marriage Story
Kevin Garnett — Uncut Gems

Best Supporting Actress

Winner: Zhao Shuzhen — The Farewell

Casi Moss/A24/Courtesy

Runner-up: Florence Pugh — Little Women
3. Cho Yeo-jeong — Parasite
4. Scarlett Johansson — Jojo Rabbit
5. Park So-dam — Parasite

Next Group:
Jennifer Lopez — Hustlers
Thomasin McKenzie — Jojo Rabbit
Jamie Lee Curtis — Knives Out
Lee Jeong-eun — Parasite
Julia Fox — Uncut Gems

Best Lead Actor

Winner: Adam Driver — Marriage Story

Netflix/Courtesy

Runner-up: Brad Pitt — Once upon a Time… in Hollywood
3. Adam Sandler — Uncut Gems
4. Leonardo DiCaprio — Once upon a Time… in Hollywood
5. George MacKay — 1917

Next Group:
Brad Pitt — Ad Astra
Robert De Niro — The Irishman
Robert Pattinson — The Lighthouse
Antonio Banderas — Pain and Glory
Choi Woo-sik — Parasite

Best Lead Actress

Winner: Lupita Nyong’o — Us

Universal Pictures/Courtesy

Runner-up: Saoirse Ronan — Little Women
3. Elisabeth Moss — Her Smell
4. Awkwafina — The Farewell
5. Adèle Haenel — Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Next Group:
Beanie Feldstein — Booksmart
Ana de Armas — Knives Out
Florence Pugh — Midsommar
Noémie Merlant — Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Samara Weaving — Ready or Not

Best Director

Winner: Bong Joon-ho — Parasite

Neon/Courtesy

Runner-up: Greta Gerwig — Little Women
3. Céline Sciamma — Portrait of a Lady on Fire
4. Sam Mendes — 1917
5. Martin Scorsese — The Irishman

Next Group:
Todd Douglas Miller — Apollo 11
Marielle Heller — A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Lulu Wang — The Farewell
Lorene Scafaria — Hustlers
Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie — Uncut Gems

Best Film

Winner: Little Women

Wilson Webb/Columbia Pictures/Courtesy

Runner-up: Parasite
3. The Irishman
4. Uncut Gems
5. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
6. 1917
7. Once upon a Time… in Hollywood
8. The Farewell
9. Apollo 11
10. Marriage Story

Next Group:
Ad Astra
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Booksmart
Dark Waters
Ford v Ferrari
Honey Boy
Jojo Rabbit
The Last Black Man in San Francisco
The Lighthouse
Pain and Glory

The Cats Category or (The Buck Wild Film Beyond Awards Comprehension): Cats

Not Quite a Feature Film, But Deserving of Cinematic Awards Recognition Anyway: The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience

The MovieMini Awards for the Films of 2018

In chaotic times, film becomes more important. As a source of entertainment, as a mode of escape, as a reflection of identity and community, and as an empathy machine, film shapes plenty about how we navigate the world — and we need that when the world is full of whiplash.

In 2018, film guided us powerfully. From a little bear from darkest Peru to a domestic worker in Mexico City, from three skateboarders in the Rust Belt to an astronaut shooting for the moon, from a family on the edges of Tokyo to the King of Wakanda, the characters of these films asked us to reflect upon ourselves, and helped us learn about others in this world.

Simply put, it was a damn good year for movies, and we’re grateful for how they’ve impacted not just us, but millions around the world. If even one film leaves something important with someone needing it, it’s a testament to the power of the art form. But we’re certain that more than a few films did that for more than a few people.

And it all calls for a little needed celebration, a little needed positivity. As that little bear says, “If we are kind and polite, the world will be right.” Film was good to us, so here’s some recognition for film.

Here are the MovieMini Awards for the Films of 2018:

(These awards were voted on and compiled by Rosemarie Alejandrino, Danielle Gutierrez, Levi Hill, Kyle Kizu, Michelle Lee, Miyako Singer, Harrison Tunggal, and Hooman Yazdanian.)

Best Specialty Performance

Winner: Ben Whishaw as Paddington — Paddington 2

Warner Bros./Courtesy

Ben Whishaw’s turn as a kind and deeply principled bear from darkest Peru may not be the buzziest performance in acclaimed masterpiece Paddington 2, but Whishaw’s voice is the gentle glue that holds the movie together. He’s tasked with making the bear cute, but not cloying, unwaveringly good, but never preachy — a CGI bear capable of silliness and sternness in equal measure. Whishaw achieves this by imbuing Paddington with his natural tender-yet-brisk Britishness. Paddington’s matter of fact politeness makes the comedic scenes all the funnier for his total sincerity, and the tear jerking moments all the more heartrending. In Whishaw’s hands (paws?), Paddington is — like his famous, prison reforming marmalade — the perfect mix of sweet and tart.
— Miyako Singer

Runner-up: Shameik Moore as Miles Morales — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
3. Holly Hunter as Elastigirl — Incredibles 2
4. Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
5. Sonoya Mizuno as Humanoid — Annihilation

Next Group:
Josh Brolin as Thanos — Avengers: Infinity War
Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh — Christopher Robin
Stephen Lang as Shrike — Mortal Engines
Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Nicolas Cage as Spider-Man Noir — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Honorable Mention: Olivia as Good Doggo — Game Night/Widows

Best Breakthrough Performance

Winner: Yalitza Aparicio — Roma

Netflix/Courtesy

It’d be impossible to tell that Yalitza Aparicio is a first time actress, let alone someone with no formal training prior to starring in Roma. Her warmth is immediate, and only grows exponentially throughout the rest of the film. Just as Alfonso Cuarón renders the space three-dimensional, Aparicio makes it feel alive, navigating the house with confidence. Her chemistry with the family is delightful, but Aparicio is absolutely breathtaking during the delivery scene and the beach sequence. Roma is a film that makes you feel alive, as it’s about life, and Aparicio is the beating heart.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Thomasin McKenzie — Leave No Trace
3. Kiki Layne — If Beale Street Could Talk
4. Elsie Fisher — Eighth Grade
5. Lady Gaga — A Star Is Born

Next Group:
Cynthia Erivo — Bad Times at the El Royale
John David Washington — BlacKkKlansman
Geraldine Viswanathan — Blockers
Brady Jandreau — The Rider
Lana Condor — To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Best Feature Debut

Winner: Bradley Cooper — A Star Is Born

Clay Enos/Warner Bros./Courtesy

From the very opening shot of A Star Is Born — on-stage with Bradley Cooper’s Jackson Maine in such visceral, wild, grimy, and adventurous close-up — we know we’re in the hands of a director with complete confidence and control. The film is intimate and rough, raw and painful, and Cooper digs his hands into the blood of the material to find emotional truth. Whether it be the close-up of Ally and Jackson’s hands touching in the convenience store parking lot, or the cross-cutting between Jackson on stage and Ally on her way to his concert before bursting into “Shallow,” or the harrowing cut from Ally’s performance at the end of the film to Jackson playing for her at home, Cooper’s choices are staggeringly powerful.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Paul Dano — Wildlife
3. Ari Aster — Hereditary
4. Bo Burnham — Eighth Grade
5. Boots Riley — Sorry to Bother You

Next Group:
Carlos López Estrada — Blindspotting
Kay Cannon — Blockers
Gustav Möller — The Guilty
Josie Rourke — Mary Queen of Scots
Aneesh Chaganty — Searching

Best Original Song

Winner: “Shallow” — A Star Is Born

Warner Bros./Courtesy

At this point in awards season, there’s not much to be said about “Shallow” that hasn’t already been said. It’s nearly become a parody of itself, and the movie’s meme-able reputation definitely precedes it — if only so it can take another look at the movie that follows.

But let us not forget that what makes a song most deserving of the Best Original Song title does not simply rely on the quality of the song itself; it requires a song to, yes, standalone, but to also amplify the moment of the film which it occupies. “Shallow” does not amplify only one moment of A Star is Born, but three: Ally’s shy crooning in the parking lot, Jackson and Ally’s first duet on stage, and Ally’s solo piano performance before learning of Jackson’s fate. And yet, beyond the film, the song itself has taken on new meaning as part of “Enigma,” Lady Gaga’s Las Vegas residency. She turns to the piano ballad to close her electrifying, synth-heavy and neon-laced live show, knighting the song of an anthem for defying expectations. “We’re far from the shallow now,” refers to breaking free from the status quo shallowness expected of a high-profile pop artist, a message both Ally and Lady Gaga declare with triumph.

So while Lady Gaga’s projected victory for “Shallow” on Oscar night may read like the predictable end of a rote coming-of-age novel, let us not forget the first moment that Ally’s voice cracked into the late-night Los Angeles air, hesitant but somehow firm, expelling from her lungs like the slow birth of a legacy in a convenience store parking lot.
— Rosemarie Alejandrino

Runner-up: “Sunflower” — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
3. “Opps” — Black Panther
4. “Maybe It’s Time” — A Star Is Born
5. “Suspirium” — Suspiria

Next Group:
“All the Stars” — Black Panther
“Pray For Me” — Black Panther
“A Cover Is Not the Book” — Mary Poppins Returns
“Always Remember Us This Way” — A Star Is Born
“Wrapped Up” — Vox Lux

Best Original Score

Winner: Nicholas Britell — If Beale Street Could Talk

Annapurna Pictures/Courtesy

Nicholas Britell’s If Beale Street Could Talk score is unbearably beautiful. With lush, waning strings and fluttering, hopeful woodwinds, each piece of music is a stunning evocation of love — of love’s strength, but also of love’s painful journey. The score aches with many truths just as Jenkins’ vision of Baldwin’s characters do — “Eros” a transcendent piece of swelling intimacy and “Hypertension” a bone-rattling piece of soul-crushing fear and despair. And then, “Ye Who Enters Here” truly lives as the blend of such powerful lows and highs at once. Britell’s music tells the story as much as any other part of If Beale Street Could Talk does. It’s not simply there to accompany the film. It pushes the film to new heights. It talks.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Justin Hurwitz — First Man
3. Ludwig Göransson — Black Panther
4. Lorne Balfe — Mission: Impossible – Fallout
5. Thom Yorke — Suspiria

Next Group:
Mowg — Burning
Alexandre Desplat — Isle Of Dogs
Jóhann Jóhannsson — Mandy
Daniel Hart — The Old Man & the Gun
Alexandre Desplat — The Sisters Brothers

Best Sound Mixing

Winner: Mary H. Ellis, Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Ai-Ling Lee — First Man

Universal Pictures/Courtesy

There’s true depth to the sound mix of First Man. It’s loud and brutal, but immersive and three-dimensional. The interior of the space crafts are made distinctly human through the mix, in that the rattling of the metal, the hard-to-hear radio buzz of astronaut communication, the sudden jerks and slashes, and even the gravity of sound are all meshed into a cohesive environment that can be fully lived-in. It’s a symphonic nightmare.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan, José Antonio García — Roma
3. Gilbert Lake, Mike Prestwood Smith, Paul Munro — Mission: Impossible – Fallout
4. Michael Barosky, Brandon Proctor — A Quiet Place
5. Niv Adiri, Michael Clayton, John Skehill, Ian Tapp — Annihilation

Next Group:
Tom Johnson, Juan Peralta, John Pritchett — Avengers: Infinity War
Michael Semanick, Nathan Nance, Vince Caro — Incredibles 2
Michael Semanick, Tony Lamberti, Brian Smith, Aaron Hasson, Howard London — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Steve Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder — A Star Is Born
Drew Kunin, Andrew Stirk — You Were Never Really Here

Best Sound Editing

Winner: Ai-Ling Lee, Mildred Iatrou Morgan — First Man

Daniel McFadden/Universal Pictures/Courtesy

The First Man sound team went to incredible lengths to capture the accuracy of the sounds of spacecrafts, from recording actual launches to consulting the professionals for the minutiae of space travel. And it pays off immensely. Every created sound feels entirely organic to every environment — and often times because it was, with everything that the film does practically. But it’s the most brutal effects that elevate the film, as we can feel the metal in our bones, just like the astronauts likely did.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: James Mather — Mission: Impossible – Fallout
3. Skip Lievsay, Sergio Díaz — Roma
4. Ethan Van der Ryn, Erik Aadahl — A Quiet Place
5. Geoffrey G. Rubay, Curt Schulkey, John Pospisil — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Next Group:
Glenn Freemantle, Niv Adiri —Annihilation
Shannon Mills, Daniel Laurie — Avengers: Infinity War
Benjamin A. Burtt, Steve Boeddeker — Black Panther
Coya Elliott, Ren Klyce — Incredibles 2
Gary Rydstrom, Richard Hymns — Ready Player One

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

Winner: Joel Harlow, Camille Friend, Ken Diaz — Black Panther

Matt Kennedy/Marvel Studios/Courtesy

The makeup and hairstyling work in Black Panther does what a lot of the other design work in the film does: it builds a world, and does so extremely thoroughly and organically. The hairstyling is distinct and varied, from the extravagant regal designs of Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) to the stylishly personal work for both Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan). And the makeup is prevalent, but not overt. The larger prosthetics are carefully utilized and integrated, such as with a tribe leader’s mouth, and the facial designs breathe life to the characters, telling their own stories for each tribe and status. Combined, the film’s work is innovative.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Nadia Stacey — The Favourite
3. Mark Coulier, Fernanda Perez, Manolo Garcia — Suspiria
4. Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher, Jessica Brooks — Mary Queen of Scots
5. Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, Patricia DeHaney — Vice

Next Group:
LaWanda M. Pierre, Shaun Perkins — BlacKkKlansman
Göran Lundström, Pamela Goldammer — Border
Heike Merker — Crazy Rich Asians
Bill Corso, Barbara Lorenz — Destroyer
Oriane De Neve — Mandy

Best Costume Design

Winner: Ruth E. Carter — Black Panther

Matt Kennedy/Marvel Studios/Courtesy

To be honest, Ruth E. Carter earned this back in February of last year. Not to take away from any of the other wondrous world-building within the film, but the costume design is simply supreme. From the layout and layering of beads, to the various textures and colors of fabrics, to the infused metal, Carter’s costumes are both steeped in the history of African clothing and evocative of what afrofuturism envisions, engaging with the past and the future simultaneously in the same way that the story does. But it’s her scope and range that are difficult to put into words. The tribal clothing is so specific and so intuitive, declaring rank, but also declaring style and personality — and that’s for multiple tribes, as well as for warrior armor and regal wear. And this all goes without mention of how incredibly badass and utterly gorgeous it all looks.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Sandy Powell — The Favourite
3. Caroline Eselin — If Beale Street Could Talk
4. Mary E. Vogt — Crazy Rich Asians
5. Sandy Powell — Mary Poppins Returns

Next Group:
Kym Barrett — Aquaman
Alexandra Byrne — Mary Queen of Scots
Lindy Hemming — Paddington 2
Renee Ehrlich Kalfus — A Simple Favor
Amanda Ford — Wildlife

Best Production Design

Winner: Hannah Beachler, Jay Hart — Black Panther

Hannah Beachler/Marvel Studios/Courtesy

Best Production Design could also be known as “Best World Building,” literally, as the production designer and set decorator are the people tasked — with the guidance of the film’s director and screenwriter — in crafting the world of the film, fictional or authentically real. And this past year, the work of Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart in creating Wakanda is simply unrivaled.

Black Panther’s success truly stems from its ability to let Wakanda, Oakland, and South Korea be vital locations and production sets for the story Coogler is telling. Every set, every design presents eye-popping creations, but with real-world authenticity. Yet, it was the first scene in which the audience is shown the fictional African country of Wakanda that we knew exactly who would be taking home this award. Beachler and Hart have created an awe-inspiring world, where futuristic high rises co-exist with classical African village designs. The look of Wakanda feels real, and honors the film’s black identity, but is also willing to be highly original with its deep mines of vibranium and stunning throne rooms. Truly, because of the work these two crafted, as well as the film’s direction, cinematography, costume design, and makeup, we’ll always remember that first feeling of when we knew what “Wakanda Forever” meant.
— Levi Hill

Runner-up: Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton — The Favourite
3. Eugenio Caballero, Bárbara Enrı́quez — Roma
4. Nathan Crowley, Kathy Lucas — First Man
5. Mark Digby, Michelle Day — Annihilation

Next Group:
Martin Whist, Hamish Purdy — Bad Times at the El Royale
Nelson Coates, Andrew Baseman — Crazy Rich Asians
Adam Stockhausen, Paul Harrod — Isle of Dogs
Gary Williamson, Cathy Cosgrove — Paddington 2
Keiko Mitsumatsu, Akiko Matsuba — Shoplifters

Best Visual Effects

Winner: Paul Lambert, J.D. Schwalm, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles — First Man

Universal Pictures/Courtesy

First Man is a celebration of practical effects. From its various scales of models to its massive LED screens that play backgrounds of skies and space for in-camera capture, the film is invigoratingly tactile. We can sense real physics and real depth at play, which is immensely key to communicating the dangers of the Gemini and Apollo missions. That the film feels as though it truly takes us to space, through the genius of perspective as well as invisible CG and compositing, is an astounding accomplishment.
Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Dan Deleeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl, Dan Sudick — Avengers: Infinity War
3. Andrew Whitehurst, Sara Bennett, Richard Clarke, Simon Hughes — Annihilation
4. Nicholas Bennett, Rupert Davies, Andy Kind, Peter McDonald, Carlos Monzon, Glen Pratt — Paddington 2
5. Jason Smith — Bumblebee

Next Group:
Kelvin McIlwain, Jeff White, Bryan Hirota, Kimberly Nelson Locascio — Aquaman
Matt Johnson, Steve Warner, Jim Capobianco, Kyle McCulloch —Mary Poppins Returns
Jody Johnson — Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler, David Shirk — Ready Player One
Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan, Dominic Tuohy —Solo: A Star Wars Story

Best Cinematography

Winner: Alfonso Cuarón — Roma

Netflix/Courtesy

There’s something initially objective and removed about Alfonso Cuarón’s cinematography for Roma. There aren’t many close-ups. Perspective is, occasionally, not attached too strongly to individual characters. It’s almost as if the camera were a young boy watching from a distance.

And that’s where it all clicks. As Cuarón’s camera pans or tracks through space in unbroken takes, we become enveloped in something truly three-dimensional. “Lived in” is an overused phrase, but it’s the most potent thing about Roma’s photography. It breathes with life. It’s lived in. It’s memory.

There’s such immense visual depth in this film, greater than what 3D could ever accomplish. But there’s also warmth, connection, and love. Cuarón captures his images with the quiet wonder of a boy admiring the matriarchs in his life. However, it’s also clear that this is not just removed, but a reflection into the past, which allows his cinematography to break the bounds of its objective style and evoke true emotions within time.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Rob Hardy — Mission: Impossible – Fallout
3. Lukasz Zal — Cold War
4. Linus Sandgren — First Man
5. Hong Kyung-pyo — Burning

Next Group:
Robbie Ryan — The Favourite
James Laxton — If Beale Street Could Talk
Bing Liu — Minding the Gap
Joshua James Richard — The Rider
Benoît Debie — The Sisters Brothers

Best Film Editing

Winner: Eddie Hamilton — Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Paramount Pictures/Courtesy

In more ways than one, Mission: Impossible – Fallout is explosive. One of the most underappreciated facets of that, however, is the film’s editing. Eddie Hamilton’s pacing is never off-note, taking us through a roaring 2.5 hours without anything ever feeling slow or unbalanced. And zooming in to individual sequences, Hamilton’s compositions are breathtaking, particularly the “stairs and rooftops” chase through London. That sequence is its own spotless short film, a blend of perfectly timed comedy and powerful bursts of energy. We feel Ethan Hunt’s energy and exhaustion distinctly through Hamilton’s work, and the entire film is taken to a new level for the franchise because of that.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Bing Liu, Joshua Altman — Minding the Gap
3. Alfonso Cuarón, Adam Gough — Roma
4. Jonathan Amos, Mark Everson — Paddington 2
5. Joe Walker — Widows

Next Group:
Nick Fenton, Chris Gill, Julian Hart — American Animals
Barry Alexander Brown — BlacKkKlansman
Yorgos Mavropsaridis — The Favourite
Hirokazu Kore-eda — Shoplifters
Jay Cassidy — A Star Is Born

Best Documentary

Winner: Minding the Gap

Hulu/Courtesy

Bing Liu’s directorial debut is a true revelation. Minding the Gap centers on three boys — Liu himself, Zack Mulligan and Kiere Johnson — in Rockford, Illinois, who all skateboard and who, we learn, all grew up in abusive households. Liu’s film, like so many of 2018’s best, wrestles with the essential question: What have our parents done to us? The answer to this question is completely different for each of Liu, Mulligan and Johnson. Yet each of these stories, even Liu’s own, is handled with a deft touch of empathy and true intuition. We know these boys, not just their traumas but their charm, their shortcomings, their senses of humor, their aspirations. We cry with them and for them, but we also hope with them.

Minding the Gap is about so many things. Escaping your home. The oppressive force of capitalism. Cycles of abuse. Toxic, limiting masculinity. Friendship. Ultimately, it’s about everything that shapes us into who we are and the shared traumas that can underlie our relationships. That’s what makes this not just the year’s best documentary, but one of its very best films as well.
Hooman Yazdanian

Runner-up: Free Solo
3. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
4. The Dawn Wall
5. Science Fair

Next Group:
Nossa Chape
Shirkers
They Shall Not Grow Old
Three Identical Strangers
White Tide: The Legend of Culebra

Best Animated Film

Winner: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Sony Pictures/Courtesy

It’s been more than a month since the release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and we’re still feeling the ripples of its arrival. It’s hard to say something that’s not already been said, but it’s the fact that people are still saying things that shows just how significant this film is. Visually dynamic and innovative, but also with a pulsing emotional core, the film feels like a dream, an all-too-perfect culmination of superhero-centered art from its inception in the form of comic books to its dominance of popular cinema today. Spider-Verse is not just a leap forward, but a leap up, all because it was brave enough to take a leap of faith.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Incredibles 2
3. Ralph Breaks the Internet
4. Mirai
5. Early Man

Best Foreign Film

Winner: Shoplifters

Magnolia Pictures/Courtesy

In its first two-thirds, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters is a warm yet unflinching movie about the daily rhythms of a family living on the fringes of Tokyo. The Shibata family — Nobuyo (Sakura Ando) and Osamu (Lily Franky), their son Shota (Jyo Kairi), and adult sibling Aki (Mayu Matsuoka) — live in the cramped home of grandmother and matriarch Hatsue (the late Kirin Kiki), living off her small pension, odd jobs, and the eponymous shoplifting.

One day, Nobuyo and Osamu come across a hungry and abused little girl named Yuri (Miyu Sasaki) and decide to take her in, setting in motion a doomed story of kidnap and familial love. Had the movie ambled along in this way, quietly checking in on the day to day of the strange and messy Shibatas, it would have been a triumph of humanistic filmmaking. But in its third act, Shoplifters delivers a shocking series of twists which blow apart the family’s fragile, cobbled-together peace, and reveal that Kore-eda has something much deeper to say about choosing love and family when you’re up against the world.
— Miyako Singer

Runner-up: Roma
3. Burning
4. Cold War
5. Happy As Lazzaro

Next Group:
Capernaum
The Guilty
I Am Not A Witch
Museo
Zama

Best Adapted Screenplay

Winner: Phil Lord, Rodney Rothman — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Sony Pictures/Courtesy

Granted, there’ve been a lot of Spider-Man stories (comics, movies, and games) this century, and a lot have been wildly successful. But there’s something about Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman’s take on the classic Spider-Man story that sets it above the rest, and honestly, as one of the best superhero scripts ever.

Maybe it’s how it introduces Miles Morales into the cinematic canon, while still giving us a thrilling Peter (B.) Parker story? Maybe it’s because it takes a plethora of villains and heroes from the Spider-Verse, and gives each character their own rational motivations for their actions, with varying degrees of forgivability? Maybe it’s just because we didn’t laugh harder or cry more during a studio film from 2018 than we did while watching Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse? Or most likely, it’s because it did all of these things, and crafted an inclusive story that anyone of any race, gender, age, or nationality can relate to. Because in the end, the power of superhero stories has always been that superheroes don’t have to be that super at all; they just have to believe in themselves and in the good of the people around them. Anyone can wear the mask.
— Levi Hill

Runner-up: Paul King, Simon Farnaby — Paddington 2
3. Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan — Wildlife
4. Lee Chang-dong, Oh Jung-mi — Burning
5. Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty — Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Next Group:
Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole — Black Panther
Peter Chiarelli, Adele Lim — Crazy Rich Asians
Barry Jenkins — If Beale Street Could Talk
Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini — Leave No Trace
Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain — The Sisters Brothers

Best Original Screenplay

Winner: Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara — The Favourite

Yorgos Lanthimos/Twentieth Century Fox/Courtesy

The incredible passive aggressiveness, snark, and sass of Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara’s script for The Favourite is, quite frankly, jaw-dropping. From the overarching manipulative machinations of Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and Abigail (Emma Stone), to the invigoratingly sexy scenes, all the way down to the single lines of dialogue — the most gobsmackingly awesome being Queen Anne’s “I like it when she puts her tongue inside me” — the script is an absolute wonder.

But that’s not all that Davis and McNamara accomplish. The story is also a seering look at the sacrifices made in a quest for power, as well as the corruption that such a quest can bring upon one’s soul. And, in perhaps the film’s most powerful scene when Lady Sarah tries to connect with Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) again, The Favourite reveals itself as a story of what love truly means.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Hirokazu Kore-eda — Shoplifters
3. Bo Burnham — Eighth Grade
4. Alfonso Cuarón — Roma
5. Tamara Jenkins — Private Life

Next Group:
Paweł Pawlikowski, Janusz Glowacki — Cold War
Paul Schrader — First Reformed
Mark Perez — Game Night
Alice Rohrwacher — Happy As Lazzaro
Ari Aster — Hereditary

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: Steven Yeun — Burning

Well Go USA Entertainment/Courtesy

Burning is a reserved, chilling psychosexual thriller from one of the world’s premier directors, Lee Chang-dong. The film follows a love triangle between Lee Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in), Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo), and Ben (Steven Yeun). Through Chang-dong’s lens, we see the story from Jong-su’s increasingly anxious, jealous, and fractured view. But because the film rests with Jong-su, this allows Yeun’s Ben to become the film’s enigma; it’s through his character and Yeun’s portrayal that the film morphs into a stunning, shocking mystery. On first viewing, when the three are with each other, Yeun’s almost displeasing yawns and seemingly mocking laughter shake Jong-su, and the audience, to the core. There’s clearly something underneath this person — a rich kid so privileged in society, that maybe, just maybe, he has turned to murder to feel something in the world. Yet, on repeat viewings (which this film begs for), it could be implied that Ben isn’t all that bad. While having an aura of superiority around him, Ben appears rather inviting. Maybe, after all, it is Jong-su trying to force Ben into the story he wants for himself.

Thanks, in large part, to Lee Chang-dong and Oh Jung-mi’s masterful script and Steven Yeun’s even more masterful performance, we’re never granted answers, though. Yeun perfectly relies on subtlety, born charisma, and his dashing good looks to craft Ben into an unknowable key to understanding what transpires. Yet, the answers go up in flames, and we’re all left with the haunting reality that we may never truly know who Ben is.
— Levi Hill

Runner-up: Hugh Grant — Paddington 2
3. Brian Tyree Henry — If Beale Street Could Talk
4. Alex Wolff — Hereditary
5. Daniel Kaluuya — Widows

Next Group:
Timothée Chalamet — Beautiful Boy
Richard E. Grant — Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Nicholas Hoult — The Favourite
Jesse Plemons — Game Night
Jake Gyllenhaal — Wildlife

Best Supporting Actress

Winner: Rachel Weisz — The Favourite

Yorgos Lanthimos/Twentieth Century Fox/Courtesy

In The Favourite — a film full of overt, loud, and clear (even if passive aggressive) expression — Rachel Weisz is a complex force. Her Lady Sarah is simultaneously manipulative, loving, confident, and jealous. Under a rarely changing steely glare, Weisz breathes with power, while also communicating her character’s slow loss of it. And along with that comes a loss of friendship and a loss of love, and Weisz evokes a painfully palpable desperation, culminating in her heart-wrenching monologue of what it means to love someone. While there’s an engaging sadness and depression to Olivia Colman’s Queen Anne, it’s Weisz’s brilliant performance as Lady Sarah that lays a soul at the foundation of the film.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Regina King — If Beale Street Could Talk
3. Emma Stone — The Favourite
4. Elizabeth Debicki — Widows
5. Marina de Tavira — Roma

Next Group:
Michelle Yeoh — Crazy Rich Asians
Rachel McAdams — Game Night
Margot Robbie — Mary Queen of Scots
Kayli Carter — Private Life
Kirin Kiki — Shoplifters

Best Lead Actor

Winner: Bradley Cooper — A Star Is Born

Peter Lindbergh/Warner Bros./Courtesy

A Star Is Born opens with Bradley Cooper on stage as Jackson Maine, strumming the hell out of his guitar and belting out “Black Eyes.” Cooper not only answers any questions about his musical bonafides, but does it with fervor, commanding that stage and the audience — both the one in the film and the one watching it — like a real life rock star. He commands us not just to watch, but to believe. We need to believe he’d be successful, famous enough to attract big festival crowds, but also to walk into a drag bar and be treated like a star right away. Later, we need to believe he would both instantly fall in love with Ally (Lady Gaga) and have Ally fall in love with him. We need to believe this is a man in pain, and that this pain lingers even and especially when he’s head-over-heels in love with Ally, as he is until the end. We need to believe, and feel, and regret, the self-medication by alcohol Maine resorts to; haunted by the traumas of his youth and embroiled in the tumultuous rollercoasters of love and fame, Maine’s only restraint is more dangerous than the rollercoasters themselves. He gets drunk, he yells, he regrets. He goes to rehab. We need to believe it’s all real. We need to believe in Cooper as Maine does in Ally. And boy, is Cooper worth believing. He falls into the role of Jackson Maine. The star we know is hidden behind a beard, scraggly hair and sunworn skin. Of Cooper, only his winning eyes remain, and even they do their fair share of sad talking.

When an actor as famous as Bradley Cooper does a role as big and different as this one, it can be distracting. It’d be easy to watch A Star Is Born and just yell, “That is Bradley Cooper, the motherfucker from The Hangover! And he is singing!” But this doesn’t happen because we believe Cooper. The now seven-time Oscar nominee gives the performance of his life and of the year. We were right to believe.
Hooman Yazdanian

Runner-up: Tom Cruise — Mission: Impossible – Fallout
3. Ethan Hawke — First Reformed
4. Ryan Gosling — First Man
5. Lily Franky — Shoplifters

Next Group:
Yoo Ah-in — Burning
Tomasz Kot — Cold War
Stephan James — If Beale Street Could Talk
John Cho — Searching
Christian Bale — Vice

Best Lead Actress

Winner: Sakura Ando — Shoplifters

Magnolia Pictures/Courtesy

Amidst an amazing cast, Sakura Ando is transfixing in Shoplifters. A sense of enigmatic cool immediately emanating from her performance, Ando allows us in slowly. From her character’s quiet will to endure and survive, to her deep and raw connection to Yuri (Miyu Sasaki) through shared trauma, to her growing sense of motherhood and what it means to take care of someone, Ando’s turn unveils layer upon layer with stunning precision and timing, while maintaining an emotional truth to every aspect. She’s the powerful, magnetic center to the film because she plays that part to the film’s family, anchoring them in both fantasy and reality. And in her two key moments in the third act, when talking about motherhood and when telling Shota (Jyo Kairi) key information, Ando is harrowing in both her quiet pain and her strained certainty. Her performance is one of the most brilliantly understated of the year.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Olivia Colman — The Favourite
3. Toni Collette — Hereditary
4. Carey Mulligan — Wildlife
5. Yalitza Aparicio — Roma

Next Group:
Joanna Kulig — Cold War
Thomasin McKenzie — Leave No Trace
Kathryn Hahn — Private Life
Regina Hall — Support the Girls
Glenn Close — The Wife

Best Ensemble

Winner: The cast of The Favourite

Atsushi Nishijima/Twentieth Century Fox/Courtesy

The cast of The Favourite may not be as expansive as other ensembles. But the set of performances is undoubtedly unmatched. Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, and Olivia Colman all deliver deliciously devilish and ravishingly ravenous turns. And they’re accompanied by a magnificent Nicholas Hoult, and a solidly serviceable Joe Alwyn and James Smith.

The range of work from these actors would be enough to put it into contention, but what locks it in as the best ensemble of 2018 is the vibrant and explosive chemistry between every single performer. Yorgos Lanthimos movies are idiosyncratic, so chemistry is key, and here, the rapport is simply sublime.
— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: The cast of Shoplifters
3. The cast of Black Panther
4. The cast of Widows
5. The cast of Game Night

Next Group:
The cast of Bad Times at the El Royale
The cast of Crazy Rich Asians
The cast of If Beale Street Could Talk
The cast of Private Life
The cast of The Sisters Brothers

Best Director

Winner: Alfonso Cuarón — Roma

Carlos Somonte/Netflix/Courtesy

Like practically every other critics group (and we’re predicting the directors guild, too), we found Alfonso Cuarón’s deeply personal autobiographical memory play to be the best piece of directing of 2018. Using crisp black-and-white digital 65mm cinematography, mostly non-professional cast members, and stunning on-set recreations of 1970s Mexico City, Cuarón paints a humanistic, neo-realistic love letter to both the city and the women who raised him.

Cuarón’s approach to the material is organic in every facet. Composed of mostly long takes, Cuarón allows the performers, and thus the audience, to live in his world. There’s no prioritization of banal, seemingly simple moments (such as kids being cleansed with vinegar after getting sunburnt) over more dramatic moments (when a fire ravages an estate where the central family and friends are spending Christmas). Furthermore, the film perfectly balances moments of brevity — like a cheeky visual reference of the family going to the movies to see Marooned, which Cuarón may or may not have based his own Oscar-winning Gravity off of — with complete tragedy — such as when Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) loses a part of herself, in a devastating scene that won’t be spoiled here.

Yet, Cuarón is also giving a voice and vision to people rarely seen on the big screen: domestic workers. Starring an indigenous woman (the groundbreaking, now Oscar-nominated Yalitza Aparicio), Roma explores privilege, class, and race within Mexican society, but in a way that allows audiences to see the hard, caring work that these people do for the families they serve and, equally, how much they shape the people they help. Films have always been described as empathy machines, and it doesn’t get much more empathetic than what Cuarón’s direction achieves with his masterpiece Roma.
— Levi Hill

Runner-up: Paul King — Paddington 2
3. Lynne Ramsay — You Were Never Really Here
4. Lee Chang-dong — Burning
5. Hirokazu Kore-eda — Shoplifters

Next Group:
Ryan Coogler — Black Panther
Yorgos Lanthimos — The Favourite
Bing Liu — Minding the Gap
Christopher McQuarrie — Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Tamara Jenkins — Private Life

Best Picture

Winner: Paddington 2

Warner Bros./Courtesy

Sweet but never saccharine, Paddington 2 gives the perfect answer to the cynicism of the day, and does so without standing on a soap box, megaphone in hand, declaring itself apolitical. In fact, it does the opposite, embodying soul and optimism about humanity without betraying its messaging as a perfectly-toned rebuke of anti-immigrant, anti-refugee sentiment. Such is the case with 2018’s best film (that’s right, US release dates) and the flagbearer of nicecore, Paddington 2.

The story is simple: Paddington (Ben Whishaw), a bear from darkest Peru who lives with his adopted family, the Browns, in London, wants to buy his Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) a popup book for her birthday. He wants to share the magic he sees in it with her. The end of that story is truly tear-jerking, and the execution of the journey to get there is transcendent. Packed with action, humor, and joy, the film takes aesthetic swings and knocks them out of the park. It is directed phenomenally by Paul King and perfectly acted, led by a layered, career-best performance from Hugh Grant.

Filled to the brim with equal helpings of ingenuity, marmalade, and heart, Paddington 2 sees the best in us and manages to be the best film of 2018 along the way.
— Hooman Yazdanian

Runner-up: The Favourite

3. Shoplifters
4. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
5. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
6. Black Panther
7. Minding the Gap
8. Roma
9. Wildlife
10. Private Life

Next Group:
Annihilation
Burning
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Cold War
Game Night
Hereditary
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Star Is Born
Widows
You Were Never Really Here

Feature graphic by Kyle Kizu
Feature images courtesy of Paramount Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox/Warner Bros./Netflix/Sony Pictures

The Best in Film of Spring 2018

By the end of the year, it’s rather easy to fall into the overwhelming consensus/narrative of what films and performances deserve Oscars. It’s often mostly made up of films that come out in the last four months of the year, with a few from the first eight months — but those had to be more than exceptional.

As that trend continues, it becomes more and more necessary to take the time to really explore the great work across crafts below and above the line from the beginning of the year. And so far, between the months of January and April, film has offered brilliance in so many regards, within both tiny independents and massive blockbusters.

Here is our breakdown of the best in film of Spring 2018:

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: Paul Bettany — Journey’s End

Nick Wall/Good Deed Entertainment/Courtesy

Journey’s End becomes so unnerving so quickly because of the specific tension that it evokes: of composed, orderly men slowly crumbling from the inside at the doom of war approaching. And while Sam Claflin offers the film’s most expressive, explicit performance, Paul Bettany nails that tension with subtle grace. His character’s initial calm and almost fatherly presence is impossible not to latch onto, making it all the more tragic to watch as even he starts to break down — a destabilization of his eyes and rockiness in his slowly suffocated breath. Bettany clearly controls every minute with a clear sense of the story’s path, anchoring the film as the events spiral out of control.

Runner-up: Hugh Grant — Paddington 2
3. Michael B. Jordan — Black Panther
4. Chris Hemsworth — Avengers: Infinity War
5. Jesse Plemons — Game Night

The Next 5
6. Ed Helms — Chappaquiddick
7. Alessandro Nivola — Disobedience
8. Shia LaBeouf —Borg vs. McEnroe
9. Anton Yelchin — Thoroughbreds
10. Simon Russell Beale — The Death of Stalin

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

Winner: Camille Friend, Joel Harlow — Black Panther

Marvel/Disney/Courtesy

Some may argue that Avengers: Infinity War is above Black Panther in this regard, simply because of the number of characters in makeup and the different styles of makeup. But this distinction shouldn’t be for the most work. In fact, Infinity War, even in aspects beyond makeup, bases a lot of itself in what’s come before.

Where Black Panther clearly stands out is in both its innovation and the world-building that the makeup and hair work accomplishes. The makeup is prevalent, but not overt. The prosthetics are integrated into the world-building. The hair is distinct and varied, wound into other design elements perfectly.

Runner-up: Deborah Rutherford, Brian Sipe, Janine Rath — Avengers: Infinity War
3. Kimberly Kimble, Allan A. Apone, Anita Brabec, Geno Freeman — A Wrinkle in Time

The Next 3
4. Tristan Versluis, Sian Grigg — Annihilation
5. AnnaCarin Lock — Borg vs. McEnroe
6. Lesley Noble, Conal Palmer, Roseann Samuel — Journey’s End

Best Costume Design

Winner: Ruth E. Carter — Black Panther

Marvel/Disney/Courtesy

From a design standpoint, Black Panther is one of the most deeply felt films in the past number of years. Crafts are brilliant across the board, but it’s Ruth E. Carter’s costume design that pops the loudest and brightest.

The film not only features a wide variety of styles of a new world — from armor, to daily wear, to royal dress — and a wide variety of material distinctly from that world, but also informs each costume as a clear, storied product of Wakanda. That the costumes are also incredibly beautiful is a testament to the mastery of Carter.

Runner-up: Paco Delgado — A Wrinkle in Time
3. Suzie Harmen — The Death of Stalin
4. Judianna Makovsky — Avengers: Infinity War
5. Anushia Nieradzik — Journey’s End

The Next 5
6. Lindy Hemming — Paddington 2
7. Alex Bovaird — Thoroughbreds
8. Caroline Errington — Chappaquiddick
9. Kicki Ilander — Borg vs. McEnroe
10. Odile Dicks-Mireaux — Disobedience

Best Sound Editing

Winner: Daniel Laurie, Shannon Mills — Avengers: Infinity War

Marvel/Disney/Courtesy

Avengers: Infinity War has the seemingly requisite barrage of guns and explosions. And these sounds are executed rather effectively and with blunt force.

But where Infinity War‘s sound editing shines is in the supernatural elements, such as those surrounding the infinity stones. The ear-ringing electricity present whenever Thanos gains a stone renders them magical, majestic and worthy of the power they end up displaying. And the sounds of the stones used in battle fully inform the mind-boggling visual effect they have. The film is truly galactic, and the sound editing follows suit.

Runner-up: Richard Hymns, Gary Rydstrom — Ready Player One
3. Benjamin A. Burtt, Steve Boeddeker — Black Panther
4. Glenn Freemantle, Niv Adiri — Annihilation
5. Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley — Journey’s End

The Next 5
6. Erik Aadahl, Brandon Jones, Ethan Van der Ryn — A Quiet Place
7. Wayne Lemmer, Christopher Scarabosio — Isle of Dogs
8. Malte Bieler, Emma Present — Pacific Rim: Uprising
9. Dominic Gibbs, Luke Gentry — Tomb Raider
10. Al Nelson, Andre Fenley — A Wrinkle in Time

Best Sound Mixing

Winner: Michael Barosky, Brandon Proctor — A Quiet Place

Paramount Pictures/Courtesy

A Quiet Place is a film that tells its story primarily through sound. Within that distinction, the sound’s force is primarily in its mixing.

The calculation of not only when to drop, for example, a creak in the wood, but also of how loud to make the creak is supremely effective throughout. And the overall composition of the mix, beginning steeped in eerie quietude and then slowly introducing brutal, jarring sounds, is some of the best craft work of any type this year. But the mixes most impressive accomplishment is how it informs the physical human situation in the film. With the mix, we feel the horrifying physical strain of the characters throughout, and invest in their story because of that.

Runner-up: Juan Peralta, Tom Johnson, John Pritchett — Avengers: Infinity War
3. Niv Adiri, Michael Clayton, John Skehill, Ian Tapp — Annihilation
4. Dan Johnson, Bryn Thomas — Journey’s End
5. Steve Boeddeker, Peter J. Devlin, Brandon Proctor — Black Panther

The Next 5
6. Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson — Ready Player One
7. Wayne Lemmer, Christopher Scarabosio — Isle of Dogs
8. Hans Møller, Henric Andersson — Borg vs. McEnroe
9. Andrew Stirk, Johnathan Rush, Drew Kunin — You Were Never Really Here
10. Christopher Boyes, Willie D. Burton, Lora Hirschberg — A Wrinkle in Time

Best Supporting Actress

Winner: Jennifer Garner — Love, Simon

20th Century Fox/Courtesy

During the first two acts of Love, Simon, Jennifer Garner’s presence is notably felt, her warmth and charisma delightful.

What elevates Garner so high, though, is a scene rather similar to Michael Stuhlbarg’s shining moment in Call Me by Your Name — yet Garner distinguishes this as her own. We strain at Simon’s conflict throughout the film, and are devastated when it turns south. What makes his situation worse is that he seems so alone. So, when Garner’s character offers him some words of comfort, not only is Simon allowed to breathe, but we are too. But it took Garner’s full emotional investment in the scene, as she emanates a distinctly motherly wisdom. Garner delivers the monologue carefully, necessarily so, but offers a raw vulnerability at the same time; much of the final third’s stability is based in this moment and the work it does.

Runner-up: Gina Rodriguez — Annihilation
3. Letitia Wright — Black Panther
4. Rachel McAdams — Game Night
5. Geraldine Viswanathan — Blockers

The Next 5
6. Andrea Riseborough — The Death of Stalin
7. Millicent Simmonds — A Quiet Place
8. Zoe Saldana — Avengers: Infinity War
9. Tessa Thompson — Annihilation
10. Sally Hawkins — Paddington 2

Best Production Design

Winner: Hannah Beachler, Jay Hart — Black Panther

Marvel/Disney/Courtesy

Some franchises get sequels, and even after a second film, their worlds still feel flat, uninspired and without life.

Black Panther is the exact opposite. Within the first act, the world of Wakanda lives vibrantly, and a huge reason for that is the production design. Like the costumes, the variety of designs, how informed each feel and how each build a specific aspect of Wakanda is a testament to the production design’s accomplishment. The throne room has the hallmark of superhero royal design, and yet, it is distinctly of Wakanda. And Shuri’s lab is as badass and visually exciting as any set throughout the MCU.

To make it plain and simple, look at how the sets of Wakanda are realized at the end of Captain America: Civil War and throughout Avengers: Infinity War. The difference is day and night.

Runner-up: Gary Williamson, Cathy Cosgrove — Paddington 2
3. Mark Digby, Michelle Day — Annihilation
4. Adam Stockhausen, Paul Harrod — Isle of Dogs
5. Jeffrey Beecroft, Heather Loeffler — A Quiet Place

The Next 5
6. Kristian Milsted, Libby Uppington — Journey’s End
7. Charles Wood, Lesley Pope — Avengers: Infinity War
8. Cristina Casali, Charlotte Dirickx — The Death of Stalin
9. Gary Freeman, Raffaella Giovannetti — Tomb Raider
10. Naomi Shohan, Elizabeth Keenan — A Wrinkle in Time

Best Visual Effects

Winner: Dan DeLeeuw, Jeff Capogreco, Varun Hadkar, Doug Spilatro — Avengers: Infinity War

Marvel/Disney/Courtesy

The visual effects of Avengers: Infinity War are simultaneously a synthesis of the MCU and a grand expansion of it. We get our (brief) moment of Hulk. We get Iron Man in full action. We get Dr. Strange and Wong channeling their magic. We get Spider-Man slinging through New York. We get the Guardians going galactic.

But we also get each hero visualized in new situations, using new weapons/suits/powers in new settings. The scope is pushed to the max as Iron Man’s suit evolves in its capabilities, as Dr. Strange is pitted against powers he hasn’t faced, as Spider-Man is taken into space, as Thor gets an axe to replace his hammer. The scope is pushed to the max as the new worlds we see — Titan, Nidavellir, Vormir — begin to paint a brilliant universe that’s been devastated by an approaching apocalypse.

Certain moments are visual effects wonders, many of them on Titan. Thanos bringing down the moon on Iron Man is indescribably transfixing, and the Avengers taking on Thanos to try to remove his gauntlet is a masterful orchestration.

And this all comes without mention of the performance capture work. Where Andy Serkis and crew innovated with the Planet of the Apes trilogy, the team on Infinity War extends that. The children of Thanos are interesting visual pieces, Ebony Maw perhaps the most. But Thanos is clearly the visual effects star. Thanos’ stature, his palpable physicality, which turns into palpable dread for our heroes, is key to the film’s success, and his rendering is brilliant.

Runner-up: Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer — Ready Player One
3. Andrew Whitehurst — Annihilation
4. Nikos Kalaitzidis, Richard McBride — A Wrinkle In Time
5. Geoffrey Baumann, Stuart Lashley, Doug Spilatro — Black Panther

The Next 5
6. Jim Berney, Peter Chiang, Caleb Choo — Pacific Rim: Uprising
7. Scott Farrar — A Quiet Place
8. Rupert Davies, Andy Kind, Peter McDonald, Carlos Monzon, Glen Pratt — Paddington 2
9. Matt Sloan, R. Christopher White — Maze Runner: The Death Cure
10. Thrain Shadbolt, Colin Strause, Erik Winquist — Rampage

Best Film Editing

Winner: Jonathan Amos, Mark Everson — Paddington 2

Warner Bros./Courtesy

Paddington 2 gets nearly everything right. Its characterization is pitch perfect, its tone enchanting. Some of its sequences are simply magical.

And one of the most significant contributing factors to those aspects working as well as they do is the film’s editing. Montage sequences are put together with grace and energy akin to Wes Anderson films, some of them evoking the spy genre in both a genuine and lightly satirical way. The pacing never falters, the film running along briskly throughout. And cuts are leveraged so affectingly, perhaps most powerfully toward the film’s end. The overall piece of Paddington is as delectably crafted as a marmalade sandwich.

Runner-up: Barney Pilling — Annihilation
3. Jeffrey Ford, Matthew Schmidt — Avengers: Infinity War
4. Christopher Tellefsen — A Quiet Place
5. Alex O’Flinn — The Rider

The Next 5
6. Joe Bini — You Were Never Really Here
7. Tania Reddin — Journey’s End
8. Debbie Berman, Michael P. Shawver — Black Panther
9. David Egan, Jamie Gross, Gregory Plotkin — Game Night
10. Jonathan Alberts — Lean on Pete

Best Cinematography

Winner: Bradford Young — Where Is Kyra?

Paladin/Courtesy

Before Bradford Young exposed the deep shadows of a galaxy far, far away, he utilized shadows to dig deep into the psychology of those in poverty. Where Is Kyra? is incredibly and literally dark throughout, and gets darker as the film goes. And Young’s detail in those shadows evokes so much about the despair of poverty. But Young also utilizes the close-up to profound effect. Many of the shots of Michelle Pfeiffer’s face are jarring, but necessarily so, in that they allow a raw, quiet look at her state of mind. And when things get desperate, the uncomfortable angles of close-ups, like in the image above, only further transport us emotionally.

Runner-up: Laurie Rose — Journey’s End
3. Trent Opaloch — Avengers: Infinity War
4. Joshua James Richard — The Rider
5. Rob Hardy — Annihilation

The Next 5
6. Rachel Morrison — Black Panther
7. Barry Peterson — Game Night
8. Charlotte Bruus Christensen — A Quiet Place
9. Triston Oliver — Isle of Dogs
10. Tom Townend — You Were Never Really Here

Best Original Score

Winner: Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury — Annihilation

Paramount Pictures/Courtesy

The music of Annihilation stood out even before the film released, with that signature sound sticking in people’s minds and sites even writing articles pinpointing when it popped up.

But the fact that the score stands out is not what makes it so good. The shimmer is as equally horrifying as it is beautiful, and Barrow and Salisbury’s score replicates that, even instills that in the film. The electronic buzz is both paralyzing and dazzling, especially in the final act, as the piece “The Alien” renders the sequence on of the most stunning of recent memory.

And yet, the score also utilizes acoustic guitar in stark contrast, crafting an atmosphere of melancholy that perfectly delivers on the film’s rumination on mental pain.

Runner-up: Ludwig Göransson — Black Panther
3. Jonny Greenwood — You Were Never Really Here
4. Alexandre Desplat — Isle of Dogs
5. Marco Beltrami — A Quiet Place

The Next 5
6. Hildur Guðnadóttir, Natalie Holt — Journey’s End
7. Cliff Martinez — Game Night
8. Carlo Virzì — The Leisure Seeker
9. Dario Marianelli — Paddington 2
10. Alan Silvestri — Avengers: Infinity War

Best Original Screenplay

Winner: Chloé Zhao — The Rider

Sony Pictures Classics/Courtesy

The Rider may feature plenty of dialogue that presents its themes up front. But that seems purposeful, as the film is really about the performative of that explicitness as well as the simple, but profound structure/progression of events.

Zhao’s script is gentle, but that allows the story to become rather forceful in its entirety. By its end, those simple, explicit lines of dialogue mean much more than they did at the film’s start.

Runner-up: Bryan Woods, Scott Beck, John Krasinski — A Quiet Place
3. Brian Kehoe, Jim Kehoe — Blockers
4. Mark Perez — Game Night
5. Cory Finley — Thoroughbreds

The Next 5
6. Taylor Allen, Andrew Logan — Chappaquiddick
7. Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Kunichi Nomura — Isle of Dogs
8. Ronnie Sandahl — Borg vs. McEnroe
9. Andrew Dosunmu, Darci Picoult — Where Is Kyra?
10. Jonathan Bernstein, James Greer — Unsane

Best Adapted Screenplay

Winner: Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole — Black Panther

Marvel/Disney/Courtesy

While Michael B. Jordan’s performance as Erik Killmonger is good, most of the powerful impact of the character comes from how he’s written — the dialogue of the character, his arc and the themes that his character touches on.

Writers Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole compose the character of Killmonger with staggering real world weight, but they also envision an entire new world of Wakanda stunningly. The idea of Wakanda as a thriving African nation because it has not been colonized is a fantastic start. Then, evoking isolationism as the country’s guiding theory and taking that into conflict with the responsibility such a nation might have to the ancestors of slaves/those colonized is so indescribably fascinating.

And despite what some others might suggest, this kind of thematic investigation could’ve only come through a superhero film. That Coogler and Cole’s script reaches that potential is the sign of its brilliance.

Runner-up: Paul King, Simon Farnaby — Paddington 2
3. Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely — Avengers: Infinity War
4. Alex Garland — Annihilation
5. Lynne Ramsay — You Were Never Really Here

The Next 5
6. Andrew Haigh — Lean on Pete
7. Simon Reade — Journey’s End
8. Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin — The Death of Stalin
9. Sebastián Lelio, Rebecca Lenkiewicz — Disobedience
10. Elizabeth Berger, Isaac Aptaker — Love, Simon

Best Director

Winner: Paul King — Paddington 2

Warner Bros./Courtesy

Paddington 2 hits all the right notes. It is simultaneously a magical children’s film and a thought provoking film for adults, nailing a balance of charming storytelling and thematic heft. It is a play on spy films while also indulging in the genre. It is a wonder of costume design, visual effects, production design, music and multiple other crafts. And it’s acted to perfection.

Sometimes, a film that succeeds in so many areas doesn’t necessary coalesce into a successful whole. But Paddington 2 does. While Paul King may not be directly responsible for certain aspects of brilliance in the film, he is responsible for the compilation of those aspects into a single piece of art — the resulting film. And for that reason, King’s directing job deserves endless praise.

Runner-up: Alex Garland — Annihilation
3. Anthony Russo, Joe Russo — Avengers: Infinity War
4. Ryan Coogler — Black Panther
5. Chloé Zhao — The Rider

The Next 5
6. John Krasinski — A Quiet Place
7. Lynne Ramsay — You Were Never Really Here
8. Saul Dibb — Journey’s End
9. Andrew Haigh — Lean on Pete
10. Kay Cannon — Blockers

Best Ensemble

Winner: The Cast of Avengers: Infinity War

Marvel/Disney/Courtesy

The simple presence of so many lovable characters, characters we’ve come to care about over a decade, did not necessarily mean that the ensemble of Avengers: Infinity War would work. An ensemble needs on screen chemistry in the situations of its specific film, and they need to, as a whole, contribute to the themes of the films. Thankfully, the dozens of significant characters in Infinity War come together to continue the MCU’s run of infectious ensembles. The back and forth, especially between characters meeting for the first time, is spectacular, both in comedic moments such as those between Thor and the Guardians, as well as in dramatic moments such as those between Tony Stark and Doctor Strange. Finally, the interactions between the Avengers and Thanos are dreadful moments worthy of the six year anticipation of the villain’s arrival.

Runner-up: The Cast of Black Panther
3. The Cast of The Death of Stalin
4. The Cast of Game Night
5. The Cast of Paddington 2

The Next 5
6. The Cast of Blockers
7. The Cast of Annihilation
8. The Cast of Journey’s End
9. The Cast of Love, Simon
10. The Cast of Chappaquiddick

Best Lead Actor

Winner: Charlie Plummer — Lean on Pete

A24/Courtesy

Charlie Plummer’s performance in Lean on Pete is, in terms of how the character is evoked, rather similar to Timothée Chalamet’s in Call Me by Your Name — understated, and more powerful because of it.

In Lean on Pete, Plummer’s character Charley is guarded. His mom is gone. His dad is a drunk. He’s on his own — until he meets aging racing horse Lean on Pete. Plummer plays on that shell that Charley creates so well, utilizing his eyes as the main windows into who he really is, as the rest is mostly protection. There’s a gentleness and tranquility in Charley, but as he’s tested, Plummer evokes the risk of that gentleness turning sour in the transitions of reserved physicality to sudden panic. Plummer says everything through how little he does, rendering the most emotional moments where he doesn’t necessarily do anything so powerful because of his acting prior to those moments.

Runner-up: Joaquin Phoenix — You Were Never Really Here
3. Sam Claflin — Journey’s End
4. Jason Clarke — Chappaquiddick
5. Josh Brolin — Avengers: Infinity War

The Next 5
6. Brady Jandreau — The Rider
7. Nick Robinson — Love, Simon
8. Chadwick Boseman — Black Panther
9. John Krasinski — A Quiet Place
10. Sverrir Gudnason — Borg vs. McEnroe

Best Lead Actress

Winner: Michelle Pfeiffer — Where Is Kyra?

Paladin/Courtesy

Where Is Kyra? is a bracing film about poverty, but it needed an actress that could bear it all for the investigation. And Michelle Pfeiffer goes above and beyond. Her full emotions are underneath the surface, but her desperation is clear to see. Much of the plot traps her character into more and more difficult situations, and Pfeiffer embodies that trapped feeling, injecting into the physicality of her performance, specifically the muscles in her face. She delivers small outbursts so powerfully, but, just when we think we’ll finally see a full outburst of emotion, Pfeiffer contains it all into a simple, devastating look. Pfeiffer’s work is the epitome of harrowing, and it’s a performance we won’t soon forget.

Runner-up: Emily Blunt — A Quiet Place
3. Claire Foy — Unsane
4. Natalie Portman — Annihilation
5. Rachel McAdams — Disobedience

The Next 5
6. Anya Taylor-Joy — Thoroughbreds
7. Rachel Weisz — Disobedience
8. Olivia Cooke — Thoroughbreds
9. Alicia Vikander — Tomb Raider
10. Helen Mirren — The Leisure Seeker

Best Picture

Winner: Black Panther

Marvel/Disney/Courtesy

A “Best Picture” is a film that transcends the medium as powerfully as possible. That doesn’t mean it’s the “best” film and that doesn’t mean it has to be everyone’s favorite. A “Best Picture” has a sort of intangible quality to it that everyone, no matter if they think it’s the “best” or if it’s their favorite, can feel anyway.

So far in 2018, that film is indisputably Black Panther. Superhero films don’t get much celebration. Oftentimes, it makes sense. But in some cases, it’s incredibly sad, as superhero films can evoke ideas, emotions, themes, representation and much more in ways that other films can’t. Black Panther is a pinnacle of that in many regards. Its themes are precisely transcendent, in that they leverage the genre to make profound statements through a hypothetical, extremely imaginative, but always truthful lens.

The fact that there is legitimate argument that Black Panther is also the “best” film only solidifies its place. Ryan Coogler’s storytelling is bravely raw, but also expertly composed. And the design elements of the film and how they contribute to the film’s story represent the best of what film can do.

Hopefully, by the end of the year, no one forgets Black Panther‘s achievement.

Runner-up: Paddington 2
3. Annihilation
4. Avengers: Infinity War
5. The Rider
6. A Quiet Place
7. Journey’s End
8. You Were Never Really Here
9. Lean on Pete
10. Blockers

The Next 5
11. Game Night
12. Chappaquiddick
13. Disobedience
14. The Death of Stalin
15. Thoroughbreds

 

Voting contributions from Hooman Yazdanian.

Featured image via Marvel/Disney/Paramount Pictures/Warner Bros./Good Deed Entertainment.

The MovieMini Awards for the Films of 2017

In difficult times, we often turn to the movies for comfort, for inspiration, for escape, for expression. We have throughout cinema’s history and we will throughout cinema’s future.

Without a shadow of a doubt, 2017 was a difficult year. But it almost seemed like movies responded accordingly. Not only were films great from January to December, but they also often transcended the art form, bleeding into real life with such vividly real emotions. That’s what cinema is meant to do.

Once a year in film wraps up, it seems only appropriate to celebrate it and to celebrate it thoroughly. 2017 is one of those years where it seems necessary, where reflection expands upon the impact that the films have.

We see this celebration in the form of awarding films, and many places and people take part, from critics to Academy voters. And while it’s fun to watch those award shows, they risk becoming frustratingly difficult to engage with. Response to cinema, to what’s “the best” has its objective elements, but it’s also often subjective and personal. That’s why we feel the need to celebrate 2017 our way, as we can only add another layer, a layer that distinctly reflects us.

Our celebration takes the form of the MovieMini Awards, a project we’ve spent more than two months on. We gathered a team. We traversed four rounds of voting. We poured ourselves into our writing. And we dressed it up a little to present it all to you.

Without further ado, here are the MovieMini Awards for the films of 2017:

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Willem Dafoe — The Florida Project

Image courtesy of A24

In much of Sean Baker’s The Florida Project, the oft-menacing Willem Dafoe plays a warmer, more paternal motel manager named Bobby.

In a scene likely to find itself on Dafoe’s Oscar reel, Bobby confronts a pedophile lurking around the motel’s many children. At first, Bobby seems to treat this man with some sympathy, but it becomes apparent that that may have been to avoid rousing suspicion among the kids. As he escorts the pedophile away, anger bubbles behind Dafoe’s facade. Then, when he angrily rebukes the man, we get a sense of how protective Bobby is of the children he’s constantly fighting with and that even now, Bobby’s seen it all before.

Perhaps the movie’s harshest reality is at the end when — spoilers — Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) is about to be separated from her mom. Dafoe, who’s spent so much time trying to help the pair, has no choice but to walk away and separate himself from the situation. He can’t help anymore and that, perhaps more than anything, hurts. He’s not there watching the pain anymore, but we see in his eyes that he’s been changed by all of this. Sure, he’s seen it all before, but that doesn’t mean he can bear to see it again — you just don’t get used to that sort of pain.

Hooman Yazdanian

Runner-up: Michael Stuhlbarg — Call Me by Your Name

Sony Pictures Classics/Courtesy

Within Michael Stuhlbarg’s sublime and endlessly warm performance, one brief moment always comes to mind. When Elio, fresh off an agonizing farewell with Oliver, wanders into his father’s study and catches his eye, Stuhlbarg lifts his chin up and breaks out an ear-to-ear smile. So begins the heartbreaking and tender penultimate scene of Call Me By Your Name.

Stuhlbarg’s performance — which is equal parts gentle, edifying and achingly human — leads to one of the most unforgettable monologues in modern film history.  “Right now, there’s sorrow, pain. Don’t kill it, and with it, the joy you’ve felt.” The soft, quiet breaking of Stuhlbarg’s voice is masterful — a perfect ending to a spectacular supporting performance.

— Michelle Lee

3. Jason Mitchell — Mudbound
4. Richard Jenkins — The Shape of Water
5. Armie Hammer — Call Me by Your Name

The Next 5
6. Mark Rylance — Dunkirk
7. Michael Shannon — The Shape of Water
8. Bill Skarsgård — It
9. Tracy Letts — Lady Bird
10. Christopher Plummer — All the Money in the World

Achievement in Makeup & Hairstyling: Ivana Primorac, Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick — Darkest Hour

Image courtesy of Focus Features

Heavy makeup often becomes an issue for films. When there’s so much work being done, there’s an equally large risk that something will stick out or look visually off, especially when there are other characters without makeup in the same shots. But the prosthetics in the Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour are seamless. Gary Oldman, an otherwise thin man, is fully transformed into a rather different type of physicality, a physicality that is integral to defining the character of Churchill. There’s so much humor in Churchill’s bumbling demeanor, and yet there’s so much power and gravitas in it as well. So many layers of the film are pulled off, including Churchill’s interactions with other characters.

The makeup work hits that sweet spot between too much and using an actor that only roughly looks like Churchill, allowing the essence of the man to come through as perfectly as possible.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Mike Hill, Shane Mahan — The Shape of Water

Fox Searchlight/Courtesy

The work done in The Shape of Water has proved to be a bit of a divide for categorization and judgment. Some deem the Amphibian Man’s exterior as, actually, a costume, it being something actor Doug Jones put on. But we look at it as makeup work, as a sort of large scale prosthetic piece designed to be skin, not costume.

And, in addition to the wonderful period details of the hair of the rest of the cast, the skin of the Amphibian Man is truly outstanding, built from such minute detail to create a creature that feels fully imagined and realized. Each part of the creature feels alive in such majestic ways.

— Kyle Kizu

3. Deborah LaMia Denaver, Adruitha Lee — I, Tonya

The Next 3
4. Joel Harlow, Cindy Harlow — Logan
5. Paul Engelen, Sarah Alice Hoyle, Lesley Nobile — Phantom Thread
6. Sarah Craig McEathron, Linda Dowds, Sean Sansom — It

Achievement in Costume Design: Mark Bridges — Phantom Thread

Image courtesy of Focus Features

Mark Bridges’ remarkable work is vital to Phantom Thread, because if it were not excellent, it’d be hard to buy into the hype surrounding Reynolds Woodcock. As important as it was for Daniel Day-Lewis to inhabit Woodcock, it was crucial for Bridges to do the same. He had to make clothing that Woodcock would, not just clothing from 1955, but clothing this particular man would make at this particular stage of his life. That meant using copious lace with rich colors — hallmarks of the Woodcock brand — and imbuing regal undertones in the many dresses Alma (Vicky Krieps) would fashion. It also meant making a wedding dress that, while beautiful to us, would’ve disappointed Woodcock.

Beyond the dresses, Bridges is responsible for dressing the characters on a daily basis. Before a word is spoken, we know what time period it is. Before Alma speaks to Woodcock in their diner meetcute, we can get a sense of her present state. Her slightly wrinkled, slightly misfit outfit contradicts with Woodcock’s strenuously put together, neat clothing.

So is it cheating to pick the film literally set in the fashion world for best costume design? Honestly, yeah, probably. Do we care? No.

Hooman Yazdanian

Runner-up: Jennifer Johnson — I, Tonya

Neon/Courtesy

Jennifer Johnson absolutely nails the look of the figure skating world in I, Tonya. Johnson’s work was especially important in capturing different stages of Tonya Harding’s life. Early on, before Harding hits it big for the 1994 Olympics, most of Tonya Harding’s clothing was handmade by her. As such, Johnson effectively made Harding’s clothing look homemade and ill-fitting, contrasting with the more prim costumes we see from Harding’s competitors.

Later, as Harding’s star is rising, we see her showing off fancy jewelry she hadn’t donned prior, representing Harding’s own feeling that she was finally making it. In the 1994 Olympics, Harding’s competition outfit looks more than up to snuff with her competitors — finally she belonged. The way Harding was dressed is an important plot point in I, Tonya, and Johnson managed to hit all her marks.

Hooman Yazdanian

3. Renée April — Blade Runner 2049
4. Lindy Hemming — Wonder Woman
5. Jacqueline Duran — Beauty and the Beast

The Next 5
6. Luis Sequiera — The Shape of Water
7. Stacey Battat — The Beguiled
8. Jeffrey Kurland — Dunkirk
9. Jenny Eagen — Hostiles
10. Michael Kaplan — Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Documentary Feature: Icarus

Image courtesy of Netflix

To be honest, it’s hard to say I thought I’d be calling Icarus the best documentary of the year early in the movie. Within 15 minutes, we see a man trying to cheat a cycling race show his dog’s testicles to the doctor helping him dope. What the hell is going on?

The film begins with Bryan Fogel, the documentary’s director, wanting to see how possible it would be to get away with doping in a cycling race. He enlists the help of Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, who put Fogel on the same regiment he put Russian athletes under, injections in the butt and all. What happens after this weirdness — that’s admittedly still fascinating — is remarkable.

As Russia’s systemic doping was unveiled during filming, Icarus’ focus shifts to the scandal at large, where Rodchenkov is a major player. The movie shows the rampant, state-sanctioned cheating going on in Russia (which now finds itself banned from the upcoming Winter Olympics). More compelling than even that is the light it sheds on Russia’s treatment of anyone who could harm the nation and Vladimir Putin’s reputation.

On a more human level, Fogel delves into Rodchenkov, highlighting his emotional journey and presenting us with a three-dimensional character. Rodchenkov gets an opportunity to shine; we see his sadness, his fears and the traumatic experiences that led him here. We get a sense for his personality through his sense of humor, and in a beautiful scene at the end of the film, we see Rodchenkov frolic with Fogel’s dog on a beach, seemingly happy and free, for now.

A movie that begins with dog testicles, frozen pee and Fogel’s butt turns into a thriller rife with geopolitical conflict and, undoubtedly, one of 2017’s best films.

— Hooman Yazdanian

Runner-up: Jane

Abramorama/Courtesy

From the first minute, Jane is easy to become fascinated with. It’s a look at over 100 hours of never-before-seen footage of the famous Jane Goodall during her journeys with the apes she got so close too. But the documentary is also a sneakily epic and intimate character piece. As the film turns to its second half, we start to get a sense that we’re witnessing such a wholesome portrait of Goodall’s life, of what drove her not only as a scientist, but as a woman in that time and as a human being in general. It’s a soft portrait, but it’s unbelievably powerful. Director Brett Morgen’s control of the archival footage and quiet empathy for Goodall, which comes out in the editing, is nothing short of masterful, and Philip Glass’ score is one of the most beautiful of the year.

— Kyle Kizu

3. Faces Places
4. Kedi
5. Ex Libris: The New York Public Library

The Next 5
6. Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
7. Strong Island
8. City of Ghosts
9. Chasing Coral
10. Batman & Bill

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor or Actress: Timothée Chalamet — Call Me by Your Name

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Well, well, well. Someone had themselves quite the year. Timothée Chalamet, the star of the magnificent Call Me By Your Name, undoubtedly delivered one of the best performances in recent years in this film. His expressive face and ultra-specific physicality — whether its his posture, his dancing or the way he falls into Armie Hammer — tell a story, all on their own. In Call Me By Your Name, Chalamet had lengthy close-ups of just his face and he pulled it off better than just about any veteran actor could. His tone-perfect line delivery ties the bow on a  performance that leaves no nits to be picked.

Add to that his brilliance as the scene-stealing, People’s History of the United States-reading bastion of pretension we all know in Lady Bird, and it’s hard not to get excited for his future in the industry.

That’s what made it so disappointing to see that one of his next movies is a starring role in a Woody Allen film. The young actor’s apology gives us some hope that he actually did learn from and recognize the mistake, and can make more mindful decisions going forward. It’d be a shame if he didn’t because he’s got unrivaled potential and we’d love to see him succeed.

Hooman Yazdanian

Runner-up: Daniel Kaluuya — Get Out

Universal Pictures/Courtesy

Daniel Kaluuya is ready to be a star. He’s likely been ready for a while and, frankly, it’s telling that he didn’t get a true shot until now. And now that he did get that chance, Kaluuya’s emotionally versatile, wary performance in Get Out earned him an Oscar nomination. His generally perturbed, concerned vibe is perfect for the role, as is his bemused dismissal of the consistent microaggressions hurled his way. Kaluuya’s eyes are extremely expressive — which is all the more harrowing in the context of the film — and they get a chance to do a lot of work in Jordan Peele’s many close-ups.

His accent work is impressively natural as well; Kaluuya so thoroughly inhabited the role that it was legitimately shocking to hear his thick British accent outside of the film. In 2018, the 28-year-old’s much-deserved breakthrough will continue as he is set for roles in Black Panther and Steve McQueen’s next film, Widows.

Hooman Yazdanian

3. Brooklynn Prince — The Florida Project
4. Vicky Krieps — Phantom Thread
5. Dafne Keen — Logan

The Next 5
6. Ahn Seo-hyun — Okja
7. Mary J. Blige — Mudbound
8. Tiffany Haddish — Girls Trip
9. Betty Gabriel — Get Out
10. Florence Pugh — Lady Macbeth

Achievement in Sound Editing: Richard King, Alex Gibson — Dunkirk

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

The sound of Dunkirk is about as integral to the cinematic experience as any other aspect. With specifically sound editing, which is the creation of sounds, Dunkirk plants us firmly in the three settings of the film — the cockpit of a Spitfire, the deck of a civilian boat and the beaches of Dunkirk, France.

The sound of most war films is mainly filled with gunfire, and Dunkirk does have plenty of it. But it’s the variety of sounds that is the film’s greatest asset. We not only get bullets launching out of guns, but we get the impact of those bullets, whether they be ripping through the wooden planks of the mole, piercing the side of a boat, pinging off the Spitfire and more. Beyond the guns, though, we also get the roar of a few different airplanes, both fighters and bombers, as well as sounds that build the space of these characters so thoroughly, such as the rattle heard inside a cockpit. The goal of sound is immersion, and the sound editing of Dunkirk accomplishes that goal incredibly.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Mark Mangini, Theo Green — Blade Runner 2049

Warner Bros./Courtesy

The sound editing of Blade Runner 2049 is rather raw and incredibly forceful. The futuristic Los Angeles and Las Vegas feel rather suffocating, claustrophobic and overwhelming, and the intensity with which the sound editing team craft the sounds of the cities and the sounds of the hovers cars and the guns that fill their streets adds immeasurably to those elements and our experience of them. In a world void of nature and much color, the sounds are made to get under our skin and rattle us. Silence permeates much of the film and then, when the actions ramp up, the explosions of the sounds hit hard. Without spectacular sound editing, Blade Runner 2049 wouldn’t be nearly as effective in evoking the humanity the entire film hinges on.

— Kyle Kizu

3. William Files, Douglas Murray — War for the Planet of the Apes
4. Matthew Wood, Ren Klyce — Star Wars: The Last Jedi
5. Nathan Robitaille — The Shape of Water

The Next 5
6. James H. Mather — Wonder Woman
7. Julian Slater — Baby Driver
8. Matthew Wood, Trey Turner, Christopher Scarabosio — Phantom Thread
9. Shannon Mills, Guillaume Bouchateau — Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
10. Choi Tae-young — Okja

Achievement in Sound Mixing: Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo — Dunkirk

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

No matter how well sounds are crafted, they oftentimes don’t have as much of an impact if they’re not mixed well. In Dunkirk, the sounds evoke such visceral reactions because of how they’ve been compiled, because of their onslaught. One scene exemplifies this. During the first attack on the mole, gunfire rips through the wood, bombs explode on the hospital ship, the German fighter planes’ horns shriek from above and voices scream as bodies splash into the water. It’s a mix so overwhelming and intense that it becomes genuinely brutalist.

And that brutality is extended to the rest of the film. The volume levels are never off mark, and when they’re loud, they deafen with a purpose. The layers also extend deeply, specifically in the climactic oil scene where the three storylines collide, and the ridiculous sounds of each are mixed to perfection both in their own spaces and in the edited audial flow between those spaces. Dunkirk’s sound mixing truly raises the bar for other war films.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Glen Gauthier, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern — The Shape of Water

Fox Searchlight Pictures/Courtesy

The Shape of Water’s sound mixing is rather subtle. There aren’t many obvious sound moments, but the sound mixing does go a long way toward building the world that our characters inhabit. Much of the film takes place in the underground government facilities, which is host to advanced technology, a creaking and echoing atmosphere and plenty of water. In fact, it often is with water where the sound of the film does such wonderful work. The sound of water is treated delicately, but also majestically, enhancing so much of the thematic work being done. In the climactic moment, that water pours down as gun shots sound out, the sound mixing as integral to the release of the moment as the writing, performances or any other aspect.

— Kyle Kizu

3. Mac Ruth, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill — Blade Runner 2049
4. Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin — Baby Driver
5. Stuart Wilson, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick — Star Wars: The Last Jedi

The Next 5
6. Josh Berger, Derek Heir, Tom Johnson, Robert Hein — The Lost City of Z
7. Chris Duesterdiek, Andy Nelson, William Files — War for the Planet of the Apes
8. John Midgley, Adrian Bell, Christopher Scarabosio, David Acord — Phantom Thread
9. Paul Urmson, Brian Tarlecki, José Antonio García — Hostiles
10. Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Vince Caro — Coco

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Laurie Metcalf — Lady Bird

Image courtesy of A24

There are certain supporting performances that are arguably just as key as the lead performances to the film’s success. Whether as a scene-stealing villain such as Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight, or Anthony Hopkins psychologically fraught 26-minute “lead” performance in Silence of the Lambs or Jake Gyllenhaal’s essentially co-leading Jack Twist in the emotionally devastating Brokeback Mountain, there are films that rise to their great heights because of the perfect synchronization between a lead and their main supporting actor. And Laurie Metcalf’s role as Lady Bird’s mother Marion is one of these.

While much of the film can be seen as a young woman’s version of Boyhood, in which we watch Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) go through her senior of high school, the film’s powerful, lived-in drama comes from the butting heads of Metcalf’s seemingly domineering mother (who is actually very caring towards her daughter, despite her sometimes harsh words) and the free-wheeling and free-spirited Lady Bird.

Metcalf though, unlike some other overbearing motherly performances (specifically, Allison Janney in I, Tonya), brings a bruised humanity to the role. While Marion can tell her daughter she’s not college material, or that her father has been battling depression or that she can’t afford Lady Bird’s New York state college ambitions, there’s always a bracing realism and warmth to her. While the film is told from Lady Bird’s perspective, the film wisely ends with Lady Bird realizing what her “small,” “midwest of California” city of Sacramento meant to her, but more importantly, what her wise mother, perfectly played by Metcalf, meant. Thus, for a film that’s widely considered one of the best coming-of-age stories in cinematic history, it may just be the older woman who’s already come-of-age to only go through a midlife crisis that illustrates what makes Lady Bird so powerful and relatable.

— Levi Hill

Runner-up: Tatiana Maslany — Stronger

Roadside Attractions/Courtesy

In regard to performances of characters experiencing tragedy, it’s easy for actors to overemphasize that tragedy, to make it too much of the focus. But Tatiana Maslany, in the Boston marathon bombing true story Stronger, is incredibly delicate and empathetic in shaping Erin Hurley, the girlfriend of Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal), whose legs were amputated after the bombing.

There is certainly focus on the impact that the tragedy has on these human beings, and Maslany is absolutely gripping in those scenes, heartbreakingly bringing the overwhelming emotions to life with such vivid use of her eyes and strain in the rest of her face. But Maslany also handles the soft moments of reconnection with Jeff and the difficult frustration of Jeff’s troubled recovery so well. Her character is so selfless, but also holds her self-worth so strongly, and Maslany lives in that conflict with grace.

— Kyle Kizu

3. Holly Hunter — The Big Sick
4. Dafne Keen — Logan
5. Mary J. Blige — Mudbound

The Next 5
6. Allison Janney — I, Tonya
7. Tiffany Haddish — Girls Trip
8. Betty Gabriel — Get Out
9. Lesley Manville — Phantom Thread
10. Bria Vinaite — The Florida Project

Best Foreign Language Film: A Fantastic Woman

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Sebastian Lelio’s best films have been dedicated to giving women who typically don’t have voices the chance to be the central characters in compassionate character pieces. In Gloria, for example, Leilo created a stunning portrait of an aging woman who still wants to have fun, to be free, to go out, to have sex, to drink and to find love. Where Hollywood rarely, if ever, gives women over 45 a chance to star, let alone in a film actually about the very ordinary life of a woman “of a certain age,” Leilo marvelously details the intimate moments of a life that deserves to be on the big screen.

However, what Lelio accomplishes with A Fantastic Woman might be his most excellent film yet — if much darker than Gloria. A Fantastic Woman follows Marina, a transgender woman working as a waitress and aspiring to be a singer, living her life with Orlando — an older businessman who owns his own textile company. Yet one day, Orlando falls ill, is taken to the emergency room and then dies.

Before even given the time to mourn for her lover’s death, Marina is treated by his family with disdain and as a potential cause of Orlando’s death. To them, she is perverse. However, with the fantastic lead performance of Daniela Vega and Lelio’s considerate direction, the film reveals the lifelong traumas people and society have placed upon her and her want to simply be treated empathetically. And even with these issues, and Lelio’s ever-changing tones (suspense thriller, romantic drama and even a musical), the film and Vega never lose sight of what is at stake for Marina. Thus, the story not only shows a “Fantastic Woman” but becomes a fantastic film of grace and defiance in the face of hate.

— Levi Hill

Runner-up: Loveless

Sony Pictures Classics/Courtesy

Andrey Zvyagintsev has become known as Russian public enemy #1, despite also being the most internationally acclaimed Russian filmmaker working today. After The Return — Golden Lion winner in 2003 — Zvyagintsev has used simple stories of family disputes as grand metaphors for the societal issues found within contemporary Russia. Loveless, his second Academy Award nominee after Leviathan, is his most scathing film yet.

One day, a young boy  — who has become emotionally distant due to his parent’s diatribic divorce — disappears walking home from school. From here, Zvyagintsev digs into the issues these two parents have, painting a portrait of social malaise and two despicable characters (Boris and Zhenya), asking whether this broken of a relationship and a society even deserve these children to begin with. Loveless is, without a doubt, one of the toughest watches from 2017, but its blunt impact is not easily forgotten.

— Levi Hill

3. Foxtrot
4. The Square
5. Raw

The Next 5
6. First They Killed My Father
7. BPM (Beats Per Minute)
8. On Body and Soul
9. Thelma
10. In the Fade

Best Animated Feature: Coco

Image courtesy of Pixar

Disney-Pixar’s Coco is enthralling in nearly every way. Visually, the film is stunning in its depictions of a small Mexican town where neighbors all know each other, as well as its inventive interpretation of the Land of the Dead. Emotionally, Coco is deeply omnipresent.

When star Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) is chastised by his family for wanting to be a musician — his great-great grandfather ran away to chase fame as a guitarist — he steals the guitar of the town’s most well-loved musician so that he himself can perform in front of the town to prove his talent. But, the performance is on Día de los Muertos, and those who steal from the graves of the dead on Día de los Muertos find themselves lost in the Land of the Dead, where they require the aid of their ancestors to return to the Land of the Living.

At its core, Coco speaks to narratives of lineage, familial love and finding oneself — and it ties each of these themes together with the thread of familial bonds that transcend time and space — all in the context of a very special holiday, Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

— Sophie-Marie Prime

Runner-up: The Breadwinner

Gkids/Courtesy

The Breadwinner is a film that elevates animation in ways directly connected to the art form. The story it tells is harrowing and dark, and the content is often restrained so that the film may appropriate for families, as the film involves families. But it also is always pushing at the glaring social issues inherent to the narrative, specifically the oppression of women in much of Afghanistan’s culture. As visually striking as it is emotionally engaging, the film also shows love for the great parts of that culture, the parts that bond the beautiful family at the story’s core, and the parts that allow the film to also act as an almost fable-esque tale that is distinctly youthful. The Breadwinner is essentially animation, constructing a narrative with such significant real world implications while maintaining a sense of wonder that only animation can hold.

— Kyle Kizu

3. Loving Vincent
4. The LEGO Batman Movie
5. Cars 3

Performance by an Actor or Actress in a Specialty Role: Andy Serkis as Caesar — War for the Planet of the Apes

Image courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Andy Serkis has been innovating ever since his performances as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy nearly two decades ago. That became a turning point for motion capture, but it’s really been the new Planet of the Apes trilogy and performance capture where Serkis has changed our idea of what acting is and what it means to perform. Truly, in the Apes trilogy, we are seeing Serkis’ performances; we are seeing him bring the character of Caesar to life. Visual effects may realize the ape exterior, but it is Serkis’ performances that realize his interiority.

In War for the Planet of the Apes, Serkis not only offers his most emotional turn in this technological phenomenon yet, but also one of the most emotional turns of any performer of the year. With War, director and co-writer Matt Reeves sets out to specifically test Caesar, to bend and break his character so that his morals come directly into conflict with what’s needed to save the apes. Serkis hits on this conflict heavily, painting Caesar as a tragic figure, but also as an epic one. Precisely because of the sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes visceral, rage-filled facial expressions in the raw close-ups of Caesar, War is elevated intangibly and turned into a gripping blockbuster, a vast epic and an intimate character piece all at once. It is no coincidence that Andy Serkis’ Caesar will be remembered as one of the greatest characters put to film in the 21st century.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Doug Jones as Amphibian Man — The Shape of Water

Fox Searchlight/Courtesy

Doug Jones has made quite a career for himself, notably starring in many of Guillermo del Toro’s films, including as the notorious Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth. Jones’ work as The Asset, or Amphibian Man, in The Shape of Water is among the best he’s ever done. His handle of sensuality, innocence and intimidation are essential to the characterization of this mysterious creature. The way he sits, hoping to get back on Giles’ (Richard Jenkins) good side after eating one of his cats, exhibits his humanity. His embrace for humans after so much betrayal at their hands is heartwarming, while his protective vengeance is satisfying. Jones makes his Amphibian Man a feeling being, and he makes us believe it’s all possible.

Hooman Yazdanian 

3. Saara Chaudry as Parvana — The Breadwinner
4. Anthony Gonzalez as Miguel — Coco
5. Gael García Bernal as Héctor — Coco

The Next 5
6. Taika Waititi as Korg — Thor: Ragnarok
7. Robert Gulaczyck as Vincent van Gogh — Loving Vincent
8. Will Arnett as Batman — The LEGO Batman Movie
9. Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke — Star Wars: The Last Jedi
10. Michael Cera as Robin — The LEGO Batman Movie

Achievement in Production Design: Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola — Blade Runner 2049

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

With Arrival, Denis Villeneuve distinguished himself as a director who can, in collaboration with a brilliant production designer and set decorator, design sets the way physical space/light artists do. And with Blade Runner 2049, and production designer Dennis Gassner and set decorator Alessandra Querzola, he only furthers this notion.

Blade Runner 2049 is, quite simply, jaw dropping, Much of that comes from Roger Deakin’s photography, but an equal if not greater portion comes from the production design. Undoubtedly influenced by the light and space artist James Turrell, like Arrival was, the sets are often beacons of light, mostly artificial but often natural. Here is where the designs elevate to thematic significance. The world of Blade Runner 2049 is void of nature and color much like the original, hence the focus on spaces that bring in light. But this is a future 30 years removed from the original, and where the original was gritty, this world has attempted to smooth out the surfaces, to make perfect a world without nature and natural color — hence the brilliant, jarring, forceful shapes of the sets.

Production design and set decoration can often feel merely like dressing, like pretty layers simply for the sake of pretty layers. But Blade Runner 2049 is the epitome of design working on unmatched levels.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau, Jeff Melvin — The Shape of Water

Fox Searchlight/Courtesy

The production design of The Shape of Water works like nearly every other element of the film, evoking a quiet, majestic beauty. The sets of Elisa (Sally Hawkins) and Giles’ (Richard Jenkins) apartments are so deeply decorated, elegantly colored, delicately aged and thoroughly lived in that they, alone, would’ve pushed this craftsmanship up this far on the list, but the film also lays out the underground facilities and much of the exteriors with such period strength. Good production design for period films is an accomplishment in and of itself, but The Shape of Water is also distinctly a fantasy film, a Guillermo del Toro fantasy film with just as much flourish in the production design of that aspect as well. The film becomes a visual genre delight through its sets.

— Kyle Kizu

3. Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis — Dunkirk
4. Rick Heinrichs, Richard Roberts — Star Wars: The Last Jedi
5. Mark Tildesley, Véronique Melery — Phantom Thread

The Next 5
6. James Chinlund, Amanda Moss Serino — War for the Planet of the Apes
7. Aline Bonetto, Anna Lynch-Robinson — Wonder Woman
8. Jean-Vincent Puzos, Maria Andrea Rangel, Naomi Moore — The Lost City of Z
9. Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer — Darkest Hour
10. Claude Paré, Rosalie Board — It

Achievement in Visual Effects: Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett, Joel Whist — War for the Planet of the Apes

Image courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Similarly to Andy Serkis’ performances in this trilogy, the visual effects have been sorely under-awarded. But enough is enough. The clear, unmatched, inarguable standout of the year in this craft category is the trilogy’s final installment, War for the Planet of the Apes.

With years of further development from the first, the visual effects team envisions the apes in their most photorealistic manner yet. The hairs, both individual and packed together, are palpable and tangible, and the rough skin, often shot in harrowing, raw close-up, looks weathered in ways that only truly lived in skin often does.

But the apes aren’t all that the visual effects can boast about. The film is host to wondrous production design, and the extension that the visual effects provide — such as in the opening action sequence or in the mostly CGI cave home that gets raided early on in the film — is purely breathtaking.

The team even developed a system for the creation of trees in the forests that the characters traverse. Rather than model them one by one like done in the past, the team uses the system, titled Totara, to develop trees in groups and allow factors such as competition for sunlight and the age of separate trees in relation to how they grow next to each other to determine the ultimate layout of a forest.

On so many levels, the visual effects of War for the Planet of the Apes functions in ways that the craft should — enhancing character and enhancing the characters’ interactions with their setting. It is a genuinely groundbreaking picture from a visual effects standpoint.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Scott Stokdyk, Martin Hill, Philippe Rebours, François Dumoulin — Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

STX Entertainment

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets will never get accused of having too compelling a story and especially not of having good acting. But the visuals are worth the price of admission alone. They just about had to be too, given this movie’s groan-inducing line delivery and dialogue.

The unique (in a good way) character design, sweeping landscapes of spectacular worlds, captivating opening sequence and especially notable market design help make Luc Besson’s latest film a visual masterpiece. Unfortunately, it couldn’t go beyond that.

Hooman Yazdanian

3. John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover, Gerd Nefzer — Blade Runner 2049
4. Andrew Jackson, Andrew Lockley, Scott Fisher, Paul Corbould — Dunkirk
5. Dennis Berardi, Shane Mahan, Trey Harrell, Kevin Scott — The Shape of Water

The Next 5
6. Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Chris Corbould, Neal Scanlan — Star Wars: The Last Jedi
7. Erik-Jan De Boer, Stephen Clee, Lee Jeon Hyoung, Joon Hyung Kim — Okja
8. Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, Dan Sudick — Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
9. Bill Westenhofer, Frazer Churchill, Alex Wuttke, Mark Holt — Wonder Woman
10. Charley Henley, Ferran Domenech, Christian Kaestner, Neil Corbould — Alien: Covenant

Achievement in Film Editing: Lee Smith — Dunkirk

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

How Lee Smith was passed on for an Academy Award nomination for his work on Inception is baffling. But there is nothing that can take away from what he’s accomplished with Christopher Nolan’s most challengingly structured film since that mind bending thriller. The fact that Dunkirk works at all on a narrative level is a testament to how good its film editing is. And the fact that Dunkirk’s narrative does not simply just work, but becomes something emotionally profound and entirely singular points to its film editing as something genuinely special.

The first moment that the film editing comes into focus for the audience is a stark, forceful cut from Cillian Murphy’s soldier as a composed leader to him as a shivering, broken man.

But that moment is simply one layer. The entire structure of the film is continuously working to offer us a perspective of the grand event taking place. Running them on the time scales that he does, Nolan, and Smith in the execution of those scales, forces us into absorbing the intense, distinctly human efforts of the soldiers, pilots, generals and, most importantly, civilians. Running them chronologically would vastly limit the emotional possibilities.

On more of a technical level, running them chronologically would also rid the film of the immense tension it holds. Composer Hans Zimmer utilizes the Shepard Tone illusion in his music to craft a sense of never-ending rising tension. Nolan constructed the screenplay in the same manner and intended to construct the film under that guiding illusion as well. Lee Smith executes the edits with that idea of a constant rise in the narrative stakes. When there’s a release in one storyline, the stakes of another are amped up. The whole film, in turn, becomes a masterpiece of suspense.

Dunkirk’s greatest and most stunning, borderline indescribable moment of film editing comes in its climax, the oil scene. It’s here where the three storylines collide, but the climax fascinatingly plays out of order. Smith underscores their collision with an effectively overbearing force, but he also disorients us with the composition of the entire sequence while never losing our focus through the coherence in that very composition. It is extraordinary editing that only comes from a film editor with a complete grasp on what “cinematic” means, and intention to break its rules and extend its possibilities.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Mako Kamitsuna — Mudbound

Netflix/Courtesy

There’s a tension in the storytelling of Mudbound. It attempts to constantly utilize purely novelistic features, such as narration and overt symbolism, to maintain the literary beauty of the piece while it also attempts to render the story as something specifically cinematic.

The simultaneous success of these two layers is due to plenty of brilliant work from various departments, but one of the most integral is the film editing. Mako Kamitsuna’s control of pacing is extremely tight, doling out the emotional beats not necessarily smoothly, but on an intensely affecting wave of progression. Kamitsuna does wonders for each character, but also for the piece in balancing those characters. She evokes the deeply personal while also painting the journey of so many different people and turning the film into a sprawling epic.

— Kyle Kizu

3. Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss — Baby Driver
4. Joe Walker — Blade Runner 2049
5. Walter Fasano — Call Me By Your Name

The Next 5
6. Nick Houy — Lady Bird
7. Gregory Plotkin — Get Out
8. Dylan Tichenor — Phantom Thread
9. Sean Baker — The Florida Project
10. Alan Baumgarten, Elliot Graham, Josh Schaeffer — Molly’s Game

Achievement in Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema — Dunkirk

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography for Dunkirk may not pop quite like Roger Deakins’ lensing on Blade Runner 2049 does, and for that reason, we expect this to be an unpopular pick. But picking the one that pops the most would be a cop out. It should be about the service the cinematography provides to the film’s story and to the cinematic experience. In that light, while it was close, we firmly believe in our winner.

The simple existence of some of the imagery in Christopher Nolan’s war epic is something not to be underappreciated, as van Hoytema and his crew literally invented rigs that could lock the IMAX cameras onto the exteriors of Spitfires. So much of the aerial photography wouldn’t be possible before this film, which represents visual storytellers pushing cinematic boundaries to explore the power of the cinematic image.

The aerial portion might be van Hoytema’s greatest accomplishment on this film, the difficulty of it unimaginable. But the rest of the Dutch-Swedish photographer’s work is transfixing. In no other film will we find an IMAX camera carried handheld like a GoPro. These shots transport us, immerse us within the film. We feel the Dunkirk beach and live on it because van Hoytema is literally running on it, carrying the IMAX camera next to his head. It’s not necessarily flashy cinematography, but it’s just as striking as any other imagery of the year.

Even without flash or pop, van Hoytema is still able to leave us with haunting iconography, epitomized in the tranquility of a Spitfire coasting over Dunkirk and in the defiance of that same Spitfire crackling as it burns.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Roger Deakins — Blade Runner 2049

Warner Bros./Courtesy

Even the best director is only as good as the crew that works with them, and luckily for Blade Runner 2049 helmer Denis Villeneuve, his crew contained arguably one of the best cinematographers working today: Roger Deakins. From the orange-laden dunes of a desolate Las Vegas to the grungy, dilapidated iron works in a massive factory, the landscapes and spaces of Blade Runner 2049 are gorgeously captured by Deakins’ keen eye for visual storytelling. Every set, environment and piece of architecture is meticulously angled, without feeling overtly staged, as Deakins is able to imbue even the most kinetic sequences with a harrowing stillness. After DP’ing two previous films with Villeneuve, Deakins’ third with the director might be his cinematic magnum opus.

— Sanjay Nimmagudda

3. Dan Laustsen — The Shape of Water
4. Rachel Morrison — Mudbound
5. Swayambhu Mukdeeprom — Call Me by Your Name

The Next 5
6. Darius Khondji — The Lost City of Z
7. The Camera Crew — Phantom Thread
8. Andrew Droz Palermo — A Ghost Story
9. Masanobu Takayanagi — Hostiles
10. Alexis Zabe — The Florida Project

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score): Jonny Greenwood — Phantom Thread

Image courtesy of Focus Features

Phantom Thread is twisted and psychological, subtle and calculated. Jonny Greenwood’s score fills a baseline-level role of enhancing an already complex narrative, while at the same time standing alone to fill the haunting silences between the characters with suspicion, passion and condemnation.

In truth, as gorgeous and sinewy as Paul Thomas Anderson’s direction, and the performances of Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicky Krieps are, Greenwood’s score alone tells the story of Phantom Thread just as well. Dances on piano keys and stringed orchestras communicate infatuation, tenderness, frustration and internal chaos with precision and cutting honesty.

It does so, however, without negating the inherent frivolity and bliss felt when Day-Lewis and Krieps are seen walking near a beachy cliff together. Greenwood’s composition is so exacting, that, after seeing the film, one can picture its imagery just by listening to “Alma” or “Phantom Thread III.” The score of the film is a study in the same themes as its acting performances: love, manipulation, control and obsession.

— Sophie-Marie Prime

Runner-up: Hans Zimmer — Dunkirk

Warner Bros./Courtesy

Recently, Hans Zimmer, in collaboration with Christopher Nolan, has been one of the most effectively experimental film composers in the industry. With Interstellar, he abandoned percussion and composed from a deeply emotional starting point to craft his most personal score to date. With Dunkirk, he abandons melody almost entirely, treating the score like a layer of sound design — Alex Gibson, the supervising music editor, was nominated by the Academy in the Sound Editing category. The score becomes undoubtedly his most intense.

With Dunkirk, Zimmer uses the Shepard Tone, an illusion of constantly rising tension. In conjunction with the structure of the film, the score works wonders in physically, viscerally affecting viewers. The music, with the illusion and with Zimmer’s almost underwater atmospheric sound design, feels invasive and manipulative in how it provokes that reaction, even leaning into horror-esque compositions to elevate the suspense, which turns the cinematic experience of the film into a thoroughly wholesome one.

But then the score turns to the unbearable beauty of Edward Elgar in its most emotional moments, specifically with “Variation 15,” rendering the music as not only a mode of intensity, but also as a mode of humanity.

— Kyle Kizu

3. Alexandre Desplat — The Shape of Water
4. Daniel Hart — A Ghost Story
5. Oneohtrix Point Never — Good Time

The Next 5
6. Tamar-kali — Mudbound
7. Philip Glass — Jane
8. Michael Giacchino — War for the Planet of the Apes
9. Max Richter — Hostiles
10. Mychael Danna, Jeff Danna — The Breadwinner

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song): “Mystery of Love,” Sufjan Stevens — Call Me by Your Name

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Sufjan Stevens may be the perfect movie musician. Stevens has uniquely mastered evoking tone without being one-dimensional. He penned two brand new songs for Call Me By Your Name and they ended up as our top two finishers in this category.

As Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and Oliver (Armie Hammer) hike together, “Mystery of Love” plays. Stevens initially appears to be singing from Elio’s perspective: “Oh, to see without my eyes/ The first time that you kissed me.”

Stevens’ lyrical work combines with airy, delicate vocals to evoke the wondrous flight of the heart for a first love. But he doesn’t lay claim to Elio’s full range of emotions. He’s interpreting just like we are, projecting. He speaks not just for Elio, but for us as well.

Even as Elio and Oliver frolic through beautiful wilderness, it all feels fleeting. Stevens describes the quiet terror of this fleeting love perfectly, speaking the contradiction into truth: “Oh, oh woe-oh-woah is me.”

It’s so good now, how bad will it be when it ends? Such is the fear of an impermanent love. Stevens sings “Now my riverbed has dried/ Shall I find no other?” He’s asking us, can it get this good again? And if not, is it truly better to have loved and lost?

Hooman Yazdanian

Runner-up: “Vision of Gideon,” Sufjan Stevens — Call Me by Your Name

Sony Pictures Classics/Courtesy

Sufjan Stevens has mastered the art of heartbreak. On “Visions of Gideon,” Stevens’ ethereal voice encapsulates the experience of love lost and he vocalizes the fleeting nature of love. Did it really happen? He sings: “For the love, for laughter I feel up to your arms/ Is it a video?”

Played during Call Me By Your Name’s final scene, with a close-up of Elio (Timothée Chalamet) staring into a fire and crying, “Visions of Gideon” perfectly complements Elio’s hurt. As Stevens sings “I have loved you for the last time,” he forces the audience to pay attention. Elio’s face shows us the pain and Stevens’ song blocks the exits.

Hooman Yazdanian

3. “I Get Overwhelmed,” Daniel Hart — A Ghost Story
4. “Remember Me,” Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez — Coco
5. “The Pure and the Damned,” Oneohtrix Point Never, Iggy Pop — Good Time

The Next 5
6. “Mighty River,” Mary J. Blige — Mudbound
7. “The Crown Sleeps,” Qais Essar, Mychael Danna, Jeff Danna — The Breadwinner
8. “How Shall A Sparrow Fly,” Ryan Bingham — Hostiles
9. “Summer Storm,” Joel P. West — The Glass Castle
10. “This Is Me,” Benj Pasek, Justin Paul — The Greatest Showman

Achievement by a Debut Director: Greta Gerwig — Lady Bird

Image courtesy of A24

In probably the biggest anomaly of our voting, Gerwig managed to beat out Jordan Peele here despite finishing behind him in Best Director and Lady Bird falling behind Get Out for Best Picture. We can only attribute to this some overlap between voting blocks for Lady Bird and Call Me By Your Name, whose director Luca Guadagnino is far from a feature debut.

Whatever the reason may be, Gerwig manages a much-deserved win here. Though she co-directed a film in 2008, Lady Bird was Gerwig’s debut as a lone director, which is a monumental task itself. And what a debut it was.

Gerwig’s proclivity to excel when shifting the film’s tone is incredibly impressive, reminiscent of work you’d expect from a director in her 10th outing. The way she draws performances out of every single actor in the film is stunning. The intimacy she establishes without an overemphasis on close-ups is masterful. The camera still drives these intimate moments as much as Gerwig’s phenomenal screenplay do, with Gerwig employing over-the-shoulder shots to let us literally see things from different characters’ perspectives. Gerwig builds Lady Bird’s setting precisely, with everything from room decorations to parking lot hangouts reeking of authenticity. Emotional punches hit when we least expect them, like when Lady Bird leaves douchey Kyle’s (Timothee Chalamet) house and we get a glimpse at his sick father.

With all of these talents and such a beautiful handle of subtlety so early in her directing career, it’s incredibly exciting to await what Gerwig has in store for us next.

Hooman Yazdanian

Runner-up: Jordan Peele — Get Out

Universal Pictures/Courtesy

Jordan Peele, of Key and Peele fame, was long pegged as a comedian. But, in his big screen directorial debut, Peele showed the world he can do much more than that. In Get Out, he’s crafted a horror movie for the ages. His mastery of pacing and genre belie his lack of experience. The fact that Peele’s first film has already become a cultural touchstone, mined for conversation topics and memes alike, bodes well for his future in filmmaking.

Every industry is better off for having people like Jordan Peele, and his combination of social awareness, sheer brilliance and ingenuity should make him a leading auteur in the film industry for years to come (although we’re not going to pretend we won’t miss his acting as well).

He’s already hinted at a possible sequel to Get Out as well as the fact that he’s toying with other “social thrillers,” as he calls them. Sign us up.

Hooman Yazdanian

3. Aaron Sorkin — Molly’s Game
4. John Carroll Lynch — Lucky
5. Kogonada — Columbus

The Next 5
6. Matt Spicer — Ingrid Goes West
7. Julia Ducournau — Raw
8. William Oldroyd — Lady Macbeth
9. Taylor Sheridan — Wind River
10. Chris McKay — The LEGO Batman Movie

Best Original Screenplay: Greta Gerwig — Lady Bird

Image courtesy of A24

Lady Bird wants freedom and attention, independence and spontaneity. She’s a performer in the way that we all are as we shape ourselves into the people we want to be — and into the type of friend, daughter, son, sibling, parent, etc. those around us want us to be, too. She wants to be liked, and she wants to like herself.

Within that narrative, there are notes of Wizard of Oz-ian conflicting desires to both leave home and return home once you’ve left. Lady Bird paints its story through a subtle lense of class. There is a mother who wants to keep her daughter close so desperately that she pushes her away in the process.

Lady Bird is nostalgic, wise and authentically adolescent. Lady Bird is truly something special.

Gerwig sews fresh and endearing narratives of friendship and finding oneself with threads of class and fearsome yet irresistible independence. With Lady Bird, she crafts a character that is always lovable and at times self-centered, the latter of which is an inevitable part of growing up.

— Sophie-Marie Prime

Runner-up: Jordan Peele — Get Out

Universal Pictures/Courtesy

From a purely storytelling perspective, what stands out about Jordan Peele’s Get Out screenplay is how unbelievably tight it is. This is screenwriting of the utmost efficiency and control. Both the story’s arc and Chris’ (Daniel Kaluuya) are smooth and hit every necessary beat hard. The ensemble is balanced brilliantly. The symbolism is deeply ingrained in the conceit as well as in the consistent, layered and always motivated character actions. And the emotions ring true.

Those last two aspects are where the screenplay transcends simply being brilliant storytelling (which would be enough, alone, to earn its place here). Get Out evokes reality for so many Black folks, and it evokes it specifically with storytelling, with written characters, like Chris, and storytelling concepts, like the Sunken Place, that craft a narrative with such pressing implications, with such profound symbols.

— Kyle Kizu

3. Paul Thomas Anderson — Phantom Thread
4. Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani — The Big Sick
5. Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch — The Florida Project

The Next 5
6. Vanessa Taylor, Guillermo del Toro — The Shape of Water
7. Bong Joon-ho, Jon Ronson — Okja
8. Liz Hannah, Josh Singer — The Post
9. Kogonada — Columbus
10. Sebastián Lelio, Gonzalo Maza — A Fantastic Woman

Best Adapted Screenplay: James Ivory — Call Me by Your Name

Image courtesy of Houston Cinema Arts Festival

“When you least expect it, Nature has cunning ways of finding our weakest spot. Just remember: I am here. Right now you may not want to feel anything. Perhaps you never wished to feel anything. And perhaps it’s not to me that you’ll want to speak about these things. But feel something you obviously did.

You had a beautiful friendship. Maybe more than a friendship. And I envy you. In my place, most parents would hope the whole thing goes away, to pray that their sons land on their feet. But I am not such a parent. In your place, if there is pain, nurse it. And if there is a flame, don’t snuff it out. Don’t be brutal with it. We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster, that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to make yourself feel nothing so as not to feel anything ― what a waste!”

Scripts and their words and structure are always the blueprint for what will become either a great film, or a classic one. James Ivory’s precise, careful, emotionally resonant adaption of André Aciman’s adaptation of Call Me by Your Name — as illustrated by the above scene, the best of 2017 — is an all-time classic. Like the novel its based on, and thanks to considerate direction by the always fantastic Luca Guadagnino, Ivory’s script puts an emphasis not on plot, but on small character beats that culminate in a denouement (starting with the dialogue above) that will leave most viewers flattened with the insightful depths of emotional honesty.

— Levi Hill

Runner-up: Dee Rees, Virgil Williams — Mudbound

Netflix/Courtesy

Mudbound aims to utilize many novelistic qualities of storytelling, and the brilliance with which the film accomplishes that starts precisely with Dee Rees and Virgil Williams’ adapted screenplay. There’s plenty of narration throughout, but it’s all used so purposefully and, in turn, effectively.

The story of Mudbound is heavy, and Rees and Williams take care of that aspect. There’s expressionism in much of the plot details and the construction of many of the character moments. Rees and Williams, however, are also restrained throughout, allowing the quiet details to speak loud.

The writers don’t simply take care of one character, but of all of them. The emotional balance they lend to each member of the ensemble is nothing short of outstanding, but Rees and Williams also do craft the Black characters so profoundly that it is they who hold onto our hearts long after we’ve closed our Netflix tab.

— Kyle Kizu

3. Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber — Our Souls at Night
4. Mark Bomback, Matt Reeves — War for the Planet of the Apes
5. Hampton Fancher, Michael Green — Blade Runner 2049

The Next 5
6. Aaron Sorkin — Molly’s Game
7. James Mangold, Scott Frank, Michael Green — Logan
8. Anita Doron, Deborah Ellis — The Breadwinner
9. Rian Johnson — Star Wars: The Last Jedi
10. James Gray — The Lost City of Z

Achievement in Directing: Christopher Nolan — Dunkirk

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

Christopher Nolan is one of the quintessential directors of our time, telling iconic story after iconic story. Awards bodies may not have recognized him for much of his career, but films like The Dark Knight and Inception are cultural landmarks that will stand the test of time. After nearly 20 years of Nolan building one of the most impressive filmographies ever, he brings us Dunkirk.

Dunkirk is an interesting convergence point in his career. It’s yet another incredibly entertaining blockbuster that also acts as an innovative, subversive art film. It’s a film that, while not necessarily as culturally pervasive as some of his other work, will be remembered by general audiences more than most films are. But it just so happens to be in a genre that is a bit more friendly for organizations such as the Academy, who have finally nominated Nolan. And while it might not be his most impactful piece in the ways that his other landmarks are, Dunkirk does also happen to be Nolan’s greatest directorial effort.

With Dunkirk, Nolan structures and constructs a story so forceful in its specifically cinematic features. The director is often the figure around which the multitude of crafts are organized and where they are put into coherent focus. The fact that each layer of Dunkirk’s cinema — its sound design, its production design, its cinematography, its score, its ensemble and more — all excel not only individually and not only as parts of a whole, but as a singular, organic whole that serves story is a testament to how absolutely refined, precise and, frankly, masterful Nolan’s focus as a director is on Dunkirk.

Cinema is meant to be a purely visual art form, and Dunkirk is a film that challenges established structures to expand notions of what can be accomplished visually. The film quite literally offers us never-before-seen imagery. In that light, Dunkirk is a significant, important accomplishment in film. Those accomplishments don’t necessarily become the most widely beloved films of their time; although, Dunkirk is not far off and comes closer than similar films (but in truth, they don’t make films like Dunkirk). But when a film not only challenges boundaries but actually pushes them, that organizing force, the director, should be celebrated endlessly.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Jordan Peele — Get Out

Universal Pictures/Courtesy

Jordan Peele’s Get Out is probably one of the year’s most beloved films, but most of that love has been pointed at Peele’s excellent screenplay. Peele’s directorial work, however, is just as skillful.

Peele is already a master of hinting at tension, rather than shoving it down our throats. The way he shifts from a normal close-up to an extreme close-up on Chris’ face, crowding up his — and the viewers’ — space, during the famous “no, no, no” scene with Georgina (Betty Gabriel) is a perfect example. (Watch it)

He shows an uncanny mastery for knowing just how long to let a shot linger. When Daniel Kaluuya’s Chris stares into the eyes of a downed deer, we get a sense of Peele’s pacing and of the movie’s tone. This is no comedy. No, this is a movie crafted by someone who knows how to do horror. He knows when to subvert our expectations for a jump scare and when to satisfy them, when to point out irony in our societal preconceptions and when to emphasize the terror in them.

Hooman Yazdanian

3. Luca Guadagnino — Call Me By Your Name
4. Greta Gerwig — Lady Bird
5. Denis Villeneuve — Blade Runner 2049

The Next 5
6. Guillermo del Toro — The Shape of Water
7. Dee Rees — Mudbound
8. Paul Thomas Anderson — Phantom Thread
9. Sean Baker — The Florida Project
10. Matt Reeves — War for the Planet of the Apes

Performance by an Ensemble: The Cast of Lady Bird — Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Beanie Feldstein, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Lois Smith, Bob Stephenson, Jake Mcdorman, Jordan Rodrigues, Shelly Yuhan

Image courtesy of A24

From top to bottom, Lady Bird is populated by phenomenal performances. Saoirse Ronan is pitch perfect, exuding the essence of her character in every scene, notably in her characteristic audition for the school play. As much as Ronan’s Lady Bird wants to think she has herself figured out, Ronan makes the questioning subconscious visible.

Laurie Metcalf might be even better than Ronan in her wonderful, lived-in performance as Lady Bird’s mom, Marion. And Tracy Letts plays empathy, kindness and bottled-up depression excellently in one of the year’s best supporting performances.

Beanie Feldstein’s wondrous depiction of the longing best friend has flown under the radar this year, but it deserves recognition. Timothée Chalamet and Lucas Hedges each capably occupy smaller roles while consistently managing to steal scenes. For Chalamet, it’s with pretension and humor; for Hedges, it’s with awkwardness followed by an explosion of pain.

Even those in smaller roles — such as school staff depicted by Bob Stephenson (who might have the year’s funniest scene as the football coach directing a play), Stephen Henderson, Jake McDorman and Lois Smith — get chances to shine through.

In addition to the individual excellence of the performances, Lady Bird is able to thrive off the excellent give-and-take between its actors. The best moments in the film tend to be emotional exchanges between the characters, something this cast seems to have mastered. Additionally, the sheer fact that even actors in much smaller parts got chances to shine highlights the effectiveness of this ensemble. Characters had opportunities to control their own scene without the leads insisting on taking up all the air in a room.

In a film carried by a screenplay devoted to making each of its characters as full-fledged and real as possible, Lady Bird’s cast had to be excellent and they were in the year’s best-acted film.

Hooman Yazdanian

Runner-up: The Cast of Get Out — Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Betty Gabriel, Lil Rel Howery, Lakeith Stanfield, Marcus Henderson, Caleb Landry Jones

Universal Pictures/Courtesy

The phrase “perfectly cast” is often thrown about too freely. Every once in a while, however, it rings entirely true.

The cast of Get Out is an impeccable blend of veteran actors and relatively unknown newcomers. At its core is the exceptional Daniel Kaluuya, an English actor who was previously best known to American audiences for Sicario and the Black Mirror episode “Fifteen Million Merits” (note: if you haven’t seen this episode, do yourself a favor and watch it). Kaluuya turns in a charismatic and soulful performance as Chris Washington, rightly earning an Oscar nomination for the role.

The Armitages could not have been cast better, with the ever-perfect Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford, two widely-respected actors with storied careers who have still somehow maintained enough anonymity to seamlessly blend into these characters. Quite literally everyone else in the cast is also pitch perfect, including Allison Williams, Lakeith Stanfield, and scene-stealer Lil Rel Howery. Altogether, it produces one of the most formidable ensembles of 2017.

— Michelle Lee

3. The Cast of Call Me by Your Name — Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel, Vanda Capriolo
4. The Cast of Mudbound — Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige, Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Jonathan Banks
5. The Cast of The Shape of Water — Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones

The Next 5
6. The Cast of Dunkirk — Fionn Whitehead, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, Jack Lowden, Barry Keoghan, Tom Glynn-Carney, Aneurin Barnard, James D’Arcy
7. The Cast of The Big Sick — Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Anupam Kher, Zenobia Shroff, Adeel Akhtar, Vella Lovell,  Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant, Kurt Braunohler
8. The Cast of The Post — Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Sarah Paulson, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Rhys, Allison Brie, Carrie Coon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons
9. The Cast of The Florida Project — Brooklynn Prince, Christopher Rivera, Valeria Cotto, Bria Vinaite, Willem Dafoe, Mela Murder, Josie Olivo, Aiden Malik
10. The Cast of Okja — Ahn Seo-hyun, Hee-Bong Byun, Steven Yeun, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Lily Collins, Daniel Henshall, Giancarlo Esposito

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Timothée Chalamet — Call Me by Your Name

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

In many ways, Timothée Chalamet’s characterization of Elio Perlman is one marked by opposites. Elio is carefree but methodical, melancholic but exuberant and, above all, full of both boyish naivete and extreme precociousness. Which is all to say, Chalamet portrays 17-year-old Elio in all of his unabashed complexity, producing perhaps the most fully realized character of 2017.

Chalamet benefits from a rare brand of charisma, one that emits empathy rather than mystery. This allows Chalamet to make Elio’s quietest moments his most revealing, including a devastating final scene. As the end credits begin, we see Elio’s avalanche of emotions, from disbelief, to anguish, to as close to acceptance as he can come. Shot in one beautiful, long take, this scene caps off one of the strongest and most nuanced performances of the decade.

— Michelle Lee

Runner-up: Daniel Day-Lewis — Phantom Thread

Focus Features/Courtesy

In Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, Daniel Day-Lewis inhabits dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock, who, at first glance, seems to be the archetypal obsessive artist. But as the film carefully unravels, Day-Lewis’ layered performance hints at much more. His peevish nature isn’t just a product of obsession; it’s a yearning for the past — as with many artists, Woodcock believes authenticity is leaving his industry. He fears it’s out with the old, in with the vile “chic.”

Day-Lewis’ oeuvre has instilled anything his character says with an aura of significance. We can’t help but hang on every witty, biting word. His exchanges with Alma (played by the amazing Vicky Krieps) are works of art, their first meeting a perfect meet cute imbued with nervous energy and infatuation.

Day-Lewis has said this film will be his last. If it is, it would be a perfect swan song to an amazing acting run, adding one more brilliant performance to a career chock full of them. But we hope the greatest living actor has a change of heart.

Hooman Yazdanian

3. Daniel Kaluuya — Get Out
4. Andy Serkis — War for the Planet of the Apes
5. Hugh Jackman — Logan

The Next 5
6. Robert Redford — Our Souls at Night
7. Christian Bale — Hostiles
8. Jake Gyllenhaal — Stronger
9. Harry Dean Stanton — Lucky
10. Woody Harrelson — The Glass Castle

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Margot Robbie — I, Tonya

Image courtesy of Neon

I, Tonya was one of the most — if not the most — fun movies of 2017. It’s witty and gripping, and handles certain domestic violence issues with great care. Margot Robbie shows the world a side of Tonya Harding that no one had ever seen before, and perhaps didn’t care to see. While the real-life, 1994 “incident” left America believing Harding was evil, Robbie’s portrayal of Harding begs to differ. She’s certainly no angel, but she is also a woman who has experienced abuse, physical and emotional. This version of Harding is tough, endearing and hilarious.

Robbie’s performance is one of thoughtfulness, even in comical moments. With the current social climate, performing a female character who is physically abused is no easy feat. And on top of that, to make said female character funny in such a serious matter is unbelievable. Despite knowing the outcome of the “incident,” we truly can’t help but cheer for Tonya to beat the odds. The Tonya Harding the media introduced us to in 1994 couldn’t do it, but the one Margot Robbie introduces us to makes us second guess whose side we were once on a few Olympics ago.

— Samantha Celentano

Runner-up: Saoirse Ronan — Lady Bird

A24/Courtesy

In a year of amazing lead actress performances — seriously, the actresses in our Next Five would all contend in a normal year — Saoirse Ronan has flown under the radar. She’s picked up nominations all year and even won a Golden Globe, but not many discuss that her performance in Lady Bird is one of the most genuine of the year.

Ronan especially shines when on screen with Laurie Metcalf, and both impeccably pull off the quick mood swings that can characterize a mother-daughter relationship. They move from crying to an audiobook to immediately fighting, from fighting to marveling at the perfect dress in a very Ross-like store. Ronan’s performance in these scenes is incredibly naturalistic.

Her best work is late in the film when her character’s mom refuses to speak to her. Lady Bird pleads with Marion, trying to get her to admit that she’s proud. But as Ronan’s voice trembles, Lady Bird shows that she’s internalized her mom’s criticisms: “Please, Mom, please I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I’m ungrateful and I’m so sorry…” Then, she yells, “Talk to me, Mom! Mom, please! Talk to me!” Her pleading to get her mom’s attention might have been the most stirring, powerful moment in an excellent film full of them. For that reason, and many others, Ronan was one of the best lead actresses of the year.

Hooman Yazdanian

3. Frances McDormand — Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
4. Sally Hawkins — The Shape of Water
5. Brooklynn Prince — The Florida Project

The Next 5
6. Meryl Streep — The Post
7. Jessica Chastain — Molly’s Game
8. Daniela Vega — A Fantastic Woman
9. Vicky Krieps — Phantom Thread
10. Haley Lu Richardson — Columbus

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Call Me by Your Name

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

It is genuinely hard to come by a movie that conveys love the way Call Me by Your Name does. One of the best parts about this film is that it is not necessarily a gay love story, but rather a love story that is about two bisexual people. The script is derived from the novel of the same name by André Aciman, and it is perfection — not just the adapted screenplay (James Ivory), but the set, the soundtrack, the performances and the earnest storytelling by Luca Guadagnino. With such an extraordinary love and gut-wrenching heartbreak, how could this not be the best movie this year?

To begin, it is difficult not to fall in love with this movie when we’re suddenly spending a summer somewhere in Northern Italy. The set design and cinematography alone are enough to make us drop everything and find an apricot farm in Italy to live on. The soundtrack jumps from beautiful, classical piano to awesome 80’s jams, and then to original songs by Sufjan Stevens, which we end up playing on repeat after leaving the theater. Timothée Chalamet, although not completely new, seems to be what we have been missing from amazing movies. The pure chemistry and passion portrayed by him and Armie Hammer is astounding. This movie wouldn’t have been what it was if Elio and Oliver were played by anyone else. To top it off, Michael Stuhlbarg gives audiences the speech of a lifetime at the end. It is a speech everyone should hear.

In short, every feature of this film combines to create a beautiful experience that is guaranteed to move you, to leave you speechless. It’s a love story, but better, more transcendent.

— Samantha Celentano

Runner-up: Get Out

Universal Pictures/Courtesy

Jordan Peele’s Get Out is an accomplishment of the highest order. It entered the Best Picture race back in February 2017, and it came in armed with a brilliant cast, a first-time director who should probably take over the industry and a tight script devoid of any fat. As solely a cinematic accomplishment, it holds up, giving us tension, laughter, anguish, relief and a twist that feels earned. Get Out explores what it means to feel trapped, whether that’s by an oppressive system or by one’s own emotions. It gives us humanity. In the film’s final minutes, Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) is driven by a survival instinct but trapped by grief he has suppressed, leading him to make a questionable decision that nearly proves fatal.

Additionally, Get Out has impacted its culture in a way films packed with social criticism thrive to do. The film has produced memes, sure, but it more importantly came out at the perfect time to spark conversation about injustices in policing and the dangerous nonchalance of white, liberal racism. In a time when the latter has been oft-ignored in favor of whataboutism decrying  “those racists over there,” Peele put it in viewers’ faces. He made it undeniable. Racists come in all different packages. They don’t just say the n-word; they can pelt and oppress with subtler microaggressions too.

Hearkening back to genre greats of the past like Stepford Wives while reinvigorating horror with passion, ingenuity and social commentary, Get Out is one of the best films of 2017.

Hooman Yazdanian

3. Lady Bird
4. Phantom Thread
5. Mudbound
6. Dunkirk
7. The Shape of Water
8. Blade Runner 2049
9. The Florida Project
10. Coco

The Next 10
11. The Big Sick
12. The Post
13. I, Tonya
14. War for the Planet of the Apes
15. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
16. Wonder Woman
17. Stronger
18. Good Time
19. The Beguiled
20. Hostiles

 

Featured image courtesy of Warner Bros./20th Century Fox/A24/Universal Pictures/Focus Features/Sony Pictures Classics.

The Summer Oscars: The Best in Movies of Summer 2017

No one is going to fight for last summer. It was a horrific time for movies, blockbuster after blockbuster failing both financially and critically, and the few indie gems that did come out being ignored. While its best film, Hell or High Water, is undeniably magnificent, the list falls off steeply after that. So when it came to this summer, many were hesitant. Would the studio continue to crank out garbage? Unfortunately, it did, with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Transformers: The Last Knight both continuing a disgusting trend. But unlike last summer, for every stink pile this summer, there was a brilliantly entertaining crowdpleaser. For every horribly messy embarrassment, there were two or three films that showcased some of the most masterfully artful filmmaking of recent memory. Despite it being one of the worst periods for the box office, this summer’s movies themselves, as many have said, represent one of the best seasons we’ve had in a long time. In May, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and The Lovers hit on both ends of the cinematic spectrum in lovely fashion. As June rolled around, It Comes At NightThe Big SickBaby Driver and The Beguiled showcased why relatively smaller films are where we should invest our interest. But let’s also not forget about the wondrously historic event that was Wonder Woman. In July, blockbusters found life again, as Spider-Man: Homecoming reinvigorated the web-slinger, War for the Planet of the Apes capped off one of the best trilogies of all time and Dunkirk stunned as an overwhelming cinematic achievement that perhaps only Christopher Nolan could’ve made. Indies didn’t stop either, with A Ghost Story haunting us to this day, Girls Trip stomping on everyone’s pre-conceived notions and Atomic Blonde kicking everyone’s ass as women have this summer. A dip may have expectedly come in August — it’s almost unavoidable — but within the bad were gems like Ingrid Goes WestLogan LuckyWind River and the arresting, John Cho-starring (more please!) Columbus.

It’s been shocking to watch this summer unfold, great movies releasing almost weekly. Top 10 lists of this season rival those of the entirety of last year. So, to combat this strange idea that films not from the fall should be left on the cutting board when it comes time for awards season, we at MovieMinis thought to award the best of summer 2017 so that they may have their fair share of the spotlight:

Best Original Screenplay: Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani — The Big Sick

Amazon/Courtesy

Comedies had fallen flat. Great romcoms were almost non-existent. Then, The Big Sick showed up and not only gave us more from the genre than we’ve had in a long while, but genuinely brought out the best that it could offer. And it all starts with its absolutely pitch perfect script. Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon based The Big Sick in the true story of their romance, and it’s easy to immediately feel the truth at the core of the film, which features such emotionally resonant scenes that hinder on what a character says and what another doesn’t — the film being, on a whole, about communication and perspective. Gordon and Nanjiani give thorough perspective to each character in the film, something that most films in general don’t do. Kumail, Emily, Emily’s parents, Kumail’s parents and Kumail’s friends are all written with a care for independent motivation and given actual arcs that are fulfilled. And all of this is outside of the comedy, which is perhaps its best feature. While, these days, most jokes in films feel forced, The Big Sick is all about natural humor, humor that feels informed and plays off of the film’s themes of perspective and culture. Truly, The Big Sick‘s script is wholesome. But if we were being honest, it deserves this award if only for that 9/11 joke.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: David Lowery for A Ghost Story

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A Ghost Story‘s screenplay reportedly hovers around 30 pages. Many know that the “one page, one minute” concept is a mostly incorrect generalization, but to have 30 pages turn into 90+ heart-wrenching minutes is a feat, a feat because writer-director David Lowery somehow finds a harrowing, haunting truth with very few words. It’s not surprising, considering that the film is essentially a showcase of minimalism on all levels, but each line of dialogue, each crafted scene, in setting and progression, hold the weight of the human condition — our fight against time. The characters are defined with a tragic tenderness. The supernatural concept is executed so organically. While most of the film becomes about the visual, it’s the written word that conceives such a thing, and it’s hard not to be wholly moved by the simple and profound written word of A Ghost Story.

— Kyle Kizu

Nominees:
3. Trey Edward Shults — It Comes At Night
4. Bong Joon-ho, Jon Ronson — Okja
5. Christopher Nolan — Dunkirk

Honorable Mention: Kogonada — Columbus

Best Adapted Screenplay: Mark Bomback, Matt Reeves — War for the Planet of the Apes

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The most recent Planet of the Apes trilogy is led by one of the best film characters of all time, Caesar (Andy Serkis), and that is a huge credit to the screenplays behind the films. In the best of them all, War for the Planet of the Apes, the script plunges Caesar to his lowest point, and it is nothing less than riveting. Despite the regality that emanates from him, he is brought to a crushing point of desperation — exacerbated by the menacing, if sympathetic Colonel (Woody Harrelson). Ultimately though — and this is perhaps the most defining trait of this Apes franchise — Caesar’s downfall makes him yet more human in the eyes of the viewer, and more importantly, his arc by the end of the film feels rewarding and earned. Over the course of three films, Caesar has transformed from a mere pet into an epic hero of biblical proportions — a legendary Mosaic figure that thenceforth enriches and informs the history of the apes. Then of course, War’s script maneuvers tone expertly — showing us the harrowing depths of Caesar’s fall, but also taking moments to inject much-needed levity through Bad Ape (Steve Zahn) and franchise mainstay Maurice (Karin Konoval). Such a script makes War the capper to one of the great film trilogies of all time, a sentiment echoed by 20th Century Fox’s plans for a major awards campaign.

— Harrison Tunggal

Runner-up: Sofia Coppola — The Beguiled

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There are two wars in Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled. One is obvious— the film follows a school of women and young girls in the Confederate south as they nurse a Union soldier back to health. The other is far more subtle; it wages beneath the surface, simmering behind genteel manners, flirtatious glances and courteous dinners. Coppola’s script rises to the challenge of the particular setting, imbuing those infamous Southern manners with surprising malicious underpinnings. Even Colin Farrell’s charming Union soldier comes across as harmless on paper, but it’s the nonverbal threats accompanying his every word that leave the audience on the edge of their seats. News that Coppola was adapting the original 1971 film came with both criticism and anticipation, but in the end, the script is one of her all-time best. Talk about nailing an ending.

— Kate Halliwell

Nominees:
3. Erik Sommers, Chris McKenna, Christopher Ford, Jon Watts, John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein — Spider-Man: Homecoming
4. Alice Birch — Lady Macbeth
5. Allan Heinberg, Zack Snyder, Jason Fuchs — Wonder Woman

Honorable Mention: Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham — The Glass Castle

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Holly Hunter — The Big Sick

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Holly Hunter has always been a reliable character actor, winning an Oscar in 1993 for Jane Campion’s The Piano. However, it has been awhile since she gave a performance that dominated the critics circle and awards season talk. Well, thanks to her touching, humorous and scene-stealing turn in The Big Sick, it appears that she is about to enter those conversations again, and maybe even dominate them.

In the film, Hunter plays Beth, the mother to Zoe Kazan’s character Emily Gardner whose sudden medical condition puts her into a coma. From here, Emily’s ex-boyfriend, Kumail Nanjiani (playing himself) feels like he has to stay bedside to Emily throughout this ordeal, despite Beth’s wishes for him to keep his distance. At first, Beth’s character seems like the stereotypical, stuck-up mom who doesn’t believe anyone will know her daughter better than her. Yet thanks to both Hunter’s acting and Nanjiani’s writing, the film slowly reveals the depths of character that have made Beth such the stern mother she is. While she may live an upper-middle class life, saying her life has been easy is a miscalculation of her tics. Being the performance behind some of the most tear-jerking scenes in the movie (and since the movie might be the biggest tear-jerker of the year so far), Hunter won us over. Look for major awards talk to come her way this year.  

— Levi Hill

Runner-up: Rooney Mara — A Ghost Story

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No one does repressed grief quite like Rooney Mara. From her turn as a restrained, lovestruck shopgirl in Carol, to Lisbeth Salander’s trademark subdued fury, Mara has built a career on her ability to speak volumes with a single look. A Ghost Story marks a return to form for Mara, who is genuinely devastating as a grieving wife haunted by her recently deceased husband. Mara is as understated as always, and again she’s enormously effective. Pain flickers across her face, then it’s quickly replaced with a sort of emptiness, a numb realization that things will never return to the way they were before. Mara has reached a point in her career where perfection is expected, and as such, her performance in A Ghost Story will most likely miss out on any awards season recognition. Even so, it’s comforting to know that performances like these are just another film for Mara. We can look forward to many more understated, brilliant turns to come.

Just perhaps not ones that involve eating an entire pie.

— Kate Halliwell

Nominees:
3. Tiffany Haddish — Girls Trip
4. Tilda Swinton — Okja
5. Kirsten Dunst — The Beguiled

Honorable Mention: Zoe Kazan — The Big Sick

Achievement in Costume Design: Jeffrey Kurland — Dunkirk

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Dunkirk may not jump out as a film with amazing costume design. And that’s exactly why it’s such an achievement. Costume designer Jeffrey Kurland didn’t have the uniforms in hand to simply recreate. Each garb had to be handcrafted with the character’s definition ingrained in each thread. Upon close inspection, what may have initially looked like an endless see of brown becomes an indicator of what kind of soldier each one is. For Tommy (Fionn Whitehead), his uniform is overwhelming and big, a sign of his youth and inexperience. Alex (Harry Styles) wears, as some may not have noticed, a slightly different uniform (people have connected his character and his regiment to Scotland), one that fits tighter and is more controlled, indicative of his higher status. But the singularity of uniforms wouldn’t have been enough to sell the look of this film. Dunkirk is about being there. It’s about feeling as though you’re on the beaches, as though you’re being bombed by German planes. It’s about the feeling of being stuck. And the costumes had to be designed with this gritty, dirty, sweaty sense of desperation, of being washed over by ocean water, of being stranded for a week and beaten down into the streets and sand.

But the costumes are also about the civilians who came across on boats. The sweaters have already been raved about humorously on social media. But the 40s English attire truly does inform the story. These are ordinary men thrust into an operation far greater than anyone may handle, and the humble simplicity in a hand-knitted red sweater truly does impact the film and call to the “Dunkirk spirit” as much as the soldiers’ wear and tear does.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Stacey Battat — The Beguiled

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Period dramas tend to seem like a boring choice when it comes to costume design recognition, but the pastel evening gowns and crinkled crinolines of The Beguiled are too fabulous to ignore. In one particularly memorable scene, Kirsten Dunst’s sexually repressed Southern belle comes to dinner in a ruffled, revealing gown that ostentatiously shows off her best assets. Her attempt at wooing Colin Farrell’s charismatic Union soldier is just as unsubtle as the gown itself. Instead, he’s more interested in Elle Fanning’s far younger seductress, who is all blushing cheeks and fluttering eyelashes in a series of flowy white gowns. Nicole Kidman presides over the chaos as a stern, commanding governess. She’s nearly always clothed in imposing high-necked gowns, excepting the already infamous “Bring me the anatomy book!” scene, where she’s literally up to her elbows in blood. What a waste of a gorgeous nightgown.

— Kate Halliwell

Nominees:
3. Holly Waddington — Lady Macbeth 
4. Cindy Evans — Atomic Blonde 
5. Lindy Hemming — Wonder Woman

Honorable Mention: Annell Brodeur — A Ghost Story

Achievement in Production Design: Nathan Crowley — Dunkirk

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Similar to its costumes, Dunkirk doesn’t jump out as a film with stunning production design. In actuality, it’s not meant to be one. The production design, much like every other craft aspect of the film, acts in service of immersion, in service of the visceral, tangible, largely physical experience. Shooting on the real beaches of Dunkirk came with a big problem: part of the central setting, the mole, had been destroyed. And thus, production designer Nathan Crowley was tasked with recreating it, with building a pier that’s been, alongside the soldiers, the blunt victim of unforgiving waves and, more terrifyingly, dive-bombers. As Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) and Gibson (Aneurin Barnard) run down the breakwater, squeezing between soldiers and traversing blown off portions over only planks, the mole feels and, most importantly, looks alive, like a character bracing alongside the soldiers.

The sets of ship interiors and exteriors during attacks, of a stronghold in the city and of the equipment and vehicles on the beaches are designed with that same gritty, worn down aura and historical accuracy. These sets are complex and extensive, built to invoke claustrophobia. Crowley also makes use of portion sets and cardboard cutouts for backgrounds, extending the view of soldiers endlessly, capturing the scope of 400,000 men.

But where the film engulfs us next is in its design of its planes, recreating Spitfires through redesigns of other planes. The dogfight sequences are some of the most stunning of Dunkirk, and the fact that real planes are used, interiors and exteriors designed with pinpoint precision, does wonders for the main goal of the film: transporting us there.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Aline Bonetto — Wonder Woman

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In the first act of Wonder Woman, we feel a sense of awe not yet felt within the DC Extended Universe, as we explore the island of Themyscira, where Wonder Woman was brought up by the Amazons. The architecture and culture of Themyscira is reminiscent of the ancient Greeks, but unique enough to fascinate and intrigue viewers, and that’s a credit to production designer Aline Bonetto. Of course, her work in designing the drabness of London and the battlefields of World War I are admirable, but her work in designing Themyscira is truly praiseworthy. She carves out a space within the DCEU that’s bright and majestic, and it leaves us nothing less than wonderstruck.

— Harrison Tunggal

Nominees:
3. David Scheunemann — Atomic Blonde
4. James Chinlund — War for the Planet of the Apes 
5. Scott Chambliss — Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Honorable Mention: Hugues Tissandier — Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: John Blake, Jay Wejebe — Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

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The makeup in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is nothing short of pristine. The stunning makeup on the colorful aliens Yondu (Michael Rooker), Drax (Dave Bautista) and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) were carryovers from the first Guardians film, but this time, John Blake, Jay Wejebe and their team created an entire race of aliens covered in a gold sheen — the Sovereign. These aliens look like walking Oscars, which could be somewhat prophetic given the team’s excellent work in this film. If that weren’t enough, the film also puts a spotlight on the Ravagers, a motley crew of scarred, deformed space pirates, which put the onus on the makeup team to create a variety of hardened alien thieves. In particular, the film’s joke about Taserface (Chris Sullivan) wouldn’t have worked had it not been for an appropriately tasered face. Even though Star Wars: The Last Jedi might throw this makeup team’s chances at Oscar glory for a loop, they deserve every bit of praise for this list of summer awards.

— Harrison Tunggal

Runner-up: Shandra Page, Tony Ward, Mia Goff, Natalie Christine Johnson — The Beguiled

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Rarely does hairstyling get as much recognition as makeup, but the work of the hair team of The Beguiled is as integral to the film as every other craft department. With the film’s themes and concepts, of sexual attraction, of a deconstruction of the male gaze, of a community of women separated from the warring country, and with the historical setting, the hairstyling had to be pitch perfect. And it is. The younger children all hold a sense of curiosity and innocence within the larger scale of events. Nicole Kidman emanates a regal authority, fitting her position as head of the house. Elle Fanning’s hairstyling evokes the explorative sexuality that is centric to the film’s story, as is the quiet and repressed core of Kirsten Dunst’s character, whose hair reflects her journey of attempting to break free from a community she doesn’t feel as though she truly belongs to. On an aesthetic sense, the hairstyling is beautiful. But because of the fact that it serves the story so thoroughly, it deserves endless recognition.

— Kyle Kizu

Nominees:
3. Jessie Eden, Sasha Grossman — It Comes At Night 
4. Laura Morse, Christine Blundell — Wonder Woman 
5. Sian Wilson — Lady Macbeth

Honorable Mention: Lesley Vanderwalt — Alien: Covenant

Achievement in Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema — Dunkirk

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It was hard to imagine Christopher Nolan without his longtime cinematographer Wally Pfister. But after Interstellar, it became hard to imagine Nolan not working with Dutch-Swedish lenser Hoyte van Hoytema for the foreseeable future. And their collaboration on Dunkirk shows just why Hoytema may be Nolan’s greatest partner. From the breathtaking first image to the mesmerizing penultimate shot, Hoytema’s work represents the pinnacle of cinema, especially in its IMAX 70mm form. As what’s been said time and time again with Dunkirk‘s craft categories, the main goal of the cinematography is for immersion. And it does that unlike any film truly has. Utilizing the IMAX camera like a go-pro, Hoytema places us as a soldier on the beach, ducking for cover, racing to the departing boats, shaking at the shockwaves of bombs. Through the cinematography, we inhabit a space on the small civilian boats, thrown around by waves. We inhabit a space below deck on navy destroyers, nearly drowning after being downed by a U-boat. We inhabit a space in the air, peering through the scope, veering left and right, laboring as we try to shoot down the German ME 109s. These are camera angles that haven’t been fully realized until this film, with Hoytema and the team inventing rigs to place cameras where they’ve never been before.

On a technical level, the work is astounding. At first, it might not seem as artistic as his cinematography on Interstellar. But Hoytema is perhaps more subtly artful in his rendering of Dunkirk. Like the shot above, there’s this breathtaking sense of scope, this arresting design of the mise-en-scene that tones the look of Dunkirk with a trapped claustrophobia amid one of the largest and most important events of the 20th century. And at the end, the wandering camera almost finds a tranquility unexpected with a film like Dunkirk. Farrier’s (Tom Hardy) Spitfire, gliding with the soldiers below and the city in the background, is truly a shot for the ages, a quiet one that allows us to breathe after all of the overwhelming movement. It’s cinematography that represents the best that cinema can offer, that fights for the medium, both of the film format and of film in general, with something purely visual.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Andrew Droz Palermo — A Ghost Story

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If Dunkirk showcases the best that cinematography can offer on the large scale, then A Ghost Story offers the best of cinematography on a small scale. Andrew Droz Palermo’s work truly shows an artist in tune with every thematic level of the art. With A Ghost Story, we’re meant to project our emotions onto the titular ghost, and Palermo rightfully lingers, hangs and frames shots in ways that overwhelm — especially in the framing of uninterrupted still shots — to a point where it’s impossible not to find a profound emotion, or ten, within the eyes of the ghost. But Palermo also excels in movement, his tracking in particularly. There’s this haunting, majestic, almost mythic poetry as we slowly follow the ghost, wholly crafting the film’s spirituality and invoking just what the film needed to become truly great: making us, the viewer, a ghost ourselves.

— Kyle Kizu

Nominees:
3. Philippe Le Sourd — The Beguiled
4. Bill Pope — Baby Driver
5. Michael Seresin — War for the Planet of the Apes

Honorable Mention: Elisha Christian — Columbus

Achievement in Film Editing: Lee Smith — Dunkirk

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Dunkirk performs an illusion: the Shepard tone. You may think I’m talking about the score. I’m not. The score performs the illusion too, but Dunkirk, the film itself, is structured in a way that replicates the effects of the typically musical anomaly — something Christopher Nolan intended while writing the screenplay. It’s a massive, difficult task to weave together three storylines that not only are all constantly rising in tension, but also play out on different timeframes. Before jumping in, outside of those complex aspects, Lee Smith is incredibly calculated when crafting action scenes. The Spitfire sequences have been raved about for their realism, and credit must be given to Smith for how fluid and steady the progression of each dogfight is. And right before the soldiers are dive-bombed by German planes, Smith lingers on reaction shots, of eyes wandering up to the sky at the source of noise, masterfully building suspense. But Smith has done these and similar things before, his work on the grander scale of Dunkirk being what truly solidifies this as his and Nolan’s greatest collaboration yet — a monumental feat when considering their work on Inception. Despite jumping backward and forward in time, there’s never a sense of imbalance in the film’s momentum. Each thread feels as though it’s still progressing, even when it’s treading water we’ve been through before — often thanks to careful revelations of dramatic irony. And as the film builds, the structure does too. As expected, the three timelines meet at a singular moment. But instead of simply crashing them together, Nolan and Smith play the climax out of order as the threads seem to try to find each other. There’s a great sense of disorientation, a purposeful one to tone the chaotic, senseless and harrowing event happening before their (and our) eyes, but the scene never loses focus or coherency — a quality that all the best edited films have. The climax plays out of order, but it plays so masterfully that out of order feels somehow more organic, an intangible sense of filmic cohesion, just as the entirety of Dunkirk is, due to how the film is put together.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss — Baby Driver

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While Dunkirk is a monumental feat in film editing, Baby Driver isn’t as far off as one would assume. Blending the tap and dance sound mixing of a classical musical, with more ferocity of any heist scene featured in Fate of the Furious, Baby Driver would not be as successful of a film as it is without the incredible, crisp editing that Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss pull off. Edgar Wright’s films always feature bravado filmmaking, with wipe pans, dual screens, long tracking shots and practically anything else the cinematic genius can think of, and only editors with the most amount of precision could bring all of the visual and aural synchronization together. So while this might be our runner-up for Best Editing, don’t be surprised if the film manages an ACE nomination later this year.

— Levi Hill

Nominees:
3. David Lowery — A Ghost Story
4. Sarah Flack — The Beguiled
5. Matthew Hannam, Trey Edward Shults — It Comes At Night

Honorable Mention: Meeyeon Han, Yang Jinmo — Okja

Achievement in Sound Editing: Richard King, Michael W. Mitchell, Randy Torres — Dunkirk 

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If we had to pick the most important technical aspect of Dunkirk, which would be an entirely unfair and borderline impossible task, the one that would be the most understandable to point to is sound, both editing and mixing.

Editing is the crafting of sounds and, in Dunkirk, it’s often specific sounds that add the most to the suspense. The incoming wane of the German planes’ horns is truly horrifying, as is the bombs’ explosions, which find a terrifyingly earthy, subsurface sound as they lift sand and soldier into the air.  When we’re in the interior of planes, the rumble of metal adds to a sense of immersion, to a sense of fear and anxiety in the smallest of spaces. And with the approach of Nolan, to remove the face of the enemy, bullets are louder, more jarring and more affecting. They pierce, whether it be through skin or sand or wood or metal, with a jolting, invasive, bodily ping. Dunkirk is meant to be a suspense film, and the specific sounds of war, sounds that real Dunkirk veterans have said are louder than the actual event, are crafted here with their fullest effect.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Will Files — War for the Planet of the Apes

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In the rebooted Planet of the Apes trilogy, we see some of the most realistic special effects of all time, but the CGI wizardry wouldn’t hold up if not for excellent sound editing. The sound editing of War for the Planet of the Apes completes the film’s masterful CGI illusions, connecting our expectations of ape sounds with the visuals onscreen. We are convinced that the apes onscreen are grunting, shuffling about in the snow and fighting in a realistic way. Additionally, the sounds of war — the opening and closing battle scenes in particular come to mind — are immersive, putting us on the ground alongside Caesar and his apes. War films are often recognized for their sound editing, and in these awards, War for the Planet of the Apes is no different.

— Harrison Tunggal

Nominees:
3. Choi Tae-young — Okja
4. James Mather, David Mackie, Nina Norek — Wonder Woman
5. Shannon Mills, Guillaume Bouchateau — Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Honorable Mention: David Acord, Addison Teague, Lee Gilmore — Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Achievement in Sound Mixing: Mark Weingarten, Unsun Song — Dunkirk

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Sound mixing is how all of the sounds are brought together to create an atmosphere. And, quite evidently, Dunkirk has an auditory atmosphere fit for a horror film. No, truly. Dunkirk‘s sound mixing is in the vein of horror films. Think to the bombing of the hospital boat. As the giant ship’s metal moans as the boat tips into the wood of the mole, a voice can be heard screaming repeatedly, its body being crushed. Body’s jump off into the water, each splash toning the already terrifying scene that’s featured gunshots riddling the pier and bombs exploding on the boat.

The mix overwhelms us into a transfixed terror, hosting obviously physical elements within those attacks. But it also is subtly physical, working on every layer, literally, to render the beach, boats and air tangible. The wind and splashing waves almost feel like they hit us, constantly sitting behind the dialogue, reminding us of the setting. The wisp of the air, rattle of the Spitfire’s cockpit and masks of the pilots render dialogue as muffled and communication as difficult, as it would be in its reality. Dunkirk‘s sound mixing can transition from desperate voices drowning within the interior of a ship to massive explosions on its exterior with such fluidity while also maintaining the chaos of the situation. And that’s the true purpose of sound mixing, to become physical and to inform the story. With Dunkirk, there’s almost no movie at all without the horror that the mix provokes.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Kasper Pedersen, Al Green, Mary H. Ellis, James Peterson — Baby Driver

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Sound will always be one of the most underrated aspects of film, especially sound mixing. Where sound editing can tend to favor bombast, as sound editing represents the actual sounds we are hearing, mixing has to favor subtlety. Mixing is how the sound designers bring together all of the disparate sounds to create one perfect aural mix.

And honestly, it doesn’t get much better than what can be heard in Edgar Wright’s summer masterpiece Baby Driver. Featuring a booming soundtrack, with tight editing of car chases and heist scenes in sync with the sound, the Baby Driver mixing team had their work cut out for them. Imagine having to combine a rollicking Bellbottoms song, with the faint singing and air drumming of Ansel Elgort (in-tune with the music), with a souped-up muscle car’s engine running, all the while in the distance a heist with sirens and shooting is taking place. Sound like a doozy? Well, that’s just the first scene in a film filled to the brim with impeccable craft in the audial categories.  

— Levi Hill

Nominees:
3. Chris Duesterdiek, Erin Michael Rettig, Shawn Holden — War for the Planet of the Apes
4. Michael L. Barnett — A Ghost Story
5. Chris Duesterdiek, Danny Michale, Park Jong-kun — Okja

Honorable Mention: Ronnie Mukwaya — Wonder Woman

Achievement in Visual Effects: Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri — War for the Planet of the Apes

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If one were to travel back in time to 1968 and show Charlton Heston War for the Planet of the Apes, one could undeniably convince him that the film was made using real ape actors (Hell, you could convince me that the film was made using actual apes). Of course, one would cause irreparable harm to the space-time continuum, possibly precipitating an actual simian hegemony, but that’s beside the point. The fact is, the visual effects in War (and the trilogy it belongs to) are utterly groundbreaking. Great CGI is nothing new, but the way the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise is predicated on photo-real apes is nothing short of extraordinary. These films need their apes to look believable, or else there’s no way an audience could invest in its characters, and it works — in the faces of these apes, we see genuine human emotion. The words “movie magic” get thrown around too casually to wholly represent the peak craftsmanship involved in creating this franchise’s apes, but one does feel a sense of wonderment at seeing something as totally unique and powerful as the CGI in War.

— Harrison Tunggal

Runner-up: Scott Stokdyk, Joe Letteri — Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

STX Entertainment

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets initially looked like a visual risk, seemingly bordering on muted overuse of CGI that could fall flat and become forgettable. Thankfully, the film evades that pitfall, so much so that it almost makes up for the unengaging story and one dimensional characters. And that’s because, in a way, the visual effects do impact the story. The beings and objects that the CGI in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets creates are distinct. Worlds are rendered with attention to detail, not just aesthetically, but societally, as civilizations are visually crafted with systems, practices and purpose. That’s what takes the visual effects to the next level. They’re stunning and beautiful to look at, generating imagery that only a visual master like Luc Besson and an expert visual effects team could’ve concocted — aliens are neither replicants of humans nor are they so wildly complex — and making use of color in distinct and attractive ways. But the visual effects also serve to world-build, or in this case, universe-build, and they’re taken to the next level for it.

— Kyle Kizu

Nominees:
3. Matthew Crnich, Ray McMaster, Doug Spilatro, Christopher Townsend — Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
4. Jeon Hyoung Lee, Jun Hyoung Kim, Mike F. Hedayati, Erik De Boer — Okja
5. Viktor Muller, Bill Westenhofer, Loeng Wong-Savun — Wonder Woman

Honorable Mention: Theodore Bialek, Lou Pecora, Dominik Zimmerle — Spider-Man: Homecoming

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Mark Rylance — Dunkirk

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Similar to his Oscar-winning Bridge of Spies turn, Rylance’s performance in Dunkirk is incredibly understated, with perhaps even less screen time. In the film’s aftermath, one quickly realizes that it’s the work of an actor who informs every bit of himself, physically and vocally, with why his character is the way he is. Truly, the aftermath, both at the end of the film and after audiences have left the theaters, is where Rylance’s performance holds the most weight.

Within Dunkirk, Rylance plays a civilian committed to crossing the channel, even in dire circumstances, and a man with a fascination for the RAF’s planes. But pay close attention to the dialogue after his boat, the Moonstone, full of rescued soldiers, dodges one final attack before making its way back to England, and Jack Lowden’s Collins asks Rylance’s Mr. Dawson how he knew the maneuvers to evade the German plane. Mr. Dawson says that his son was in the RAF before Peter, the son that we’ve known, reveals that he had a brother who died three weeks into the war. Mr. Dawson says, “I knew he’d see us through,” before tending to a shaking, terrified soldier (Cillian Murphy). In that moment, and after that specific line and that specific image, we pause, our breaths almost taken away.

The exposition, about the engines of Spitfires, delivered with a comforting admiration, becomes highly personal. The recurring fatherly moments — both in image (his heartbreaking nod to Peter after a tragic reveal) and in dialogue (his collected yet commanding presence when organizing a hectic rescue) — portray a character so defined and so thoroughly realized that, in repeat viewings, it’s difficult not to be in awe of Rylance as a performer.

But finally, one moment stands out. As Collins’ plane crashes into the water, Peter tells his Dad that he didn’t see a parachute and that the engine was out. Mr. Dawson doesn’t respond. Peter repeats. Mr. Dawson steers his boat firmly ahead. Peter repeats again, adding that the pilot is probably dead. Finally Mr. Dawson flings around, yelling, “Damnit Peter, I hear you!” He glances back. “Maybe he’s alive.” His volume lowers to a heartbreaking reserve. “Maybe we can help him.” It’s a moment that comes before the revelation, and is powerful when first seen. But in learning of his dead son, one who flew with the RAF, this moment transforms. His yells and his desperation are in an image of his son. In that moment, Mr. Dawson is trying to save the son that he couldn’t, and Rylance uses every ounce of his physical emotion to find that truth.

Dunkirk is an overwhelming spectacle, a film more about the event and the mass of people than purely individuals. Many have said that the near nameless, near faceless characters are simply there, without much emotion. But imagine Dunkirk without Rylance’s Mr. Dawson. It’s really difficult. Imagine Mr. Dawson as played by someone other than Rylance. It’s almost impossible. Rylance plays the most pivotal role in the film. Mr. Dawson is the core, the heart, the father — a character with actual inspiration from Christopher Nolan’s late father — that guides this picture’s emotions along a harrowing journey. It’s Rylance who sees us through.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Ray Romano — The Big Sick

Amazon/Courtesy

In The Big Sick, Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani) meets Beth (Holly Hunter) and Terry (Ray Romano), the parents of his ex-girlfriend, Emily (Zoe Kazan), who falls into a coma. Despite Beth and Terry’s initial dismissiveness toward Kumail, he still decides to have lunch with them in the hospital cafeteria. As if things couldn’t get any more uncomfortable, Terry almost immediately dials the awkward levels to precipitous heights: “So, uh. 9/11. . .” Nevertheless, Terry develops a close bond with Kumail over the course of the film, and Ray Romano gets the chance to showcase his iconic comedy chops, while diving into his best dramatic role. Romano’s delivery relishes the awkwardness of Terry’s situation, but underneath it, there’s a tenderness and sincerity that The Big Sick depends on, and makes it all the more endearing and emotional.

— Harrison Tunggal

Nominees:
3. Michael Fassbender — Alien: Covenant
4. Chris Pine — Wonder Woman
5. O’Shea Jackson Jr. — Ingrid Goest West

Honorable Mention: Steven Yeun — Okja

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score): Hans Zimmer — Dunkirk

Warner Bros./Courtesy

Many weren’t sure what to expect with Dunkirk‘s score, unsure of how legendary composer Hans Zimmer could expand his already endlessly experimental career after voiding percussion and crafting his most emotional score with Interstellar. But somehow, with Dunkirk, Zimmer goes further, composing music that serves the film in an entirely different way. Here, Zimmer seemingly avoids musicality entirely, instead enhancing the soundscape of the film infinitely by adding to it. The center of the score is the tick of a watch, representing the urgency and immediateness of time. The tick is overbearing at times, ramping up tenfold, invading our bodies and digging its way into our heads. Much of the score’s lower sections are made up of sounds that feel as though they’re remnants of the battle itself, as though they’re the creaks of boats, the wanes of the ocean against a ship’s metal or the explosions of bombs. There are certain horror inspirations, with the biting strings of violins, the moan of the bass, the constantly and quickly fluctuating volume of a high pitched, auric screech. The beginning of Home sounds as though it’s been plucked straight out of a horror film.

As mentioned before, Zimmer makes use of the Shepard tone, a musical illusion that sounds like it’s constantly rising in tension. For a film based in suspense, tension and terror, such an illusion has immense effect, the pieces often becoming so filled with energy that’s then released in climactic fashion during the attack sequences.

But even despite the fact that Zimmer strays from typical musicality, he still manages to compose some career best work. In particular, The Oil represents everything utterly magnificent about Zimmer. Like pieces from Interstellar and The Dark KnightThe Oil starts incredibly low in volume and thin in layers. Playing at the climax of the film itself, The Oil builds in layers and volume consistently for six straight minutes, adding literal rise to the illusion of rising, before exploding into its own climax just as the film does. With this, the piece then becomes a serious, overbearing manipulation of the mind and the body, which initially sounds unpleasant, but, when watching the film’s climax, grabs hold of the eyes in ways that the climax couldn’t without the piece and in ways that cinema strives for.

And all of this comes without discussion of the film’s most emotional and most musical element: the influence of Edward Elgar’s Nimrod. Portions of it can be heard in Home, beautifully encapsulating the “Dunkirk spirit” as the civilian boats arrive. But none is more moving than Variation 15, a variation on Nimrod composed by Benjamin Wallfisch and produced by Zimmer, which plays at the end of the film. There’s something “unbearably moving” about it, as Christopher Nolan himself says in regard to Nimrod. And the piece does just that. The events at Dunkirk were a “military disaster” as Winston Churchill put it. But there’s “a victory inside this deliverance,” and it is exactly Variation 15 that renders not only the journey of the characters as triumphant, but Zimmer’s score and Dunkirk itself as well.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Daniel Hart — A Ghost Story

A24/Courtesy

Whether it’s the grating strings that herald Whatever Hour You Woke, or the warm, embracing melody of a single violin on Post Pie, Daniel Hart’s score for A Ghost Story never relents in its uncanny power to haunt the listener. The sense of introspective melancholy found in any of the score’s tracks lingers with the listener, until — especially through the defining track, I Get Overwhelmed — a swell of emotion becomes inescapable, maybe even cathartic in a powerfully ethereal way. A Ghost Story asks its viewer to project emotions onto the titular lonely specter, but Hart’s score amplifies those emotions, making them profoundly affecting in myriad ways. Resultantly, listening to Hart’s score is its own singular experience, one that exists beyond the confines of the film itself. Just put it on at night, maybe even fall asleep to it, and see what it tells you.

— Harrison Tunggal

Nominees:
3. Michael Giacchino — War for the Planet of the Apes

4. Brian McOmber — It Comes At Night
5. Oneohtrix Point Never — Good Time

Honorable Mention: Michael Giacchino — Spider-Man: Homecoming

Performance by an Ensemble Cast: The Big Sick

Amazon/Courtesy

Where the potential for brilliant ensemble work in The Big Sick started was with the script, as Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani wrote each character with a genuine emotional arc. But that would’ve been for only so much had the roles not been cast to utter perfection. Kumail plays himself, which could’ve turned out poorly for the film. But he allows for a vulnerability that speaks to the reality of the story while other playing-themselves-stunts might’ve avoided such an aspect. Zoe Kazan, playing Emily, gives herself over to the role, also finding a vulnerability, except with the perspective of her character, which makes for a performance that feels singular and truthful. Romano and Hunter, playing Emily’s parents, play off of each other impeccably well, nailing the key traits of character that allow for a back and forth rhythm that elevates the importance of their relationship and role within the story as well as the comedy that they provide. The same goes for Anupam Kher and Zenobia Shroff, playing Kumail’s parents, who bring an opposite perspective, but an equally dynamic chemistry. Throw in Bo Burnham basically playing himself (which is a good thing!) and supporting characters that each feel like their own person, and The Big Sick is the type of ensemble that doesn’t come around that often.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: Okja

Kimberly French/Netflix/Courtesy

Every member of Okja’s ensemble cast is essential, bringing new dimensions and nuances to the film. Of course, there’s Ahn Seo-hyun, who gives the film its beating heart, and the obvious standouts like Tilda Swinton, bringing her unique brand of weird humor, and Jake Gyllenhaal, who adds to the zaniness by giving a performance that is essentially a Joker audition. Though he doesn’t have much screen time, Giancarlo Esposito also lends the film his trademark cool. The cast comprising the Animal Liberation Front brings their A-game too, as Paul Dano and Lily Collins play determined, uncompromising activists. Steven Yeun arguably gives one of the best performances in the film, since he is playing a distinctly Korean-American character, one that is essential in developing the theme of linguistic boundaries, and how systems of power play into them. Every character in Okja is rich and specific in detail, and only through a stellar ensemble cast can the film’s characters be truly realized.

— Harrison Tunggal

Nominees:
3. Dunkirk
4. Baby Driver
5. The Beguiled

Honorable Mention: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Achievement in Directing: Christopher Nolan — Dunkirk

Melina Sue Gordon

While many may still hold that The Dark Knight or Inception are better films, few will argue that Christopher Nolan’s direction of Dunkirk isn’t the best of his career, which is seriously saying something. The film has been awarded so many categories above precisely because of how every aspect of this film is working at full power and with full force, something that comes together under the guidance of one of the true auteurs of our time. Dunkirk is Nolan’s most cinematically ambitious film, utilizing the IMAX film format like it never has before and turning to visual elements of film, and away from dialogue and conventional story, to craft a piece of art that is wholly and purely cinematic, that can only exist as a piece of cinema. Nolan’s guiding hand paces the film to craft unmatched tension and structures the film to capitalize on and make the most of the historical event as well as to continue his investigation into time. It is at once Nolan’s most experimental film, the film that deviates the most from his typical style and expands his purview, while also being perhaps the most “Nolan” film we’ve gotten so far. His composition of action sequences, grounded in the physical, tangible reality of practical sets and practical effects, represents a technical genius on par with Alfonso Cuarón and George Miller, directors of similarly gigantic cinematic achievements. But his handling of theme, that of time, invoked by the film’s structure, elevates him above being purely a masterful technician. Nolan, showcased perhaps most efficiently and thouguhyl by his direction of Dunkirk, is a masterful storyteller.

Runner-up: David Lowery — A Ghost Story

Bret Burry/A24/Courtesy

A Ghost Story is obviously a very personal story to David Lowery, and sometimes, because something’s personal, it fails to be translated and executed in a way that resonates with audiences. And yet, there’s so much care offered to each frame, to each performance, to how each aspect of production, from technical to emotional, coalesces into the singularity that is A Ghost Story — a tale about grief that is as human as any film you might think of. Lowery’s direction, how he holds on to scenes, how he paces and progresses the narrative and how he forces the viewer to confront the film, is sublime. But his job as a director perhaps becomes elevated by how he works with his team and how he opens up to suggestion. The film initially was structured much more linearly until Shane Carruth came in to help edit. The film also lacked the song I Get Overwhelmed and how that song is intimately connected to the characters until Daniel Hart, who created the song, suggested it. Lowery’s personal vision doesn’t fail because he allows others in on it. A Ghost Story is not the sign of a typical “auteur,” but of someone who knows that in order to craft his deeply personal message, it has to become about the collaboration between everyone. And in that way, under that type of direction, A Ghost Story is a fully realized story about the weight of time.

— Kyle Kizu

Nominees:
3. Edgar Wright — Baby Driver
4. Bong Joon-ho — Okja
5. Trey Edward Shults — It Comes At Night

Honorable Mention: Matt Reeves — War for the Planet of the Apes

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Florence Pugh — Lady Macbeth

Roadside Attractions/Courtesy

It was a summer of nasty women. In an attempt at viral marketing, the team behind The Beguiled rolled out a summer campaign that dubbed its leading ladies “vengeful bitches.” While the term certainly fit, an unassuming summer indie ended up making Sofia Coppola’s scheming Southern belles look positively docile. Lady Macbeth, starring Florence Pugh, was the feminist, “burn the patriarchy” movie of the summer. In the beginning, it’s a tired tale; Katherine (Pugh) is married off to an older man in what is quickly revealed to be a loveless marriage. Unlike similar period dramas, however, Katherine is no damsel in distress. She makes the jump from blushing bride to cunning psychopath in the blink of an eye, manipulating everyone in the household as her plan comes to fruition. It’s a star-making performance for Pugh, who shot the film at 19 and currently sits on the precipice of becoming Hollywood’s newest ingenue.

— Kate Halliwell

Runner-up: Ahn Seo-hyun — Okja

Netflix/Courtesy

None of Okja’s jabs at the meat industry, animal rights activism and the violence condoned by capitalism would hit hard without the audience’s investment in the relationship at the film’s core — the friendship between Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) and Okja. Since Okja is a CG creation, Ahn deserves praise for being able to act alongside a stuffed animal (later replaced with a CG super pig). She wrings heaps of emotion from us, as she frolics with Okja in the woods of her home, and as she descends into a hellish meat packing plant to save her friend. Ahn is one of the best child actors working today, and she has an undeniably bright future ahead of her.

— Harrison Tunggal

Nominees:
3. Aubrey Plaza — Ingrid Goest West
4. Charlize Theron — Atomic Blonde
5. Gal Gadot — Wonder Woman

Honorable Mention: Nicole Kidman — The Beguiled

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Andy Serkis — War for the Planet of the Apes

20th Century Fox/Courtesy

War for the Planet of the Apes, despite the grandeur and bombast implied by the title, is an intimate character study. As a result, the film relies heavily on closeups of character’s faces, more so than its two predecessors, and Andy Serkis (Caesar) rises, like he’s never done before, to that challenge. Serkis should have been nominated for awards for his pioneering motion capture work long ago, but detractors claim that CGI gives him an unfair advantage. No matter where you stand on this issue, it’s undeniable that War is predicated on Serkis’ performance. The computer wizardry behind Caesar needs to start somewhere, and Serkis provides expressions that could stand on their own. If the film isn’t evidence of the man’s talent (It is!) just look at this. We knew Serkis could deliver an extraordinary breadth of emotion from the previous films in the Apes franchise, but War considerably widens that breadth. Through the film’s close-ups, the camera lingers on the pain, weariness and sometimes joy that Caesar feels, and those emotions are extremely palpable. In particular, when Caesar is reunited with his loved ones, we see a character defined by his composure break down completely, and Serkis’ performance is powerful enough to move us to tears. Serkis truly deserves every amount of praise that comes his way, and hopefully, come fall, Academy voters won’t tune out such praise.

— Harrison Tunggal

Runner-up: Joel Edgerton — It Comes At Night

A24/Courtesy

It Comes at Night is a film that revels in ambiguity, and that extends to Joel Edgerton’s performance as Paul, a man trying to protect his family amid a viral apocalypse. In many ways, the ambiguity in the film shows how difficult it can be to trust other people, and Edgerton’s performance is nuanced enough to suggest varying degrees of morality and maybe something sinister too. He claims to have been a teacher, but how does he know how to efficiently dispose of a body, let alone shoot with tip top accuracy? Edgerton’s facial expressions don’t give us any answers, intentionally keeping us in the dark. There’s a certain weight to the character that Edgerton brings too, a grounded sense of power that gives every yell and deep stare a harsh resonance, and that’s the brilliance of his performance.

— Harrison Tunggal

Nominees:
3. Robert Pattinson — Good Time
4. Kumail Nanjiani — The Big Sick
5. Woody Harrelson — The Glass Castle

Honorable Mention: John Cho — Columbus

Best Motion Picture of the Summer: Dunkirk

Warner Bros./Courtesy

From the very beginning of Dunkirk, especially if viewed in IMAX 70mm, we are immersed, moved and affected on every sensory level in ways that virtual reality could only dream of. As showcased by its various technical awards, Dunkirk is a film that begs to be seen theatrically, that fights for the art form of cinema as it’s truly and only a cinematic experience. It’s host to action sequences that we almost never get, realistic and bracingly physical scenes that truly transport us to the beaches of Dunkirk, to the boats on the channel and to the air above, realized by artists, on every level, working toward their full potential. Its structure is experimental and, through perfect execution, almost groundbreaking, opening up a new space in how one experiences a film and how a filmmaking crafts a tense and utterly transformative story. But then there’s the sense of theme within the film that elevates it, a theme that Christopher Nolan’s been obsessed with investigating since the start of his career: time. Time works in the film to add to suspense. But it also works in building perspective, to capture scope and to evoke humanity. Dunkirk is wrapped in terror, horror, fear and more, but there’s a through-line of humanity, how all of those intense and overwhelming emotions come directly from our humanity, something Nolan approaches with empathy. In its final minutes, toned triumphantly, Dunkirk solidifies itself as more than just a technical achievement. It’s a film that represents everything that film stands for, in the theatrical, cinematic experience, both on a sensory level, but also on a deeply emotional, resonant and empathetic level as well.

— Kyle Kizu

Runner-up: It Comes At Night

A24/Courtesy

In It Comes at Night, indie-cinema-savior A24 and budding horror visionary Trey Edward Shults team up to deliver a sparse, Lynchian slow-burn of a horror-thriller, one where nightmares bleed into reality to create an inescapable sense of fear and dread. Such fear is merciless and it easily devours even the most moral of people, so when the film postulates this sentiment, a lurch in the gut becomes inevitable. Never mind the ambiguity surrounding the identity of the titular “it.” Ignore the divided opinions between critics and audiences. This film warns us that untethered, insidious fear will be our doom, and it’s a warning that needs heeding now more than ever.

— Harrison Tunggal

Nominees:
3. A Ghost Story
4. The Big Sick
5. War for the Planet of the Apes
6. Baby Driver
7. Wonder Woman
8. Okja
9. Good Time
10. The Beguiled

Honorable Mention: Columbus

 

A Note: We at MovieMinis feel a need to take into account sexual harassment and assault when relevant to films. ‘A Ghost Story’ is one of those films where a conversation must be had in order to be responsible writers, journalists and human beings. Casey Affleck was accused of sexual harassment while making the film ‘I’m Still Here.’ The cases were settled out of court. We will not, nor will we ever, act as the court, but we will and must believe the women that took cases up with him because it is necessary — as so few victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape are believed in the first place. This past of Casey Affleck has influenced many viewers of ‘A Ghost Story’ in deeply negative and painful ways, so we must make clear that our recognition of the film is not in support or endorsement of him. We denounce those actions and we must confront the reality that ‘A Ghost Story’ will always be affected by his presence. In our decision to recognize the film, we aimed to fully avoid Affleck and hoped to look at the achievements of the other people who made undeniably excellent contributions to the film. While ‘A Ghost Story’ should never be looked at as wholly separate from Affleck, we feel as though there’s a way to both celebrate the work of certain artists while also not ignoring the problems that arise with his involvement. We hope we’ve been responsible and we stand with survivors and victims. 

Featured image via Warner Bros.