award season

Thoughts on… Film Award Season

It’s mid-December and that means only one thing – film award season is heating up.

Award season is interesting to say the least and it can be annoying, overwhelming and relentless. I do have a vague interest in award season and what films get nominated for Golden Globes, SAG awards, Oscars and everything else. Part of it is because I’m a part of #FilmTwitter as there’s no escape from it all. It can be annoying and all the arguments when different films are slated or snubbed or praised can make me dislike a film. Which of course is not a good thing because the film should be judged on your viewing experience of it, not what awards it has or hasn’t been nominated for or what other people think about it.

One year when I was at university, I think it was the 2013 to 2014 awards season, I decided to try and watch all the films that would be nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress at the Oscars. Living in the UK that meant that I would get the “Oscar bait” aka all the films that was likely to be nominated for the big awards a month or two after America. It was an interesting experience but not one that I want to repeat any time soon.

I watched films that I wouldn’t normally watch. For instance, Nebraska which I can’t remember anything about and August: Osage County and the only thing I remember about that film is disliking every single one of the characters. Attempting to see all the films that will get Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress nominations was something I did to be able to say, “I’ve seen that film!” and when the nominations actually came out, I could have an opinion on all the nominees in a category. Now though, I can’t be bothered to be honest. I would rather watch films that I think I’m going to enjoy or are something I want to see no matter what nominations it does or doesn’t get and while there can be some very enjoyable and interesting “Oscar bait” films I don’t want to force myself to watch them if I don’t want to.

I think this time of year with all the awards it is sometimes just a bit much. Everyone has an opinion and there’s so many films out there, so naturally some of the films and the performances that are being talked about I haven’t seen but now I don’t feel that I must catch up. That’s because the films or performances are ones I don’t want to watch or are in horror films or are other genres that I’m not interested in and am 99% sure I won’t enjoy.

I’ll admit I’m a bit surprised that Widows isn’t getting more nominations, as I thought the performances and script were top notch, but I’ve learnt not to get too caught up in awards season. Though, I do readily admit that I love that The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is one of three films (the other two being Ben-Hur and Titanic) to have one 11 Oscars and, I believe, is the only film to have one an award in every category it was nominated in. But besides that little titbit, I’m not going to let awards season, and the 2019 Oscars, get me down.

Do you try to have an opinion on every film that gets nominated for the big awards? Or does Oscar-season just pass you by?

Thoughts on BAFTA 2016 Winners

Bafta TrophyThe BAFTAs were last night and I have some thoughts on the winners. I didn’t watch the BAFTAs on BBC One as I was engrossed in my book (A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab if you’re interested) but I followed along on Twitter so I knew pretty much who all the winners were before the show even started on the TV.

I don’t know how much the BAFTAs will be a guess as to what the Oscars winners will be, history dictates that there’s usually some crossover but who knows. But I was pretty OK with most of last night’s winners. The two big nominees that I have yet to see are Brooklyn and Steve Jobs so I can’t really comment on those that much.

Now onto the stuff I can and want to talk about. First up Best Film, I can understand why The Revenant won, it’s got all the things voters love – it was tough to make, cast and crew could’ve died etc etc but I really would’ve liked any of the other nominees to win, especially Spotlight. That film really touched a chord with me so I kind of want it to win everything it’s been nominated for so I was really pleased when it won Best Original Screenplay. The same point can be made with Alejandro G Inarritu’s Best Director win for The Revenant, I get why he won but really I wanted any of the other nominees to win more.

The acting categories are always interesting. Leonardo DiCaprio was pretty much a shoe-in to win Best Actor, I don’t think The Revenant was his best work and if he goes on to win the Oscar, a part of me thinks it will be a bit like a “we’re finally giving you the Oscar and we don’t really care what film it’s for” Oscar. I’m so happy Brie Larson won Best Actress for Room, gosh she was amazing in that film and she was my favourite out of the nominees. Mark Rylance won Best Supporting Actor for Bridge of Spies which I was happy about, would’ve liked Mark Ruffalo to win for Spotlight because I love Ruffalo but I’m happy about Rylance’s win. Like I said, I haven’t seen Steve Jobs so I can’t comment on Kate Winslet’s performance but I really hoped Alicia Vikander would’ve won for ExMachina.

I was surprised (but pleased) by how many awards Mad Max: Fury Road won. I loved that film a ridiculous amount so it see Margaret Sixel win Best Editing for it was amazing. One of the reasons I liked Mad Max: Fury Road so much was because it didn’t look like your usual quickly-edited-so-you-can’t-really-see-what’s-happening action films and that was down to Margaret Sixel. Mad Max: Fury Road also one Best Costume Design, Best Production Design and Best Make Up and Hair and were all worthy of the prize.

I also want to talk about the EE Rising Star Award. This Award is the one BAFTA that is voted for by the public it’s always an interesting one. I’m so happy John Boyega won! To be honest I’d have kind of been OK if any of the other four nominees won but Boyega has a special place in my heart. He gave a great speech and I’m still so happy for him.

Did you watch the BAFTAs last night? Do you get caught up in awards buzz or don’t you care that much? Let me know if there was anyone you’d wished have won below

The full list of winners: (more…)