2016 Critics Choice Movie Awards Complete List of Winners

BEST PICTURE
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Sicario
WINNER: Spotlight

BEST ACTOR
Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
Matt Damon – The Martian
Johnny Depp – Black Mass
WINNER: Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett – Carol
WINNER: Brie Larson – Room
Jennifer Lawrence – Joy
Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn
Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Paul Dano – Love & Mercy
Tom Hardy – The Revenant 
Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Michael Shannon – 99 Homes
WINNER: Sylvester Stallone – Creed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara – Carol
Rachel McAdams – Spotlight
Helen Mirren – Trumbo
WINNER: Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Abraham Attah – Beasts of No Nation
RJ Cyler – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Shameik Moore – Dope
Milo Parker – Mr. Holmes
WINNER: Jacob Tremblay – Room

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
The Big Short
The Hateful Eight
WINNER: Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton
Trumbo

BEST DIRECTOR
Todd Haynes – Carol 
Alejandro González Iñárritu – The Revenant 
Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
WINNER: George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
Ridley Scott – The Martian
Steven Spielberg – Bridge of Spies

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen – Bridge of Spies
Alex Garland – Ex Machina
Quentin Tarantino – The Hateful Eight
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley – Inside Out
WINNER: Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy – Spotlight

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
WINNER: Charles Randolph and Adam McKay – The Big Short
Nick Hornby – Brooklyn
Drew Goddard – The Martian
Emma Donoghue – Room
Aaron Sorkin – Steve Jobs

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Carol – Ed Lachman
The Hateful Eight – Robert Richardson
Mad Max: Fury Road – John Seale
The Martian – Dariusz Wolski
WINNER: The Revenant – Emmanuel Lubezki
Sicario – Roger Deakins

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Bridge of Spies – Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo
Brooklyn – François Séguin, Jennifer Oman and Louise Tremblay
Carol – Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
The Danish Girl – Eve Stewart, Michael Standish
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road – Colin Gibson
The Martian – Arthur Max, Celia Bobak

BEST EDITING
The Big Short – Hank Corwin
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road – Margaret Sixel
The Martian – Pietro Scalia
The Revenant – Stephen Mirrione
Spotlight – Tom McArdle

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Brooklyn – Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Carol – Sandy Powell
Cinderella – Sandy Powell
The Danish Girl – Paco Delgado
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road – Jenny Beavan

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP
Black Mass
Carol
The Danish Girl
The Hateful Eight
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Ex Machina
Jurassic World
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
The Walk

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Anomalisa
The Good Dinosaur
WINNER: Inside Out
The Peanuts Movie
Shaun the Sheep Movie

BEST ACTION MOVIE
Furious 7
Jurassic World
WINNER: Mad Max: Fury Road
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Sicario

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Daniel Craig – Spectre
Tom Cruise – Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
WINNER: Tom Hardy – Mad Max: Fury Road
Chris Pratt – Jurassic World
Paul Rudd – Ant-Man

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Emily Blunt – Sicario
Rebecca Ferguson – Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Bryce Dallas Howard – Jurassic World
Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
WINNER: Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST COMEDY
WINNER: The Big Short
Inside Out
Joy
Sisters
Spy
Trainwreck

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
WINNER: Christian Bale – The Big Short
Steve Carell – The Big Short
Robert De Niro – The Intern
Bill Hader – Trainwreck
Jason Statham – Spy

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Tina Fey – Sisters
Jennifer Lawrence – Joy
Melissa McCarthy – Spy
WINNER: Amy Schumer – Trainwreck
Lily Tomlin – Grandma

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE
WINNER: Ex Machina
It Follows
Jurassic World
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Assassin
Goodnight Mommy
Mustang
The Second Mother
WINNER: Son of Saul 

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
WINNER: Amy
Cartel Land
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
He Named Me Malala
The Look of Silence
Where to Invade Next

BEST SONG
Fifty Shades of Grey – “Love Me Like You Do”
WINNER: Furious 7 – “See You Again”
The Hunting Ground – “Til It Happens To You”
Love & Mercy – “One Kind of Love”
Spectre – “Writing’s on the Wall”
Youth – “Simple Song #3”

BEST SCORE
Carol – Carter Burwell
WINNER: The Hateful Eight – Ennio Morricone
The Revenant – Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto
Sicario – Johann Johannsson
Spotlight – Howard Shore

You're Never Too Old To Be The Intern

"70-year-old widower Ben Whittaker has discovered that retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be. Seizing an opportunity to get back in the game, he becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site, founded and run by Jules Ostin." ~ IMDB

Rated PG-13

 Nancy Meyers makes movies just for me.  At least that's what I choose to believe.  I loved "Something's Got To Give" & "It's Complicated", so I was pretty sure I would like this movie.  What I didn't expect was to laugh hysterically - along with the entire audience - multiple times!

 I have to admit I wasn't blown away by Anne Hathaway. I kept feeling she wasn't that believable.  Give Reese Witherspoon or Jennifer Aniston this role, and now you have something. 

I was also bored with the character of Matt (Jules husband).  He was a real jerk & in real life - any strong woman would have kicked him to the curb.  

It was the interaction between Ben Whittaker (played by Robert De Niro) and the other three interns who stole the show IMO.  Adam Devine and Zack Pearlman – both were hilarious!

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie!  It was nice to see a film the whole family could enjoy. 

My Top Ten Movies of 2014 (aka the year I cried every time I went to the movies)

I know my Top Ten List is late to the party, but there were a couple of movies I wanted to see before I made my final decisions.  

I also know this list is going to piss off some folks, other critics may think I have lost my mind.  So let's be clear.  This is a list of MY favorite movies.  Maybe they aren't blockbusters, maybe they aren't getting awards buzz, but they resonated with me for one reason or another.  

So without further ado:


#10  Selma

Someone commented on Facebook "we all know this story - we all took history."  I challenge that.  I think we are too quick to assume we know all about the struggles of African Americans in this country.  Every family should see this movie and many conversations should follow.  We have a long way to go, people.


#9 Love Is Strange

This was just a beautiful love story.  A simple reminder to open our hearts and allow people to love who they love.  Everyone has a story.  Everyone deserves happiness.  



#8 The Sublime and Beautiful

The human spirit is quite resilient, we all know this.  But this movie showcases all of the feelings we must work through when facing our darkest hours.  It was a very difficult movie to watch but man, was it beautifully done.  

#7 Whiplash

The underlying story in this movie really got to me.  If Miles Teller would have played an athlete, it would have been so predictable.  But seeing a young man in the arts facing the very same pressure and demons, well it was just fantastic.


#6 St. Vincent

This was a nice little surprise.  We went on a Sunday afternoon - and I let Jay choose,  telling him this was a "funny movie".  Well it was, until it wasn't.  Lots of funny parts, that's for sure - but we quickly learn it's so much more.  I absolutely loved this one.


#5 The Fault In Our Stars

I didn't read the book, so I didn't know how this story was going to end.  I fell in love with this movie for a million reasons.  It was a beautiful, young love story.  


#4 Rudderless

The directorial debut of William H. Macy, this is a little known gem.  I promise you will not be sorry for checking this one out.  It is fantastic.  The soundtrack is also great.  Go into it blind and you will love it.  Do no homework.  Just watch it.

#3 Birdman

I was blown away by this movie - on the edge of my seat for the entire ride.  Every story I read, every interview I hear about the making of this movie makes me love it even more.   It was unlike anything I have ever seen.


#2 Boyhood

I really can't begin to describe the way this movie affects you.  Linklater gets it SO RIGHT.  It is like watching your own life in fast forward.  This movie is a game-changer.



And finally, my favorite movie of 2014:


#1  Maps to the Stars

My favorite movies are always the ones that show just how screwed up all of us are.  Celebrities, Doctors, Regular Joes.  We are all just jacked up kids trying to survive.  This movie is a beautiful fishbowl that proves exactly that.  I fricken LOVED IT.

An Epiphany

This is not a movie review.  This is real life, in real time.

I just experienced something so profound I simply can not keep it to myself.  Let me start with a beautiful image, taken with my own phone, sitting in my living room just moments ago.

 

Is this not the most gorgeous sunrise you have ever seen?  Do you know how long it has been since I have watched the sunrise?  My Father, O.L. Chastain, always talks about how beautiful the morning is.  He has watched the sunrise from a deer stand too many times to count.  He has sipped coffee with his crossword puzzle and watched a sunrise a million more.  He is a brilliant man.  A man I need to spend more time with.  I need to get my priorities straight.  But that's not why I am writing this morning.

 

I woke up about 4:30am, an hour later than usual.  But instead of checking twitter and falling back to sleep, I got up for a bottle of water, settled into my rocking chair and flipped on the DVR.  Dish recorded something without my permission; turns out it was  a great HBO show called "The Newsroom" which I hadn't seen before.  I watched it - and loved it.  Working for a small midwestern television station isn't the same as working at CNN - I get that.  But the adrenaline, the personalities, the devotion are all the same.  News is a drug.  So I feel like God set the stage for my day by allowing me to watch this show and think about my job.

 

I snuggled back into bed;  on tv was talk about Boston.  I decided to turn it off and closed my eyes.  I said to myself "be still".  Meditate.  Relax.  

 

 

We ALWAYS sleep with the curtains drawn.  Sometimes they are closed for days.  But yesterday, while cleaning, I pulled them open.  We got home late from a wonderful evening with friends, and neither of us thought to close them.  So as I am laying in bed, I see this beautiful sunrise.  And I hear the birds chirping.  Something I never hear because of the background noise of our tv.  God again - setting the stage.  Beautiful sunrise and an even more beautiful chorus.

 

And then He did this.  This is what came to me as I "was still".

 

I saw my high school bedroom.  I wallpapered my bedroom with magazine advertisements.  I loved them.  It was my dream to be a "copy writer", I am not sure I even knew exactly what that meant.  But I wanted to write advertising - and I wanted to move to New York City.  That was about 30 years ago.  I can't believe that much time has gone by.  When I was dreaming of being in advertising and moving to New York City, there was no internet, there were no cell phones.  There was just a skinny girl in Missouri buying Cosmopolitan and Glamour at the local drugstore.  But man I dreamed of the day....

 

I didn't go to college after high school.  Instead I made a series of horrible choices, stupid mistakes and barely made it out alive.  Somehow by the grace of God I also came out of the fog with three beautiful daughters who make me proud, who make me crazy, but most importantly they teach me the meaning of unconditional love and family.  They are counted as three of my best friends.  We rarely go a day or two without talking or texting or chatting - I do not take that for granted for one minute.

 

 

I did go to college in 2000.  I majored in Public Relations where I learned a little bit about writing and met some really cool people like Peggy Robinson. (Now that I think about her, that's another blog I need to write)

 

 

I made a living working as an administrative assistant to many great people over the years, and I have done many interesting things.  I have gone places and met people and seen things alot of people only dream about.  But I never became a copywriter.  I never moved to New York City. 

 

For the past four years, I have worked as an Account Executive for KQTV in St. Joseph, MO.  I love my job.  I really like most of the people I work with.  My daily job is to go out and sell advertising.  And I do - I go out and meet people and talk to them about my station and my website.  If I do it well enough, I then allow myself to go play "on the other side of the building" - the Newsroom.  Which I love.  It is so exciting to sit over there and here the police scanners and watch Bridget multi task like nobodies business.  And now I get to go on air every Thursday and talk about movies and share this blog. 

 

 

When I was "being still" this morning, listening to the birds, I wasn't sure what was going to happen.  I wasn't sure what God wanted me to know.  So when the movie started playing in my head, I was so overwhelmed with emotion I started to cry.  I looked at the clock - it read 5:55am.  I thought to myself - never forget this moment.  Your life has just been changed.

 

I haven't thought about my advertising wallpaper in years.  It never occurred to me that God had lead me to a place where I could fulfill my dream.  Last week, Diane Wampler gave me some advice about selling - she told me to stop selling my station and start selling ideas.  So I tried that and it worked.   I may not be a copywriter in New York City, but I am working in advertising for a television station that has been the source of news to northwest Missouri for 60 years.  I am given the freedom to make my business whatever I want it to be.  I have the opportunity to work with businesses and pitch them any advertising idea I can come up with.  For some reason, I had never put it all together until this morning at 5:55am. 

 

God answers prayers.  Sometimes it just takes 30 years.  And sometimes we need to shut off the tv, open the windows and be still so we can hear him.

 

As I wrap this up, I am watching a bunny play in the green grass and a robin is sitting on my windowsill.  I couldn't get that in New York City.  This is going to be a great day.

 



Date Night With My Momma - The Sapphires

The who?  That's what I said when I got the screening invite to watch The Sapphires...  

This movie wasn't on my radar, but it looked like a better option than sitting at home on a Monday night. 

Once I watched the trailer and realized the event was about a mile from my Mom's house, it was a no-brainer to invite her along.  She is a push-over for feel good movies especially if they are from the 60's and include good music. 

Me and my momma: we had a blast! 

Check out the trailer: 

It doesn't take you long to understand why this movie received a ten minute standing ovation at last year's Cannes Film Festival. 

Dave Lovelace is an alcoholic emcee (played convincingly by Chris O'Dowd) who meets four Aboroginal girls from Australia singing country music.  Even though the girls come from extremely humble surroundings; even though they face racism and hatred every day of their lives, they have this determination and absolute belief they are destined to be stars. When they see a newspaper ad seeking "musical acts to entertain the troops in Vietnam", they enlist Dave to help them get there.



One of my favorite scenes; Dave teaching the girls how to put a little soul in their serenade: (about 1:30 into this clip)

There are quite a few laughs and a handful of scary moments.  The scenes shot in Vietnam were beautiful; the vulnerability of the girls very believable.

I think you will be quite surprised by the ending - I know I was.  I think you will find yourself dancing in your seat - I know for sure Mom was.

No,  its not a blockbuster, but it is a fun, uplifting little film.

Olympus Has Fallen..and so have I...for Gerard Butler

Whether you want an action movie (think Die Hard) or you simply like eye candy (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Dylan McDermott are totally delicious), this movie won’t disappoint.

Director Fuqua (Training Day et al) doesn’t waste any time bringing the viewer to the edge of their seat – within 10 minutes we are rooting for Special Agent Mike Banning (Butler).  Forced to make a life or death decision for the President of the United States, he knows his own life will never be the same.

Fast forward a year, Banning watches something so horrific unfold outside his “desk job” window he can hardly believe his eyes. He suddenly becomes “the best hope we’ve got” at taking back the White House and freeing the President who has been kidnapped by terrorists – hundred sof them, who were hiding in plain sight. Walking and working among the landscape of Washington DC, completely unnoticed.  His chance for atonement was our darkest hour.

I stared in shock as I watched tourists become terrorists and trash trucks explode.  I couldn’t help but think “could this really happen?”  Because Olympus was shot over a year ago, it seemed surreal to watch the White House crumble at the hands of North Korean terrorists.  That hit a little too close to home in our current political environment.

Lots of carnage & fantastic special effects abound.  

Gerard Butler carries the movie with all the self sacrifice you would expect from  a true Secret Service Agent.

Olympus makes you proud to be an American.   No one shouts patriotism louder than Oscar winner Melissa Leo as our Secretary of Defense, who says “The Pledge of Allegiance” as she is being dragged through the dead bodies of her colleagues.

The only criticism I have is the casting of Morgan Freeman as Speaker of the House.  He seemed too old and too tired.  I wish Fuqua would have brought Denzel Washington along for the ride.  

I felt a little skittish walking to the car when it ended.  I nervously avoided strangers, actually wondering if someone was about to pull out an assault rifle.  In other words, I found the movie pretty believable.

Intense

Brutal

Worth It

I give this a 7 out of a 10 (I don't like silly jokes in the middle of a terrorist takeover, and I really REALLY dislike seeing people stabbed in the eyeball)

The Perks of a Movie that Feels like Home



 

The Perks of Being A Wallflower - 2012

 

 

I recall seeing previews for Perks when it was tossed around during Awards season.  I thought it sounded like  Pretty in Pink circa 2012.  A coming of age movie, an age I had outgrown many, many years ago. 

 

Boy was I wrong.

 

 

I still keep secrets buried deep under my laughter and silliness.  Maybe MY STORY was the reason this movie hit so close to home. 

 

Or maybe HER STORY made this so surreal.  She is my Charlie.  My Patrick.  My Brad.  My Hero.  We will never stop trying.  This - this most difficult job. 

I sobbed the deep sobs of a Mother who is failing her child.

 

There is a consistent feeling throughout the movie – that feeling when your heart is right at the top of your throat.  And if you make a peep,  your entire soul will pour out onto the floor.  That feeling of impending doom….something really, really bad is about to happen and there is nothing you can do to stop it. 

 I thought “if Charlie were real..", but isn’t he?  Don’t we all know a Charlie?  Or at least think we do?    If Charlie were real – he would be the bravest, greatest young man on the planet.  And no one would ever know.  No one would ever take the time – or the risk - to know him.

 

When the movie ended and the music went silent, I was sad to see them go. As I watched the credits fade, it was my deepest wish they all would find not only the love they felt they deserved, but the love all misfit toys deserve.  The love of one really good friend.