Coming Attractions: Most Anticipated 2018

Happy New Year! And happy week o' lists, as we look back at the year that was in movies...

But first! The year ahead! These are the fifteen titles that I'm most looking forward to in 2018...

15. Halloween

release date: October 19th
dir: David Gordon Green
scr: Green/Danny McBride, based on characters created by John Carpenter & Debra Hill
David Gordon Green - a very solid director - has the direct blessing of John Carpenter himself, and Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Laurie Strode. Apparently this film is ignoring every Halloween film after the original, which is kind of a shame, but I guess there's no other way to bring Laurie back, considering the events of Halloween: Resurrection (I'm not apologizing if that's a spoiler for you - that movie is all about Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks). Yours truly owns every Halloween film on BluRay, so yeah, I'm here for it.

Musicals, dogs, klansmen and more, after the jump...

Best Picture, Some Surprises: 2015 Hollmann Awards, Day Three

At last -- the final round of Hollmann Awards! Let's get to it!

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

5. Tangerine
Sean Baker/Chris Bergoch

Quotable, dirty, hilarious. A great odyssey spanning Hollywood, with all the characters you really do see on the streets -- the trans prostitutes, the old men with bizarre stories, the Armenian cabbies, the shady guys who hang out at donut shops. It works as a Christmas movie, a buddy film, a drama about the immigrant experience.

4. The Throne
Jo Chul-hyun/Lee Song-won/Oh Seung-hyun

Takes a much-contested bit of history -- was Prince Sado sentenced to die because he went crazy, or was he the target of a court conspiracy -- and turns it into a story of fathers and sons, of legacies that are expected to endure, of the terrible expectations of royal life and the consequences that come of disappointing those. And, yes, it also addresses the unrest in the Joseon royal court. Sympathetic to all...and honey, with this group, that's not always easy.

3. Girlhood
Céline Sciamma

Surprising developments, subtle layering, and a completely non-judgmental look at these girls and their gangs. Kudos for those few and far between, yet vital and impactful, sequences that establish the patriarchal system that these seemingly independent women have given themselves over to. Props, too, for the gradual way in which our heroine becomes a part of that system, neither "male" nor "female", but someone with her own agency. Complicated, but easy to understand.

2. Grandma
Paul Weitz

Hilarious, biting, intelligent. Avoids dialogue that's too clever -- and when it is, that's part of the joke ("solipsist!"). Not a false note. Sees every side of a conversation, and even if the film is decidedly pro-choice, the argument it makes for one character not supporting that is...well, it's understandable. And human.

1. Spotlight
Tom McCarthy/Josh Singer

Can I just say, it would be so easy for each of these characters to become similar  -- journalist, victim, advocate, co-conspirator/part of the problem -- but each person is an individual. That's what this screenplay excels at -- making us appreciate the individuals, putting a face, a name, a personality to the cipher of "abuse victim" or "corrupted clergyman". It even allows us to look at our heroes' shortcomings, as they face their own denial...and their tendency to look at human tragedies as "scoops".

Score, Actress, Best Picture, and more after the jump

Dig Them Threads -- and That Sound: 2015 Hollmann Awards, Day Two

It's Day Two of the Hollmann Awards! Yesterday, we saw Mad Max: Fury Road go home with two awards, with Best Picture nominees Tangerine and Spotlight also making their mommas proud. Today: Best Director, Best Actor, and more...starting with Best Ensemble.

(By the way -- if anyone knows the names of the casting director/sound department/makeup department of the Korean films The Beauty Inside/Northern Limit Line/The Throne, do drop me a line so that I may give the credit where it's due)

BEST ENSEMBLE

5. Straight Outta Compton

Victoria Thomas/Cindy Tolan
A great mix of knowns, unknowns, and familiar faces, anchored by the lead trio -- O'Shea Jackson, Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell. In choosing between acting ability or biographical resemblance, the filmmakers score a coup with an ensemble that can be both. And bless Paul Giamatti, who fits right in.

4. Tangerine

Sean Baker/Chris Bergoch
First of all, the chemistry between Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor is perfection, the kind of comic sparring that made iconic films out of It Happened One Night, or anything with Abbott and Costello. But they're joined by a game supporting cast, starting with Mickey O'Hagan as Kiki's "real fish" rival, all the way down to Clu Gulager's cameo as a taxi passenger.

3. The Beauty Inside

Give it props for casting 123 different people and pulling off the conceit that they are, indeed, all one person. Everyone has electric chemistry with Han Hyo-ju, one of the most natural actresses you've ever seen in a fantasy-romance. And a special shout-out to Shin Dong-mi, hilarious as Han's boss.

2. Brooklyn

Fiona Weir
The mark of a great ensemble: you can easily imagine each of these characters living lives outside the movie. Whether it's the girls of the boarding house, Jessica Paré's department store floor manager, or the Irish gossip back home.

1. Spotlight

Kerry Barden/Paul Schnee
A generous ensemble -- like true journalists, the A-List actor -- Ruffalo, McAdams, Keaton -- cede entire scenes over to the character actors making up the witnesses, victims, priests, cops, officials. But it is all about the newsmen (and women) at the center, working as a team...a true ensemble.

Best Costume Design and more, after the jump....

The 2015 Hollmann Awards Nominees!

Finally, the nominees for (if you can believe it) THE TENTH ANNUAL HOLLMANN AWARDS!

Who would have guessed that I had the attention span to not only keep this going, but to also spin it off into the Retro Hollmann Awards? And we just keep growing and growing, baby!

Each category is presented in the order in which I finalized them, eighteen in all.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Chi-Raq - "Pray 4 My City"

music and lyrics by Rico Cox/Robert Amparan/Leroy Griffin, Jr./Nick Cannon

Fifty Shades of Grey - "Earned It"
music and lyrics by The Weeknd/Stephan Moccio/Jason "DeHaela" Quenneville/Ahmad Balshe

Fifty Shades of Grey - "Love Me Like You Do"

music and lyrics by Max Martin/Savan Kotecha/Ilya Salmanzadeh/Ali Payami/Tove Lo

Fifty Shades of Grey - "Salted Wound"

music and lyrics by Brian West/Gerald Eaton/Sia Furler/Oliver Kraus

Youth - "Simple Song #3"

music and lyrics by David Lang


BEST SCORE

The 33
James Horner


Carol
Carter Burwell


It Follows
Disasterpeace


Steve Jobs
Daniel Pemberton

The Throne
Bang Jun-seok

Non-music-related categories after the jump!

2015 in Review: My Top Ten

Later than most everyone else's, but here it is: my Top Ten of 2015. Presented in alphabetical order -- full rankings to come in the days ahead, what with the Hollmann Awards on their way. For a complete list of the 124 films I saw this year, click here.

Brooklyn

dir: John Crowley
scr: Nick Hornby, from the novel by Colm Tóibín
cin: Yves Bélanger
Perfectly captures the bittersweetness of leaving home and everything you know behind for the first time; on the flip side, also perfectly captures how you don't realize how much you've changed until you return home. Love watching Saoirse Ronan's performance grow from an overwhelmed quiet to a more refined confidence. Indeed, the whole ensemble is engaging, realistic, from the giggly young boarders to gossipy Irish villagers. One of the great endings of the year.

Carol

dir: Todd Haynes
scr: Phyllis Nagy, from the novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
cin: Edward Lachman
Speaking of great endings, the last act of this one was one of the more pulse-pounding experiences I had in a theater this year. From Carol's words to Therese before their dinner's interrupted, all the way to the last shot. Everything before it is great, too. At one point, Therese asks a male would-be suitor, "How many times have you been in love?" This is the movie that perfectly captures that first love, the love that left you clammy-handed but more Yourself than anything before or after.

More stories of women, tales of despair, and fascinating true stories after the jump...

First Half of 2015

A brief look at the film year so far.

I've only seen 38 films so far this year (not counting the retrospective flicks, of course), which is fewer than I had hoped -- though, if recent conversations are any indication, far more than the average. I mean, someone told me the last movie they saw in a theater was Gravity!

These are unranked choices, but they are grouped together in ascending order of affection. Directors and commentary follow each title, except in "Shan't See It Again", a sort-of Hall of Shame -- the guilty are protected in this instance.

Shan't See It Again 

Aloha
Child 44
The Con Artists
San Andreas
Seventh Son
Woman in Gold

Wish They Were Better

Fifty Shades of Grey (Sam Taylor-Johnson): Dakota Johnson a natural, goofy yet convincingly sexy, with a soundtrack that's on point; but Jamie Dornan is a wasteland, and the finale is ho-hummingly tame

Jupiter Ascending (The Wachowskis): fascinating world-building, but clearly hacked to pieces, and with a wan Mila Kunis at its center

Jurassic World (Colin Trevorrow): great fun as a monsters-run-amok flick (and I consider That Death a huge plus), but script is aggressively regressive re: sexual politics

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon): surprisingly unsentimental lead a relief; in fact, most of the ensemble shines and convinces, despite suffocatingly twee conceits and sketchily-written adults

Serena (Susanne Bier): J-Law understated, intense, hypnotic; film should be a slow burn but it's actually a long sit

Guilty Pleasures

The Boy Next Door (Rob Cohen): deliciously scandalous, and it must be said: J.Lo is genuinely phenom in this

Mortdecai (David Koepp): I laughed more than once, love the song "Johanna" that plays over the end credits, and I think everyone should be aware that I am always Team Gwyneth

Positivity after the jump -- or as I like to call it, the Cold Stone Rankings.

Top 25 Most Anticipated of 2014

You've probably noticed that I'm behind on everything so far. I don't think I've even updated since my nominations in January. Ah, well -- here's my most anticipated for 2014....