Film Awards - Results!

johnny_ultimate

Howdy all,

It's that time of year again: it's time to remember the year in film and take part in the boards.ie Film Awards!

The first batch of nomination threads are up now over in the film awards forum: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=480

The procedure will be the same as every year: three separate nomination phases (which will be put up over the next week or so), followed by voting.

Two slight changes this year:

1. You can now nominate up to four films in each category. This is to hopefully allow a broader range of nominees to emerge, especially in the quieter categories.

2. We'll have a new award in the 'best films' category - best theatrical re-release, aimed at celebrating the classic films that were lovingly restored for the big screen this year.

On behalf of myself and the other mods, thanks to all the film forum posters for your input and discussions over the last year, and let the best films emerge victorious

e_e

How is Only God Forgives getting votes for most overrated when it only has an average of 5/10 and 39% critical approval on RottenTomatoes.

I understand placing it as "best" or "worst" because it's subjective but this makes as much sense as calling 12 Years a Slave or Gravity underrated.

johnny_ultimate

I feel it has been overrated by the people who rate it positively :pac:

Honestly, it's just because I've seen it receive so many 'best of year' nods here and elsewhere, plus plenty of five star reviews from the likes of The Guardian and Irish Times. Certainly a contender in that category, IMO.

e_e

Well I think you'll know that it'll go in "most underrated" for me. Especially for the reception it's gotten around these parts.

johnny_ultimate

Sure you know how user voted film awards usually go - the same film typically wins best film and most overrated film :pac:

e_e

Maybe merge 'em all into a "bestest most worstest overunder rated" award. :pac:

Goldstein

I'd read some glowing reviews of Only God Forgives before I watched it from sources whose judgement I'd usually weight highly. That's the source of the overrated label for me. I wouldn't trust IMDb's average opinions at all when it comes to Refn. Valhalla Rising only has 5.9 too and I loved it. That was definitely a bit "out there" too but it worked for me and seemed more coherent as a whole whereas this time I couldn't dispell the feeling that I was watching to some degree a load of random scenes thrown together for the sake of being weird.

Most disappointing film is an even more relevant category for it having loved his last three films but it already has more than enough nominations in that category to make the cut.

e_e

I thought that it had even more of a thematic/emotional through-line than the likes of Bronson and Valhalla Rising. In terms of Refn (haven't seen Pusher/Pola X) it's second only to Drive for me.

Some wtf moments on my first viewing (part of the film's nightmarish quality too) but it all connected for me on the second and third viewing. I hope a lot of people revisit it a few year's down the line and like it more.

Sad Professor

We should definitely consider merging those three categories next year. There’s no point having three if everyone picks the same films in each. Half of the posters won’t contribute to any of the other categories.

pixelburp

The overrated/worst threads make me feel bad; I've seen lots in 2013, but I'm damned if I can think of anything that impressed me enough to think "yeah, I'd list it/him/her in a Best Of...". On the other hand, I'm full of nominations for the negative threads; I'm fairly sure that says a lot about me ...

Goldstein

Maybe it's just me but it's also the time of year when I get the guilts at some of the great movies I've missed in the last 12 months and turn into obsessive movie watcher for a week cramming to see as many of the well regarded ones I missed as possible before the voting kicks in

pixelburp

Yeah, I'm seeing a lot that I clearly missed over the last 12 months; plenty of things I had intended to watch, but circumstance and/or procrastination just got in the way.

dark crystal

Goldstein wrote: »

Maybe it's just me but it's also the time of year when I get the guilts at some of the great movies I've missed in the last 12 months and turn into obsessive movie watcher for a week cramming to see as many of the well regarded ones I missed as possible before the voting kicks in

I'm the very same. I really have to see All Is Lost, Philomena, Blue Jasmine, American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave, Captain Phillips and Stoker.

Alternatively, there are other films I have no real interest in seeing, which seem to be picking up votes, such as Only God Forgives and Blue Is The Warmest Colour.

Sad Professor

Bump.

Don't forget to submit your nominations. Second batch of categories is going up later.

Sad Professor

The nomination threads for the Miscellaneous Awards are now up.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=480

The final batch of categories (Best Film Awards) should be up by the weekend.

When are the nominations closed? Have had no Internet since Christmas Eve and won't have it again till the weekend.

johnny_ultimate

They'll be open for at least a week or so after the last batch of nomination threads go up.

pixelburp

Soooo... I know the rules state 'release in Irish cinemas', but can this be extended to include any films released on VOD formats in the last 12 months? I don't have a plethora of nominations from this category, but it'd be nice to have the wriggle room

Sad Professor

Not if said VOD release was in the US and the film is still due a UK/Irish release. But if it's a film that was simply never released here theatrically and went straight-to-DVD, that's okay.

pixelburp

Yeah sorry I should have clarified - this is specifically films straight to digital format and DVD in 2013. Cheers though

Sad Professor

Just to note:

I see The Spectacular Now has popped up in a few categories. Unfortunately it’s not eligible for this year’s awards as it hasn’t been released here yet. It doesn’t appear to have a UK distributor. It’ll probably be at JDIFF along with the other distribution limbo films in February.

Goldstein

Maybe worth a mention that Les Mis, The Impossible, Flight, Django Unchained (and I'm undoubtedly forgetting many more) do qualify for this year as the Irish releases were in 2013.

e_e

You just reminded me that I forgot to put Impossible as one of the worst of the year.

Alfred Borden

Memory letting me down now but is Hitchcock and Gangster Squad eligible?

Sad Professor

Raf32 wrote: »

Memory letting me down now but is Hitchcock and Gangster Squad eligible?

Yes.

Goldstein

e_e wrote: »

You just reminded me that I forgot to put Impossible as one of the worst of the year.

As a whole I'd tend to agree, especially the hilariously convenient ending. Over a quarter of a million people died but our middle class western family was ok so all's well that ends well. The idea was clumsy at best.

However there were two standout points for me. I though Naomi Watt's performance was definitely praiseworthy, especially the firt 25-30 mins. While not better than Riva's that year her performance was better than Lawrence's although you'd be a joyless person to begrudge someone as refreshing as Lawrence the award.

The other point was the astonishing production values, realism and effects in the film's first third when the wave hits and the folowing aftermath. I don't know how they showed us that so utterly believeably and I have to doff my hat to them for it.

Sad Professor

The Impossible was based on a true story. They changed the nationality of the family from Spanish to British to appeal to subtitle-hating English-speaking audiences, but whatever way you look at it was about middle-class westerners who survived incredible odds and returned home safely.

The film seemed to go down very well with its intended audience. I don’t get the “but they survived and hundreds of thousands died” criticism. It’s the Schindler’s List debate all over again. Go make a honest and unflinching film about genocide or natural disaster that Western audiences thousands of miles away want to watch and get back to me. These films are always going to be about hope and triumph of the human spirit so that audiences can leave the cinema with a feeling of catharsis without having to really engage with the fear and hopelessness evoked by such tragedies.

e_e

I just thought it was the most ham-fisted, contrived and leaden attempt at manipulating viewers since Slumdog Millionaire.

It's the kind of cheap, melodramatic writing that would make Spielberg blush. Its whole handling of the disaster (from the limited perspective and clumsy foreshadowing to the utterly phony attempt at uplift) just rubbed me the wrong way altogether. I think this kind of film can only work if there's a very subtle hand at work with a real "less is more" approach. The plot machinations of The Impossible were just so obvious from the get go that I felt slapped around by the film rather than moved.

e_e

Sad Professor wrote: »

These films are always going to be about hope and triumph of the human spirit so that audiences can leave the cinema with a feeling of catharsis without having to really engage with the fear and hopelessness evoked by such tragedies.

A film has to earn that though. Not just do it through coincidence, schmaltz (that stars scene, yuck) and cheap shock tactics.

Goldstein

Sad Professor wrote: »

The Impossible was based on a true story. They changed the nationality of the family from Spanish to British to appeal to subtitle-hating English-speaking audiences, but whatever way you look at it was about middle-class westerners who survived incredible odds and returned home safely.

The film seemed to go down very well with its intended audience. I don’t get the “but they survived and hundreds of thousands died” criticism. It’s the Schindler’s List debate all over again. Go make a honest and unflinching film about genocide or natural disaster that Western audiences thousands of miles away want to watch and get back to me. These films are always going to be about hope and triumph of the human spirit so that audiences can leave the cinema with a feeling of catharsis without having to really engage with the fear and hopelessness evoked by such tragedies.

If Schindler's List had been about the escape of a family of well to do Brits from Nazi occupied Poland instead of the Jewish victims upon whom the atrocities were inflicted the comparison might be valid.

As it was, even though the first 30 minutes are excellent and Watts was superb at its conclusion I just couldn't shake the theme of "Hey, at least the people who look like us survived" and it did annoy me that those who experienced the overwhelming amount of pain and loss were marginalised as the also-rans.

johnny_ultimate

Last batch of nominations will be going up tomorrow! Remember to nominated in the existing threads if you haven't had a chance to already All will stay open until approx. next weekend.

johnny_ultimate

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Last batch of nominations will be going up tomorrow! Remember to nominated in the existing threads if you haven't had a chance to already All will stay open until approx. next weekend.

Only back online after nearly 2 weeks of being unplugged. will throw up my picks once I get a chance to properly look back on the year and hopefully watch a few of the films I missed

johnny_ultimate

Just a quick update:

So the final batch of nomination threads did go up this morning, unfortunately right at the same time the accidental site wide malfunction occurred - so close in fact, that I temporarily worried my quick posting of ten threads in succession may have somehow broken the website :pac: (also: phew!)

Things look to be back to normal, but going to leave reposting them all until tomorrow just in case. Hopefully no-one's nominations were lost (i.e. posted between 6am and 1pm) but I think it had been relatively quiet during those few hours.

johnny_ultimate

Last batch of nomination threads are up now!

Sad Professor

Re: the Best American Indie and Best Hollywood categories:

Should Spring Breakers and The Place Beyond the Pines (both nominated by e_e) not be considered independent films? I know many of us struggle to find any blockbusters worth voting for, but I have a hard time viewing the Hollywood category as being for anything other than blockbusters made by the Big Six. We almost need an extra category for mid-range, off-Hollywood auteur-type films - but the categories are complicated enough as it is.

e_e

Sad Professor wrote: »

We almost need an extra category for mid-range, off-Hollywood auteur-type films - but the categories are complicated enough as it is.

Yeah, to me there's a large enough distinction between Computer Chess/Short Term 12 and Spring Breakers/Pines for them to be in their own category. Not to mention that the latter 2 got a fairly wide release and decent enough box office takings.

Sad Professor

I went back through all the films I watched in 2013 and put the following lists together to help me narrow down my selections. It’s a very rough (don’t take my categorisation as gospel) and based solely on my own viewing, which was lacking in many areas, but some might find it helpful.

**Best Hollywood**
- Gravity
- Prisoners
- Star Trek into Darkness
- Lincoln
- The Great Gatsby
- Django Unchained
- Les Miserables
- Rush

**Best American Indie**
- Prince Avalanche
- Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
- Frances Ha
- Mud
- Upstream Colour
- To the Wonder
- Spring Breakers
- The Way, Way Back
- The Bling Ring
- The Kings of Summer
- The East
- Before Midnight
- The Place Beyond the Pines
- Stoker
- Zero Dark Thirty
- Compliance
- Simon Killer
- Don Jon

**Best Foreign Language**
- Lore
- In the House
- Vanishing Waves
- Like Someone in Love
- Our Children
- Beyond the Hills
- Barbara
- A Hijacking
- Neighbouring Sounds
- Thursday Till Sunday
- I Wish
- Nobody’s Daughter Haewon
- Populaire
- The Land of Hope
- After Lucia
- Me and You
- Pieta
- No
- Helter Skelter
- Blue is the Warmest Colour
- Una Noche
- The Great Beauty

**Best Non-American English**
- Only God Forgives
- The Impossible
- Good Vibrations
- Broken
- Shell
- A Field in England
- Trance
- Cloud Atlas
- Ginger & Rosa
- About Time

I saw feck all animation, documentary and Irish films, I’m afraid.

I have a stack of DVDs and Blu-Rays of films that I missed in the cinema last year. Just after counting them and it comes to 38. Really going to have to make some time in the coming weeks to work through them as many of the films I was most looking forward to are there.

Sad Professor

e_e wrote: »

Yeah, to me there's a large enough distinction between Computer Chess/Short Term 12 and Spring Breakers/Pines for them to be in their own category. Not to mention that the latter 2 got a fairly wide release and decent enough box office takings.

Yeah but there’s a lot of grey areas as well. One of the main distinguishing characteristics of the Hollywood indies, though, is that they are usually the prestige films/award contenders of the given year thanks to strong financial backing. The real indies have a harder time getting a look-in during award season.

Bullseye1

Where would All is lost fit in?

S.M.B.

I don't get the distinction between the Hollywood and American Indie categories either unless we're simply talking about where the movies funding comes from.

Don't see any way in which Spring Breakers fits into the Hollywood category yet it already has a vote there.

Are we not really talking about studio tentpole movies versus all other american made films?

johnny_ultimate

Yeah I'd say Hollywood covers the blockbusters and big genre pics, indie more or less everything else. More of an issue this year solely because of the amount of grade A stuff released from the States!

I could change the Hollywood name to just 'best blockbuster' if that would clear things up?

johnny_ultimate

Thanks everyone for their nominations, good to see so much participation The nomination threads will be closing over the weekend, so get your choices in if you haven't already.

Also just to note 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle aren't eligible as they weren't properly released until 2013. If anyone would like to alter their nominations for these films, please do! Keep them in mind for next year

A few quieter categories could particularly do with any nominations anyone might have!
Animation
Documentary
Foreign language (amazed this is so quiet this year, although might be suffering from the lack of a breakout hit like The Raid)
Irish (although I must confess I can't think of any homegrown efforts I feel worthy of a mention!)
Non-American English
Theatrical re-release

Newcomer - director
Newcomer - actor

Bullseye1

I wanted to add (Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave) to my list as I have only 4 and wanted to add a fifth.

Goldstein

Just an idea: Would it be possible to add a "don't count my vote" or "skip this question" option to some of the categories as a way to avoid having to choose an option at random in a category where you may not have seen many/all of the entries. An opt-out if you will. Another nominee option in the appropriate questions would suffice to be discarded from the results.

For instance: I haven't seen any Irish films this year so it'd be nice to have the option to not cast a vote and preserve the integrity and weighting of the votes of those people that have seen a few of them.

e_e

Bullseye1 wrote: »

I wanted to add (Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave) to my list as I have only 4 and wanted to add a fifth.

Wouldn't have been eligible anyway. Given how it's a 2014 Ireland release.

Bullseye1

Haha I was thinking it was similar to oscar season.

Sad Professor

Goldstein wrote: »

Just an idea: Would it be possible to add a "don't count my vote" or "skip this question" option to some of the categories as a way to avoid having to choose an option at random in a category where you may not have seen many/all of the entries. An opt-out if you will. Another nominee option in the appropriate questions would suffice to be discarded from the results.

For instance: I haven't seen any Irish films this year so it'd be nice to have the option to not cast a vote and preserve the integrity and weighting of the votes of those people that have seen a few of them.

You don’t have to vote in in all categories. So if you haven’t seen any of the Irish films or best scenes, etc, nominated, you can just skip that category.

johnny_ultimate

Nominations closing in the next day or so, so last chance to nominate!

johnny_ultimate

With the ever appreciated help of Mr. E, you can now vote by following this link and choosing from the successful nominees in each category: http://bit.ly/filmawards2013

Results will be announced early next week.

johnny_ultimate

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

With the ever appreciated help of Mr. E, you can now vote by following this link and choosing from the successful nominees in each category: http://bit.ly/filmawards2013

Results will be announced early next week.

Im pretty sure that these awards are the only time that King of the Travellers will be up for any award.