by Nathaniel R
Christian Magby and Lance Reddick in "One Night in Miami"
You know where I am if you need me.
We're finally closing out our 2020 coverage. Five months into the calendar year. We'd say 'Oops' but in this one case we'll happily blame the Oscars pretending that the calendar wasn't the calendar rather than our own sometimes-lacking time management skills. Though we are excited to move on to 2021, in point of fact lists and awards are our happy place. That is not because they have inherent definitive value as arbiters of quality (as the naysayers like to remind). No, that's not it at all. Only time is the definitive tastemaker but even that is fallible since it never stops and collective opinion can shift dramatically from generation to generation just as it does from person to person. No we value and love lists and awards because they are superb documents of feelings about quality at a specific moment in time. What moved people en masse? The answer is all over awards season. What struck certain individuals in a seismic way? That can be found in personal top ten lists and personal awards for those who bother to make such things.
So let's start with one of our favourite things to honor: smashing work in very limited screentime...
Matthew Macfadyen in "The Assistant" and Veronica Ngo in "Da 5 Bloods"
This is a chance to spot stars doing quick character sketches, as well as rising actors or much less famous day players doing impactful work that we hope they'll get a chance to do more of in larger roles soon. Our honorees this year are: Winsome Brown and Elizabeth Marvel (News of the World), Veronica Ngo (Da 5 Bloods), Abby Quinn (i'm thinking of ending things), Fiona Shaw (Ammonite), Mathieu Amalric (Sound of Metal), Matthew Macfadyen (The Assistant), Jamie McShane (Mank), and Christian Magby and Lance Reddick (One Night in Miami). A dozen other honorable mentions are listed, too. These categories are reserved for supporting players who only have one scene or two to work magic, though it might be a bit more if they are hovering on the margins of other scenes; It's an inexact science.
In addition to these final acting nominees and the medal announcements (brand new in all categories), we've also announced the "best scene" categories which honor things like action setpieces, screen kisses, musical numbers, and opening or closing credit sequences. 63 movies scored at least one nomination. On the final "best scene" page you can also see a few trivia notes on this year's awards.
Is the 'Rasputin' setpiece in "Wild Goose Lake" a dance scene or an action sequence. It's both at once so we split the difference and just put it in Best Scene
Robyn's "Honey" gives great soundtrack to one of the best scenes in "And Then We Danced"
"Promising Young Woman" was the most nominated film with 11 citations
"The Prom" scored just two nominations, one of them for Credit Sequence (pictured)
So that wraps us all up. Another film year in the books. Hopefully 2021 will make more sense in terms of releases and eligibility because 2020 was bonkers.
Get out your final feelings about the 2020 film year in the comments, won'cha?