Film Bitch Awards ~ The Grand Finale
Sunday, February 28, 2016 at 12:26PM Another film year closes. Tonight when the Best Picture prize is handed out (it'll be a nailbiter down to the wire, even if The Revenant is taking lots of craft prizes) it's all over but the post-mortem party and then we're on to 2016's movies. At last! But first, if you haven't checked Nathaniel's own annual tradition the Film Bitch Awards (the name came from friends in college before the site existed -- yes, i was giving out imaginary prizes every year since, like, junior high -- and it stuck for better and SEO worst), please do.
Nominations and gold, silver, and bronze medals in 18 traditional categories and 22 "extra" fun ones have all been announced. Consider this a yearbook of TFE's most beloved screen adventures and obsessions from the 2015 film year. I wish we could have an awards show (perhaps a video show for 2016? though we'll need more funds first. Hint hint. Subscribe!) or forge actual medals. But for now these annual prizes will have to do!
PAGE 1 Picture, Director, Screenplay
Carol and Mad Max begin their huge medal runs. Which will emerge victorious?
PAGE 2 Acting Categories
Prizes for Steve Jobs, 45 Years, Love and Mercy, Creed, and more...
PAGE 3 Visual Categories
Ex Machina refuses to leave empty-handed despite fierce competition
PAGE 4 Music & Sound Categories
Sicario gets much of its punch from its ear candy. Or ear poison, rather, because that shit is sinister.
PAGE 5 Extra Acting-Related Categories
*JUST ANNOUNCED* Nominations and Medals in the Limited and Cameo categories including honors for Magic Mike XXL, Grandma, lesser known actors from Spotlight and more...
PAGE 6 Memorable Characters
Prizes for Inside Out and more...
PAGE 7 Best Scenes
Here's where films of all genres and target audiences tend to rise up to joust with each other. Notices for a huge swath of high and lowbrow achievements: 50 Shades of Grey, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Tangerine, Diary of a Teenage Girl, and many more...
Please enjoy and discuss. It's more fun when movie-love is communal!
Reader Comments (25)
All hail / I love you.
All I have to say is Merry Christmas, Bitch.
But seriously, thank you for all the work you put into this every year. Your commentary, nominations, and categories are a lot of fun to read through.
Actually it's a great idea to have an alternative video awards show - The Internet Academy Awards :-)
I actually got choked up reading through all the Additional/Memorable scenes. You do such a good job capturing moments that actually make movies memorable: "Joy"'s QVC sales pitch. The opening of "Creed". The ending of "Phoenix." I love the Oscars but they leave us all talking for months about the same small handful of movies. The Film Bitch awards are what movies are all about!
I'm totally behind your Powley/Taylor/Magaro trifecta in Breakthrough Performances. And how amazing was it to see Diary of A Teenage Girl, Tangerine, and Carol all rewarded, even if only in single categories, at the Spirit Awards!
Onward to the new year.
Thanks Nathaniel, I always love the Film Bitch Awards because they provide such a great scrapbook of the years films. (Thanks for the Memories)
Shout out to Casting Directors in general for giving us some really interesting choices in those limited and cameo roles which made for some really strong ensembles.
Fiona Weir (gold medalist in casting) did Brooklyn, Room, and Suffragette - Now that's a great year!
Hi Nat,why not inc Harden in s/actress,YOU ONLY GAVE FONDA BRONZE,she's my s/actress winner.
I won't be watching the Oscars this evening, I feel like its an amputation, but a necessary one until they sort their shit out. I'll watch the highlights later.
So these are my Oscars, and as usual, so wonderfully written, thought out and awarded. Thank you, for making the film year as wonderful, fun, serious and sassy as ever from your end. Please continue the excellent work. As always, your biggest fan, M.
THE GOOD:
Cate, the Great, gold medalling again in Best Actress. It took you forever to embrace her genius, but it is wonderful to see you have seen the light!
Production design: Mad Max, Room, Carol. Perfectly diverse, all genius, great great great all around choices.
Joy and Sadness for heroines of the year!!! Weeee!!!
THE BAD:
The gold medal for that ham-fisted, contrived shitfest Fassbender was serving in that big ole turkey of a movie Steve Jobs is totally the gay equivalent of the old geezers in the Academy voting for the hot chick they want to bang over some fine and dignified less attractive lady who deserves it way more (in this case, Paul Dano).
THE UGLY:
Harge getting in for best line over Abby's perfectly delivered, forever giffable "I can't help you with that!"??? Gurl, I can't even!
Carmen agreed I have found Nat;'s giving Fassbendder a prize every year a little OTT but it is his site.
I'm often cool on Fassbender but his perf in "Steve Jobs" really is the best male lead of the year. And "ham-fisted" is among the least appropriate adjectives to describe his work in it.
mark & carmen -- haha. i know people will complain but I'll stop giving him prizes when he stops being brilliant. Deal? I guess he's my Meryl Streep :)
with the exception for ALL the love for Carol LOL.. I like your choices a lot...
I fee Fassbender gave the best performance in Steve Jobs of the 5 nominees...
Again, I love the time and care you take with your choices...
These picks are so correct, Nathaniel.
Wonderful review of 2015. It is like Christmas Day and I'm thrilled to see Carol rightfully sitting on top of the heap. We here are Oscar freaks (my first time watching was 1970!). Sometimes we may disagree but the love of film is the foundation for all of us regular readers.
Just wanted to thank Nat and comrades for keeping us aware of what is out there, and for being the awards ground zero for me.
Carol will be remembered as a masterpiece from Todd. Shame about the snub. Nice reminders of what made Saint Laurent a must see. Nice to see Dano remembered too.. And Fassbender continues to astound. Hope he doesn't have to wait until he is 70.
As much as people complain about lauding Fassbender too much in this site (and I don't know why anyone would since he's amazing), Nathaniel's never actually given him a gold medal until this time around, so...
How about Ben Whishaw, who appeared in 5 films released in the US in 2015: Paddington, Sufragette, The Danish Girl, Spectre, In the Heart of the Sea. Waiting for The Lobster to open here soon.
Whatever Happened to: The Program, Miles Ahead, The Dressmaker, Tulip Fever?
@Nat - I am usually very fond of Fassbender as an actor, I just happened to dislike him in Steve Jobs. Plus, your choice of his David8 performance in Prometheus is one of my favorite Bitch Awards picks (silver medal supp actor 2012).
@Jonathan - The performance felt weirdly amateurish to me (hence ham-fisted), like he's an actor playing how he imagines an actor would play a Sorkin character. There's nothing organic about it. The whole thing felt very artificial, and the über-Sorkian screenplay did not serve him well at all, especially that final scene of reconciliation with the daughter, which lands with the subtlety and finesse of a nose dive crash.
@random - Other great Film Bitch choices this year:
- Gold medal for the love scene in Carol
- Casting duties in Brooklyn and I'll See You In My Dreams
- The shoutout to that cute Swedish lad from Spy
To be honest he's miscast,they picked him after several people passed,never for 1 minute did I believe he was Jobs,I thought you'd go for someone doing far more interesting charismatic things with a stock role MBJ in Creed.
mark -- the thing you may have noticed is that biopic performances are among my least favorite things. I care not a whit if the person mimics well or looks like the person. it's boring to me. what fascinates me is full bodied psychologically complex performances and i saw that here.
The Film Bitch Awards >>>>>> The Oscars
One celebrates films. The other celebrates campaigns.
OMG Haynes beat Miller?!?!? YES!!! And it's his second gold Film Bitch metal for directing right?? Oh how these awards slay Oscars picks
CATE wins her second Gold Film Bitch award to place with her gold, silver (aviator right?) and bronze (I'm not there) for acting. it's your person awards but I'm still elated.
So happy for Blanchett second gold medal! It's great that you finally see the enormous talent that the rest of us see in her.
Jeff -- people are weird about me and Blanchett. It's not like i never gave her a prize before :) Just not the gold until Blue Jasmine
Love these awards. I especially love that you include limited/cameo roles. There's so much great stuff outside of the usual lead/supporting categories, AND it's also easy to forget the little moments that these peripheral characters/actors bring to movies. Spotlight, for instance, is just chock-full of them.
Thanks so much for doing them!