"Mad Max: Fury Road" makes strong showing with Best Director, Cinematography, Production Design Honors
Spotlight garnered the top honor as Best Picture, as well as Best Screenplay (for Josh Singer and director Tom McCarthy), at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. Also scoring impressively was Mad Max: Fury Road which earned the most awards, three, for Best Director (George Miller), Best Cinematography (John Seale, ACS, ASC) and Best Production Design (Colin Gibson).
Michael Fassbender and Charlotte Rampling won Best Actor and Actress distinction, respectively, for Steve Jobs and 45 Years. Best Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress winners were Michael Shannon for 99 Homes and Alicia Vikander for Ex Machina.
Hank Corwin (whose edit house is Lost Planet) was named Best Editor for The Big Short.
Taking Best Music Score was Carter Burwell for Anomalisa and Carol.
Amy was selected by L.A. critics as Best Documentary with Anomalisa topping the Animation category, and Son of Saul named Best Foreign Film.
Here’s a rundown of winners as well as runners up in all categories:
BEST PICTURE
“SPOTLIGHT”
RUNNER UP: (“MAD MAX: FURY ROAD”)
BEST DIRECTOR
GEORGE MILLER
“MAD MAX: FURY ROAD”
RUNNER UP:TODD HAYNES (“CAROL”)
BEST ACTOR
MICHAEL FASSBENDER
“STEVE JOBS”
RUNNER UP: GÉZA RÖHRIG (“SON OF SAUL”)
BEST ACTRESS
CHARLOTTE RAMPLING
“45 YEARS”
RUNNER UP: SAOIRSE RONAN (“BROOKLYN”)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
MICHAEL SHANNON
“99 HOMES”
RUNNER UP: MARK RYLANCE (“BRIDGE OF SPIES”)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
ALICIA VIKANDER
“EX MACHINA”
RUNNER UP: KRISTEN STEWART (“CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA”)
BEST SCREENPLAY
JOSH SINGER & TOM MCCARTHY
“SPOTLIGHT”
RUNNER UP: CHARLIE KAUFMAN (“ANOMALISA”)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
JOHN SEALE
“MAD MAX: FURY ROAD”
RUNNER-UP: EDWARD LACHMAN (“CAROL”)
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
COLIN GIBSON
“MAD MAX: FURY ROAD”
RUNNER UP: JUDY BECKER (“CAROL”)
BEST EDITING
HANK CORWIN
“THE BIG SHORT”
RUNNER UP: MARGARET SIXEL (“MAD MAX: FURY ROAD”)
BEST MUSIC SCORE
CARTER BURWELL
“ANOMALISA” AND “CAROL”
RUNNER-UP: ENNIO MORRICONE (“THE HATEFUL EIGHT”)
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
“SON OF SAUL”
DIRECTED BY LÁSZLÓ NEMES
RUNNER-UP “THE TRIBE” DIRECTED BY MIROSLAV SLABOSHPITSKY
BEST DOCUMENTARY/NON-FICTION FILM
“AMY” DIRECTED BY ASIF KAPADIA
RUNNER UP: “THE LOOK OF SILENCE” DIRECTED BY JOSHUA OPPENHEIMER
BEST ANIMATION
“ANOMALISA” DIRECTED BY DUKE JOHNSON & CHARLIE KAUFMAN
RUNNER-UP: “INSIDE OUT” DIRECTED BY PETE DOCTER & BOB PETERSON
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT
EDITOR ANNE V. COATES
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More