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2015 COFCA Nominations

January 3, 2016 maddwolf Leave a comment

Nominees for the 14th annual Central Ohio Film Critics Association awards

(Columbus, January 3, 2016) The Central Ohio Film Critics Association is pleased to announce the nominees for its 14th annual awards. Winners will be announced on the evening of January 7th, 2016.

Founded in 2002, the Central Ohio Film Critics Association is comprised of film critics based in Columbus, Ohio and its surrounding areas. Its membership consists of 22 print, radio, television, and internet critics. COFCA’s official website at www.cofca.org contains links to member reviews and past award winners.

The 2015 Central Ohio Film Critics Association awards nominees are:

Best Film
-The Big Short
-Ex Machina
-Inside Out
-Mad Max: Fury Road
-The Martian
-The Revenant
-Room
-Sicario
-Spotlight
-Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens

Best Director
-Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
-Todd Haynes, Carol
-Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
-George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
-Ridley Scott, The Martian
-Denis Villeneuve, Sicario

Best Actor
-Matt Damon, The Martian
-Johnny Depp, Black Mass
-Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
-Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
-Jacob Tremblay, Room

Best Actress
-Cate Blanchett, Carol
-Brie Larson, Room
-Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
-Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road
-Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Best Supporting Actor
-Benicio Del Toro, Sicario
-Tom Hardy, The Revenant
-Oscar Isaac, Ex Machina
-Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
-Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Supporting Actress
-Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
-Rooney Mara, Carol
-Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
-Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
-Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Best Ensemble
-The Big Short
-Ex Machina
-The Hateful Eight
-Spotlight
-Steve Jobs

Actor of the Year (for an exemplary body of work)
-Cate Blanchett (Carol, Cinderella, and Truth)
-Michael Fassbender (Macbeth, Slow West, and Steve Jobs)
-Domhnall Gleeson (Brooklyn, Ex Machina, The Revenant, and Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force
Awakens)
-Tom Hardy (Child 44, Legend, Mad Max: Fury Road, and The Revenant)
-Alicia Vikander (Burnt, The Danish Girl, Ex Machina, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Seventh Son,
and Testament of Youth)

Breakthrough Film Artist
-Sean Baker, Tangerine – (for producing, directing, screenwriting, film editing, cinematography, camera operation, and casting)
-Joel Edgerton, The Gift – (for producing, directing, and screenwriting)
-David Robert Mitchell, It Follows – (for producing, directing, and screenwriting)
-Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens – (for acting)
-Jacob Tremblay, Room – (for acting)
-Alicia Vikander, Burnt, The Danish Girl, Ex Machina, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Seventh Son,
and Testament of Youth – (for acting)

Best Cinematography
-Roger Deakins, Sicario
-Emmanuel Lubezki, The Revenant
-Robert Richardson, The Hateful Eight
-John Seale, Mad Max: Fury Road
-Dariusz Wolski, The Martian

Best Film Editing
-Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens
-Tom McArdle, Spotlight
-Stephen Mirrione, The Revenant
-Margaret Sixel, Mad Max: Fury Road
-Joe Walker, Sicario

Best Adapted Screenplay
-Emma Donoghue, Room
-Drew Goddard, The Martian
-Nick Hornby, Brooklyn
-Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, The Big Short
-Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs

Best Original Screenplay
-Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley, Inside Out
-Alex Garland, Ex Machina
-Taylor Sheridan, Sicario
-Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
-Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight

Best Score
-Carter Burwell, Carol
-Michael Giacchino, Inside Out
-Jóhann Jóhannsson, Sicario
-Junkie XL, Mad Max: Fury Road
-Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight

Best Documentary
-Amy
-Best of Enemies
-Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
-The Look of Silence
-The Wolfpack

Best Foreign Language Film
-The Assassin (Nie yin niang)
-Goodnight Mommy (Ich seh, ich sech)
-Phoenix
-The Tribe (Plemya)
-Timbuktu
-Wild Tales (Relatos salvajes)

Best Animated Film
-Anomalisa
-The Good Dinosaur
-Inside Out
-The Peanuts Movie
-Shaun the Sheep Movie

Best Overlooked Film
-The End of the Tour
-The Gift
-Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
-Mistress America
-Slow West
-The Tribe (Plemya)

COFCA offers its congratulations to the nominees.

Previous Best Film winners:

2002: Punch-Drunk Love
2003: Lost in Translation
2004: Million Dollar Baby
2005: A History of Violence
2006: Children of Men
2007: No Country for Old Men
2008: WALL·E
2009: Up in the Air
2010: Inception
2011: Drive
2012: Moonrise Kingdom
2013: Gravity
2014: Selma

For more information about the Central Ohio Film Critics Association, please visit www.cofca.org or e-mail info@cofca.org.

The complete list of members and their affiliations:

Richard Ades (Freelance); Dwayne Bailey (Bailey’s Buzz); Logan Burd (Cinema or Cine-meh?); Kevin Carr (www.7mpictures.com, FilmSchoolRejects.com); Bill Clark (www.fromthebalcony.com); Olie Coen (Archer Avenue, DVD Talk); John DeSando (90.5 WCBE); Frank Gabrenya (The Columbus Dispatch); James Hansen (Out 1 Film Journal); Brad Keefe (Columbus Alive); Kristin Dreyer Kramer (NightsAndWeekends.com, 90.5 WCBE); Joyce Long (Freelance); Rico Long (Freelance); Hope Madden (Columbus Underground and MaddWolf.com); Paul Markoff (WOCC-TV3; Otterbein TV); David Medsker (Bullz-Eye.com); Lori Pearson (Kids-in-Mind.com, critics.com); Mark Pfeiffer (Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema; WOCC-TV3; Otterbein TV); Melissa Starker (Columbus Alive, The Columbus Dispatch); George Wolf (Columbus Radio Group and MaddWolf.com); Jason Zingale (Bullz-Eye.com); Nathan Zoebl (PictureShowPundits.com).

The following information is not for publication:

If you would like comments about COFCA and these awards, please contact:

Mark Pfeiffer (mark.pfeiffer@gmail.com)
Co-host/co-producer, Now Playing, WOCC-TV3 and Otterbein TV
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

Outtakes, Slider

Countdown: 25 Best Films of 2015

December 30, 2015 maddwolf Leave a comment

by George Wolf

It was going to be a top ten, but next thing you know, I’ve got twenty-five favorites this year, with a few special mentions for the deserving.

GUILTY PLEASURE: Vacation. It had its rough spots, but I laughed.

HIDDEN GEM: Slow West. It was a great year for Westerns, and this less-is-more beauty was a big reason why.

DON’T UNDERSTAND THE LOVE (aka The Blind Side Award): The Martian. Matt Damon brings the usual charm but everything else is lost in space.

25. Clouds of Sils Maria

Juliette Binoche and Kristin Stewart shine in this story of an actress confronting both her past and future. Full of subtle complexity, it offers sly insights that sneak up on you, and an exceptional cast to make them stick.

24. Bone Tomahawk

A horror cannibal western? Thank you S. Craig Zahler, and well done.

23. Tangerine

Much more than just “the iPhone movie,” Sean Baker’s in-the-moment look at life “on the block” is brash and daring, funny, subversive, insightful and poignant.

22. Phoenix

A gripping story of loss, hope, regret and resignation, told with simmering emotional power by director Christian Petzold.

21. Straight Outta Compton

This is a musical biopic with some pretty high stakes and a pretty big payoff. It’s at once a universal story of expression, and an intimate American journey, as vital to its own time as it is to ours.

20. Trainwreck

The funniest movie of the year, and a wonderful big screen breakout for Amy Schumer (and some guy named LeBron).

19. Love & Mercy

A wonderfully abstract take on the life of Brain Wilson, led by a masterful turn from Paul Dano.

18. Mistress America

Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig deliver an offbeat, fast paced dialog-fest that’s equal parts self-delusion satire and love letter to the written word.

17. The Hateful Eight

Retro stylings, wicked humor, a deliberate pace, and thirst-quenching frontier justice mark Tarantino’s robust mix of Agatha Christie whodunit and violent social commentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnRbXn4-Yis

16. Sicario

Badass Emily Blunt, flippant Josh Brolin, and haunting Benicio Del Toro anchor Denis Villeneuve’s visually mesmerizing tale of moral ambiguity on the Southern border. Intense.

15. Bridge of Spies

Spielberg, Hanks, Coen Brothers, historical drama…you can guess how that works out.

14. Brooklyn

A luminous story of love, home and commitment, bursting with beauty and a heart-piercing lead performance from Saoirse Ronan.

13. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Maybe you’ve heard of it.

12. It Follows

David Robert Mitchell serves up the best American horror film in years. It’s creepy, smart and stylish, with scares that won’t easily vanish.

11. The Tribe (Plemya)

Don’t like subtitles? Great, you won’t find any in this gripping tale of survival told entirely in Ukranian sign language. An unforgettable experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOw1jHelcGM

10. The Big Short

The director of Anchorman and Talladega Nights grabs a stellar cast and tackles the housing crisis with conscience, wit and outrage.

9. Anomalisa

Charlie Kaufman’s proposed animated short becomes a wondrous feature that utilizes powerful subtlety to explore the challenge and mystery of human connection.

8. The Revenant

Innaritu, DiCaprio and Hardy take the journey toward redemption to the out of doors with a brutally gorgeous, punishingly brilliant film.

7. Inside Out

Once again, Pixar examines the changing phases of life with charm, humor, and a subtle intelligence that can’t help but give you a fresh appreciation for all the jumbled feelings that make life worth living.

6. Spotlight

Writer/director Tom McCarthy and a brilliant ensemble address the Catholic Church abuse scandal with a welcome dignity. This is as observant a film as you will find, delicately crafted and brimming with sincere, multi-dimensional performances. It is required viewing.

5. Steve Jobs

What if they gave a great movie and nobody came? Director Danny Boyle and writer Aaron Sorkin craft a challenging and ferocious look at the wages of genius, carried by a masterwork titular performance from Michael Fassbender.

4. Mad Max: Fury Road

To say that George Miller has stepped up his game since he left us at Thunderdome would be far too mild a statement. Mad Max: Fury Road is not just superior to everything in this franchise, it’s among the most exhausting, thrilling, visceral action films ever made.

3. Ex Machina

What an irresistible treat Ex Machina is – smart, seductive and wickedly funny, boasting glorious visuals, stirring performances, and big ideas guaranteed to linger like a dream you just can’t shake. It’s a stunning directorial debut from veteran writer Alex Garland, with a can’t-look-away performance from Oscar Isaac.

2. Room

Director Lenny Abrahamson creates a meticulously crafted, lived-in world – a world that should look like nothing we have ever seen or could ever imagine – that manages to resonate with beautifully universal touches. The undeniably talented Brie Larson gives a career-defining performance, but it is young Jacob Tremblay who ensures that the film won’t soon be forgotten.

1. Carol

Oh, Carol, what a mesmerizing, captivating, utterly beautiful web you weave. Director Todd Haynes has crafted a keenly insightful love story full of bittersweet grace, propelled by two glorious performances. Expect Oscar nominations for both Cate Blanchett as unhappily married Carol, and Rooney Mara as the department store clerk awakened when Carol visits her counter at Christmastime. A meticulously crafted time piece akin to Haynes’s wonderful Far From Heaven, Carol aches with restrained longing and love. Exquisite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4z7Px68ywk