Monday, December 4, 2017

Critics Corner: Special Golden Reel Nominees Edition


Last Resort Films released the nominees for the 1st Golden Reel Awards this morning. In this special edition of Critics Corner, we will ask the critics who they felt was snubbed out of nominations and who they think will win the highly coveted Golden Reel Awards.

Best Production Design

"The design of White Jazz effortlessly recreates late-1950s Los Angeles. Clearly no expense was skipped for this top flight production design." - Clark Davis, JoBlo.com

"Just as he did with Zodiac, David Fincher transports the audience to a specific time and place. No detail is missed. He completely recreated the site of JFK's assassination to the smallest minute detail."
- Charles Yost, The Oregonian

Best Ensemble Cast

"How can a movie featuring Russell Crowe and Robert Downey Jr. not make the final cut in the Best Cast category? Two of the finest actors of their, or any other, generation in one film? Talk about a missed opportunity by the voters." - Geoff Bray, Slant Magazine 

"Jack the Ripper, despite being quite the clunker, certainly assembled an all-star cast that at least deserves some consideration in this category. It's not a Best Actor/Actress category, it's Best Cast. Nowhere does it say the cast has to be in a good movie." - Allen Poole, AV Club

Best Screenplay

"White Jazz is famous for being considered impossible to properly adapt due to James Ellroy's unique writing prose in the novel. But not only did they manage to adapt it, but they also managed to turn it into a damn fine film." - Olive Carroll, Houston Chronicle

"Not only is Jonestown one of the season's best movies, but it is also one of the few films not adapted from previous source material. That should have given it the extra points it needed for a Best Screenplay nod, but sadly, it did not." - Mark Rawls, Seattle Times

Best Villain

"Billy Bob Thornton plays such an easy-to-hate character in Skin Tight, that I'm honestly pretty surprised he didn't secure enough votes for a Best Villain nomination." - Mark Gilbert, Boston Globe

"Josh Brolin made everyone forget all about Martin Sheen's original portrayal of Greg Stillson. He plays the role less over-the-top, creating a more menacing effect." - Paul Onkean, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Best Supporting Actress

"Haley Bennett's performance in The Cry of the Owl may very well go down as one of the finest mega-bitch performances. And in what is a somewhat weak race this season, I'm surprised her name isn't on the list." - Stephen Ridley, Boston Globe

"I can only think that Libra actresses Olivia Cooke and Frances McDormand split the vote when it came to Best Supporting Actress. Both actresses give great performances, but they must have cancelled each other out when it came time to vote." - George Ryan, Philadelphia Inquirer

Best Supporting Actor

"It's not very often that John Cusack puts forth effort in a performance. The only recent example that comes to mind is Love & Mercy, but now we can add White Jazz to that list. His version of Howard Hughes is a slimy, despicable creature. While possibly not very historically accurate, it's still a fun performance." - Michael Van Patten, Slant Magazine

"I believe that Anthony Mackie's performance as Donald DeFreeze, head of Patty Hearst's captors in Every Secret Thing, is a true star-making performance." - Brian Edelstein, Time Out

Best Actress

"While The Raven in the Night is probably not going to be a film that is long remembered, Amy Adams gave a very good, believable performance in the lead role, and in such a weak category this season, it's surprising she isn't nominated." - Chris Mears, Slashfilm

"Somehow Selena Gomez received a nomination for A View from the Bridge, but not Marisa Tomei as her loving aunt. Perhaps Tomei should've been considered for Best Supporting Actress. She surely would have secured a nomination in that category." - Gillian Donaldson, Variety

Best Actor

"The voting was reportedly very tight in this category, but I'm surprised that Tom Hanks didn't get a nomination for Hiroshima based on name recognition alone (he also gave a great performance)." - Sean Williamson, Toronto Star

"I would have figured that Shia LaBeouf's performance as Lee Harvey Oswald in Libra was a dead lock for a Best Actor nomination. I'm truly shocked." - Ben Bernard, New York Times

Best Director

"It sure seems like Hiroshima just missed out on a lot of nominations, but it's still a complete surprise that Spielberg wasn't nominated. Without his steady hand, the film could have gotten real boring, real fast." - Michael Wilmington, Rolling Stone

"I feel like nobody works as hard at getting all the details right as much as David Fincher, and he had a whole lot of details to get right in Libra." - Henry Stewart, Chicago Sun-Times

Best Picture

"Paradise Lost was truly a dazzling experience. Ultimately it may have been to religiously-themed for the voters, which is unfortunate because it's one of the finest epics in a long time." - Desmond Rodgers, TIME Magazine

"The story of Hiroshima this awards season is that of a near-miss. Who would have imagined that such a great film would only secure one nomination?" - Matthew Ellis, USA Today


 Best Production Design

"A View from the Bridge. The design of the film places it somewhere between reality and a heightened theatrical environment." - Jon Farrell, Hollywood Reporter

"Jack the Ripper. Director Tom Hooper let the production down, but the design team certainly worked hard." - Tim Greer, L.A. Weekly

Best Ensemble Cast

"Pretty much everyone in the cast of Paradise Lost could headline their own movie." - Charles Triano, Los Angeles Times
"Martin Scorsese films always attract an A-list cast, and The Raven in the Night is no different." - Tom Lane, Detroit News

Best Screenplay

"Libra's screenplay is a complicated one, based on a complicated novel, but it all makes sense on the screen." - Rick Green, New Yorker
"Paradise Lost takes John Milton's epic poem and successfully turns it into a fantasy epic." - Vincent Kerr, Washington Post

Best Villain

"Ralph Fiennes is sure sinister in Jack the Ripper." - Bruce Vickers, Baltimore Sun
"Ralph Fiennes' performance is about the only thing that works in Tom Hooper's misguided Jack the Ripper." - Janet Donnelly, Empire Magazine

Best Supporting Actress

"Elisabeth Moss in Invisible Monsters finds the top without going over it." - Roger Taggart, Chicago Tribune
"Elisabeth Moss has been killing it in television for about a decade, now she is killing it on the big screen with performances like the one she gives in Invisible Monsters." - Dave Cone, New York Post

Best Supporting Actor

"Robert Downey Jr. gives a truly chilling performance in Green River." - Jon Farrell, Hollywood Reporter
"In Green River, Robert Downey Jr. as Ted Bundy is this generation's Hannibal Lecter." - Stephen Anderson, Entertainment Weekly

Best Actress

"Daisy Ridley shows that she can do more than play with light sabers with her star-making turn in Every Secret Thing." - Charles Yost, The Oregonian
"Brie Larson anchors an all-star cast in Maria." - Clark Davis, JoBlo.com

Best Actor

"Josh Brolin delivers a quietly menacing performance in Jonestown." - Mark Gilbert, Boston Globe
"One of the finest performances in recent years belongs to Josh Brolin's portrayal of Jim Jones in Jonestown." - Paul Onkean, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Best Director

"With Jonestown, Oliver Stone delivers a film in league with his previous films like Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July - only better." - Allen Poole, AV Club
"Oliver Stone has directed some phenomenal films and Jonestown is right up there with his best." - Olive Carroll, Houston Chronicle

Best Picture

"Jonestown is not only an important film - it's also a great one." - George Ryan, Philadelphia Inquirer
"Hands down, my favorite film of the season was Oliver Stone's Jonestown." - Michael Van Patten, Slant Magazine

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