DAMIEN CHAZELLE WINS DGA FOR LA LA LAND

A busy weekend on the awards scene, but a busy(-ish) weekend for me, so this is all old news to you. Damien Chazelle wins the top award from the Directors Guild of America for La La Land, and nobody is surprised. Check out the DGA nominations here, and all the film-related winners below.

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film
Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
Ezra Edelman (O.J.: Made in America)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director
Garth Davis (Lion)

YOUR 2016 DGA NOMINEES ARE...

Surprised? The Weinstein Company was always gonna work Lion for all it's worth and then some, so you shouldn't be. Adding in the Documentary Director nominations announced yesterday. Winners announced on the 4th of February.

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

Garth Davis (Lion)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary

Otto Bell (The Eagle Huntress)

Ezra Edelman (O.J.: Made in America)

Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg (Weiner)

Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro)

Roger Ross Williams (Life, Animated)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director

Garth Davis (Lion)

Kelly Fremon Craig (The Edge of Seventeen)

Tim Miller (Deadpool)

Nate Parker (The Birth of a Nation)

Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane)

DGA DOCUMENTARY DIRECTOR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

The Directors Guild of America reveals its nominees for Best Director and Best First-Time Director tomorrow, the 12th of January, but its nominees for Best Documentary Director are already here. Fascinating, isn't it? Shame that they couldn't find more room for female directors, since they certainly had plenty of deserving choices from which to pick. Winners in all categories announced on the 4th of February.

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary

Otto Bell (The Eagle Huntress)

Ezra Edelman (O.J.: Made in America)

Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg (Weiner)

Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro)

Roger Ross Williams (Life, Animated)

ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU WINS SECOND CONSECUTIVE DGA AWARD, DOESN'T DESERVE THIS ONE EITHER

You ever hear of the director who won two back-to-back DGA awards? No, you didn't, because it's never happened before. But it happened yesterday, as Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won the Feature Film category for The Revenant, beating four other nominees who each and all a) had never won before, and b) deserved to win more than he did. Kinda reminds me of last year, when almost exactly the same shit transpired. The winner of the Documentary category was Matthew Heineman for Cartel Land - a much finer choice, imo - and Ex Machina's Alex Garland in the inaugural First Time Director category. The 2015 DGA nominations can be viewed at this link.

GONZALEZ INARRITU, MCCARTHY, MCKAY, MILLER, SCOTT - DGA NOMINATIONS

In the 2015 Boys' Club nominations, five big boys got nominations for their big boy films. There's Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for his angsty big-boy Western The Revenant! There's Tom McCarthy for his working-boys drama Spotlight! There's Adam McKay for his banker-boy comedy-drama The Big Short! There's Ridley Scott for his space-boy thriller The Martian! And there's George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road, which isn't rly a boys' movie, and that's why PLZ MOVIE GODS LET IT WIN! But look: a new category, for debut directors, and the movie gods are already at work, nominating a w-, a wo-, a... w-o-m-a-n? Is that what they're called? Winners announced at the ceremony on the 6th of February. Noms, including for the Documentary category, can be viewed below:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant)

Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

Adam McKay (The Big Short)

George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Ridley Scott (The Martian)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Meru)
Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?)
Alex Gibney (Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief)
Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land)
Asif Kapadia (Amy)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director

Fernando Coimbra (A Wolf at the Door)

Joel Edgerton (The Gift)

Alex Garland (Ex Machina)

Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl)

Nemes Laszlo (Son of Saul)