MERRY CHRISTMAS! WOMEN FILM CRITICS CIRCLE NOMINATIONS!

It's the news you've all been waiting for, SOS' Christmas present to you all! Slash not. The Women Film Critics Circle is no doubt trying to good work in voting for their specific, highly idiosyncratic favourites (and least favourites) in film from 2016. But this is the WFCC, and regular Oscarwatchers will know what to expect from the WFCC. A few examples: praising the risible, racist, homophobic Nina Simone biopic Nina (and listing its lead as Theresa Saldana...) whilst condemning Elle; thinking that there are animated female characters in The BFG; shaming 'bad' moms and rape survivors. It's perhaps not for me - not a woman - to criticize the WFCC - lots of women. But you already know how I feel... When will they announce their award winners? Who knows? Who cares?

Best Actress

Rebecca Hall (Christine)

Taraji P. Henson (Hidden Figures)

Ruth Negga (Loving)

Natalie Portman (Jackie)

Best Actor

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)

Joel Edgerton (Loving)

Matthew McConaughey (Free State of Jones)

Christopher Plummer (Remembers)

Best Movie About Women

20th Century Women

Certain Women

Christine

Hidden Figures

Best Movie by a Woman

13th

Certain Women

The Dressmaker

Queen of Katwe

Best Comedic Actress

Judy Davis (The Dressmaker)

Sally Field (Hello, My Name Is Doris)

Greta Gerwig (Maggie's Plan)

Kate McKinnon (Ghostbusters)

Best Woman Storyteller (Screenwriting Award)

Ava DuVernay (13th)

Amy Fox (Equity)

Rebecca Miller (Maggie's Plan)

Kelly Reichardt (Certain Women)

Women's Work / Best Ensemble

20th Century Women

The Dressmaker

Ghostbusters

Hidden Figures

Best Documentary by or About Women

13th

Audrie & Daisy

The Eagle Huntress

Miss Sharon Jones!

Best Foreign Film by or About Women

Julieta

The Handmaiden

Things to Come

Toni Erdmann

Best Young Actress

Royalty Hightower (The Fits)

Sasha Lane (American Honey)

Madina Nalwanga (Queen of Katwe)

Hailee Steinfeld (The Edge of Seventeen)

Best Female Images

Certain Women

Hidden Figures

Loving

Queen of Katwe

Best Male Images

Free State of Jones

Loving

Paterson

Snowden

Worst Female Images

Elle

Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising

The obese naked women dancing (Nocturnal Animals)

Zoolander 2

Worst Male Images

Dirty Grandpa

Frank & Lola

Weiner

Zoolander 2

Special Mention Awards

Best Family Film

Hidden Figures

Kubo and the Two Strings

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Queen of Katwe

Best Animated Female

The BFG

Finding Dory

Moana

Your Name.

Best Female Action Hero

Gal Gadot - 'Wonder Woman' (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)

Emma Watson (Colonia)

The women of Free State of Jones

The women of Ghostbusters

Best Screen Couple

Allied

Loving

Paterson

Snowden

Best Equality of the Sexes

Allied

Hidden Figures

Loving

Paterson

Best Line in a Movie

'I believe the characters we read on the page become more real than the men who stand beside us' (Jackie)

Courage in Filmmaking

Ava DuVernay (13th)

Janet Grillo (Jack of the Red Hearts)

Meera Menon (Equity)

Kelly Reichardt (Certain Women)

Courage in Acting (Taking on unconventional roles that radically redefine the images of women on screen)

Annette Bening (20th Century Women)

Lily Gladstone (Certain Women)

Rebecca Hall (Christine)

Zoe Saldana (Nina)

Adrienne Shelly Award (For a film that most passionately opposes violence against women)

American Honey

Audrie & Daisy

Colonia

The Uncondemned

The Invisible Woman Award (Performance by a woman whose exceptional impact on the film dramatically, socially or historically, has been ignored)

Lily Gladstone (Certain Women)

Rebecca Hall (Christine)

Zoe Saldana (Nina)

The women of Hidden Figures

Josephine Baker Award (For best expressing the woman of colour experience in America)

Hidden Figures

Loving

Moonlight

Nina

Karen Morley Award (For best exemplifying a woman's place in history or society, and a courageous search for identity)

Christine

Hidden Figures

Loving

Things to Come

Acting and Activism Award

Geena Davis

Jane Fonda

Emma Watson

Shailene Woodley

Lifetime Achievement Award

Julie Andrews

Annette Bening

Martha Coolidge

Viola Davis

Mommie Dearest Worst Screen Mom of the Year Award

Mila Kunis (Bad Moms)

Laura Linney (Nocturnal Animals)

Emma Thompson (Barney Thomson)

Renee Zellweger (The Whole Truth)

WFCC Hall of Shame: Women Dating Their Rapists in Movies

Elle

Frank & Lola

Sunset Song

REVIEW - THE BFG (STEVEN SPIELBERG)

Real magic happens when you're not looking. Turn your attention to the trick, and that magic is lost - though we think we want to know, we never truly do. You likely weren't looking for, nor expecting, real movie magic when you sat down to your favourite film, the one most likely to evoke a sense of satisfaction and nostalgia in your memory. Steven Spielberg trades in this stuff regularly, and herein lies the issue: he wants to evoke those same senses in his audience, but the production of nostalgia relies upon the reproduction of an experience in the mind, and it's impossible to reproduce an experience in the same moment in which it's occurring. Thus, The BFG, which is so overtly an attempt to actively produce nostalgia, comes across more as a magic trick with all the sleight of hand made manifest in its every movement, rather than the real movie magic to which it aspires. The technique is strong, the execution stronger still, but the purpose is corrupt. The film is better when it lays off the wonder and whimsy, and hones in on character. A most British film in style and tone when dialogue takes over, here is where this most American director finds his feet. The BFG exploits the charm of Roald Dahl's prose and the skill of actor Mark Rylance to create a work that's as affable and heartwarming as it's intended to be. It's a broad comedy adventure in the mould of a dramatic family film, and boldly commits to its wholesome British eccentricity. Spielberg's regular collaborators turn in smart work, from Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg's lovely production design to John Williams' score, one of his best in recent years.

OBIT - MELISSA MATHISON

The Oscar-nominated screenwriter behind some of the most beloved titles in recent decades had died. Melissa Mathison, the former wife of actor Harrison Ford and an Academy Award nominee for Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, was 65 when she passed on Wednesday the 4th of November 2015 after suffering from neuroendocrine cancer. After attending Berkeley University, Mathison went on to enjoy a highly successful Hollywood career over a relatively small selection of films. Among her works were her debut, The Black Stallion and Martin Scorsese's Kundun; experiences working with the Dalai Lama on that film led to Mathison working as an activist for Tibetan freedom in recent years. Her first screenplay since that was for Spielberg's The BFG, due to be released next year. She is survived by her two children, both with Ford, Malcolm and Georgia. She will be much missed by movie fans across the world, who will surely savour her final film when it is released in 2016.