CENTRAL OHIO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION - 2016 NOMINATIONS

The Central Ohio Film Critics Association brings in 2017 with its award nominations for last year. And the new year provides new choices from these critics, ranging from The Nice Guys and Sing Street in their 12-strong Best Film lineup (the latter lacking a single other mention), Laura Dern alongside Lily Gladstone in Best Supporting Actress for Certain Women, and The Magnificent Seven recognizing the late James Horner in Best Score, to Viola Davis' first citation in lead for Fences - will it be her last? Winners due some time this year, I suppose.

Best Film
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Jackie
La La Land
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
The Nice Guys
Nocturnal Animals
Sing Street
The Witch

Best Director
Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
David MacKenzie (Hell or High Water)
Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

Best Actress
Amy Adams (Arrival)
Viola Davis (Fences)
Rebecca Hall (Christine)
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Hailee Steinfeld (The Edge of Seventeen)
Emma Stone (La La Land)

Best Actor
Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
Colin Farrell (The Lobster)
Ryan Gosling (La La Land)
Tom Hanks (Sully)
Denzel Washington (Fences)

Best Supporting Actress
Laura Dern (Certain Women)
Lily Gladstone (Certain Women)
Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
Lupita Nyong'o (Queen of Katwe)
Rachel Weisz (The Light Between Oceans)
Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
John Goodman (10 Cloverfield Lane)
Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)
Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)

Best Original Screenplay
Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Robert Eggers (The Witch)
Efthymis Filippou and Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster)
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals)
Eric Heisserer (Arrival)
Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
Whit Stillman (Love & Friendship)
August Wilson (Fences)

Best Cinematography
Chung Chung Hoon (The Handmaiden)
James Laxton (Moonlight)
Giles Nuttgens (Hell or High Water)
Linus Sandgren (La La Land)
Bradford Young (Arrival)

Best Film Editing
Tom Cross (La La Land)
John Gilbert (Hacksaw Ridge)
Jennifer Lame (Manchester by the Sea)
Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders (Moonlight)
Jake Roberts (Hell or High Water)
Joe Walker (Arrival)

Best Score
Nicholas Britell (Moonlight)
Simon Franglen and James Horner (The Magnificent Seven)
Andy Hull and Robert McDowell (Swiss Army Man)
Justin Hurwitz (La La Land)
Johann Johannsson (Arrival)
Mark Korven (The Witch)
Mica Levi (Jackie)

Best Ensemble
Hell or High Water
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Nocturnal Animals

Best Animated Film
Finding Dory
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
Sausage Party
Zootopia

Best Documentary
13th
Cameraperson
I Am Not Your Negro
O.J.: Made in America
Weiner

Best Foreign Language Film
Elle
The Handmaiden
A Man Called Ove
Toni Erdmann
Under the Shadow
The Wailing

Best Overlooked Film
10 Cloverfield Lane
Christine
The Edge of Seventeen
Green Room
Krisha

Breakthrough Film Artist
Robert Eggers (The Witch) - directing and screenwriting
Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea) - acting
Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) - directing and screenwriting
Sunny Pawar (Lion) - acting
Anya Taylor-Joy (Barry / Morgan / The Witch) - acting

Actor of the Year (for an exemplary body of work)
Amy Adams (Arrival / Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice / Nocturnal Animals)
Ryan Gosling (La La Land / The Nice Guys)
Michael Shannon (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice / Complete Unknown / Elvis & Nixon / Frank & Lola / Loving / Midnight Special / Nocturnal Animals)
Michelle Williams (Certain Women / Manchester by the Sea)

REVIEW - THE NICE GUYS (SHANE BLACK)

Giddy rambunctiousness fuels Shane Black's The Nice Guys, a frothy and foul step back in time that can't help but court one gross lapse in judgement after another. It gets away with it, given Black's steadfast appreciation of the exact position of every line he cheekily threatens to cross, and his twin appreciation of the gleefully reckless effects of just fucking crossing them and being done with it. Detective comedies need two simple things: a good detective story and good comedy - The Nice Guys has both. That's about all. Shit, that could be about all for this review! This is Black's formative era, the late 1970s, thus its recreation here is free of any artistic intent; the whole film feels free, to make its own honest mistakes and to hit its own accidental home-runs too. It's neither fresh nor retro, neither original nor derivative. Its setting is of narrative significance only, and leaves behind thoughts on society's attitude toward sexuality (and sexualisation) then and now, thoughts that don't linger. It's predictable in an inoffensive way, and offensive in a predictable way. The acting is good, very lively, let down a little by Kim Basinger's surgeon; the action scenes are incoherent and expose the coincidences rife through Black and Anthony Bagarozzi's screenplay. It's all appropriately adolescent mayhem, careless and carefree, energised out of sheer excitement for itself. More of a sugar rush than a drug bender - not much of a comedown, for better or worse.