OBIT - HASKELL WEXLER

Celebrated cinematographer Haskell Wexler has died, aged 93. He passed in his sleep on the 27th of December, at home in Santa Monica, California, after a long life and a successful career. Known to be one of cinema'a most influential directors of photography, his accolades included two Academy Awards from five nominations (including the final Black-and-White Cinematography award), two National Society of Film Critics honours, an Independent Spirit Award, Lifetime Achievement recognitions from both the American Society of Cinematographers and Camerimage, and even a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, as one of only six cinematographers to have received one. You'll be familiar with so many of his movies: America America, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, In the Heat of the Night, The Thomas Crown Affair, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Bound for Glory, Coming Home, Matewan and Days of Heaven. He is survived by his spouse, actor and fellow cinematographer Rita Taggart, and by his three children, Mark, Jeff and Kathy.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD WINS AT FLORIDA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS

The Florida Film Critics Circle's batch of fine nominations turned into a batch of fine winners yesterday. The group's final voting saw nomination runner-up Mad Max: Fury Road edge ahead of leader Carol and Oscar frontrunner Spotlight to win the circle's Best Picture award alongside three other category victories. Among their other choices for both winners and runners-up were some excellent choices, including The Assassin, Tangerine and Charlotte Rampling for 45 Years. Check out their picks below:

Best Picture

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. Spotlight

Best Director

1. George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

2. Todd Haynes (Carol)

Best Actor

1. Paul Dano (Love & Mercy)

2. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Best Actress

1. Brie Larson (Room)

2. Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)

Best Supporting Actor

1. Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina)

2. Michael Shannon (99 Homes)

Best Supporting Actress

1. Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria)

2. Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight)

Best Original Screenplay

1. Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)

2. Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig (Mistress America)

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. Adam McKay and Charles Randolph (The Big Short)

2. Phyllis Nagy (Carol)

Best Cinematography

1. John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road)

2. Edward Lachman (Carol)

Best Art Direction / Production Design

1. Carol

2. Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Visual Effects

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Score

1. Love & Mercy

2. Carol

Best Ensemble

1. Spotlight

2. Tangerine

Best Animated Film

1. Inside Out

2. Anomalisa

Best Documentary

1. Amy

2. Heart of a Dog

Best Foreign Language Film

1. The Assassin

2. Mommy

Pauline Kael Breakout Award

1. Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

2. Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl / Ex Machina)

FIRST TRAILER FOR JONAS CUARON'S DESIERTO

Jonas Cuaron's Desierto was welcomed with some fairly good reviews, and a FIPRESCI Prize, when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The son of Alfonso Cuaron made his sophomore feature film as director about the border between the U.S. and Mexico and the struggle of those attempting to cross it in search of a better life on the American side, only to discover anything but. Desierto has a 4th of March release slated for the U.S. This is the first official trailer for the film, which stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and is being distributed by STX Entertainment.

JACO VAN DORMAEL'S THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT - TRAILER

Jaco van Dormael's The Brand New Testament has built up a pretty decent rep since it premiered in Quinzaine at Cannes in May. It won a European Film Award, is nominated for the Golden Globe for Foreign Language Film and has been shortlisted for an Oscar nomination in their foreign language category. Reviews have been remarkably good for a Western European comedy (lbr, most of them are risible), though the film has yet to receive releases in either the US or the UK. Here's an English-subtitled trailer to capitalise on the awards buzz.

TRAILER FOR THE LAND OF THE ENLIGHTENED

Pieter-Jan de Pue's documentary The Land of the Enlightened has all the potential to be one of early 2016's biggest doc hits. It has a slot at Sundance booked, and a limited release in the U.S. on the schedule for the 24th of February. The photographer's debut feature-length film debuts a trailer, which offers a very promising look at the Afghanistan-set film. Very much looking forward to hearing about this one, and hopefully seeing it soon after.

U.S. TRAILER FOR MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART

Aside from a few international territories to date, Jia Zhang Ke's Mountains May Depart is yet to open in most of the world. A lengthy festival schedule through 2014 has seen the film pick up many fans worldwide, even if its initial reaction at the Cannes Film Festival was somewhat mixed. Here's the first U.S. trailer, which gives those of us who haven't yet seen the film an idea of what critics were talking about when they praised Zhao Tao's performance back in May.

REVIEW - THE REVENANT (ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU)

The Revenant is a great film that needs so deeply to be a great film that it ultimately ends up rather far short of greatness. It's an emulation, an amalgamation, an artful pastiche of artistry that trips over itself trying. So much effort has been put into this film that one feels there's very little effort left for the audience, very little to latch onto and form our own personal, subjective connection with. Be Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's brushstrokes broad or fine (or even his own, an uncommon in his career), they're always much too clear to behold; how can a viewer feel engaged with what they're viewing when their synapses are being lit up not by themselves but by the hands of the filmmaker, no matter how masterful their touch? The Revenant is a collage, largely of the works of Terrence Malick, but it's a beautiful collage, full of dynamic sequences that ought to be more touching, more thrilling, more awe-inspiring than they are. It's marvellously physical and sensual - edited as though it were a series of desperate gasps and held breaths, the sound design a delicious symphony of squelches and guttural groans. But to what effect? Gonzalez Inarritu can't resist but draw one's attention to the technique on display, and while it's easy to comprehend why, it's not quite excusable. It also distracts from what is an essentially human story, though Leonardo DiCaprio's performance is equally calculated - a depiction of determination, with none of the soul nor purpose behind this outrageous true story evident in what he contributes. And the film's innate insensitivity is brought forth most clearly of all (tellingly, this is only clear if you're attuned to it, given the tired attempts at excusing it away) in The Revenant's treatment of its native characters - not so much in their story, but in its subordination to the story of yet another poor white man.

WINNERS ANNOUNCED FOR PHOENIX FILM CRITICS SOCIETY'S 2015 AWARDS

I wasn't keen on the Phoenix Film Critics Society's nominations, you may recall. I'm a little more keen on their award winners, but likely only because they'd fewer slots to fill and thus fewer opportunities to screw up. Still not overly enamoured with this selection, so I'll let you make your own mind up. It's below:

Best Picture

Spotlight

Best Director

Ridley Scott (The Martian)

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Brie Larson (Room)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

Best Original Screenplay

Inside Out

Best Screenplay Adapted from Other Material

The Big Short

Best Cinematography

The Revenant

Best Film Editing

Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Production Design

Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Costume Design

Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Visual Effects

Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Original Score

Bridge of Spies

Best Original Song

'See You Again' (Furious 7)

Best Ensemble Acting

Spotlight

Best Animated Film

Inside Out

Best Documentary

He Named Me Malala

Best Foreign Language Film

Son of Saul

The Overlooked Film of the Year

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Best Breakthrough Performance

Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)

Best Performance by a Youth

Jacob Tremblay (Room)

DUBLIN FILM CRITICS CIRCLE DECLARES INSIDE OUT THE BEST FILM OF 2015

Prepare yourselves for some time-travelling with the 2015 Dublin Film Critics Circle award. What with precisely-calibrated awards season releases in important international territories like the UK and Ireland, a lot of one season's contenders must wait until the next to be recognised by a group like the DFCC, which sticks closely to its calendar release dates and pretty much dgaf about its North American counterparts. Good for them! They've made some excellent choices this year, including picking Inside Out as Best Film, showing some love for The Tribe and mentioning Peter Strickland for The Duke of Burgundy in their Best Director list. And there's a fucking heap of female-led movies in their top nine, with more female leads than male. Good job, Dublin critics! Have a look below:

Best Film

1. Inside Out

2. Mad Max: Fury Road

3. Carol

4. The Tribe

5. Birdman

=  Ex Machina

=  A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

=  Star Wars: The Force Awakens

=  Tangerine

Best Director

1. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

2. Todd Haynes (Carol)

3. Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (The Tribe)

=  Peter Strickland (The Duke of Burgundy)

5. Sean Baker (Tangerine)

6. J. J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

=  John Crowley (Brooklyn)

Best Actor

1. Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)

2. Oscar Isaac (A Most Violent Year)

3. Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)

4. Tom Courtenay (45 Years)

=  Matt Damon (The Martian)

=  Paul Dano (Love & Mercy)

=  Michael Keaton (Birdman)

8. Colin Farrell (The Lobster)

=  Viggo Mortensen (Jauja)

=  J. K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Actress

1. Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

2. Rooney Mara (Carol)

3. Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

4. Emily Blunt (Sicario)

=  Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road)

=  Lily Tomlin (Grandma)

7. Nina Hoss (Phoenix)

Best Documentary

1. The Queen of Ireland

2. Amy

3. Red Army

4. Best of Enemies

5. The Look of Silence

=  The Wolfpack

Best Irish

1. Brooklyn

=  The Queen of Ireland

3. Song of the Sea

4. Older Than Ireland

5. I Used to Live Here

6. The Lobster

Breakthrough International Award

Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Kitana Kiki Rodriguez (Tangerine)

Mya Taylor (Tangerine)

Breakthrough Irish Award

Jordanne Jones (I Used to Live Here)

REVIEW - THE HATEFUL EIGHT (QUENTIN TARANTINO)

The vapid stylings of a filmmaker who emerged from the ego of another filmmaker, running on creative supplies in dwindling quantities. Gone is the era when Quentin Tarantino permitted his produce to acquire its cultural status over time; now, he insists on the quick fix method of myth-making, filling his films with his own hype that it might fizzle fast enough for a momentary high before fizzling out. Between these bursts of inspiration - no longer his own, but derived from the works of better filmmakers, or at least those who knew how to use it - The Hateful Eight just sits there, its elaborate dialogue droning ever on, never even threatening to lead anywhere. This is a painfully slow film, not nearly as enlivened by its stylisations as it would like. Yet it's a fine piece of work, as all that inspiration (and money) necessitates: Robert Richardson's photography looks sumptuous, and the soundtrack is given the boldest burst of colour among The Hateful Eight's reds and yellows - Ennio Morricone's invaluable score. Is it this high quality on offer that draws such unflattering focus upon Tarantino's failings? Or is it the quality that he provides himself, showing great flair for shot composition and indulging in his trademark cutting comedy? Too little of the latter, as each successful zinger is grossly outnumbered by unsuccessful ones, largely characterised by breathtaking intolerance. The film is neither a portrait of history nor of fantasy, but of its filmmaker's twisted mind, one in which the occasional sympathetic black character is licence for countless utterances of 'nigger', and in which the lone leading female is punched in the face more often than called by her own name. The Hateful Eight puts it all into perspective: Quentin Tarantino sees women as fetish objects and/or bitches, no more. He's a great filmmaker, waylaid by his own perception of that greatness, let down by his new editor, and ruined by his moral compass.