Bernardo Villela is like a mallrat except at the movies. He is a writer, director, editor and film enthusiast who seeks to continue to explore and learn about cinema, chronicle the journey and share his findings.
When I first began the BAM Awards as a rebellious fifteen-year-old I was reacting to the lack of consideration and inclusion of films I connected with in the awards without fully understanding the machinations of Awards Season and Hollywood in general. While there would be some way-off-the-beaten-path selections in my nominations over the years, there’d be some and some Academy-friendly films too.
The BAM Awards have not changed much in that regard, pandemic not withstanding. However, the valley between the general public and the Academy grows larger every year. Part of this is attributable to the increased fragmentation of the moviegoing public. Despite all the blockbusters not many films are cultural touchstones anymore. Most modest studio films, arthouse films, and streaming service premiers fall by the wayside. The touchstones now are agreeable popcorn-films, some better than others, few and far between meet mass critical appeal—and so many fall within the oversaturated realm of the superhero film that any chance of the Academy including them in serious award categories is slim to none (and Slim is usually out riding an atomic bomb).
What the Academy, and the public at large are faced with, is an unsolvable conundrum, one that’s been inevitable since the Awards’ inception: the Oscars were created by the Academy as a marketing tool. That marketing pull is still there and their choices have aligned with the commercial/mass appeal on occasion, but far less so since the end of the Studio System. With the fall of the Studio System fragmentation began and the virtually unknown award darlings came to be.
More viewing options and films exacerbate that divide and have left the Academy flailing for ways to make the telecast more appealing and drive up the almighty ratings. One of those attempts has led to the further consternation of the public. The expansion of Best Picture to up to 10 films, was a fine idea in theory. It was that way for many years. One problem became that the expansion came with a changed voting system that allows divisive films to springboard into Best Picture because first-place votes weigh heavily. This allowed Don’t Look Up to be a Best Picture nominee this year despite it’s 53% Rotten Tomatoes and 49% Metacritic scores; as many people loving it as loathing it vaulted it into a nomination. The ranked Best Picture voting has also led to some wonderful surprised like Parasite getting nominated and winning, and Drive My Car this year. This is something that pleases film people more than the general public though.
For the general public the Academy decided to ditch hosts then bring them back, and not just one but three, which I’m sure won’t waste any time.
And what else, oh yeah, there will also be a live performance of a song that’s not even nominated! If we didn’t nominate “We don’t talk about Bruno,” how about we not sing his song?
The bit that got me the most furious that got me writing this and to conduct my own little counterprotest. The Oscars, after dumping lifetime achievement awards from the live broadcasts years ago, decided to present certain awards an hour early and splice in a soundbite in from the winner in the live (read “real”) broadcast. Among these categories is Best Editing, one of the most important things in film and an indicator of who will likely win Best Picture.
So, in that spirit when I post the BAM winners later today (tomorrow?) and, in the interest of time only the winner. If you happen to be curious about why certain decisions were made, I’ll respond with a soundbite. Enjoy!
I posted the 2021 BAM Award nominations recently and in my rush to do on time I bypassed the usual disclaimers and setup I include.
Some of my nominees may seemed dated, but bear in mind the films I consider were ones I saw and some titles that have limited releases for Oscar considerations that I don’t get to slide into the year of their wide release. This has always been an affectation of my awards that is more pronounced during the pandemic as even the Academy has changed its eligibility period.
For a list of eligible films you can check my now-public list on Letterboxd.
The noncompetitive special categories (Entertainer of the Year, Lifetime Achievement, Special Jury Prizes, Neutron Star Award) though not included with the nominations, with recipients TBA will still be happening.
María Valverde, Dolores Fonzi, Guillermo Pfening, Cristina Banegas, Germán Palacios, Guillermina Sorribes Liotta, Emilio Vodanovich Fever Dream
Ryan Reynolds, Taika Waititi, Joe Keery, Channing Tatum, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar Free Guy
Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee The Power of the Dog
Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Roman Griffin Davis, Annabell Wallis, Lily-Rose Depp, Sope Dirisu, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Lucy Punch, Rufus Jones, Davida McKenzie, Hardy Griffin Davis, Gilby Griffin Davis and Trudi StylerSilent Night
Giulia Benite, Kevin Vechiatto, Laura Rauseo, Gabriel Moreira, Gabriel Blotto, Cauã Martins, Pedro Souza, Rodrigo Santoro, Paulo Vilhena, Fafá Rennó Turma da Mônica Laços
The Power of the Dog, A Quiet Place Part II, Ghostbusters: Afterlife – 10
Turma da Mônica Laços – 9
Pig – 8
C’mon C’mon – 7
The Card Counter, Bo Burnhm: Inside and Lamb – 6
Fever Dream and Dune – 5
Free Guy and Blood Red Sky – 4
The Village Detective: A Song Cycle, Don’t Tell a Soul, Silent Night, Don’t Look Up, Suicide Squad – 3
The Strange House, Godzilla vs. Kong, Nightbooks, Reminiscence, Malignant– 2
My Son, The Djinn, Those WhoWish Me Dead, The Marksman, Finding ‘Ohana, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Halloween Kills, Red Notice, Candyman, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, The Swarm – 1
Is not being awarded this year because the category had morphed into being about films that didn’t have a distributor or were under distributed. I saw no films that qualified in that sense this past year.
Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evan, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Brie Larson, Tom Holland, Karen Gillan, Zoe Saldana, Evangeline Lilly, et al. Avengers: Endgame
Oakes Fegley, Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Jeffrey Wright, Luke Wilson, Sarah Paulson, Willa Fitzgerald, Finn Wolfhard, Aimee Laurence, Carly Connors, Ryan Foust, Jack DiFalco, Collin Shea Shirrmacher, Nicky Torchia, et al. The Goldfinch
Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgård, Jack Dylan Grazer, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Luke Roesseler, Jackson Robert Scott, Sladen Peltier, Sophia Lillis, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, et al. It: Chapter 2
Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren, William Jackson Harper, Will Poulter, Ellora Torchia, Archie Medekwe, Henrik Norlén, et al. Midsommar
Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright-Joseph, Evan Alex, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker Us
What happened with It: Chapter 2 was near-impossible: they found a cast capable of believably being grown-up versions of the Losers and were equally in synch, making it an even more impressive ensemble piece.
As opposed to It: Chapter 2, Us is a much smaller ensemble piece as such much more of the load is shouldered by each cast member. Shahadi Wright Joseph and her counterpart interact quite a bit carrying much of that load.
To give a film called The Prodigy a chance to work requires a prodigious performance. Jackson Robert Scott here fully displays the abilities that the It films only hinted at.
Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, Brady Noon, Izaac Wang, Millie Davis, Christian Darrel Scott, Macie Juiles Good Boys
Oakes Fegley, Finn Wolfhard, Aimee Laurence, Carly Connors, Ryan Foust, Jack DiFalco, Collin Shea Shirrmacher, Nicky Torchia, The Goldfinch
Jack Dylan Grazer, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Luke Roesseler, Jackson Robert Scott, Sladen Peltier, Sophia Lillis, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, It: Chapter 2
Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Tom Taylor, Dean Chaumoo, Rhianna Dorris, The Kid Who Would Be King
Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Faithe Herman, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Ethan Pugiotto, Landon Doak, David Kohlsmith Shazam!
There were additional young cast members this time who also had their moments, so yes, they win an encore prize because they’re spectacular.
Once again Peele’s singular vision is allowed shine as he brings his own concept to the screen, this time with a greater degree of success that in his previous endeavor.
Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely Avengers: Endgame
Tyler Burton Smith, Don Mancini, John Lafia and Tom Holland Child’s Play
Peter Straughan and Donna Tartt The Goldfinch
Gary Dauberman and Stephen King It: Chapter 2
Christ McKenna & Erik Sommers Spider-Man: Far from Home
Dauberman’s task this time around is no less enviable than it was the first time around. The characters, so well-created before, must now be presented in two versions and are executed equally well.
To create an economy of words I’ve avoided citing all nominees in my explications. Here I cannot do that. Joseph Bishara is vastly underrated and I watched the credits to see what that Hungarian tune was and was stunned he wrote it. Gureckis’s work is lyrical. Krlic’s score is haunting and Williams’ work is his best in the series in the new trilogy. However, Abels’ work is ominous, pervasive, and has lingered with me.
There aren’t many flashy vistas and the setpieces alternate between opulent New York society, Amsterdam, and quasi-abandoned sections of Las Vegas but with Deakins light and shadow are the stars always.
Taking on Elton John as a costumer is no easy task, even less so when you have represent him on stage and off as well as varying time periods with other characters.
The key to suspension of disbelief in this film is selling the location and how the characters hand themselves freely to it, a large part of that is accomplished through the intricate and beautiful art design.
What this film did so impressively is that it put cartoon characters in a real world and made them look as real, like cartoon characters would if they could walk off screen.
Sure, it’s easy to say the music of Elton John is the soundtrack of the year. But the songs are re-recorded and rearranged, sung by his character at three ages, and at the end Taron Egerton’s version of a song blends almost seamlessly into Elton’s.
Holland’s appearances as Spider-Man continue to be stellar. One of the litmus tests of my Entertainer of the Year Award are appearances through the year. Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home took care of the spring and summer appearances. At Christmas he leant his impressive voice talent to Spies in Disguise. What about the fall? Well, when it appeared Spider-Man was doomed to cinematic limbo outside the MCU after Disney and Sony couldn’t come to an agreement, he stepped in behind the scenes and helped remedy that situation. It was the kind of movie news needed this year.
George Lucas’s credentials need hardly be listed here. He was the architect of the Star Wars franchise and one the architects of the Indiana Jones franchise. And, of course, there are his tech innovations with THX, Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound. Normally, I want my honoree of this award to have a credit in the year of his/her honoring. Lucas does and his contribution is unconventional: of course, he’s credited with “Based on characters created by” but he also helped shape the ending which I loved.
In my viewing and re-viewing of Bergman films this past year I came to appreciate more fully the actors the he frequently worked with, none more so than Björnstrand who appeared in his works from 1944 to 1983
Much of what I wrote in last year‘s intro applies this year: There were not monthly considerations posts or shortlists this year. However, I have been tracking eligible titles I’ve seen on Letterboxd. There you’d see that my viewings of eligible titles (and films in general) dipped. It went down to about the level it was when I started making these as a high school student.
That quote is true in many ways and sometimes life happens and the releases viewed slow down by choice, circumstance or both. This year was a lot of both. Many things I prioritized highly I didn’t get to see, but as I realized a few years ago when posting these awards on my blog these awards are kind of like a yearbook. They may include many films or few, all the awards contenders or none, some I wrote on extensively and many I did not; these awards are my attempt to encapsulate what impressed me and why.
Whom I select and why will be announced on January 11th. So without further ado, here are this year’s nominees…
Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evan, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Brie Larson, Tom Holland, Karen Gillan, Zoe Saldana, Evangeline Lilly, et al. Avengers: Endgame
Oakes Fegley, Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Jeffrey Wright, Luke Wilson, Sarah Paulson, Willa Fitzgerald, Finn Wolfhard, Aimee Laurence, Carly Connors, Ryan Foust, Jack DiFalco, Collin Shea Shirrmacher, Nicky Torchia, et al. The Goldfinch
Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgård, Jack Dylan Grazer, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Luke Roesseler, Jackson Robert Scott, Sladen Peltier, Sophia Lillis, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, et al. It: Chapter 2
Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren, William Jackson Harper, Will Poulter, Ellora Torchia, Archie Medekwe, Henrik Norlén, et al. Midsommar
Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright-Joseph, Evan Alex, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker Us
Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, Brady Noon, Izaac Wang, Millie Davis, Christian Darrel Scott, Macie Juiles Good Boys
Oakes Fegley, Finn Wolfhard, Aimee Laurence, Carly Connors, Ryan Foust, Jack DiFalco, Collin Shea Shirrmacher, Nicky Torchia, The Goldfinch
Jack Dylan Grazer, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Luke Roesseler, Jackson Robert Scott, Sladen Peltier, Sophia Lillis, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, It: Chapter 2
Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Tom Taylor, Dean Chaumoo, Rhianna Dorris, The Kid Who Would Be King
Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Faithe Herman, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Ethan Pugiotto, Landon Doak, David Kohlsmith Shazam!
Through 2019 my posts on this site have been sparse, but I have been tracking my viewing and will present my annual BAM Awards I plan to have the full list up tomorrow.
Viewing and posting has been more sparse than 2018 in part due to other writing pursuits. One short story I published can be read here another can be ordered in a magazine here.
The nominations again are from a smaller pool, and from mainly big studio films, but I am putting the same amount or care into selecting nominees as when I’ve had more than twice as many eligible titles. Watch this space as I hope to be a little more active and diversified here this year.
I don’t tally nominations until I finish each category and then release the nominees. Similarly, I try to pick each category individually regardless of what won prior categories. Sometimes this leads to diverse winners, sometimes not. My 2017 viewings were more than double my 2018 but last year’s Best Picture It won eight awards, yet this year’s choice will have won five.
Even trying to isolate categories if there is to be disparity between Best Editing, Best Director, and/or Best Picture it needs to be conscious and there was no separating it here.
In more recent years I had nearly all the films on the same level in terms of their being overlooked, either undistributed in the US or seeking one. The only film in that category until quite late in the year was All These Small Moments. Orion Classics picked it up and I believe it receives its limited release next weekend. Check it out.
What I wrote about Bo’s screenplay (below) as opposed to other things he’s written applies exponentially here. Shepherding a film to completion is not the same as directing a comedy show, especially when you’re not one of the performers. Feature film debut? Hard to believe.
I don’t try and subscribe to conventional wisdom like nominees from the same film, or the same actor in a category twice, canceling out. I’m a committee of one. It came down in deliberations to two performances in the horror genre Emily Blunt in A Quiet Place and Toni Collette in Hereditary. In the end, I kept coming back to the fact that this was Toni Collette’s best work to date, which says so much, too much for anyone else to overcome.
This category took me the longest to decide and was the last one I finalized. I will not hesitate to nominate a great comedic performance, so Jason Bateman, was in. Everyone in A Quiet Place was working with minimal dialogue, so in each category other actors had “come from behind” to get the pick, so John Krasinski was a serious contender. Chadwick Boseman had to carry himself with regality, do accent work, intense dialogue scenes and action. And despite the fact that I doubled the acting field and divided the awards by age, I will not bar an actor in their early-twenties from nomination, even if they’re playing a teenager as Meyer and Smit-McPhee are. Smit-McPhee also had many dialogue-free scenes, when he spoke he did so in a pastiche of indigenous North American tongues, did much of his scene work alone, against an animal or CG. In the end the only thing that might’ve precluded his winning was my not wanting to set precedent as he would be the first to “graduate” from winning Young Actor awards to later win adult ones, but I avoid “message” winners at all costs.
Sometimes when you see a familiar face on screen that you don’t see as much as you used to it can bring a smile to your face, but it doesn’t surpass mere nostalgia. Here it does, Ringwald’s work here blew me away and as as I stated on my Letterboxd review she “has some of the most beautifully acted moments of restrained pain and meaningful subtext in the film.”
Thomas Brodie-Sangster Maze Runner: The Death Cure
Hugh Grant Paddington 2
Michael B. Jordan Black Panther
Dennis Quaid I Can Only Imagine
Alex Wolff Hereditary
Truisms abound on villainous characters, the best are relatable and multidimensional and at their best identifiable. Having a great villain doesn’t guarantee a great performance, but a great performance and a great villain is something rare and special. Michael B. Jordan has that here.
Molly Ringwald, Jemima Kirke, Harley Quinn Smith, Brian d’Arcy James, Brendan Meyer, Roscoe Orman, Salena Qureshi, and Sam McCarthy All These Small Moments
Natalie Portman, Benedict Wong, Sonoya Mizuno, David Gyasi, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny, Tessa Thompson, Sammy Hayman and Josh Danford Annihilation
Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cade Woodward, and Leon Rossum A Quiet Place
Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Leatitia Wright, Sterling K. Brown, Angela Basset, Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis, Florence Kasumba, John Kani, David S. Lee, Nabiyah Be, et al. Black Panther
Alex Wolff, Gabriel Byrne, Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, et al. Hereditary
Large ensembles are some times at a disadvantage inasmuch as there isn’t always enough screen-time to go around and with more people there are mathematically more possible weakest links. Sometimes everyone in a large cast does rise to the occasion and the experience is richer than it otherwise would’ve been as it was in Black Panther.
Ultimately, this became a showdown of verisimilitude. Not only that but actresses representing realities we don’t often see on screen. Elsie Fisher edges slightly ahead because she conveys some of the most believable and searing adolescent awkwardness I’ve seen and also conveys a unique yet universal character, she too does great work without dialogue, which is the crux of film acting.
Working with minimal dialogue does not by default lead to a brilliant performance, in this film everyone is, but after a breakout year Jupe brings his talent into another stratosphere.
This was a particularly difficult one because the screen-time for all actors was varied. Every Day with a multitude of people playing A gave most actors working that role one very good scene. Ian Alexander was the best of the best. Orton O’Brien played small but poignant flashbacks. Gustavo Quiroz and Nathanael Saleh probably had the most screen-time but in terms of quantity and quality it had to be Sam McCarthy.
Storm Reid, Levi Miller, Deric McCabe, and Rowan Blanchard A Wrinkle in Time
Elsie Fisher, Jake Ryan, Daniel Zolghardi, Fred Hechinger, Luke Prael, Shacha Temirov, Thomas John O’Reilly, Tiffany Grossfeld and William Alexander Wunsch Eighth Grade
Angourie Rice, Lucas Jade Zumann, Ian Alexander, Charles Vandervaart, et al. Every Day
Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, Joel Dawson, Billy Barratt, Felix Collar, and Kate Atwell Mary Poppins Returns
Isabela Moner, Gustavo Quiroz, Julianna Gamiz and Carson Holmes Instant Family
Cast awards can either be seen as a numbers game or a depth game. With group efforts, no matter how large or small a group, you are only as strong as your weakest link. None of these nominated casts have a weak link, but all of the actors in this quartet are on part with one another.
Brian Woods & Scott Beck and John Krasinski A Quiet Place
Melissa Miller Costanzo All These Small Moments
Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt and Albert Hughes Alpha
Bo Burnham Eighth Grade
Ari Aster Hereditary
Bo Burnham has written and performed standup. He’s written and performed music and poetry. It is another thing entirely to write in another medium such as film for myriad characters. He has done so here expertly.
Christopher Markus and Joe Russo, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Steve Englehart, Steve Gan, Bill Mantlo, Keith Giffen, Jim Starlin, Larry Lieber Avengers: Infinity War
Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole; Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Black Panther
Jan Švankmajer and Karel Čapek and Josef Čapek Insect
Paul King and Simon Farnaby, Michael Bond, and Jon Croker Paddington 2
A classic piece of absurdist satire theatre plus Švankmajer fully committed to simulacrum is a match made in heaven.
The score for this Halloween being composed by three men, only one of whom is John Carpenter, might lead one to believe there are too many cooks in the kitchen. Quite the opposite is true, it is brilliant. And while building on a legendary theme might seem an easy task, it also adds expectation. This score delivers in spades, especially with the end track “Halloween Triumphant.” It’s a marvel. There’s a Spotify link above. Enjoy!
Director/Writer/Actor John Krasinski talks about many aspects of the film in this Notes on a Scene segment, but he discusses sound often, and his thoughts permeate the film and communicate to the audience, which is why it is the honored film in this category.
Of all the departments in this film this was the most persistently excellent, and in the animated sequence Powell’s clothes actually stole the show from a modern take on a classical Disney approach.
I’m trying to economize words this year, but while it should go without saying that all nominees did wonderful work and all decisions were fraught with difficulty. These films were rather different in approach and goal, in the end it ended up being about how many sets were created and how great they all were.
Being nominated twice in the same year does not guarantee you the award as the transcendent performer of the year by default. Being as magnetic, wonderful, and bookending the year with A Quiet Place and Mary Poppins Returns made it a cinch.
Picking Švankmajer for this award was the first decision I made for these awards. I have featured his work on the site several times, including his cracking one of my film discoveries lists and a feature in one of my earliest posts, when I backed a crowdfunding campaign for his final film, in Bermanesque fashion, it did not disappoint and earned several nominations.
While my viewings overall were down, the handful of new-to-me Bergman films I saw thanks to Criterion’s amazing new box set spurred yet another renaissance of my awe for his genius.
There were not monthly considerations posts or shortlists this year. However, I have been tracking eligible titles I’ve seen on Letterboxd. There you’d see that my viewings of eligible titles (and films in general) dipped. It went down to about the level it was when I started making these as a high school student.
That quote is true in many ways and sometimes life happens and the releases viewed slow down by choice, circumstance or both. This year was a lot of both. Many things I prioritized highly I didn’t get to see, but as I realized a few years ago when posting these awards on my blog these awards are kind of like a yearbook. They may include many films or few, all the awards contenders or none, some I wrote on extensively and many I did not; these awards are my attempt to encapsulate what impressed me and why.
Whom I select and why will be announced on January 10th. So without further ado, here are this year’s nominees…
Molly Ringwald, Jemima Kirke, Harley Quinn Smith, Brian d’Arcy James, Brendan Meyer, Roscoe Orman, Salena Qureshi, and Sam McCarthy All These Small Moments
Natalie Portman, Benedict Wong, Sonoya Mizuno, David Gyasi, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny, Tessa Thompson, Sammy Hayman and Josh Danford Annihilation
Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cade Woodward, and Leon Rossum A Quiet Place
Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Leatitia Wright, Sterling K. Brown, Angela Basset, Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis, Florence Kasumba, John Kani, David S. Lee, Nabiyah Be, et al. Black Panther
Alex Wolff, Gabriel Byrne, Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, et al. Hereditary
Storm Reid, Levi Miller, Deric McCabe, and Rowan Blanchard A Wrinkle in Time
Elsie Fisher, Jake Ryan, Daniel Zolghardi, Fred Hechinger, Luke Prael, Shacha Temirov, Thomas John O’Reilly, Tiffany Grossfeld and William Alexander Wunsch Eighth Grade
Angourie Rice, Lucas Jade Zumann, Ian Alexander, Charles Vandervaart, et al. Every Day
Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, Joel Dawson, Billy Barratt, Felix Collar, and Kate Atwell Mary Poppins Returns
Isabela Moner, Gustavo Quiroz, Julianna Gamiz and Carson Holmes Instant Family
Christopher Markus and Joe Russo, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Steve Englehart, Steve Gan, Bill Mantlo, Keith Giffen, Jim Starlin, Larry Lieber Avengers: Infinity War
Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole; Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Black Panther
Jan Svankmajer and Karel Capek and Josef Capek Insect
Paul King and Simon Farnaby, Michael Bond, and Jon Croker Paddington 2
A neutron star is one that glows more brightly after it “death,” similarly these filmmakers and actors do. It’s a counterpart to the Lifetime Achievement Award which is intended for filmmakers and actors who are very much alive and kicking.
2017 Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher’s death in late 2016 was a cruel shock. The tragedy was of course compounded by the fact that her mother Debbie Reynolds died the very next day.
Shortly after their deaths HBO released a doc about them that they were producing anyway. I saw Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds shortly after it became available. It was an insightful, touching and bittersweet look at their life together. It underscored the fact that too much about her career didn’t get attention until after the fact. I remember maybe vaguely hearing about her script doctoring once but by the time the fact came up again I couldn’t recall if that was something I ever knew or if it was new information.
And, of course, after the fact I would find things that either I forgot she was in (Austin Powers International Man of Mystery) or never knew realized was in (When Harry Met Sally…, Hannah and Her Sisters).
Then, of course, there was The Last Jedi. Of course, when I went to see it I knew it would be one of the last new films I’d see her in (Wonderwell is slated for release this year) but I didn’t expect Leia’s role to be that much larger than it was previously and that much more epic. In the nominating process I asked myself the hard question: was she included in the nominees only because it was a posthumous honor? Absolutely not.
For those reasons and so many more Carrie Fisher gets the honor this year.
If you’ve been to my site over the years it’s not secret that I am a huge fan of Stephen King, and I have sought almost any opportunity I could find to write about him.
However, in the BAM Awards as entertainer of the year was not something I foresaw.
Throughout the year I made mental notes of actors and directors who had multiple credits to their name who made their mark through a large swath of the calendar year. I usually like these awards to be like revelations rather than conscious decisions. Once I tried resisting choosing King, I knew he was the only choice.
And I only resisted because picking the creator of source material would be a new frontier, but it is worthy of inclusion. I always cite the author of source material in my nominations on equal footing with the screenwriters.
With it seeming, based on early looks, that King was going to have a very good year, many retrospectives came but the new work showed there are people working now who want to work with his material, and know how to mold it for film.
And it was a very good year for Stephen King, and the BAM Awards were no exception. Films based on his works garnered 30 nominations; including three of five Best Adapted Screenplay nominations.
He also saw two more of his works turned into TV shows Mr. Mercedes and The Mist.
He and his son Owen released the timely novel Sleeping Beauties, and he has a new novel due out this spring; so it’s clear he’s still kicking but his impact on me and many has been long-lasting and will continue, but 2017 cinematically was a standout for highlighting his work, and it’s why he’s the recipient of this prize.
The Movie Rat 