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The Alliance of Women Film Journalists have revealed their long, long list of nominations. As usual, it's a mix of fairly standard picks in the conventional categories -- "12 Years a Slave" leads the way with 13 nominations -- and more distinctive choices in categories created to celebrate female filmmakers and denigrate industry sexism.
Not all of them make a lot of sense: why on earth does Melissa McCarthy "need a new agent" when "The Heat" and "Identify Thief" were so successful? And calling out the "egregious age difference" between Dermot Mulroney and Abigail Breslin seems somewhat pointless, given that the film does the same. They also made plain their disapproval of "The Counselor," though I'm not sure I'd call it sexist per se -- it's a female character, after all, who holds all the cards in it. But I guess they mean well.
Lake Bell, Sarah Polley and Nicole Holofcener, Julie Delpy and "Frozen" director Jennifer Lee are among the female directors and screenwriters singled out for their achievement, though I think the AWFJ could dig a little deeper when championing their own gender. Shouldn't "Concussion" director Stacie Passon be here, for starters? (Meanwhile, of those, only Holofcener, Polley and "Blackfish" director Gabriela Cowperthwaite received nods in the mixed-gender categories.) Anyway, full list below:
Best Film
"American Hustle"
"Gravity"
"Her"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Nebraska"
"12 Years a Slave"
Best Director
Joel and Ethan Coen, "Inside Llewyn Davis"
Alfonso Cuaron, "Gravity"
Spike Jonze, "Her"
Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave"
Alexander Payne, "Nebraska"
David O. Russell, "American Hustle"
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"
Sandra Bullock, "Gravity"
Judi Dench, "Philomena"
Brie Larson, "Short Term 12"
Emma Thompson, "Saving Mr. Banks"
Best Actor
Bruce Dern, "Nebraska"
Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years a Slave"
Oscar Isaac, "Inside Llewyn Davis"
Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club"
Joaquin Phoenix, "Her"
Robert Redford, "All is Lost"
Sally Hawkins, "Blue Jasmine"
Scarlett Johanson, "Her"
Jennifer Lawrence, "American Hustle"
Lupita Nyong’o, "12 Years a Slave"
Oprah Winfrey, "Lee Daniels’ The Butler"
Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi, "Captain Phillips"
Bobby Cannavale, "Blue Jasmine"
Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club"
Michael Fassbender, "12 Years a Slave"
Will Forte, "Nebraska"
Best Original Screenplay
"American Hustle"
"Enough Said"
"Her"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Nebraska"
Best Adapted Screenplay
"Captain Phillips"
"Philomena"
"Short Term 12"
"The Spectacular Now"
"12 Years a Slave"
Best Non-English Language Film
"Blue is the Warmest Color"
"The Grandmaster"
"The Hunt"
"The Past"
"Wadjda"
Best Documentary
"The Act of Killing"
"After Tiller"
"Blackfish"
"20 Feet From Stardom"
"Stories We Tell"
Best Animated Film
"The Croods"
"Despicable Me 2"
"Frozen"
"The Wind Rises"
Best Ensemble
"American Hustle"
"August: Osage County"
"Lee Daniels' The Butler"
"Nebraska"
"12 Years a Slave"
Best Editing
"American Hustle"
"Captain Phillips"
"Gravity"
"Rush"
"12 Years a Slave"
Best Cinematography
"All is Lost"
"Gravity"
"Nebraska"
"Prisoners"
"12 Years a Slave"
Best Music
"Gravity"
"Her"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Nebraska"
"12 Years a Slave"
Best Woman Director
Lake Bell, "In A World..."
Gabriele Cowperthwaite, "Blackfish"
Nicole Holofcener, "Enough Said"
Jennifer Lee, "Frozen"
Sarah Polley, "Stories We Tell"
Best Woman Screenwriter
Lake Bell, "In A World..."
Julie Delpy, "Before Midnight"
Nicole Holofcener, "Enough Said"
Jennifer Lee, "Frozen"
Sarah Polley, "Stories We Tell"
Best Female Action Star
Sandra Bullock, "Gravity"
Jennifer Lawrence, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"
Chloe Grace Moretz, "Kick Ass 2"
Best Animated Female
Anna (Kristen Bell), "Frozen"
Eep (Emma Stone), "The Croods"
Elsa (Idina Menzel), "Frozen"
Best Breakthrough Female Performance
Brie Larson, "Short Term 12"
Lupita Nyong’o, "12 Years A Slave"
Shailene Woodley, "The Spectacular Now"
Best Actress Defying Age and Agism
Sandra Bullock, "Gravity"
Judi Dench, "Philomena"
Meryl Streep, "August: Osage County"
AWFJ Female Icon Award
Sandra Bullock, for the strong, capable and very positive female image presented in "Gravity"
Angelina Jolie, for continued commitments to humanitarian causes, and for promoting awareness about breast cancer.
Jennifer Lawrence, for "American Hustle" and "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," and for handling her high degree of celebrity extremely well
Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry
Haaifa Al-Mansour, for directing "Wadjda" and challenging the limitations placed on women within her culture
Cheryl Boone Isaac, for becoming President of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Jahane Noujaim, for risking life and limb to document the Egyptian revolution in "The Square"
AWFJ Hall of Shame Award
"The Counselor"
"Grown Ups 2"
"Movie 43"
Actress Most in Need of a New Agent
Cameron Diaz, "The Counselor"
Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgins, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, "Spring Breakers"
Melissa McCarthy, "Identity Thief," "The Heat"
Movie You Wanted to Love But Couldn't
"All is Lost"
"Blue Is The Warmest Color"
"The Counselor"
Unforgettable Moment Award
"Gravity" – George Clooney reappears
"12 Years A Slave" – Patsy pleads for soap
"Her" – Phone sex sequences
"Nebraska" – “That’s not my air compressor”
"12 Years A Slave" – Solomon hanging
Best Depiction of Nudity, Sexuality or Seduction
"Blue Is The Warmest Color," Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos
"Her," Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix
"The Spectacular Now," Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller
Sequel or Remake That Shouldn't Have Been Made
"Carrie"
"Grown Ups 2"
"The Hangover"
"Kick Ass"
"Oz the Great and Powerful"
Most Egregious Age Difference Between Leading Man and Love Interest
"August: Osage County," Dermot Mulroney and Abigail Breslin
"The Invisible Woman," Ralph Feinnes and Felicity Jones
"Last Vegas," Michael Douglas and Bree Blair
"The Lifeguard," Kristen Bell and David Lambert
"Oblivion," Tom Cruise and Andrea Reisborough/Olga Kurylenko
The weirdest nomination here is "The Invisible Woman," considering that 1) there was a large age difference between the two people the movie is based on, and 2) the age difference between Ralph Fiennes and Felicity Jones is actually smaller than it was between their real-life counterparts.
"Actress Most in Need of a New Agent
Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgins, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, "Spring Breakers"
Except that film got them more attention and good reviews than any of their other work since their breakthrough Disney roles.
I don't think anyone could argue with Sarah Polley showing up in the general 'Best Director' category for her achievements this year, and yet...
It's always a bit stilted when these special interest groups only nominate from within for general categories, but these noms seem tilted in the opposite direction.
The Counselor was deeply misogynistic. It wasn't commented on by most critics except a few and one could argue we shouldn't expect anything else from Cormac McCarthy (why I ever trudged through almost all of his work is a mystery to me now when I found them to be mediocre in every respect at best) but it felt, more than ever, as if the man has never had a conversation with a women that lasted longer than two minutes and that entailed anything other than the dishes or something. They were portrayed as near-mythical creatures and the two semi-prominent women in this sausage fest of a movie almost literally represent both ends of the madonna/whore complex. When it comes to the "Giving a woman a bit of power in the end" argument... Just no. In this film, a woman holding all the cards is not empowering - and is also definitely not put there by the writer to be seen as such. Women celebrate being looked at as humans first, our gender second, which is why I and a lot of others don't care whether or not we have a man or a woman ultimately holding the cards in rotten-to-the-core movies like this and the female character in question is just a walking pastiche of how some misogynists view women.
"Giving a woman power" in The Counselor meant underlining what a bizarre, crazy, depraved and shallow bitch the character was during the entirety of her screen time. Because as we all know if women have any defining traits of their own, they're either hysterical/crazy, cruel, gold-digging and/or bitchy, yup. One can also say that having a "woman with all the power in the end" was akin to her being awarded a prize for the most selfish, loathsome and horrible person out of the huge ensemble of selfish, loathsome and horrible navel-gazers populating this movie.
Guy , Melissa McCarthy's has had box-office successes , but she continues to portray loudmouth / abrasive shrew stereotypes . Besides , both of her films were lousy- sloppily written and directed and badly acted .
I swear people are drinking the kool-aid of Jennifer Lawrence. I saw both Hunger Games flicks ( I will not see another one . ) and they are just a step above those hideous Twilight films . Horribly directed and written and most of the acting is dreadful ( thank goodness for Donald Sutherland & Philip Seymour Hoffman . ) . In these films , Jennifer is bland , stiff , and emotionless . And, she was hideous hosting SNL .