2nd Annual Filmiest Awards - Winners (Part 2)

Welcome to part 2 of my winners announcement for the 2nd Annual Filmiest Awards! With eight trophies already handed out in part 1, we will now get to the biggest awards of them all. Click here to read or review part 1. On with the show!

The first category to be announced tonight is Best Art Direction. The visual aesthetic of a film can be its most memorable part, whether it be through vibrant colors or muted tones. Last year's winner, Life of Pi, represents the absolute beauty that filmmaking can produce, and this year's winner is just as worthy.

The nominees for Best Art Direction are:

2nd Annual Filmiest Awards - Winners (Part 1)

Awards season is upon us, and the Filmiest Awards are just one of many to award the best in film. 2013 was one of the best film years in recent history, and many are set to become some of my favorites of all time. This is the second year for the Filmiest Awards, my own personal celebration of movie excellence. I will now present my awards in 16 categories over a two-day process.

Let's get things started.

The award for Best Original Song celebrates the best use of a song written exclusively for a movie. Such a song must contribute to the overall benefit of the movie it's intended for while also standing on its own as a genuinely outstanding song. Last year's award for Best Original Song went to "Big Machine" from Safety Not Guaranteed. Let's see which song is about to join this exclusive group.

The nominees for Best Original Song are:

2nd Annual Filmiest Awards - Nominations

I hereby present the 2nd Annual Filmiest Awards, otherwise known as my own personal awards for the year 2013. This has been an absolutely incredible year for film, and each nomination I've made is earned. No fillers anywhere.  Here are my nominations in 16 categories:

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Becomes the Color” from Stoker

“The Moon Song” from Her

“Please Mr. Kennedy” from Inside Llewyn Davis

“Together” from The Great Gatsby

“Young and Beautiful” from The Great Gatsby

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Bradley Cooper, American Hustle

Dane DeHaan, Kill Your Darlings

Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave

James Franco, Spring Breakers

Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Nebraska (Payne, 2013)

Nebraska isn’t a film that should have worked. Road trip movies featuring a pair of mismatched people have become of one the biggest cliches in cinema, a tired concept that’s been covered for generations. When you consider the fact that the lead character of the film is in his ‘80s and seemingly on the brink of death, director Alexander Payne had an uphill battle going into this film. And yet, what he has created is one of the most unique pieces of artistic cinema of the year. Nebraska stars Bruce Dern as Woody Grant, an 80-year-old ordinary man from Billings, Montana who receives a letter stating that he has won $1 million. He doesn’t trust the U.S. postal service and he can’t drive anymore, so he sets off on a walk to Nebraska to claim his grand prize. Everyone around him thinks he’s gone senile in his old age, knowing that the letter is just a scam to get gullible people to subscribe to magazines they don’t need. His wife Kate (June Squibb) has grown tired of his antics and his son David (Will Forte) is a mild-mannered electronics salesman who’s grown distant from his family. Both realize that the letter is an obvious scam, but only David wishes to let Woody indulge in his “fantasy.”

Inside Llewyn Davis (Coens, 2013)

One of the first lines of dialogue featured in Inside Llewyn Davis comes when folk singer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) tells a humble audience, “If it was never new, and it never gets old, then it’s a folk song.” Such is the case for Inside Llewyn Davis, the latest film from Ethan and Joel Coen with a story that’s been told countless times before yet lives as a breath of fresh air in the current climate of cinema. The film centers on Llewyn Davis, an up and coming folk singer in the ‘60s trying to make it in the music industry. He’s grungier than what men were supposed to look like in the early ‘60s and his attitude is more cynical than the average do-gooder prevalent throughout the film. Llewyn is recovering from the loss of his former singing partner, jumping from couch to couch and doing his best to make it as a solo act. He has his fair share of baggage, including a bitter ex-girlfriend (Carey Mulligan), an unresponsive father and a stubborn cat that isn’t even his. Llewyn is largely unsuccessful in his efforts to make it big, with numerous people telling him he’s making poor decisions. This doesn’t stop him from pressing onward anyway.

American Hustle (Russell, 2013)

We all do what we have to do to get by in life, even if it means pretending we’re someone we’re not to our closest friends and family, and sometimes ourselves. Even if the masquerade is bullshit, people will never stop trying to hide their true selves in order to get by or get ahead. This is the underlying message of American Hustle, a movie that was once more appropriately titled American Bullshit.  Set in the 1970s, American Hustle stars Christian Bale as a portly, balding con man named Irving, a man who makes a living from the art of bullshit and hustling. As a child, he drummed up new business for his father’s glass company by running through the neighborhood throwing rocks at windows. Nowadays, he continues in his father’s footsteps with an extra laundromat empire on the side. He meets a kindred spirit named Sydney (Amy Adams) at a party and the two experience mutual attraction in its most intense form. Sydney will do anything to leave behind the life she once led as a stripper, conning her way to a good position at Cosmopolitan magazine while still looking for an excuse to reinvent herself. Irving presents Sydney with a new business endeavor involving the art of promising bank loans to desperate people, taking their down payments and giving them nothing in return. Sydney invents a new persona, Lady Edith of London, and a new business begins to blossom.

Top 10 Shows of 2013

2013 in television has been one of the greater years in recent memory, making it particularly hard to narrow the best shows of the year to just 10. From exciting new comedies to consistently amazing dramas, 2013 proved that television is no longer the younger sibling of movies. Some of these shows were better than most movies released this year, and many movie stars have noticed and transferred to television. 

10. Brooklyn Nine-Nine

It’s rare for television comedies to come out of the gate with a confident voice. When Fox premiered Brooklyn Nine-Nine in September, it bolstered recent SNL vet Andy Samberg and longtime television favorite Andre Braugher, both of whom I assumed would be hogging all the screentime. I was surprised to tune in to the premiere and see a strong ensemble, not just from the TV vets but from the relative unknowns as well. Samberg’s Jake Peralta is essentially Samberg playing Samberg, but his particular brand of humor works as a kooky but competent lead. Braugher’s take on the police chief is one of the more complex new roles on television, playing a traditional straight man (who ironically happens to be gay) in a group of wackos. 

The strength of Brooklyn Nine-Nine come from the interplay of the ensemble and the strength of the writing. Particularly strong is Joe Lo Truglio as Boyle, the awkward yet honest detective with a crush on the hardcore, enigmatic Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz). Though it is inherently a procedural, the show has gradually made the characters and their relationships stronger with each new episode. It’s fortunate to have a comedic ensemble work so well from the first episodes, and I can only see it growing stronger. More than anything else, though, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is like hanging out with your friends for a little while, and that’s one of the best things a sitcom can be, let alone a new one.