by Heath Lynch, Contributing Writer
The summer blockbuster season is on the horizon. Before you know it, dozens of films will be making hundreds of millions at the box office. Somehow, we’ll have to cope with the fact that a truly trite and juvenile film like Minions & Monsters will make more money than we could ever make in a hundred lifetimes. May the odds be ever in your favor in whichever summer box office games you choose to participate in. But enough of that, it’s time to talk awards once again! Let’s discuss another year gone by. As a reminder, with our Oscars: What If… series we look at categories the Academy Awards should be honoring, but, for one reason or another, they aren’t. So, we’re going to imagine what could’ve been regarding past Oscar seasons. Hopefully someday the Academy will do right by these creative talents, but until then we must do the Academy’s job for them. Let’s look back at the year Rio de Janeiro hosted the Summer Olympics, the United Kingdom infamously voted to leave the European Union through the Brexit initiative, massive icons like David Bowie, Prince, and Muhammad Ali tragically passed away, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time in over 100 years, and Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, changing America and the world forever. Sigh… It is time to examine the films of 2016, celebrated at the Oscars in 2017. Let’s see what could have been!
Best Stunts and Choreography
Given to the best achievement in dance, stunts, related performances, and overall choreography for film.
And the nominees are… Captain America: Civil War, Hacksaw Ridge, Hail, Caesar!, La La Land, Train to Busan
And the winner is… La La Land!
Sorry, every other possible option from 2016, but La La Land is just too damn good. So good, in fact, that Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway had us all convinced for a minute or so that it had won Best Picture at the Oscars. Ahh, fun times… But seriously, nothing else stood a chance here for Best Stunts and Choreography. Simply put, the dance and shot choreography and planning throughout this film is exceptional. The third act, alternate reality, fantasy sequence alone is honestly enough to gild this film. With its long tracking shots, weaving of props on Hollywood sets, and unique dance choreography that transpires over multiple sets, it’s an homage to Golden Age Hollywood musical production and a testament to modern cinematic craft. Add on top of that shutting down a highway and having musicians and dancers perform “Another Day of Sun” to open the film, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling being suspended through the air by harness to dance amongst the stars in a planetarium, and the iconic tap dance to “A Lovely Night” on Mount Hollywood Drive, and La La Land has this one in the bag.
Best Performance by Voiceover or Motion Capture
Given to the best off-screen voice performance, or on-screen motion captured performance, for film.
And the nominees are… Auli’i Cravalho as Moana in Moana, Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps in Zootopia, Jenny Slate as Dawn Bellwether in Zootopia, Charlize Theron as Monkey/Sariatu in Kubo and the Two Strings, Alan Tudyk as K-2SO in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
And the winner is… Alan Tudyk as K-2SO in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story!
Honestly, this is a makeup Oscar. Still happy to have awarded Sarah Silverman the Voiceover Oscar for Wreck-It Ralph from four years earlier, but Alan Tudyk was deliciously maniacal and entertaining as King Candy. That performance alone was worthy of an Oscar, so it’s great to finally give Tudyk his due with an equally deserving performance as K-2SO in Rogue One. With his deadpan deliveries, seemingly bottomless well of sarcasm to draw from, and surprisingly emotional turn at the end of the film where he sacrifices it all to ensure that hope still lives on, Tudyk is delivering a layered, entertaining, and thoughtful performances that evokes a wide range of emotion from the audience. Plus, you even get some memorable, quotable line readings out of the experience like, “Congratulations. You are being rescued. Please do not resist.” While there were plenty of noteworthy, and even transformative, voice performances this year, Tudyk’s turn as K-2SO stands tall as the most unique, memorable, and impressive of the slate.
Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast
Given to the best overall ensemble cast performance for film.
And the nominees are… Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight, The Nice Guys
And the winner is… Moonlight!
There’s a lot of great options on the table here, but we’re gonna award our Best Picture winner, La La Land… I mean… Moonlight for Best Ensemble! (Is that joke getting old yet? Probably. Not sorry.) A big part of what makes this ensemble performance so special is how this group operates within the framework of the film’s narrative. With the three different time periods in our main character’s life being explored, it allows for new actors portraying our main characters, in Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes, Jharrel Jerome, and André Holland, to interact with and against a steady group of supporting actors who go unchanged throughout the film, like Naomie Harris and Janelle Monáe. That doesn’t even take into account impressive figures like Mahershala Ali, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, who only appear in one of the three narrative segments. This dynamic is fascinating as it allows our actors to explore growth and change in unique ways, breeding so many opportunities to showcase real range and raw talent. The true expression of loneliness and pain that leads to an eventual understanding of self and worth creates so much empathy in the audiences, all thanks to the dedication and determination of all the talents that were a part of this beautiful project. This ensemble is spectacular.
Best Directorial Debut
Given to the best achievement in direction by a debut directing talent for film.
And the nominees are… Kelly Fremon Craig for The Edge of Seventeen, Travis Knight for Kubo and the Two Strings, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for Swiss Army Man, William Oldroyd for Lady Macbeth, Dan Trachtenberg for 10 Cloverfield Lane
And the winner is… Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for Swiss Army Man!
You could go a different way with this, for sure. A solid argument could be made that there were more impressive traditional directing debuts from this year. However, there’s something so special about distinct auteurial voices, and the Daniels (Kwan and Scheinert) arrive to the scene fully formed with their eccentric and taboo view of the world, instantly creating a hilarious, and surprisingly emotional, directorial debut. Brazen and outlandish scenarios, all being captured by two outside-the-box creatives, feel authentic under the control of the Daniels, where things would traditionally go off the rails. Are they a bit one note? Well, with things like a dancing boner in their “Turn Down for what” music video they did for Lil Jon two years earlier returning as a dancing corpse boner here in Swiss Army Man, well, that may be a valid knock against them. But it’s undeniable that the Daniels have a unique view of the world, of humanity, and how such humanity can be portrayed in film, leading to something alarmingly bizarre. I’ll just say this – The world would be a lesser place without the Daniels gifting us Swiss Army Man, leading to their breakout Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All at Once years down the road, so I’m more than thrilled to gild them here.
Best Popular Film
Given to the best audience supported motion picture that earned a spot as one of the top 25 box office films of the year.
And the nominees are… Captain America: Civil War, Deadpool, Moana, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Zootopia
And the winner is… Zootopia!
Not going to lie, this was tough. Not to pick a winner, but to even fill out the five nomination slots with deserving films. I mean, the top domestic box office earners this year featured the likes of Sing, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Suicide Squad. Oof. Because of that, some of these nominations are, just being honest, dead on arrival. Never stood a chance. Basically, this comes down to Moana and Zootopia. Two films that didn’t just rake in cash, but were also beloved by critics, audiences, and awards bodies alike, with Zootopia taking the edge in pretty much every aspect.
Zootopia made $341.2 million at the domestic box office, with Moana making $248.7 million, the difference between seventh and 11th place. Worldwide, Zootopia made $1.023 billion, fourth place, and Moana made $643.3 million, good for 12th place. While Moana’s box office gross is still quite impressive and confirms that it was a very popular film that brought people to theaters, it’s not close to Zootopia which made $100 million more domestically and just over $350 million more worldwide. While films like Rogue One and Civil War may have been more popular/bigger box office smashes, I would argue they fall far short of the adjective ‘best’ in Best Popular Film when compared to Zootopia and Moana.
The critical reception and awards conversation between these two Disney juggernauts isn’t quite as cut and dry as the box office performance, except with one key distinction which we’ll get to shortly. Moana netted 14 awards off 63 nominations throughout this awards season, including an Oscar nom for Best Animated Feature as well as Best Original Song for “How Far I’ll Go.” It sits with a 95% certified fresh critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, an 81 must-see score on Metacritic, a 7.6 on IMDb, and a 3.7 on Letterboxd. Pretty damn great. Zootopia scored 24 wins off the back of 65 nominations. It has a 98% certified fresh rating on RT, a 78 on Metacritic, an 8.0 on IMDb, and a 3.8 on Letterboxd. Pretty damn great. It’s almost spooky how similarly these films were received… except for that one distinction I hinted at earlier. Remember when I said Moana was nominated for Best Animated Feature? That implies that it lost, yeah? Well, it lost to Zootopia. While Moana may have gotten an extra nomination due to its beautiful music, Zootopia scored a coveted win, directly against its competition in this category. And while Moana has arguably grown into a bigger sensation in the years since these films released, with it getting a sequel first between the two, and getting a live-action adaptation later this year, the sentiment back in 2016 skewed towards Office Judy Hopps and that sly fox Nick Wilde. Plus, who doesn’t love a good detective mystery? So, with the more dominant box office performance indicating it was more popular, and that critical Best Animated Feature Oscar win in its pocket, I’m happy to award Zootopia this year’s Best Popular Film!
That’s gonna do it! Thanks for joining me on another trip down memory lane to see what could’ve been! We got to talk about a pair of eccentric directors, one of the biggest modern original musicals ever made that almost stole Best Picture from one of the most moving tales about self-identity ever put to film. Be sure to come back next time when we look at films like Lady Bird, Get Out, and Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (which I’m sure will lead to a very normal conversation, right? RIGHT?) as we’ll examine the Oscars of 2018, celebrating the films of 2017!
You can read more from Heath Lynch, and follow him on Letterboxd