“La La Land” Dances Way to Record 14 Academy Award Nominations

“La La Land,” writer/director Damien Chazelle’s love letter to the classic Hollywood musical, tied “All About Eve” and “Titanic” in receiving an amazing 14 nominations for the 89th Annual Academy Awards.

The film has a chance to join “It Happened One Night,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Silence of the Lambs,” which took home the prizes for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay. “La La Land’ earned nominations in all of those categories and added nods for Original Score, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Production Design, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. The film also earned two nominations in the Best Original Song Category.

Joining “La La Land” in the Best Picture category are: “Arrival,” “Fences,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Hell or High Water,” “Hidden Figures,” “Lion,” “Manchester by the Sea” and “Moonlight.”

Best Actor nominees include Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge), Ryan Gosling (La La Land), Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic) and Denzel Washington (Fences)

For Best Actress, the nominees are Isabelle Huppert (Elle), Ruth Negga (Loving), Natalie Portman (Jackie), Emma Stone (La La Land) and, in her 20th acting nomination, Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)

The Academy Awards will be awarded on Sunday night, February 26th.

Here is a complete list of the nominees:

Actor in a Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”
Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water”
Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea”
Dev Patel, “Lion”
Michael Shannon, “Nocturnal Animals”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Viola Davis, “Fences”
Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”
Nicole Kidman, “Lion”
Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures”
Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea”

Animated Feature Film
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Moana”
“My Life as a Zucchini”
“The Red Turtle”
“Zootopia”

Cinematography
“Arrival”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Moonlight”
“Silence”

Costumed Design
“Allied”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“Florence Foster Jenkins”
“Jackie”
“La La Land”

Directing
“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“La La Land”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”

Feature Documentary
“Fire at Sea”
“I Am Not Your Negro”
“Life, Animated”
“O.J.: Made in America”
“13th”

Short Subject Documentary
“Extremis”
“4.1 Miles”
“Joe’s Violin”
“Watani: My Homeland”
“The White Helmets”

Film Editing
“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“La La Land”
“Moonlight”

Foreign Language Film
“Land of Mine”
“A Man Called Ove”
“The Salesman”
“Tanna”
“Toni Erdmann”

Make Up and Hairstyling
“A Man Called Ove”
“Star Trek Beyond”
“Suicide Squad”

Original Score
“Jackie”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Moonlight”
“Passengers”

Original Song
Audition (The Fools Who Dream), “La La Land”
Can’t Stop The Feeling, “Trolls”
City Of Stars, “La La Land”
The Empty Chair, “Jim: The James Foley Story”
How Far I’ll Go, “Moana”

Production Design
“Arrival”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“Hail, Caesar!”
“La La Land”
“Passengers”

Animated Short Film
“Blind Vaysha”
“Borrowed Time”
“Pear Cider and Cigarettes”
“Pearl”
“Piper”

Live Action Short Film
“Ennemis Intérieurs”
“La Femme et le TGV”
“Silent Nights”
“Sing”
“Timecode”

Sound Editing
“Arrival”
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“La La Land”
“Sully”

Sound Mixing
“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“La La Land”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi”

Visual Effects
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Doctor Strange”
“The Jungle Book”
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”

Adapted Screenplay
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hidden Figures”
“Lion”
“Moonlight”

Original Screenplay
“Hell or High Water”
“La La Land”
“The Lobster”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“20th Century Women”

Film Review: “Hidden Figures”

Starring: Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson and Kevin Costner
Directed by: Theodore Melfi
Rated: PG-13
Running time: 2 hrs 7 mins
20th Century Fox

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

As 2017 begins the good people at Fox have graced us with the inspirational “Hidden Figures,” the first “feel good” film of the New Year.

As the Cold War looms, the United States and the Soviet Union are in a battle to be the first to enter the heavens. The Russians dispatch monkeys, dogs and whatever else will fit in a space capsule high up into the atmosphere, hoping to be the first nation to conquer the blackness of space. As the stakes get higher we join the proceedings at Langley Air Force Base, in Virginia, already in progress. It is here that we meet three of the best “computers” that NASA possesses: Katherine Johnson (Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Spencer) and Mary Jackson (played with good, old fashioned sass by newcomer Janelle Monae). They are African-American brainiacs whose job is to compute figures for the space program. Of course, this is Virginia in 1962 so they are kept in the “colored computer” room. When a “computer” is requested to help plan the flight of astronaut John Glenn doors are opened, though at a snail’s pace.

Uplifting, if not a little heavy handed, “Hidden Figures” is based on the true story of three very remarkable women and all three stars make the wise choice of not being stereotypical in their performances. Though the fact that they are black is an important part of the story, they could have been green as far as the upper brass at NASA is concerned. They’re not told that a BLACK woman has never sat in on a briefing. They are informed that ANY woman has never been and probably never will. However it is the proudness the ladies show in both their race and gender that carry the film along. In supporting roles, Jim Parsons may find himself typecast forever in scientific roles as he plays one of the main planners of the Glenn mission while Costner is quite credible as the man who must make the decisions necessary for a successful mission. It took me until the end credits to recognize Kirsten Dunst, who co-stars as one of NASA’s HR people. She is also strong here. The film does get a little heavy handed at times, including a scene where Costner takes aim at a sign reading “Colored Restroom,” ripping it off the wall and assumingly ending racial separation as far as bathrooms are concerned.

With the recent passing last month of John Glenn, “Hidden Figures” is a solid tribute to his courage as well as the courage of the women behind the man.

 

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