‘La La Land’ leads critics choice & wins NY award

‘Fences’ vies for best picture

LOS ANGELES, Dec 2, (RTRS): “La La Land”, a modern-day musical love story of two struggling artists in Los Angeles, cemented its Hollywood awards season front-runner status on Thursday by simultaneously leading the nominees for Critics’ Choice Awards and being named best picture by New York film critics.

“La La Land” scored 12 Critics Choice nominations, including best picture, best actress for Emma Stone, best actor for Ryan Gosling and best director and screenplay for Damien Chazelle.

Sci-fi drama “Arrival” and independent drama “Moonlight” both landed 10 nominations each, including in the best picture race, as well as best director for Denis Villeneuve and Barry Jenkins respectively.

The New York Film Critics Awards, a separate critics organization, named its 2016 winners on Thursday, with “La La Land” taking best picture. Jenkins was named best director.

The Critics’ Choice Awards are chosen by the 300-plus members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA). Winners will be announced at a televised ceremony held in the Los Angeles coastal town of Santa Monica on Dec 11.

Both the New York Film Critics and BFCA members rarely cross over into the film Academy and industry guilds that picks nominees and winners for the majority of Hollywood’s awards shows, but the critics’ awards help to build buzz for potential Oscar front-runners.

Also in the Critics Choice best picture race is Denzel Washington’s “Fences”, Mel Gibson’s war drama “Hacksaw Ridge”, crime thriller “Hell or High Water”, adoption tale “Lion”, “Loving”, about an interracial married couple, family grief drama “Manchester by the Sea”, and Clint Eastwood’s “Sully”.

Stone will be contending for best actress opposite Amy Adams for “Arrival”, Natalie Portman for “Jackie”, Ruth Negga for “Loving”, Annette Bening for “20th Century Women” and Isabelle Huppert for “Elle”.

Gosling will face Casey Affleck for “Manchester by the Sea”, Washington for “Fences”, Tom Hanks for “Sully”, Joel Edgerton for “Loving” and Andrew Garfield for “Hacksaw Ridge” in the best actor race.

The Critics Choice Awards divides the movie categories across drama, comedy, action, animated and sci-fi/horror, to include the bigger budget studio films sometimes overlooked during awards season.

In the action movie categories, superhero films “Captain America: Civil War”, “Deadpool” and “Doctor Strange” will compete against “Jason Bourne” and “Hacksaw Ridge”.

Full list of nominations below. Winners will be announced at the 22nd annual Critics’ Choice Awards on Dec 11.

Stone

“Arrival” “Fences” “Hacksaw Ridge” “Hell or High Water” “La La Land” “Lion” “Loving” “Manchester by the Sea” “Moonlight” “Sully”

Damien Land”) Mel Gibson (“Hacksaw Ridge”) Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) Kenneth Lonergan (“Manchester by the Sea”)

David Mackenzie (“Hell or High Water”) Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival”) Denzel Washington (“Fences”)

Chazelle (“La La

Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”) Joel Edgerton (“Loving”) Andrew Garfield (“Hacksaw Ridge”) Ryan Gosling (“La La Land”) Tom Hanks (“Sully”) Denzel Washington (“Fences”) Amy Adams (“Arrival”) Annette Bening (“20th Century Women”) Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”) Ruth Negga (“Loving”) Natalie Portman (“Jackie”) Emma Stone (“La La Land”) Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”) Jeff Bridges (“Hell or High Water”)

Ben Foster (“Hell or High Water”)

Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea”) Dev Patel (“Lion”) Michael Shannon (“Nocturnal Animals”) Viola Davis (“Fences”) Greta Gerwig (“20th Century Women”) Naomie Harris (“Moonlight”) Nicole Kidman (“Lion”) Janelle Monae (“Hidden Figures”)

Michelle Williams (“Manchester by the Sea”)

Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea”) Alex R. Hibbert (“Moonlight”) Lewis MacDougall (“A Monster Calls”)

Madina Nalwanga (“Queen of Katwe”) Sunny Pawar (“Lion”) Hailee Steinfeld (“The Edge of Seventeen”) Luke Davies (“Lion”) Tom Ford (“Nocturnal Animals”) Eric Heisserer (“Arrival”) Todd Komarnicki (“Sully”) Allison Schroeder, Theodore Melfi (“Hidden Figures”)

August Wilson (“Fences”)

Damien Land”) Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou (“The Lobster”)

Kenneth Lonergan (“Manchester by the Sea”) Jeff Nichols (“Loving”) Taylor Sheridan (“Hell High Water”)

Chazelle (“La La “Arrival” (Bradford Young) “Jackie” (Stephane Fontaine) “La La Land” (Linus Sandgren) “Moonlight” (James Laxton) “Nocturnal Animals” (Seamus McGarvey) “Allied” (Joanna Johnston) “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (Colleen Atwood)

“Florence Foster Jenkins” (Consolata Boyle) “Jackie” (Madeline Fontaine) “La La Land” (Mary Zophres) “Love & Friendship” (Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh) “Arrival” (Joe Walker) “Hacksaw Ridge” (John Gilbert) “La La Land” (Tom Cross) “Moonlight” (Nat Sanders, Joi McMillon)

“Sully” (Blu Murray) “Doctor Strange” “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” “Hacksaw Ridge” “Jackie” “Star Trek Beyond”

“Arrival” (Patrice Vermette; Paul Hotte, Andre Valade)

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (Stuart Craig; James Hambidge, Anna Pinnock)

“Jackie” (Jean Rabasse; Veronique Melery)

“La La Land” (David Wasco; Sandy Reynolds-Wasco)

“Live By Night” Gonchor; Nancy Haigh) “Arrival” (Johann Johannsson) “Jackie” (Mica Levi) “La La Land” (Justin Hurwitz) “Moonlight” (Nicholas Britell) “Lion” (Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka)

“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from “La La Land”

“City of Stars” from “La La Land” “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana” “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” from “Trolls”

“The Rules Don’t Apply” from “Rules Don’t Apply”

“Drive It Like You Stole It” from “Sing Street” “Arrival” “Doctor Strange” “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” “The Jungle Book” “A Monster Calls” “Finding Dory” “Kubo and the Two Strings” “Moana” “The Red Turtle” “Trolls” “Zootopia” “Elle” “The Handmaiden” “Julieta” “Neruda” “The Salesman” “Toni Erdmann”

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(Jess