2016 House Clark “Simpson” Awards

The Academy Awards 2016

House Clark Awards 2016

Best Picture
SPOTLIGHT 
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant  
Bridge of Spies 
The Big Short 
The Martian 
+2 more nobody watched 

Best Picture  
NO ESCAPE   
Mad Max: Fury Road  
Woman in Gold
​The Big Short

Best Actor
LEO DiCAPRIO – The Revenant  
Bryan Cranstan – Trumbo 
Matt Damon – The Martian   
Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs  
​Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl 

Best Actor
TOM HARDY – Mad Max: Fury Road 
Ian McKellen – Mr. Holmes   
Owen Wilson – No Escape
Jeff Bridges – Bone Tomahawk
Ian McKellen – Mr. Holmes  

Best Actress    
BRIE LARSON – Room 
Cate Blanchett – Carol 
Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years  
Jennifer Lawrence – Joy   
​Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn  

Best Actress  
LAKE BELL – No Escape 
Laura Linney – Mr. Holmes 
Jennifer Lawrence - Joy
Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road 

Most Annoying Performance (2 way tie) 
ROBERT De NIRO – The Intern
MERRILL STREEP – Ricki and the Flash   
                                                                                                               
Best Comedy Duo  
Sandra Bullock & Billy Bob Thornton – Our Brand is Crisis
 
Best Ensemble Cast  
Woman in Gold – Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes,
Ryan Reynolds, Tatiana Maslany, Antje Traue,
Max Irons, Elizabeth McGovern, & Tom Schilling.  
                                                                                                               
WTF did I just see?
Bone Tomahawk   
 
Most overrated movie
The Revenant   
 
Best Juvenile Performance
Milo Parker – Mr. Holmes 

Notes from awards committee:

HouseClark remembers the 2015 movies for having so many memorable strong female characters. So many lovely, talented ladies in so many good movies with so many good roles! From Charlize Theron riding shotgun in the furious shoot-em-up Mad Max: Fury Road, to Lake Bell risking her life to protect her family in No Escape, to Jennifer Lawrence starting a small business and fighting for success in Joy, to Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, and Antje Traue in a story about a Jewish family (Bloch-Bauer) in Nazi occupied Austria and Gustav Kimt’s masterpiece, The Woman in Gold. In a very competitive year for female performances, Best Actress award goes to Lake Bell for her physically demanding Mamma Bear portrayal in No Escape.    
 
As we have in past years, HouseClark agreed with a few Academy Best Picture nominations, but none of their Best Actor/Actress nominations or awards. For Best Picture we selected No Escape, the most tense and exciting action – adventure film of the year. It was also the best family oriented movie. Since the film had the dumbest PC backlash of the year, it brings us special pleasure to present the Best Picture Simpson award to No Escape.

Fun Surprises ​

Mad Max: Fury Road. I wasn't expecting a belated entry into the Mad Max franchise to be in my list of favorite movie for 2015, but the return to the postapocalyptic desert with monster trucks and girls and homicidal maniacs was extreme, quirky and exciting. And Tom Hardy deserves his Best Actor award for escorting a scantily clad harem of leggy models (redhead Riley Keough is an interesting one; turns out she's the eldest granddaughter of Elvis!).  ​

Biggest disappointments ​

Spotlight - A feature film that could’ve just as easily been a stage play, or a low budget, made-for-TV movie. It is about an interesting topic, but the presentation is dull with people perusing spreadsheets. Hard to make that interesting.
 
Equally boring was the bloated western The Revenant.Looks good; tastes bland.  ​

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