2016 Muriel Awards: Best Editing

We here at the Muriels try to run a tight ship, but sometimes life just plain gets in the way. For instance, the person I asked to write up today’s winner was happy to take the assignment, but some technical issues made it impossible for him to complete the piece in time for the announcement. No matter – we forge on anyway, and when he’s able to finish I’ll add his piece to the post.

Third place:

Cameraperson (Nels Bangerter and David Teague) [123 points / 17 votes]

Second place:

2016 Muriel Awards: More Cinematic Moments We Love!

Manchester By the Sea - Randi and Lee's brief encounter


Indignation - confrontation with the Dean


Sing Street - "Drive It Like You Stole It"


La La Land - epilogue


Moonlight - "Hello Stranger"


A Bigger Splash - "Emotional Rescue"


20th Century Women - talking menstruation over dinner


(Thanks to Mike D'Angelo for use of some of videos)

2016 Muriel Awards: Best Cinematic Moment

This is always one of the more interesting categories, and one that's a bit controversial among voters. Some people seem to love it, while others proclaim that it's kind of a chore to keep track of their favorite scenes from the past year and invariably end up forgetting something awesome. As for me, I love it, although I have such a hard time ranking them that I stopped trying years ago.

Third place:


Hail, Caesar! - "Would that it were so simple." [113 points / 10 votes]

Second place:

2016 Muriel Awards: 50th Anniversary for the Best Film of 1966

Well folks, it’s a big day for movie lovers. That’s right – it’s the day when we announce the 50th Anniversary Muriel Award, and by extension our first Muriels Hall of Fame inductee of 2017! What, you were expecting me to mention something else?

By the way, I should mention that holy crap 1966 was a great year for movies. And if anything the following year was even better. So that’s something to look forward to, right?

Third place:

Au Hasard Balthasar (dir. Robert Bresson) [137 points / 21 votes]

Second place:

2016 Muriel Awards: Best Cinematography

Okay, folks – just over a week until we announce the Golden Muriel for Best Film of 2016! There’s plenty of excitement still to come!

Third place:

The Handmaiden (director of photography Chung-hoon Chung) [125 points / 20 votes]

Second place:

2016 Muriel Awards: Best Cinematic Breakthrough

With today’s category, the Muriels look back at cinematic artists of all stripes who made a first impression on voters this past year. As you can imagine, this is another category that is somewhat amorphously defined, since not all of us take notice of major figures at the same time, or even in the same way. Nonetheless, I hope you’ll agree that our favorite breakthroughs of 2016 made a real impact on the cinematic landscape.

Third place:

Lily Gladstone - Certain Women [92 points / 15 votes]

Second place:

2016 Muriel Awards: 25th Anniversary Award for Best Film of 1991

I have a special fondness for the anniversary awards, mostly because I'm always curious to see the sorts of older movies our voters like. I correctly predicted our top two finishers here in this category, but I was surprised by how well some other movies did. #3 and #4 are separated by one teensy point, and you'd be hard-pressed to think of two movies that are as different as these two. And yet, there they are.

Third place:

Terminator 2: Judgment Day [98 points / 15 votes]

Second place:

2016 Muriel Awards: Best Music

Rather that specifically honoring original score work, our music category is about recognizing the impact that music in many different forms can have on a movie. Over the years, we’ve recognized a good number of original scores, but there have also been a few adapted/compiled soundtracks in the mix. The important thing is that the music should be memorable and make a difference on the movie as a whole.

Third place:

La La Land (music by Justin Hurwitz) [110 points / 16 votes]

Second place:

2016 Muriel Awards: Best Body of Work

Today's category honors an artist's entire body of work through the previous year. It's interesting to see how different people assess a person's worthiness in this regard - some people look at sheer quantity, whereas others nominate those who simply did top-notch work in more than one movie. How did we go this year? Find out below.

Third place:

Ryan Gosling [80 points / 14 votes]

Second place:

2016 Muriel Awards: 10th Anniversary Award

We've been doing the anniversary awards since our second year, but I was especially curious how it would turn out this time. After all, this year marked the tenth anniversary of the first Muriel winners, and now we would be re-evaluating our favorites of 2006. How have our tastes changed in the last decade? Read on and see.

Third place:

Pan's Labyrinth [92 points / 14 votes]

Second place:

2016 Muriel Awards: Best Ensemble Performance

Today the fun continues with one of our "non-Oscar" categories, an award honoring a movie's cast as a whole.

Third place:

Certain Women [116 points / 17 votes]

Second place:

2016 Muriel Awards: Best Supporting Performance (Female)

Is it just me, or has the supporting actress category been awesome for the past few years? I used to struggle to fill out this category with worthy nominees, but now I find myself having to make some difficult choices to narrow it down to five. Anyone else having that problem? Anyway…

Third place:

Viola Davis, Fences [134 points / 19 votes]

Second place:

Michelle Williams, Manchester By The Sea [143 points / 23 votes]

And the Muriel goes to…

2016 Muriel Awards: Best Supporting Performance (Male)

Welcome to the 2016 Muriel Awards, ladies and gentlemen! And so we begin with this year's first category...

Third place:

Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water [107 points / 16 votes]

Second place:

Alden Ehrenreich, Hail, Caesar! [120 points / 20 votes]

And the Muriel goes to...