2017 Muriel Awards: Best Lead Performance, 2nd Place

Saoirse Ronan - Lady Bird [268 points / 27 votes]

“Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird presents us with a teenage heroine who, simply put, has quite a lot of chutzpah. From applying to East Coast colleges in spite of her mediocre academic performance to ingratiating herself with a popular, rich classmate by pretending she lives in a beautiful, blue house in Sacramento’s Fabulous 40s neighborhood, Christine ‘Lady Bird’ McPherson goes after what she wants, often worrying about working out the pesky details later.

“In the titular role, Saoirse Ronan renders Lady Bird’s pluck and foolhardiness with great comic timing and a jaunty charm. We marvel at Lady Bird’s unabashed confidence, for instance, in an early scene where she introduces herself to would-be suitor Danny (Lucas Hedges), blindsiding him in a grocery store with a hilariously delivered ‘Come here often?’ as she extends her arm for a handshake. This effervescence that Ronan naturally projects in such scenes serves as a poignant contrast to the dramatic moments she shares with Laurie Metcalf. Both actresses instinctively portray the loving but contentious relationship between this somewhat blindly idealistic teenager and her overly practical mother with remarkable precision and depth. The interwoven tenderness and resentment felt by these two women emanate as much from their silences and body language as they do from their spoken dialogue, as we see in the scene where Lady Bird, from behind the door of a thrift shop fitting room, tells Marion, ‘I wish that you liked me.’

“In this briskly-paced, 94-minute film, it is a testament to Ronan’s charisma as a performer that she conveys the many complex, at times unflattering, facets of Lady Bird with both nuance and economy. It also helps that Gerwig has populated her film with well-drawn supporting characters, many of whom have their own unspoken backstories and sustained moments, whose experiences Ronan draws from in such a way that fulfills her character’s own story arc, allowing us to see Lady Bird evolve from a place of self-absorption to one of empathy and self-awareness.” ~ Kevin Dufresne

2017 Muriel Awards: Best Lead Performance, 3rd Place

Vicky Krieps - Phantom Thread [264 points / 23 votes]

"Where’d she come from? Literally, from Luxembourg. But the question is asking a bit more than that. Did Vicky Krieps emerge parthenogenically from the forehead of some deity, ready to intervene and teach the people of earth about transformative love and how to establish new and unforeseen kinks that span forests of portent, exquisite kitchens, and remote sickrooms? How did fate bring her to the attention of Paul Thomas Anderson? And how did she craft the internal life of this singular woman?

"Alma is kind, exacting, mysterious, and fearless- she’s in a multilevel battle with routine fussbudget Reynolds Woodcock to win his heart, put the corrosive aspects of his ego in abeyance, nurture his creative side, and put him in check when he’s being too much of an asshole to too many people. And she dies this with elegance and tact. As stunning as Day-Lewis is in the film, look around him in the scenes wherein Krieps’ Alma and Lesley Manville’s Cyril are interacting with one another. There’s an entire other film in those moments, and it’s just as captivating as the ultimate chapter in the 2017 Mystery Mushroom Trilogy that Phantom Thread completes.

"I look forward to the career that Vicky Krieps has in acting. I can’t wait to see what she does for decades to come. And I am in awe that she made an entrance into the artform with a performance as complex, moving, and exquisite as Alma. There’s not a word for it, really. Blindsided, but without the pejorative connotation. Something sudden and wonderful and transformative..." ~ Jason Shawhan

2017 Muriel Awards: Best Lead Performance, 4th Place

Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out [238 points / 25 votes]

"Get Out is a movie about a guy who quits smoking. OK, maybe there’s a little more to it than that. Some additional details: In Jordan Peele’s debut feature, Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya), an almost impossibly handsome young black man, is taken home by his white girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) to meet her parents at their country estate outside Mobile, Alabama. Thing is, she hasn’t told them he’s black. Not like she’s trying to hide anything, it’s just so not a big deal. Her folks are extremely not-racist. Her dad (Bradley Whitford) is even a little embarrassing about it, always trumpeting that he’d have voted for Obama a third time if he could have. Over the weekend, Chris is persuaded (more or less against his will) to give up cigarettes. And, well, it isn’t pretty.

"Those are the bones of the plot, but the real story, and the real drama, moment by moment, is what’s going on in Chris’s nicotine-deprived head. We follow that narrative by tracking the contradictory ideas and emotions that flicker across Kaluuya’s face as he tries to suss out what the hell is going on here — sorting through scenarios and responses, trying out each one briefly, then rejecting it for another when circumstances shift.

"Something is not right out here — and it’s not just a racial or generational or political or socio-economic thing. Sure, the outer über-burbs prove to be a land of unquestioned entitlement, populated by excessively genial upper-crust liberals who breathe deep the woodsy air of white privilege while bending over backwards to flaunt how hospitable and woke they are. That’s to be expected. The house has this basement door that’s closed off to contain a 'black mold' problem. Perfectly plausible and sensible. But what to make of the black servants who are always lurking in the background, so solicitous and pleasant (or are they taunting and passive-aggressive?) that they seem almost lobotomized? And what about those bizarrely mismatched couples, old friends of the late family patriarch, who show up en masse as invited guests at an afternoon cocktail party in his (and Chris’s?) honor?

"Chris’s face is the movie — simultaneously both screen and projector. Watch as he resists Rose’s hypnotherapist mom’s insistent attempts to question him about the night his mother died, and his vulnerability as she probes his feelings of guilt and regret. Witness his attempts to figure out if the handyman is being awkwardly friendly, or provoking and challenging him. Study his anger, frustration, fear, acceptance as it dawns on him why Rose can’t find the car keys. They say there’s nothing more cinematic than the human face, and Kaluuya is living proof of it." ~ Jim Emerson

2017 Muriel Awards: Best Lead Performance, 5th Place

Cynthia Nixon - A Quiet Passion [204 points / 19 votes]

"The Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman has inspired various degrees of adoration among the most ardent cinephiles for his complex philosophical themes, stark visuals and spare use of classical music, but just as prevalent his ability to coax extraordinary performances from his acting company, especially the females. A fair argument in fact could be posed that no other film artist has featured in his films a comparable number of great turns from women over a career spanning nearly five decades. Britain's greatest living director Terence Davies has written and directed only a fraction of the iconic Scandinavian's films, yet his work with the fairer sex has already yielded some critically-acclaimed lead turns that attest to a special gift from the man in charge.

"The first two were by Gillian Anderson playing Lily Bart in The House of Mirth (based on a novel by Edith Wharton), and by Rachel Weisz as Hester Collyer in The Deep Blue Sea. The latter won the New York Film Critics prize for best Actress, while the former won second place from the same organization. Anderson also finished as the runner-up for the National Society of Film Critics Best Picture Award. In 2016 Davies has again rung the bell for thespian excellence, setting the stage for Sex in the City stalwart Cynthia Nixon to travel down the road once taken by Renee Falconetti in 1928's The Passion of Joan of Arc. While any discussion of Nixon's magnificent interpretation of the beloved poet Emily Dickinson in comparative terms with Falconetti's legendary work - regarded by many as the most electrifying in movie history - is taking things too far, the underlying point revolves around Nixon transcending a career which till this point had never demanded a comparable level of depth and intimacy, nor such a hybrid of intelligence and emotion.

"In a métier of film roles that included thrillers, comedies and less intricate drama, Nixon came arguably closest to the intensity of her work in A Quiet Passion only in her lead performance in the Broadway staging of Rabbit Hole, which won her a Tony Award. But in Davies' lyrical chamber drama, one where words have rarely taken such integral and provocative an implication, she is called on to humanize an embittered recluse who lashes out against social mores, and hides the brewing emotions inside of her with stoicism and the famed anti-social conventions that made her as almost as prickly as the famed artist J. M. W. Turner in Mike Leigh's 2014 biopic of the cantankerous British landscape artist.

"In the rapturous, painterly film, dominated by lyrical camera turns and sunlight, flower and sun umbrella resplendence, Nixon's voice over reading of some of her most renowned works are passionately rendered. She is masterful at juggling the demands of a role equally attuned at feminism and submissiveness, to rebelliousness and cognizance of the societal status quo at a time when her leaving the box was as shunned as as her own family's exasperation at her uncouth behavior. Nixon negotiates pensiveness, ire, fear, anxiety and madness, in a narrative that runs the gamut from caustic wit to an almost morbid severity. Her three hour midnight talk with Susan segues into a character metamorphosis leaving as a white-wearing mourner who never leaves the house and finally her bedroom. Her death scene is one of the most visually shattering ever filmed. The actress has confirmed she came to the role having read and studied Dickinson growing up, and understood the poet's desire to connect with society yet maintain her rigid privacy. Her intensity and immersion under Davies's nuanced direction has resulted in what this writer feels was the most distinguished lead performance by male or female in 2017." ~ Sam Juliano

2017 Muriel Awards: More Great Cinematic Moments

Some more of the year's best Cinematic Moments for you to enjoy!

Wonder Woman - No Man's Land



Baby Driver - "Bellbottoms"



Okja - "Annie's Song" escape



A Ghost Story - Rooney vs. pie



Blade Runner 2049 - K vs. Deckard



The Square - going ape



The Big Sick - "So... 9/11..."



The Florida Project - no harm no fowl


And finally, one for the missus. The Greatest Showman - "This Is Me"

2017 Muriel Awards: Best Cinematic Moment

Third place:



Get Out - first trip to the Sunken Place [78 points / 7 votes]

Second place:



Call Me By Your Name - Elio gazes into the fire [102 points / 9 votes]

And the winner is...



Atomic Blonde - stairwell fight [108 points / 11 votes]

“Maybe it’s not really a single take. Most likely there’s some trickery going on somewhere in the 10-minute unbroken shot that encompasses Atomic Blonde’s best action sequence (and one of the best action sequences of the past decade). But at least for the seven or so minutes that director David Leitch follows MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) and the East German defector known as Spyglass (Eddie Marsan) inside an abandoned building in East Berlin, the action is seamless, an expertly choreographed series of brutal physical confrontations, presented with the kind of effortless cool that can only come from massive, painstaking effort.

“Lorraine is attempting to escort Spyglass across the border between East and West Berlin while being targeted by KGB agents (and, although she’s not entirely sure about it at the time, by her own colleague David Percival, played by James McAvoy). She manages to protect Spyglass from KGB snipers above them as they walk through a huge group of protesters (thanks to a flash mob-style covering of umbrellas), but she doesn’t account for Percival getting in a covert shot from across the street. Lorraine, spotting the KGB gunmen above, drags the injured Spyglass into the empty building where they’ve set up their operation, determined to take them all out.

“And boy does she. What follows is a breathtaking demonstration of Leitch’s skills as a director, bringing in his background as a stunt coordinator (aided by the film’s actual stunt coordinator, Sam Hargrave) to orchestrate an epic fight sequence that starts when Lorraine takes the elevator to just above where two KGB operatives are positioned in the stairwell, and ends with her calmly walking the bleeding but bandaged Spyglass out of the building. The beginning of the movie shows Lorraine, 10 days after the mission in Berlin, her body covered in bruises and cuts and welts, soaking herself in an ice bath, and the stairwell sequence provides the origin for most of those injuries.

“Lorraine is clearly an incredibly capable secret agent, adept at marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat, but fighting off six muscular, well-trained KGB operatives takes every ounce of energy she has, and Leitch, Hargrave and Theron make sure the audience feels the impact of every kick, punch and stab. In contrast to the nearly nonstop pop music in the rest of the film, this sequence features no music at all, just grunts and the sound of bodies hitting bodies (or walls, or floors). Lorraine barely speaks, uttering occasional single words (‘Fuck!’ ‘Go!’) until a brief moment of calm when she tells Spyglass to tend to his wounds, and then later when she defeats the final KGB henchman by jamming a corkscrew in his neck. ‘Am I your bitch now?’ she sneers at him, triumphant despite barely being able to stand up. She’s drained but exhilarated, and by the time Leitch finally makes a clear, recognizable cut (which isn’t until the car chase scene that follows), the audience is, too.” ~ Josh Bell

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2017 Muriel Awards: Best Screenplay

Third place:

Phantom Thread (written by Paul Thomas Anderson) [151 points / 22 votes]

Second place:

Lady Bird (written by Greta Gerwig) [163 points / 25 votes]

And the winner is...

Get Out (written by Jordan Peele) [174 points / 27 votes]

“Jordan Peele’s screenplay for Get Out has much in common with its villainous characters. It hides in plain sight while simultaneously misleading the viewer. As events unfold, we start to question our own interpretations the same way Daniel Kaluuya’s Chris does. The blatantly sinister act that opens the film telegraphs its horror movie intentions, but until its big reveal, Get Out plays more like a psychological thriller whose mystery is whether Chris is overreacting to seemingly normal situations. It’s smart enough to account for the differing viewpoints of the audience: Black viewers familiar with the daily microaggressions that Peele piles on Chris like a thousand paper cuts may still question if Chris’ paranoia is completely founded. White viewers may see the Armitages’ clumsy attempts at welcoming Chris as mere cringe-worthy overcompensations.

“The key to both of these inaccurate reads is Rose. She’s embarrassed by her family’s initial meeting with Chris and she’s furious about the cop’s treatment of Chris. Peele presents her as an ally on the surface, but he slyly tips his hand to less than noble intentions in her first scene. When Chris asks her pointedly, ‘do your parents know I’m Black,’ she responds ‘should they?’ Everything she does in the first half of the film is meant to engender either guilt or confusion. It’s only upon a second viewing that we notice just how openly these clues are laid out in the screenplay.

“Even the symbols in Get Out have multiple intentions. The deer that Rose hits is an innocent victim and the catalyst for a rant by her father that sounds eerily like what racists say about minorities. Jesse Owens’ prowess becomes the vengeful motivation for the Armitages’ medical procedure. A blind art dealer, whose own skill set is impressive because it overcomes his disability, becomes Chris’ biggest fan and his worst nightmare. And good china and silverware, things normally associated with gentility, are revealed to be terrifying weapons of destruction.

“There’s a richness to Get Out’s screenplay that’s unusual for a genre film. Peele’s ideas are so cleverly and tightly woven into its structure that subsequent viewings always unveil something new. The script is an equal opportunity gaslighter that preys upon the race-based experiences and ideas of its viewers. But it milks true horror by forcing everyone to identify with the day-to-day societal aggravations Black people endure. The extremes to which Peele takes this are the hallmarks of great satire.

“If nothing else, Get Out cements ‘the sunken place’ in lexicon and culture; whenever it’s invoked in conversation, people will not only know where it is but also the type of person who is trapped in it. Not many screenplays can lay claim to such an achievement.” ~ Odie Henderson

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