The biggest gap from the beginning of a year to its conclusion in a while. Nevertheless, here we are: you've seen my take on the Academy Award nominees in six categories, my Top Ten, and my nominees. Now, here are my winners, the best of the best, for the 1997 Retro Hollmann Awards:
Best Ensemble
Waiting for Guffman
2. Boogie Nights; 3. Titanic; 4. The Sweet Hereafter; 5. Good Will Hunting
Yeah, everyone rules in this movie. You have your main ensemble, of course: Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Bob Balaban, and, to an extent that people undersell, Lewis Arquette as the old-timer who, given the opportunity, shows himself to be a natural on the stage, truly beautiful. We'd be remiss, though, not to mention councilmember Michael Hitchcock, a Corky St. Clair superfan; Raging Bull one-man show Jerry Turman; quietly hilarious queen of the reaction shot Linda Kash; and the stone-faced hilarity of Brian Doyle-Murray (my dad's favorite Murray!). Among others, of course...
Best Score
1. Titanic
James Horner
2. Batman & Robin
Elliot Goldenthal
3. Kundun
Philip Glass
4. Anastasia
Stephen Flaherty / David Newman
5. Crash
Howard Shore
Best Film Editing
Titanic
Conrad Buff IV / James Cameron / Richard A. Harris
2. Contact; 3. Deconstructing Harry; 4. Waiting for Guffman; 5. Boogie Nights
Three hours and 14 minutes that feel absolutely full but...well, I wouldn't say they fly by but they definitely don't drag. Every moment feels necessary. Those dissolves from the tragedy to Old Rose narrating, breaking up the night, giving us a moment to breathe after the hour of running and falling and drowning before getting right back into it. Such moments - it happens a few times, like when Jack draws Rose - should be jarring or irritating, but the flow of it works perfectly as act breaks and reminders that these are someone's memories, all this happened to a person. It works.
Best Actress
Jodie Foster as Ellie Arroway
Contact
2. Pam Grier in Jackie Brown; 3. Mira Sorvino in Romy & Michele's High School Reunion; 4. Lisa Kudrow in Romy & Michele's High School Reunion; 5. Sigourney Weaver in Alien: Resurrection
One of the best performances I’ve ever seen. Foster’s Arroway can’t help being the smartest person in the room; Foster projects that intelligence and confidence, but also moments of doubt and vulnerability, even implies that despite her prickliness she's biting her tongue every now and then. Her journey from alien believer/atheist to one who had a genuine experience that must be taken on faith…well, it’s moving, it’s convincing, it’s a beautiful bit of acting.
Best Sound
Titanic
Tom Bellfort, supervising sound editor
Christopher Boyes, sound designer / re-recording mixer
Scott Guitteau / Christopher Scarabosio / Ethan Van Der Ryn, sound effects editors
Mark Ulano, sound mixer
Lora Hirschberg / Tom Johnson / Gary Rydstrom, re-recording mixers
2. Contact; 3. Boogie Nights; 4. Air Force One; 5. L.A. Confidential
Yeah, I mean, what else could win but the film where you experience every crack and groan of a ship that's sinking, every variation of panic and denial in a passenger's scream, the cacophony of the surface versus the muted thrum of underwater, the mix of the score complementing every romantic, historic, horrifying moment.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Contact
James V. Hart and Michael Goldenberg
from the novel by Carl Sagan and story by Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan
2. Jackie Brown; 3. The Postman; 4. Wag the Dog; 5. Oscar and Lucinda
Intelligent and approachable, maturely dealing with questions of science and faith, filled with bc implied characters who behave like actual adults you’ve all met in real life, capable of setting the blueprint for the visual wonders to come at the climax: great work, all around.
Best Production Design
Titanic
Peter Lamont, production designer
Charles Dwight Lee, supervising art director
Michael Ford, set decorator
2. The Fifth Element; 3. Kundun; 4. Batman & Robin; 5. Alien: Resurrection
Painstakingly recreates the legendary ship from the boilers on up. The divide between first class and third class is done beautifully: steerage gets its entertainment, yes, but their humble common area cannot compare to the opulence of the various first-class amenities, from the dining room to the gym to the staterooms’ balconies. Love the gadgetry of the modern research vessel, too.
Best Actor
Robert Duvall as The Apostle Euliss F. Dewey
The Apostle
2. Christopher Guest in Waiting for Guffman; 3. Kevin Kline in In & Out; 4. Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic; 5. Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting
I love the contrast between his defiant appearance at his former church as it’s being taken from him - immaculate white suit, sunglasses indoors, a performance that shoves him center stage so that the light is on him instead of Him - and his last sermon in the film, out among his people in a ramshackle thing built with love, giving his usual spiel but with a genuine, heartfelt passion behind his words: he’s not selling anything, he has been humbled, and now he’s making a promise. Anyway, great performance.
Best Visual Effects
The Fifth Element
Nick Allder / Neil Corbould, special effects supervisors
Karen E. Goulekas, Digital Domain digital effects supervisor
Niels Nelsen, miniature effects supervisor
Mark Stetson, special visual effects supervisor
Pascal Charpentier, video effects supervisor
2. Titanic; 3. Contact; 4. Starship Troopers; 5. The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Meticulous, detailed environmental elements that create a sky-high city of the future, pyrotechnics that take out an entire intergalactic cruise ship, and makeup, costume, and puppetry effects that create entire races of non-human creatures. There is so much going on in every frame. Impressive scale and it all holds up.
Best Cinematography
1. Titanic
Russell Carpenter
2. Happy Together
Christopher Doyle
3. Kundun
Roger Deakins
4. Lost Highway
Peter Deming
5. Alien Resurrection
Darius Khondji
Best Supporting Actress
Janeane Garofalo as Heather Mooney
Romy & Michele's High School Reunion
2. Maggie Smith in Washington Square; 3. Uma Thurman in Batman & Robin; 4. Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights; 5. Frances Fisher in Titanic
Her impatient, suffer-no-fools delivery of, well, every line, but especially, "Fuck off, Toby," and "What the hell was I thinking?" The caution with which she navigates her first conversation with Romy since high school: sarcastic, unpleasant, guarded, probing a bit, then suddenly a vulnerable teenager again once Romy hits the one spot that hurts. Too cool to forget, too unknowable to be the lead, Garofalo crafts one of the great comedic performances of the 1990s. She was always my #1.
Best Director
James Cameron
Titanic
2. Robert Zemeckis for Contact; 3. David Lynch for Lost Highway; 4. Paul Verhoeven for Starship Troopers; 5. Paul Thomas Anderson for Boogie Nights
Where else was this gonna go? Every emotional moment hits, the scope of the tragedy and those effected is impressive but navigable, he makes your heart flutter with the pangs of first love and race with the desperation to survive. Not a false moment.
Best Original Screenplay
Titanic
James Cameron
2. Cop Land; 3. Boogie Nights; 4. Good Will Hunting; 5. Deconstructing Harry
One of the greatest directors, yes, but Cameron’s also one of the greatest writers we have. His stylized dialogue would be cringey were it not so perfect for the setting and tone of his story; his structure is impeccable, paying off everything from a technician’s explanation of how the Titanic sank to a lesson in hocking a loogie. He has my heart for “Not the better half.”
Best Supporting Actor
Billy Zane as Cal Hockley
Titanic
2. Robert Forster in Jackie Brown; 3. Arnold Schwarzenegger in Batman & Robin; 4. Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting; 5. Elias Koteas in Crash
Do I dare? Yes, of course I do. Zane gives my favorite performance in the movie, a mustache-twirling villain without the mustache, a man who can only possess things and people without really understanding true value. And he goes for it. Maybe other actors would try to humanize Cal, or at least give him moments of vulnerability and/or humor (although, as I said, “Not the better half,” is shockingly, audaciously funny). Zane embraces the villainy, the venality of the ultra-rich. It’s a courageous performance.
Best Makeup & Hairstyling
Batman & Robin
Tony Gardner / Glen P. Griffin / Lufeng Qu, special makeup effects
David B. Miller, makeup supervisor
Jeff Dawn / Michael Key / Peter Thothpal, Mr. Freeze hair and makeup
Jeff Dawn / Michael Key / Peter Thothpal, Mr. Freeze hair and makeup
Yolanda Toussieng, key hair stylist
2. Men in Black; 3. Titanic; 4. Alien: Resurrection; 5. Crash
For what they do with Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy alone, this would get a nomination: greasy haired, sweaty Pamela turns into scarlet-tressed Ivy, her skin glittery and glowing, with hairdos that make you wonder, “Did she always have that much to work with?” But they also gave us the bald and blue Mr. Freeze, which is simple enough BUT when he is exposed to extreme heat and his eyes go milky and red…oh man, that’s inspired. Love, too, the venomous veins of Bane and mad scientist Dr. Woodrow’s Bride of Frankenstein stripes.
Best Costume Design
Batman & Robin
Ingrid Ferrin / Robert Turturice
2. Titanic; 3. The Fifth Element; 4. Romy & Michele's High School Reunion; 5. Kundun
Costumes that are as iconic as their comic book drawings. Mr. Freeze's costume may be bulky, but the man is carrying diamonds inside a freezer; Poison Ivy's slinky bodysuit shows her "dangerous curves", enticing the doomed. Batman, Robin, and Batgirl all have different versions of their suits for some reason, but they serve their purposes: you know who is who even in silhouette and everyone looks hot. Also dig Mr. Freeze's bathrobe, Ms. B. Haven's sexy snow bunny outfit, the day-glo gangsters, and Pamela Isley's jungle scientist garb.
Best Original Song
1. "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic
music by James Horner
lyrics by Will Jennings
2. "I Won't Say I'm in Love" from Hercules
music by Alan Menken
lyrics by David Zippel
3. "Paris Holds the Key (to Your Heart)" from Anastasia
music by Stephen Flaherty
lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
4. "Once Upon a December" from Anastasia
music by Stephen Flaherty
lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
5. "We're All Dudes" from Good Burger
music and lyrics by Kel Mitchell, Vinnie Fiorello, Chris DeMakes, Roger Manganelli and Louis "Buddy" Schaub
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Titanic
produced by Jon Landau / James Cameron
2. Contact; 3. Batman & Robin; 4. Boogie Nights; 5. Waiting for Guffman
6. The Apostle; 7. Romy & Michele's High School Reunion; 8. Good Will Hunting; 9. Jackie Brown; 10. Lost Highway
Titanic, the most nominated film in Hollmann Awards history, now ties with The Exorcist and Bram Stoker's Dracula as the winning-est film in Hollmann Awards history with ten! Of the remaining Top Ten: Contact and Batman & Robin each received two awards, while Waiting for Guffman, The Apostle, and Romy & Michele's High School Reunion all walked away with one each. The Fifth Element is the only film not in the Top Ten to win an award.
A week from today, we begin three weeks focusing on 2003. And then in February - 2024!
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