I remember the movie Twister that I saw when it first was released in May 1996 as one of the few movies that I saw twice within 2 weeks, mainly because the special effects were so spectacular. When I first saw this movie I could not believe that in the year 1996 we had the computer technology to create scenes of huge tornadoes destroying buildings and lifting cars and huge trucks up in the air. All of the budget for this movie went to the computer special effects as there was not much of a screenplay or really a story for this film, other than storm chasers trying to catch a tornado being formed so they could drop a device called “Dorothy” that could record the internal structure of a tornado. Many of the lines in this movie between Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt were extremely corny as they were either arguing or chasing the storms. “We Got Cows”, “We Got Sisters”, just to name two. The story and the bad dialogue didn’t matter for this movie because the entire purpose was the incredible special effects that lead toward the amazing climax that involved a Level 5 Tornado. Of course, many of the scenes, especially at the end were ridiculous and nobody would survive, but any kind of common sense or logic didn’t matter for this kind of a movie.

Tragically a few days ago we lost one of the stars of this movie Bill Paxton, during a heart surgery and he as only 61. Paxon had a very good run as a movie star and I am sure he would agree that the best movie of his career was Apollo 13 that came out in 1995. The academy award winning actor Phillip Seymore Hoffman also had a small part in this movie and he passed away of a drug overdose in February 2014. These two actors had many more great films in their future and they both left us far too soon.

If you have still not seen the movie Twister its a must see for some of the best special effects ever made.

As I watch the Academy Awards every year, there are always winners and losers that I agree with and do not agree with. This year was pretty obvious as far as some of the mistakes that were made in my opinion. The ending mistake with the wrong card being read for best picture was amazing when you think about how a mistake that bad could happen for the biggest award of the night. Not in 89 years of this award show had anything like this ever happened before.

In my opinion:

Clearly, Denzel Washington should have won for best actor. Casie Affleck was very good in his role but Denzel’s performance was one of a kind. The Academy does not want to give too many awards to one actor and Denzel already had two. Not a good reason for him not to win for Fences. I was happy to see Viola Davis win best supporting actress but her time on screen warranted a win for best actress.

There is no way that Moonlight was the best picture in 2016. Fences, Manchester by The Sea and Hidden Figures were by far better movies.

I was very happy to see Keneth Lonergan win best original screenplay for Manchester By The Sea. This movie was so good I even printed out the screenplay and it is one of the best screenplays I have ever seen.

Overall, the year 2016 was one of the best years for high quality movies in many years.

BEST PICTURE
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“Hidden Figures”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight” (WINNER)
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Casey Affleck in “Manchester by the Sea” (WINNER)
Andrew Garfield in “Hacksaw Ridge”
Ryan Gosling in “La La Land”
Viggo Mortensen in “Captain Fantastic”
Denzel Washington in “Fences”
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jeff Bridges in “Hell or High Water”
Mahershala Ali in “Moonlight” (WINNER)
Lucas Hedges in “Manchester by the Sea”
Dev Patel in “Lion”
Michael Shannon in “Nocturnal Animals”
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Isabelle Huppert in “Elle”
Ruth Negga in “Loving”
Natalie Portman in “Jackie”
Emma Stone in “La La Land” (WINNER)
Meryl Streep in “Florence Foster Jenkins”
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Nicole Kidman in “Lion”
Viola Davis in “Fences” (WINNER)
Naomie Harris in “Moonlight”
Octavia Spencer in “Hidden Figures”
Michelle Williams in “Manchester by the Sea”
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Moana”
“My Life as a Zucchini”
“The Red Turtle”
“Zootopia” (WINNER)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Arrival”
“La La Land” (WINNER)
“Lion”
“Moonlight”
“Silence”
COSTUME DESIGN
“Allied”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (WINNER)
“Florence Foster Jenkins”
“Jackie”
“La La Land”
“Fantastic
DIRECTING
“Arrival” – Denis Villeneuve
“Hacksaw Ridge” – Mel Gibson
“La La Land” – Damien Chazelle (WINNER)
“Manchester by the Sea” – Kenneth Lonergan
“Moonlight” – Barry Jenkins
DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
“Fire at Sea”
“I Am Not Your Negro”
“Life, Animated”
“O.J.: Made in America” (WINNER)
“13th”
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Land of Mine”
“A Man Called Ove”
“The Salesman” (WINNER)
“Tanna”
“Toni Erdmann”
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
“Jackie”
“La La Land” (WINNER)
“Lion”
“Moonlight”
“Passengers”
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from “La La Land”
“Can’t Stop The Feeling” from “Trolls”
“City Of Stars” from “La La Land” (WINNER)
“The Empty Chair” from “Jim: The James Foley Story”
“How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”
SOUND MIXING
“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge” (WINNER)
“La La Land”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi”
VISUAL EFFECTS
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Doctor Strange”
“The Jungle Book” (WINNER)
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
“Arrival”
“Fences
“Hidden Figures”
“Lion”
“Moonlight” (WINNER)
WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
“Hell or High Water”
“La La Land”
“The Lobster”
“Manchester by the Sea” (WINNER)
“20th Century Women”