THE HAWAII FILM CRITICS SOCIETY 2018 LIST

A childhood remembrance, full of wonder, horror and humanity, enthralled the Hawaii Film Critics Society. “Roma,” Alfonso Cuaron’s deeply personal, vivid and spellbinding film, led the Best of 2018 list, winning six awards, including Best Picture and Director. Also receiving six awards is “A Star Is Born,” Bradley Cooper’s remarkable directorial debut, including for Best Actor (Cooper’s tour de force was tied with Christian Bale’s stunning turn in “Vice”), Sam Elliot for Best Supporting Actor and “Shallow” for Best Song.

The Best Actress Award was also a tie, as Olivia Colman’s delicious turn as Queen Ann won alongside Toni Collette’s terrifying performance in “Hereditary.” The Best Supporting Actress category also presented a tie, as Emily Blunt’s powerful work in “A Quiet Place” won, as did Elisabeth Debicki’s scene stealing turn in “Widows.”

Other noteworthy winners include Damien Chazelle’s “First Man” (Best Score, Editing and Adapted Screenplay), “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (Best Animated Film), “Mission: Impossible- Fallout” (Best Stunt Work), “Black Panther” (Best Costume Design), “Ready Player One” (Best Visual Effects) and “Isle of Dogs” (Bryan Cranston’s great work as Chief the dog was awarded Best Vocal/Motion Capture Performance).

The Best Documentary award was a tie, presented to Morgan Neville’s moving look at Fred Rogers in “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and Peter Jackson’s technical marvel, “They Shall Not Grow Old,” which vividly restored WWI footage. The Most Overlooked Film award was shared with Paul Schrader’s haunting “First Reformed” and Paul Feig’s sly thriller, “A Simple Favor.”

The Best Hawaiian Film award was presented to Brian Kohne’s period mystery, “Kuleana,” a nominee the year before that first premiered at the 2017 Maui Film Festival. In 2018, Kohne’s film received a limited theatrical release throughout the Hawaiian islands and became a grassroots success.

On the other end of the spectrum, “The Nun,” touted as “The Most Terrifying Chapter in The Conjuring Universe,” was deemed Worst of 2018. The full list is below.

HFCS BEST OF 2018 LIST

BEST PICTURE: Roma

 

BEST DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

 

BEST ACTOR: Christian Bale, Vice (tie) Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born

 

BEST ACTRESS: Olivia Colman, The Favourite (tie) Toni Collette, Hereditary

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sam Elliot/ A Star Is Born

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Emily Blunt/ A Quiet Place (tie) Elizabeth Debicki/ Widows

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Alfonso Cuaron/ Roma

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper and Will Fetters,  A Star is Born (tie)  Josh Singer (Based on the book by James R. Hansen), First Man

 

BEST ART DIRECTION: Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton, The Favourite

 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Ruth E. Carter, Black Panther

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

 

BEST EDITING: Tom Cross, First Man (tie) Alfonso Cuaron and Adam Gough, Roma

 

BEST ANIMATED FILM: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, dir. Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY: They Shall Not Grow Old, dir. Peter Jackson (tie)

Won’t You Be My Neighbor, dir. Morgan Neville

 

BEST MAKE-UP: Vice

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Justin Hurwitz, First Man

 

BEST SONG: “Shallow,”A Star is Born

 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Ready Player One

 

BEST STUNT WORK: Mission: Impossible- Fallout

 

BEST NEW FILMMAKER: Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born

 

BEST FIRST FILM: A Star is Born

 

BEST OVERLOOKED FILM:  First Reformed, dir. Paul Schrader (Tie) A Simple Favor, dir. Paul Feig

 

BEST VOCAL/MOTION CAPTURE PERFORMANCE: Bryan Cranston, Isle of Dogs

 

BEST HORROR/SCI-FI FILM: A Quiet Place, dir. John Krasinski

 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Roma, dir. Alfonso Cuaron (Mexico)

 

BEST HAWAIIAN FILM: Kuleana, dir. Brian Kohne

 

WORST FILM OF 2018: The Nun