And your 2016 Razzie nominees are…

Yes, we’re right in the middle of the Hollywood awards season, with the Golden Globes taking place this weekend past, and the Oscar nominations being released later today. But while those two biggest awards shows are all about honouring achievements in movies, there’s another that exists for exactly the opposite. I’m of course talking about the Golden Raspberry Awards aka the Razzies, which is all about (dis)honouring the worst pieces of cinematic drek to hit our screens in the last year.

Normally, I don’t really pay much attention to the Razzies, as it’s sort of become nothing but a massive unwarranted pile-on for certain filmmakers or films. Even if a particular person or movie was actually not that bad, if it was cool and trendy to slag them, the Razzies would show no hesitation to jump on board, irrespective if there were far worse offerings out there.

BUT – and you may have predicted a “but” was coming – this year, I actually think they kind of got it right. At least where Worst Picture was concerned. The 2016 Razzie nominations were released yesterday and have pitted Fantasic Four, Fifty Shades of Grey, Jupiter Ascending, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 and Pixels against each other for the biggest award. And it couldn’t have happened to a more awful bunch.

Out of the lot, Fantastic Four probably is the only one that has some redemption, as it’s first two acts – as inappropriate as it was for a Fantastic Four story – was pretty solid sci-fi entertainment. Then it dropped one of the worst third (turd?) acts in my recent movie memory, and totally defecated over whatever good will it had created. And the rest of that list is just as godawful. Personally, I think that the truly terrible, faith-in-humanity destroying Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 should take it, because at least the others had the decency to be shiny enough to be momentarily distracting (Jupiter Ascending, Pixels) or had the misfortune of working off already garbage source material (Fifty Shades of Grey).

As for the rest of the awards, it’s the usual suspects really with the occasional bit of “WTF, really?” thrown in (looks in disbelief at Rooney Mara in Pan for Worst Actress), but of special interest is this year’s Razzie Redeemer Award. This is given out to previous Razzie winners who have now upped their game considerably. And this year sees Sylvester Stallone, fresh off a Golden Globe win for Creed, in the mix, alongside the likes of M. Night Shyamalan, who after more than a decade of turning his career into a bit of a joke, returned last year with a very solid horror entry in The Visit. It’s going to be a tight race, but I think Sly should take it!

Also one to note is that if Eddie Redmayne, who is nominated for his role in Jupiter Ascending here, gets an Oscar nomination later for The Danish Girl – which certainly looks the case – then he could potentially both Worst and Best Actor all in one year!

Last Updated: January 14, 2016