ANNOUNCEMENT: The 2015 Undies Are Coming!

from White God, nominated in Foreign Language

That's right, chickadees. Hold onto your britches because the 2015 Undies Awards are just around the corner.

Last year, burnt out and frustrated with how the Academy Awards and most major awards shows and critics seem to reward the same movies again year after year, we here at Kiss My Wonder Woman came up with a new tradition: the Undies Awards. An awards competition focused on only looking at films which, for whatever reason, were underappreciated by audiences, critics, or the awards shows. Starting with something like forty movies, we narrowed it down to twenty-five films in five categories. Then all of you got off your butts, picked a category, saw the movies and sent me your votes. It was awesome.

Those five winners then went head to head in the final round to determine what movie from 2014 qualified as the absolute best underappreciated film of the year. And now it's time to do it all again.

from Mistress America, Micro Budget

I mean, we probably would have done this again even if the Oscars had somehow magically managed to get their act together in the past year, but as the nominations have proven, the Undies are still as needed as ever. Not a single actor of color was nominated this year, and the best picture nominees left off some really obvious fan favorites. So we're here to fix all of that. Sure, the Undies isn't exactly as prestigious as the Oscars, and sure, technically the only award anyone wins is bragging rights, but we are democratic as hell and that's got to count for something.

As with last year, though, I need your help. I'm great, but if I am the only one watching these films and voting on them, then that's not a very democratic process. I need your help both to select the films we'll be viewing and to vote on them. Here's a quick run-down of how the process will work:

First! You send me a list of movies you think are the best underappreciated films of the year. The only qualifiers are that it had to come out in the US in 2015 and it cannot be a film nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Foreign Language, or Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards.

Second! I will put out a finalized list of the five films in the five categories. You email me with the name of the category you want to vote in. The categories are: Big Budget (budget of over $80 million), Mid-Range (budget of $10-80 million), Micro Budget (budget under $10 million), Foreign Language, and Animated. You pick one and tell me which one you've picked.

Third! You watch all five movies in your category.

Fourth! You email me and tell me which one you think is "the best" - whatever "the best" means to you.

Fifth! I compile all of these votes and then post the winner from each category.

Sixth! You watch all the five winners and email me whichever one of those you think is "the best".

Seventh! I compile the votes and tell you which movie is - according to your votes - the best underappreciated movie of 2015!

Good? Good.

The Undies are a lot of fun for me, and I hope they're a lot of fun for you guys too. I think it's important to take a minute and recognize those movies that might not be mainstream enough or white enough or comfortable enough for Hollywood to appreciate but which made us all sit up and listen this past year. The Undies exist for a reason, and that reason is to highlight movies that deserve more time in the sun.

So, with no further ado, here are the preliminary lists for the nominees at this year's Undies Awards:

Jupiter Ascending, Big Budget

Big Budget:
Jupiter Ascending
Furious 7
Mockingjay Part 2
Tomorrowland
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
In the Heart of the Sea
Cinderella
Kingsman

Mid-Range:
Paddington
Creed
Straight Outta Compton

Chi-Raq, Mid-Range

Crimson Peak
Sicario
Woman in Gold
Chi-Raq
Far from the Madding Crowd
Suffragette

Micro Budget:
Beasts of No Nation
Tangerine
The End of the Tour
Movement and Location
The Keeping Room
Mistress America
Advantageous

Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Foreign Language

Dope
The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Foreign Language:
Goodnight Mommy
Piku
Dum Laga Ke Haisha
Naked Among Wolves
White God
The Tribe
Zero Motivation
Gloria

Advantageous, Micro Budget

Animated:
Home
The Spongebob Movie
The Long Way North
Magic Mountain
Pirate's Passage
The Monkey King: Hero Is Back
The Good Dinosaur

Like I said above, if you have any suggestions we've neglected to mention here, please shoot us an email at kissmywonderwoman@gmail.com or list them in the comments. Happy Undies everyone!