Good Monday morning everyone...
I have been changing things up a bit this last week with daily posts focused on specific Oscar categories. I am planning on continuing to do that this week and get into categories beyond the Big 8. All of that leading up to a final pre-nomination edition of The Film Awards Clearinghouse on Monday, Jan. 23, the day before nominations are announced. And so, to that end...
BEST DIRECTION
SPECIAL TO THE FILM AWARDS
CLEARINGHOUSE: BEST DIRECTOR 14 DAYS OUT
The FAC takes a snapshot look at
individual categories using the predictive resources of:
Awards Daily (Sasha Stone)
Incontention.com (Kristopher Tapley
at HitFix)
The Hollywood Reporter (Scott
Feinberg)
Entertainment Weekly (Dave Karger)
Hollywood Elsewhere (Jeffrey Wells)
Thompson on Hollywood (Anne
Thompson)
Rope of Silicon (Brad Brevet)
Film Misery
Film Experience
Awards Circuit
DGA TODAY…WHO WILL IT BE AND WILL IT BE THE SAME FIVE FOR
OSCAR?
We’re going to be reading the tea leaves after today’s DGA
announcement of the five directors nominated by that guild for outstanding
achievement for this year. Here is what
the collation of Oscar forecasters listed above have for the Best Direction
Oscar as of this morning (TFF #38 Directors in bold and large):
1) Michael Hazanavicius/The Artist
2) Martin Scorsese/Hugo
3) Steven Spielberg/War Horse
4) Alexander Payne/The Descendants
5) Terrence Malick/The Tree of Life
In the running are:
6) Woody Allen/Midnight in Paris
7) Bennett Miller/Moneyball
8) Steven Daldry/Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
9) Tate Taylor/The Help
10) George Clooney/The Ides of March
Others receiving votes: Nicolas Winding Refn/Drive, David
Fincher/Dragon Tattoo, Steve McQueen/Shame.
Gaining traction: Spielberg and Taylor…though, I get the
sense that “War Horse” and Spielberg may have lost some ground in the last week
to 10 days.
Losing ground: Payne and Fincher.
I think that Hazanavicius, Scorsese and Payne are locks
(despite Payne losing some ground since my last massive post of the Awards
Clearinghouse on Dec. 21). That leaves
Spielberg, Allen Malick, Miller and Taylor fighting for the last two spots. I
think Fincher, Clooney and Daldry are out of the running altogether.
So bring on the DGA…
More tomorrow as I take a gander at the Supporting Actress
race…
NATIONAL SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS ANNOUNCE AWARDS
The NFSC announced their results on Saturday...here hey are (from the NSFC website:
The National Society of Film Critics on Saturday, January 7th,
2012, chose “Melancholia”
as Best Picture of the Year 2011. Kristin Dunst was named best actress for her
performance in Lars von Trier’s film, and Brad Pitt was named best actor for
his work in “Moneyball” and “The Tree of Life.” Albert Brooks (or his evil
twin) won best supporting actor for his appearance in “Drive,” and Jessica
Chastain was named best supporting actress for her work in three films: “The
Tree of Life,” “Take Shelter” and “The Help.”
See below for all votes in Best Picture and
other categories for outstanding film achievement.
The Society, which is made up of 58 of the
country’s most prominent movie critics, held its 46th annual awards voting
meeting at Sardi’s Restaurant in New York City, using a weighted ballot system.
Scrolls will be sent to the winners.
BEST ACTOR
*1. Brad Pitt – 35 (Moneyball, The Tree of Life)
2. Gary Oldman – 22 (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
3. Jean Dujardin – 19 (The Artist)
BEST ACTRESS
*1. Kirsten Dunst – 39 (Melancholia)
2. Yun Jung-hee – 25 (Poetry)
3. Meryl Streep – 20 (The Iron Lady)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
*1. Albert Brooks – 38 (Drive)
2. Christopher Plummer – 24 (Beginners)
3. Patton Oswalt – 19 (Young Adult)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
*1. Jessica Chastain – 30 (The Tree of Life, Take Shelter, The Help)
2. Jeannie Berlin – 19 (Margaret)
3. Shailene Woodley – 17 (The Descendants)
BEST PICTURE
*1. Melancholia – 29 (Lars von Trier)
2. The Tree of Life – 28 (Terrence Malick)
3. A Separation – 20 (Asghar Farhadi)
BEST DIRECTOR
*1. Terrence Malick – 31 (The Tree of Life)
2. Martin Scorsese – 29 (Hugo)
3. Lars von Trier – 23 (Melancholia)
BEST NONFICTION
*1. Cave of Forgotten Dreams – 35 (Werner Herzog)
2. The Interrupters – 26 (Steve James)
3. Into the Abyss – 18 (Werner Herzog)
BEST SCREENPLAY
*1. A Separation – 39 (Asghar Farhadi)
2. Moneyball – 22 (Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin)
3. Midnight in Paris – 16 (Woody Allen)
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
*1. A Separation – 67 (Asghar Farhadi)
2. Mysteries of Lisbon – 28 (Raoul Ruiz)
3. Le Havre – 22 (Aki Kaurismäki)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
*1. The Tree of Life – 76 (Emanuel Lubezki)
2. Melancholia – 41 (Manuel Alberto Claro)
3. Hugo – 33 (Robert Richardson)
EXPERIMENTAL
Ken Jacobs, for “Seeking the Monkey King.”
FILM HERITAGE
1. BAMcinématek for its complete Vincente Minnelli retrospective with all
titles shown on 16 mm. or 35 mm. film.
2. Lobster Films, Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema and the Technicolor
Foundation for Cinema for the restoration of the color version of George
Méliès’s “A Trip to the Moon.”
3. New York’s Museum of Modern Art for its extensive retrospective of Weimar
Cinema.
4. Flicker Alley for their box set “Landmarks of Early Soviet Film.”
5. Criterion Collecton for its 2-disc DVD package “The Complete Jean Vigo.”
Comment: Telluride #38 is recognized with The Artist (#3 Best Actor/Dujardin), The Descendants (#3 Best Supporting Actress/Woodley, Into the Abyss (#3 Doc), A Separation (#3 Best Pic, Best Screenplay, Best Foreifn Language Film. TFF #37 was recognized for Yun Jung-hee's performance in Poetry.
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CRITICS' TAKE
Movie City News is up to 210 critics Top Ten lists collated and categorized. You can find the whole enchilada here:
A SEPARATION
Asghar Farhadi's brilliant film continues to make waves as evidenced by its lofty position on the above MCN chart and it being the most rewarded Telluride #38 offering in the NFSC announcement on Saturday. It remains the front runner for the Best Foreign Language Oscar and I continue to advocate for a Best Original Screenplay nomination to anyone who will listen (#occupyoscar). I can tell you that that notion may be gaining some traction...you'll see later this week.
Farhadi has two interview that appeared this week that I will pass on. One from Rope of Silicon:
The other from The Wall Street Journal:
Thanks for reading. Take a look tomorrow on our "Special" for Best Supporting Actress.
Follow me on Twitter @Gort2
