FLASH: GOLDEN GLOBES PREDICTIONS FOR TONIGHT

GOLDEN GLOBES PREDICTIONS FROM THE FILM AWARDS CLEARINGHOUSE

There are 14 film categories that will be announced tonight between japes from host Ricky Gervais.  Here are The FAC predictions for them:

Song: The Living Proof/The Help
Score: Ludovic Bource/The Artist
Screenplay: Michel Hazanavicius/The Artist
Direction: Michael Hazanavicius/The Artist
Foreign Language: A Separation
Animated: Rango
Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain/The Help
Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer/Beginners
Actress (Comedy or Musical): Michele Williams/My Week with Marilyn
Actor: (Comedy or Musical): Jean Dujardin/The Artist
Actress (Drama): Viola Davis/The Help
Actor (Drama): George Clooney/The Descendants
Film (Comedy or Musical): The Artist
Film (Drama): The Descendants

Should this come to pass Telluride #38 claims 8 of the 14 awards.  Multiple Globe winners would be:

The Artist with 5
The Help with 3
and The Descendants with 2

We'll see what happens tonight....

Golden Globes

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominees for the Golden Globe awards this morning.  Here they are (with TFF #38 films Bold and Large):

Best Picture – Drama

“The Descendants” 

 “The Help” 

“Hugo” 

“The Ides of March” 

“Moneyball” 

“War Horse”

Best Picture – Comedy

“50/50” 

“The Artist” 

“Bridesmaids” 

“Midnight in Paris” 

“My Week with Marilyn” 
 

Best Actor in a Drama

George Clooney – “The Descendants”

Leonardo DiCaprio – “J. Edgar” 

Michael Fassbender – “Shame”

Ryan Gosling – “The Ides of March”

Brad Pitt – “Moneyball”
 

Best Actress in a Drama

Glenn Close – “Albert Nobbs”

Viola Davis - “The Help”

Rooney Mara – “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”

Meryl Streep – “The Iron Lady”

Tilda Swinton – “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical

Jean Dujardin – “The Artist”

Brendon Gleeson – “The Guard”

Ryan Gosling – “Crazy Stupid Love” 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “50/50”

Owen Wilson – “Midnight in Paris”

Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical

Jodi Foster – “Carnage”

Charlize Theron – “Young Adult” 

Kristen Wiig – “Bridesmaids”

Michelle Williams – “My Week with Marilyn”

Kate Winslet – “Carnage”

Best Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh – “My Week with Marilyn”

Albert Brooks – “Drive” 

Viggo Mortensen – “A Dangerous Method”

Jonah Hill – “Moneyball”

Christopher Plummer – “Beginners” 

Best Supporting Actress

Bernice Bejo – “The Artist”

Jessica Chastain – “The Help”

Janet McTeer – “Albert Nobbs”

Octavia Spencer – “The Help”

Shailene Woodley – “The Descendants”

Best Director

Woody Allen – “Midnight in Paris”

George Clooney – “The Ides of March”

Michel Hazanavicius – “The Artist”

Alexander Payne – “The Descendants”

Martin Scorsese – “Hugo”
 

Best Screenplay

“The Artist”

“The Descendants”

“The Ides of March”

“Midnight in Paris”

“Moneyball”

Best Original Score

“The Artist”

“W.E.”

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”

“Hugo”

“War Horse”

Best Animated Film

“The Adventures of Tintin”

“Arthur Christmas”

“Cars 2”

“Puss in Boots”

“Rango”

Best Original Song

“Hello Hello” – “Gnomeo and Juliet”

“The Keeper” – “Machine Gun Preacher”

“Lay Your Head Down” – “Albert Nobbs”

“The Living Proof” – “The Help”

“Masterpiece” – “W.E.”

Best Foreign Language Film

The Flowers of War - China

In the Land of Blood and Honey - USA

The Kid with the Bike - Belgium

A Separation - Iran

The Skin I Live In – Spain

Total of 19 Telluride Golden Globe Nominations.  

The Artist = 6

The Descendants = 5

Albert Nobbs = 3

One each for Shame, A Separation, The Kid with a Bike, We Need to Talk to Kevin and A Dangerous Method.

At this point, the Globes aren't necessarily a predictor, but can serve as a reminder or a goad to Academy members who are making up their minds about who/what to put on their ballots.

Comment...The Artist is probably the front runner as of this morning with (by my estimation) Hugo and The Descendants the most likely films to challenge it for Best Picture. 

The Artist led all films with 6 nominations followed by The Descendants and The Help with 5 a piece.

Good news this  morning for both Glenn Close and Shailene Woodley, keeping them both in play.

Hugo, Midnight in Paris and Moneyball definitely did well enough to continue to be a part of the conversation.

Surprises (at least to me):

*Viggo Mortensen's nomination for A Dangerous Method.  

*The success of The Ides of March (maybe it gets back into the conversation because of this morning).  

*Kristen Wiig gets in for Bridesmaids but Melissa McCarthy did not.  

*No Vanessa Redgrave for Coriolanus...Is her campaign losing steam?

*No In Darkness for Foreign Film

*No song nominated from The Muppets

*No Tree of Life anywhere to be seen

In other thoughts...

I was personally happy to see Michael Fassbender and Janet McTeer get acting nominations.  Also was pleased to see A Separation in the foreign film category (I'd still love for it to sneak into the Original Screenplay category come Oscar time).  Sad that there was no other love for Shame (especially for Carey Mulligan).

FLASH/SPECIAL: Indy Spirit/NYFCC/Gotham Awards

The Film Awards season is off and running with three events occurring within the last 24 hours acting as the starting gun for the race.  The Gotham Awards (Independent Feature Project) last night and this morning The New York Film Critics Circle and nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards which, of the three, probably has the most heft.  Consider the impact of both "Black Swan" and "127 Hours"  in the Indy Spirits last year and their subsequent multiple Oscar nominations.

That being said, here are the results of all three announcements (Telluride #38 films are marked with ###):

The 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards will take place on Saturday, February 25, and will be broadcast later that evening on IFC.

The nominees:

BEST FEATURE

"The Artist"###

"Beginners"
"The Descendants"###
"Drive"
"50/50"
"Take Shelter"

BEST DIRECTOR

Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"###

Mike Mills, "Beginners"
Jeff Nichols, "Take Shelter"
Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"###
Nicolas Winding Refn, "Drive"

BEST SCREENPLAY

Joseph Cedar, "Footnote"###

Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"###
Tom McCarthy, "Win Win"
Mike Mills, "Beginners"
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, "The Descendants"###

BEST FIRST FEATURE

"Another Earth"

"In the Family"
"Margin Call"
"Martha Marcy May Marlene"
"Natural Selection"

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Mike Cahill, Brit Marling, "Another Earth"

J.C. Chandor, "Margin Call"
Patrick deWitt, "Terri"
Phil Johnston, "Cedar Rapids"
Will Reiser, "50/50"

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD

(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)

"Bellflower"

"Circumstance"
"Hello Lonesome"
"Pariah"
"The Dynamiter"

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Lauren Ambrose, "Think of Me"

Rachael Harris, "Natural Selection"
Adepero Oduye, "Pariah"
Elizabeth Olsen, "Martha Marcy May Marlene"
Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"

BEST MALE LEAD

Demian Bechir, "A Better Life"

Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"###
Ryan Gosling, "Drive"
Woody Harrelson, "Rampart"
Michael Shannon, "Take Shelter"

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Jessica Chastain, "Take Shelter"

Anjelica Huston, "50/50"
Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"###
Harmony Santana, "Gun Hill Road"
Shailene Woodley, "The Descendants"###

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

Albert Brooks, "Drive"

John Hawkes, "Martha Marcy May Marlene"
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
John C. Reilly, "Cedar Rapids"
Corey Stoll, "Midnight in Paris"

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Joel Hodge, "Bellflower"

Benjamin Kasulke, "The Off Hours"
Darius Khondji, "Midnight in Paris"
Guillame Schiffma, "The Artist"
Jeffrey Waldron, "The Dynamiter"

BEST DOCUMENTARY

"An African Election"

"Bill Cunningham New York"
"The Interrupters"
"The Redemption of General Butt Naked"
"We Were Here"

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

"A Separation"###

"Melancholia"
"Shame"###
"The Kid With a Bike"###
"Tyrannosaur"

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD

Chad Burris, "Mosquita y Mari"

Sophia Lin, "Take Shelter"
Josh Mond, "Martha Marcy May Marlene"

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD

Simon Arthur, "Silver Tongues"

Mark Jackson, "Without"
Nicholas Ozeki, "Mamitas"

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD

Heather Courtney, "Where Soldiers Come From"

Danfung Dennis, "Hell and Back Again"
Alma Har'El, "Bombay Beach"

 

The 2011 NYFCC award winners are:

Best Picture: "The Artist"###

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius for "The Artist"###

Best Screenplay: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin for "Moneyball"

Best Actress: Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady"

Best Actor: Brad Pitt for "Moneyball" and "Tree of Life"

Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain for "Tree of Life," "The Help" and "Take Shelter"

Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks for "Drive"

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for "Tree of Life"

Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary): "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"

Best Foreign Language Film: "A Separation"###

Best First Feature: "Margin Call"

Special Award: Late filmmaker Raoul Ruiz

GOTHAM AWARDS

Gothams, which are presented by the Independent Feature Project (IFP),

The winners:

Best Feature: "Beginners" and "The Tree of Life" (tie)

Best Documentary: "Better This World"

Best Ensemble Performance: "Beginners" (Christopher Plummer, Ewan McGregor, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai

Lennox, Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos)

Breakthrough Director: Dee Rees, "Pariah"

Breakthrough Actor: Felicity Jones, "Like Crazy"

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You: "Scenes of a Crime"

Audience Award: "Girlfriend"

First a look at how Telluride films fared: 13 Independent Spirit nominations.

2 NYFCC awards

 

It was a grand day for "The Artist".  NYFCC Best Picture and Director winner and 5 Indy Spirit noms (Feature, Director, Screenplay, Male Lead and Cinematography).  Maybe it IS the front runner for now (I still think "War Horse" and "Extremely Loud" have to be heard from.)

An "OK" day for "The Descendants".  Indy Spirit noms for Feature, Director, Screenplay and Supporting Actress.  No love for George though and no NYFCC or Gotham love either.

A good day for "A Separation" (an #occupyoscar choice for Original Screenplay).  Nommed as Best International film by Indy Spirits and named Best Foreign Language Film by NYFCC.

Albert Nobbs' Janet McTeer (another #occupyoscar choice) nominated by Indy Spirits (Yay!) but no nomination for Glenn Close (Hmmm).

"Footnote" gets an Indy Spirit screenplay nomination.

"Shame" (#occupyoscar choice in numerous categories) nominated for Indy Spirit Best International Film (along with the Dardennes Brothers "The Kid with a Bike")...I was disappointed that NYFCC didn't have "Shame" listed anywhere.


Other interesting notes:

Good day for "The Tree of Life". NYFCC winner for Actor, Supporting Actress and Cinematography. Plus a Gotham nod for Best Feature.

Good day for Albert Brooks...wins Supporting Actor for "Drive" from NYFCC and is also nommed by the Indy Spirits.  Overall, "Drive" had a good day.  Nommed for Indy spirits also for Feature, Director and Male Lead.

"Moneyball" also had a good day.  Pitt's dual win for Best Actor from the NYFCC plus its Screenplay win as well.


And a boost for Mike Mills "Beginners' (an #occupyoscar choice for Screenplay).  It got Indy Spirit noms for Feature, Director, Screenplay and Supporting Actor as well as Best Feature and Best Ensemble from the Gothams.

Also, I was pleased to see a nod for Corey Stoll (#occupyoscar) for Supporting Actor in "Midnight in Paris" from the Indy Spirit peeps and Shailene Woodley for Supporting Actress from "The Descendants"

Big Noise at Cannes

Cannes has its first true critical darling in Michael Hazanavicius' nearly silent film "The Artist."  Reviews are borderline ecstatic coming from France this morning.  Critics are falling all over the themselves to endorse the black and white film as a potential front runner for the Palme D'Or and for Oscar consideration later this year.  "The Artist" is yet another film under The Weinstein Company banner. 

Which raises the question..."Why haven't you mentioned it as a Telluride film possibility earlier, Michael?"
Good question.  Answer:  "The Artist" was a late ( and I mean really late addition) to the competition slate at Cannes.  It was originally scheduled as a part of the "out of competition" offerings of the Cannes' program, but festival managing director Thierry Frémaux added it to the competition category on May 4, just one week prior to the opening of the festival.  So, I just wasn't convinced that it would be a player and that perhaps that Fremaux was merely filling out the competition schedule.  Looks like I was wrong. 

All that being said, it would appear that "The Artist" is now a real contender for inclusion in Telluride's program for 2011.  If Harvey Weinstein wants to push it as a foreign film contender (and most pundits this morning are saying just that) then Telluride would be an excellent part of that strategy.  Additionally, if the critics are to be believed, you have to think that Luddy, Meyer, Huntsinger and crew would want it for the TFF #38 program. 

So put "The Artist" on the Telluride watch list.  It's IMDB page link is here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1655442/

You can read Dave Karger's story about its Cannes reception at EW.com here:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/05/15/cannes-film-festival-harvey-weinstein-artist-silent-movie-oscars/

Also from Cannes...fairly good reaction to the Dardenne Brothers "The Kid with a Bike."  Good enough so that it will also continue on your list of Telluride possibles.

You can check the critical scoreboard through early this morning at this link to Ioncinema (which doesn't yet include a score for "The Artist.")...http://networkedblogs.com/hSHDc

You will see their that, up to now, the best response has been for "We Have to Talk About Kevin."  With Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris' and The Dardenne's "The Kid with a Bike" close behind.  You'll also notice that no film has yet cleared a collective 3 of 4 stars.  "The Artist" may be the first.