Thursday, December 15, 2011

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
“War Horse”

Best Picture – Comedy

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

Best Original Score
“W.E.”
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
“War Horse”


Best Animated Film
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Arthur Christmas”
“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).

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

FLASH: SCREEN ACTOR'S GUILD NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED



SAG Awards Nominees announced this morning...Telluride 2011 in Bold and Large

ENSEMBLE: The Artist, Bridesmaids, The Descendants, Midnight in Paris, The Help

ACTRESS: Glenn Close/Albert Nobbs, Viola Davis/The Help, Meryl Streep/Iron Lady, Tilda Swinton/Kevin, Michelle Williams/Marilyn

ACTOR: Demian Bichir/A Better Life, George Clooney/Descendants, Leonardo DiCaprio/J. Edgar, Jean Dujardin/The Artist, Brad Pitt/Moneyball

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Bernice Bejo/The Artist, Jessica Chastain (The Help), Melissa McCarthy/Bridesmaids, Janet McTeer/Nobbs, Octavia Spencer/The Help

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Kenneth Branagh/Marilyn, Armie Hammer/J. Edgar, Jonah Hill/Moneyball, Nick Nolte/Warrior, Christopher Plummer/Beginners

This morning's weirdness includes...

Bridesmaids in Ensemble???

Actress: Glenn Close's nomination means she's back in the game after a tough week of being left out...and how about Tilda?

Actor: Bichir in...a surprise, sort of, there has been a lot of critical support...NO FASSBENDER!!!  Come one SAG!  Also a bit surprised that DiCaprio is in since "J.Edgar" hasn't really been tearing it up critically.

Supporting Actress:  I guess I'm going to have to seriously consider the possibility that McCarthy/Bridesmaids might be an actual Oscar contender...Yay for McTeer!!!  NO MULLIGAN!!! NO WOODLEY.  (The Woodley snub was a real surprise) Come on SAG!

Supporting Actor:  Armie Hammer...really???  No Albert Brooks???  I'm not all that bothered by the omission of Mr. Brooks.  I've said repeatedly that he's been getting over-heated notices for a modest and competent, but unremarkable performance.  Jonah Hill...you know, i think he IS actually very good in Moneyball...but he does so much other dreck...(The Sitter...)

Overall  8 "Telluride" nominations out of the total of 25 Film nominations.

The Artist = 3
The Descendants = 2
Albert Nobbs = 2
Kevin = 1

The Help leads all films with 4 nominations.

the #OccupyOscar actors: Fassbender, McTeer, Mulligan, Ezra Miller, Corey Stoll

Golden Globes nominations tomorrow morning....


Tuesday, December 13, 2011

FLASH: Critic's Choice Awards/Broadcast Film Critics Association

BFCA nominations announced this morning for the Critics Choice Awards which will be handed out on Jan. 12, 2012.




(Via Awards Daily)  TFF #38 films Bold and Large.

BEST PICTURE
The Artist
The Descendants

Drive
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse



BEST ACTOR
George Clooney – “The Descendants”
Leonardo DiCaprio – “J. Edgar”
Jean Dujardin – “The Artist”
Michael Fassbender – “Shame”

Ryan Gosling – “Drive”
Brad Pitt – “Moneyball”


BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis – “The Help”
Elizabeth Olsen – “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Meryl Streep – “The Iron Lady”
Tilda Swinton – “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Charlize Theron – “Young Adult”
Michelle Williams – “My Week With Marilyn”


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh – “My Week With Marilyn”
Albert Brooks – “Drive”
Nick Nolte – “Warrior”
Patton Oswalt – “Young Adult”
Christopher Plummer – “Beginners”
Andrew Serkis – “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo – “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain – “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy – “Bridesmaids”
Carey Mulligan – “Shame”
Octavia Spencer – “The Help”
Shailene Woodley – “The Descendants”


BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Asa Butterfield – “Hugo”
Elle Fanning – “Super 8”
Thomas Horn – “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Ezra Miller – “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Saoirse Ronan – “Hanna”
Shailene Woodley – “The Descendants”


BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
The Artist
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Help
The Ides of March


BEST DIRECTOR
Stephen Daldry – “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Michel Hazanavicius – “The Artist”
Alexander Payne – “The Descendants”

Nicolas Winding Refn – “Drive”
Martin Scorsese – “Hugo”
Steven Spielberg – “War Horse”


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“The Artist” – Michel Hazanavicius
“50/50” – Will Reiser
“Midnight in Paris” – Woody Allen
“Win Win” – Screenplay by Tom McCarthy, Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni
“Young Adult” – Diablo Cody


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“The Descendants” – Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” – Eric Roth
“The Help” – Tate Taylor
“Hugo” – John Logan
“Moneyball” – Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Artist” – Guillaume Schiffman
“Drive” – Newton Thomas Sigel
“Hugo” – Robert Richardson
“The Tree of Life” – Emmanuel Lubezki
“War Horse” – Janusz Kaminski


BEST ART DIRECTION
“The Artist” – Production Designer: Laurence Bennett, Art Director: Gregory S. Hooper
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” – Production Designer: Stuart Craig, Set Decorator: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo” – Production Designer: Dante Ferretti, Set Decorator: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“The Tree of Life” – Production Designer: Jack Fisk, Art Director: David Crank
“War Horse” – Production Designer: Rick Carter, Set Decorator: Lee Sandales


BEST EDITING
“The Artist” – Michel Hazanavicius and Anne-Sophie Bion
“Drive” – Matthew Newman
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” – Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“Hugo” – Thelma Schoonmaker
“War Horse” – Michael Kahn


BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“The Artist” – Mark Bridges
“The Help” – Sharen Davis
“Hugo” – Sandy Powell
“Jane Eyre” – Michael O’Connor
“My Week With Marilyn” – Jill Taylor


BEST MAKEUP
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Iron Lady
J. Edgar
My Week With Marilyn


BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8
The Tree of Life


BEST SOUND
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Super 8
The Tree of Life
War Horse


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango


BEST ACTION MOVIE
Drive
Fast Five
Hanna
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8


BEST COMEDY
Bridesmaids
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Horrible Bosses
Midnight in Paris
The Muppets


BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
In Darkness
Le Havre
A Separation

The Skin I Live In
Where Do We Go Now


BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Buck
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Page One: Inside the New York Times
Project Nim
Undefeated


BEST SONG
“Hello Hello” – performed by Elton John and Lady Gaga/written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin – Gnomeo & Juliet
“Life’s a Happy Song” – performed by Jason Segel, Amy Adams and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie – The Muppets
“The Living Proof” – performed by Mary J. Blige/written by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman and Harvey Mason, Jr. – The Help
“Man or Muppet” – performed by Jason Segel and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie – The Muppets
“Pictures in My Head” – performed by Kermit and the Muppets/written by Jeannie Lurie, Aris Archontis and Chen Neeman – The Muppets


BEST SCORE
“The Artist” – Ludovic Bource
“Drive” – Cliff Martinez
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
“Hugo” – Howard Shore
“War Horse” – John Williams

27 Telluride nominations:

11 The Artist
7 The Descendants
2 Shame
2 We Need to Talk About Kevin
1 each for George Harrison, Le Havre, A Separation, In Darkness and Albert Nobbs.

Happy surprises:  Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan both get nominated for Shame.  Albert Nobbs gets a makeup nomination.  Ezra Miller is nominated for "Young Actor".

Saddest surprises:  No Glenn Close OR Janet McTeer from Albert Nobbs.

Overall:  The Artist and Hugo continue their mutual assault with The Descendants also in the thick of the "major" categories.

Extremely Loud clearly has some admirers and The Tree of Life continues to show up though I was a little surprised that Malick didn't get a Best Director nod here.

Tomorrow The Screen Actors Guild announces their nominations.  Golden Globes on Thursday...

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Critics Take Note

Good Morning on this December Monday.

CRITICS AND THE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE ON SUNDAY

 A slew of critic's groups and the American Film Institute announced their choices yesterday and I have the full coverage here for you from the Boston Society of Film Critics, The Los Angeles Film Critic's Association, The San Francisco Film Critics Circle and the The New York Film Critic's Online as well as the announcement from the AFI of their Top Ten pictures of the year. 

The conventional wisdom among serious Oscar watchers is that the critic's groups have very little predictive power (and, of course, they're not designed to predict Oscar success) but that they can sometimes elevate a film with some well timed PR and they can also help nuke a film's chances.

With that as a caveat, I'll try to parse the results below...

FROM THE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE:



AFI’s Ten Films of the year are: BRIDESMAIDS, THE DESCENDANTS, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, THE HELP, HUGO, J. EDGAR, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, MONEY BALL, THE TREE OF LIFE and WAR HORSE.

We have also given special awards to THE ARTIST and the entire “Harry Potter” film series.



FROM THE BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS:



Best Picture - The Artist
Best Actor - Brad Pitt for Moneyball
Best Actress - Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn
Best Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks for Drive
Best Supporting Actress - Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids
Best Director - Martin Scorsese for Hugo
Best Screenplay - Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin for Moneyball
Best Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezki for The Tree of Life
Best Documentary - Project Nim
Best Foreign-Language Film - Incendies (TFF #37-2010)
Best Animated Film - Rango
Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer) - Christian Marclay for The Clock
Best New Filmmaker (awarded in memory of David Brudnoy) - Sean Durkin for Martha Marcy May Marlene
Best Ensemble Cast - Carnage
Best Use of Music in a Film - Tie: Drive and The Artist




FROM THE NEW YORK FILM CRITICS ONLINE:



Film - The Artist
Actor - Michael Shannon (Take Shelter)
Actress - Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
Director - Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks (Drive)
Supporting Actress - Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Breakthrough Performer - Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, Coriolanus, Texas Killing Fields)
Debut Director - Joe Cornish (Attack the Block)
Ensemble Cast - Bridesmaids
Screenplay - The Descendants (Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash) 
Documentary - Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Foreign Language - A Separation
Animated - The Adventures of Tintin
Cinematography - The Tree of Life (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Use of Music - The Artist (Ludovic Bource)


The Artist (The Weinstein Company)
2 The Descendants (Fox Searchlight)
3 Drive (FilmDistrict)
4 The Help (DreamWorks Pictures)
5 Hugo (Paramount)
6 Melancholia (Magnolia Pictures)
7 Midnight in Paris (Sony Pictures Classics)
8 Take Shelter (Sony Pictures Classics)
9 The Tree of Life (Fox Searchlight)
10 War Horse (DreamWorks Pictures)


SAN FRANCISCO FILM CRITICS CIRCLE:




Best Picture
“The Tree of Life”

Best Director
Terrence Malick for “The Tree of Life”

Best Original Screenplay
J.C. Chandor for “Margin Call”

Best Adapted Screenplay
Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”

Best Actor
Gary Oldman for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”

Best Actress
Tilda Swinton for “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Best Supporting Actor
Albert Brooks for “Drive”

Best Supporting Actress
Vanessa Redgrave for “Coriolanus”

Best Animated Feature
“Rango”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Certified Copy”

Best Documentary
“Tabloid”

Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki for “The Tree of Life”




LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION:



Best Picture: The Descendants
Best Director: Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Best actor: Michael Fassbender, for his work in "A Dangerous Method," "Jane Eyre," "Shame" and "X-Men: First Class."
Runner-Up: Michael Shannon, "Take Shelter."
Best Actress: Yun Jung-hee, in the South Korean film "Poetry."
Runner-up: Kirsten Dunst, "Melancholia."
Best Documentary/Nonfiction film: "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" by Werner Herzog.

Runner-Up: "The Arbor" by Clio Barnard.
Best screenplay: Asghar Farhadi, “A Separation.”
Runner-Up: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, “The Descendants.”
Best supporting actress: Jessica Chastain, who was recognized for her work in six films -- "Coriolanus," "The Debt," "The Help," "Take Shelter," "Texas Killing Fields" and "The Tree of Life."
Runner-up: Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs."
Best supporting actor: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners."
Runner-up: Patton Oswalt, "Young Adult."
Best cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, "The Tree of Life."
Runner-up: Cao Yu, "City of Life and Death."
Best music/score: The Chemical Brothers, "Hanna."
Runner-up: Cliff Martinez, "Drive."
Best production design: Dante Ferretti, "Hugo."
Runner-up: Maria Djurkovic, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."
Best Independent, Experimental: "Spark of Being." Directed by Bill Morrison.


Comment:
"The Artist" has a big day.  You have to think that at this point the "critical" view would indicate "The Artist", "Hugo" and "The Descendants" are the films to beat (The LA critics win today was probably welcome news to "The Descendants" team).  I still think "War Horse" has a thing or two to say.  I also continue to believe "The Tree of Life" and Terrence Malick have a good shot to be among the Oscar nominees.  I continue to believe that we will NOT see both "The Help" and "Midnight in Paris" with Best Pic nominations (and right now I believe Midnight is on the outside looking in).

Other races...Best Actor...everyone but George Clooney and Jean Dujardin gets a little boost today.  Fassbender (#Occupy!), Oldman, Shannon and Pitt.

Best Actress:  Williams and Streep in good shape. Nice bump for Tilda Swinton.   Kind of in trouble: Glenn Close.

Supporting Actor: Good day for both Albert Brooks and Christopher Plummer.  This is already a two horse race...with maybe Max Von Sydow as a spoiler.

Supporting Actress: Chastain continues to get that "for multiple roles" thing which is all well and good, but she cancels herself out come Oscar time.  Otherwise, nice bump for McTeer (#Occupy!) and I may have to take Melissa McCarthy's chances seriously...

Director:  Malick, Scorsese and Hazanzvicius.

Other this and that: AFI...surprised at the inclusion of "Bridesmaids" and "J. Edgar".

"Rango"  the animated film to beat (but absolutely no talk of a straight up Best Picture nomination for it)

"A Separation" continues to pile up critical acclaim including a "Best Original Script" nod from the LAFCA (#Occupy!)

Critic's Choice nominations are out tomorrow, The Screen Actor's Guild announces on Wednesday and the Golden Globes will announce nominees on Thursday...Look for those here with special posts and analysis Thursday night.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Tech Categories Examined/The Artist/Shame/Separation/Kevin/Awards and Oscars

Good Morning on this Thursday...

Here's a Film Awards Clearinghouse Extra



TECH CATEGORIES (AND MORE) EXAMINED


Among the items for this Thursday’s blog, I thought I’d jump into a breakdown of the “down ballot” categories for this year’s Oscars before we get to the end of the year and try to get a sense of the lay of the land in terms of what might be expected for total Oscar noms.  I do plan to do at least one more big analysis of the Big 8 categories before we see the calendar turn over to 2012.  I took a quick measure of these categories from predictions publicly posted by Sasha Stone at Awards Daily, Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter, Kris Tapley of Incontention.com, Film Misery and Film Experience.  So with that in mind…

FILM EDITING
This category often aligns with Best Picture nominations.  Heaviest favorites are: Moneyball, The Artist and War Horse.  Hugo is next likeliest followed by Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and a little love for Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Out front are: Hugo, War Horse, The Artist and The Tree of Life.  Dragon Tattoo has the best shot at the 5th slot (at least for now, among these 5 Oscarologists).

ART DIRECTION
Out front are: The Artist, Hugo and Harry Potter/Deathly Hollows.  Also in the mix: War Horse.  Battling for the last spot: Tinker, Tailor, J. Edgar, Tree of Life and The Help.

COSTUME
Out front are: The Artist, Hugo, and Jane Eyre.  Also in play are: War Horse, Anonymous, W.E. and Tinker Tailor.

ORIGINAL SCORE
Out front are: The Artist, War Horse, Adventures of TinTin.  Also in play: Hugo, Extremely Loud.  Possibles: Moneyball, Tinker Tailor.

ORIGINAL SONG
Out front is: The Help.  Also in play are: The Muppets (twice), Captain America and Albert Nobbs (wouldn’t it be weird if THIS is where Glenn Close gets nominated instead of Best Actress???  It could happen!)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Out Front are: A Separation, In Darkness.  Also in play are: Le Havre and Where Do We Go Now.  Possibles: Pina, Footnote.

ANIMATED FEATURE
Out front is: Rango.  Also in play are: Kung Fu Panda 2, Adventures of TinTin, Puss in Boots, Arthur Christmas.  Possibles: Rio, Cars 2.

MAKEUP
Out front are:  J. Edgar, The Iron Lady.  That’s the entire consensus here for now and even it isn’t terribly strong.

VISUAL EFFECTS
OUT FRONT ARE: Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Hugo, Harry Potter/Deathly Hollows and Transformers.  Also in play: The Tree of Life

SOUND EDITING
Out front are: War Horse, Adventures of TinTin, and Transformers.  Also in play: Super 8 and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  Possible: Hugo

SOUND MIXING
Out Front is: Transformers.  Also in play: War Horse, Adventures of TinTin, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Super 8, and The Tree of Life.

(Documentaries, Animated Shorts, Live Action Shorts...later)

Ultimately, when taken with the results of the latest analysis of the Big 8 categories (posted on Nov. 23before the NBR, NYFCC, Gotham and Indy Spirit announcements) this is the snapshot of the overall Oscar race at this point,

The Artist would lead all films with 10 nominations.  War Horse would have 8 with another 2 possible.  The Descendants sits at 5 nominations in the Big 8 categories and not a single other nomination is likely.  Other possible big players include Extremely Loud with 4 noms and 3 others possible.  Also in the 4 nomination club are: TinTin, Moneyball (with another 2 possible).  

Then there’s Hugo which was sitting at 2 possibles (Picture, Director) in the Big 8 categories just two weeks ago but is now considered a much stronger challenger.  I expect that it will be among the probable nominees when I crunch the numbers in a few days and not in just those two categories.  I expect it to make a play in Adapted Screenplay as well.  Add that to the 4 nominations and 2 possibles among the tech categories and Hugo has the potential to be the most nominated film.  More stunning is that none of the nominations would be in any acting category.

Finally, the Telluride effect…I’ve been saying (virtually since the Festival came to a conclusion) that this year would NOT provide the same number of nominations as last year (or 2009 either).  That continues to look like the case.  At this point (including Foreign noms) TFF #38 projects to 22 total nominations with another 4 possible.  That does NOT include the doc and shorts categories…which could nudge the needle closer to 2009-like numbers.


THE ARTIST



As you can see from the above entry, The Artist is holding on quite well, thank you.  It continues to have considerable press attention as well.  Below are some of this week's links to stories centered on The Artist

Interview with Berenice Bejo by MovieLine:
http://www.movieline.com/2011/11/brnice-bejo-on-the-artist.php

HollywoodNews provides a recap of the week's awards chatter and such:
http://www.hollywoodnews.com/2011/12/05/the-artist-surges-over-the-weekend-awards-alley/

SHAME



Still making noise in limited release, the year's Best Film, Shame, also continues to get its fair share of press:

Steve McQueen talks to Vanity Fair:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2011/11/Director-Steve-McQueen-on-Shame-Its-Not-About-Sex-Its-About-Giving-Audiences-Something-to-Think-About

Variety focuses on Michael Fassbender:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118047036/

Two Carey Mulligan clips direct from Fox Searchlight:
http://content.foxsearchlight.com/inside/node/5052

And my Telluride acquaintance, Mr. Leonard Maltin, gives Shame a middling review:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/leonardmaltin/awards-season-backlashalready

A SEPARATION



The likely favorite for Best Foreign Language Oscar has a new trailer.  Here are a couple of links:
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/trailer-oscar-foreign-language-contender-a-separation/

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony/aseparation/

And let's OccupyOscar and get this nominated fro Best Original Screenplay.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN



A nice piece from The Playlist about Kevin star and potential Best Actress nominee (and TFF#38 tributee) Tilda Swinton:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/tilda-swinton-on-we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-lack-of-maternal-instinct-and-winging-it

AWARDS SCORECARDS

From Metacritic:
http://www.metacritic.com/feature/2011-film-awards-and-nominations

And also from The Daily Mubi:
http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/awards-and-lists-2011-index

OSCAR PREDICTIONS

The latest from The Gurus of Gold at Movie City News...look at Hugo!
http://moviecitynews.com/2011/12/gurus-o-gold-december-6-2011/

Also the latest from Dave Karger at Entertainment Weekly:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/12/06/oscar-predictions-national-board-of-review-dc-critics/

AND FINALLY, WGA WEIRDNESS

The Writer's Guild of America has rules...that means some scripts will not qualify for their awards...like these  (thanks to this article from Reuters):
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/05/us-writersguildawards-idUSTRE7B42Q120111205

See you Monday for the next MTFB/FAC installment.  Until then follow me on Twitter @Gort2

RIP Harry Morgan 1915-2011..."So long, farewell and Amen"

Sunday, December 4, 2011

More Shame/First Awards Wave Analysis/Oscars

Good Monday morning, America...

MORE SHAME



The NC-17 cat is out of the bag.  "Steve McQueen's "Shame" is finally running in a limited release and reportedly doing well.  This Monday's post includes two interviews with the director and co-writer McQueen, a review from Movie City News and the not surprising announcement from Cinemark that they will not be showing the film.

McQueen with Oliver Lyttleton of The Playlist:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/steve-mcqueen-discusses-his-short-hand-with-michael-fassbender-the-influence-of-pasolini-on-shame-and-his-fela-kuti-biopic

McQueen with Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/shame-steve-mcqueen-interview-nc-17-sex-269229

Review from Mike Wilmington from Movie City News:
http://moviecitynews.com/2011/12/wilmington-on-movies-shame/

The Playlist post from The Playlist about Cinemark's decision:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/shame-cinemark-refuses-to-carry-steven-mcqueen-michael-fassbenderss-celebrated-film-due-to-nc-17-rating

Shame's IMDb page:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1723811/

FIRST AWARDS WAVE ANALYSIS



This last week saw "awards" announcements from The New York Film Critic's Circle, The Gothams and The National Board of Review as well as nominations from The  Independent Spirit Awards.  As you might expect, there was a good deal of "analysis" (including my own in this space the last week) from a variety of sources.  I have included a sampler of that here.

Thompson and Tapley's Oscar Talk podcast:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/oscar-talk-impact-of-new-york-critics-national-board-of-review-indie-spirits-we-bought-a-zoo-review

The Playlist's Amazing Race:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-amazing-race-hugo-gets-a-boost-in-first-official-week-of-awards-season-can-it-go-all-the-way

Steve Pond at The Wrap:
http://www.thewrap.com/awards/column-post/winners-losers-gothams-indie-spirits-and-new-york-film-critics-33148

Scott Feinberg at The Hollywood Reporter:
http://www.thewrap.com/awards/column-post/winners-losers-gothams-indie-spirits-and-new-york-film-critics-33148

Sasha Stone at Awards daily:
http://www.awardsdaily.com/2011/12/the-state-of-the-race-first-out-of-the-gate/

OSCARS



The Hollywood Reporter's Actor's Round table featuring TFF#38 tributee George Clooney:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/george-clooney-gary-oldman-awards-roundtable-268491#4

The latest Gurus of Gold from Movie City News:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/feinberg-forecast-dragon-tattoo-extremely-269469

Rope of Silicon's Oscar predictions:
Picture: http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/oscar-2012-picture-predictions-war-horse-artist-descendants/
Director: http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/2012-oscar-predictions-giant-leap-scorsese-director-month/
Actress: http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/2012-oscar-predictions-updated-actress-predictions/
Supporting Actress: http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/2012-oscar-predictions-updated-supporting-actress-predictions/

Dave Karger at Entertainment Weekly:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/11/29/oscar-predictions-three-months-to-go/


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Thursday, December 1, 2011

NBR Awards/

Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011 Part Two

NBR ANNOUNCES



The National Board of Review announced their 2011 awards late this afternoon and here they are directly from the NBR website:


Awards for 2011:
Best Actor
George Clooney, The Descendants

Best Actress
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

Best Animated Feature
Rango

Best Director
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Best Documentary
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Best Ensemble
The Help

Best Film
Hugo

Best Foreign Language Film
A Separation

Best Original Screenplay
Will Reiser, 50/50

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Breakthrough Performance
Felicity Jones, Like Crazy

Breakthrough Performance
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Debut Director
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call

NBR Freedom of Expression
Crime After Crime

NBR Freedom of Expression
Pariah

Special Achievement in Filmmaking
The Harry Potter Franchise - A Distinguished Translation from Book to Film

Spotlight Award
Michael Fassbender (A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class)

Top 10 Independent Films
(in alphabetical order) 50/50, Another Earth, Beginners, A Better Life, Cedar Rapids, Margin Call, Shame, Take Shelter, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Win Win

Top 5 Documentaries
(in alphabetical order) Born to be Wild, Buck, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, Project Nim, Senna

Top 5 Foreign Language Films
(in alphabetical order) 13 Assassins, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, Footnote, Le Havre, Point Blank

Top Films
(in alphabetical order) The Artist, The Descendants, Drive, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Ides of March, J. Edgar, The Tree of Life, War Horse


Telluride Films in the NBR mix: 

The Descendants for Best Actor (George Clooney), Supporting Actress (Shailene Woodley)  and Adapted Screenplay (Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash)
We Need to Talk About Kevin for Best Actress(Tilda Swinton)
Spotlight Award for Michael Fassbender for (among others ) Shame and A Dangerous Method
Top 10 Films: The Descendants, The Artist
Top 10 Independent films: Shame, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Best Foreign Film: A Separation
Top 5 Foreign Films: Le Havre, Footnote
Top 5 Documentaries: George Harrison: Living in the Material World

Oscar Boosts to:

HUGO...a big boost with its double win as Best Film and for Scorsese as Best Director.  If you've been a reader of this space, you know that I've been making some noise about it's growing prospects over the past week or so.

THE DESCENDANTS...After getting a rough treatment from the threesome of the NYFCC, Gothams and Indy Spirit Awards the other day, this three win day is a good boost.

FASSBENDER...Stays in the Best Actor conversation with this acknowledgement today.

TREE OF LIFE probably got a little push toward a Best Pic nom with its inclusion in the Top Ten.  (again, along with Hugo trending, I think Tree has a really good shot here and for director as well.  But you know that if you've been reading this blog recently).

TOP TEN STUFF

Surpirses included the omissions of "The Help" (thought it was recognized as the Best Ensemble?) and Midnight in Paris.  I was also surprised by the inclusion of Harry Potter, Ides of March and J. Edgar.  Personally I would have included Beginners and Shame on the Ten Best list irrespective of their "independent" status.
 
Back on Monday with the next regular installment of MTFB/FAC.
Flash: Hugo named Best Film be the National Board of Review. Clooney, Swinton, Plummer and Woodley also named. More later.