The Film Awards Clearinghouse 2013 Vol.4 (Part One)/Critics Say

Good Thursday to All...

I bring you the latest update from The Film Awards Clearinghouse post Golden Globe nominations, SAG nominations, NBR, AFI, New York Film Critics Circle, L.A. Film Critics.  Today we'll look at The Big Eight categories and in a special Friday edition of MTFB/FAC, tomorrow I'll pass along the latest on another 13 Oscar categories for feature films.

I use the publicly posted predictions of these Oscar experts:

Sasha Stone/Awards Daily

Kris Tapley/HitFix-InContention

Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood

Peter Knegt/IndieWire

Alex Carlson/Film Misery

Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience

Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit

Brad Brevet/Rope of Silicon

The films position on the last FAC is in parenthesis.  Telluride #40 films are Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) 12 Years a Slave (1)
2) Gravity (2)
3) American Hustle (7)
4) Nebraska (6)
5) Captain Phillips (3)
6) The Wolf of Wall Street (8)
7) Saving Mr. Banks (4)
8) Inside Llewyn Davis (7)
9) Her (11)
10) Dallas Buyers Club (14)
11) Philomena (New)
12) Lee Daniels The Butler (9)
13) Fruitvale Station (15)
14) Blue Jasmine (13)
15) August: Osage County (12)

Falling Out: Al is Lost

Hot: American Hustle, Nebraska, Wolf of Wall Street, Her, Dallas Buyers Club, Philomena and Fruitvale Station.
Cold: Captain Phillips, Saving Mr. Bank, Lee Daniels The Butler and August: Osage County

Comment:  There has been a lot of positioning but 14 of the top 15 from a month ago remain on The FAC Best Picture list.  Only one switch out but it was a large scale one as "Philomena" jumped back on the list from nowhere to the #11 spot and "All is Lost" dropped big from #10 all the way off the top 15.

In an earlier post I mentioned that I didn't think that "Saving Mr. Banks" seemed to me to have the gravitas to make the cut for a Best Picture nomination.  Well, gravitas or no, it seems to be losing some steam.

All along this season, I have been softly floating the notion that there could be a full dance card on the morning of Jan. 16 when the Oscar nominations are announced.  By that I mean that there could be a full contingent of 10 Best Picture nominations.  Over the last month, I've backed off that.  Now, I think that the nine nominations we've seen the past two years might not even happen.

For the blogs purposes of totaling and calculation, I'm still going to assume 10 but at this point, 7-9 is probably more likely.

BEST DIRECTOR

1) Alfonso Cuaron/Gravity (1)
2) Steve McQueen/12 Years a Slave (2)
3) Paul Greengrass/Capt. Phillips (3)
4) Martin Scorsese/Wolf of Wall Street (8)
5) David O. Russell/American Hustle (3)
6) Alexander Payne/Nebraska (6)
7) Joel and Ethan Coen/Inside Llewyn Davis (5)
8) Spike Jonze/Her (10)
9) John Lee Hancock/Saving Mr. Banks (7)
10) Lee Daniels/Lee Daniels The Butler (New)

Falling Out; J.C. Chandor/All is Lost

Hot: Scorsese, Jonze
Not: Russell, Coens, Hancock.

Comment: The directors race largely mirrors the Best Picture picture, although, I personally think David O. Russell is very likely to be nominated.  Also, the collective group of bloggers that I use to come up with The FAC continues to predict, by a narrow margin, a split between Best Picture and Director.  I don't think that will happen.  My call is "12 Years" in both categories.

BEST ACTOR

1) Chiwetel Ejiofor/12 Years a Slave (1)
2) Bruce Dern/Nebraska (5)
3) Matthew McConnaughey/Dallas Buyers Club (3)
4) Robert Redford/All is Lost (2)
5) Tom Hanks/Captain Phillips (4)
6) Forest Whitaker/Lee Daniels The Butler (6)  (TIE)
6) Leonardo DiCaprio/Wolf of Wall Street (8)
8) Christian Bale/American Hustle (7)
9) Oscar Isaac/Inside Llewyn Davis (9)
10) Michael B. Jordan/Fruitvale Station (10)

Hot: DERN, DiCaprio
Not: Redford

Comment: No one is hotter in any category in The FAC than Bruce Dern who has gone from a "maybe" to "likely" as a nominee over the last month.  Redford's chances seem to have dropped because of his lack of a SAG nomination last week.  I still think he gets in.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Cate Blanchett/Blue Jasmine (1)
2) Sandra Bullock/Gravity (2) 
3) Emma Thompson/Saving Mr. Banks (4)
4) Judi Dench/Philomena (5)
5) Meryl Streep/August: Osage County (3)
6) Amy Adams/American Hustle (6)
7) Brie Larson/Short Term 12 (New)
8) Adele Exarchopolous/Blue is the Warmest Color (7)
9) Kate Winslet/Labor Day (9)
10) Julie Delpy/Before Midnight (8)

Falling Out: Berenice Bejo/The Past

Hot: Larson
Not: Streep, Delpy

Comment: The Brie Larson express has pulled into the station.  Is it enough for her to leapfrog into the top five and get a nomination?  Probably not.  Though if I were guessing, I might suggests that Thompson might also be vulnerable.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Jared Leto/Dallas Buyers Club (2)
2) Michael Fassbender/12 Years a Slave (1)
3) Barkhad Abdi/Captain Phillips (4)
4) Tom Hanks/Saving Mr. Banks (3)
5) Daniel Bruhl/Rush (5)
6) James Gandolfini/Enough Said (6)
7) Jonah Hill/Wolf of Wall Street (8)
8) Bradley Cooper/American Hustle (7)
9) Will Forte/Nebraska (New)
10) Jake Gyllenhaal/Prisoners (New)

Falling Out: Goodman and Renner.

Hot: The newbys: Forte and Gyllenhaal

Comment: Will Forte benefits from a good deal of notice over the past two weeks and maybe from Bruce Dern's coattails.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Lupita Nyong'o/12 Years a Slave (1)
2) Jennifer Lawrence/American Hustle (5)
3) Oprah Winfrey/Lee Daniels The Butler (2)
4) June Squibb/Nebraska (3)
5) Julia Roberts/August: Osage County (4)
6) Octavia Spencer/Fruitvale Station (7)
7) Sally Hawkins/Blue Jasmine (8)
8) Margo Martindale/August: Osage County (6)
9) Scaelett Johansson/Her (New)
10) Margot Robbie/Wolf of Wall Street (New)

Falling Out: Mulligan and Paulson.

Hot: Johansson, Robbie and especially Jennifer Lawrence
Cold: Martindale

Comment: Lawrence moves into serious contention as a threat to Nyong'o.


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Inside Llewyn Davis (2)
2) Nebraska (3)
3) American Hustle (4)
4) Her (5)
5) Blue Jasmine (1)
6) Saving Mr. Banks (6)
7) Gravity (7)
8) Dallas Buyers Club (New)
9) Enough Said (10)
10) Lee Daniels The Butler (9)

Falling Out: Fruitvale Station

Hot: DBC
Not: Blue Jasmine

Comment: I'm still a bit amazed that "Gravity" is on the screenplay conversation.  It's the weakest thing about the film.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) 12 Years a Slave (1)
2) Captain Phillips (2)
3) The Wolf of Wall Street (6)
4) Philomena (5)
5) Before Midnight (3)
6) August: Osage County (4)
7) Blue is the Warmest Color (7)
8) Short Term 12 (9)
9) Labor Day (8)
10) Lone Survivor (New)

Falling Out: The Book Thief

Hot: Wolf
Not: Before Midnight

Comment: Wolf of Wall Street is clearly benefiting up and down the categories from finally being screened for press and industry members.


Overall in the Big Eight categories Telluride #40 films are predicted to get 16 nominations with another 9 possibilities.  Here's the breakdown

12 Years a Slave-6 nominations: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay.

Nebraska-4 nominations and another 2 possibles: Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress and Original Screenplay.  Possibles Director and Supporting Actor.

Gravity-3 nominations and another possible: Best Picture, Director, Actress and an Original Screenplay nomination is possible.

Inside Llewyn Davis-2 nominations and another 2 possible: Best Picture and Original Screenplay.  Possibles are Direction and Actor.

All is Lost-1 nomination: Best Actor

Other possibles:

Labor Day: Actress and Adapted Screenplay
Blue is the Warmest Color: Adapted Screenplay
Prisoners: Best Supporting Actor

TOMORROW I'll post the 13 other feature categories from The FAC.


CRITICS SAY

As you might expect, the last two weeks have seen a slew of Critics awards announced and Top Ten lists espoused.  There have also been a good number of outlets that have collected critical response and collated them.  I've chosen to focus on two and pass the links to them along to you readers.  Film Comment and Indie Wire/CriticWire.

As you might also expect, I have focused specifically on where TFF #40 (Tff #39) films landed on those composite lists.  From Film Comment, the collected wisdom of 120 critics says this about TFF films:

#1 was "Inside Llewyn Davis"
#2 was "12 Years a Slave"
"The Act of Killing" (TFF #39) was #4
"Gravity" was #7
"Frances Ha" (TFF #39) was #9
"Blue is the Warmest Color" was #12
"Stories We Tell" (TFF #39) was #16
"Nebraska" was #18
"No" (TFF #39) was #23
"All is Lost" was #26
"The Past" was #40
"The Wind Rises" was #42

The Film Comment via Variety complete list is here:
http://variety.com/2013/film/news/inside-llewyn-davis-tops-film-comments-survey-of-critics-1200965806/

From the IndieWire Top 50 list Telluride films listed included:

"12 Years a Slave" at #1
"Inside Llewyn Davis" at #2
"Gravity" at #5
"The Act of Killing" at #6
"Blue is the Warmest Color" at #8
"Frances Ha" at #10
"Stories We Tell" at #12
"Nebraska" at #17
"All is Lost" at #19
"The Wind Rises" at #29
"The Past" at #30
"No" at #35
"The Hunt" (TFF #39) at #37
Wadjda (TFF #39) at #46


The complete IndieWire list can be found here:
http://www.indiewire.com/survey/indiewire-2013-year-end-critics-poll/


More tomorrow and again on Monday...

Peter O'Toole/Nomination Hangover/Awards Circuit Says/Oscar Talk/Inside Llewyn Interviews/Winslet on Labor Day

Good Monday Everyone...

PETER O'TOOLE

One of the great regrets that I have had about my Telluride experiences over this past 8 years is that we didn't start attending until 2006 which meant that we missed the 2002 tribute to Peter O'Toole.  O'Toole was the last of that Richard Harris, Richard Burton triumvirate and a tremendous story teller.  He was always fascinating whenever you could catch him in an interview.  In 2006, we saw his performance in Telluride in "Venus" and marveled at how fine an actor he remained that late in his lifer/career.  It is a crime he never won the Oscar he was nominated 8 times for.  Fortunately for us, we have so many of his performances on film to watch for generations.

Peace, Mr. O'Toole, peace...

NOMINATION HANGOVER

Last week was a little dizzying with Screen Actors Guild nominations and Golden Globe nominations.  One thing that I didn't note about the GG noms on Thursday was the incredible leap in the number of total GG nominations for Telluride films from last year.  As I did note on Thursday, there were 25 nominations this year for TFF #40 films plus an additional 2 for TFF #39 films.  Compare that to the results from the recent past:

2012: 10 GG nominations, led by 5 for "Argo".  Of course you could add the nominations for "The Hunt" and Greta Gerwig for "Frances Ha" could be added to the 2012 total.
2011: 19 GG nominations led by 6 for "The Artist"
2010: 16 GG nominations led by 7 for "The King's Speech"
2009: 11 GG nominations led by 6 for "Up in the Air"

The "average" number of Golden Globe nominations for Telluride films over the past 4 years has been 14.

So, you can see that TFF #40 is an astounding jump in numbers of Globe nominations.  It's nearly double the average.

Now, I don't think that the number of Golden Globe nominations really tell us anything about the quality of TFF from year to year.  I mean, it is The Globes and as any number of people in the business have noted, The HFPA has an agenda that sometimes rewards names over quality.  Nonetheless, the jump from 10 last year to 27 this year is astounding.

I attribute this circumstance to the 40th anniversary lure of this year's fest and the phenomenal programming that the staff at TFF did to make the anniversary very, very special.

And I'm going to go ahead and make a solid prediction for Oscar nominations.  This year, in an amazing coincidence, TFF #40 films will earn exactly 40 nominations...and there will be 2-4 for TFF #39 films as well.


AWARDS CIRCUIT SAYS

I recently ran through the Oscar nomination predictions from Oscar prognosticator Clayton Davis from his site Awards Circuit to see where he puts the films from TFF #40 (and #39) in this years race.  Here's the results of what Davis was saying:

"12 Years a Slave"-11 nominations: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Cinematography, Costumes, Film Editing, Score.

"Gravity"-9 nominations: Best Picture, Director, Actress, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Visual Effects, Score.
"Nebraska"-5 nominations: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay.

"Inside Llewyn Davis"- 7 nominations: Best Picture, Director, Supporting actor, Original Screenplay, Production Design, Cinematography, Sound Mixing.

"Nebraska"-5 nominations: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay.

"All is Lost"-4 nominations: Best Actor, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Song.

Single nominations for:

"Blue is the Warmest Color"-Adapted Screenplay
"The Wind Rises: Animated Feature
"Tim's Vermeer": Documentary Feature
"Prisoners"-Cinematography
"The Invisible Woman": Costumes

Also from TFF #39:
"Stories We Tell": Documentary Feature
"The Hunt": Foreign Language Film
"Wadjda": Foreign Language Film

Totals: 41 nominations for TFF #40 films and an additional 3 for TFF #39 films.

OSCAR TALK

The latest episode of the Oscar Talk Podcast with Anne Thompson and Kristopher Tapley is up at both of their websites (Thompson on Hollywood and HitFix/InContention:

You can find it linked here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/oscar-talk-ten-best-films-of-2013

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/oscar-talk-hustle-wall-street-precursors-and-the-10-best-films-of-2013


INSIDE LLEWYN INTERVIEWS

As the "Inside Llewyn Davis" roll out continues (it opens wide on Dec. 20th) the ILD P.R. campaign continues as well.  Here's Anne Thompson's interview with the Coen Brothers:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/oscar-isaac-t-bone-burnett-inside-llewyn-davis-interview

Also, from The Hollywood Reporter, a clip of the Coens talking about how Oscar Isaac came to be Llewyn:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/inside-llewyn-davis-how-ensemble-664351


WINSLET ON LABOR DAY

And surprise Golden Globe nominee Kate Winslet (also newly recent mom for the third time) talks to Kris Tapley at HitFix about Jason Reitman's "Labor Day":

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/kate-winslet-talks-new-challenges-and-portraying-a-fragile-character-in-jason-reitmans-labor-day


More on Thursday...

Globes and SAG boost 12 Years

After the announcements from The Screen Actors Guild and The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the lull in the "12 Years a Slave" momentum has been stymied, I think.

It feels like that there was some loss of momentum after some of the critic group announcements, but the last two days have put some wind back in its sails.

Golden Globe breakdown:

Telluride #40 Films:

12 Years a Slave (7 nominations): Best Picture (Drama), Director, Actor (Drama), Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Screenplay, Score.

Nebraska: (5 nominations): Best Picture (Comedy/Musical), Director, Actor (Comedy), Supporting Actress, Screenplay.

Gravity (4 nominations): Best Picture (Drama), Director, Actress (Drama), Score.

Inside Llewyn Davis (3 nominations): Best Picture (Comedy/Musical), Actor (Comedy/Musical), Song.

All is Lost (2 nominations): Best Actor (Drama), Score.

Labor Day (1 nomination): Best Actress (Drama).

3 Foreign Language nominations: Blue is the Warmest Color, The Wind Rises, The Past.

Also 2 nominations for TFF #39 films:  Greta Gerwig's Best Actress (Comedy/Musical) nomination for Frances Ha and the Best Foreign Language nomination for The Hunt.

27 total TFF nominations today from The Golden Globes.


Add today's announcement to yesterday's Screen Actors Guild nominations:

Best Supporting Actor:

Barkhad Abdi/Capt. Phillips

Daniel Bruhl/Rush

Michael Fassbender/12 Years a Slave

James Gandolfini/Enough Said

Jared Leto/Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress:

Jennifer Lawrence/American Hustle

Lupita Nyong’o/12 Years a Slave

Julia Roberts/August: Osage County

June Squibb/Nebraska

Oprah Winfrey/The Butler

Best Actor:

Bruce Dern/Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor/12 Years a Slave

Tom Hanks/Capt. Phillips

Matthew McConnaughey/Dallas Buyers Club

Forest Whitaker/The Butler

Best Actress:

Cate Blanchett/Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock/Gravity

Judi Dench/Philomena

Meryl Streep/August: Osage County

Emma Thompson/Saving Mr. Banks

Best Ensemble:

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

August: Osage County

Dallas Buyers Club

The Butler

12 Years-4 nominations

Nebraska-2 nominations

Gravity-1 nomination

Surprises???

Kate Winslet's "Labor Day" Best actress nomination.
No Oprah for Supporting Actress???( actually no "Butler" anywhere on the GG list this morning).  Sally Hawkins seems to have benefited.
No Woody Allen love for Picture, Director or Screenplay.


Glad to see:  "Inside Llewyn Davis" love for the film and Oscar Isaac.  Also happy to see Redford's name especially after not seeing it yesterday from the SAG nominations.

And a nice boost for "Nebraska" which, I think, over-performed this morning with its 5 nominations. Particularly pleased that Alexander Payne got a directing nod.


More to come...

Golden Globe Nominations: 12 Years a Slave Leads the Pack

2013 Golden Globe Nominations

Best Motion Picture Drama

"12 Years A Slave"
"Captain Phillips"
"Gravity"
"Philomena"
"Rush"

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
"American Hustle"
"Her"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Nebraska"
"The Wolf Of Wall Street"

Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years A Slave"
Idris Elba, "Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom"
Tom Hanks, "Captain Phillips"
Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club"
Robert Redford, "All Is Lost"

Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Christian Bale, "American Hustle"
Bruce Dern, "Nebraska"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Oscar Isaac, "Inside Llewyn Davis"
Joaquin Phoenix, "Her"

Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"
Sandra Bullock, "Gravity"
Judi Dench, "Philomena"
Emma Thompson, "Saving Mr. Banks"
Kate Winslet, "Labor Day"

Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Amy Adams, "American Hustle"
Julie Delpy, "Before Midnight"
Greta Gerwig, "Frances Ha"***
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Enough Said"Meryl Streep, "August: Osage County"

Best Supporting Actor: 

Barkhad Abdi, "Captain Phillips"
Daniel Bruhl, "Rush"
Bradley Cooper, "American Hustle"
Michael Fassbender, "12 Years A Slave"
Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club"

Best Supporting Actress
Sally Hawkins, "Blue Jasmine"
Jennifer Lawrence, "American Hustle"
Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years A Slave"
Julia Roberts, "August: Osage County"
June Squibb, "Nebraska"

Best Director
Alfonso Cuaron, "Gravity"
Paul Greengrass, "Captain Phillips"
Steve McQueen, "12 Years A Slave"
Alexander Payne, "Nebraska"
David O. Russell, "American Hustle"

Best Screenplay
Spike Jonze, "Her"
Bob Nelson, "Nebraska"
Jeff Pope and Steve Coogan, "Philomena"
John Ridley, "12 Years A Slave"
Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell, "American Hustle"

Best Original Score
"All Is Lost"
"Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"
"Gravity"
"The Book Thief"
"12 Years A Slave"

Best Original Song
"Atlas," Coldplay ("The Hunger Games: Catching Fire")
"Let It Go," Idina Menzel ("Frozen")
"Ordinary Love," U2 ("Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom")
"Please Mr. Kennedy," Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake and Adam Driver ("Inside Llewyn Davis")
"Sweet Than Fiction," Taylor Swift ("One Chance")

Best Foreign Language Film
"Blue is the Warmest Color"
"The Great Beauty"
"The Hunt"***
"The Past"
"The Wind Rises"

Best Animated Feature Film
"The Croods"
"Despicable Me 2"
"Frozen"

Telluride #40 Films Bold

***TFF #39 films

TFF #40 films get 25 Golden Globe nominations TFF #39 films an additional 2.

More later today.

Globes Make Me Slow Today

This morning's regular www.michaeltelluridefilm.blogspot.com will run late today due to the Golden Globes nominations announcement but it'll get there!

Breaking: Screen Actors Guild Nominations Announced

This morning’s Screen Actor’s Guild nominations for Film (Telluride #40 films in Bold)

Best Supporting Actor:

Barkhad Abdi/Capt. Phillips

Daniel Bruhl/Rush

Michael Fassbender/12 Years a Slave

James Gandolfini/Enough Said

Jared Leto/Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress:

Jennifer Lawrence/American Hustle

Lupita Nyong’o/12 Years a Slave

Julia Roberts/August: Osage County

June Squibb/Nebraska

Oprah Winfrey/The Butler

Best Actor:

Bruce Dern/Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor/12 Years a Slave

Tom Hanks/Capt. Phillips

Matthew McConnaughey/Dallas Buyers Club

Forest Whitaker/The Butler

Best Actress:

Cate Blanchett/Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock/Gravity

Judi Dench/Philomena

Meryl Streep/August: Osage County

Emma Thompson/Saving Mr. Banks

Best Ensemble:

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

August: Osage County

Dallas Buyers Club

The Butler

Thoughts:  A lot of the pundits this morning are noting the absence of Robert Redford for Best Actor…and I agree that it seems like an amazing slight.  The general tenor of some of the other talk is about boosts to “12 Years” and “Dallas Buyers Club” and “The Butler” which I also agree about.  I haven’t seen anyone mention the 3 nominations for “August: Osage”.  The ensemble nod, it seems to me, gives it a nudge for a Best Picture nomination, especially since it’s been, more or less, DOA in that conversation for a good long while.

Personally, I’m happy that Bruce Dern got a nod this morning.  Disappointed that there was no love for “Inside Llewyn Davis” and like everyone else this morning, a reminder that “The Wolf of Wall Street” hasn’t yet been seen by most people.

Breakdowns:

12 Years-4 nominations

Dallas Buyers Club, August: Osage County, Lee Daniel’s The Butler-3 nominations

Nebraska, American Hustle, Captain Phillips-2 nominations

Gravity, Philomena, Blue Jasmine, Saving Mr. Banks, Rush, Enough Said-1 nomination

TFF #40 has 7 of the nominated performances.

BREAKING: Rudderless chosen for Sundance

This just in..Sundance Film Festival has chosen "Rudderless" directed by William H. Macy and written by Oklahomans Casey Twenter and Jeff Robison for its Premieres section.  Check the USA Today story posted moments ago:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2013/12/09/sundance-film-festival-2014/3895721/

Breaking: AFI Top Ten Announced

AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE NAMES TOP FILMS:

American Film Institute’s Top Ten Films for 2013

12 Years a Slave”
“American Hustle”
“Captain Phillips”
“Gravity”
“Nebraska”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”
“Fruitvale Station”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Saving Mr. Banks”
“Her”

Peter Knegt's Take/L.A. Critics/New York Online/Boston Society/

Good Monday Everyone!

I'm continuing to look at how the Oscar nominations may shake out for TFF #40 films through the individual predictions of some of the Oscar experts that I use to calibrate The Film Awards Clearinghouse standings. Today I am looking at the predictions of IndieWire's Peter Knegt.  Here's where he is:

12 Years a Slave: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Production Design, Costume, Score, Makeup/Hair.  Total-12

Gravity: Best Picture, Director, Actress, Cinematography, Film Editing, Score, Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing.  Total-9

Nebraska: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay.  Total-5

Inside Llewyn Davis: Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume. Total-5

All is Lost: Best Actor, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing.  Total-3.

Single nominations for:

Gloria: Best Foreign Film
The Past: Best Foreign Film
Tim's Vermeer: Best Doc
The Wind Rises": Best Animated Feature
Prisoners: Cinematography

TOTAL TFF #40 nominations: 39

Also 4 nominations for TFF #39 Films:

The Hunt and Wadjda for Best Foreign Film
The Act of Killing and Stories We Tell for Best Documentary


LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS:

Yesterday the L.A. film critics met up to vote on their choices for the best of 2013.  There was an occasional surprise here and there including three ties.  Here are the results from L.A. (Telluride films in bold):



Best Picture (tie) Gravity and Her
Best Actress (tie) Cate Blanchett/Blue Jasmine and Adele Exarchopolous/Blue is the Warmest Color
Best Screenplay: Before Midnight (Runner Up; Her)
Best Actor: Bruce Dern/Nebraska (Runner Up; Chiwetel Ejiofor/12 Years a Slave)
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron/Gravity (Runner Up: Spike Jonze/Her)
Best Foreign Language Film: Blue is the Warmest Color (Runner Up: The Great Beauty)
Best Documentary: Stories We Tell (Runner Up: The Act of Killing)
Best Score: Inside Llewyn Davis (Runner Up: Her)
Best Animated Feature: Ernest and Celestine (Runner Up: The Wind Rises)
Best Supporting Actor: (tie): James Franco/Spring Breakers and Jared Leto/Dallas Buyers Club
Cinematography: Gravity (Runner Up: Inside Llewyn Davis)
Best Ediitng: Gravity (Runner Up: Upstream Color)
Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o/12 Years a Slave (Runner Up: June Sqibb/Nebraska)
Best Production Design : Her (Runner Up: Inside Llewyn Davis)
 
Telluride #40 films named in 9 of 14 categories.  TFF #39 film also named Best Doc.  TFF #40 films also runners-up in 5 categories.


NEW YORK ONLINE AND BOSTON

Additionally, New York's Online Critics and Boston's Society of Film Critics organization also announced their winners yesterday.  As usual, Telluride films are bolded for your reading enjoyment.

From The Boston Society of Film Critics:

Best Picture:
12 Years a Slave

Best Foreign Language Film:
Wadjda

Best Director:
Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave

Best Actor:
Chiwetel Ejiofior for 12 Years a Slave

Best Actress: 
Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine

Best Supporting Actor: 
James Gandolfini for Enough Said

Best Supporting Actress:
June Squibb for Nebraska

Best Ensemble Cast:
Nebraska

Best Screenplay:
Nicole Holofcener for Enough Said

Best Documentary: 
The Act of Killing

Best New Filmmaker:
Ryan Coogler for Fruitvale Station

Best Animated Film:
The Wind Rises

Best Cinematography: 
Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)

Best Editing:
Rush (Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill)

Best Use of Music in a Film:
Inside Llewyn Davis

TFF #40 films with 8 of the BSFC 15 awards with TFF #39 acounting for 2 others.

The winners of the 2013 New York Film Critics Online Awards are:

Best Picture:
12 Years a Slave

Best Foreign Language Film:
Blue is the Warmest Color

Best Documentary:
The Act of Killing

Best Animated Feature:
The Wind Rises

Best Actor:
Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave

Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine

Best Director:
Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity

Best Debut Director:
Ryan Coogler for Fruitvale Station

Best Supporting Actor:
Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress:
Lupita Nyong'o for 12 Years a Slave

Best Ensemble:
American Hustle

Best Breakthrough Performance:
Adele Exarchopoulos for Blue is The Warmest Color

Best Cinematography:
Emmanuel Lubezki for Gravity

Best Use of Music:
Inside Llewyn Davis

 The NYFCO awards TFF #40 films 9 of their 14 with TFF #39 picking up an additional award.

Of these three groups, probably the biggest noise comes from the L.A. critics signaling a very good day fro "Gravity".  Spike Jonze's "Her" also was well represented in L.A.'s announcement. "12 Years a Slave" had an "okay" day with a win for Nyong'o but much stronger showings in the NYFCO and BSFC balloting.

Totals from all three critics groups taken together:

TFF #40 Films:

Gravity-8
12 Years-7
Blue is the Warmest-4
Nebraska-3
Inside Llewyn Davis-3
The Wind Rises-2


TFF #39 Recognized films: Act of Killing-2, Stories We Tell-1, Wadjda-1

No love for Wolf of Wall Street, Capt. Phillips or Saving Mr. Banks and only one mention  for American Hustle.

COENS AND LLEWYN

Movies.com talks to the Coen Brothers about "Inside Llewyn Davis":

http://www.movies.com/movie-news/coen-brothers-interview-inside-llewyn-davis/14306


TIM TALKS

Thompson on Hollywood posted this discussion of process with the subject of Penn and Teller's "Tim's Vermeer":

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/exclusive-video-inventor-tim-jenison-discusses-how-he-cracked-a-350-year-old-mystery-in-oscar-shortlisted-doc-tims-vermeer



More on Thursday including Golden Globe nominations.

BREAKING: LOS ANGELES CRITICS LOVE GRAVITY

the L.A. film critics met up to vote on their choices for the best of 2013 earlier today.  There was an occasional surprise here and there including three ties.  Here are the results from L.A. (Telluride films in bold):



Best Picture (tie) Gravity and Her
Best Actress (tie) Cate Blanchett/Blue Jasmine and Adele Exarchopolous/Blue is the Warmest Color
Best Screenplay: Before Midnight (Runner Up; Her)
Best Actor: Bruce Dern/Nebraska (Runner Up; Chiwetel Ejiofor/12 Years a Slave)
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron/Gravity (Runner Up: Spike Jonze/Her)
Best Foreign Language Film: Blue is the Warmest Color (Runner Up: The Great Beauty)
Best Documentary: Stories We Tell (Runner Up: The Act of Killing)
Best Score: Inside Llewyn Davis (Runner Up: Her)
Best Animated Feature: Ernest and Celestine (Runner Up: The Wind Rises)
Best Supporting Actor: (tie): James Franco/Spring Breakers and Jared Leto/Dallas Buyers Club
Cinematography: Gravity (Runner Up: Inside Llewyn Davis)
Best Editing: Gravity (Runner Up: Upstream Color)
Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o/12 Years a Slave (Runner Up: June Squibb/Nebraska)
Best Production Design : Her (Runner Up: Inside Llewyn Davis)
 
Telluride #40 films named in 9 of 14 categories.  TFF #39 film also named Best Doc.  TFF #40 films also runners-up in 5 categories.

More coming tomorrow.

NBR and New York Critics...What's It Mean?/Llewyn's About to Be Inside...Theaters/Doc Shortlist/Bob Talks Lost/More on 12 Years

NBR AND THE NEW YORK CRITICS...WHAT'S IT MEAN?

The choices of the New York Film Critics Circle that were announced on Tuesday... (TFF #40 Films in Bold)

Best Picture: American Hustle
Best Director: Steve McQueen/12 Years a Slave
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett/Blue Jasmine
Best Actor: Robert Redford/All is Lost
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence/American Hustle
Best Screenplay: American Hustle
Best Cinematography: Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Foreign Film: Blue is the Warmest Color
Best First Film: Fruitvale Station
Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises
Best Non-Fiction: Stories We Tell***

***TFF #39 film


And the announced winners from the National Board of Review from yesterday:



What's it all mean?

I have said since before TFF #40 started that I expected "12 Years a Slave" to win Best Picture.  I'm also on record as having said (since its first trailer dropped) that David O. Russell's "American Hustle" might have the best chance of beating "12 Years".  In light of the last week or so, I still feel the same way...though a lot of people are on the "Gravity" and/or "Wolf of Wall Street" wagon as well.

My take on the NYFCC wins is that they do give "American Hustle" an immediate boost but that the reported closeness of the vote for Best Picture and the Steve McQueen win for Best Director means that "12 Years a Slave" is still in very good shape.  I think that "Gravity" is the film that may have been nicked up by its exclusion altogether from the NYFCC announcement.

Redford's NYFCC win gives him a shot of adrenaline in the Best Actor race, which many think is the most competitive of all the major categories.

Now, on to the parsing of yesterday's NBR announcement...Here's that list again:

NBR NAMES SPIKE JONZE'S "HER" BEST PICTURE OF 2013

Telluride Film in Bold...

Best Film:  HER
Best Director: Spike Jonze, HER
Best Actor: Bruce Dern, NEBRASKA
Best Actress: Emma Thompson, SAVING MR. BANKS
Best Supporting Actor: Will Forte, NEBRASKA
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, FRUITVALE STATION
Best Original Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside LLEWYN Davis
Best Adapted Screenplay: Terence Winter, THE Wolf of Wall Street
Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises
Breakthrough Performance: Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
Breakthrough Performance: Adele Exarchopoulos, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
Best Directorial Debut: Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station
Best Foreign Language Film:  THE PAST
Best Documentary: Stories We Tell
William K. Everson Film History Award: George Stevens, Jr.
Best Ensemble:  PRISONERS
Spotlight Award: Career Collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Wadjda
Creative Innovation in Filmmaking Award: Gravity

Top Films
(in alphabetical order)
12 YEARS A SLAVE
Fruitvale Station
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor
Nebraska
Prisoners
Saving Mr. Banks
The Secret Life of Walter MITTY
THE Wolf of Wall Street

Top 5 Foreign Language Films
(In Alphabetical Order)
Beyond the Hills
Gloria
The Grandmaster
A Hijacking
The Hunt

Top 5 Documentaries
(In Alphabetical Order)
20 Feet from Stardom
The Act of Killing
After Tiller
Casting By
The Square

Top 10 Independent Films
(In Alphabetical Order)
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
Dallas Buyers Club
In a World…
Mother of George
Much Ado About Nothing
Mud
The Place Beyond the Pines
Short Term 12
Sightseers
The Spectacular Now

Huge boost for "Her" and now it probably moves up on a number of Oscarologists charts as a potential Bet Picture nominee.  "Nebraska" gets a boost too.  Certainly for Dern's nominations chances but the inclusion of Forte as Supporting winner may help him become a part of the conversation and likely helps the film overall in the Best Picture race.

Also, a likely boost for "Prisoners", which has been largely forgotten in the last month, as well as "Fruitvale Station".  I don't think that these results mean that "Her" moves up to the top of the board...I still think "12 Years" probably is the frontrunner.  It is worth  noting that "American Hustle", which the NYFCC thought was triple worthy of notice on Tuesday, wasn't mentioned at all by the NBR yesterday.

LLEWYN DAVIS ABOUT TO BE INSIDE...THEATERS

The Coen Brothers fantastic "Inside Llewyn Davis" is set to open in limited fashion this weekend and, as you might expect, there is an intensification of P.R. accompanying that.  I've linked a few things that seemed interesting...btw...buy the album, it's terrific!

From The Playlist, Charlie Schmidlin talks to actress Carey Mulligan about "Llewyn" and other matters:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/carey-mulligan-talks-ferocity-in-her-inside-llewyn-davis-character-nicholas-winding-refns-i-walk-with-the-dead-more-20131203


Casey Cipriani talks to The Coens about the music of the film for IndieWire here;

http://www.indiewire.com/article/can-inside-llewyn-davis-become-the-next-o-brother-where-art-thou-soundtrack

And as a side note, the AP via The Playlist reports that the Coens may be penning a film set in ancient Rome...really:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-coen-brothers-say-theyre-writing-a-sandal-movie-set-in-ancient-rome-20131203

DOCS AND THE LAST TWO TELLURIDES

The Academy's short list for the documentary feature Oscar was released this week and includes 2 TFF #39 films and a single possibility from TFF #40.  The Los Angeles Times reports that TFF #39 docs Sarah Polley's  "Stories We Tell" and Joshua Oppenheimer's  "The Act of Killing" made the cut as did Teller's "Tim's Vermeer" which was the highest rated film on The People's Telluride poll I conducted after the conclusion of this year's film.

Here's the link to the complete L.A. Times article which includes the complete list of short-listed documentaries:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/goldstandard/la-et-mn-oscar-documentary-short-list-20131203,0,40560.story#axzz2mYhmgxUg


BOB TALKS LOST

Anne Thompson talks to NYFCC Best Actor winner Robert Redford about his role in J.C. Chandor's "All Is Lost":

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/goldstandard/la-et-mn-oscar-documentary-short-list-20131203,0,40560.story#axzz2mYhmgxUg


MORE ABOUT THE SLAVE FOR 12 YEARS

The L.A. Times also posted this featurette video about the real life Solomon Northup.  Check it here:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/moviesnow/la-et-mn-12-years-a-slave-legacy-video-featurette-solomon-northup-20131202,0,3863922.story#axzz2mYhmgxUg


More on Monday...have a great weekend!

Breaking: National Board of Review Announces

NBR NAMES SPIKE JONZE'S "HER" BEST PICTURE OF 2013

Telluride Film in Bold...

Best Film:  HER
Best Director: Spike Jonze, HER
Best Actor: Bruce Dern, NEBRASKA
Best Actress: Emma Thompson, SAVING MR. BANKS
Best Supporting Actor: Will Forte, NEBRASKA
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, FRUITVALE STATION
Best Original Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside LLEWYN Davis
Best Adapted Screenplay: Terence Winter, THE Wolf of Wall Street
Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises
Breakthrough Performance: Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
Breakthrough Performance: Adele Exarchopoulos, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
Best Directorial Debut: Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station
Best Foreign Language Film:  THE PAST
Best Documentary: Stories We Tell
William K. Everson Film History Award: George Stevens, Jr.
Best Ensemble:  PRISONERS
Spotlight Award: Career Collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Wadjda
Creative Innovation in Filmmaking Award: Gravity

Top Films
(in alphabetical order)
12 YEARS A SLAVE
Fruitvale Station
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor
Nebraska
Prisoners
Saving Mr. Banks
The Secret Life of Walter MITTY
THE Wolf of Wall Street
Top 5 Foreign Language Films
(In Alphabetical Order)
Beyond the Hills
Gloria
The Grandmaster
A Hijacking
The Hunt

Top 5 Documentaries
(In Alphabetical Order)
20 Feet from Stardom
The Act of Killing
After Tiller
Casting By
The Square

Top 10 Independent Films
(In Alphabetical Order)
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
Dallas Buyers Club
In a World…
Mother of George
Much Ado About Nothing
Mud
The Place Beyond the Pines
Short Term 12
Sightseers
The Spectacular Now

BREAKING: NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCES WINNERS

From NYC and the NYFCC... (TFF #40 Films in Bold)

Best Picture: American Hustle
Best Director: Steve McQueen/12 Years a Slave
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett/Blue Jasmine
Best Actor: Robert Redford/All is Lost
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence/American Hustle
Best Screenplay: American Hustle
Best Cinematography: Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Foreign Film: Blue is the Warmest Color
Best First Film: Fruitvale Station
Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises
Best Non-Fiction: Stories We Tell***

***TFF #39 film


National Board of Review lands tomorrow...

And Sasha Says.../See A Lot of Llewyn/Bruce Almighty Continues/Redford on a Roll/The Music of 12 Years/This Week's Precursors

Good Monday All...back in the Panhandle of Oklahoma after a fantastic weekend at the Rio Grande Art and Craft Festival in Albuquerque, NM.  It was a great time!

AND SASHA SAYS

Today, I am continuing to break down the Oscar predictions from a number of Oscar experts and their predictions as they relate to films from Telluride #40 (and a little bit of TFF #39).  Today, as promised, I'm taking a look at the current predictions from Awards Daily's Sasha Stone.  If her prognostications are 100% correct this is how Oscar nominations would shake out for films from TFF #40:

"12 Years a Slave" (14 nominations): Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Costumes, Score and Makeup.  (Personally, I think "12 Years" is good for 11 noms...I'm not seeing the Sound nominations or Makeup).

"Gravity" (10 nominations): Best Picture, Director, Actress, Film Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Score and Visual Effects.

"Nebraska" (6 nominations): Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing.  (I actually think Bruce Dern is going to get a Best Actor nomination).

"Inside Llewyn Davis" (6 nominations): Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Production Design, Costumes

"All is Lost" (4 nominations): Best Picture, Best Actor, Original Screenplay, Film Editing (I suspect "All is Lost" also has a pretty good shot in the Sound Mixing and Editing categories).

Stone also has single nominations for:

"Labor Day": Adapted Screenplay
"Prisoners": Cinematography
"Gloria": Foreign Language Film
"The Past": Foreign Language Film
"Tim's Vermeer": Documentary
"The Unknown Known": Documentary
"The Wind Rises": Animated Feature

and TFF #39 title "The Act of Killing" for Documentary.


Overall, at this point, Awards Daily's Sasha Stone has TFF #40 films with a mind blowing 47 nominations and an additional nomination for TFF #39.

Personally, I think a TFF #40 total of 40 nominations is more likely, which is still an incredible total number for the films of Telluride #40.


SEE A LOT OF LLEWYN

The Playlist has linked three clips from the Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis" over the past few days.  For those of you that didn't see the film in Telluride or elsewhere, here's a chance to look at a good portion of the film.  The three clips come in two separate posts and include a musical performance featuring Llewyn himself (Oscar Isaac) singing "Green Green Rocky Road":

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/exclusive-oscar-isaac-sings-green-green-rocky-road-in-clip-from-inside-llewyn-davis-20131126

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-2-clips-from-inside-llewyn-davis-focus-on-dinner-tunes-the-rules-of-suicide-plus-new-pics-from-the-film-20131127


BRUCE ALMIGHTY CONTINUES

The Wrap's Steve Pond sat down with Oscar hopeful and the lead from Alexander Payne's "Nebraska", Bruce Dern for a talk about the film and Dern's long career:

http://www.thewrap.com/bruce-dern-nebraska-alexander-payne-redemption


REDFORD ON A ROLL

Perhaps the stiffest challenge to Bruce Dern getting an Oscar nomination is the other 77 year old that has roared back to acting prominence this year.  Robert Redford will almost certainly be nominated for J.C. Chandor's "All is Lost" and a number of Oscarologists question whether the five man field will be big enough for 2 septuagenarians (I'm betting that it WILL be).

Redford was the subject of a recent session with Pete Hammond of Deadline.com/Awards Line.  That's here:

http://www.deadline.com/2013/11/robert-redford-all-is-lost-jc-chandor/

THE MUSIC OF '12 YEARS"

Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood spent some time with composer Howard Britell who worked (and succeeded I think) to give Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" its musical verisimilitude.  You can review that article here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/nicholas-britell-talks-composing-spiritual-field-songs-for-12-years-a-slave


THIS WEEK'S PRECURSORS

Two big precursor announcement coming this week as The New York Film Critics announce their choices for the Best in film from 2013 tomorrow and The National Board of review will announce their choices on Wednesday.  I'll post those here as soon as they're announced and parse their meaning...if they have some...in Thursday's blog post.

More on Thursday...