Chicago Film Critics Awards

Featuring notably the great Roger Ebert, the Chicago Film Critics have named Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker as Best Picture of 2009. The film swept the awards picking up 5 including awards for Bigelow, its star Jeremy Renner, its writer Mark Boal and cinematographer Barry Ackroyd as well. There are no real surprises in the other categories so we'll see if the winners will come up on top at the Oscars.





Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Best Actor: Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Best Actress: Carey Mulligan - An Education
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique - Precious
Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker
Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner - Up In the Air
Best Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon
Best Animated Feature Film: Up
Best Documentary: Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Best Cinematographer: Barry Ackroyd - The Hurt Locker
Best Original Score: Michael Giacchino - Up
Most Promising Performer: Carey Mulligan - An Education
Most Promising Filmmaker: Neill Blomkamp - District 9

What do you think?

Shrek Forever After Trailer

Speaking of first trailers, here is the premiere of the fourth installment of the most successful animated franchise, Shrek Forever After. Returning voicing is Mike Myers, Oscar nominee Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas. What do you think?

Screen Actors Guild Nominations

Two days after the GG nominations were announced, the SAG went to work and revealed their choices for the year's best work in acting for films and television this year. Perhaps the biggest surprise you'll find is the absence of Julianne Moore in the Outstanding Supporting Actress category, instead we find Diane Kruger from Inglourious Basterds. Will Kruger manage to sneak in the category at the Oscars edging out one of the favorites? We'll have to keep an eye on this one. Here is the list of nominees:

Outstanding Lead Actor
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up In the Air
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Morgan Freeman - Invictus
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

Outstanding Lead Actress
Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

Outstanding Supporting Actor
Matt Damon - Invictus
Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Outstanding Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz - Nine
Vera Farmiga - Up In the Air
Anna Kendrick - Up In the Air
Diane Kruger - Inglourious Basterds
Mo'Nique - Precious

Outstanding Cast
An Education - Dominic Cooper, Alfred Molina, Carey Mulligan, Rosamund Pike, Peter Sarsgaard, Emma Thompson, Olivia Williams
The Hurt Locker - Christian Camargo, Brian Geraghty, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Renner
Inglourious Basterds - Daniel Bruhl, August Diehl, Julie Dreyfus, Michael Fassbender, Sylvester Groth, Jacky Ido, Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent, Denis Menochet, Mike Myers, Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Til Schweiger, Rod Taylor, Christoph Waltz, Martin Wuttke
Nine - Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Fergie, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren
Precious - Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Sherri Shepherd, Gabourey Sidibe

What do you think?

Iron Man 2 Trailer

It's finally here! The first official trailer for the return of Tony Stark/Iron Man from director Jon Favreau starring Oscar nominee Robert Downey, Jr. Also returning is Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow, and rounding up the cast are Golden Globe nominee Scarlett Johansson, Oscar nominee Don Cheadle replacing Terrence Howard and as Whiplash, nominee Mickey Rourke. Is this the box office hit of 2010? What do you think?

Original Song Shortlist

The list isn't short with 63 submissions, but here is the complete list of songs eligible for the Academy Awards:

“All Is Love” from “Where the Wild Things Are”
“Almost Over You” from “My One and Only”
“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“AyAyAyAy” from “The Maid”
“Back to Tennessee” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
“Being Bad” from “Duplicity”
“Blanco” from “Fast & Furious”
“Brothers in Arms” from “Brothers at War”
“Butterfly Fly Away” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
“Cinema Italiano” from “Nine”
“Colorblind” from “Invictus”
“Depression Era” from “That Evening Sun”
“Don’t Walk Away” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
“Dove of Peace” from “Bruno”
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“Fly Farm Blues” from “It Might Get Loud”
“Forget Me” from “I Love You, Beth Cooper”
“God Bless Us Everyone” from “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”
“Here” from “Shrink”
“Hideaway” from “Where the Wild Things Are”
“Hoedown Throwdown” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
“I Bring What I Love” from “Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love”
“I See You” from “Avatar”
“(I Want to) Come Home” from “Everybody’s Fine”
“If You’re Wondering” from “The Lightkeepers”
“Impossible Fantasy” from “Adventures of Power”
“Innocent Child” from “Skin”
“Invictus 9,000 Days” from “Invictus”
“Legendary” from “Tyson”
“Let Freedom Reign” from “Skin”
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36”
“Ma Belle Evangeline” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“My One and Only” from “My One and Only”
“Na Na” from “Couples Retreat”
“Never Knew I Needed” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“New Divide” from “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
“New Jersey Nights” from “Adventures of Power”
“New York Is Where I Live” from “Did You Hear about the Morgans?”
“No Time for Love” from “Simon & Malou”
“One Day” from “Post Grad”
“Only You” from “The Young Victoria”
“Other Father Song” from “Coraline”
“Petey’s Song” from “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” from “Ponyo”
“Possibility” from “The Twilight Saga: New Moon”
“Raining Sunshine” from “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
“Running Out of Empty (Make Ourselves at Home)” from “Lymelife”
“Smoke without Fire” from “An Education”
“Somebody Else” from “Crazy Heart”
“Stu’s Song” from “The Hangover”
“Take It All” from “Nine”
“Through the Trees” from “Jennifer’s Body”
“Trust Me” from “The Informant!”
“Un Bouquet des Violettes” from “New York, I Love You”
“We Are the Children of the World” from “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
“We Love Violence” from “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart”
“When You Find Me” from “Adam”
“Winter” from “Brothers”
“The Word Is Love” from “Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!”
“You Got Me Wrapped around Your Little Finger” from “An Education”
“You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
“You’ve Been a Friend to Me” from “Old Dogs”

The selection committee will receive DVD copies presenting a short clip for each songs and will select their nominees according to the new rules which were submitted earlier this year. Which songs do you think will make the cut?

Robin Hood Trailer

Here is the first trailer for Ridley Scott's next collaboration with Russell Crowe, the retelling ot the story of Robin Hood. The film also stars Oscar winner Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian. What do you think?

Alice In Wonderland New Trailer

Here is yet another trailer for Tim Burton's next film, Alice In Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway. What do you think?

Austin Film Critics Awards

The Hurt Locker continues its winning streak as it took home the Best Picture award at this year's Austin Film Critics awards. A big surprise here is the win by Melanie Laurent for Best Actress in Inglourious Basterds, so we'll see if this is simply a one-time fluke. Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Runners-Up:
Star Trek
Up
A Serious Man
Up In the Air
Avatar
Inglourious Basterds
District 9
Where the Wild Things Are
(tie) Moon, The Messenger
Best Foreign Language Film: Cary Fukunaga - Sin Nombre
Best Documentary: Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Best Animated Feature: Up
Best First Film: Neill Blomkamp - District 9
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Best Actor: Colin Firth - A Single Man
Best Actress: Melanie Laurent - Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress: Anna Kendrick - Up In the Air
Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner - Up In the Air
Best Cinematography: Barry Ackroyd - The Hurt Locker
Best Original Score: Michael Giacchino - Up
Breakthrough Artist Award: Christian McKay - Me and Orson Welles
Austin Film Award: Me and Orson Welles

What do you think?

Golden Globes Nominations

Since the awards season begun a lot of Oscar watchers were waiting for this: the announcement of the Golden Globe nominees since it is one of the biggest predictors of the upcoming Oscar nominations. For one thing, I am glad this year the Hollywood Foreign Press Association put only 5 nominees for every category, because it was starting to become overkill with 6-7 nominees per category. Jason Reitman's Up In the Air leads the charge with 6 nominations. We have a few actors who managed to pick up double nominations this year, notably Sandra Bullock with a Best Actress in a Drama for The Blind Side and in a Comedy for The Proposal. Matt Damon was also nominated twice, for The Informant! as a Best actor for Comedy and for Invictus in the supporting category. Finally Meryl Streep picked up, as most people predicted, two nominations in the Best actress in a Comedy category for Julie & Julia and It's Complicated, so we can expect her to walk away with that award. A big surprise is the absence of Jeremy Renner in the Best Actor in a Drama category since he picked up a few awards already this season with his film The Hurt Locker. Here he is replaced by Tobey Maguire (in a powerful performance as well) in Brothers, as the usual suspects complete the category. You may also notice Rob Marshall did not pick up a nomination for directing Nine, so he may be on a slippery slope. Saoirse Ronan is also absent for Best Actress in a Drama for The Lovely Bones, but she's been pretty consistent in awards season so we might see her on Oscar night. Another surprise is Nancy Meyers' nomination for her screenplay of It's Complicated as some major films are bumped from the category, notably Precious, Up or An Education. We'll see if that effects the outcome of the screenplay category at the Oscars. A pleasant surprise is to see pretty much everyone's favorite comedy of the year, Todd Phillips' The Hangover nominated for Best Motion Picture - Comedy. With the DVD release today, a lot of people should get it off the shelves. Anyway, here is the complete list of nominees:

Best Motion Picture - Drama
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
Up In the Air

Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical
(500) Days of Summer
The Hangover
It's Complicated
Julie & Julia
Nine

Best Actor In a Drama
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up In the Air
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Morgan Freeman - Invictus
Tobey Maguire - Brothers

Best Actress In a Drama
Emily Blunt - The Young Victoria
Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious

Best Actor In a Comedy/Musical
Matt Damon - The Informant!
Daniel Day-Lewis - Nine
Robert Downey, Jr. - Sherlock Holmes
Joseph Gordon-Levitt - (500) Days of Summer
Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man

Best Actress In a Comedy/Musical
Sandra Bullock - The Proposal
Marion Cotillard - Nine
Julia Roberts - Duplicity
Meryl Streep - It's Complicated
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon - Invictus
Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz - Nine
Vera Farmiga - Up In the Air
Anna Kendrick - Up In the Air
Mo'Nique - Precious
Julianne Moore - A Single Man

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
James Cameron - Avatar
Clint Eastwood - Invictus
Jason Reitman - Up In the Air
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Best Screenplay
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell - District 9
Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker
Nancy Meyers - It's Complicated
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner - Up In the Air
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Best Animated Feature Film
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
Up

Best Foreign Language Film
Baaria (Italy)
Broken Embraces (Spain)
The Maid (Chile)
A Prophet (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)

Best Original Score
Michael Giacchino - Up
Marvin Hamlisch - The Informant!
James Horner - Avatar
Abel Korzeniowski - A Single Man
Karen O & Carter Burwell - Where the Wild Things Are

Best Original Song
''Cinema Italiano'' (Maury Weston) - Nine
''I Want To Come Home'' (Paul McCartney) - Everybody's Fine
''I Will See You'' (James Horner, Simon Franglen & Kuk Harrell) - Avatar
''The Weary Kind'' (T Bone Burnett & Ryan Bingham) - Crazy Heart
''Winter'' (U2) - Brothers

Do you think these are good picks?

Critics Choice Awards Nominations

With the Golden Globes nomination announcement coming tomorrow, the Broadcast Film Critics Association has published their nominations for their best in cinema. Leading the way with 10 nominations each are Rob Marshall's Nine and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Where Tarantino picked up a nomination for Directing, Marshall failed to get one so that may hurt his chances at a nomination come Oscar night, but there's still time to make his case. Although Basterds has the most nominations, it is worthy to note that is the case because the BFCA added new technical categories to reward, for which Tarantino's film dominates particularly. Nonetheless Christoph Waltz looks to be the favorite and it also picked up a nomination for Best Original Screenplay, so it may still make its way into the top 10 come Oscar night. Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones continues to get snubbed by the critics (this year's Dreamgirls perhaps?) as it failed to get both a Best Picture nomination and for Best Director as well. Still Saoirse Ronan and Stanley Tucci received nominations as they are the strong points from the film, as agreed by most critics, but we'll have a strong idea tomorrow for which films will make the cut. Avatar is starting to get noticed as it received a nomination for Best Picture as well. After winning the NYFCO award, it looks to start becoming a safe bet to make the top 10 but we'll have a better idea in the following weeks.

Here is the complete list of nominees:

Best Picture
Avatar
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
Nine
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up In the Air

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
James Cameron - Avatar
Lee Daniels - Precious
Clint Eastwood - Invictus
Jason Reitman - Up In the Air
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up In the Air
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Morgan Freeman - Invictus
Viggo Mortensen - The Road
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

Best Actress
Emily Blunt - The Young Victoria
Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Saoirse Ronan - The Lovely Bones
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon - Invictus
Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Christian McKay - Me and Orson Welles
Alfred Molina - An Education
Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress
Marion Cotillard - Nine
Vera Farmiga - Up In the Air
Anna Kendrick - Up In the Air
Mo'Nique - Precious
Julianne Moore - A Single Man
Samantha Morton - The Messenger

Best Young Actor/Actress
Jae Head - The Blind Side
Bailee Madison - Brothers
Max Records - Where the Wild Things Are
Saoirse Ronan - The Lovely Bones
Kodi Smit-McPhee - The Road

Best Acting Ensemble
Inglourious Basterds
Nine
Precious
Star Trek
Up In the Air

Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber - (500) Days of Summer
Pete Docter & Bob Peterson - Up
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Best Adapted Screenplay
Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell - District 9
Geoffrey Fletcher - Precious
Tom Ford & David Scearce - A Single Man
Nick Hornby - An Education
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner - Up In the Air

Best Cinematography
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Lovely Bones
Nine

Best Art Direction
Avatar
Inglourious Basterds
The Lovely Bones
Nine
A Single Man

Best Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Nine
Up In the Air

Best Costume Design
Bright Star
Inglourious Basterds
Nine
Where the Wild Things Are
The Young Victoria

Best Makeup
Avatar
District 9
Nine
The Road
Star Trek

Best Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
The Lovely Bones
Star Trek
2012

Best Sound
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Nine
Star Trek

Best Animated Feature Film
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
Up

Best Action Movie
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek

Best Comedy
(500) Days of Summer
The Hangover
It's Complicated
The Proposal
Zombieland

Best Foreign Language Film
Broken Embraces
Coco Before Chanel
Red Cliff
Sin Nombre
The White Ribbon

Best Documentary Feature
Anvil
Capitalism: A Love Story
The Cove
Food, Inc.
Michael Jackson's This Is It

Best Song
''All Is Love'' (Karen O & Nick Zinner) - Where the Wild Things Are
''Almost There'' (Randy Newman) - The Princess and the Frog
''Cinema Italiano'' (Maury Weston) - Nine
''(I Want To) Come Home'' (Paul McCartney) - Everybody's Fine
''The Weary Kind'' (T-Bone Burnett & Ryan Bingham) - Crazy Heart

Best Score
Michael Giacchino - Up
Marvin Hamlisch - The Informant!
Randy Newman - The Princess and the Frog
Karen O & Nick Zinner - Where the Wild Things Are
Hans Zimmer - Sherlock Holmes

What do you think?

New York Film Critics Awards

The Online Critics gave out their awards yesterday as their counterparts from L.A. Today the New York Film Critics Circle agreed with the LAFCA instead of their online critics and awarded their Best Picture award to The Hurt Locker. With an incredible streak going their way, the film is on its way to become the heavy favorite come Oscar night. Unless other films pick up awards in the upcoming ceremonies (including the prestigious Golden Globe Awards for which the nominations will be announced in just under 10 hours), Kathryn Bigelow's latest war film just seems unstoppable at this point, but there's still a long way to go. Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Best Actor: George Clooney - Up In the Air & Fantastic Mr. Fox
Best Actress: Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique - Precious
Best Screenplay: In the Loop
Best Cinematographer: Christian Berger - The White Ribbon
Best Animated Film: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary): Of Time and the City
Best Foreign Film: Summer Hours
Best First Film: Steve McQueen - Hunger
Special Award: Andrew Sarris

What do you think?

New York Film Critics Online Awards

Having being snubbed by the AFI's top 10 list just a few hours earlier, the NYFCO voted James Cameron's Avatar as Best Picture of 2009. Fans of the visual spectacle will be pleased to see the film finally win an award since it needs to pick up the pace to make the top 10 at the Oscars. With the GG announcement scheduled tomorrow, we'll certainly keep an eye out for it. Here is the complete list of winners as selected by the NYFCO:


Best Picture: Avatar
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
Best Actress: Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique - Precious
Best Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
Best Breakthrough Performer: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Best Debut Filmmaker: Marc Webb - (500) Days of Summer
Best Ensemble Cast: In the Loop
Best Documentary: The Cove
Best Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon
Best Animated Feature: Up
Best Cinematography: Robert Richardson - Inglourious Basterds
Best Film Music/Score: T-Bone Burnett & Stephen Bruton - Crazy Heart

What do you think?

AFI Top Ten of 2009

Here you can make your debates of which films deserve to make this list, but the AFI has released their list of the 10 best films of 2009:

1. Up
2. Up In the Air
3. Coraline
4. The Hangover
5. The Hurt Locker
6. The Messenger
7. Precious
8. A Serious Man
9. Sugar
10. A Single Man

Do you agree with these choices?

Los Angeles Film Critics Awards

After winning the Boston FCA earlier, The Hurt Locker also won the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards as the winners were announced just now. Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker (Runner-Up: Up In the Air)
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker (Runner-Up: Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon)
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart (Runner-Up: Colin Firth - A Single Man)
Best Actress: Yolande Moreau - Seraphine (Runner-Up: Carey Mulligan - An Education)
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds (Runner-Up: Peter Capaldi - In the Loop)
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique - Precious (Runner-Up: Anna Kendrick - Up In the Air)
Best Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner - Up In the Air (Runner-Up: Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche - In the Loop)
Best Animation: Fantastic Mr. Fox (Runner-Up: Up)
Best Foreign Language Film: Summer Hours (Runner-Up: The White Ribbon)
Best New Generation: Neill Blomkamp - District 9
Best Music/Score: T-Bone Burnett & Stephen Bruton - Crazy Heart (Runner-Up: Alexandre Desplat - Fantastic Mr. Fox)
Best Production Design: Philip Ivey - District 9 (Runner-Up: Rick Carter & Robert Stromberg - Avatar)
Best Cinematography: Christian Berger - The White Ribbon (Runner-Up: Barry Ackroyd - The Hurt Locker)
Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film (tie): The Beaches of Agnes & The Cove
Douglas E. Edwards Independent/Experimental Film/Video: Anders Edstrom & C.W. Winter - The Anchorage

A big surprise would be Yolande Moreau for Best Actress as this is the first major award won by the actress. Up's streak may be in jeopardy as Wes Anderson's animated Fox takes the award this time. What do you think?

Boston Film Critics Awards

Kathryn Bigelow's war film The Hurt Locker continues to gain attention as it sweeped the Boston Film Critics Awards. Not only did it take home the Best Picture honor, it also received awards for Bigelow, its star Jeremy Renner for Best Actor, Best Editing and Best Cinematography. Check out the complete list of winners below:






Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Best Actor: Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Best Actress: Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique - Precious
Best Screenplay: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
Best Cinematography: Barry Ackroyd - The Hurt Locker
Best Documentary: The Cove
Best Foreign Language Film: TBA
Best Animated Film: Up
Best Film Editing: Bob Murawski & Chris Innis - The Hurt Locker
Best New Filmmaker: Neill Blomkamp - District 9
Best Ensemble Cast (tie): Precious & Star Trek
Best Use of Music in a Film: Crazy Heart

What do you think?

European Film Awards

It looks like Michael Haneke's latest film will be a heavy favorite in the Foreign Language Film category. Indeed, The White Ribbon was named Best European Film by the European Film Academy earlier today and Haneke received awards for Writing and Directing. So far it looks like it's biggest competition is France's submission at the Academy A prophet from director Jacques Audiard. The film took home awards for Best Actor for Tahar Rahim and the Academy Prix D'Excellence for Sound Design. Last year's Oscar winner for Best Picture Slumdog Millionaire won the People's Choice Award and its cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle, shared the award for Best Cinematographer for the film and Antichrist. Kate Winslet won for Best Actress for The Reader. Two-time Oscar nominee Alberto Iglesias won the Best Composer award for Broken Embraces. Palme D'Or winner Ken Loach was rewarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award and French actress Isabelle Huppert received the Achievement in World Cinema. What do you think?

Visual Effects Shortlist

The AMPAS announced today the 15 films which will compete for the 3 slots in the Visual Effects category at the upcoming Oscars. The list is as follows:

1. Angels & Demons
2. Avatar
3. Coraline
4. Disney's A Christmas Carol
5. District 9
6. G-Force
7. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
8. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
9. Sherlock Holmes
10. Star Trek
11. Terminator Salvation
12. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
13. 2012
14. Watchmen
15. Where the Wild Things Are

While it seems certain at this point Avatar will take the award, it will be interesting to see which 2 other films will be nominated. Which films do you think will make the final cut?

Washington Critics Awards

There were few surprises when the winners of the Washington Critics Awards were announced, but that will only reinforce their chances at the upcoming Golden Globe and Oscar ceremonies. Here are the winners:

Best Film: Up in the Air
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Best Actor: George Clooney - Up in the Air
Best Actress: Carey Mulligan - An Education
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique - Precious
Best Ensemble: The Hurt Locker
Best Breakthrough Performance: Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner - Up in the Air
Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
Best Animated Feature Film: Up
Best Foreign Language Film: Sin Nombre
Best Documentary Feature: Food, Inc.
Best Art Direction: Nine

The biggest surprise might be Quentin Tarantino's win for Best Original Screenplay, so we'll have to follow this in the next few days to find out if a streak is starting or a one time fluke. Kathryn Bigelow is racking up the awards but it's a tough field so we'll see who would be bumped down instead of her. What do you think?

Live Action Short Shortlist

The AMPAS announced today the 10 films which will compete for a nomination at the upcoming Oscar ceremony. The Short Films and Feature Animation branch will select three to five nominees from the list and they will be announced on February 2nd. Here are the films:

1. The Door - Juanita Wilson (director) & James Flynn (producer)
2. The Ground Beneath - Rene Hernandez (director) & Kristina Ceyton (producer)
3. Hotel - Tim Conrad (director-producer)
4. Instead of Abracadabra - Patrik Eklund (director) & Mathias Fjellstrom (producer)
5. Kavi - Gregg Helvey (director-producer)
6. Miracle Fish - Luke Doolan (director) & Drew Bailey (producer)
7. The New Tenants - Joachim Back (director) & Tivi Magnusson (producer)
8. The Response - Adam Rodgers (director) & Sig Libowitz (producer)
9. Short Term 12 - Destin Daniel Cretton (director-producer) & Michelle Steffes (producer)
10. Sidney Turtlebaum - Tristram Shapeero (director) & Daniel Jewel (producer)

What do you think?

National Board of Review

Today the NBR announced its top 10 films of 2009 and their choices for Best in the film industry. The NBR is composed of film educators, students and historians and is a key player in the award seaon. Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Picture: Up in the Air

TOP 10 FILMS
An Education
(500) Days of Summer
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Star Trek
Up
Where the Wild Things Are

Best Director: Clint Eastwood - Invictus
Best Actor (shared): George Clooney - Up in the Air & Morgan Freeman - Invictus
Best Actress: Carey Mulligan - An Education
Best Supporting Actor: Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Best Supporting Actress: Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Best Original Screenplay: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner - Up in the Air
Breakthrough Actor: Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Breakthrough Actress: Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Best Foreign Language Film: A Prophet

TOP 5 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS
The Maid
Revanche
Song of Sparrows
Three Monkeys
The White Ribbon

Best Documentary: The Cove

TOP 5 DOCUMENTARIES
Burma VJ
Crude
Food, Inc.
Good Hair
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers

Best Animated Feature Film: Up
Best Ensemble: It's Complicated
Best Directorial Debut (shared): Duncan Jones - Moon, Oren Moverman - The Messenger & Marc Webb - (500) Days of Summer
BVLGARI Award for Freedom of Expression (shared): Burma VJ & Invictus

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT FILMS
Amreeka
Goodbye Solo
Humpday
In the Loop
Julia
Me and Orson Welles
Moon
Sugar
Two Lovers

The big winner is of course Jason Reitman's Up in the Air, taking home 4 awards and will figure to become a big favorite come Oscar night. Woody Harrelson is starting to look like a serious contender for Best Supporting Actor. Will Clint pick up another nomination for directing this decade? This would be his 4th nomination in that span so we'll pay attention. Carey Mulligan looks to be the favorite for Best Actress, and we might be surprised in the Supporting category. What do you think?

Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

The Independent Spirit Film nominations were announced earlier today. Leading the way are The Last Station and Precious with five nominations each. The Hurt Locker, which won the Gotham Award for Best Film is not nominated due to the fact that it was nominated last year having played in many festivals. Here is the complete list of nominees:

BEST FEATURE
(500) Days of Summer
Amreeka
Precious
Sin Nombre
The Last Station

BEST DIRECTOR
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
Lee Daniels - Precious
Cary Joji Fukunaga - Sin Nombre
James Gray - Two Lovers
Michael Hoffman - The Last Station

BEST SCREENPLAY
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman - The Messenger
Michael Hoffman - The Last Station
Lee Toland Krieger - The Vicious Kind
Greg Mottola - Adventureland
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber - (500) Days of Summer

BEST FIRST FEATURE
A Single Man
Crazy Heart
Easier With Practice
Paranormal Activity
The Messenger

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Sophie Barthes - Cold Souls
Scott Cooper - Crazy Heart
Cherien Dabis - Amreeka
Geoffrey Fletcher - Precious
Tom Ford & David Scearce - A Single Man

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
Big Fan
Humpday
The New Year Parade
Treeless Mountain
Zero Bridge

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Maria Bello - Downloading Nancy
Nisreen Faour - Amreeka
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Gwyneth Paltrow - Two Lovers
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious

BEST MALE LEAD
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Joseph Gordon-Levitt - (500) Days of Summer
Souleymane Sy Savane - Goodbye Solo
Adam Scott - The Vicious Kind

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Dina Korzun - Cold Souls
Mo'Nique - Precious
Samantha Morton - The Messenger
Natalie Press - Fifty Dead Men Walking
Mia Wasikowska - That Evening Sun

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Jermaine Clement - Gentlemen Broncos
Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Christian McKay - Me and Orson Welles
Raymond McKinnon - That Evening Sun
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins - A Serious Man
Adriano Goldman - Sin Nombre
Anne Misawa - Treeless Mountain
Andrij Parekh - Cold Souls
Peter Zeitlinger - Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Food, Inc.
More Than a Game
October Country
Which Way Home

BEST FOREIGN FILM
A Prophet
An Education
Everlasting Moments
Mother
The Maid

ACURA SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Kyle Patrick Alvarez - Easier With Practice
Asiel Norton - Redland
Tariq Tapa - Zero Bridge

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Natalia Almada - El General
Jessica Oreck - Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
Bill Ross & Turner Ross - 45365

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Karin Chien - The Exploding Girl, Santa Mesa
Larry Fessenden - I Sell the Dead, The House of the Devil
Dia Sokol - Beeswax, Nights & Weekends

I found weird that An Education would not be nominated for Feature Film (or Carey Mulligan for Lead Actress for that matter) but it is nominated for Foreign Film. Very strange. Otherwise, what do you think?

Annie Award Nominations

The International Animated Film Society announced today their nominees for the 2009 Annie Awards which will be awarded on February 6th. The Society honor the best in film and television animation every year and it is usually a good predictor of the Animated Feature Film category, although last year it chose Kung Fu Panda as the Best Animated Film of the year, so we'll see this year. Here is the complete list of nominees:

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

BEST ANIMATED EFFECTS
Scott Cegielski - Monsters vs. Aliens
Alexander Feigin - 9
Eric Froemling - Up
Tom Kluyskens - Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
James Mansfield - The Princess and the Frog

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION
Andreas Deja - The Princess and the Frog
Eric Goldberg - The Princess and the Frog
Travis Knight - Coraline
Daniel Nguyen - Up
Bruce Smith - The Princess and the Frog

BEST DIRECTING
Wes Anderson - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Pete Docter - Up
Christopher Miller & Phil Lord - Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Hayao Miyazaki - Ponyo
Henry Selick - Coraline

BEST MUSIC
Bruno Coulais - Coraline
Michael Giacchino - Up
Joe Hisaishi - Ponyo
John Powell - Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

BEST STORYBOARDING
Sharon Bridgeman - Astro Boy
Chris Butler - Coraline
Ronnie Del Carmen - Up
Tom Owens - Monsters vs. Aliens
Peter Sohn - Up

BEST VOICE ACTING
Jen Cody - The Princess and the Frog
Dawn French - Coraline
Hugh Laurie - Monsters vs. Aliens
John Leguizamo - Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Jennifer Lewis - The Princess and the Frog

BEST WRITING
Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson & Tom McCarthy - Up
Timothy Hyde Harris & David Bowers - Astro Boy
Christopher Miller & Phil Lord - Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

A little disappointing to see Ponyo go unnoticed in the Feature Film category, but that might not be the case come Oscar night. What do you think?

Gotham Awards

The Gotham awards were handed out last night, and The Hurt Locker became the first official Best Feature winner of a major Award ceremony taken into account for the Oscar season. Its cast was also honored for Best Ensemble so this will give Jeremy Renner some notice for the Best Actor category. Chilean actress Catalina Saavedra won the Breakthrough Award for The Maid. Winners in this category for the past 5 years went on to become Oscar nominees so Ms. Saavedra is definitely worth a look on your radar. Robert Siegel took the Breakthrough Director award for Big Fan. Food, Inc. was named Best Documentary Feature, so this will boost its chances for a nomination. Ry Russo-Young's You Won't Miss Me was named Best Film not Showing in a Theater Near You. Among the Special Honorees were producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, actors Stanley Tucci and Natalie Portman and director Kathryn Bigelow. So the hunt is on for The Hurt Locker and its cast and crew. What do you think?