Golden Globe Awards

The Golden Globes seem to find a way to surprise us every year, and this year was certainly no exception, as James Cameron pulled a double upset taking home the Best Director award over Kathryn Bigelow, who took most of the awards this season, and as a producer for Best Motion Picture - Drama over favorites The Hurt Locker and Up In the Air. This win will guarantee its contendership at the Oscars but it's hard to say if it can still upset Locker at the ceremony itself. We might have to wait for the PGA award to be handed out to have a good idea. Nonetheless, this is a great victory for sci-fi action fans who are still not over the Dark Knight snub. Keeping with the mainstream, it was The Hangover who took home the Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical award, so this will definitely hurt the likes of Nine and It's Complicated. From here, we can only wait for February 2nd when the nominations are announced and until then, we'll keep on speculating. Anyway, here is the complete list of winners:

Best Motion Picture - Drama: Avatar (James Cameron & Jon Landau, producers)

Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical: The Hangover (Daniel Goldberg & Todd Phillips, producers)

Best Actor In a Drama: Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart

Best Actress In a Drama: Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side

Best Actor In a Comedy/Musical: Robert Downey, Jr. - Sherlock Holmes

Best Actress In a Comedy/Musical: Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique - Precious

Best Director: James Cameron - Avatar

Best Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner - Up In the Air

Best Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon

Best Animated Film: Up

Best Original Score: Michael Giacchino - Up

Best Original Song: ''The Weary Kind'' (T Bone Burnett & Ryan Bingham) - Crazy Heart

What do you think?

Critics Choice Awards

Avatar took 6 awards, Inglourious Basterds won 3, The Hurt Locker was named Best Picture of the year but certainly the highlight was this moment when Sandra Bullock stole a kiss from Hollywood's most respected actress Meryl Streep as they both tied for the Best Actress award, respectively for The Blind Side and Julie & Julia. Kathryn Bigelow also received the Best Director award, thanking Mark Boal and all the men and women who are currently and have served their country overseas. Boal however did not win the Original Screenplay award, as that was won by Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds. The rest of the winners are listed below and I hope you are all looking forward to tomorrow's Golden Globes. Unfortunately I won't be able to report them live but the awards will be listed as soon as the ceremony's finished.

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Best Foreign Language Film: Broken Embraces
Best Documentary Feature: The Cove
Best Animated Feature: Up
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
Best Actress (tie): Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side, Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique - Precious
Best Acting Ensemble: Inglourious Basterds
Best Young Actor/Actress: Saoirse Ronan - The Lovely Bones
Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner - Up In the Air
Best Cinematography: Avatar
Best Editing: Avatar
Best Score: Up
Best Song: ''The Weary Kind'' (T Bone Burnett & Ryan Bingham) - Crazy Heart
Best Art Direction: Avatar
Best Costume Design: The Young Victoria
Best Visual Effects: Avatar
Best Sound: Avatar
Best Makeup: District 9
Best Action Movie: Avatar
Best Comedy: The Hangover
Best Picture Made for Television: Grey Gardens

What do you think?

Writers Guild of America Nominations

The final award Guild revealed their nominees earlier today for Best Original, Adapted and Documentary screenplays of the year. You will see some big surprises in each of the categories, notably in the Original category when James Cameron was named as a nominee for Avatar, widely considered by all to be the weakest point of the film. Not surprisingly in the category we find The Hurt Locker, (500) Days of Summer and A Serious Man with Avatar, and completing the category is The Hangover which is fun because there aren't a lot of raunchy comedies that are recognized for their screenplay. In the Adapted category, we find some of the frontrunners in Up In the Air and Precious. Julie & Julia also makes the cut, and a couple of films surprise here, notably Crazy Heart and yes, Star Trek. No doubt this year technical films will be rewarded a lot more than in the past. Here is the complete list of nominees:

Original Screenplay
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber - (500) Days of Summer
James Cameron - Avatar
Jon Lucas & Scott Moore - The Hangover
Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man

Adapted Screenplay
Scott Cooper - Crazy Heart
Nora Ephron - Julie & Julia
Geoffrey Fletcher - Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman - Star Trek
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner - Up In the Air

Documentary Screenplay
Richard Trank - Against the Tide
Michael Moore - Capitalism: A Love Story
Mark Monroe - The Cove
Robert Stone - Earth Days
Chris Rock, Jeff Stilson, Lance Crouther & Chuck Sklar - Good Hair
Bill Guttentag & Dan Sturman - Soundtrack for a Revolution

Do you think these films will be nominated at the Oscars?

Makeup Shortlist

7 films have been named today as the finalists for the 3 spots in the Best Makeup category at the upcoming Academy Award ceremony. Members of the makeup branch will watch 10 min. excerpts from each of the films before making their selections on February 2nd. Here are the films which will be competing:

1. District 9
2. Il Divo
3. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
4. Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian
5. The Road
6. Star Trek
7. The Young Victoria

Which films do you think will make the cut?

Directors Guild of America Nominations

Those of you who were expecting Clint Eastwood to pick up his fourth directing nomination of the decade (he is currently tied with Martin Scorsese and Stephen Daldry with 3 each) or a newcoming director to receive a nomination (Neill Blomkamp, Oren Moverman, Tom Ford or Scott Cooper to name a few), you may be disappointed as all the favorites have been nominated for the Directors Guild of America award for Best Director of the year. Kathryn Bigelow is currently the favorite to win for The Hurt Locker as she literally swept the award season in the category. Joining her are James Cameron for the sci-fi epic Avatar, Jason Reitman for the amazing dramedy Up In the Air, Quentin Tarantino for the fan favorite Inglourious Basterds and making history as the first African-American to receive a DGA nomination is Lee Daniels for the family drama Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. If he receives an Oscar nomination, he would be the second African-American in Academy history to be nominated (John Singleton was the first in 1992 for Boyz N the Hood. He was also the youngest to be nominated at 24.) If Bigelow wins she would be the first woman to receive the award so this might be a historic year for directing.

What do you think?

Producers Guild of America Nominations

With the Oscars upping their Best Picture nominations from 5 to 10, the Producers Guild of America, usually a very good predictor of the Oscars' Best Picture nominees, went and done the same naming their 10 nominees for the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the year award. 3 of the 10 nominees come from the science-fiction world as Avatar, District 9 and Star Trek were included in the list. Last year, The Dark Knight was nominated by the PGA but didn't make the cut when the Oscars announced their nominees (one of the reasons the Academy raised their nominees from 5 to 10 this year). The winner of this award went on to win Best Picture 13 of the last 20 times, notably last year's Slumdog Millionaire (Little Miss Sunshine was the last one to win the PGA award but not Best Picture at the Oscars). Up is the only film to receive 2 nominations, for Producer of the Year and Best Animated Film. Here is the complete list of nominees:

Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year

Avatar - James Cameron & Jon Landau, producers

District 9 - Peter Jackson & Carolyne Cunningham, producers

An Education - Finola Dwyer & Amanda Posey, producers

The Hurt Locker - TBA

Inglourious Basterds - Lawrence Bender, producer

Invictus - Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Lori McCreary & Mace Neufeld, producers

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire - Lee Daniels, Gary Magness & Sarah Siegel-Magness, producers

Star Trek - J.J. Abrams & Damon Lindelof, producers

Up - Jonas Rivera, producer

Up In the Air - TBA


Best Animated Film of the Year

9 - Timur Bekmambetov, Tim Burton, Dana Ginsburg, Jinko Gotoh & Jim Lemley, producers

Coraline - Claire Jennings & Mary Sandell, producers

Fantastic Mr. Fox - Allison Abbate, Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson & Scott Rudin, producers

The Princess and the Frog - Peter Del Vecho, producer

Up - Jonas Rivera, producer


Best Documentary of the Year

Burma VJ - Lise Lense-Moller, producer

The Cove - Paula DuPré Pesman & Fisher Stevens, producers

Sergio - TBA

Soundtrack for a Revolution - Joslyn Barnes, Jim Czarnecki, Bill Guttentag, Dylan Nelson & Dan Sturman, producers


What do you think?

National Society of Film Critics Awards

The awards just keep on coming for Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker as it picked up yet another Best Picture award from the National Society of Film Critics on Sunday. The society, regrouping critics from the country's top publications, also awarded honors for Bigelow and its star Jeremy Renner as Best Actor. Surprisingly there was a tie in the Best Supporting Actor category, as both Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds and Paul Schneider for Bright Star received the same number of votes for the category. Usually the NSFC winners don't reflect necessarily the Academy Awards but their members are still respected nonetheless. 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: Yolande Moreau - Seraphine
Best Supporting Actor (tie): Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds & Paul Schneider - Bright Star
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique - Precious
Best Screenplay: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
Best Foreign Language Film: Summer Hours
Best Nonfiction Film: The Beaches of Agnes
Best Cinematography: Christian Berger - The White Ribbon
Best Production Design: Nelson Lowry - Fantastic Mr. Fox

What do you think?

Online Film Critics Society Nominations

The OFCS has released their list of nominations recognizing the year's best in film. The Basterds lead the way with eight nominations ant The Hurt Locker received seven so a big year for war dramas. A pleasant surprise though was the nomination for Best Picture for Up so this will boost its chances somewhat to receive a nomination at the Oscars, making it only the second animated film to be honored that way. You'll notice a lot of the nominees in the acting categories aren't exactly pictured as the favorites for the Oscars but they still gave excellent performances, notably Tilda Swinton for Julia, Jackie Earle Haley for Watchmen and Sharlto Copley for District 9. Anthony Mackie could be gaining ground in the Supporting Actor category with the film's success this season and having seen the film a second time, it could happen. Anyway, here is the complete list of nominees:

Best Picture
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Up
Up In the Air

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Neill Blomkamp - District 9
James Cameron - Avatar
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
Sharlto Copley - District 9
George Clooney - Up In the Air
Joaquin Phoenix - Two Lovers
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

Best Actress
Melanie Laurent - Inglourious Basterds
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
Tilda Swinton - Julia

Best Supporting Actor
Peter Capaldi - In the Loop
Jackie Earle Haley - Watchmen
Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Anthony Mackie - The Hurt Locker
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress
Vera Farmiga - Up In the Air
Anna Kendrick - Up In the Air
Diane Kruger - Inglourious Basterds
Mo'Nique - Precious
Julianne Moore - A Single Man

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

Best Adapted Screenplay
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell - District 9
Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche - In the Loop
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner - Up In the Air
Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers - Where the Wild Things Are

Best Documentary
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
The Beaches of Agnes
Capitalism: A Love Story
The Cove
Food, Inc.

Best Foreign Language Film
Broken Embraces
Police, Adjective
Silent Light
Summer Hours
The White Ribbon

Best Animated Feature Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ponyo
The Princess and the Frog
Up

Best Cinematography
Mauro Fiore - Avatar
Trent Opaloch - District 9
Barry Ackroyd - The Hurt Locker
Robert Richardson - Inglourious Basterds
Roger Deakins - A Serious Man

Best Original Score
Alexandre Desplat - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Marvin Hamlisch - The Informant!
Michael Giacchino - Star Trek
Michael Giacchino - Up
Carter Burwell & Karen O. - Where the Wild Things Are

Best Editing
Alan Edward Bell - (500) Days of Summer
Steve R. Moore, John Refoua & Stephen Rivkin - Avatar
Julian Clarke - District 9
Chris Innis & Bob Murawski - The Hurt Locker
Sally Menke - Inglourious Basterds

What do you think?

Top 10 films of 2009

Happy New Year everybody! Hope your resolutions come to pass this year. With that, here are my top 10 films of the past year:

10. Inglourious Basterds
9. An Education
8. Up
7. A Serious Man
6. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
5. Antichrist
4. Avatar
3. The White Ribbon
2. The Hurt Locker
1. Up In the Air

What are your choices?