Awards Season 2008

[Tom Hagen]

Hey, remember the '80s?

[reno dakota]

2008 CHICAGO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARD WINNERS

BEST PICTURE: WALL-E
BEST DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
BEST ACTOR: Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
BEST ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Kate Winslet - The Reader
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: WALL-E (Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Slumdog Millionaire (Simon Beaufoy)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Let the Right One In
BEST DOCUMENTARY: Man On Wire
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: WALL-E
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Dark Knight (Wally Pfister)
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: WALL-E (Thomas Newman)
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER: Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire
MOST PROMISING DIRECTOR: Tomas Alfredson - Let the Right One In

[lacritfan]

Three songs from Repo! The Genetic Opera are on the list. That's Repo! The Genetic Opera...featuring Paris Hilton.

The list is indicative only of eligibility, not of quality.

I know, still...

Screen Actors Guild Nominations

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
RICHARD JENKINS / Walter Vale - "THE VISITOR" (Overture Films)
FRANK LANGELLA / Richard Nixon - "FROST/NIXON" (Universal Pictures)
SEAN PENN / Harvey Milk - "MILK" (Focus Features)
BRAD PITT / Benjamin Button - "THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON" (Paramount Pictures)
MICKEY ROURKE / Randy - "THE WRESTLER" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
ANNE HATHAWAY / Kym - "RACHEL GETTING MARRIED" (Sony Pictures Classics)
ANGELINA JOLIE / Christine Collins - "CHANGELING" (Universal Pictures)
MELISSA LEO / Ray Eddy - "FROZEN RIVER" (Sony Pictures Classics)
MERYL STREEP / Sister Aloysius Beauvier - "DOUBT" (Miramax Films)
KATE WINSLET / April Wheeler - "REVOLUTIONARY ROAD" (Paramount Vantage)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
JOSH BROLIN / Dan White - "MILK" (Focus Features)
ROBERT DOWNEY, JR. / Kirk Lazarus - "TROPIC THUNDER" (Paramount Pictures)
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN / Father Brendan Flynn - "DOUBT" (Miramax Films)
HEATH LEDGER / Joker - "THE DARK KNIGHT" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
DEV PATEL / Older Jamal - "SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
AMY ADAMS / Sister James - "DOUBT" (Miramax Flms)
PENÉLOPE CRUZ / Maria Elena - "VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA" (The Weinstein Company)
VIOLA DAVIS / Mrs. Miller - "DOUBT" (Miramax Films)
TARAJI P. HENSON / Queenie - "THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON" (Paramount Pictures)
KATE WINSLET / Hanna Schmitz - "THE READER" (The Weinstein Company)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
DOUBT (Miramax)
FROST/NIXON (Universal Pictures)
MILK (Focus Features)
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (Paramount Pictures)

They're also giving the Life Achievement Award to James Earl Jones

[Jeff]

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
DOUBT (Miramax)
FROST/NIXON (Universal Pictures)
MILK (Focus Features)
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (Paramount Pictures)

I'm starting to think that those will be the best pic nominees, with Nolan replacing Shanley in the directors' lineup.

[Antoine Doinel]

Roger Ebert's 10 Best Foreign Films 2008

(Sorted alphabetically)

A Christmas Tale
Duchess Of Langeais
The Edge Of Heaven
4 Months, 3 Weeeks & 2 Days
A Girl Cut In Two
I've Loved You So Long
The Last Mistress
Let The Right One In
Tell No One
XXY

[exte]

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
DOUBT (Miramax)
FROST/NIXON (Universal Pictures)
MILK (Focus Features)
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (Paramount Pictures)

I'm starting to think that those will be the best pic nominees, with Nolan replacing Shanley in the directors' lineup.

Kiss the viewership goodbye.

[foggy eyes]

A "sneak peak"(?!) at Film Comment's top 20 of the year. I'm astonished that Wendy & Lucy topped the list, but it's great to see that the new Hou and Desplechin ranked higher than Wall E. On a film-by-film basis, the "unreleased" poll is probably better: Summer Hours, Birdsong, Night & Day, Still Walking, RR, etc.

[Barmy]

LULZ. At least I can cut and paste the Film Comment "Released" list and send it around as my Worst 20. Man what pretentious drivelly twaddle. No surprises, howevs.

The Unreleased list ain't bad.

[tavernier]

Armond doesn't vote in the FC poll???????

[Jeff]

Armond doesn't vote in the FC poll???????

Didn't you hear? He's going to cut and paste the Film Comment "Released" list and send it around as his Worst 20.

[exte]

Wouldn't it be awesome if Eastwood wins an Oscar for acting finally? Still, I think it's Mickey's year...

[tavernier]

Armond doesn't vote in the FC poll???????

Didn't you hear? He's going to cut and paste the Film Comment "Released" list and send it around as his Worst 20.

LULZ

[Barmy]

Mickey is NOT winning Oscar™. His career has no legs, and he has done nothing to earn a "lifetime achievement-type" Oscar™. And on a technical level, please explain why Mickey's "perf" was Oscar™-worthy. Sean has a date with Oscar™ on February 22. End of discussion.

[rs98762001]

No disagreement here that Penn will win. But Rourke's performance is no less deserving. The fact that Penn's portrayal is so "technical" is exactly why I thought it was kind of overrated.

[Barmy]

I'd prefer Rourke to win. But Oscar loves technical. Hence Streep, one of the worst actresses, but "best" "actresses", ever.

[Haggai]

Meryl Streep is one of the worst actresses ever?

[tavernier]

But one of the "best" "actresses" "ever" to "win" "Oscar" (TM).

[Jeff]

Oklahoma Film Critics (who knew?)

Top Ten Films (listed alphabetically):

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
The Wrestler

Best Film of 2008: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Director(s): Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best First Feature: Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York
Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Best Actor: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Best Supporting Actress: Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Best Documentary: Man on Wire, dir. James Marsh
Best Foreign Film: Let the Right One In, dir. Tomas Alfredson
Best Animated Film: WALL-E
Obviously Worst Film: The Love Guru
Not-So-Obviously Worst Film: Mamma Mia!
Best Screenplay(Original): TIE - Robert D. Siegel, The Wrestler & Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Best Screenplay(Adaptation): Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire (Vikas Swarup, novelist)

[tavernier]

Okie film critics are as lame as those in the rest of the country.

[lacritfan]

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR-OFFICIAL SELECTIONS (Alphabetical)

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
FROST/NIXON
FROZEN RIVER
GRAN TORINO
IRON MAN
MILK
WALL•E
WENDY AND LUCY
THE WRESTLER

FYI - AFI JURY FOR MOTION PICTURES :
Leonard Maltin (Chair, AFI Jury for Motion Pictures; ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT)
Jeanine Basinger (Wesleyan University)
Mary Corey (University of California, Los Angeles)
Mark Harris (Author, Entertainment Weekly)
Jim Hosney (American Film Institute)
Rick Jewell (University of Southern California)
Elvis Mitchell (THE TREATMENT)
Daniel Petrie, Jr. (Writer/Producer/Director)
Tom Pollock (Producer; Vice Chair and Chair Emeritus, AFI Board of Trustees)
Richard Schickel (Time)
Vivian Sobchack (University of California, Los Angeles; AFI Trustee Emeritus)
Anne Thompson (Variety)
Robert Towne (Writer/Producer/Director)

[Grand Illusion]

I'm guessing Slumdog was financed UK/India and wasn't eligible for AFI's list?

[knives]

It was financed by Warner Independent mostly. Either they have a low opinion of that or they don't care.

[Jeff]

I'm guessing Slumdog was financed UK/India and wasn't eligible for AFI's list?

Their eligibility criteria states that films must be, "American Motion picture(s) with significant creative and/or production elements from the United States. The motion picture need not be presented in the English language if it is incontrovertibly American."

I'm guessing that it wasn't the financing, but those "creative and/or production elements" that kept Slumdog out of the running. It was made by a Brit, with no Americans in the cast and few on the crew. Of course, one could also argue that The Dark Knight was made by a Brit with a largely British and Australian cast.

[Grand Illusion]

Gotcha. Thanks.

[Antoine Doinel]

Wired thinks The Dark Knight is a longshot for Oscar nods or wins.