Awards Season 2010

[tavernier]

Best Supporting Actor
Justin Timberlake (The Social Network)

By far the weakest performance in the film, so it's almost certain he'll get the nom.

You've seen it, tavernier? I'd love to hear your take in the thread for the film. My decision to put Timberlake in over, say, Andrew Garfield was due to the Academy's fondness for what William Goldman called "the dancing-bear syndrome." "Oh, look at that! It's a pop singer...and he's acting in this movie!"

Garfield is far, far better than Timberlake, who (to my eyes/ears) has no charisma, no presence, not much of anything, except a kind of "good sport" attitude that gets him return visits to a floundering SNL to perform in embarrassing skits (like last night--again). His casting as Napster's Sean Parker seems like an in-joke, since he gets to say things about screwing over the music companies, ha ha ha ha. But I never believed Timberlake as Parker, who by all accounts is a very complex character who probably deserves a movie biopic of his own.

[mfunk9786]

Bill Maher crowned The Kings Speech as the winner of the Academy Awards last night -- "why bother having the Oscars at all?" --, congratulated the British, and said, "unless someone in America is making a movie where Meryl Streep teaches Anne Frank how to box, we give up."

It was funny, until I remembered this was the guy who brought Billy Bob Thornton on his show to talk about the music business, and fawned all over Ron Howard when he made an appearance.

I think it may be easy to misconstrue this post as implying that Maher has seen the film or has any opinion on it. I just caught up on the episode and it was merely a joke about it having all the pieces of a dry, Oscar-baiting British royalty film.

[domino harvey]

But he's hardly been the first to talk the film up. Everything I've heard has set this up as sort of a Million Dollar Baby-type film, in that a completely under the radar pic comes out of nowhere and swoops ahead of the pack the moment it starts getting screened for audiences

[Dr Amicus]

The reviews have been quite remarkable for a film that sounds frankly worthy but dull. I bet the London Film Festival is missing it about now (unless it's the surprise film).

Just from a couple of reviews, I'd suggest Michael Gambon as a potential Supporting Actor nominee - I would think this is pretty much guaranteed at the BAFTAs (who might elevate Rush alongside Firth as lead), but it must surely be a possibility at the Oscars. Unless that is his role is even shorter than Judi Dench's in Shakespeare in Love.

[Duncan Hopper]

The reviews have been quite remarkable for a film that sounds frankly worthy but dull. I bet the London Film Festival is missing it about now (unless it's the surprise film).

Not really, its showing three times, Its the main sponsor American Express' Gala screening..

[colinr0380]

Calling all current and potential Monarchs! Is your country sinking into debt? Need a quick loan to tide you over in preparation for a devastating war? Reach for American Express!

But don't go too far overdrawn on your account - our stiff penalties and high rates of interest may trigger an abdication crisis in an attempt to escape from your repayment obligations!

[Dr Amicus]

The reviews have been quite remarkable for a film that sounds frankly worthy but dull. I bet the London Film Festival is missing it about now (unless it's the surprise film).

Not really, its showing three times, Its the main sponsor American Express' Gala screening.

Serves me right for misremembering a Guardian article...

And it's not as if the programme isn't by my chair at this very moment ](*,)

[Matt]

The Oscar submissions for best Foreign Film have been announced:

Albania, "East, West, East," Gjergj Xhuvani, director
Algeria, "Hors la Loi" ("Outside the Law"), Rachid Bouchareb, director
Argentina, "Carancho," Pablo Trapero, director
Austria, "La Pivellina," Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, directors
Azerbaijan, "The Precinct," Ilgar Safat, director
Bangladesh, "Third Person Singular Number," Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director
Belgium, "Illegal," Olivier Masset-Depasse, director
Bosnia and Herzegovina, "Circus Columbia," Danis Tanovic, director
Brazil, "Lula, the Son of Brazil," Fabio Barreto, director
Bulgaria, "Eastern Plays," Kamen Kalev, director
Canada, "Incendies," Denis Villeneuve, director
Chile, "The Life of Fish," Matias Bize, director
China, "Aftershock," Feng Xiaogang, director
Colombia, "Crab Trap," Oscar Ruiz Navia, director
Costa Rica, "Of Love and Other Demons," Hilda Hidalgo, director
Croatia, "The Blacks," Goran Devic and Zvonimir Juric, directors
Czech Republic, "Kawasaki's Rose," Jan Hrebejk, director
Denmark, "In a Better World," Susanne Bier, director
Egypt, "Messages from the Sea," Daoud Abdel Sayed, director
Estonia, "The Temptation of St. Tony," Veiko Ounpuu, director
Ethiopia, "The Athlete," Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew, directors
Finland, "Steam of Life," Joonas Berghall and Mika Hotakainen, directors
France, "Of Gods and Men," Xavier Beauvois, director
Georgia, "Street Days," Levan Koguashvili, director
Germany, "When We Leave," Feo Aladag, director
Greece, "Dogtooth," Yorgos Lanthimos, director
Greenland, "Nuummioq," Otto Rosing and Torben Bech, directors
Hong Kong, "Echoes of the Rainbow," Alex Law, director
Hungary, "Bibliotheque Pascal," Szabolcs Hajdu, director
Iceland, "Mamma Gogo," Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, director
India, "Peepli [Live]," Anusha Rizvi, director
Indonesia, "How Funny (Our Country Is)," Deddy Mizwar, director
Iran, "Farewell Baghdad," Mehdi Naderi, director
Iraq, "Son of Babylon," Mohamed Al-Daradji, director
Israel, "The Human Resources Manager," Eran Riklis, director
Italy, "La Prima Cosa Bella" ("The First Beautiful Thing"), Paolo Virzi, director
Japan, "Confessions," Tetsuya Nakashima, director
Kazakhstan, "Strayed," Akan Satayev, director
Korea, "A Barefoot Dream," Tae-kyun Kim, director
Kyrgyzstan, "The Light Thief," Aktan Arym Kubat, director
Latvia, "Hong Kong Confidential," Maris Martinsons, director
Macedonia, "Mothers," Milcho Manchevski, director
Mexico, "Biutiful," Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, director
Netherlands, "Tirza," Rudolf van den Berg, director
Nicaragua, "La Yuma," Florence Jaugey, director
Norway, "The Angel," Margreth Olin, director
Peru, "Undertow" ("Contracorriente"), Javier Fuentes-Leon, director
Philippines, "Noy," Dondon S. Santos and Rodel Nacianceno, directors
Poland, "All That I Love," Jacek Borcuch, director
Portugal, "To Die Like a Man," Joao Pedro Rodrigues, director
Puerto Rico, "Miente" ("Lie"), Rafael Mercado, director
Romania, "If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle," Florin Serban, director
Russia, "The Edge," Alexey Uchitel, director
Serbia, "Besa," Srdjan Karanovic, director
Slovakia, "Hranica" ("The Border"), Jaroslav Vojtek, director
Slovenia, "9:06," Igor Sterk, director
South Africa, "Life, Above All," Oliver Schmitz, director
Spain, "Tambien la Lluvia" ("Even the Rain"), Iciar Bollain, director
Sweden, "Simple Simon," Andreas Ohman, director
Switzerland, "La Petite Chambre," Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond, directors
Taiwan, "Monga," Chen-zer Niu, director
Thailand, "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives," Apichatpong Weerasethakul, director
Turkey, "Bal" ("Honey"), Semih Kaplanoglu, director
Uruguay, "La Vida Util," Federico Veiroj, director
Venezuela, "Hermano," Marcel Rasquin, director

A little surprised that Canada did not submit Xavier Dolan's Les amours imaginaires/Heartbeats, but what do I know. I haven't seen it or Incendies. EDIT: Okay, Incendies got picked up by Sony Pictures Classics, so it is probably a more likely Oscar winner than the Dolan (not that either will or would actually win).

[swo17]

Was Certified Copy not even eligible because a lot of it's in English and it belongs to the entire world instead of just one lousy country?

[domino harvey]

I think France's submission is based on whichever film wins the Caesar, isn't it?

[Matt]

I think France's submission is based on whichever film wins the Caesar, isn't it?

The César nominations for 2010 have yet to be announced and the ceremony won't be held until the end of February. The César winner and the Oscar submission often match, but it's happenstance when they do.

[Tom Hagen]

I predict the winner shall be whichever film has the most explicit links to WWII/Holocaust/Soviet occupation themes. Oh wait, that's the documentary category.

[eerik]

European Film Award nominations

The Ghost Writer is nominated in almost every category except best actress and cinematographer.

[knives]

Oscar animated feature nominees; only three will make the final list because there wasn't a 16th this year.
Alpha and Omega
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
Despicable Me
The Dreams of Jinsha
How to Train Your Dragon
Idiots and Angels
The Illusionist
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
Megamind
My Dog Tulip
Shrek Forever After
Summer Wars
Tangled
Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue
Toy Story 3

[Duncan Hopper]

European Film Award nominations

The Ghost Writer is nominated in almost every category except best actress and cinematographer.

Considering the wealth of films that came out in 2010, that is an extremely weak list of nominations.

Lebanon, best film? I think not. There also seems to be a bit of a German theme here, are these awards bankrolled by German TV or something?

[Kirkinson]

Oscar animated feature nominees:
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore

Huh. Is this the first time an ostensibly live-action film with lots of CGI has been designated a primarily animated film? It could set an interesting precedent, as something like Avatar is as much an animated film as this. Though I suspect this has more to do with studio lobbying than anything else, like when they try to get lead actors nominated as supporting actors because they think it'll be an easier win. Not that Cats & Dogs ever had a chance.

[willoneill]

Is this the first time an ostensibly live-action film with lots of CGI has been designated a primarily animated film? It could set an interesting precedent, as something like Avatar is as much an animated film as this. Though I suspect this has more to do with studio lobbying than anything else, like when they try to get lead actors nominated as supporting actors because they think it'll be an easier win. Not that Cats & Dogs ever had a chance.

Or it could be the Studio (Warners, in this case), trying to get as many films to qualify to increase the number of nominees from 3 to 5, increasing their chance at a nomination (for that owls movie, I would guess). I remember reading last year that Disney was considering giving one of their Tinkerbell straight-to-video releases a one-week qualifying run just to make sure there were enough qualifying animated films for 5 nominees.

[Cinephrenic]

Jean-Luc Godard: Honorary Oscar Meant 'Nothing' To Me

Hail to the maestro!

[mfunk9786]

Once he shuts up about it, I might believe it. He is really being an ungrateful ass at this point.

[Zinoviev]

To be fair, I think he has shut up about it. The NZZ interview that all the sources are still pulling quotes from was published ten days ago.

[tavernier]

The comments below the article are typically priceless (and clueless).

[Zinoviev]

Yeah, the comments are car-wreck fascinating. Who would have thought that Godard's refusal to accept an honorary Oscar would have struck such a resounding chord with jingoists and knee-jerk patriots. It's almost as if these commenters are personally offended. My "favorite" quote: Yeah dude, watching foreign films don't make you freakin' Yoda!

[antnield]

The longlist for Best Documentary Feature Oscar announced: link!

[Duncan Hopper]

No love for Errol Morris? I thought 'Tabloid' was excellent, far better than 'The Tillman Story'.

[kaujot]

They gave him his Oscar; they can go back to ignoring him now.