Awards Season 2011

[matrixschmatrix]

I think it's reasonable to put it in your list if it was theatrically released for the first time in your country that year- I mean, Certified Copy came out in 2008, but to me it's a 2011 film because that's when it came out here. That gap is bigger for A Brighter Summer Day, but it's the same principle.

[Brian C]

Agreed. Rosenbaum used to make this point with every year-end list he published in the Chicago Reader - that it was pointless to list movies that had not played in Chicago, because his readers had no chance to see them. A corollary of that is that he couldn't possibly see every movie released internationally in any given year anyway, so pretending to be comprehensive was just self-indulgent posturing.

On the other hand, Rosenbaum's also up front about not having just one year-end list, and submitting different lists to different publications.

[Jeff]

Here are the films deemed eligible for the main categories at The Academy Awards this year.

[hearthesilence]

Chipwrecked? Jesus, they made a third Alvin & the Chipmunks movie??

[mfunk9786]

Why not? They're for little kids - might as well give them more of what they've established that they want.

[hearthesilence]

Are there that many kids who really like the Chipmunks that much? To be fair, I watched one of their crappy shows as a kid, but only because it was on in the morning or before/after school (like dozens of other crappy shows that I watched at the time). I wasn't exactly traumatized when they yanked every last bit of them off the air, and I don't remember any of the other kids getting excited over them, much less buying or wearing any of their merch.

I don't know, I'm not a parent but I wonder if families just go to these things because it's the only familiar (sadly, important), safe-as-milk junk that's in the theater.

[Matt]

Kids will watch any old crap, same as it ever was. The first and second movies made $217 million and $219 million, respectively. That's a lot of money. Given the soft opening of the new one ($23 million vs. the second movie's $48 million), though, it could be the last. And then some other junk will come along to take its place.

[mfunk9786]

I don't know that it's worth directing anti-Hollywood anger at films made for preschool-aged kids.

[hearthesilence]

Jesus, $220 million? It's more than just preschoolers watching those films. Anyway, people used to complain about Transformers - that was just a TV show (or rather 30-minute commercial) for kids too, but look at the impact its success has had on the current business model with Hollywood studios.

[tavernier]

Black Film Critics Circle award winners

Best Picture - THE HELP

Best Director - Dee Rees for PARIAH

Best Actor - Olivier Litondo for THE FIRST GRADER

Best Actress - Viola Davis for THE HELP

Best Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks for DRIVE

Best Supporting Actress - Octavia Spencer for THE HELP

Best Independent Film - PARIAH

Best Original Screenplay - Dee Rees for PARIAH

Best Adapted Screenplay - Tate Taylor for THE HELP

Best Documentary - BEING ELMO: A Puppeteer's Journey

Best Foreign Film - LIFE, ABOVE ALL

Best Animated Film - RANGO

Best Ensemble - THE HELP

[mfunk9786]

Wow, that Albert Brooks win is about as random as it gets.

[domino harvey]

Wow, that Albert Brooks win is about as random as it gets.

They probably remember this

[hearthesilence]

The Village Voice poll (and the last major poll of the year).

Another win for The Tree of Life, a few differences of opinion (compared to other polls) in terms of what qualifies as a lead role vs. a supporting role and Shannon actually runs away with the Best Actor race.

[colinr0380]

Kids will watch any old crap, same as it ever was. The first and second movies made $217 million and $219 million, respectively. That's a lot of money. Given the soft opening of the new one ($23 million vs. the second movie's $48 million), though, it could be the last. And then some other junk will come along to take its place.

Does that mean there's an opening for a Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds film? In the irritating theme tune stakes it has to be running the Chipmunks a close second.

[Jeff]

The Academy has released a list of the 97 scores eligible for consideration in that category. Cliff Martinez's excellent score for Drive and The Basement Jaxx on Attack the Block got the shaft. Rooting for the Chemical Brothers and Reznor/Ross now.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Rooting for the Chemical Brothers and Reznor/Ross now.

Would the latter score even win again? They already have an Oscar for Social Network. It'd be great if they won again because this score is even better. It certainly filled out moments in the film where the acting and directing felt too slack for me. I love the Hanna score, but it seems like it wouldn't get a nod.

[mfunk9786]

The directing felt slack to you in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?! Did we see the same film? David Fincher has been accused of quite a few things, but letting his direction slip into feeling slack has never been one I've heard.

[Anhedionisiac]

Yeah, Jean-Luc Garbo. I had quite a few problems with TGWTDT but they all stem from how generic the source material is. It's understandable that a lackluster story should make everything else feel boring but I think the directing and acting (mind you, it's not the actors' fault if the characters leave a lot to be desired) is about as top-notch as you can get.

[kinjitsu]

PGA Award Nominees

[lacritfan]

Writers Guild Awards nominees - Pretty weak IMO

[matrixschmatrix]

Haha, did they really nominate an episode from the most recent season of Dexter for an award based on the quality of its screenplay?

[Matt]

Have they always given separate awards for overall show and single episode of a show? I guess that makes sense, since most other awards are also for single episodes but give the impression that it's for the overall show, but I never noticed it before.

[eerik]

For what it's worth, Estonian film journalists' top ten films released theatrically in Estonia last year:
1. Melancholia
2.-3. Winter's Bone / Le Havre
4. Exit Through the Gift Shop
5. The Artist
6.-7. Drive / Biutiful
8.-9. Black Swan / The Tree of Life
10. The King's Speech

[Jeff]

The National Society of Film Critics made great choices in each category:

BEST ACTOR
*1. Brad Pitt – 35 (Moneyball, The Tree of Life)
2. Gary Oldman – 22 (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
3. Jean Dujardin – 19 (The Artist)

BEST ACTRESS
*1. Kirsten Dunst – 39 (Melancholia)
2. Yun Jung-hee – 25 (Poetry)
3. Meryl Streep – 20 (The Iron Lady)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
*1. Albert Brooks – 38 (Drive)
2. Christopher Plummer – 24 (Beginners)
3. Patton Oswalt – 19 (Young Adult)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
*1. Jessica Chastain – 30 (The Tree of Life, Take Shelter, The Help)
2. Jeannie Berlin – 19 (Margaret)
3. Shailene Woodley – 17 (The Descendants)

BEST PICTURE
*1. Melancholia – 29 (Lars von Trier)
2. The Tree of Life – 28 (Terrence Malick)
3. A Separation – 20 (Asghar Farhadi)

BEST DIRECTOR
*1. Terrence Malick – 31 (The Tree of Life)
2. Martin Scorsese – 29 (Hugo)
3. Lars von Trier – 23 (Melancholia)

BEST NONFICTION
*1. Cave of Forgotten Dreams – 35 (Werner Herzog)
2. The Interrupters – 26 (Steve James)
3. Into the Abyss – 18 (Werner Herzog)

BEST SCREENPLAY
*1. A Separation – 39 (Asghar Farhadi)
2. Moneyball – 22 (Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin)
3. Midnight in Paris – 16 (Woody Allen)

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
*1. A Separation – 67 (Asghar Farhadi)
2. Mysteries of Lisbon – 28 (Raoul Ruiz)
3. Le Havre – 22 (Aki Kaurismäki)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
*1. The Tree of Life – 76 (Emanuel Lubezki)
2. Melancholia – 41 (Manuel Alberto Claro)
3. Hugo – 33 (Robert Richardson)

EXPERIMENTAL
Ken Jacobs, for “Seeking the Monkey King.”

FILM HERITAGE
1. BAMcinématek for its complete Vincente Minnelli retrospective with all titles shown on 16 mm. or 35 mm. film.
2. Lobster Films, Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema and the Technicolor Foundation for Cinema for the restoration of the color version of George Méliès’s “A Trip to the Moon.”
3. New York’s Museum of Modern Art for its extensive retrospective of Weimar Cinema.
4. Flicker Alley for their box set “Landmarks of Early Soviet Film.”
5. Criterion Collecton for its 2-disc DVD package “The Complete Jean Vigo.”

[matrixschmatrix]

Nice to see the BAM getting some recognition. I'm surprised they awarded Plummer for his work in Beginners with no mention of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, too.