Awards Season 2011

[lacritfan]

Fuck. I woulda killed to see James Earl Jones receive an honorary Oscar. You suck Academy.

[eerik]

Gervais returns.

[Jeff]

The Academy has released their shortlist of 15 docs being considered for the best documentary feature category. Both of Herzog's 2011 films got the shaft, as did Tabloid, Senna, and The Interrupters. I think Wiseman's last two films are considered 2010 and 2012 releases. Here are the films that made the cut:

Battle for Brooklyn
Bill Cunningham New York
Buck
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Jane's Journey
The Loving Story
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Project Nim
Semper Fi: Always Faithful
Sing Your Song
Undefeated
Under Fire: Journalists in Combat
We Were Here

[domino harvey]

Hilarious

[tarpilot]

Aww, and just one year after they built up so much goodwill by snubbing Waiting for Superman

[The Narrator Returns]

The Academy has released their shortlist of 15 docs being considered for the best documentary feature category. Both of Herzog's 2011 films got the shaft, as did Tabloid, Senna, and The Interrupters. I think Wiseman's last two films are considered 2010 and 2012 releases. Here are the films that made the cut:

Battle for Brooklyn
Bill Cunningham New York
Buck
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Jane's Journey
The Loving Story
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Project Nim
Semper Fi: Always Faithful
Sing Your Song
Undefeated
Under Fire: Journalists in Combat
We Were Here

No surprises there. The Best Documentary section is notorious for making the wrong decisions, with the all-time worst being the back-to-back snubs of Crumb and Hoop Dreams.

[Brian C]

I don't mind that The Cave of Forgotten Dreams or even Tabloid didn't make the cut, since both of those are the weakest works by their respective directors in some time, but Into the Abyss is Herzog's best since Grizzly Man. It's really too bad it got ignored, and surprising too, since it seems like it features the kind of subject matter that the Academy would go out of its way to include.

[domino harvey]

Gold Derby's already got it's "expert" predix up for six of the Oscar categories. Some surprise mass-consensus going on (Clooney for Best Actor) already

[tavernier]

Jesus, I did not want to see what those "experts" look like.

[mfunk9786]

In a perfect world, Joe Wright, Nicolas Winding Refn and of course Lars von Trier would snag Best Director nods this year

[knives]

If just for showing restraint I would think von Trier, but that's a bigger no chance.

[lacritfan]

New York Film Critics Circle move up their awards date to Nov. 28

New York Film Critics Circle push back vote in order to see Dragon Tattoo

[domino harvey]

Gotham Awards

Best Feature: TIE "The Tree Of Life" by Terrence Malick and "Beginners" by Mike Mills

Best Documentary: "Better This World" directed by Kelly Duane and Katie Galloway

Best Ensemble Performance: "Beginners"

Breakthrough Director Dee Rees for "Pariah"

Breakthrough Actor Felicity Jones in "Like Crazy"

Best Film Not Playing At A Theater Near You "Scenes From A Crime" directed by Blue Hadaegh and Grover Babcock

Audience Awards "Girlfriend" directed by Justin Lerner

Very nice and well-deserved wins for Beginners

[Jeff]

The New York Film Critics Circle is live tweeting their awards this morning.

[Alan Smithee]

Even after this win I still have little to no desire to see The Artist.

[Jeff]

New York Film Critics Circle:

Best Picture: “The Artist”
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius for “The Artist”
Best Screenplay: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin for “Moneyball”
Best Actor: Brad Pitt for “Moneyball,” and “Tree of Life”
Best Actress: Meryl Streep for “The Iron Lady”
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks for “Drive”
Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain for Tree of Life, The Help and Take Shelter
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for “Tree of Life”
Best First Feature: Margin Call
Best Documentary: Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation

Independent Spirit Awards Nominations:

Best Feature:
50/50
Beginners
Drive
Take Shelter
The Artist
The Descendants

Best Director:
Mike Mills (Beginners)
Nicholas W Refn ( Drive)
Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter)
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Alexander Payne (The Descendants)

Robert Altman Award for one film’s director, casting director and ensemble: Margin Call

Best Int’l Film:
A Separation
Melancholia
Shame
The Kid With a Bike
Tyrannosaur

Best Male Lead:
Demian Bichir (A Better Life)
Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
Ryan Gosling (Drive)
Woody Harrelson (Rampart)
Michael Shannon (Take Shelter)

Best Female Lead:
Lauren Ambrose (Think of Me)
Rachel Harris (Natural Selection)
Adepero Oduye (Pariah)
Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

Best Supp Male:
Albert Brooks (Drive)
John Hawkes (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
John C. Reilly (Cedar Rapids)
Corey Stoll (Midnight in Paris)

Best Supp. Female:
Jessica Chastain (Take Shelter)
Angelica Huston (50/50)
Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)
Harmony Santana (Gun Hll Road)
Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

Best Doc:
An African Selection
Bill Cunningham New York
The Interrupters
The Redemption of General Butt Naked,
We Were Here

Best Screenplay:
Joseph Cedar (FootNote)
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Tom McCarthy (Win Win))
Mike Mills (Beginners)
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash (The Descendants)

Best 1st Screenplay:
Mike Cahill & Brit Marling (Another Earth)
J.C. Chandor (Margin Call)
Patrick DeWitt (terri)
Phil Johnston (Cedar Rapids)
Will Reiser (50/50)

Best Cinematography:
Joel Hodge (Bellflower)
Benjamin Kasulke (The Off Hours)
Darius Khondji (Midnight in Paris)
Guillaume Schiffman Shiffman (The Artist)
Jeffrey Waldron (The Dynamiter)

John Cassavetes Award (films made for under $500,000):
Bellflower
Circumstance,
Hello Lonesome
Pariah
The Dynamiter

Best First Feature noms:
Another Earth
In The Family
Margin Call
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Natural Selection

Compiled by Awards Daily.

[J Adams]

That NYFC list is horrific. This may have been the worst year for new cinema ever.

[rohmerin]

I don't understand the success of Beginners. I found it dreadfull, a very bad TV movie. May be the world is under the syndrome of cable networks such as HBO, but this film is like a long pilot, an empty and boring one. Horrible

[hearthesilence]

That NYFC list is horrific. This may have been the worst year for new cinema ever.

I pretty much threw up in my mouth. Seriously, did those fat men buy these people out too? And the SPIRIT awards? How is The Artist even eligible for that?

If they had to vote for a movie that celebrated filmmaking, the NYFC could've done a LOT better with Hugo. If they wanted to celebrate films that actually mastered silent filmmaking (if only for half a movie), they should've championed Wall*E. Jesus, man, The Fucking Artist?!?! Our standards can't be that low.

[Tom Hagen]

Someone remind me why a circle of film critics year-end awards list is worth getting upset over in the first place? Maybe then we can start discussing whether or not this is, in fact, the worst year in the history of cinema (right after we clear the vomit out of our collective mouths).

[knives]

Melancholia and Drive came out this year so it can't be worst ever (and that's with me not seeing I Wish yet).

[J Adams]

It is definitely the worst year in the history of cinema. I'm not "upset" about the NYFC list. I actually chortled at it. And I have to agree that Beginners was utter crap.

[swo17]

I haven't even seen any of those best feature nominees yet (and I've only seen a handful of the other films nominated) but if you don't think this year (or really any other year) has had its fair share of excellent films, you're simply watching the wrong ones.

[J Adams]

Yes of course there were some excellent films. I just think the number was on the small side. And some of the anointed "best" films like Tree of Life and Drive were, to me, enjoyable and beautiful, but not masterpieces.

[knives]

You also have to consider that many of the great films from this year are completely unknown at this point. We have only the biggest films of the year so far and the great stuff that like Film Movement and other companies usually pick up are still mostly total unknowns.