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Drive has been chose by Spanish critics as the best foreign film of the year. Since it's very late release 28th december, it's an instant cult film here. No habrá paz para los malvados (a thriller) was best Spanish film.

Nominations to French Cesars (The Artist seems the fav, merde) I expect Drive will win.

Here are the BAFTA results from Sunday. The Artist swept the board (with even Dujardin beating Gary Oldman to Best Actor); Meryl Streep got Best Actress for The Iron Lady; The Skin I Live In won Best Foreign Language (over A Separation); Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy got Adapted Screenplay and Best British Film; and Tyrannosaur Best British debut film.

I decided to make an effort to see the Academy Awards choices for Best Edited Feature as this is the only category for which I have grudging respect. Then I saw the list:

The Artist, Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants, Kevin Tent
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
Hugo, Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball, Christopher Tellefsen

I found nothing remarkable about Tent's work on The Desendants, except that he tailored George Clooney's performance to the film fairly well (Was that his real job, anyway?).

I'm curious to see what Schoonmaker does with Hugo and The Artist is my must see of the season (well, next to The Turin Horse, of course). With the others I'll trust my instincts and wait for the DVD.

ando wrote:...I found nothing remarkable about Tent's work on The Desendants, except that he tailored George Clooney's performance to the film fairly well (Was that his real job, anyway?) ...

What I found remarkable was the old-fashioned wipe that was used just once to denote the passage of time. It was used correctly, but seemed completely out-of-place in such a naturalistic film. Apart from this one instance, THE DESCENDANTS is the very model of unobtrusive "invisible" editing.

Invisible to whom, Sir? Much of what I remember being disgruntled with were the "location" shots. They litter the film. Dull as a virtual postcard.

But I found the wipe charming, too.

One of my favorite columns of the year, Kristopher Tapley has chosen his top 10 shots of 2011:

Part One
Part Two

You're right, that is a great column. Somehow I've missed it in previous years, so thanks for pointing it out.

ando wrote:Invisible to whom, Sir? Much of what I remember being disgruntled with were the "location" shots. They litter the film. Dull as a virtual postcard.

But I found the wipe charming, too.

Oh, I'm not talking about the editorial choice of which shots to include, just that the transitions between set-ups or juxtaposition of shots don't draw attention to themselves. Something like THE TREE OF LIFE is the exact opposite of the "invisible" approach in that the viewer is always conscious of two shots being edited together. With a filmmaker like Terrence Malick this is not really a problem as it becomes part of what makes his type of films enjoyable. Less appealing are the crazy speed rampings, freeze-frames, quick-cut montages or wide-shot to extreme close-up "shock" edits when it does nothing to enhance the story or a point-of-view.

I realized you were talking about transitions, but location shots are often used to bridge scenes in the film. Characters walking into an opening shot is one thing. But establishing a change of locale with an isolated "scenic" shot is equivalent to the literary "Once upon a time..." or "Meanwhile, back in Oz...", etc. To use it repeatedly is most tiresome.

mfunk9786 wrote:One of my favorite columns of the year, Kristopher Tapley has chosen his top 10 shots of 2011:

Part One
Part Two

Thanks for these links. Nice to see the final shot of my #1 movie of the year get the recognition it deserves.

Boring Goyas night has just finished in Madrid. Jesus, each year is more boring and boring.
No habrá paz para los malvados wins 6. The skin I live in loses but Elena Anaya was named best actress. It has won other (music, make up, Best new actor)
Blackthorn and Eva wins secondary awards.

Isabel Coixet's documentary Listening to Judge Garzón, best doc.

Salma Hayek, Daniel Bruhl were losers. But she's married to the richest Frenchman, that's the big prize.

Of course The artist was the best European films (lol, and lol, and again lol)

I’m Getting Bitten By The Oscar Bug…AGAIN!

While I love the book The Giving Tree, I was scared away from the Terrence Malbec movie version after hearing from a lot of people that it was very long.

Kids reenact the Best Picture nominees: Part 1 and Part 2

What's that Tree of Life music piece called?

That was legitimately better than all of the best pic noms

IFC Spirit Awards

Film: the Artist
Director: the Artist
First Feature: Margin Call
International Film: A Separation
Actress: Michelle Williams
Actor: Jean Dujardin
Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley
Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer
Screenplay: the Descendants
First Screenplay: 50/50
Cinematography: the Artist
Producer's Award: Take Shelter
Documentary: the Interrupters
John Cassavetes Award: Pariah

Cesar Awards

Picture: The Artist
Actor: Omar Sy, Intouchables
Actress: Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Supporting Actor: Michel Blanc, The Minister
Supporting Actress: Carmen Maura, The Women on the 6th Floor
Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Original screenplay: Pierre Schoeller, The Minister
Adapted screenplay: Roman Polanski and Yasmina Reza, Carnage
Cinematography: Guillaume Schiffman, The Artist
Musical score: Ludovic Bource, The Artist
Editing: Poliss
Sound: The Minister
Costume Design: House of Tolerance
Production Design: The Artist
Foreign film: A Separation
Documentary: Tous au Larzac
Most promising actress: Nadira Ayadi, Poliss and Clotilde Hesme, Angele and Tony (tie)
Most promising actor: Gregory Gadebois, Angele and Tony
First film: When Pigs Have Wings
Animated film:The Rabbi's Cat
Best Short Film: L'Accordeur
Honorary César: Kate Winslet

Nice to see Bejo finally win!

So, Mr.Plummer will win an Oscar for being old and kissing a man in a bad TV movie! Is that acting?

The Artist's memoirs: How to write a script and becoming rich using Wikipedia. Amazing. Joan Crawford, John Gilbert or von Stroheim must be shivering on their graves.

A French noir man wins Le Cesar for a film that has made 240 million dollars only in France and Germany and other 2 territories. Be quiet, Americans, Weinstein bros. have bought the film, Untouchables, and Signor Berlusconi has announced an Italian remake.

Super sexy Jean Dujardin a perdú. Trop mal.

Que.

Quoi?

This is great. Spielberg watches the nomination announcements in 1976. This must have been the greatest best picture lineup ever: Nashville, Dog Day Afternoon, Barry Lyndon, One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest, and Jaws. Four of the five nominations matched for best director with Fellini and Amarcord taking Spielberg's spot. They also got shut out in the screenplay and special effects categories, with Spielberg and his team clearly a little bitter. Barely 29 at the time, he is confident -- even cocky -- at the beginning of the video, sure that they are going to sweep with eleven nominations. They got four.

With the bloody crisis worldwide, my grandmother dying and my nervious breakdown, this night, watching ilegally on streaming will be more than a need of show and evasion for me.
Sorry guys for the Off topic.

So nothing for Tree of Life then...

So Hugo wins the first two Oscars, for Cinematography and Art Direction. The former is actually quite a surprise to me - maybe the support for The Artist isn't as deep as expected.

I think with its widely-acclaimed use of 3-D, the Hugo win was a no-brainer. Any hopes of Malick's film winning anything just went poof, though-- I'll admit though, two out of the gate could spell upset