Awards Season 2006

[Jeff]

The fifteen contenders for best documentary feature have been announced:

“Blindsightâ€

[zedz]

[quote="Jeff"]The fifteen contenders for best documentary feature have been announced:

“Blindsightâ€

[portnoy]

I would be ecstatic if Sisters in Law won - but it has no shot. Also happy to see The War Tapes and The Trials of Darryl Hunt there, if only because the films were made by, respectively, a grad student and two alums of my alma mater.

[Matt]

Independent Spirit noms have been announced.

FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
"American Gun," Ted Kroeber, producer
"The Dead Girl," Tom Rosenberg, Henry Winterstern, Gary Lucchesi, Richard Wright, Eric Karten, Kevin Turen, producers
"Half Nelson," Jamie Patricof, Alex Orlovsky, Lynette Howell, Anna Boden, Rosanne Korenberg, producers
"Little Miss Sunshine," Marc Turtletaub, David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, producers
"Pan's Labyrinth," Bertha Navarro, Alfonso Cuaron, Frida Torresblanco, Alvaro Augustin, Guillermo Del Toro, producers

FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
"Day Night Day Night," Julia Loktev, director; Julia Loktev, Melanie Judd, Jessica Levin, producers
"Man Push Cart," Ramin Bahrani, director; Ramin Bahrani, Pradip Ghosh, Bedford T. Bentley III, producers
"The Motel," Michael Kang, director; Matthew Greenfield, Miguel Arteta, Gina Kwon, Karin Chien, producers
"Sweet Land," Ali Selim, director; Alan Cumming, James Bigham, Ali Selim, producers
"Wristcutters: A Love Story," Goran Dukic, director; Adam Sherman, Chris Coen, Tatiana Kelly, Mikal P. Lazarev, producers

DIRECTOR
Robert Altman, "A Prairie Home Companion"
Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris, "Little Miss Sunshine"
Ryan Fleck, "Half Nelson"
Karen Moncrieff, "The Dead Girl"
Steven Soderbergh, "Bubble"

MALE LEAD
Aaron Eckhart, "Thank You For Smoking"
Ryan Gosling, "Half Nelson"
Edward Norton, "The Painted Veil"
Ahmad Razvi, "Man Push Cart"
Forest Whitaker, "American Gun"

FEMALE LEAD
Shareeka Epps, "Half Nelson"
Catherine O'Hara, "For Your Consideration"
Elizabeth Reaser, "Sweet Land"
Michelle Williams, "Land of Plenty"
Robin Wright Penn, "Sorry, Haters"

SUPPORTING MALE
Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine"
Raymond J. Barry, "Steel City"
Daniel Craig, "Infamous"
Paul Dano, "Little Miss Sunshine"
Channing Tatum, "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints"

SUPPORTING FEMALE
Melonie Diaz, "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints"
Marcia Gay Harden, "American Gun"
Mary Beth Hurt, "The Dead Girl"
Frances McDormand, "Friends with Money"
Amber Tamblyn, "Stephanie Daley"

SCREENPLAY
Neil Burger, "The Illusionist"
Nicole Holofcener, "Friends with Money"
Ron Nyswaner, "The Painted Veil"
Jason Reitman, "Thank You For Smoking"
Jeff Stanzler, "Sorry, Haters"

FIRST SCREENPLAY
Michael Arndt, "Little Miss Sunshine"
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, "Half Nelson"
Goran Dukic, "Wristcutters: A Love Story"
Dito Montiel, "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints"
Gabrielle Zevin, "Conversations with Other Women"

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Arin Crumley, "Four Eyed Monsters"
Anthony Dod Mantle, "Brothers of the Head"
Guillermo Navarro, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Aaron Platt, "Wild Tigers I Have Known"
Michael Simmonds, "Man Push Cart"

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
"Chalk," Mike Akel, director; Mike Akel, Angela Alvarez, Graham Davidson, Chris Mass, producers; Chris Mass & Mike Akel, writers
"Four Eyed Monsters," Arin Crumley & Susan Buice, writer/director/producers
"Old Joy," Kelly Reichardt, director; Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy, Anish Savjani, Neil Kopp, producers; Jon Raymond & Kelly Reichardt, writers
"Quinceanera," Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland, writer/directors; Anne Clements, producer
"Twelve and Holding," Michael Cuesta, director; Leslie Urdang, Michael Cuesta, Brian Bell, Jenny Schweitzer, producers; Anthony S. Cipriano, writer

DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
"A Lion in the House," Steven Bognar & Julia Reichert, directors
"My Country, My Country," Laura Poitras, director
"The Road to Guantanamo," Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross, directors
"The Trials of Darryl Hunt," Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern, directors
"You're Gonna Miss Me," Keven McAlester, director

FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
"12:08 East of Bucharest," (Romania); Corneliu Porumboiu, director
"The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros," (Philippines); Auraeus Solito, director
"Chronicle of an Escape," (Argentina); Israel Adrian Caetano, director
"Days of Glory," (France/Morocco/Algeria/Belgium); Rachid Bouchareb, director
"The Lives of Others," (Germany); Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, director

SPECIAL DISTINCTION AWARD
David Lynch, Laura Dern

[Jeff]

Go Half Nelson! Maybe if Ryan Gosling gets some attention here, it will help his longshot status at an Oscar nom. His was by far my favorite performance of the year.

[Antoine Doinel]

I totally agree. Half Nelson was a great, great film and I too would love to see Gosling take home the statue. His performance was phenomenal.

[portnoy]

FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
"Day Night Day Night," Julia Loktev, director; Julia Loktev, Melanie Judd, Jessica Levin, producers

This news pretty much made my week. I love love love this movie and have tremendous expectations that Loktev could become a major American filmmaker. It feels great to see a movie I've championed for a while start to get some recognition.

[Roger_Thornhill]

As much as I hate Little Miss Sunshine Alan Arkin was hilarious in it and I wouldn't be surprised if he won.

Spoiler

It's too bad they killed him off half-way through it.

[marty]

Why wasn't the best film of the year, Old Joy, not nominated in the Best Film category?

[Brian Oblivious]

Seemingly, if you don't spend at least $500,000 on your film, it's ineligible for all other categories. Kids table only, please. Wonder what Cassavetes would think.

[Matt]

Go Half Nelson! Maybe if Ryan Gosling gets some attention here, it will help his longshot status at an Oscar nom. His was by far my favorite performance of the year.

I think it's almost guaranteed at this point that he will get nominated. He's going to sweep all the critic's awards, there's always that one slot for the up-and-comer who just acts his/her ass off in an indie movie (see Hilary Swank,Terrence Howard, and Charlize Theron), and there is not much competition in this category this year (with the exception of Forest Whitaker and Peter O'Toole - who will have a campaign mounted on his behalf by the new Miramax that will make everything the Weinsteins pulled out of their asses when they ran they company look like kids' stuff [despite the fact that ol' Pete looks like the Puppetmaster on the poster for the film]). Leo and Matt are sure to get nominated for either The Departed or (much less likely) for their other big roles this year (Blood Diamond and The Good Shepherd). Possibly Will Smith if his movie does well. .

[Jeff]

I hope you're right, Matt. Gosling's chances do seem to be improving as the year goes on. I think Whitaker, O'Toole, Smith, and DiCaprio (The Departed) are locks. Critics and Oscar pundits who have seen Smith's film are already praising his performance in what looks like shmaltzy claptrap to me. I think Damon, Clooney, and Gosling will duke it out for the last slot.

[Matt]

I think Damon, Clooney, and Gosling will duke it out for the last slot.

Clooney's not in the running. Word on the street is that The Good German is a much unloved film.

[Barmy]

Can't we just give EVERYTHING to Dreamgirls and call it a night?

[Andre Jurieu]

Possibly Will Smith if his movie does well.

Critics and Oscar pundits who have seen Smith's film are already praising his performance...

Seriously? That trailer makes the movie look awful on so many levels.

...in what looks like shmaltzy claptrap to me.

Agreed.

I do think Matt is correct regarding Gossling's chances. He does appear to be getting a great deal of acclaim and his competition is pretty weak this year.

[John Cope]

In regards to Gosling, why wasn't there this kind of concentrated effort to get him recognized three or four years ago for The Believer? That's one of the finest performances I've ever seen.

[Andre Jurieu]

In regards to Gosling, why wasn't there this kind of concentrated effort to get him recognized three or four years ago for The Believer? That's one of the finest performances I've ever seen.

No matter how good his performance is in The Believer, it's a pretty tough film to market to the Academy given its premise. Hell, it's a pretty tough film to market to anyone given its premise.

[Matt]

In regards to Gosling, why wasn't there this kind of concentrated effort to get him recognized three or four years ago for The Believer? That's one of the finest performances I've ever seen.

There was, but the film was a hard sell for the Oscar voters (read: old people) and, for some reason, the Academy loves to give Oscars to young women who give great performances in their first or one of their first major "acting" roles (see again Hilary Swank and Charlize Theron), but seems to expect young male actors to pay their dues for a while. Gosling in 2002, having only been familiar (if at all) from Young Hercules and the star-making Mickey Mouse Club (the same one with Keri Russell, Justin, Britney, and Xtina), was just too unknown.

A sociologist actually looked at the statistics for the Oscars and found that the average age of male acting nominees is 52.2 and the average age of female nominees is 39.5. Now, obviously, this has something to do with the kinds of roles available for men of a certain age versus those for women of a certain age, but the numbers are what they are.

[colinr0380]

Are you suggesting that the voting is dominated by older men who have a fancy for the most beautiful young actresses, rather than based purely on the performance? (If you aren't, I think I am!) Jack Nicholson can't be the only academy voter responsible for skewing the voting that much - can he?

[Matt]

Are you suggesting that the voting is dominated by older men who have a fancy for the most beautiful young actresses, rather than based purely on the performance?

Well, that would imply that I think those women who have won the award haven't deserved it based on their performances. And except for Reese Witherspoon (who should have won it for Legally Blonde and not for the brow-wrinkling she did in Walk The Line), I don't think that's the case. Oh, and Angelina Jolie, who beat these performances (each one way more deserving):

Being John Malkovich - Catherine Keener
Boys Don't Cry - Chloë Sevigny
The Sixth Sense - Toni Collette
Sweet and Lowdown - Samantha Morton

Had she been eligible for Gia, though, she totally should have won.

[filmnoir1]

I believe that Will Smith will win best actor in a runaway fashion. He is the only legitimate star left today in Hollywood. He has not yet made a film that has not made 100 million dollars. Plus his performance in Ali was quite good. I am pulling for him to win best actor and for Winslet to win best actress.
As for film I think the nominees will be Dreamgirls, Flags of our Fathers, Babel, The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine.

[exte]

Am I the only one who thinks Little Miss Sunshine is overblown? Only the climax is befitting of all the praise it's getting...

[Poncho Punch]

I believe that Will Smith will win best actor in a runaway fashion. He is the only legitimate star left today in Hollywood. He has not yet made a film that has not made 100 million dollars. Plus his performance in Ali was quite good. I am pulling for him to win best actor and for Winslet to win best actress.
As for film I think the nominees will be Dreamgirls, Flags of our Fathers, Babel, The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine.

Neither Ali, The Legend Of Bagger Vance, nor Six Degrees Of Separation made more than $100M.

[marty]

I predict an Oscar nom for Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls. The reviews so far have claimed he is the best thing in it and it is, by far, his best work. I think it would be great if he gets an Oscar and Goldern Globe nod.

[exte]

Eddie's never really attempted hard drama before, right?