Look Out, Ole LAMMY, He's Back or: The LAMMY Awards Are Back in Town, and Here's Hopin' I Maybe, Possibly Get One, Yes!?

Well folks, it is that time of year again.  The time of the year where I get snubbed by my peers, and am left cold and nominationless at the LAMMYs.  What are the LAMMYs you ask?  Well, let me tell you.  There is an organization floating around the web, and that organization is called The Large Association of Movie Blogs, or LAMB for short.  Two-and-a-half years ago, I became proud member #678 of this organization.  Now, every year, around the beginnings of Spring, there is a thing called the LAMMYs.  This is our queer little version of the Oscars.  With categories such as Best Movie Reviewer, Best Classic Film Blog, Best New LAMB, Most Knowledgeable (formerly called the Brainiac Award - a much better name if you ask me), Best Horror Blog, Best Design, and the big boy, Best Blog, among others, we LAMBs go about campaigning for votes from our fellow LAMBs.  Or we do nothing, and hope for the best.  Or we just ignore the whole damn thing and go on with our lives.  I personally do the former, and campaign for votes from my fellow LAMBs.  

In years one and two of my eligibility for such awards, I received exactly zero nominations, and thus, no wins at all.   Yes folks, just like Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Tyrone Power, Veronica Lake, Boris Karloff, Ida Lupino and Edward G. Robinson, never having received even a single Oscar nomination throughout their careers, I have never received a LAMMY nod.  Now granted, my career as a LAMMY possibility is only just now in its third year, so perhaps it is not a lost cause after all.  And, giving me even more hope this time around, is the new way of going about nominating this year.  With much more concise rules, and a list of eligibles in each category (as opposed to the 1500+ member free-for-all of past years, where basically only the cool guy clique members got nominations), we hopefuls have a better chance.  Personally, I have submitted myself in five different categories - Best Blog, Best Movie Reviewer, Most Knowledgeable, Best Design, and Best Running Feature, wherein I have two eligible features, my Battle Royale series and My Favourite Things series.  Now I figure Best Blog is probably a no go (the cool kids are still bound to be there), and Best Design would be a fluke nomination (my website is nice-looking, but still quite basic when it comes to web design), and the Running Features category is so stuffed to the gills, it will probably not happen.  The other two though - Reviewer and the old Brainiac award - are the ones I am hopeful about, as well as the ones I consider the highest of honours, so there lie the most desirable of the bunch.

And speaking of campaigning (I did speak of such things earlier - go back and check if you do not believe me) pictured above and to the right, is my FYC banner for this year's LAMMY (and there are some alternately coloured ones below as well).  Past banners (and past pleas) can be viewed here and here.  Now, at this point, if you haven't already dozed off or abandoned me for some other cyberspace shiny object, you are probably wondering how the hell do I vote for this guy!?  Well, unless you are also a LAMB member, you sadly cannot, but all those fellow LAMMYs reading this, well you know what to do.  Voting runs through April 3rd, at the LAMB (all eligible nominees can be found here, and a link to the actual voting booth, as it were, can be found here) and hopefully I can count on your vote, and yada yada yada, and all that jazz.  Yeah, Marilyn, Rita, Karloff and Eddie G. are fine company to be in, but, shallow as it may seem, I think I would rather have me a nomination or two as well.  That'll show 'em.  Here's hopin'.

And the LAMMY Nominations Are Out.....

So here we are again true believers and faithful readers.  The LAMMY nominations have been announced.  This is my second year of eligibility for the awards (voted on by my peers and handed out by the fine folks over at The Large Association of Movie Blogs, aka the LAMB) and this is now also my second year of receiving exactly zero nominations.   Now to be honest, I wasn't really expecting to get any nods (my comments are so disastrously low that sometimes I wonder if anyone at all is even out there reading these damn posts), but still I had some rather high hopes (as can be sen by one of my FYC ads to the left), and I had my eye on at least Best Movie Reviewer and/or the Brainiac Award.  But alas, twas not to be.

Now I am not saying I deserve a nomination ahead of those that did receive them.  Many great sites were nominated.  Duke and the Movies, Garbo Laughs, The Hollywood Revue, Dan the Man's Movie Reviews, Deny Everything, Where Danger Lives, French Toast Sunday and a place I actually do some writing for, Anomalous Material, were all among the nominees, and they are all most deserving of such accolades.  Still though, it would have been nice to be among them.  But I do whole-heartedly congratulate each and every LAMMY nominee.  And meanwhile, I suppose I need to network my site a bit more.  As I parenthetically mentioned above, it seems like no one is out there listening - and that is something I need to change.

I see some of my favourite cinematic sites (Glenn Kenny's Some Came Running, Farran Smith Nehme's Self-Styled Siren, Marilyn Ferdinand's Ferdy on Films, Kim Morgan's Sunset Gun, Stacia over at She Blogged By Night, Dennis Cozzalio's Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule, Rod Heath's This Island Rod) are just lousy with comments - almost as if a community of sorts.  So I suppose my goal for 2012 is to stop my whining and get to that level of followdom.  Then no one will ignore me dammit (insert maniacal laughter here please).  Seriously though, congrats to all the nominees and good luck in the final voting round.  I hope to be joining you next year at this time.

Look Out, The LAMMYs Are Back

Well faithful readers and true believers, as one can see from my Mack the Knife-influenced post title, it's that time of year again.  Time for the annual LAMMYs.  You say you do not know what the LAMMYs are?  Heavens to mergatroid.  Let us remedy that right now.  You see, the LAMMYs are the most coveted of awards.  Right up there with the Oscars and Grammys and Emmys and Tonys.  As of today, no one has ever won all five awards.  No one has ever become a LEGOT.  Anyway, I digress.  What the LAMMYs really are are the annual awards given out at The LAMB, or elongated for better explanation to those not in the know, The Large Association of Movie Blogs.  These are awards voted on by my peers (aka, other movie/film bloggers) and hold some esteem in the crowd I (sorta) run with.  Each year, akin to the Oscars and their ilk, nominations are handed out in fifteen different categories ranging from Best Movie Reviewer to Best Classic Film Blog to Most Prolific to Funniest Writer to, of course, the big kahuna, Best Blog.  There is even a Brainiac Award for the more knowledgeable set among us.  The nomination process runs until May 27th, and will be followed by a final voting for the actual awards, handed out, via cyberspace, in June.

Last year, in my first year of eligibility, I joined a not-so-exclusive club that also includes such famed and classic dignitaries as Errol Flynn, Maureen O'Hara, Joseph Cotten, Peter Lorre, Mirna Loy, Kim Novak, Edward G. Robinson and Marilyn Monroe.  Like them, I too was not nominated for a damn thing.  They for an Oscar, me for a LAMMY.  Oh well, I thought to myself, what great company to be in.  Seriously though, I really did not expect to receive any nominations, but I wasn't without hope.  This year though, is going to be my year.  I am hoping for at least two nominations - Best Movie Reviewer is my best and most desired hope, and/or maybe Most Prolific or the Brainiac Award.   Whatever the case, I still do not expect to actually win.  The awards themselves tend to go to the more established members of the LAMB, but still, as they are prone to say, the nomination is the real prize.  Granted, such a response is probably bullshit - of course it is better to win than to just get nominated - but really, I am hoping for, but not expecting anything more than a nomination or three.  But nominated or not, a fun part of the proceedings is putting together an FYC ad for the whole shebang.  Below is mine.  Appropriately, considering the title of my site, it involves the lovely Jean Seberg in Jean-Luc Godard's classic Breathless.

If you happen to be one of the aforementioned LAMB compatriots, and therefore eligible to vote, you can do so at the 2012 LAMMY voting booth.  Perhaps during your perusal of the categories you could throw this old salt a bone or two of a vote, but only if you think I am deserving - or maybe even if you don't.  Now as anyone who collects comics or trading cards or anything of that ilk knows, there are always bound to be some variant editions.  Below are your very own collector's item variant FYC ads.  Enjoy.  And remember to vote vote vote.  And in all sincerity (see, I can do more than just snarky), good luck to all my fellow LAMBs.

Hollywood Haiku: And The Winner Is...My Lovely, Poetic Better Half

For those of you who regularly haunt these pages (and you know who you are) you should remember a few weeks back when I posted my official entry in Best For Film's Hollywood Haiku Competition.  You should also remember that along with my own ten seventeen-syllabled entries, I also entered two of my lovely wife, Jeanette Amy Trout's haiku - including an especially good one on the film Breathless (incidentally the Missus's second favourite film of all time).  

My main reason for doing this (other than loving my wife of course) was because I figured I didn't have the proverbial shot in hell of winning, but my much much much much more talented wife did.  Mine, as they say, do not even hold a candle to hers - not even in the same ballpark (to toss in another cliche).  Well lo and behold, guess who won (as if you could not have already guessed by reading the title of the post).  That's right true believers, the lovely Ms. Trout did.   

The full list of winners and runners-up can be seen HERE.  And even though you can read the winning haiku at that link (along with some wonderful praise - as well as two of my meager entries) it is so nice, let's see it twice.

Breathless

Jean-Paul's thumb chafes lip

While watching sweet Jean's hips twitch

Jilts the death of him

So super congratulations to my lovely wife, Jeanette Amy Trout - winner of Best For Film's Hollywood Haiku Competition (and a lovely new Blu-ray player to boot!).  And to make it even more fun, I had entered her haiku without her knowing so when the winners were announced earlier tonight she was elated to say the least.  In fact she was too giddy to even fall asleep.  She even called the only person we know that would still be up at 1am and who would be as thrilled by this as we were.  She's so damn cute.  I love her so.
 

At Least I Am in Good Company: My Take on the LAMMY Nods

John Barrymore.  Tyrone Power.  Jean Harlow.  Joseph Cotton.  Veronica Lake.  John Gilbert.  Mae West.  Boris Karloff.  Rita Hayworth.  Ida Lupino.  Edward G. Robinson.  Marilyn Monroe.  Kevyn Knox.

What do these thirteen people, nay, thirteen celebrities (yeah, I said it) have in common you may ask.  Well I will tell you oh curious reader.  As for the first twelve on the list (the ones that can legitimately be called celebrities) - their common bond is the sad fact that none of them have ever been nominated for an Academy Award.  That is right true believers (my quick apology to Stan Lee for the usurping of his tagline), there is nary an Oscar nomination between them.  Shocking if you ask me - especially with Barrymore, Robinson and Monroe - but true nonetheless.  

As for that final person on the above list - yours truly at lucky number thirteen (which not so coincidentally is my actual lucky number) - he can now be added to that no-love-from-the-peers list.  After today's announcement of the LAMMY nominations (the annual awards given out by the fine folks over at The Large Association of Movie Blogs, aka The LAMB) and my inability to garner even a lone nomination (I thought perhaps Best New LAMB, or even sakes alive, Best Movie Reviewer or the Brainiac Award) I know just how many of the aforementioned twelve must have felt on nomination morning.

Now I do not mean to get all maudlin, or even bitter or jaded (because really I am not any of these things - really), and I do not mean to sound as if I thought I even deserved a nomination (I was hoping, but not really expecting), especially considering there are hundreds of sites vying for just fifteen categories, but since I advertised on this blog last month that the nominations were coming, and even designed an FYC ad (seen below) for the occasion, I thought I should at least let everyone (if anyone is even out there listening right now) know how it went.

Now I should not feel too bad since, unlike the twelve no-longer-living celebrities above, I am still alive and kicking and, as they say, there is always next year (unless that pesky as-advertised rapture comes today).  Of course then I will no longer be eligible for Best New LAMB (this was my first year in the running after all - another reason to have hope springing eternal) and thus will have one less opportunity for a nomination.  Still though, next year will be my year.  As for right now, right here, I suppose I should just go on with my film reviews and other assorted cinematic ramblings (though the rapture may put a damper on that as well) and hope to do better next year.

I would like to not only thank those fellow LAMBs that voted for me in whatever categories, but also thank all my readers (you are out there, right?) for sticking around and (I can only assume) enjoying the things I have to say.  Don't worry, I am not going anywhere (I certainly won't disappear if that damned rapture comes!).  I would also like to congratulate all my fellow LAMBs who did receive nominations today (the announcement was made via podcast - a full list of the nominees will be released on Monday at The LAMB).  There are no hard feelings, this post has been done in the most tongue-in-cheek fashion, and thus should (hopefully) be taken as such.  But I will get you next year (insert sound of maniacal laughter here).....

ed. note (05/23): Here is a link to a full list of the 2011 LAMMY Nominees.  Again, congrats to you all.

The LAMMYS are Here!!!

Every year around this time, the fine folks over at the LAMB (aka, the Large Association of Movie Blogs) hand out the coveted LAMMYS.  These are awards voted on by your peers (aka, other movie/film bloggers) and hold some esteem in the crowd I (sorta) run with.  There are fifteen categories, including Best Movie Reviewer, Most Prolific, Best Classic Film Blog, Funniest Writer, Best New LAMB and (of course) Best Overall Blog.  The nomination process is happening now (and runs through May 9th) so I have put together (with no shame whatsoever) an FYC ad for the occasion.  It is going to be up and running on the LAMB site very soon (along with many of my fellow movie blogging award hopefuls).  Here it is now.

For those of you who are fellow LAMBS (and therefore eligible to vote) you can do it here.  Perhaps while you are there, you could maybe toss this fellow critic a bone.  No pressure.  I'll still love you, don't worry.

Golden Globe Predictions

And awaaaaay we go...

Best Motion Picture, Drama - The King's Speech 

The Social Network has been the critical darling all awards season long and one would surely think it would and will win here, but that is not necessarily the case.  The Globes awarded Atonement over No Country For Old Men (a film similarly lauded by critics, myself included) a few years back and I think this year will follow suit with The King's Speech taking top honours.  I still think The Social Network will win the Oscar though.  But then again, the year end awards no longer have much of the surprise factor as they once did, so perhaps picking a surprise to win this one is a somewhat poor idea.

Best Motion Picture, Comedy/Musical - Alice in Wonderland 

The race here is between the good, though not great Kids and the horrible, and nothing but Alice.   There is no doubt in my mind that The Kids Are All Right should take home this award.  Though it wasn't a great film (many claim it was) it is certainly heads and shoulders (as they say) above the competition here.  Why far superior comedies such as Easy A or City Island or Greenberg or even The Other Guys were not nominated in place of the other dreck or semi-dreck, we may never know.  In the end though, I think the Globes are going to go populist over credibility here and give the award to Alice in Wonderland. 

Best Director - David Fincher for The Social Network

Even though I think the man's film is going to get beaten out for the top award, Fincher will still probably win the Director award, especially considering King's director Tom Hooper is a virtual unknown.  We could see a surprise in Aronofsky (I would love that) but I think this is Fincher's award to win.

Best Actor, Drama - Colin Firth in The King's Speech

Last year, Jeff Bridges lesser work in Crazy Heart beat out Firth's far superior work in A Single Man, so this should be Firth's award this time around - and his performance as the stammering King George VI is indeed worthy in its own right, even without the make-up votes.  Of course James Franco could give him a bit of competition since he holds his picture together pretty much single-handedly.

Best Actress, Drama - Natalie Portman in Black Swan

Although personally I would give this award to Michelle Williams (I would pretty much give any award or anything for that matter, to Michelle Williams) I cannot see anyone but Natalie accepting the Globe here.

Best Actor, Comedy/Musical - Kevin Spacey in Casino Jack

Two nominations for Johnny Depp?   And in two of his worst roles/performances!?  Where is Ben Stiller in Greenberg?  Andy Garcia in City Island?  Even Michael Cera in Scott Pilgrim.  Anyway, I don't think any of these nominees are even in the Oscar race, so this is a total free-for-all.  I suppose Depp winning for Alice isn't out of the question though - people do love the guy, even in lesser work.

Best Actress, Comedy/Musical - Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right

This should cement the whole Natalie vs. Annette Oscar showdown that is surely coming in a month.  I would love to see Emma Stone steal this away from La Bening but it ain't gonna happen.

Best Supporting Actor - Christian Bale in The Fighter

Probably the one and only true lock in any of the acting categories.  It would be a huge huge huge surprise to hear any name other than Christian Bale called.   Not much more to say on this one.

Best Supporting Actress - Amy Adams in The Fighter

As much of a lock that Supporting Actor is, that's how up in the air this one is.  I would not be surprised at hearing any of these names called out.  I think Adams will prevail though since she jumps out of her normal comfort zone with this role and that always impresses.

Best Screenplay - Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network

I don't really see this one going any other way (a fantastic screenplay and already an Oscar shoo-in) but we probably shouldn't count out Kids or even King's, but it should be Sorkin all the way.

Best Animated Feature - Toy Story 3

Though I would love to see The Illusionist win this one, but Pixar has NEVER lost this award and they are not about to do so with what may very well be their most popular movie ever.

Best Foreign Language Film - Biutiful

This is a race between Biutiful and I Am Love and I have gone back and forth between the two several times and decided to just flip a coin (I didn't really flip a coin, I just thought that sounded better).  Seriously though, the Globes are much better at this category than the Oscars usually are, awarding such things as The White Ribbon and Waltz With Bashir, so perhaps I should go back to I Am Love instead.

Best Original Score - Alexandre Desplat for The King's Speech 

I would love love love to see The Social Network take this one.  That way Trent Reznor would be a Golden Globe winner.  Alas, though, the award will probably go to the safer (but still rather good in many ways) King's Speech score.  Of course they could always toss a bone to Inception and give it to Hans Zimmer.

Best Original Song - You Haven't Seen the Last of Me from Burlesque

 

I really have no idea about this one (the Oscar equivalent is the same) so I just decided to pick the one sung by Cher.  Who knows? 

See ya Sunday night...  


*addendum (post show recap):

And I only got 8 right (and 6 wrong!?).  Granted, I went out on a limb predicting The King's Speech to beat The Social Network (I didn't think the HFPA would get it right) and who would have thought they would hand an award to Trent Reznor (!?).  Anyway, not a great prediction rate, but my Oscar predix will be better, since I probably won't go out on any more limbs.

NYFCC (& the future of such things)

The New York Film Critics Circle Awards

And The Social Network keeps on going and going and going.

Picture The Social Network
Director David Fincher for The Social Network
Actress Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right
Actor Colin Firth for The King's Speech
Supporting Actress Melissa Leo for The Fighter
Supporting Actor Mark Ruffalo for The Kids Are All Right
Screenplay Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg for The Kids Are All Right
Cinematography Matthew Libatique for Black Swan
Animated Film Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist
Documentary Inside Job
Foreign Film Carlos
First Feature David Michôd's Animal Kingdom

So enough of this awards hoopla.  I get obsessed with it each and every year and tend to ignore all other things, so enough damn you (me) - enough!!  I will post the Golden Globe nominations when they are announced tomorrow (or the next day - whenever it is) and that will be it on the subject until I make my Oscar Nomination Predictions in the days right before they are announced.  Until then more reviews of newer films (Animal Kingdom, Conviction, The Fighter, All Good Things & True Grit coming soon) and various bloggish things about some older films as well.

Boston & NY Online Critics Chime In

The Boston Film Critics and the New York Critics Online have announced their yearly awards and it looks pretty clear that The Social Network has quickly become THE film to beat for the Best Picture Oscar (taking top honors from the NBR and LA critics recently as well). Natalie Portman in Black Swan and Christian Bale in The Fighter are also beginning to take a frontrunner stance in the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor races respectively.  Other frontrunners beginning to take shape are Jacki Weaver for Supporting Actress for her role in Animal Kingdom (though she didn't take the two awards below, she has won the LA and NBR awards earlier), Aaron Sorkin for his The Social Network Screenplay (it would be considered Adapted Screenplay in the Oscars eyes, as they give two awards for adapted and Original), Toy Story 3 for Animated Picture and Black Swan's cinematography for Matthew Libatique.  The NY critics announce their winners tomorrow and the Golden Globes will reveal their nominees the day after that.

BOSTON
Picture The Social Network
Director David Fincher, The Social Network
Actor Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Actress Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Supporting Actor Christian Bale, The Fighter
Supporting Actress Juliette Lewis, Conviction
Screenplay Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Documentary Marwencol
Foreign-Language Film Mother
Animated Film Toy Story 3
Cinematography Roger Deakins, True Grit
Editing Andrew Weisblum, Black Swan
New Filmmaker Jeff Malmberg, Marwencol
Ensemble Cast The Fighter
Music Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network

NEW YORK ONLINE
Picture The Social Network
Director David Fincher, The Social Network
Actor James Franco, 127 Hours
Actress Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Supporting Actor Christian Bale, The Fighter
Supporting Actress Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Breakthrough Performer Noomi Rapace, The Millennium Trilogy
Debut Director John Wells, The Company Men
Ensemble Cast The Kids Are All Right
Screenplay Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop
Foreign Language I Am Love
Animated Toy Story 3
Cinematography Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Music Clint Mansell, Black Swan
Top 10 Films 127 Hours, Another Year, Black Swan, Blue Valentine, The Ghost Writer, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King’s Speech, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Social Network

LAFCA Announce Their 2010 Picks

Where, like I said when I made my predictions, I am not very good at picking the precursors - the Oscars, yes, but these, not so much.  Anyway, I only picked two and a half correctly (picking one of the director duo that tied is the half) but there were some good surprises (though Blue Valentine was not among those).  My choices for screenplay and cinematography for tomorrow's NY announcement won here, so perhaps I am just ahead of my time.

It is good to see Carlos get some love and it looks like Aussie actress Jacki Weaver is quickly becoming a frontrunner for the Oscar for Supporting Actress - she is the only acting frontrunner to pop up as of yet, though The Social Network and it's director and screenwriter are surely frontrunners.

Anyway, here are the LA picks.

Picture: The Social Network
[Runner up: Carlos]
Director: (tie) Olivier Assayas for Carlos and David Fincher for The Social Network
Actress: Kim Hye-Ja in Mother
[Runner up: Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone]
Actor: Colin Firth in The King's Speech
[Runner up: Edgar Ramirez in Carlos]
Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom
[Runner up: Olivia Williams in Ghost Writer]
Supporting Actor Neils Arestrup in A Prophet
[Runner up: Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech]
Screenplay Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network
[Runner up: The King's Speech]
Cinematography Matthew Libatique for Black Swan
[Runner up: Roger Deakins for True Grit]
Music (tie) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network and Alexandre Desplat, The Ghost Writer
Production Design Guy Dyas for Inception
[runner up: The King's Speech]
Documentary Last Train Home
[Runner up: Exit Through the Gift Shop]
Experimental Jean Luc Godard's Film Socialisme 

Foreign Film Carlos (France)
[Runner up: Mother (South Korea)]
Animated Film Toy Story 3
[Runner up: The Illusionist]
New Generation Lena Dunham for Tiny Furniture
Legacy of Cinema Award Serge Bromberg, Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno, and the F.W. Murnau Foundation and Fernando Pena for the restoration of Metropolis 

Career Achievement Paul Mazursky

Here is a blurb from Nathanial Rogers great site, The Film Experience, which I wanted to add just to let everyone know of the stupidity in some of the Oscar eligibility rules:

ONE FINAL IMPORTANT NOTE: South Korea's Mother & France's A Prophet, which both won awards today with Los Angeles critics, represent flip sides of the same Oscar coin. Both were submitted for Oscar consideration last year in the foreign film category but were not released in Los Angeles theaters in 2009 rendering them ineligible for other Oscar nominations that year. They both received theatrical releases in 2010, and because of Oscar rules on that matter, only Mother is now eligible for Oscar consideration (in all categories EXCEPT foreign film since it had its shot last year). A Prophet, having been nominated in its only eligible category last year, is not eligible for any further consideration. Make sense?

LAFCA & NYFCC Predix

Here are my attempt at predicting who the LA and NY critics will pick when they announce their awards on Sunday the 12th and Monday the 13th, respectively.  I must preface this rather futile exercise with the fact that I am not very good at this - yes, I can pick Oscar winners like a mofo (and more oft than not, win any annual Oscar poll contest), but the early precursors are a horse of a much different colour.  Anyway, here goes.

LAFCA

Best Film: The Social Network

Best Director:  David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Actor:  James Franco, 127 Hours

Best Actress:  Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Best Supporting Actor:  Matt Damon, True Grit

Best Supporting Actress:  Dianne Wiest, Rabbit Hole

Best Adapted Screenplay:  Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right

Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister, Inception

Best Foreign Film:  White Material

Best Documentary:  Exit Through The Gift Shop

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

NYFCC

Best Film: The Social Network

Best Director:  Mike Leigh, Another Year

Best Actor: Javier Bardem, Biutiful

Best Actress: Tilda Swinton, I Am Love

Best Supporting Actor:  Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress:  Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Adapted Screenplay:  Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Best Cinematography: Matthew Labatique, Black Swan

Best Foreign Film:  I Am Love

Best Documentary:  Inside Job

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

As you can plainly see, only Best Pic and Best Animated Pic match up between the two organizations.  I think this Oscar race is going to be a rather wide open one (as opposed to past years where many categories are completely sewn up long before the awards are finally handed out).  As for surprises, I would love to see some love for Blue Valentine and its two stars and/or for John Hawkes and Dale Dickey for their roles in Winter's Bone, possibly even a Best Actor award for Casey Affleck in The Killer Inside Me, but I don't see that last one happening.

 

I will post the actual winners (and my prediction grade) as soon as everything is announced.

In the First Awards of the Season, The National Board of Review Does A Little Social Networking

As far as my predictions went (posted on Facebook, ironically enough considering the sweep that has occurred) I correctly picked Best Film and Best Supporting Actor only (predicting just the "top 6" categories).  I am really glad to see Fincher and Eisenberg in there (though I still think Colin Firth will take home the Oscar, considering Oscar's track record with awarding actors a year or two late, for considerably lesser performances - think A Single Man from last year).  Manville and Weaver are somewhat surprises in their wins, but the NBR being the first of the critics groups (before all the ducks are lined up so to speak) tend to do that.  

Other things I am happy with (as happy as one can be with such things) are the special award for Sofia Coppola, the very very very underrated Shutter Island in the top 11, Howl's mention in the Freedom of Expression category and Buried's screenplay win.  The one thing I am unhappy with is the complete shutting out of Blue Valentine.  The unwarranted NC-17 rating is already killing its Oscar chances and a nod for Michelle Williams and/or Ryan Gosling (the two best single performances of the year!) would have helped them.  Black Swan I expected no love for (though I still plan on putting it relatively high up in my top ten come year's end - which is damn soon) but at least an inclusion in the top 11 would have been nice (I mean c'mon, Toy Story 3?!?).  

Anyway, enough rambling, here are the winners and such.

Best Film: The Social Network

Best Director:  David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Actor:  Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Best Actress:  Lesley Manville, Another Year

Best Supporting Actor:  Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress:  Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Foreign Film:  Of Gods and Men

Best Documentary:  Waiting For “Superman”

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

Best Ensemble Cast:  The Town

Breakthrough Performance: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

Best Original Screenplay:  Chris Sparling, Buried

Best Adapted Screenplay:  Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network 

William K. Everson Film History Award: Leonard Maltin

 

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut:  

Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, Restrepo

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: 

Sofia Coppola, for for writing, directing, and producing Somewhere

NBR Freedom of Expression: Fair Game, Conviction, Howl

Top Eleven Films (In alphabetical order):
Another Year
The Fighter
Hereafter
Inception
The King’s Speech
Shutter Island
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Top Ten Independent Films (In alphabetical order):
Animal Kingdom
Buried
Fish Tank
The Ghost Writer
Greenberg
Let Me In
Monsters
Please Give
Somewhere
Youth in Revolt

Top Six Foreign Films (In alphabetical order):
I Am Love
Incendies
Life, Above All
Of Gods And Men
Soul Kitchen
White Material

Top Six Documentary Films (In alphabetical order):
A Film Unfinished
Inside Job
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Restrepo
The Tillman Story
Waiting For “Superman”

Independent Spirit Awards

I suppose I should be keeping my predicting skills somewhat limber for the upcoming Oscar season (a season that if I felt guilt would constitute a guilty pleasure for me) so here are my choices (personal and prediction-wise) for the upcoming Independent Spirit Awards, which will be handed out on 02/26/2011, exclusively (I am told) on IFC.

As for my thoughts on the nominations, I was rather surprised (though happily so) to see the love for the somewhat underrated Greenberg and the lack of love (except for First Feature and a supporting nod for Bill Murray, the best thing about the movie) for the somewhat overrated Get Low.  I was really glad to see the supporting nods for Winter's Bone. All the Oscar talk has been about Jennifer Lawrence as lead - and such talk is well-founded as she is great in the role - and it is nice to see Hawkes and Dickey getting a much needed push for eventual Oscar nods.  The strangest nomination though goes to Sam Jackson for his supporting role in Mother and Child.  Not that he wasn't good in the film (he is the coolest motherfucker around) but really didn't have that much to do in said film, and Ryan Ifans of Greenberg was left out in the proverbial cold because of it (assuming he was the sixth choice that is).  Otherwise, a great selection here (love seeing Michelle Williams in for Blue Valentine, though would have liked to  have seen her co-star Ryan Gosling in there as well) - and fantastic to see Uncle Boonmee get a nod (and a hopeful win).  As for my favourite in this whole bunch (Black Swan) I don't see it taking home any of the big hardware (cinematography is my only predix for it) but Aronofsky is well respected.  I suppose we will see.

Best Feature

127 Hours

Black Swan

Greenberg

The Kids Are All Right

Winter’s Bone

My choice: Black Swan

My prediction: Winter's Bone

Best director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone

John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole

My choice: Darren Aronofsky

My prediction: Debra Granik

Best first feature

Everything Strange and New

Get Low

The Last Exorcism

Night Catches Us

Tiny Furniture

My choice: Tiny Furniture

My prediction: Tiny Furniture

John Cassavetes Award 

(best feature with a budget of $500k or less)

Daddy Longlegs

The Exploding Girl

Lbs.

Lovers of Hate

Obsedila

My choice: I haven't seen any of these

My prediction: Daddy Longlegs

Best screenplay

Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone

Nicole Holofcener, Please Give

David Lindsay-Abaire, Rabbit Hole

Todd Solondz, Life During Wartime

My choice: Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini

My prediction: Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Chodolenko

Best first screenplay

Diane Bell, Obselidia

Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture

Nik Fackler, Lovely, Still

Bob Glaudini, Jack Goes Boating

Dana Adam Shapiro, Evan M. Wiener, Monogamy

My choice: Lena Dunham

My prediction: Lena Dunham

Best female lead

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Greta Gerwig, Greenberg

Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

My choice: Michelle Williams

My prediction: Jennifer Lawrence

Best male lead

Ronald Bronstein, Daddy Longlegs

Aaron Eckhart, Rabbit Hole

James Franco, 127 Hours

John C. Reilly, Cyrus

Ben Stiller, Greenberg

My choice: Ben Stiller (but I have not seen 127 Hours yet)

My prediction: James Franco

Best supporting female

Ashley Bell, The Last Exorcism

Dale Dickey, Winter’s Bone

Allison Janney, Life During Wartime

Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jack Goes Boating

Naomi Watts, Mother and Child

My choice: Dale Dickey

My prediction: Dale Dickey

Best supporting male

John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

Samuel L. Jackson, Mother and Child

Bill Murray, Get Low

John Ortiz, Jack Goes Boating

Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

My choice: John Hawkes

My prediction: John Hawkes

Best cinematography

Adam Kimmel, Never Let Me Go

Matthew Libatique, Black Swan

Jody Lee Lipes, Tiny Furniture

Michael McDonough, Winter’s Bone

Harris Savides, Greenberg

My choice: Matthew Libatique

My prediction: Matthew Libatique

Best documentary

Exit Through The Gift Shop

Marwencol

Restrepo

Sweetgrass

Thunder Soul

My choice: Is there a sixth choice?

My prediction: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Best foreign film

Kisses

Mademoiselle Chambon

Of Gods and Men

The King’s Speech

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

My choice: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

My prediction: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Perhaps I went a bit Winter's Bone heavy there (I held back on screenplay and cinematography!) and Bening and her film are probably the safer bets (I think it comes down to these two films in most categories), but I have this feeling.....

Anyway, the real Oscar precursor hoopla begins later today with the National Board of Review's picks (followed by the NY and LA critics next week sometime). 

Golden Globes (unfortunately unsurprising) Faux Pas

The below picture should have been the scene at the end of The Golden Globes.  Alas, poor Kathryn.  But hey, she may have lost the Globe(s) to her ex-husband James Cameron, but she no longer has to sleep with the man, so I ask you...who is the real winner here?

Golden Globe Predictions

I suppose I should go and take a stab at predicting the Golden Globe noms which will be announced in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.  So here they are.  I have predicted five nominees in each category bjt the HPFA has gone with six on more than one occasion - which is where the alternate choices come in.   Of course some of them I maybe cheat a little by naming as many as four alternates. 

Best Picture (Drama)

• An Education
• The Hurt Locker
• Up in the Air
• Inglourious Basterds
• Invictus

alt: Precious or The Last Station or Avatar 

Best Picture (Comedy or Musical)

• Nine
• Julie & Julia
• It's Complicated
• Sherlock Holmes
  
• A Serious Man

alt: The Hangover or (500) Days of Summer 

Best Director

• Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
• Clint Eastwood (Invictus)
• Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
• Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
• James Cameron (Avatar)

alt: Lee Daniels (Precious) or Pedro Almadovar (Broken Embraces) 

Best Actor (Drama)

• George Clooney (Up in the Air)
• Morgan Freeman (Invictus)
• Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)
• Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
• Colin Firth (A Single Man)

alt: Johnny Depp (Public Enemies) or Toby Maguire (Brothers) 

Best Actress (Drama)

• Carey Mulligan (An Education)
• Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)
• Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
• Helen Mirren (The Last Station)
• Michelle Pfieffer (Cheri)

alt: Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria) or Abbie Cornish (Bright Star) or Audrey Tautou (Coco Before Chanel) or Hilary Swank (Amelia) 

Best Actor (Comedy or Musical)

• Daniel Day-Lewis (Nine)
• Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes)
• Matt Damon (The Informant!)
• Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man)
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer)

alt: Sacha Baron Cohen (Bruno) or Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) 

Best Actress (Comedy or Musical)

• Marion Cotillard (Nine)
• Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)
• Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer)
• Sandra Bullcok (The Proposal)
• Meryl Streep (It's Complicated)

alt: Katherine Heigl (The Ugly Truth) or Amy Adams (Julie & Julia) 

Best Supporting Actor

• Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
• Alfred Molina (An Education)
• Stanley Tucci (Julie & Julia or The Lovely Bones)
• Matt Damon (Invictus)
• Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)

alt: Alec Baldwn (It's Complicated) or Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) 

Best Supporting Actress

• Mo'Nique (Precious)
• Penelope Cruz (Nine)
• Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)
• Julianne Moore (A Single Man)
• Melanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds)

alt: Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air) or Natalie Portman (Brothers) 

Best Screenplay

• Up in the Air
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Precious
• An Education

alt: The Messenger or A Serious Man or The Last Station 

Best Foreign Film

• Broken Embraces
• The White Ribbon
• Coco Before Chanel
• A Prophet
• Lebanon

Best Animated Film

• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Up
• Ponyo
  
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
• Coraline

That's my line-up.  Taking a bit of a chance with not nominating Precious and I can't help but name Melanie Laurent for Supporting Actress.  We'll see Tuesday morning...