 Add another tally to the impressive amount of critics awards Zero Dark Thirty has won. The African-American Film Critics Association has named the Bigelow film the best film of 2012. However, Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere, proved to be the big winner taking home four prizes including Best Actress, Screenplay, Independent Film and Music. Other big winners included Ben Affleck taking Best Director and Denzel Washington winning Best Actor. Check out the rest of the winners after the jump!
Read more on Zero Dark Thirty, Middle of Nowhere win big with African-American Film Critics Association…
Categories: News Tags: Argo, awards, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Middle of Nowhere, Moonrise Kingdom, news, Think Like a Man
 Via Kris Tapley over at HitFix/In Contention, he took a look at the ballot for the Writers Guild of America upcoming awards and took note of several omissions that include Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables, Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Michael Haneke’s Amour. He counted fifteen in total.
Tarantino has never been a member of the WGA but has found success with his other films Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Pulp Fiction (1994). Tapley has explanations for many of the contenders that won’t be getting a boost from the WGA. I encourage you to take a look. The nominations for the Writers Guild Awards will be announced on January 3, the day Oscar ballots are due. The list of films DISQUALIFIED are listed below and after the jump. Read more on Writers Guild of America Disqualifies Several Films for their Awards!…
Categories: News Tags: Amour, Anna Karenina, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin, Brave, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Middle of Nowhere, Quartet, Quentin Tarantino, Rust &Bone, seven psychopaths, Take This Waltz, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Deep Blue Sea, The Impossible, The Intouchables, Tom Hooper, WGA, Writers Guild of America, Your Sister's Sister
 2013 FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS
BEST FEATURE
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Bernie
- Keep the Lights On
- Moonrise Kingdom
- Silver Linings Playbook
BEST DIRECTOR
- Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom
- Julia Loktev, The Loneliest Planet
Read more on 2013 Independent Spirit Award Nominations…
Categories: News, Precursors Tags: Artist, Avalanche, Bone, CBS Films Productions Inc, Celeste Forever, Cinema Guild, Director, director and producer, director of non-fiction features, Docurama Films, Entertainment/Culture, Fill the Void, FILM (Award, Human Interest, IFC Films LLC, INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD, Jesse Forever, John Cassavetes, Marina Abramovic, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., Middle of Nowhere, Music Box Films, Once Upon a Time, Open Road Films, Oscilloscope Laboratories, Phase 4 Films Inc, Prince, Public Domain, ROBERT ALTMAN, Ruby Sparks, Rust, Soni Kabushiki Kaisha, STELLA ARTOIS TRUER, The Weinstein Company Holdings LLC, USD, Valley of Saints
 Without question, 2012 has been one of the best years in African American cinema. Between box office hits such as Think Like a Man, and critically-acclaimed independent dramas like Beasts of the Southern Wild and Middle of Nowhere, can you think of a time when a host of African American-driven films held such power in Hollywood? I surely cannot. Matthew A. Cherry’s The Last Fall is the latest contribution to this already fantastic year of minority on-screen representation. While his film isn’t on the level of the aforementioned films and many more that concentrate on the independent black voice in America, there’s a virtuous pursuit of truth in this independent sports drama that cannot be denied. The Last Fall may be poorly executed despite its profound story concept (an honest portrayal of a sports athlete who’s drowning in sorrow more than riches), but the commitment and effort put forth from Lance Gross as lead protagonist, overbearing as it often may be, is a step in the right direction for highlighting the emotional complexities of the African-American sports figure.
Read more on The Last Fall (**½)…
- With the 2012 Presidential Election right around the corner, and Lincoln a serious contender for “Best Picture,” this week at The Awards Circuit felt more than ever like an arduous yet exciting journey on the campaign trail. Starting us off with this political theme was Joey Magidson, who released his 10 Best Movie Presidents article for your viewing pleasure. Even our Awards Circuit Power Hour episode was heavy on the politics — Oscar politics, that is, centered on politically heavy dramas, Lincoln and Argo, and more “current state of the race” talk. I also pitch a theory to my colleagues about the possibility/likelihood of John Hawkes missing out on a “Best Actor” nod due to the “Hitchcock” factor and the bigger studios having more control over the awards season this year.
Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 10/21)…
Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 10/21)…
Categories: Circuit Round-Up Tags: anna belickis, Ava DuVernay, Awards Circuit Power Hour, Blu Circuit, clayton davis, dancing with the stars, Daniel Ashtiany, FYC (For Your Consideration), FYC Tracker, Gotham Independent Awards, Gotham Nominations, J.D. Ernand, Joaquin Phoenix, Joey Magidson, joeys dvd pick of the week, John H. Foote, Joseph Braverman, Lincoln, Mark Johnson, Middle of Nowhere, Mike Ward, Nicole Melkonian, oscar predictions, oscar predictions 2013, Robert Hamer, Terence Johnson, The Voice, Tiff Chai
 The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers announced today the nominees for the Gotham Independent Film Awards. Moonrise Kingdom and The Master picked up nominations for Best Feature, along with The Loneliest Planet, Jack Black starring Bernie and Ava DuVernay’s well-regarded Middle of Nowhere. Other Oscar hopefuls were among the nominees including Silver Linings Playbook in Best Ensemble and Beasts of the Southern Wild, which picked up 2 nominations in Breakthrough Director and Actor. In addition to the regular awards actress Marion Cotillard, actor/writer Matt Damon, director David O. Russell and producer Jeff Skoll are to receive award tributes.See the full list after the jump! Read more on 2012 Gotham Independent Film Awards nominees led by “Beasts” and “Moonrise”…
Categories: News, Precursors Tags: Ava DuVernay, award shows, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Bernie, Cinema of the United States, David O. Russell, Detropia, Entertainment/Culture, Film, Gotham Awards, Gotham Independent Film Awards, How to Survive a Plague, Independent Feature Project, Independent films, Jeff Skoll, Jeffrey Skoll, Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present, Marion Cotillard, Mark Duplass, Matt Damon, Middle of Nowhere, Moonrise Kingdom, news, Paul Thomas Anderson, Room 237, Safety Not Guaranteed, Silver Linings Playbook, the Gotham Independent Film Awards, The Loneliest Planet, The Master, The Waiting Room, Wes Anderson, Your Sister's Sister
 The second half of the year is upon us. The race is about to heat up with big Oscar hopefuls coming down the pike. Our John Foote will be in attendance at the Toronto International Film Festival and many films will be unveiling themselves to critics alike. There is a very unclear yet still feasible shape to the race looking from ten thousand feet.
There are internet jitters building for Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master starring Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman. With the trailers released and now the film being pushed up to September, it looks as though we may be in store for a master class in filmmaking. Phoenix also looks to be a lead contender for his first Oscar after delivering in his previous nominated works, Gladiator (2000) and Walk the Line (2005). Phoenix does have tough competition ahead of him including what looks to be a critical darling-type performance coming from John Hawkes in Ben Lewin’s The Sessions. Early word is very positive for the film and the turns by Hawkes along with co-stars Helen Hunt and William H. Macy. Since Hawkes’ initial nomination two years ago for Winter’s Bone, he hasn’t shown any signs of letting up. He was arguably left off last year in Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene and will be seen later this year in Julia Dyer’s The Playroom and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. There seems to be a tremendous following and support for him in his current state. Speaking of Spielberg, we’re still awaiting some type of marketing material for his upcoming Lincoln biopic. No poster or trailer has been released with very few stills leaked online. One starts to think if it will even be ready in time.
Taking a look at the next couple of months, the circuit will begin to reveal itself.
Read more on Oscar Circuit: “It’s the time of the season”…
Categories: Article, Editor, Oscar Circuit, Oscar Predictions Tags: Amour, Amy Adams, ang lee, Anna Karenina, Anne Hathaway, Arbitrage, Argo, Ava DuVarney, Ben Affleck, Bill Murray, Bradley Cooper, Brave, bryan cranston, Carey Mulligan, Chris Pine, Christoph Waltz, Christopher Walken, Clint Eastwood, Cloud Atlas, Colin Farrell, Daniel Barnz, Daniel Day-Lewis, David O. Russell, Django Unchained, Editor, Elizabeth Olsen, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Flight, Fun-Size, Great Expectations, Halle Berry, Helen Hunt, Hyde Park on Hudson, jamie foxx, Joaquin Phoenix, Joe Wright, John Goodman, John Hawkes, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, judd apatow, Justin Timberlake, kathryn bigelow, Killing Them Softly, Laura Linney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Les Miserables, Liam Neeson, Liberal Arts, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Logan Lerman, Looper, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Martin McDonagh, Michael Haneke, Middle of Nowhere, Moonrise Kingdom, nicole kidman, Not Fade Away, olivia colman, Olivia Williams, Oscar Circuit, oscar predictions, Paul Thomas Anderson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Quentin Tarantino, Rian Johnson, Richard Gere, Rise of the Guardians, Roger Michell, Russell Crowe, Rust and Bone, Sam Rockwell, Seth Rogen, seven psychopaths, Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall, Steven Spielberg, the dark knight rises, The Grandmasters, The Guilt Trip, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Impossible, The Man with the Iron Fists, The Master, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Sessions, tom hanks, Trouble with the Curve, Viola Davis, Woody Harrelson, Wreck-It Ralph, Zero Dark Thirty
Another day, another concession-spent dollar! Hah! Although that popcorn they sell at the concession stands sure is tasty, the real fun lay in the trio of films I was fortunate enough to see yesterday. I like days where each screening I see is completely different from one another. Some days, it”ll tend to all blend in, but thankfully last night’s screening events were each their own individual specimen. So which films did I end up screening on my sixth day at the Los Angeles Film Festival™? Find out after the jump…
Read more on Los Angeles Film Festival Diaries: Day Six…
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