- Joey Magidson praised Julianne Moore’s performance in his review of Game Change.
Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 03/18)…
Categories: Circuit Round-Up Tags: american idol, Being Flynn, Circuit Round-Up, dancing with the stars, Detachment, Game Change, Les Miserables, Meryl Streep, Octavia Spencer, the dark knight rises, The Descendants, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hunger Games, The Voice, This Is Forty
 It’s Friday. Oscars are on Sunday. I’ve rattled my brain for hours, days, weeks. It hurts. I can’t. I am fully ready to be wrong in many categories. I also chickened out in several categories.
I wanted to put Max Von Sydow instead of Christopher Plummer. Not happening. Can I get some type of credit if it happens? No? I thought so. I wanted to place “The Artist” winning Original Screenplay over Woody Allen and “Midnight in Paris.” Terrible. I’m usually good at taking the big stabs. I chose Amy Adams when everyone said it was Rachel Weisz. I acknowledged I was wrong but I still went for it. It happens. But I have called great things like “The Hurt Locker” in May or Alan Arkin over Eddie Murphy and when I was in high school and had no idea what I was talking about I said Marcia Gay Harden for “Pollock.” Maybe it’ll be a safe year, maybe it’ll be a complete mind-trip, but at least it’ll be over. And then we can start this painful process again on Monday morning with the Year-In-Advance predictions.
You can check out each category through the Oscar Prediction pages with commentary for each category and my Who Will Win/Should Win. If you read the Davis Awards 2011, then you know my dream nominations and winners. Collectively, they are after the jump.
Read more on Editor’s Final Oscar Predictions…
Categories: Article, Editor, Oscar Circuit Tags: Alexander Payne, AMPAS, Beginners, best picture, Christopher Plummer, Editor, Emmanuel Lubezski, Hugo, jean dujardin, Jim Rash, Michel Hazanavicius, Midnight in Paris, Nat Faxon, Octavia Spencer, oscar predictions, Oscars, Rango, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the artist, The Descendants, The Help, The Muppets, The Tree of Life, Viola Davis, Woody Allen
 And the Nominees Are:
Demian Bichir for “A Better Life”
Oscar scene: Telling his son that he does everything for him
George Clooney for “The Descendants”
Oscar scene: Saying goodbye to his wife
Jean Dujardin for “The Artist”
Oscar scene: Our introduction to George Valentin
Gary Oldman for “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
Oscar scene: Smiley describing the time he met Karla
Brad Pitt for “Moneyball”
Oscar scene: Telling Jonah Hill that if they win, they’ll have changed the game forever
The strongest of the acting categories this year, Best Actor is one of the few that has multiple possibilities of an outcome, and that’s a tremendous thing to have this late in the game. This year’s slate is made up of one prior Oscar winner, one prior nominee, and 3 newcomers, including one long overdue gentleman. Even though there were lots of snubbed performances in this category in 2011, that speaks more to the quality of the lead acting performances during the season than the actual work of the nominees. These are 5 of the top 20 acting jobs of 2011, and that’s a solid grouping by any regard. To learn about how this race might go down, let’s start by looking at some history for Best Actor, shall we?
Read more on Oscar Circuit: Best Actor…
Categories: Oscar Circuit Tags: Best Actor, Brad Pitt, demian bichir, Gary Oldman, George Clooney, jean dujardin, Moneyball, Oscar hopefuls, the artist, The Descendants, tinker tailor soldier spy
 As you’re reading this, the Oscar voters have already made their final selections for each category of the Academy Awards, and there’s nothing left to do but wait for the results at the awards ceremony on Sunday. It got me to thinking, what kind of case has each Best Picture contender made for their shot at the award? Below are arguments that could be made, regardless of if I agree with them or not (I don’t completely, and obviously I personally am more or less fond of certain ones), as well as avoiding the precursor results. Later on, there will be a spot as usual for you to let us know the case you’d make for your personal picks in these groups (or all of them if you so desire), but for now, this is how I see it…as objectively as possible. In short, this how I think each film would pitch itself to voters at the last minute if they were standing on even ground going into the ceremony. Yes, I’m a bit bored in Florida (for those of you who know I’m temporarily out of New York City until sometime next month), but any writing is better than no writing. Anyway, here goes nothing…
Read more on Making the final case for each Best Picture nominee……
Categories: Article Tags: best picture, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, Oscar hopefuls, the artist, The Descendants, The Help, The Tree of Life, war horse
 Yes, things aren’t too clear considering ‘The Artist’ wasn’t eligible (among other films that perhaps could have posed a threat) for the Writers Guild, but this still is good momentum for both Woody Allen and Alexander Payne’s features. As you can see below, this is the full cinematic list of what the WGA Awards look like:
Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, “The Descendants”
Best Documentary Screenplay: Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega, “Better This World”
Paul Selvin Award: Tate Taylor, “The Help”
Laurel Award: Eric Roth
Read more on ‘The Descendants’ and ‘Midnight in Paris’ take the WGA Awards!…
 It was really a 2 horse race for the Scripter this year, and it seems that ‘The Descendants’ has hurdled past ‘Moneyball’ and taken the prize (and perhaps moved into the lead for Best Adapted Screenplay), as the Los Angeles Times reports:
“The Descendants” won the USC Libraries Scripter Award, a prize that honors the best adapted screenplay of the year as well as the book the film is based on. Screenwriters Alexander Payne (who also directed the film) and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash shared the prize with novelist Kaui Hart Hemmings at the Saturday ceremony at the university’s Edward L. Doheny Library.
Read more on ‘The Descendants’ takes USC Scripter Award!…
 At this year’s ACE Eddie Awards, a few interesting things of note went down. First off, ‘The Descendants’ perhaps surprisingly won for Drama editing over the likes of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, ‘Hugo’, ‘Moneyball’, and ‘War Horse’. This could actually make it the prime challenger (despite what I wrote in my Oscar Circuit piece here) to ‘The Artist’, which took the comedy/musical trophy from somewhat less tough competition in ‘Bridesmaids’, ‘Midnight in Paris’, ‘My Week with Marilyn’, and ‘Young Adult’. Here’s the full list of winners:
Drama – The Descendants
Comedy/Musical – The Artist
Animated Feature: Rango
Read more on ‘Artist’ and ‘Descendants’ split the 62nd Annual ACE Eddie Awards!…
 Much like Kris Tapley over at In Contention does his list of the 10 best shots of each year, I like to do something similar as well here at The Awards Circuit. The wrinkle for me is that I go with the best/most memorable scenes of the year. It’s also kind of a tie in/companion piece with my article on what films from 2011 will stand the test of time. I couldn’t limit it to just 10, so I included 5 of the 15 runners-up and came up with 15 different scenes that were my personal favorites. 8 of my 10 favorite films of 2011 are on the final cut of the list (all wound up in the piece though when you factor in the honorable mentions), but overall I think these are going to be widely considered some of the best scenes of the year. Of course, I’m eager to read what you all have to say/view as the best of the year as well, so we’ll get to that at the end. For now, let’s get on with it and talk about the best scenes from 2011!
Read more on Which Scenes from 2011 will you remember?…
Categories: Article Tags: Another Earth, Bellflower, Best of the year, Bridesmaids, Crazy Stupid Love, Drive, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Hugo, Like Crazy, lists, Margaret, Midnight in Paris, Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, Moneyball, random, Red State, Shame, Super 8, the artist, The Beaver, The Descendants, the girl with the dragon tattoo, The Ides of March, The Muppets, The Tree of Life, Warrior, We Bought a Zoo
 The 2011 Awards Circuit Community Awards was one of the most diverse and hottest choices this side of the internet. This is the only site that gives its readership a voice to name his/her favorite films and performances of the year. With a wide open Oscar race, the ACCA race followed suit as you will see from the winners.
“The Artist” led the nomination tally with eleven while Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive” and David Yates’ “Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ both scored nine nominations each. It looked like it was anyone’s game.
Check out the winners on the 2011 ACCA page (with pictures) and make sure to comment either here or on the ACCA page. Read more on 2011 ACCA Winners Announced!…
 The screenplay categories have a strong correlation with past Best Picture winners. In the past few years, “Slumdog Millionaire,” “No Country for Old Men,” and “The Departed” have all won the Adapted Screenplay race that translated to a Best Picture statue. Other winners such as “The Social Network,” “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” and “Brokeback Mountain” have lost Best Picture to an Original work. 2004 was the only year that a triumph occurred here that didn’t align with Oscar. Funny enough it was Alexander Payne’s “Sideways” which triumphed over Clint Eastwood’s winner “Million Dollar Baby.” With this year’s Best Picture race likely going to Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Artist” whoever wins in this category will likely be considered a “consolation” prize. Three out of the five films (The Descendants, Hugo, Moneyball), are nominated for Best Picture. ”Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” had a strong showing on nomination morning when many considered the film dead in the water. Lastly, “The Ides of March” pulled in a last minute mention, likely riding the coattails of George Clooney acting work in “The Descendants,” and made a well-deserved showing.
Let’s break down the nominees:
Read more on Oscar Circuit: Adapted Screenplay…
Categories: Editor, Oscar Circuit Tags: Alexander Payne, Beau Willimon, Editor, George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Hugo, Jim Rash, John Logan, Moneyball, Nat Faxon, Oscar Circuit, predictions, Stan Chervin, Steven Zaillian, The Descendants, The Ides of March, tinker tailor soldier spy
 And the Nominees Are:
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Tied into the Best Picture race more than any other tech category is Best Film Editing. Scoring a Best Picture win without at least a nomination here, if not a win, is incredibly rare and almost unheard of. Of late, the field has been almost entirely filled with nominees for the top prize, but at times the Academy has seen fit to cite top notch action here as well. This year, 4 of the 5 nominees are also Best Picture contenders, and that makes this part of the race pretty interesting. We have last year’s winners in play again too (that’s the picture right here to the right, in case you were wondering), plus a legend in the industry at what she does. All this makes for a lot to take in and analyze, but I’m going to do my best! What may seem somewhat clear cut is not quite so, which makes this more fun, of course. Anyway, before we get too deep into it, let’s settle down for a bit of history, shall we?
Read more on Oscar Circuit: Best Film Editing…
 Tonight, the Screen Actors Guild will present their winners for the very best in film and television. The SAG awards have presented themselves as the most telling precursor of them all. Last year, they matched up with Oscar 100% in their choices. This year will be even more telling as the race seems wide open in several categories. How will the most popular branch fair tomorrow night?
Read more on Screen Actors Guild Predictions…
 If you still weren’t willing to call the Oscar for “The Artist,” you should now. Not sure if this will necessarily translate to an automatic Directing win for the French director but the film is signed, sealed, and delivered for Oscar gold. Here’s the press release:
Read more on Michel Hazanavicius wins DGA Award!…
Categories: News, Precursors Tags: Alexander Payne, Best Director, David Fincher, DGA, Directors Guild of America, Hugo, Martin Scorsese, Michel Hazanavicius, Midnight in Paris, news, Precursors, the artist, The Descendants, the girl with the dragon tattoo, Woody Allen
 The Nominees Are:
Michel Hazanavicius – “The Artist”
Alexander Payne – “The Descendants”
David Fincher – “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Martin Scorsese – “Hugo”
Woody Allen – “Midnight in Paris”
Prediction: Michel Hazanavicius for “The Artist”
Alternate: Martin Scorsese for “Hugo”
Read more on Directors Guild of America Predictions…
Categories: News Tags: Alexander Payne, David Fincher, Directors Guild of America, Hugo, Martin Scorsese, Michel Hazanavicius, Midnight in Paris, news, Precursors, the artist, The Descendants, the girl with the dragon tattoo, Woody Allen
 Best Picture: The Descendants
Best Director: Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
Best Actor: Brad Pitt (Moneyball)
Best Actress: Viola Davis (The Help)
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Best Animated Film: Rango
Best Film Yet to Open in Iowa: We Need to Talk About Kevin AND Project Nim
Read more on Iowa Film Critics Go for ‘Descendants’…
Categories: News, Precursors Tags: Alexander Payne, Beginners, Brad Pitt, Bridesmaids, Christopher Plummer, Melissa McCarthy, Moneyball, news, Precursors, Project Nim, Rango, The Descendants, The Help, Viola Davis, We Need To Talk About Kevin
 Excellence in Period Film:
“The Artist” (Mark Bridges)
“Jane Eyre” (Michael O’Connor)
“The Help” (Sharen Davis)
“Hugo” (Sandy Powell)
“W.E.” (Arianne Phillips)
Excellence in Fantasy Film:
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ (Jany Temime)
“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (Penny Rose)
“Red Riding Hood” (Cindy Evans)
“Thor” (Alexandra Byrne)
“X-Men: First Class” (Sammy Sheldon)
Excellence in Contemporary Film:
“Bridesmaids” (Leesa Evans & Christine Wada)
“The Descendants (Wendy Chuck)
“Drive” (Erin Benach)
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Trish Summerville)
“Melancholia” (Manon Rasmussen) Read more on Costume Design Guild Nominations…
Categories: News, Precursors Tags: Best Costume Design, Bridesmaids, Drive, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, Hugo, Jane Eyre, Melancholia, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Precursors, the artist, The Descendants, the girl with the dragon tattoo, The Help, Thor, W.E., X-Men: First Class
 Often called “the invisible art” of the movies, editing is a crucial and frequently undervalued (and misunderstood) element of filmmaking. Even more debatable is how to judge what “best” editing entails. Is it more commendable when an editor cuts a mediocre film out of pure garbage, or if they simply make impeccable footage flow well for the finished product? Is a film full of quick cuts more award-worthy than one comprised of long takes? Can we even compare the editing of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol to the editing of The Tree of Life? These are questions that even die-hard cinephiles have a hard time addressing, and Academy members – at least based on their voting habits – don’t really bother with. The rule of “Most” applies here as always; thrillers with tons of cuts and ensemble films split across multiple plot strands have a historical advantage here. More importantly, however, is just how crucial this category is to the Best Picture race. Simply put, it is very rare for a film to win the top prize without a Best Editing nod. The last one to do so was Ordinary People…31 years ago. So with that, let’s see what we’ve got…
Read more on Sizing Up the Best Film Editing Field…
 “The Artist” and “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” lead the way with the BAFTA Nominations. The most exciting is Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive” was nominated for Best Film and Director but Ryan Gosling and Albert Brooks were snubbed in their respective categories. Carey Mulligan will be the sole representation for the acting ensemble with her supporting nomination. Usual British suspects like “The Iron Lady” made a strong showing for both Meryl Streep and co-star Jim Broadbent. ”The Help” made a very strong showing for Best Film, Actress, and double Supporting Actress mentions. Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” could only get three mentions including Film, Lead Actor, and Adapted Screenplay. Check out all the nominations after the jump.
Read more on ‘Tinker Tailor’ makes a big showing with BAFTA!…
Bérénice Bejo and Malcolm McDowell in THE ARTIST (The Weinstein Company)
“The Artist” lead the way with three golden statues including Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) and Best Actor for Jean Dujardin. Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” followed with two wins including Best Picture (Drama) and another award for lead George Clooney. Probably the biggest surprise of the night was Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” winning Best Screenplay and Madonna’s not-well received “W.E.” taking home Original Song, which is ineligible for Oscar consideration. Check out all the winners for film and television after the jump.
Read more on ‘The Artist’ triumphs at the Golden Globes with 3 Wins…
Categories: Golden GLobes Tags: Berenice Bejo, George Clooney, Golden GLobe Awards, golden globes, HFPA, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Hugo, jean dujardin, Martin Scorsese, the artist, The Descendants
 Read the Official Press Release:
LOS ANGELES, CA. – January 12, 2012 – The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) announced the winners of the 17th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards earlier this evening. Hosted by comedians Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel, the star-studded ceremony was held at the Hollywood Palladium and aired live on VH1. “The Artist” was named the year’s Best Picture and Michael Hazanavicius won Best Directorhonors for the film.
Read more on “The Artist” Leads at the Critics Choice with Four Awards…
Categories: News, Precursors Tags: Beginners, BFCA, Broadcast Film Critics Association, CCMA, Christopher Plummer, Critics Choice Movie Awards, George Clooney, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, news, Octavia Spencer, Precursors, the artist, The Descendants, The Help, VH1, Viola Davis, Woody Allen
 As the year stands behind us and we gear up for the upcoming award shows including the Critics Choice Awards which will be broadcast on VH1, Thursday, January 12th @ 8pm ET. Make sure you tune in.
As for our own critics here at the Awards Circuit, I am pleased to present the Staff Writers choices for the Top 10 Best Films of 2011. Having a hand in hiring most of these writers that are on board, I am also eager to see the eclectic tastes as we try to form a non-consensus here at the site. We fully embrace how we are all different and look at film in a different way from our next critic or reader. We respect and we view with curiosity. I sincerely hope the readership of the Awards Circuit will share your Top Ten films in the comment section because I’m eager to hear what you guys and gals loved in 2011 as well.
Read more on Awards Circuit Staff Top Ten of 2011…
Categories: Community, Editor, Staff Tags: Beginners, Bellflower, Best of the year, Bridesmaids, Certified Copy, Crazy Stupid Love, Drive, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Horrible Bosses, Hugo, Insidious, Melancholia, Midnight in Paris, Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, Moneyball, Of Gods And Men, Project Nim, Rango, Red State, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Shame, The Adventures Of Tintin, the artist, The Beaver, The Descendants, The Help, The Ides of March, The Interrupters, The Muppets, The Tree of Life, Top Tens, war horse, Warrior, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Weekend, Win Win, Young Adult
The Year-In-Review continues with some non-traditional citations on certain films and performances that did or did not make head way in 2011. What are your choices for “Limited Performance” of the year? or Most Underrated Film? or share what you thought about the Year-in-TV as I dish out my favorites in Television Drama and Comedies. Read more after jump. Read more on Year-In-Review: Editor’s Specialty Awards…
Categories: Article, Community, Editor Tags: Alexander Payne, American Horror Story, american idol, Andy Serkis, arthur christmas, Bennett Miller, Berenice Bejo, Best Animated Feature, Best of the year, bill hader, Boardwalk Empire, Brad Pitt, Bridesmaids, Bryce Dallas Howard, Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Christine Baranski, dancing with the stars, Dexter, Drive, Eric Stonestreet, George Clooney, glee, Harry Escott, Hugo, it;s always sunny in philadelphia, jane lynch, Jason Segel, jean dujardin, Jessica Chastain, Jessica Lange, John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Julie Bowen, Kelly MacDonald, Kristen Wiig, mad men, Martin Scorsese, Max Greenfield, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Fassbender, Michel Hazanavicius, modern family, Moneyball, New Girl, Nicolas Winding Refn, pariah, Paul Feig, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Ryan Gosling, saturday night live, Score, Sean Penn, Shame, sofia vergara, Steve McQueen, Super 8, Survivor, Terrence Malick, the artist, The Descendants, The Help, The Muppets, the office, The Tree of Life, The Walking Dead, the x factor, Tilda Swinton, True Blood, tv, Ty Burrell, Up All Night, We Need To Talk About Kevin
2011 presented a nice eclectic view of cinema we haven’t seen throughout the years. If we summed it up to a ‘theme’ for the year, “silence” or “origins of cinema” would come to mind. Films like Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Artist” and Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” would fall in line with those thoughts.
When creating my ballots for the Best of the Year, the are obvious categories that are stacked to the brim which would be inevitable for some omissions that in other years would either make the shortlist or be the clear front winner. I’ll address all of these as the week’s ‘Year-In-Review’ winds down but I’ll be curious to hear the thoughts of our readership.
Listed below is the Honorable Mention films ranking my #20 through #11 along with the unranked citations of certain films from the year.
Read more on Year-In-Review (Editor’s Honorable Mentions)…
Categories: Community, Editor Tags: arthur christmas, Best of the year, Bridesmaids, Carnage, Certified Copy, Crazy Stupid Love, Hugo, Like Crazy, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Midnight in Paris, pariah, Super 8, Take Shelter, The Descendants, The Muppets, The Tree of Life, Top Ten, Top Tens, war horse, Warrior, Winnie the Pooh
- Anna Belickis concluded her countdown of the worst, most vile, most inhumane offenses to art that graced the TV screen last year. What was the worst of the worst, and what was the runner-up?
Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 01/01)…
Categories: Blog Tags: Circuit Round-Up, Crazy Stupid Love, Declaration Of War, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, H8R, Hugo, Jane Eyre, Project Nim, Sleeping Beauty, The Beaver, The Descendants, The Tree of Life, war horse, We Need To Talk About Kevin
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