Glenn Close for “Albert Nobbs”
Oscar Scene: “I could live here.”
Viola Davis for “The Help”
Oscar Scene: “You’re a Godless Woman!”
Rooney Mara for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Oscar Scene: “He’s had a long standing sexual relationship with his co-editor of the magazine. Sometimes he performs cunnilingus on her. Not often enough in my opinion.”
Meryl Streep for “The Iron Lady”
Oscar Scene: “It used to be about trying to do something. Now it’s about trying to be someone.”
Michelle Williams for “My Week with Marilyn”
Oscar Scene: “People always see Marilyn Monroe. As soon as they realize I’m not her, they run.”
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.
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…
Melissa Leo in "The Fighter", 2010's Best Supporting Actress…
The 2011 Nominees For Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role are…
• BÉRÉNICE BEJO • THE ARTIST
• JESSICA CHASTAIN • THE HELP
• MELISSA MCCARTHY • BRIDESMAIDS
• JANET MCTEER • ALBERT NOBBS
• OCTAVIA SPENCER • THE HELP
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress carries a much storied and fascinating history and in an almost distinctive way stands apart from its other acting categories. This category often generates a surprise or two on nomination morning and has dropped jaws more than once on Oscar night.
The infamous 1997 scowl that Lauren Bacall embodied for losing the 1996 Supporting Actress award to Juliette Binoche and The English Patient is one notable example for the playfulness the Academy occasionally levies on this category’s nominees and the surprises that can befall even the most locked in frontrunner.
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.
Oscar.com has launched its brand new web series, “Nominated with Dave Karger”, that provides moviegoers with an in-depth look at each of the 2012 Oscar Nominees for Best Picture. Entertainment Weekly’s Oscar columnist, Dave Karger, hosts the web-series with insightful commentary that is inter-cut between clips of the films and interview footage from the crew, actors, and filmmakers involved with each nominated motion picture. Check out the first Webisode in the series, beginning with a comprehensive focus on Steven Spielberg’s War Horse:Read more on Oscar Web Series Launches on Oscar.com…
LOS ANGELES – Screenwriter-director Tate Taylor has been named recipient of the Writers Guild of America, West’s 2012 Paul Selvin Award for his adapted screenplay for the civil rights-era drama The Help.
The Guild’s Selvin Award recognizes written work which embodies the spirit of constitutional rights and civil liberties. Filmmaker Taylor will be honored at the 2012 Writers Guild Awards West Coast ceremony on Sunday, February 19, at the Hollywood Palladium.
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?
Sasha Stone of Awards Daily wrote this very passionate piece about racism and the Oscars. I never share opinion pieces with readers but I was very taken by the truth that was said in the piece. Here’s an excerpt and please give it a quick read:
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
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…
“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.
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.
Probably the most important precursor of them all, the Directors Guild of America announces their nominees tomorrow. With the field of Best Picture anywhere between five and ten, the names called tomorrow morning will be essential to making the final cut in both Motion Picture and Director. Last year, the group chose Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), David Fincher (The Social Network), David O. Russell (The Fighter), Christopher Nolan (Inception), and eventual DGA and Oscar Winner for Director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech). Four out of the five men were nominated with Christopher Nolan, yet again, missing out at a nomination. Will this year be more telling?
So what could one possibly say about Best Costume Design that one couldn’t possibly infer from all of my previous installments? Even non-Oscar watchers could tell you that the most ornate and attention-grabbing costumes get the lion’s share of these prizes, meaning that period pieces and fantasy films almost always clean up here (but almost never science fiction…go figure). Unfortunately, that means a lot of moresubtle, mood-specificcostumes are passed over for films that look like either history museums or fashion shows. More interestingly, a film does not necessarily have to be a hit elsewhere to be recognized here. Indeed, sometimes an outright critical dud can make it to the winner’s circle on the strength of their costumes alone. I’ll just briefly go through what few contenders we have to keep our eye on here… Read more on Sizing Up the Costume Design Field…
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.
Putting together a best of the year list can be a daunting task, especially when you have so many films and performances you feel passionate about. There are obvious performances and films I thought I felt one way about, that either grew on me or was forgotten altogether by year’s end. You’ll never find a consensus on these types of citations but you go with your gut and see what you see. Without further ado, here are my choices for the Best in Film for 2011. Read more on Year-In-Review: 2011 Davis’ Film Awards (Editors’ Choices)…
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…
TOP TEN FILMS OF 2011 (in alphabetical order)
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“Drive”
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Moneyball”
“My Week With Marilyn”
“Super 8″
“The Tree of Life”
It’s been 24 hours and I’m joined by Joey, Robert, Anna, and Joseph to dish on the things of the night. Here’s the agenda.
