National Board of Review Kicks Off the 2012 Awards With “Zero Dark Thirty”

Posted on December 5, 2012 at 7:18 pm

The first big movie awards announcement each year comes from the National Board of Review, a group of film academics, students, and professionals. The Osama Bin Laden manhunt drama “Zero Dark Thirty” from “The Hurt Locker’s” Kathryn Bigelow, tops the list and Bigelow was awarded Best Director, and star Jessica Chastain, who plays the CIA official who spent 12 years tracking Bin Laden, was selected as Best Actress. People’s recently-announced Sexiest Man Alive Bradley Cooper continued his winning streak with the Best Actor award for his performance as a bi-polar man in “Silver Linings Playbook,” which also won best adapted screenplay. Best Original Screenplay went to the twisty time-travel “Looper,” and Disney won Best Animated Feature with “Wreck-It Ralph.” The complete list:

Best Film: ZERO DARK THIRTY
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, ZERO DARK THIRTY
Best Actor: Bradley Cooper, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, ZERO DARK THIRTY
Best Supporting Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, DJANGO UNCHAINED
Best Supporting Actress: Ann Dowd, COMPLIANCE
Best Adapted Screenplay: SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Best Original Screenplay: LOOPER
Best Animated Feature: WRECK-IT RALPH
Breakthrough Actor: Tom Holland, THE IMPOSSIBLE
Breakthrough Actress: Quvenzhane Wallis, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Best Directorial Debut: Benh Zeitlin, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Best Foreign Language Film: AMOUR
Best Documentary: SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN
Best Ensemble: LES MISERABLES
Spotlight Award: John Goodman, ARGO, FLIGHT and TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE
NBR Freedom of Expression: THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE and PROMISED LAND
William K. Everson Film History Award: 50 Years of Bond Films

Top Films (in alphabetical order): ARGO, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, DJANGO UNCHAINED, LES MISERABLES, LINCOLN, LOOPER, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, PROMISED LAND, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order): BARBARA, THE INTOUCHABLES, THE KID WITH A BIKE, NO, WAR WITCH

Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order): AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY, DETROPIA, THE GATEKEEPERS, THE INVISIBLE WAR, ONLY THE YOUNG

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order): ARBITRAGE, BERNIE, COMPLIANCE, END OF WATCH, HELLO I MUST BE GOING, LITTLE BIRDS, MOONRISE KINGDOM, ON THE ROAD, QUARTET, SLEEPWALK WITH ME

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Mel Brooks to be Honored by AFI

Posted on October 5, 2012 at 3:46 pm

The American Film Institute has announced that Mel Brooks will be presented with its highest honor. “Mel Brooks is America’s long-reigning king of comedy – and as he taught us long ago, it’s good to be the king,” said Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman of the AFI’s Board of Trustees. “He’s a master of an art form that rarely gets the respect it deserves, and it is AFI’s honor to shine a bright light on laughter by presenting Mel Brooks the 41st AFI Life Achievement Award.” Brooks is best known as writer/director of “The Producers” (he also adapted and wrote the songs for the Broadway musical), “Blazing Saddles,” “High Anxiety,” and “Spaceballs,” but he also produced the serious drama “The Elephant Man” and the lovely “84 Charing Cross Road,” both starring his late wife, Oscar-winner Anne Bancroft.

The award ceremony will take place next June and will be broadcast on TNT. I’m sure AFI will have a lot of fun putting together the line-up of stars and presentations to honor Mel Brooks, and I can’t wait to see it.

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Seth MacFarlane to Host the Oscars

Posted on October 3, 2012 at 8:32 pm

And next year’s Oscar host is…not a stand-up turned actor like Billy Crystal or Whoopi Goldberg or Steve Martin but a man who has never even attended the Academy Awards before and who did not even appear on screen in his first film, released earlier this year. Seth MacFarlane is the highest-paid man in the history of television for his three animated series, “Family Guy,” “The Cleveland Show,” and “American Dad!” He also wrote and directed the raunchy movie comedy “Ted” and provided the voice of the title character, a talking stuffed bear. He hosted the televised roast of Charlie Sheen and, improbably, received respectful reviews for his smooth singing on Music Is Better Than Words, an album of standards, backed by a full orchestra and using Frank Sinatra’s old microphone, on loan from the Smithsonian. He appeared as host of the season opener on “Saturday Night Live” last month but has not otherwise had much experience performing live.

The Hollywood Reporter calls him a “relative unknown” to the people who usually attend the Oscars, but his popularity with younger audiences made him appealing to the producers, trying to stay competitive with slicker, hipper, and earlier awards shows. But they will have to be careful not to alienate the show’s current fans, who may be concerned that he is neither as polished, as experienced, or as respectful as they want. Perhaps it is just those concerns that will attract a record audience.

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Kennedy Center Honors Announced: Dustin Hoffman, Led Zeppelin, David Letterman, and More

Posted on September 12, 2012 at 11:52 am

This year’s Kennedy Center honors have been announced: Dustin Hoffman, David Letterman, blues musician Buddy Guy, dancer Natalia Makarova and the rock band Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin is being honored as a band, but keyboardist-bassist John Paul Jones, guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant each will receive the Kennedy Center Honors. Drummer John Bonham died in 1980. The gala is scheduled for Dec. 4 at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and will be broadcast on Dec. 26 on CBS.

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Silverdocs: Awards

Posted on June 25, 2012 at 5:45 pm

Silverdocs, the Silver Spring, Maryland documentary film festival that concluded this weekend, received 2018 submissions for 114 places on the schedule.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKooIgzaQMg

Awards included: “Only the Young” (best U.S. feature), directed by Jason Tippit and Elizabeth Mims, is about three teenagers in a depressed Southern California suburb.

Planet of Snail,” (best world feature) was directed by Seungiun Yi and is the story on the deaf and blind South Korean poet Young-Chan and his devoted wife

“Kings Point,” (best short film), directed by Sari Gilman, is set in a retirement community in Florida.

“The Waiting Room” (special U.S. feature jury award), was directed by Peter Nicks and casts a spotlight on the real world that is often overlooked in the health care debates.

Special Flight” (world feature jury award) directed by Fernand Melgar, is about unjust treatment of immigrants in Sweden.

Audience awards: “Trash Dance” (feature) and “Sparkle” (short)

I saw four films at Silverdocs and all were superb:

“Photographic Memory,” the latest in the autobiographical series by “Sherman’s March” Ross McElwee, this one a return to the French region of Brittany, where he lived when he was a little older than his son Adrian, whose lack of focus troubles him.

“Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel,” the story of the legendary fashion editor.

“How to Survive a Plague,” with extraordinary archival footage of the activist movement that took on AIDS and changed health care and history.

“The Queen of Versailles,” about a wealthy couple with seven children who build the biggest home in America, complete with baseball field, ten kitchens, and a spa — until the financial crisis brings it to a halt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqDreqlPe98

Interviews with the filmmakers of the last two coming soon — stay tuned.

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