Critic’s Choice Awards

Posted on January 9, 2009 at 10:18 pm

I was not able to make it to this year’s Critic’s Choice Awards in person, but I really enjoyed casting my votes and watching it on television. Here are the winners and keep in mind they are often a better predictor of the Oscars than the Golden Globes:
Best Picture:
“Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Director:
Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Actor:
Sean Penn, “Milk”
Best Actress:
Meryl Streep, “Doubt” & Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married” (tie)
Best Supporting Actor:
Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Best Supporting Actress:
Kate Winslet, “The Reader”
Best Writer:
Simon Beaufoy, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Foreign Language Film:
“Waltz With Bashir”
Best Animated Film:
“WALL-E”
Best Documentary:
“Man On Wire”
Best Acting Ensemble:
“Milk”
Best Young Actor/Actress:
Dev Patel, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Composer:
A.R. Rahman, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Song:
“The Wrestler,” by Bruce Springsteen (“The Wrestler”)
Best Action Film:
“The Dark Knight”
Best Comedy Movie:
“Tropic Thunder”

Related Tags:

Awards

Top Ten Spreadsheet

Posted on January 1, 2009 at 8:00 am

Movie City News has collected the top ten lists of all the top critics (yes, even me) and put them into a spreadsheet. Just about everyone picks four or five of ten heavily-promoted awards films — “Wall?E,” “Milk,” Slumdog Millionaire,” “Dark Knight,” “Doubt,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” and “The Wrestler.” Take a look at it from the bottom up, though, because that’s where people’s highly individual preferences come out. A very wide range of films got at least one vote, even “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” “Kit Kittridge,” “American Zombie,” “House Bunny,” and “The Foot Fist Way.” I really enjoy seeing the swing-for-the-fences choices from critics who just can’t help loving some films even without support from the studios, the box office, or other critics.

Related Tags:

Awards Commentary

Women Critics Film Awards

Posted on December 21, 2008 at 12:52 pm

As expected, the associations of female critics have a slightly different take on the best and worst films of the year than the male-dominated critic groups. One thing that makes them fun is the extra categories, like Most Offensive Male Characters, Most Egregious Age Difference Between Leading Man, and Love Interest and Actress in Need of a New Agent.
The Women Film Critics Circle Awards 2008
BEST MOVIE ABOUT WOMEN
Changeling
BEST MOVIE BY A WOMAN
Frozen River

(more…)

Related Tags:

Awards

Black Reel Awards

Posted on December 16, 2008 at 11:53 am

One of the awards announcements I most look forward to each year is the selections of the Black Reel Awards, given out by the Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film, a nonprofit organization with a mission to target, identify and prepare candidates who will represent the next generation of filmmakers and potential film executives that will be able to provide a different sensibility to the stories currently told onscreen. I am so pleased to see this acknowledgment of some of the best film-makers and performers in movies today and honored to have been one of the judges.
2008 Black Reel Awards Winners
Best Film – Cadillac Records/TriStar Pictures
Best Actor – Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Actress – Queen Latifah (The Secret Life of Bees)
Best Supporting Actor – Jeffrey Wright (Cadillac Records)
Best Supporting Actress – Viola Davis (Doubt)
Best Director – Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Secret Life of Bees)
Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted – Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Secret Life of Bees)
Best Breakthrough Performance – Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Ensemble – Cadillac Records/TriStar Pictures
Best Soundtrack – Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)

Related Tags:

Awards

Golden Globe Nominations: Television

Posted on December 11, 2008 at 11:56 am

TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA
* Dexter
* House
* In Treatment
* Mad Men
* True Blood
ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA
* Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
* Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
* January Jones, Mad Men
* Anna Paquin, True Blood
* Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA
* Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment
* Michael C. Hall, Dexter
* Jon Hamm, Mad Men
* Hugh Laurie, House
* Jonathan Rhys Meyers, The Tudors
TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
* 30 Rock
* Californication
* Entourage
* The Office
* Weeds
ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
* Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
* America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
* Tina Fey, 30 Rock
* Debra Messing, The Starter Wife
* Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
* Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
* Steve Carell, The Office
* Kevin Connolly, Entourage
* David Duchovny, Californication
* Tony Shalhoub, Monk
MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
* A Raisin in the Sun
* Bernard and Doris
* Cranford
* John Adams
* Recount
ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
* Judi Dench, Cranford
* Catherine Keener, An American Crime
* Laura Linney, John Adams
* Shirley MacLaine, Coco Chanel
* Susan Sarandon, Bernard and Doris
ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
* Ralph Fiennes, Bernard and Doris
* Paul Giamatti, John Adams
* Kevin Spacey, Recount
* Kiefer Sutherland, 24: Redemption
* Tom Wilkinson, Recount
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
* Eileen Atkins, Cranford
* Laura Dern, Recount
* Melissa George, In Treatment
* Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters
* Dianne Wiest, In Treatment
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
* Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
* Denis Leary, Recount
* Jeremy Piven, Entourage
* Blair Underwood, In Treatment
* Tom Wilkinson, John Adams

Related Tags:

Awards Television