2008/2009 Major Critics Awards

If the film was only released in LA or NYC during the last calendar year, you'll often see other groups, who weren't exposed to the film before this current year's awards, vote them in because they had no chance to vote for it earlier.

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Makes sense. It just seems weird I guess, but that's cool. It makes some of these flicks a little more accessible before Oscar night too.

A lot of things I read online are kind of misleading, some sites claim that these certain movies are nominated for Best Foreign film but that's just not true right? They aren't going to be announced until the 22nd just like the rest of the Oscar noms right?

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NATIONAL SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS


BEST PICTURE
1. Waltz with Bashir, directed by Ari Folman (26)
2. Happy-Go-Lucky (20)
3. WALL-E (20)

BEST NON-FICTION FILM
1. Man on Wire, directed by James Marsh (55)
2. Trouble the Water (34)
3. Encounters at the End of the World (26)

BEST DIRECTOR
1. Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky (36)
2. Gus Van Sant, Milk & Paranoid Park (20)
3. Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire (16)

BEST ACTOR
1. Sean Penn, Milk (87)
2. Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler (40)
3. Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino (38)

BEST ACTRESS
1. Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky (65)
2. Melissa Leo, Frozen River (33)
3. Michelle Williams, Wendy and Lucy (31)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky (41)
2. Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (35)
3. Josh Brolin, Milk (29)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Hanna Schygulla, The Edge of Heaven (29)
2. Viola Davis, Doubt (29, on fewer ballots)
3. Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (24)

BEST SCREENPLAY
1. Happy-Go-Lucky, by Mike Leigh (29)
2. A Christmas Tale (24)
3. Synecdoche, New York (17)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. Slumdog Millionaire, Anthony Dod Mantle (29)
2. The Flight of the Red Balloon (22)
3. The Dark Knight (18)
4. Still Life

BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM
1. Razzle Dazzle, directed by Ken Jacobs

FILM HERITAGE AWARDS

• The Criterion Collection for finally making Samuel Fuller’s suppressed White Dog (1982) available to a wide American audience via DVD release.
• The Exiles, Kent Mackenzie’s realistic 1961 independent film about Native Americans in Los Angeles. (Restored by Ross Lipman of the UCLA Television and Film Archives and distributed by Milestone.)
• Flicker Alley, for releasing DVD collections of rare early U.S. and foreign silent films.
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment for its DVD set "Murnau, Borzage and Fox."

More info here.

I was just reading that, thanks mark.

It will be interesting to see who wins the Oscar pool this year. The awards seem to be all over the place with no clear cut winner in every category.

And Happy-Go-Lucky just continues to get love. This has to bode well for not only perky little Sally Hawkins but probably for Mike Leigh getting a director nom as well.

I'm really rooting for Sally.

PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA BEST PICTURE NOMINEES

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire


Animated Feature

Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

Documentary Feature

Man on Wire
Standard Operating Procedure
Trouble the Water

What happens is that a lot of the technical or specialized film awards go through a committee of specialists and they whittle down the possibilities to a shortlist. For example, here is the shortlist for Best Documentary feature. I've now seen Encounters at the End of the World and Man on Wire to add to At the Death House Door.

Here is the shortlist for Best Special Effects (usually only three films get nominted):

Australia
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Cloverfield
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Hancock
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Incredible Hulk
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Quantum of Solace
The Spiderwick Chronicles

Oh, and I just saw that they whittled that down to seven:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Iron Man
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Here are the semi-finalists for Best Makeup (three get nominations).

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Reader
Synecdoche, New York
Tropic Thunder
The Wrestler

The Academy uses some kind of arcane way to pick Best Foreign Film nominees. Each country nominates ONE film, and this process is often political, and then some of those films get thrown out because of conflicts involving multiple-country financing, production companies, languages, directors, etc. It's really ridiculous. If one non-English-speaking country made the five best non-English language films, I think they should ALL be nominated, but not AMPAS.

As far as I know, there will be a shortlist for foreign films, but I don't believe it's been announced. Also, since there have been many controversies over the years in this category, I heard that they are allowing a committee to overrule some of the voting and include what may be considered more worthy films, such as last year's 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days which didn't get on the shortlist.

Yeah, I read that they had 63 films last year. I think it was 63... anyway, how on earth can these folks figure out how to whittle that down to just 5? That just seems nuts to me.

My picks at the Oscars (winner in bold)

Best Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Best Makeup
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Wrestler

I've been watching a lot of films, and am working on my picks in the other catagories.

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I realize that some of these are not critics awards, but this seems like the best place to post them.

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS NOMINEES

Roger Deakins, Revolutionary Road
Roger Deakins & Chris Menges, The Reader
Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire
Claudio Miranda, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Wally Pfister, The Dark Knight


WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA NOMINEES

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Burn After Reading, Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Milk, Written by Dustin Lance Black
Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Written by Woody Allen
The Visitor, Written by Tom McCarthy
The Wrestler, Written by Robert Siegel


ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Screenplay by Eric Roth; Screen Story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord; Based on the Short Story by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Dark Knight, Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan; Story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer; Based on Characters Appearing in Comic Books Published by DC Comics; Batman Created by Bob Kane
Doubt, Screenplay by John Patrick Shanley, Based on his Stage Play
Frost/Nixon, Screenplay by Peter Morgan, Based on his Stage Play
Slumdog Millionaire, Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy, Based on the Novel Q and A by Vikas Swarup

I'm really surprised with these review boards lack of love for Kate Winslet. Come Oscars I know she is going to take at least one of her nominations.

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DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA NOMINEES

(Directors of Animated Films are ineligible.)


Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant, Milk

Since these five films are also up for the Producers Guild Award, I'd say it's about 98% certain that these five will be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. What do you say about that, Dark Knight lovers and haters?

Well, I haven't seen Frost/Nixon yet, but I'd say that would be among the worst crops of Best Picture nominees easy and it may be THE worst. But I'm becoming more of a curmudgeon everyday it seems and I haven't caught up with too many pre-1970 Best Picture nominees so what do I know, really?

I thought Frost/Nixon was pretty damn brilliant but that's me. I loved Slumdog in a way so you'll probably hate it. I don't know.

I know Ben Button is probably the fave this year and I just don't get that at all. It totally lacks everything that was charming about Forrest Gump and then some.

I'm still waiting to see a better movie than TDK although I did see The Visitor last night and that was pretty excellent. I hope Richard Jenkins gets a nom instead of Eastwood, I really do. He was fantastic! I doubt enough folks have seen The Visitor though.

LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARDS


BEST PICTURE:
WALL-E
RUNNER-UP: The Dark Knight


BEST DIRECTOR:
Danny Boyle, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
RUNNER-UP: Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight


BEST ACTOR:
Sean Penn, MILK
RUNNER-UP: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler


BEST ACTRESS:
Sally Hawkins, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
RUNNER-UP: Melissa Leo, Frozen River


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Heath Ledger, THE DARK KNIGHT
RUNNER-UP: Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Penélope Cruz, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
RUNNER-UP: Viola Davis, Doubt


BEST SCREENPLAY:
Mike Leigh, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
RUNNER-UP: Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York

AND...

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: STILL LIFE (China)
Runner-Up: The Class (France)

DOCUMENTARY/NON-FICTION FILM: MAN ON WIRE
Runner-Up: Waltz with Bashir

PRODUCTION DESIGN: SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK, Mark Friedberg
Runner-Up: The Dark Knight, Nathan Crowley

ANIMATION: WALTZ WITH BASHIR

MUSIC/SCORE: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE , A.R. Rahman
Runner-Up: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alexandre Desplat

CINEMATOGRAPHY: STILL LIFE , Yu Lik Wai
Runner-Up: Slumdog Millionaire, Anthony Dod Mantle


http://www.lafca.net/news.html

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I loved The Dark Knight, but I don't know if I'd consider it to be the Best Picture of the year. That said, I have no problem with it getting a nomination, and I wouldn't exactly be outraged if it won.

I have no way of being objective about this, though, because I'd love to see the Oscars garner a broader social relevance and interest again, and a few big nominations for Nolan's films would certainly do the trick. It'd probably further increase participation in the MoFo Oscar Chat this year, too.

Well, I'm no critic. I know what I like though and I repeat TDK is still the best movie I've seen this year. So if it does come up for Best Picture you certainly won't see me upset about it. Two films I've seen recently that were also very good that don't even seem to be getting any real play for Best Picture are Changeling and The Wrestler. I guess it will be great if Mickey gets his due but I'm not going to be at all surprised is it goes to Sean Penn either. I don't think it should but I can easily see it happening.

And I completly agree Chris, I think it would be a huge boost to the Oscars to just have TDK nominated. As it should be.

It will be a traveshamockery (not my word, I heard it on the radio... good one though innit?) if it isn't.

Would would be your picks? I don't think I've seen any best of 2008 lists by you...Imma curious...

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I saw The Dark Knight midnight, opening night, and that remains one of my top five favorite theater going experiences ever. But I've seen the movie two more times since and I've gotta say it loses a whole lot of its luster for me with each viewing. I'm afraid to check it out again because I'd hate to watch it straight into abject suckitude.

I think that'd be tough, but it certainly changes after multiple viewings. I saw it twice in theaters (and, like you, the midnight showing on opening night was among the most memorable I've ever been to...and not just because I was in a car that flipped immediately after). I've seen it twice on DVD now, too. It's a thriller by and large, so obviously it's going to thrill less when you know what's coming. And it uses sound to tremendous effect, so it's not going to be the same at home, either.

That said, my enjoyment hasn't diminished much yet. It feels different because there's no rush of excitement when a surprise is revealed, and there's no more genuine curiousity about how things will end, but the story still holds together quite well, and The Joker's misanthropic philosophizing is even more fascinating than it was the first time through. For me, at least.