2012 Critic Lists and Awards Stuff.

[Watashi]

Let's put everything in here shall we?

[Winston*]

The 21st Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival concluded on Sunday, Nov. 18, with a closing-night party at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, announcing a slate of audience-choice and juried-competition winners.

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS
Best Narrative Feature: “The Sapphires,” directed by Wayne Blair
Best International Narrative Feature: “Quartet,” directed by Dustin Hoffman
Leon Award for Best Documentary Feature: “The Entertainers,” directed by Michael Zimmer

JURIED COMPETITION AWARDS
New Filmmakers Forum Emerging Filmmaker Award (The Bobbie)

Winner ($500 cash prize): “Faith, Love and Whiskey,” directed by Kristina Nikolova
Special Jury Citation: “Sun Don’t Shine,” directed by Amy Seimetz

St. Louis Film Critics’ Joe Pollack Awards
Best Narrative Feature: “Barbara,” directed by Christian Petzold
Special Jury Citation for Acting in Narrative Feature: Rachel Mwanza, lead actress of “War Witch”
Best Documentary Feature: “Uprising,” directed by Fredrik Stanton
Special Jury Citation for Documentary Feature: “We Are Wisconsin,” directed by Amie Williams

Alliance of Womens Film Journalists’ EDA Awards
Best Narrative Feature: “Sister,” directed by Ursula Meier
Special Jury Citation for Narrative Feature: “Found Memories,” directed by Julia Marat
Best Documentary Feature: “Seeking Asian Female,” directed by Debbie Lum
Special Jury Citation for Documentary Feature: “The World Before Her,” directed by Nisha Pahuja

Interfaith Awards
Best Narrative Feature: “War Witch,” directed by Kim Nguyen
Best Documentary Feature: “The Second Execution of Romell Broom,” directed by Michael Verhoeven
Special Jury Citation for Documentary Feature: “Stories from an Undeclared War,” directed by Dennis Rice

Midrash Award
Winner ($500 cash prize): “Seeking Asian Female,” directed by Debbie Lum

Short Film Awards
Best of Fest Short: “Pitch Black Heist,” directed by John Maclean
Best Local Short: “Paper Hallways,” directed by Cody Stokes
Best Short Short: “Colosse,” directed by Yves Geleyn
Best International Short: “Friend Request Pending,” directed by Chris Foggin
Best Animated Short: “Luminaris,” directed by Juan Pablo Zaramella
Best Live Action Short: “The Voorman Problem,” directed by Mark Gill
Best Documentary Short: “Female,” directed by Marie-Josee Saint-Pierre
Special Jury Citation for Documentary Short: “Boomtown,” directed by Torben Bernhard & Travis Low

[Robby P]

Dustin Hoffman directed something?

[Ezee E]

Dustin Hoffman directed something?
He did. It played at the Denver Film Festival too.

[Gamblor]

Sight & Sound Contributors' 2012 Top 11

1. The Master
2. Tabu
3. Amour
4. Holy Motors
5t. Beasts of the Southern Wild
5t. Berberian Sound Studio
7. Moonrise Kingdom
8. Beyond the Hills
9t. Cosmopolis
9t. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
9t. This Is Not a Film

Last two also appeared last year, due to the international contributors.

[Boner M]

Berberian is a really cool surprise, though S&S do have a major UK bias.

[Boner M]

John Waters' annual ArtForum list (http://www.artforum.com/inprint/id=37454)


1 The Deep Blue Sea (Terence Davies) The agony and passion of obsessive love and a broken heart are so well wrought here that you’ll wish you were suicidal over someone who didn’t love you back.

2 Paradise: Faith (Ulrich Seidl) Fassbinder died, so God gave us Ulrich Seidl. I laughed uproariously throughout this horrifying portrait of a religious fanatic, and if there’s something the matter with you, you will, too.

3 Paradise: Love (Ulrich Seidl) Middle-aged women sex tourists can be just as piggish as their male counterparts. But when the sexually exploited begin to exploit back, who’s the victim? The audience, that’s who, and we deserve it.

4 Amour (Michael Haneke) Misery is really in this year. “Hurts! Hurts! Hurts!” yells out the dying elderly wife to her longtime-caretaker husband, and ticket buyers will agree. Makes Saw seem like a romantic comedy.

5 Killer Joe (William Friedkin) The best Russ Meyer film of the year—only it’s not directed by him. Gina Gershon, you shocked me raw!

6 Beasts of the Southern Wild (Benh Zeitlin) Directed as if the film crew snuck aboard a Weather Channel boat during Hurricane Katrina, kidnapped the skipper, hijacked the storm chasers’ equipment, swam ashore, and made a boldly original movie.

7 Compliance (Craig Zobel) A “based on real life” horror story that will make you want to regurgitate both the fast food and the blind allegiance to authority served up in this restaurant setting. Ann Dowd, who plays the ChickWich franchise’s manager, is by far the best actress of 2012.

8 Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present (Matthew Akers) Maybe the most perfect documentary ever made about an artist. Abramović stares back at the public with a magic-trick power that will get you high and make you cry.

9 Beloved (Christophe Honoré) Another crackpot Umbrellas of Cherbourg homage by the French director who adores unrequited love, cigarettes, Catherine Deneuve, and especially Louis Garrel. Yes, it’s L-O-N-G, but I wished the characters would have kept on singing in the theater even after the projectionist had gone home for the night.

10 The Imposter (Bart Layton) A whodunit documentary that is better than any mystery novel. When Frédéric Bourdin, a twenty-three-year-old teen imposter and scam-artist supreme, dances alone on camera in his prison cell looking like an exhibitionist Sirhan Sirhan, you’ll want to hide your children and lock the doors.

[ledfloyd]

may as well put this in here.

Cahiers du Cinema's Top 10 of 2012
1. Holy Motors (Leos Carax)
2. Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg)
3. Twixt (Francis Ford Coppola)
4. 4:44 Last Day On Earth (Abel Ferrara)
4. In Another Country (Hong Sang-Soo)
4. Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)
7. Go Go Tales (Abel Ferrara)
8. Tabu (Miguel Gomes)
8. Faust (Alexadre Sokourov)
10. Keep The Lights On (Ira Sachs)

[baby doll]

Berberian is a really cool surprise, though S&S do have a major UK bias.That's also true of British newspapers like The Guardian and The Telegraph, which have this misguided idea that they need to root for the home team.

[MadMan]

John Waters' annual ArtForum list (http://www.artforum.com/inprint/id=37454)I think I'll make his list my new "To See" list for the year. Love his commentary, too.

[Gamblor]

NYFCC winners:

Best Film: "Zero Dark Thirty"
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"
Best Actress: Rachel Weisz, "The Deep Blue Sea"
Best Supporting Actor: Matthew McConaughey, "Magic Mike" and "Bernie"
Best Supporting Actress: Sally Field, "Lincoln"
Best Screenplay: Tony Kushner, "Lincoln"
Best Foreign Language Film: "Amour"
Best Animated Feature: "Frankenweenie"
Best Documentary: Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon, "The Central Park Five"
Best Cinematography: Greig Fraser, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Best First Feature: David France, "How to Survive a Plague"

[Spinal]

Best Animated Feature: "Frankenweenie"


Blech.

[Watashi]

Time's Top 10:

01. Amour
02. Beasts of the Southern Wild
03. Life of Pi
04. Anna Karenina
05. The Dark Knight Rises
06. Zero Dark Thirty
07. Dark Horse
08. Dragon
09. Frankenweenie
10. Invisible War

Bottom 10:

10. One for the Money
9. The Odd Life of Timothy Green
8. What to Expect When You’re Expecting
7. Alex Cross
6. The Lorax
5. This Means War
4. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
3. Hyde Park on Hudson
2. John Carter
1. Cloud Atlas

[dreamdead]

I do hope to find The Invisible War on Netflix at some point soon.

However, the whole idea of a bottom ten is dispiriting, especially when John Carter was at least visually memorable. And whatever its bluntness as a film, I suspect Cloud Atlas has virtues as well. Certainly they're more adventurous than bad rom-coms.

[Watashi]

Less Frankenweenie, more ParaNorman.

[dreamdead]

NYFCC winners:


J. Hoberman's blog on how these winners were arrived at (http://blogs.artinfo.com/moviejournal/2012/12/03/life-in-wartime-nyfcc-garlands-zero-dark-thirty-lincoln/). Kinda interesting to see the back-and-forth recorded. Hard-pressed to see how Jennifer Lawrence could possibly have more support for lead actress than Weisz, so like I said, interesting...

[NickGlass]

J. Hoberman's blog on how these winners were arrived at (http://blogs.artinfo.com/moviejournal/2012/12/03/life-in-wartime-nyfcc-garlands-zero-dark-thirty-lincoln/). Kinda interesting to see the back-and-forth recorded. Hard-pressed to see how Jennifer Lawrence could possibly have more support for lead actress than Weisz, so like I said, interesting...

How Jennifer Lawrence could have support over a majority of lead actress performances is beyond me, let alone Weisz's stunning work.

[Spinal]

Less Frankenweenie, more ParaNorman.

Seriously. One of the year's top 10? Crazy.

[Rowland]

I do hope to find The Invisible War on Netflix at some point soon. I think it's already there.

[ledfloyd]

time be trollin'

[EyesWideOpen]

Less Frankenweenie, more ParaNorman.

Less of both of them.

[Boner M]

I'm eagerly awaiting Peter Travers' top 10 list to alert me to films I would have never discovered otherwise.

[Boner M]

time be trollin'
Corliss is one of my least favorite critics ever. His writeup on TDKR:


Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and an idealistic young cop (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) must save Gotham from a blight named Bane (Tom Hardy), with occasional help or intrusion from a lovely philanthropist (Marion Cotillard) and the revived Catwoman (Anne Hathaway). All five are orphans in masks; they repress or express their true natures by playing roles. Christopher Nolan’s stupendous climax to his Batman trilogy is a masquerade too. Nolan is pretending to be a director of comic-book entertainment, when he’s really out to excoriate Americans’ greed, laziness and implicit yearning for an omnipotent father figure, whether superhero or demagogue. In a tragic coincidence, another masked man strode into an Aurora, Colo., movie house in a Bane-like gas mask during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises and slaughtered a dozen people. The killer, identified as James Holmes, hadn’t seen the movie, but he underlined its mordant thesis: that in the real America, the creature that emerges from our dreams and into the night sky is as likely to be a madman as a savior.

[ledfloyd]

Corliss is one of my least favorite critics ever. His writeup on TDKR:
jesus christ.

[Watashi]

National Board of Review Winners

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 Original Screenplay: Rian Johnson, LOOPER
Best Adapted Screenplay: David O. Russell, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Best Animated Feature: WRECK-IT RALPH
Special Achievement in Filmmaking: Ben Affleck, ARGO
Breakthrough Actor: Tom Holland, THE IMPOSSIBLE
Breakthrough Actress: Quvenzhané 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 SUGARMAN
William K. Everson Film History Award: 50 YEARS OF BOND FILMS
Best Ensemble: LES MISÉRABLES
Spotlight Award: John Goodman (ARGO, FLIGHT, PARANORMAN, TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE)
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: CENTRAL PARK FIVE
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: PROMISED LAND

Top Ten Films (Alphabetical):
ARGO
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
DJANGO UNCHAINED
LES MISÉRABLES
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

[Boner M]

Only the Young is sooo good, best teen/coming-of-age movie in forever. Glad to see it acknowledged. Need to add it to my 2012 list, brb.

[Robby P]

I'm confused as to how Zero Dark Thirty can be named "Best Film" but not one of the "Top Ten Films (Alphabetical)".

[Lazlo]

I'm confused as to how Zero Dark Thirty can be named "Best Film" but not one of the "Top Ten Films (Alphabetical)".

There's actually only nine of those.

[baby doll]

So what is the actual function of these awards? For journalists, it seems that their main purpose is to make the Oscars even more boring than they already are by making it obvious what's going to win even before the nominees have been announced. But as we all know, that whole non-horse race is a meaningless and empty exercise that's increasingly irrelevant to "average moviegoers," since the sort of films that win these things play exclusively to the aged and the white (in other words, the part of the country that voted for Mitt Romney).

[Pop Trash]

So what is the actual function of these awards? For journalists, it seems that their main purpose is to make the Oscars even more boring than they already are by making it obvious what's going to win even before the nominees have been announced. But as we all know, that whole non-horse race is a meaningless and empty exercise that's increasingly irrelevant to "average moviegoers," since the sort of films that win these things play exclusively to the aged and the white (in other words, the part of the country that voted for Mitt Romney).

I dunno man, your taste in films is pretty 'aged and white.' Thoughts on the last Tyler Perry movie?

[Sven]

I'm confused as to how Zero Dark Thirty can be named "Best Film" but not one of the "Top Ten Films (Alphabetical)".

Top Ten Films (Numerical) maybe...?

[baby doll]

I dunno man, your taste in films is pretty 'aged and white.' Thoughts on the last Tyler Perry movie?All I'm saying is the time of blockbuster Oscar-winners like Forrest Gump and Titanic is over (how many people saw The Hurt Locker in theatres?). Spielberg has been over for a decade but doesn't seem to realize it. The Oscars don't matter to anyone anymore except entertainment journalists and Harvey Weinstein. As cinephiles shouldn't we be celebrating this? Ding-dong the witch is dead.

[Watashi]

Usually end-of-the-year montages make me roll my eyes, but this one is pretty great. (http://vimeo.com/55071466)

It makes me want to see Holy Motors even more.

[Pop Trash]

Usually end-of-the-year montages make me roll my eyes, but this one is pretty great. (http://vimeo.com/55071466)

It makes me want to see Holy Motors even more.

That was great. These fan made montages are more inspired than the Oscar ones.

That Girl Walk/All Day thing looks cool. Never heard of it before.

[Gamblor]

That was great. These fan made montages are more inspired than the Oscar ones.

That Girl Walk/All Day thing looks cool. Never heard of it before.

You can watch the entire film for free here: http://girlwalkallday.com/watch-the-film

[Irish]

I dunno man, your taste in films is pretty 'aged and white.' Thoughts on the last Tyler Perry movie?

Since when did Tyler Perry become the touchstone for "young and ethnic"?


The Oscars don't matter to anyone anymore except entertainment journalists and Harvey Weinstein. As cinephiles shouldn't we be celebrating this? Ding-dong the witch is dead.

You mean: they just don't matter as much to you (but that's a good line about Weinstein).

I think it's increasingly difficult to keep the Oscars relevant on a larger scale when every professional and pseudo-professional organization hands out awards every December, and thanks to the Internet we get volumes of articles written about each and every one. The little golden statuette seems less special when the same dozen pictures, actors, and actresses get a hundred other trophies too.

On top of that, the Academy stumbled a bit trying to jockey for position by creating new categories (animation) and increasing the number of nominations in others (best picture). This makes the whole thing feel more or less arbitrary, instead of a tried and true yearly tradition.

Then they're also facing a savvier and more cynical audience, which handicaps the event as if they're Jimmy the Greek haggling odds with Vegas bookmakers. Which, from a pure fan's perspective, kinda sucks. It makes the Oscars more about politics and office betting pools than about movies.

[Irish]

Also, as an addendum: I'm not sure the era of "blockbuster Oscar winners" will ever really be over. That is, after all, what the industry and the awards are all about (the show is a three hour advertisemnt for mostly big budget films).

Maybe the shift is best represented by RoTK sweeping eleven categories in 2003 and Avatar getting shut out of the major prizes in 2010. Personally, I think that has more to do with Cameron as a person than any substantive and lasting change in the voters.

[Spinal]

Maybe the shift is best represented by RoTK sweeping eleven categories in 2003 and Avatar getting shut out of the major prizes in 2010. Personally, I think that has more to do with Cameron as a person than any substantive and lasting change in the voters.

I would say it has more to do with the fact that Lord of the Rings is based on canonical literature and thus has an air of legitimacy, whereas Avatar is a story where giant blue people jack into animals with their hair. People didn't have trouble voting for Cameron when his film was about a tragic historical event. And, in general, Oscar voters don't seem to have trouble with casting votes for people with difficult personalities.

[Irish]

I would say it has more to do with the fact that Lord of the Rings is based on canonical literature and thus has an air of legitimacy, whereas Avatar is a story where giant blue people jack into animals with their hair. People didn't have trouble voting for Cameron when his film was about a tragic historical event. And, in general, Oscar voters don't seem to have trouble with casting votes for people with difficult personalities.

You're making a qualitative assessment there, where I don't think Academy voters do.

ROTK and Titanic were both nominated in weak years. They both made huge amounts of money and represented a massive technical achievement. That's why they won. It didn't have anything to do with "literature" (in Hollywood? Seriously?).

I wasn't implying Cameron is an asshole, but he did blow off the entire industry at the height of his career to go swimming at the bottom of the ocean for ten years. (To some, that represents a missed opportunity -- mostly to make another huge pile of money.)

People aren't inclined to hand out awards to creators that aren't somebody they see regularly, who aren't really a part of the community (see: historically, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and most recently, Louis CK).

And the Academy very definitely has a problem with difficult people (see: Eddie Murphy, Frank Darabont, Edward Norton).

[Spinal]

And the Academy very definitely has a problem with difficult people (see: Eddie Murphy, Frank Darabont, Edward Norton).

Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Christian Bale?

[Irish]

Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Christian Bale?

Seriously? Sean Penn didn't even start getting nominated until ten years after he stopped punching photographers. This is despite, at that time, being in the business for twenty years and performing a half dozen roles that could have garnered notice. And he lost twice before getting a third nom.

Never heard anything about Michael Moore, save he puts out populist documentaries on the cheap that make tons of money.

Bale? One freakout does not a pain-in-the-ass make. At least not on the level that guys like Norton and Darabont are (or Val Kilmer; forgot to mention him before).

Where exactly are you trying to go with this?

[Robby P]

If Roman Polanski can win an Oscar after raping someone I don't see why James Cameron would get blacklisted just for being a dick.

[Pop Trash]

What did Frank Darabont and Val Kilmer do? Must have missed that news.

Also, if the Academy really didn't like rewarding assholes, they would cut off Harvey Weinstein from any more awards. The guy is known to throw lit cigarettes at his assistants.

[Irish]

Also, if the Academy really didn't like rewarding assholes, they would cut off Harvey Weinstein from any more awards. The guy is known to throw lit cigarettes at his assistants.

Assistants don't vote, and have no status or power.


If Roman Polanski can win an Oscar after raping someone I don't see why James Cameron would get blacklisted just for being a dick.

... And a full 25 years after Polanski high tailed it out of the country, never to return. An entire generation. In the intervening years, he was only nominated once, and didn't win.

Also, who said "dick" and "blacklist"?

--

You guys seem to be conflating being a bad human being with being a pain in the ass to work with.

Think of it like this: If you've ever worked any professional job, well, anywhere, there's always been at least one person in the office that's a HUGE pain in the ass. No matter how good they may be at their job, you hate dealing with because every interaction is ten times more difficult than it needs to be and they always end up making your life more difficult.

Now, when it comes time to vote for "employee of the month," how likely are you to check the box next to that guy's name?

That is the kind of thing I am talking about. No matter how much they like to pretend otherwise, the Academy Awards are not immune to workaday human politics.

[Spinal]

Where exactly are you trying to go with this?

Nowhere really. Just pointing out seemingly obvious holes in your logic.

[Irish]

Nowhere really. Just pointing out seemingly obvious holes in your logic.

By offering up Sean Penn? Who arguably paid a penalty and spent the better part of ten years towing te line & reforming his image?

Maybe you should stick with believing that the Academy votes based on feelings for "literature."

[Robby P]

The Fighter showed pretty well last year and I can't think of anyone who would be more of a pain in the ass to work for than David O Russell.

I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to how these old farts vote. For all I know they just vote for the movie whose producer sticks the most coin in their purse.

[Raiders]

Maybe you should stick with believing that the Academy votes based on feelings for "literature."

That isn't what he said. He was talking about the Academy's tendancy to vote for more "respectable" dramas and such over however-respectable sci-fi or comic book films and was chalking it up in LOTR's case to its literary background.

I would say for Jackson's film, it was more a culmination of the previous two films and the remarkably overwhelming and universal respect and praise they had received as a cumulative work of fiction. The first two films, no less well-received and profitable, didn't receive a single damn award (maybe some tech awards--not checking) and then it was an orgy of awards in its last go round. If it had been a stand-alone film, no way it picks up what it did.

[transmogrifier]

Also, as an addendum: I'm not sure the era of "blockbuster Oscar winners" will ever really be over. That is, after all, what the industry and the awards are all about (the show is a three hour advertisemnt for mostly big budget films).

Maybe the shift is best represented by RoTK sweeping eleven categories in 2003 and Avatar getting shut out of the major prizes in 2010. Personally, I think that has more to do with Cameron as a person than any substantive and lasting change in the voters.

Or it could be that they has already bestowed a ton of awards on him for a superior film?

[Gamblor]

British Independent Film Awards Winners:

Best Director - Peter Strickland for Berberian Sound Studio
The Douglas Hickox Award (Directorial Debut) - Bart Layton for The Imposter
Best Screenplay - Alice Lowe / Steve Oram / Amy Jump for Sightseers
Best Actress - Andrea Riseborough for Shadow Dancer
Best Actor - Toby Jones for Berberian Sound Studio
Best Supporting Actress - Olivia Colman for Hyde Park on Hudson
Best Supporting Actor - Rory Kinnear for Broken
Most Promising Newcomer - James Floyd for My Brother the Devil
Best Technical Achievement - Joakim Sundström / Stevie Haywood AMPS IPS (Sound Design) for Berberian Sound Studio
Best Documentary - The Imposter
Best Achievement In Production - Berberian Sound Studio
Best Short - Volume
Best International Independent Film - The Hunt
Best British Independent Film - Broken

[Watashi]

LA Critics:

Best Film: Amour
(runner-up: The Master )
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master
(runner-up: Kathryn Bigelow)
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
(runner-up: Emmanuelle Riva)
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
(runner-up: Denis Lavant, Holy Motors
Best Supporting Actor: Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild
(runner-up: Christof Waltz, Django Unchained)
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, The Master
(runner-up: Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises and Les Miserables)
Best Editing: Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, Zero Dark Thirty
(runner-up: William Goldenberg, Argo)
Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins, Skyfall
(runner-up: Mihai Malaimare Jr., The Master)
Best Score: Benh Zeitlin & Dan Romer, Beasts of the Southern Wild
(runner-up: Jonny Greenwood, The Master)
Best Screenplay: Chris Terrio, Argo
(runner-up: David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook)
Best Production Design: Jack Fisk, The Master
(runner-up: Adam Stockhausen, Moonrise Kingdom)
Best Animated Film: Frankenweenie
(runner-up: It’s Such a Beautiful Day)
Best Documentary: The Gatekeepers
(runner-up: Searching for Sugar Man)
Best Foreign Language Film: Holy Motors
(runner-up: Footnote)

[Watashi]

NY Film Critics:

Best Picture: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty
Best Debut Director: Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Best Ensemble Cast: Argo
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
Best Cinematography: Life of Pi – Claudio Miranda
Best Screenplay: Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal
Best Use of Music: Django Unchained – Mary Ramos
Breakthrough Performance: Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Animated Feature: Chico and Rita
Best Documentary: The Central Park Five
Best Foreign Language Film: Amour

[Boner M]

LA Critics:

Best Supporting Actor: Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild
WTF, that guy was horrible. :confused:

[Boner M]

I really think Beasts is gonna be a quintessential 'movie that exists' in a few years.

[Pop Trash]

I really think Beasts is gonna be a quintessential 'movie that exists' in a few years.

Doubt it. Too many influential critics love it.

[Boner M]

influential critics
Oxymoron.

[Pop Trash]

Oxymoron.

Ha. Touche.

[Irish]

The Fighter showed pretty well last year and I can't think of anyone who would be more of a pain in the ass to work for than David O Russell.

And The Fighter lost out on Directing, Picture, and Screenwriting.

Hell, Marlon Brando won for Godfather, and had an intermediary get up on stage and essentially say "FUCK YOU" to the Academy & world audience & they still nominated him after that.

But noms aren't wins.


I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to how these old farts vote. For all I know they just vote for the movie whose producer sticks the most coin in their purse.

Heh! Now that's cynical, even for me .

[Henry Gale]

AFI's Top Ten:


Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
The Dark Knight Rises
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty


Only seen four, and of those, the only one I didn't love was Argo. Keep in mind that they only include American films.

[Rowland]

Richard Brody's Best of 2012 (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2012/12/best-movies-of-2012.html)

Neat, a spot for the underrated To Rome With Love.

[Rowland]

Eric Kohn's Best of 2012 (http://www.indiewire.com/article/critics-picks-the-best-movies-released-in-2012?page=2#articleHeaderPanel )

Universal Soldier?! And a crapload of movies I need to catch up with outside of the good but disappointing The Master.

[dreamdead]

Golden Globe nominees are below:

Film
Best Picture, Drama:
Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy:
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Misérables
Moonrise Kindgom
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director:
Ben Affleck, Argo
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Ang Lee, Life Of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Best Actress, Drama:
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Marian Cotillard, Rust And Bone
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea

Best Actor, Drama:
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Richard Gere, Arbitrage
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Best Actor, Musical or Comedy:
Jack Black, Bernie
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
Ewan MCGregor, Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Bill Murray, Hyde Park On Hudson

Best Actress, Musical or Comedy:
Emily Blunt, Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Judi Dench, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Maggie Smith, Quartet
Meryl Streep, Hope Springs

Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy

Best Supporting Actor:
Alan Arkin, Argo
Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Screenplay:
Mark Boal, Zero Dark Thirty
Tony Kushner, Lincoln
David O’Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
Chris Terrio, Argo

Best Foreign Language Film
Amour
A Royal Affair
The Intouchables
Kon-Tiki
Rust and Bone

Best Animated Feature
Rise Of The Guardians
Brave
Frankenweenie
Hotel Transylvania
Wreck-It Ralph

Television
Best Comedy or Musical
The Big Bang Theory
Episodes
Girls
Modern Family
Smash

Best Drama:
Breaking Bad
Boardwalk Empire
Downton Abbey
Homeland
The Newsroom

Best Actress
Connie Britton, Nashville
Glenn Close, Damages
Claire Danes, Homeland
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

Best Actor
Best Actor, TV Drama Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Damian Lewis, Homeland

Best Miniseries or Television Movie
Game Change
The Girl
Hatfields & McCoys
The Hour
Political Animals

[Mr. McGibblets]

Golden Globe nominees are below:

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy:
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel


I know they often nominate movies just so that famous people will show up, but this is really low.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I know they often nominate movies just so that famous people will show up, but this is really low.

"Often" doesn't cover it. The show's a sham.

[ledfloyd]

no mad men for best tv drama completely invalidates everything else.

[Spinal]

Best Animated Feature
Rise Of The Guardians
Brave
Frankenweenie
Hotel Transylvania
Wreck-It Ralph



Pretty weak group this year, it looks like.

[Ezee E]

Pretty weak group this year, it looks like.
DId we even have three nominees for this category last year? I know Rango dominated.

[Stay Puft]

Alternately, my current noms for the best animated film of 2012:

A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman
ParaNorman
Redline

Zero crossover. Either the Globes are doing it wrong, or I am.

[Ezee E]

I don't think I've seen an animated movie for 2012.

Wait... Brave. I won't nominate it.

[Raiders]

If we're counting Shinkai's Children Who Chase Lost Voices as 2012, then everyone here has a film they can see for voting purposes.

But yeah, the American market for animated films has looked really weak this year. Only seen Brave so far, so maybe one of the others will be a surprise. ParaNorman looked the most promising and surprise, it ain't nominated here.

[Ezee E]

Cat in Paris is on instant, and I heard that's good.

[Watashi]

The Secret World of Arrietty is still my favorite animated film this year.

[Rowland]

A Cat in Paris is cute and strikingly animated, perfectly fine for what it is, but also slight and disposable. I liked The Secret World of Arrietty a bit more, but it's a lesser Ghibli effort that also didn't leave much of an impression on me. Wreck-It Ralph was annoying, and I gave both Madagascar 2 and The Pirates! Band of Misfits the mildest of yays, so I could take or leave both of those. Brave, while merely good, strikes me as the most all-around successful of the bunch.

[Winston*]

If we're counting Shinkai's Children Who Chase Lost Voices as 2012, then everyone here has a film they can see for voting purposes.

I watched this the other week. I liked it but preferred The Place Promised in Our Early Days. Children... felt a bit too indebted to Miyazaki.

[baby doll]

The Secret World of Arrietty is still my favorite animated film this year.Ditto, but then I haven't seen any others. In any event, it seems that the film's US distributor had no idea what to do with it, so I'm not surprised by its total absence from the year-end award orgy. After all, most reviewers are all too happy to act as unpaid shills for the studio, so asking them to guide viewers in the direction of a film whose distributor dumped it in a handful of theatres ten months ago with little fanfare (as opposed to movies with wide releases and expensive ad campaigns) is a bit like expecting reporters to do more than uncritically regurgitate politicians' talking points. Corporate America spoke--cover Frankenweenie, etc., but don't bother reviewing Arrietty--and US reviewers obediently followed.

[Watashi]

Slant's 25 Best Films. (http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/feature/the-25-best-films-of-2012/342)

[eternity]

If you haven't seen ParaNorman yet, you need to. Probably the year's biggest surprise for me. Ditto Pirates! Band of Misfits.

[Pop Trash]

Film Comment's annual critic's poll:

http://www.filmcomment.com/entry/50-best-films-of-2012

#1 and #3 are the correct answer.

[ledfloyd]

6 of their top ten is in my current top ten, two i haven't seen (amour and ZDT) the other two are not in my top ten (anatolia would be top 20, and lincoln top 25 or 30)

[Pop Trash]

6 of their top ten is in my current top ten, two i haven't seen (amour and ZDT) the other two are not in my top ten (anatolia would be top 20, and lincoln top 25 or 30)

Right, Lincoln being in their top ten was the only issue I had. Everything else I liked to various degrees or haven't seen yet.

[baby doll]

Film Comment's annual critic's poll:

http://www.filmcomment.com/entry/50-best-films-of-2012

#1 and #3 are the correct answer.I'm more intrigued by their list of the best undistributed films, since I haven't heard of most of them.

[Mysterious Dude]

Movie City News has started their consensus of critics' top ten lists.

http://moviecitynews.com/2012/12/2012-top-tens-the-first-of-the-lists/

I have to say, I think 2011 (http://moviecitynews.com/2012/01/125132/) was a lot better. There are some really average movies on this year's list.

I'm also surprised at how poorly Django Unchained is doing.

[DavidSeven]

I'm kind of flabbergasted at how well Argo and Lincoln are holding up on these lists. Don't even know what I should expect of Zero Dark Thirty if those two films are among the benchmarks of 2012.

Seeing Magic Mike hang around the top 25 in most of these is pretty cool though.

[Gamblor]

33rd LONDON CRITICS' CIRCLE FILM AWARDS NOMINATIONS

The Sky Movies Award: FILM OF THE YEAR
Amour (Artificial Eye)
Argo (Warners)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (StudioCanal)
Life of Pi (Fox)
The Master (Entertainment)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Amour (Artificial Eye)
Holy Motors (Artificial Eye)
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (New Wave)
Rust and Bone (StudioCanal)
Tabu (New Wave)

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
The Imposter (Picturehouse/Revolver)
London: The Modern Babylon (BFI)
Nostalgia for the Light (New Wave)
The Queen of Versailles (Dogwoof)
Searching for Sugar Man (StudioCanal)

The May Fair Hotel Award: BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR
Berberian Sound Studio (Artificial Eye)
The Imposter (Picturehouse/Revolver)
Les Miserables (Universal)
Sightseers (StudioCanal)
Skyfall (Sony)

The Spotlight Award: ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln (Fox)
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables (Universal)
Mads Mikkelsen – The Hunt (Arrow)
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master (Entertainment)
Jean-Louis Trintignant – Amour (Artificial Eye)

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty (Universal)
Marion Cotillard - Rust and Bone (StudioCanal)
Helen Hunt - The Sessions (Fox)
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook (Entertainment)
Emmanuelle Riva – Amour (Artificial Eye)

SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Alan Arkin – Argo (Warners)
Javier Bardem – Skyfall (Sony)
Michael Fassbender – Prometheus (Fox)
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master (Entertainment)
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln (Fox)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Amy Adams – The Master (Entertainment)
Judi Dench – Skyfall (Sony)
Sally Field – Lincoln (Fox)
Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables (Universal)
Isabelle Huppert – Amour (Artificial Eye)

BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR – In association with Cameo Productions
Daniel Craig – Skyfall (Sony)
Charlie Creed-Miles - Wild Bill (The Works/Universal)
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln (Fox)
Toby Jones – Berberian Sound Studio (Artificial Eye)
Steve Oram – Sightseers (StudioCanal)

BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Emily Blunt – Looper (eOne) and Your Sister's Sister (StudioCanal)
Judi Dench – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Fox) and Skyfall (Sony)
Alice Lowe – Sightseers (StudioCanal)
Helen Mirren – Hitchcock (Fox)
Andrea Riseborough – Shadow Dancer (Paramount)

YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Samantha Barks – Les Miserables (Universal)
Fady Elsayed – My Brother the Devil (Verve)
Tom Holland – The Impossible (eOne)
Will Poulter – Wild Bill (The Works/Universal)
Jack Reynor – What Richard Did (Artificial Eye)

The American Airlines Award: DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Paul Thomas Anderson – The Master (Entertainment)
Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty (Universal)
Nuri Bilge Ceylan – Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (New Wave)
Michael Haneke – Amour (Artificial Eye)
Ang Lee – Life of Pi (Fox)

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Paul Thomas Anderson – The Master (Entertainment)
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty (Universal)
Michael Haneke – Amour (Artificial Eye)
Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained (Sony)
Chris Terrio – Argo (Warners)

BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILM-MAKER
Ben Drew, writer/director – Ill Manors (Revolver)
Sally El Hosaini, writer/director – My Brother the Devil (Verve)
Dexter Fletcher, co-writer/director – Wild Bill (The Works/Universal)
Bart Layton, writer/director – The Imposter (Picturehouse/Revolver)
Alice Lowe & Steve Oram, writers – Sightseers (StudioCanal)

The Sky 3D Award: TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Anna Karenina – Jacqueline Durran, costumes (Universal)
Argo – William Goldenberg, film editing (Warners)
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Ben Richardson, cinematography (StudioCanal)
Berberian Sound Studio – Joakim Sundstrom & Stevie Haywood, sound design (Artificial Eye)
Holy Motors – Bernard Floch, makeup (Artificial Eye)
Life of Pi – Claudio Miranda, cinematography (Fox)
Life of Pi – Bill Westenhofer, visual effects (Fox)
The Master – Jack Fisk & David Crank, production design (Entertainment)
My Brother the Devil – David Raedeker, cinematography (Verve)
Rust and Bone – Alexandre Desplat, music (StudioCanal)

DILYS POWELL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN FILM: Sponsored by PREMIER
Helena Bonham Carter

[Rowland]

The Village Voice's epic annual film poll is up (http://www.villagevoice.com/filmpoll/cat/film/2012/).

[Boner M]

The Village Voice's epic annual film poll is up (http://www.villagevoice.com/filmpoll/cat/film/2012/).
A lone vote for "The Horse of Turin" near the bottom of the list. :lol:

No real surprises anymore on these lists but it's been good to see a relatively strong showing for Two Years at Sea and Neighboring Sounds. Get on the latter esp., everyone.

[Pop Trash]

I'm kind of flabbergasted at how well Argo and Lincoln are holding up on these lists. Don't even know what I should expect of Zero Dark Thirty if those two films are among the benchmarks of 2012.

Seeing Magic Mike hang around the top 25 in most of these is pretty cool though.

Magic Mike > Lincoln

[Pop Trash]

AV Club:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-films-of-2012,90039/

[Rowland]

AV Club:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-films-of-2012,90039/D'Angelo was the only one not to include The Master on his list, good for him. Alison Willmore was the only one to include This Is Not a Film on her list, good for her. It's Such a Beautiful Day cracked their collective top ten, good for them.

[Watashi]

Is It's Such a Beautiful Day only available through torrents?

[Pop Trash]

The Master is a fine motion picture.

[Rowland]

The Master is a fine motion picture.Yeah, it's fine, but not a favorite of mine. The first act is one of my favorite stretches of film this year though, so there's that.

[Rowland]

Is It's Such a Beautiful Day only available through torrents?You can buy it on DVD as well, Hertzfeldt self-distributes the film.

[Bosco B Thug]

The first act is one of my favorite stretches of film this year though, so there's that. I usually fall on the flipside of majority consensus, but while everyone's saying this, I still think the movie was flatline until they're on and off that damn boat. I think the turning point is Laura Dern.

[DavidSeven]

Magic Mike > Lincoln

Absolutely. I'm not even ridiculously high on Magic Mike, but it's a cool little flick and worthy of a following. Lincoln, not so much.

[Stay Puft]

Toronto Film Critics Association (not that we care what they think):

BEST PICTURE
“The Master” (eOne)
Runners-up:
“Amour” (Mongrel Media)
“Zero Dark Thirty” (Alliance Films)

BEST ACTOR
Denis Lavant, “Holy Motors”
Runners-up:
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”
Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master”

BEST ACTRESS
Rachel Weisz, “The Deep Blue Sea”
Runners-up:
Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Emmanuelle Riva, “Amour”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”
Runners-up:
Javier Bardem, “Skyfall”
Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Gina Gershon, “Killer Joe”
Runners-up:
Amy Adams, “The Master”
Ann Dowd, “Compliance”
Anne Hathaway, “Les Miserable”

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, “The Master”
Runners-up:
Kathryn Bigelow, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Leos Carax, “Holy Motors”

BEST SCREENPLAY, ADAPTED OR ORIGINAL
“The Master”, written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Runners-up:
“Lincoln”, written by Tony Kushner, based on the book
“Team of Rivals” by Doris Kearns Goodwin
“Zero Dark Thirty”, written by Mark Boal

BEST FIRST FEATURE - TIE
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”, directed by Benh Zeitlin
“Beyond the Black Rainbow”, directed by Panos Cosmatos
Runner-up:
“The Cabin in the Woods”, directed by Drew Goddard

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“ParaNorman” (Alliance Films)
Runners-up:
“Brave” (Disney*Pixar)
“Frankenweenie” (Disney)

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
“Amour”(Mongrel Media)
Runners-up:
“Holy Motors” (Mongrel Media)
“Tabu” (filmswelike)

ALLAN KING DOCUMENTARY AWARD
“Stories We Tell” (Mongrel Media)
Runners-up:
“The Queen of Versailles” (Mongrel Media)
“Searching for Sugar Man” (Mongrel Media)

ROGERS BEST CANADIAN FILM AWARD FINALISTS
“Bestiaire”, directed by Denis Côté
“Goon”, directed by Michael Dowse
“Stories We Tell”, directed by Sarah Polley

[Stay Puft]

Seriously, though, I'm just happy to find a critics group that went with ParaNorman. Fuck yeah.

[Henry Gale]

Happy to see my own city has one of the more defendable critic circle awards. Or maybe we just think alike here.

I should really hurry up and see Amour, Killer Joe, The Master, and Zero Dark Thirty once it's properly released. But for now, mainly happy to see the love for Holy Motors, ParaNorman, Cabin in the Woods (even if it's a runner-up), and that they actually remembered Beyond the Black Rainbow.

[Rowland]

Beyond the Black Rainbow tying with Beasts of the Southern Wild for Best First Feature, that's refreshing.

[Rowland]

The L Magazine's Top 25 (http://www.thelmagazine.com/TheMeasure/archives/2012/12/17/the-25-best-films-of-2012?page=2), as well as some individual top ten lists (http://www.thelmagazine.com/TheMeasure/archives/2012/12/17/our-film-writers-top-10-movies-of-2012) from a few of the writers.

[Pop Trash]

Apparently Ebert's health is failing again : (

[Ezee E]

Apparently Ebert's health is failing again : (
Saw that facebook status by him. Very sad indeed.

[Watashi]

I hope he makes it til the end of the year.

[MadMan]

I still want to meet him in person, so that status is very sad inducing indeed.

[Pop Trash]

I hope he makes it til the end of the year.

Word is he just fractured his hip, so I think he's OK.

[ledfloyd]

so another oscar for haneke then.

[Mysterious Dude]

so another oscar for haneke then.
:confused: He's never won an Oscar.

[ledfloyd]

:confused: He's never won an Oscar.
i could've sworn he won for The White Ribbon? or was that a Golden Globe?

[Ezee E]

That and A Prophet lost to The Secret in their Eyes, a movie that exists.

Foreign Oscars always seem to be a surprise for some reason.

2010: In a Better World over Biutiful/Dogtooth/Incendies
2009: as mentioned
2008: Departures over Waltz with Bashir and The Class
2006: Pan's Labyrinth loses to The Lives of Others, despite Pan's having a crapload of nominations
2001: No Man's Land over Amelie

And then the awful eligibility rules of a country only getting submit one nomination. Rust & Bone isn't eligible because France decided something else.

My upset pick this year? A Royal Affair or No.

[Ivan Drago]

I still want to meet him in person, so that status is very sad inducing indeed.

Didn't meet, but I saw him in person when The Phantom of the Opera (1925) played during Ebertfest a long while back. I've been a fan of him since my childhood, so the news about his health makes me sad, too.

[Ezee E]

Word is he just fractured his hip, so I think he's OK.
In the condition that he was already in, that's huge. Kind of afraid what may happen in the next few weeks.

[Mr. McGibblets]

Foreign Oscars always seem to be a surprise for some reason.


I think it's because people actually have to watch all 5 movies, so there's less voting based on hype or which one is most watched.

[Stay Puft]

i could've sworn he won for The White Ribbon? or was that a Golden Globe?

Golden Globe

[Gamblor]

Empire Magazine staff's top 20 (going by UK release dates):

1. The Avengers
2. Argo
3. The Dark Knight Rises
4. Skyfall
5. Beasts of the Southern Wild
6. Sightseers
7. Moonrise Kingdom
8. The Raid
9. Headhunters
10. Rust and Bone

11. Life of Pi
12. Chronicle
13. Holy Motors
14. Looper
15. The Descendants
16. The Imposter
17. Magic Mike
18. Young Adult
19. Amour
20. The Hunt

http://www.empireonline.com/features/filmsoftheyear2012/default.asp?film=20

[NickGlass]

I think it's because people actually have to watch all 5 movies, so there's less voting based on hype or which one is most watched.

Very true. And since their taste, unfortunately, gravitates towards "foreign" (only in location, and not culture/sensibility) entertainments that are more pandering, crowd-pleasing weepies, The Intouchables likely has this in the bag. Conventions still reign supreme in the foreign race, even though vanguard work has a chance to be nominated. Je suis desolé, Haneke.

[eternity]

Empire Magazine staff's top 20 (going by UK release dates):

1. The Avengers
2. Argo
3. The Dark Knight Rises
4. Skyfall
5. Beasts of the Southern Wild
6. Sightseers
7. Moonrise Kingdom
8. The Raid
9. Headhunters
10. Rust and Bone

11. Life of Pi
12. Chronicle
13. Holy Motors
14. Looper
15. The Descendants
16. The Imposter
17. Magic Mike
18. Young Adult
19. Amour
20. The Hunt

http://www.empireonline.com/features/filmsoftheyear2012/default.asp?film=20

That list is disgusting.

[Henry Gale]

On the bright side, Amour is starting to look like it might have a shot at getting an non-foreign-asterisked Best Picture nomination.

It'll likely depend on how many nominees get in there (this 5 to 10 thing is starting to make it harder to predict), and if something like The Master can pull through as the sort of divisive movie with strong support that The Tree of Life was last year.

Right now, I'd say Best Picture will probably look like this (below the line in order of likelihood):

Argo
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
--------------
Life of Pi
Django Unchained
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Amour
The Master

And maybe Moonrise Kingdom can sneak in there, or, ugh, even The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel as this year's Blind Side / Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

[Dukefrukem]

I thought about going to the movies after work....

Jack Reacher ‎2hr 10min :|

Lincoln ‎2hr 30min :|

Les Miserables ‎2hr 37min :sad:

Django Unchained ‎2hr 45min :sad:

[Pop Trash]

I thought about going to the movies after work....

Jack Reacher ‎2hr 10min :|

Lincoln ‎2hr 30min :|

Les Miserables ‎2hr 37min :sad:

Django Unchained ‎2hr 45min :sad:

Good point. I'm probably going to see The Hobbit today, but I'd prefer to not use up three hours of my day watching dwarves and trolls doing some dwarf and troll shit in 3D.

[Rowland]

Considering how much time most of us spend each day, let alone throughout our entire lives, performing the same dull, monotonous tasks, I don't think less than three hours spent watching a movie that hundreds of people spent thousands of hours producing for our entertainment is too much to ask. That said, I think most movies are well served by aiming for the 80-100 minute mark, though I'll gladly take a nearly three-hour long Tarantino film.

[Dukefrukem]

Well when you put it that way....

Leaving work and heading straight to the theater where I won't get home until 9 o-clock at night is not very enticing to me. It's like they deliberately waited the entire year to release the longest movies.

But seriously, does Lincoln need to be that long?

[TGM]

But seriously, does Lincoln need to be that long?

To be fair, it doesn't nearly feel that long.

[Rowland]

It's like they deliberately waited the entire year to release the longest movies. I dunno, seems to me that 2+ hours is the new Hollywood norm for benchmark releases:

The Dark Knight Rises: 2hr 45min
The Avengers: 2hr 23min
Skyfall: 2hr 23min
The Hunger Games: 2hr 22min
The Amazing Spider-Man: 2hr 16min
John Carter: 2hr 12min
Battleship: 2hr 11min
Prometheus: 2hr 4min

[Dukefrukem]

I shouldn't have thrown Jack Reacher in there. 130 minutes is tolerable... but anything over 2.5 hours completely deflates me. We even complained about it when the Dark Knight came out. But it's Batman so.... whadda gonna do? You can't not see Batman.

[Stay Puft]

And of course it's going to come down to pacing, too. Skyfall definitely feels overlong. Jack Reacher feels like a 90 minute film (I was actually surprised when I checked my phone and saw it was over two hours).

[Pop Trash]

To be fair, it doesn't nearly feel that long.

Yes, yes it does.

[TGM]

Yes, yes it does.

I thought it was a breeze. Felt like a 90 minute movie the first time, and flew by even quicker on a second viewing.

[baby doll]

Considering how much time most of us spend each day, let alone throughout our entire lives, performing the same dull, monotonous tasks, I don't think less than three hours spent watching a movie that hundreds of people spent thousands of hours producing for our entertainment is too much to ask.Fuck Peter Jackson. The guy had one good movie, and that was in fucking 1994. Since then, his movies have devolved into monotonous conveyor belts of expensive set pieces (all his epic battles between the forces of good and evil are exactly the same) and gooey sentimentality that add up to fuck all. The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong were just garbage heaps of overly expensive rubble, and the only people who like them are those who already have some emotional attachment to the properties they're based on. He's the midcult Michael Bay.

[transmogrifier]

Fuck Peter Jackson. The guy had one good movie, and that was in fucking 1994. Since then, his movies have devolved into monotonous conveyor belts of expensive set pieces (all his epic battles between the forces of good and evil are exactly the same) and gooey sentimentality that add up to fuck all. The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong were just garbage heaps of overly expensive rubble, and the only people who like them are those who already have some emotional attachment to the properties they're based on. He's the midcult Michael Bay.

I'm not sure I'll ever share your dispassionately objective approach to reviewing big budget Hollywood entertainment.

[Pop Trash]

Ebert:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/12/eberts_top_movies_of_2012.html #more

Figure people will gripe about Argo being #1 (haven't seen it and don't think I will) but some should be happy End of Watch and Oslo are on there.

[Watashi]

Fuck Peter Jackson. The guy had one good movie, and that was in fucking 1994. Since then, his movies have devolved into monotonous conveyor belts of expensive set pieces (all his epic battles between the forces of good and evil are exactly the same) and gooey sentimentality that add up to fuck all. The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong were just garbage heaps of overly expensive rubble, and the only people who like them are those who already have some emotional attachment to the properties they're based on. He's the midcult Michael Bay.
I never read any Tolkien before I saw the Lord of the Rings and I loved them.

Your move, babydoll.

[Stay Puft]

Ebert:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/12/eberts_top_movies_of_2012.html #more

Figure people will gripe about Argo being #1 (haven't seen it and don't think I will) but some should be happy End of Watch and Oslo are on there.

I'm even more surprised that A Simple Life rounds out the top ten. That's not popping up on too many lists. (It's currently in my top five.)

[Kurosawa Fan]

I never read any Tolkien before I saw the Lord of the Rings and I loved them.

Your move, babydoll.

Same here. In fact, I had tried to read Fellowship and found it dull. Wouldn't say I loved LOTR, but after watching them again with my son, I definitely enjoy them.

[DavidSeven]

Ebert:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/12/eberts_top_movies_of_2012.html #more

Figure people will gripe about Argo being #1 (haven't seen it and don't think I will) but some should be happy End of Watch and Oslo are on there.

Argo #1 and Lincoln #3? Yikes.

Said it earlier, but I just don't get it.

[Boner M]

I'm an important critic, here's my 2012 review ([url=http://sydneyfilmhappenings.blogspot. com.au/2012/12/2012-year-in-review.html).

[baby doll]

I never read any Tolkien before I saw the Lord of the Rings and I loved them.

Your move, babydoll.Obviously there are a few outliers. But really, is Jackson even capable of telling a story at this point?

[baby doll]

I'm even more surprised that A Simple Life rounds out the top ten. That's not popping up on too many lists.It wasn't distributed by Harvey Weinstein, so there wasn't a lot of hype to make it into an event movie, and it came out early in the year so it's not fresh in most reviewers' minds.

[Pop Trash]

Apologies in advance:

3kL1y1v-9WQ#!

[Watashi]

You know you waited for it, but here is everyone's favorite, Reverse Shot's Best of 2012 (http://www.reverseshot.com/article/reverse_shots_best_2012). Even they listed Lincoln.

I expect Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Les Mis, Silver Linings, and Life of Pi to be on their "offense" list.

[Ezee E]

The best thing about this year, is I don't really know what's going to win Best Pic at the Oscars yet. That's neat.

[Watashi]

The best thing about this year, is I don't really know what's going to win Best Pic at the Oscars yet. That's neat.
Well, it will be either Lincoln or Zero Dark Thirty. Whoever is in third place is a long, long, long ways off.

I think both lead actor races are locked. Supporting actress is a toss up between Hathaway and Field. Supporting Actor is the only real race.

[Ezee E]

Well, it will be either Lincoln or Zero Dark Thirty. Whoever is in third place is a long, long, long ways off.

I think both lead actor races are locked. Supporting actress is a toss up between Hathaway and Field. Supporting Actor is the only real race.
Who is taking Actress? Chastain?

I'd still throw in Les Miserables for a chance at the moment. But still, nice to see an actual "race."

Zero Dark Thirty's late release may be brilliant though. It surely got nominated, and it goes wide just before the actual ballot is due.

[Watashi]

Oh, and Spielberg is a lock for director.

[Ezee E]

Oh, and Spielberg is a lock for director.
Seems like a lock to me as well.

When was the last time there was a Picture/Director difference? Crash/Ang Lee?

[Pop Trash]

You know you waited for it, but here is everyone's favorite, Reverse Shot's Best of 2012 (http://www.reverseshot.com/article/reverse_shots_best_2012). Even they listed Lincoln.


Still don't get the Lincoln love. Even Reverse Shot's argument for the 'brilliance' of the first scene(s) is a stretch to me.

[Rowland]

Between the RS list and those over at Film Freak Central (http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2013/01/film-freak-centrals-top-10-of-2012.html), my must see films remaining from 2012 are The Deep Blue Sea, Holy Motors, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Tabu, Almayer's Folly, and The Turin Horse. I also feel like I owe The Master another look, maybe its stature in my mind will elevate beyond "liked with significant reservations." On the other hand, I'm pretty confident about merely liking The Kid with a Bike and my indifference to Lincoln.


I expect Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Les Mis, Silver Linings, and Life of Pi to be on their "offense" list.I don't know about Life of Pi, Koresky's review was more mixed than negative. Flight could make an appearance, I recall some of the RS writers making fun of it on their twitter feeds a few months back, but that seems more like a candidate for their now defunct Get Over It list.

[Spinal]

Oh, and Spielberg is a lock for director.

Ugh, really? He hurt that film more than he helped it.

[Ezee E]

There are a few articles talking about how Spielberg got in his own way on Lincoln. Samuel L. Jackson even criticized the ending.

I'll see if I can find the article, but there was a large story about how endings as a whole in Hollywood are horrible right now.

[transmogrifier]

I'll see if I can find the article, but there was a large story about how endings as a whole in Hollywood are horrible right now.

Yep. The number of mainstream Hollywood films that don't know how or when to end, especially comedies, is astounding.

I've always figured that a good screenplay should start with a strong ending already established, and then the rest of the script is a matter of ensuring that ending happens logically, and is earned.

These days, however, it seems a lot of scripts start with the basic high-concept premise, and thus is usually able to spin a half-decent first act out of it, but then it sort of gets aimless.

[Ezee E]

Yep. The number of mainstream Hollywood films that don't know how or when to end, especially comedies, is astounding.

I've always figured that a good screenplay should start with a strong ending already established, and then the rest of the script is a matter of ensuring that ending happens logically, and is earned.

These days, however, it seems a lot of scripts start with the basic high-concept premise, and thus is usually able to spin a half-decent first act out of it, but then it sort of gets aimless.
That's what Affleck said basically. Everything is on the "pitch" and that the pitch usually never has an ending, just an idea that isn't fully formulated.

[Mr. McGibblets]

I expect Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Les Mis, Silver Linings, and Life of Pi to be on their "offense" list.

Just Beasts and Silver Linings. List. (http://www.reverseshot.com/article/reverse_shots_11_offenses_2012 )

[Boner M]

Michael and Bachelorette were so awful.

[Spinal]

Hurrah for Hunger Games smack.

[Winston*]

That Ruby Sparks blurb is weird. The misogyny of the situation is there in pretty much every scene, building up to that final bit. It's the premise of the movie. The ending's a bit of a copout but it's hardly a rejection of the film's values. There's enough ambiguity there.

[Pop Trash]

List. (http://www.reverseshot.com/article/reverse_shots_11_offenses_2012 )

Hurrah! [vindication that X movie I thought was overrated is on their list while conveniently ignoring Y movie I liked is on the same list]

[transmogrifier]

It always amuses me whenever a Reverse Shot reviewer mentions the "critical echo chamber" as a negative when that is exactly what their website turns out to be, just smaller and more self-congratulatory.

[Gamblor]

BAFTAs still as sucky as ever.

BEST FILM
ARGO - Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney
LES MISÉRABLES - Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh
LIFE OF PI - Gil Netter, Ang Lee, David Womark
LINCOLN - Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy
ZERO DARK THIRTY - Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Megan Ellison

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
ANNA KARENINA - Joe Wright, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster, Tom Stoppard
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL - John Madden, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Ol Parker
LES MISÉRABLES - Tom Hooper, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh, William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS - Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin
SKYFALL - Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
BART LAYTON (Director), DIMITRI DOGANIS (Producer)- The Imposter
DAVID MORRIS (Director), JACQUI MORRIS (Director/Producer) - McCullin
DEXTER FLETCHER (Director/Writer), DANNY KING (Writer) - Wild Bill
JAMES BOBIN (Director) - The Muppets
TINA GHARAVI (Director/Writer) - I Am Nasrine

DIRECTOR
AMOUR - Michael Haneke
ARGO - Ben Affleck
DJANGO UNCHAINED - Quentin Tarantino
LIFE OF PI - Ang Lee
ZERO DARK THIRTY - Kathryn Bigelow

DOCUMENTARY
THE IMPOSTER - Bart Layton, Dimitri Doganis
MARLEY - Kevin Macdonald, Steve Bing, Charles Steel
McCULLIN - David Morris, Jacqui Morris
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN - Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
WEST OF MEMPHIS - Amy Berg

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
AMOUR - Michael Haneke
DJANGO UNCHAINED - Quentin Tarantino
THE MASTER - Paul Thomas Anderson
MOONRISE KINGDOM - Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
ZERO DARK THIRTY - Mark Boal

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
ARGO - Chris Terrio
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD - Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
LIFE OF PI - David Magee
LINCOLN - Tony Kushner
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK - David O. Russell

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
AMOUR - Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz
HEADHUNTERS - Morten Tyldum, Marianne Gray, Asle Vatn
THE HUNT - Thomas Vinterberg, Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Morten Kaufmann
RUST AND BONE - Jacques Audiard, Pascal Caucheteux
UNTOUCHABLE - Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun

ANIMATED FILM
BRAVE - Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
FRANKENWEENIE - Tim Burton
PARANORMAN - Sam Fell, Chris Butler

LEADING ACTOR
BEN AFFLECK - Argo
BRADLEY COOPER - Silver Linings Playbook
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS - Lincoln
HUGH JACKMAN - Les Misérables
JOAQUIN PHOENIX - The Master

LEADING ACTRESS
EMMANUELLE RIVA - Amour
HELEN MIRREN - Hitchcock
JENNIFER LAWRENCE - Silver Linings Playbook
JESSICA CHASTAIN - Zero Dark Thirty
MARION COTILLARD - Rust and Bone

SUPPORTING ACTOR
ALAN ARKIN - Argo
CHRISTOPH WALTZ - Django Unchained
JAVIER BARDEM - Skyfall
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN - The Master
TOMMY LEE JONES - Lincoln

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
AMY ADAMS - The Master
ANNE HATHAWAY - Les Misérables
HELEN HUNT - The Sessions
JUDI DENCH - Skyfall
SALLY FIELD - Lincoln

ORIGINAL MUSIC
ANNA KARENINA - Dario Marianelli
ARGO - Alexandre Desplat
LIFE OF PI - Mychael Danna
LINCOLN - John Williams
SKYFALL - Thomas Newman

CINEMATOGRAPHY
ANNA KARENINA - Seamus McGarvey
LES MISÉRABLES - Danny Cohen
LIFE OF PI - Claudio Miranda
LINCOLN - Janusz Kaminski
SKYFALL - Roger Deakins

EDITING
ARGO - William Goldenberg
DJANGO UNCHAINED - Fred Raskin
LIFE OF PI - Tim Squyres
SKYFALL - Stuart Baird
ZERO DARK THIRTY - Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg

PRODUCTION DESIGN
ANNA KARENINA - Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
LES MISÉRABLES - Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson
LIFE OF PI - David Gropman, Anna Pinnock
LINCOLN - Rick Carter, Jim Erickson
SKYFALL - Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock

COSTUME DESIGN
ANNA KARENINA - Jacqueline Durran
GREAT EXPECTATIONS - Beatrix Aruna Pasztor
LES MISÉRABLES - Paco Delgado
LINCOLN - Joanna Johnston
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN - Colleen Atwood

SOUND
DJANGO UNCHAINED - Mark Ulano, Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti, Wylie Stateman
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY - Tony Johnson, Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, Brent Burge, Chris Ward
LES MISÉRABLES - Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, John Warhurst
LIFE OF PI - Drew Kunin, Eugene Gearty, Philip Stockton, Ron Bartlett, D. M. Hemphill
SKYFALL - Stuart Wilson, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell, Per Hallberg, Karen Baker Landers

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES - Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Peter Bebb, Andrew Lockley
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY - Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White
LIFE OF PI - Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer
MARVEL AVENGERS ASSEMBLE - Nominees TBC
PROMETHEUS - Richard Stammers, Charley Henley, Trevor Wood, Paul Butterworth

MAKE UP & HAIR
ANNA KARENINA - Ivana Primorac
HITCHCOCK - Julie Hewett, Martin Samuel, Howard Berger
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY - Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater
LES MISÉRABLES - Lisa Westcott
LINCOLN - Lois Burwell, Kay Georgiou

SHORT ANIMATION
HERE TO FALL - Kris Kelly, Evelyn McGrath
I’M FINE THANKS - Eamonn O'Neill
THE MAKING OF LONGBIRD - Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson

SHORT FILM
THE CURSE - Fyzal Boulifa, Gavin Humphries
GOOD NIGHT - Muriel d'Ansembourg, Eva Sigurdardottir
SWIMMER - Lynne Ramsay, Peter Carlton, Diarmid Scrimshaw
TUMULT - Johnny Barrington, Rhianna Andrews
THE VOORMAN PROBLEM - Mark Gill, Baldwin Li

EE RISING STAR AWARD (winner decided by public vote)
Elizabeth Olsen
Andrea Riseborough
Suraj Sharma
Juno Temple
Alicia Vikander

[Fezzik]

It always amuses me whenever a Reverse Shot reviewer mentions the "critical echo chamber" as a negative when that is exactly what their website turns out to be, just smaller and more self-congratulatory.

Wholeheartedly agree, trans. This is pretty much the feeling I had reading that entire article.

[Pop Trash]

RAZZIE NOMINATIONS FOR WORST PICTURE 2012:

-Battleship
-Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure
-That's My Boy!
-A Thousand Words
-Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part Two

[Spinal]

I'll have to take their word for it.

[EyesWideOpen]

The Razzies are a joke. They've been giving them to the Twilight movies every time and while they are not good movies they are no where near the worst film of the year. They give it to them because Twilight is the cool thing to hate.

[eternity]

I'd say the first Twilight deserved all that can be piled on it. The rest are okay enough.

[EyesWideOpen]

Pretty happy with the Golden Globes. Waltz and Tarantino getting recognized. My crush on Lena Dunham continues as she looked adorable. Fey and Poehler were pretty funny. The whole Jodie Foster thing including the Robert Downey intro was incredibly awkward. Affleck winning best director and Argo winning best drama were pretty big surprises.

[Pop Trash]

Affleck winning best director and Argo winning best drama were pretty big surprises.

Yeah Argo just got pushed into the race for Oscar BP, but I still think Lincoln will win it.

[Boner M]

Forget the awards, let's just gawp at this pic of Michael Haneke & Brett Ratner.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BAeq7LLCQAAUicC.jpg:large

[Pop Trash]

Forget the awards, let's just gawp at this pic of Michael Haneke & Brett Ratner.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BAeq7LLCQAAUicC.jpg:large

HOLY SHIT Michael Haneke's fake twitter account just came to life #lol

[Ezee E]

Would love Haneke to "Haneke" Hollywood.

[Boner M]

HOLY SHIT Michael Haneke's fake twitter account just came to life #lol
Ratner obviously did it just to appease the fake Haneke account, what a good sport. I guess Haneke's technically getting punk'd?

[Spinal]

Pretty sure Ratner thinks he's posing with 'that evil wizard from Lord of the Rings'.

[Boner M]

Pretty sure Ratner thinks he's posing with 'that evil wizard from Lord of the Rings'.
:lol:

[Watashi]

So that entire Jodie Foster speech was a thing.

[Kurosawa Fan]

So that entire Jodie Foster speech was a thing.

It sure was. :crazy:

[Spinal]

:crazy:

JyOcSp3u9Rw

[Barty]

Seeing Daniel Day Lewis' graciousness makes me wish I liked Lincoln more, and certainly helps take the sour taste of of my mouth of watching Bill Clinton and celebrities furiously masturbate over each other and the greatness of Lincoln for saving the world and making it possible that they could sit there and hand out awards to each other. :lol:

[Acapelli]

It sure was. :crazy:
i thought it was awesome

golden globes don't deserve something so heartfelt and personal

[Acapelli]

oh wait, i meant to say, "oh man what a crazy ass lady haha oh man"

[Dead & Messed Up]

Watched about five minutes of the show and tuned out. Caught the Fey/Poehler opener on Youtube. Liked the James Cameron takedown.

That's enough.

[Spinal]

oh wait, i meant to say, "oh man what a crazy ass lady haha oh man"

The only real crazy thing about Jodie Foster is that she's still friends with Mel Gibson.

[Watashi]

I thought the Will Ferrell/Kristen Wiig presentation was hilarious.

[Ezee E]

I thought the Will Ferrell/Kristen Wiig presentation was hilarious.
This.

Also loved how much Tommy Lee Jones loathed being there.

[Stay Puft]

Also loved how much Tommy Lee Jones loathed being there.

http://i.minus.com/i0M40GaJrm8NR.gif

[Stay Puft]

Sly and Arnie present Haneke with his second (!) Golden Globe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdmKOitOuyA

Haneke at the Golden Globes is the best thing to happen during awards season.

Oh and this:


"My students said there was a weird Twitter account," the 70-year-old said through a German translator Sunday on the Golden Globes red carpet. "But I'm not that interested in that kind of thing. It's not for me."

[Kurosawa Fan]

i thought it was awesome

golden globes don't deserve something so heartfelt and personal

It was nice except for her bitterness and her axe-grinding. That section stuck out and spoiled what could have been a really nice speech.

[EyesWideOpen]

I thought Tommy Lee Jones looked like an asshole. First off he doesn't have to be there. Stay at home if you're going to sit there and pout.

[Pop Trash]

I thought Tommy Lee Jones looked like an asshole. First off he doesn't have to be there. Stay at home if you're going to sit there and pout.

Supposedly he is kind of an asshole. I have a few friends that worked on No Country for Old Men.

[Henry Gale]

C'mon, cut Jones some slack. He was mad because he realized he was the only person in the room who knew what Hope Springs was actually about.

[Rowland]

Supposedly he is kind of an asshole. I have a few friends that worked on No Country for Old Men.A journalist tweeted that Jones is an incredibly difficult person to interview, because he pretty much stares at you with that unwavering expression the entire time.

[NickGlass]

When I worked at the Boston Phoenix, the film editor--who interviewed many actors and filmmakers in his day--said his worst nightmare would be getting stuck in an elevator with Tommy Lee Jones and Harrison Ford.

[Ezee E]

Tommy Lee Jones has been known as smug his whole career. I even remember interviews back from The Fugitive, where he won the Oscar.

I wonder how he broke into acting.

[Spinal]

I did not care for Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln. Don't really understand the attention that performance is getting.

[Gamblor]

BAFTA results:

Best Film
WINNER: "Argo"
"Les Miserables"
"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"
"Zero Dark Thirty"

Leading Actor
Ben Affleck - "Argo"
Bradley Cooper - "Silver Linings Playbook"
WINNER: Daniel Day-Lewis - "Lincoln"
Hugh Jackman - "Les Miserables"
Joaquin Phoenix - "The Master"

Leading Actress
Jessica Chastain - "Zero Dark Thirty"
Marion Cotillard - "Rust & Bone"
Jennifer Lawrence - "Silver Linings Playbook"
Helen Mirren - "Hitchcock"
WINNER: Emmanuelle Riva - "Amour"

Director
Michael Haneke - "Amour"
WINNER: Ben Affleck - "Argo"
Quentin Tarantino - "Django Unchained"
Ang Lee - "Life of Pi"
Kathryn Bigelow - "Zero Dark Thirty"

Production Design
Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer - "Anna Karenina"
WINNER: Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson - "Les Miserables"
David Gropman, Anna Pinnock - "Life of Pi"
Rick Carter, Jim Erickson - "Lincoln"
Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock - "Skyfall"

Documentary
"The Imposter"
"Marley"
"McCullen"
WINNER: "Searching For Sugar Man"
"West of Memphis"

Rising Star Award (voted for by public)
Elizabeth Olsen
Andrea Riseborough
Suraj Sharma
WINNER: Juno Temple
Alicia Vikander

Film Not In The English Language
WINNER: "Amour"
"Headhunters"
"The Hunt"
"Rust & Bone"
"The Intouchables"

Outstanding Contribution To British Cinema
WINNER: Tessa Ross

Adapted Screenplay
Chris Terrio - "Argo"
Benh Zeitlin & Lucy Alibar - "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
David Magee - "Life of Pi"
Tony Kushner - "Lincoln"
WINNER: David O Russell - "Silver Linings Playbook"

Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - "The Master"
Judi Dench - "Skyfall"
Sally Field - "Lincoln"
Helen Hunt - "The Sessions"
WINNER: Anne Hathaway - "Les Miserables"

Special Visual Effects
"The Dark Knight Rises"
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
WINNER: "Life of Pi"
"Marvel Avengers Assemble"
"Prometheus"

Outstanding British Debut
WINNER: Bart Layton, Dimitri Doganis - "The Imposter"
David Morris, Jacqui Morris - "McCullin"
Dexter Fletcher, Danny King - "Wild Bill"
James Bobin - "The Muppets"
Tina Gharavi - "I Am Nasrine"

Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin - "Argo"
WINNER: Christoph Waltz - "Django Unchained"
Javier Bardem - "Skyfall"
Philip Seymour Hoffman - "The Master"
Tommy Lee Jones - "Lincoln"

Original Screenplay
Michael Haneke - "Amour"
WINNER: Quentin Tarantino - "Django Unchained"
Paul Thomas Anderson - "The Master"
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola - "Moonrise Kingdom"
Mark Boal - "Zero Dark Thirty"

Original Music
Dario Marianelli - "Anna Karenina"
Alexandre Desplat - "Argo"
Mychael Danna - "Life of Pi"
John Williams - "Lincoln"
WINNER: Thomas Newman - "Skyfall"

Cinematography
Seamus McGarvey - "Anna Karenina"
Danny Cohen - "Les Miserables"
WINNER: Claudio Miranda - "Life of Pi"
Janusz Kaminski - "Lincoln"
Roger Deakins - "Skyfall"

Editing
WINNER: William Goldenberg - "Argo"
Fred Raskin - "Django Unchained"
Tim Squyres - "Life of Pi"
Stuart Baird -"Skyfall"
Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg - "Zero Dark Thirty"

Sound
"Django Unchained"
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
WINNER: "Les Miserables"
"Life of Pi"
"Skyfall"

Animated Film
WINNER: "Brave"
"Frankenweenie"
"ParaNorman"

Make Up & Hair
Ivana Primorac - "Anna Karenina"
Julie Hewett, Martin Samuel, Howard Berger - "Hitchcock"
Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rink Findlater - "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
WINNER: Lisa Westcott - "Les Miserables"
Lois Burwell, Kay Georgiou - "Lincoln"

Costume Design
WINNER: Jacqueline Durran - "Anna Karenina"
Beatrix Aruna Pasztor - "Great Expectations"
Paco Delgado - "Les Miserables"
Joanna Johnston - "Lincoln"
Colleen Atwood - "Snow White and the Huntsman"

Short Animation
"Here To Fall"
"I'm Fine Thanks"
WINNER: "The Making Of Longbird"

Short Film
"The Curse"
"Good Night"
WINNER: "Swimmer"
"Tumult"
"The Voorman Project"

Best British Film
"Anna Karenina"
"Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"
"Les Miserables"
"Seven Psychopaths"
WINNER: "Skyfall"

[Spinal]

Argo again? What the hell is going on here?

[Watashi]

I think it's obvious by now that voters don't even watch the films nominated, but previous award shows to see which films have won so far.

[Derek]

Argo again? What the hell is going on here?

People have Argone out of their mind.

[Spinal]

People have Argone out of their mind.

Be the change you want to see.

[Irish]

Argo again? What the hell is going on here?

Passive agressive "Lincoln" blowback?

I'm starting to think that no matter his success, people enjoy taking the piss with Spielberg over awards.

[Spinal]

Passive agressive "Lincoln" blowback?

I'm starting to think that no matter his success, people enjoy taking the piss with Spielberg over awards.

I think it's more likely a rebuke of Zero Dark Thirty and its uncomfortable honesty.

[Irish]

I think it's more likely a rebuke of Zero Dark Thirty and its uncomfortable honesty.

True, but in that sense I don't think "Zero Dark" ever had much of a chance. At least not when up against something like "Lincoln," which is exactly the kind of picture the Academy tends to love.

I mean, c'mon, if shit like "The King's Speech" can win four major awards, you'd think a movie like "Lincoln" would be a shoe-in!

[Gamblor]

O. Russell and Lawrence react to Riva's win. (https://twitter.com/ultraculture/status/300736288963821568)

[transmogrifier]

O. Russell and Lawrence react to Riva's win. (https://twitter.com/ultraculture/status/300736288963821568)

Tell him to make a better movie next time. I don't even get all the acclaim Lawrence (who I like) is getting for this role. It's such a nothing character, and she doesn't bring any new angles to it.

[Winston*]

Tell him to make a better movie next time. I don't even get all the acclaim Lawrence (who I like) is getting for this role. It's such a nothing character, and she doesn't bring any new angles to it.

Not to mention she's at least 10 years too young for the role.

[Irish]

I don't even get all the acclaim Lawrence (who I like) is getting for this role. It's such a nothing character, and she doesn't bring any new angles to it.

She's incredibly expressive and doesn't overplay her part, or even approach overplaying it, and that's with material where playing it over the top would be all too easy.

Hers is the trickiest role in that movie, because the way it's written it would be easy for at least half the audience to immediately hate her, and the other half to dismiss her out of hand and not take her seriously. The writing at the scene level (in front of the movie theater, after she freaks out at the diner) helps substantially, but she's still required to walk a tightrope through most of the film. That's a dangerous and bold thing to do, nevermind how successfully she does it (and she does do it successfully).

On top of that, she was only 21 years old when "Silver Linings Playbook" was filmed. Take a step back and think about that for a second. She's not only holding her own, but playing right up to the energy level of people with literally decades of experience on her, and one of them is the finest actor of his generation (that'd be DeNiro). Maybe it's overstating the age thing, but I didn't know my ass from my elbow at 21. And yet she's able to do that.

Watch her in the scene where Pat Jr (Cooper) reads the reply letter from his wife, in the dance studio, about three quarters of the way through the film. The focus of the scene is on him, but watch what she does. Listen to what he's saying and watch her face.

That is why she was nominated, and that is why she's getting the praise.


Not to mention she's at least 10 years too young for the role.

I don't get this at all. What does that even mean? I've read this reaction a few places, some of them here. It's wildly curious to me, because I've never once heard anybody beefing about the age of a male star, and whether it was appropriate. This is despite the fact that male stars are routinely cast when they're a generation (or more!) older than their female counterparts.

Edit: Here's an example -- Baz Luhrman's upcoming The Great Gatsby. Two of the male leads, McGuire and DiCaprio, are pushing 40. They're about ten years too old to be playing those roles (Nick Carraway turns 30 about half-way through the book. All the other characters are around his age). Carey Mulligan is only 25.

Is anybody going to point out that she's too young, compared to the other actors, too?

[Lucky]

Edit: Here's an example -- Baz Luhrman's upcoming The Great Gatsby. Two of the male leads, McGuire and DiCaprio, are pushing 40. They're about ten years too old to be playing those roles (Nick Carraway turns 30 about half-way through the book. All the other characters are around his age).

That's funny you say this, I mentioned in the Gatsby thread that DiCaprio looks ten years younger in this movie in comparison with his recent output.

[transmogrifier]

All that writing, and I still disagree with you. She made no impression on me, but then neither did Cooper, De Niro or Weaver. All I took from the film was a lot of standing around and screaming about annoying shit that I just didn't care about. I'm not going to watch what you suggest, because I had enough of it the first time around, and there is no way in hell I'll watch it again.

Take for example the scene where Lawrence reels off the games where De Niro's team won when Cooper was with her. It's supposed to be some huge "Wow, check her out!" scene, but it is so blatant, with the dumb Greek chorus around her ("What's a parlay?") that the character itself doesn't have to do any heavy lifting - it's all just mechanical "scenes" rather than anything inherently interesting about the character itself.

The more I think about the film, the more I hate it.

[Winston*]

I don't get this at all. What does that even mean?

Because people younger than me deserve to be unhappy.

[Irish]

I'm not going to watch what you suggest, because I had enough of it the first time around, and there is no way in hell I'll watch it again.

Heh! I knew you wouldn't, but wanted to say it all anyway.

You're entitled to your own opinion, I suppose, but I'm surprised you'd think that opinion carries any weight or meaning (and you must think that, otherwise you wouldn't bother splicing your ratings to an absurd degree, as if there's a quantifiable difference between, say, 64/00 and 67/00). Then there's the unfortunate side effect of being intellectually dishonest, of stating an opinion and being either unwilling or unable to back it up, and on a message board to boot.

It's a curiously incurious position to take.

[Irish]

That's funny you say this, I mentioned in the Gatsby thread that DiCaprio looks ten years younger in this movie in comparison with his recent output.

He's still a young looking guy and perfect for the role (at least in the sense I can't imagine another actor playing it right now). His age bugs me a bit, though, when the themes of the book revolve heavily around the exuberance of youth, idealism, and not letting go of your dreams.

That's a harder, and more ridiculous, sell when you know the guy playing Gatsby is pushing middle age.

[transmogrifier]

Then there's the unfortunate side effect of being intellectually dishonest, of stating an opinion and being either unwilling or unable to back it up, and on a message board to boot.

(a) While I like debate, I'm less inclined to spend a lot of time doing it over a film I find shallow and annoying. Life is short.
(b) You must have missed the paragraph right below the one that you quoted where I did back up my opinion to a degree. However, while I admire your dedication to your various causes, that's as far as I'm willing to go. Sorry. Call me dumb if you want (which is all "intellectually dishonest" is code for here)

[Irish]

(a) While I like debate, I'm less inclined to spend a lot of time doing it over a film I find shallow and annoying. Life is short.
(b) You must have missed the paragraph right below the one that you quoted where I did back up my opinion to a degree. However, while I admire your dedication to your various causes, that's as far as I'm willing to go. Sorry. Call me dumb if you want (which is all "intellectually dishonest" is code for here)

Comment Rating: 52/100

(a) Fair enough.

(b) Have I ever struck you as the kind of guy who has a problem telling people exactly what I think? Don't put words in my mouth. I wasn't using coded language, and I've never thought you're dumb.

Expressing an opinion but refusing any pushback on it is exactly what I said it was: intellectually dishonest.

[Mr. McGibblets]

(and you must think that, otherwise you wouldn't bother splicing your ratings to an absurd degree, as if there's a quantifiable difference between, say, 64/00 and 67/00).


Comment Rating: 52/100


What an odd non-sequitur to bring up in this context.

[Irish]

What an odd non-sequitur to bring up in this context.

I'm not following .. :confused:

The "52/100" bit was a joke, partially made to point out the ridiculousness with which I view such ratings.

[baby doll]

Tell him to make a better movie next time. I don't even get all the acclaim Lawrence (who I like) is getting for this role. It's such a nothing character, and she doesn't bring any new angles to it.Hello? Did you see her cleavage? Those are the only new angles I care above. (Curves count as angles, right? I'm not a math guy.)

[/elevating level of discussion]

[Mr. McGibblets]

I'm not following .. :confused:

The "52/100" bit was a joke, partially made to point out the ridiculousness with which I view such ratings.

I just have no idea what his rating system has to do with his opinion of Lawrence's performance.

[DavidSeven]

Edit: Here's an example -- Baz Luhrman's upcoming The Great Gatsby. Two of the male leads, McGuire and DiCaprio, are pushing 40. They're about ten years too old to be playing those roles (Nick Carraway turns 30 about half-way through the book. All the other characters are around his age). Carey Mulligan is only 25.

Is anybody going to point out that she's too young, compared to the other actors, too?

I thought Mulligan was too young for the part when I saw the trailer (relative to her castmates).

[Irish]

I just have no idea what his rating system has to do with his opinion of Lawrence's performance.

Film ratings imply that the opinion expressed is meaningful and relevant to the reader. It's also tells you that the reviewer has some investment in that opinion. Since trans' rates movies with such a high degree of specificity, this effect is multiplied. (A casual viewer, less invested, wouldn't bother to rate anything, much less on a 1/100th scale.)

Such meticulous ratings contradict his claim that he's not really all that invested in "Silver Linings Playbook," or in his opinion of the film itself, or really any film at all. He's trying to have it both ways: Expressing a certain approach in his sig, and completely different one in his posts.

In the end, I was asking why, then, he should think anyone would care.

[elixir]

That really doesn't make any logical sense.

[transmogrifier]

That really doesn't make any logical sense.

Tell me about it.

[Irish]

That really doesn't make any logical sense.

I wasn't satisfied with the explanation as worded, but what part didn't work for you?

(But: Either you agree with the premise -- that the act of rating a film expresses something in and of itself -- or you don't).



Tell me about it.

Hush, you.

[elixir]

Your statement would read just as absurd if he rated movies out of 10. Rating a film expresses *something* of course--but not level of investment. Also, I feel you probably overestimate how much time/thought someone takes when rating films out of 100.

I think we should evolve this discussion into one about rating scales though. Sound okay, guys?!

[Irish]

Your statement would read just as absurd if he rated movies out of 10. Rating a film expresses *something* of course--but not level of investment. Also, I feel you probably overestimate how much time/thought someone takes when rating films out of 100.

Ah, okay. It's less about the scale and more about what the methodology implies, and the contradiction between trans' sig and what he's posted.

[elixir]

But there is no contradiction!

[elixir]

100 pt scale forevs <3

[Irish]

But there is no contradiction!

Sure there is.

But given your out-of-hand dismissal of the premise, it probably won't be interesting (or very much fun) to keep talking about this.

[Watashi]

It's been awhile since we've had a ratings discussion.

[transmogrifier]

Also, I feel you probably overestimate how much time/thought someone takes when rating films out of 100.

Yeah, some people make me feel like some supercomputer genius the way they treat 100 point scales as some unfathomable mystery. Takes me about 5 seconds to come up with a figure after viewing.

Ratings are for me, and for those people who might be interested in knowing quickly my generally level of appreciation of a film. Irish wonders why I think anyone would care - possibly no-one does, but so what? It's there if anyone is interested.