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List Of Films By Review Ratings

2012-01-31T09:00:00.001-06:00

The following list will be updated weekly as more reviews are posted This list will be a quick way to see what I have rated each film this year, each week as I post new movie reviews I will update this list. Every film reviewed this year will appear here. From the very first film to the very last. No more scrolling through a hundred pages to see the review you want, just click on the movie title below to get to the review itself.

Zero Stars:
Don't Go In The Woods

Half Star - ☆.
Beneath The Darkness
The Devil Inside

One Star - ★.
Joyful Noise
Carnage
Man On A Ledge

One And A Half - ★☆.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Haywire
Red Tails
The Grey

Two Stars - ★★.

Two And A Half - ★★☆.
Contraband
Rampart

Three Stars - ★★★.
The Flowers Of War
Miss Bala

Three And A Half - ★★★☆.
We Need To Talk About Kevin

Four Stars - ★★★★.
A Separation

The 18th Annual Chlotrudis Award Nominations

2012-01-30T12:00:00.004-06:00

The Boston-based Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film presents its 18th Annual Chlotrudis Awards, honoring the best of independent, foreign and documentary films released during 2010, as well as presenting special awards to filmmakers and talent whose work supports and enlivens those films. Nominations for the 18th annual Chlotrudis Awards were finalized and at the top of the crop collecting Best Film, Director, Actor and Actress nods among its 7 nominations was the silent film that people can’t stop talking about, The Artist. Four other films received 4 or more nominations, including fellow Best Movie nominees Another Year, director Mike Leigh’s latest, and the low-budget independent Weekend, both clear-eyed studies of relationships in today’s England, featuring acting tour de forces. The other front runner films are Lars von Trier’s dystopian Melancholia and Martha Marcy May Marlene, with its impressive directorial and lead actress debuts.

In all, 40 films received nominations; and 19 countries were represented, with US films making up just over 30%. There were other multiple nominees, among them three-timers Pariah, South Korea’s Poetry, A Separation from Iran, and Takashi Miike’s 13 Assassins. In the Society’s most prestigious category, the Buried Treasure, the final nominees were The Arbor, a unique documentary about the late UK playwright Andrea Dunbar; the micro-budget Littlerock following two Japanese siblings stranded in the US; These Amazing Shadows, about The National Film Registry’s critical work to save historic films; the Canadian Trigger, an emotional study of two women’s lifelong friendship; and Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s newest, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

Below is a complete list of the 17th annual Chlotrudis Award Nominations:

BEST MOVIE
Another Year
The Artist
Pariah
Poetry
Weekend

BURIED TREASURE
The Arbor
Littlerock
These Amazing Shadows
Trigger
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

BEST DIRECTOR
Takashi Miike – 13 Assassins
Mike Leigh – Another Year
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Sean Durkin – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Lars von Trier – Melancholia
Asghar Farhadi – A Separation

BEST ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo – The Artist
Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Kirsten Dunst – Melancholia
Adepero Oduye – Pariah
Jeong-hie Yun – Poetry
Tracy Wright – Trigger

BEST ACTOR
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Javier Bardem – Biutiful
Stellan Skarsgard – A Somewhat Gentle Man
Michael Shannon – Take Shelter
Tom Cullen – Weekend
Chris New – Weekend

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lesley Manville – Another Year
Shailene Woodley – The Descendants
Frances Fisher – Janie Jones
Kristin Scott Thomas – Love Crime
Kim Wayans – Pariah
Melissa Leo – Red State

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Jean-Pierre Darroussin – Le Havre
John Hawkes – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Shahab Hosseini – A Separation
John C. Reilly – Terri

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE CAST
Another Year
The Artist
Margin Call
Midnight in Paris
A Separation
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
13 Assassins
Artist, The
The Illusionist
The Last Circus
Melancholia
Midnight in Paris

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
13 Assassins
The Artist
Bellflower
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Melancholia
Tree of Life
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Descendants
The Hedgehog
Higher Ground
The Music Never Stopped
Submarine

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Another Year
The Guard
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Poetry
Weekend

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Bill Cunningham New York
Buck
Into the Abyss
Pina
Senna
Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls

Weekend Box Office Results For January 27 - January 29

2012-01-30T11:00:00.001-06:00

The number one movie over the last weekend of January could aptly be named for the weather we saw here in Chicago. With a clear premise and a popular actor The Grey held off stiff competition in what was a sluggish week for U.S and Canadian box Office tallies. The Grey delivered upstart distributor Open Road Films their first number one debut this weekend, earning $19.6 million. Underworld: Awakening last weekends number one film fell 51% earning $12.35 million and the films ten day total of 45 million is the franchises best to date. One For The Money took third place with $11.5 million. In it's second week in release Red Tails dipped 45 percent earning $10.4 million to come in fourth overall. Through 10 days, the World War II Tuskegee Airmen flick has earned $33.75 million. Man On A Ledge finished the top five earning $8 million. Coming in sixth and leading all best picture nominees was Extremely Close And Incredibly Loud earning $6.98 million, which was off 31 percent from last weekend. After receiving five Oscar nominations The Descendants expanded to 2,001 locations and wound up in eighth place earning $6.4 million. The Fox Searchlight release has now grossed an impressive $58.7 million. Hugo and The Artist received the most Oscar nominations (11 and 10, respectively), which allowed for them to expand and get a slight boost. The Artist had its best weekend yet with $3.3 million from 897 locations, while Hugo had a solid showing with $2.5 million from 965 venues. To this point, The Artist has made $16.7 million, while Hugo has earned $58.9 million. Albert Nobbs, which scored three Oscar nominations including Best Actress Glenn Close and Best Supporting Actress Janet McTier, debuted to $696,166 at 245 theaters. Including its Oscar-qualifying run in December, the Roadside Attractions release has now made $746,417.

The following is a list of estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday in all U.S. and Canadian markets.

01	The Grey	$19.6M	$19.6M	1
02	Underworld: Awakening	$12.35M	$45M	2
03	One For The Money	$11.5M	$11.5M	1
04	Red Tails	$10.4M	$33.75M	2
05	Man On A Ledge	$8M	$8M	1
06	Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close	$6.98M	$20.9M	6
07	The Descendants	$6.4M	$58.7M	11
08	Contraband	$6.53M	$56.4M	3
09	Beauty And The Beast 3D	$5.34M	$41.1M	3
10	Haywire	$4M	$15.3M	2

Opening next week are several big studio films that include Big Miracle: In small town Alaska, a news reporter recruits his ex-girlfriend - a Greenpeace volunteer - on a campaign to save a family of gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle. Chronicle: Three high school friends gain superpowers after making an incredible discovery. Soon, though, they find their lives spinning out of control and their bond tested as they embrace their darker sides. The Innkeepers: During the final days at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, two employees determined to reveal the hotel's haunted past begin to experience disturbing events as old guests check in for a stay. The Woman In Black: A young lawyer travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals. Also opening in limited run are the following films, Kill List: Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness. W.E.: A two-tiered romantic drama focusing on the affair between King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson and a contemporary romance between a married woman and a Russian security guard. Windfall: Wind power... It's green... It's good... Or is it? Windfall exposes the dark side of wind energy development when the residents of a rural upstate New York town consider going green.

Sundance Film Festival Award Winners

2012-01-30T10:00:00.005-06:00

Beasts of the Southern Wild, director Benh Zeitlin’s surreal tale of a six-year old girl living with her father in the flooded basins near the southern delta, was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic film. The House I Live In, Eugene Jarecki’s documentary about the impact of America’s War on Drugs on poor communities, won for best documentary. The Surrogate, a movie about a man in an iron lung (John Hawkes) who decides to lose his virginity with the assistance of professional sex surrogate (Helen Hunt), was honored with an Audience Award and a prize for Best Ensemble. The Law in These Parts and Violeta Went to Heaven won the World Jury Prizes for documentary and drama, respectively.

Below is a complete list of this years films at the Sundance Film Festival:

Grand Jury Prize: Documentary – The House I Live In

Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – Beasts of the Southern Wild

World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary – The Law in These Parts

World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic – Violeta Went to Heaven (Violeta se Fue a Los Cielos)

Audience Award: U.S. Documentary – The Invisible War

Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic – The Surrogate

World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary – Searching for Sugar Man

World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic – Valley of Saints

Best of NEXT Audience Award – Sleepwalk with Me

U.S. Directing Award: Documentary – The Queen of Versailles

U.S. Directing Award: Dramatic – Middle Of Nowhere

World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary – 5 Broken Cameras

World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic – Teddy Bear

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award – Safety Not Guaranteed

World Cinema Screenwriting Award – Young & Wild

U.S. Documentary Editing Award – Detropia

World Cinema Documentary Editing Award – Indie Game: The Movie

Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary – Chasing Ice

Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic – Beasts of the Southern Wild

World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary – Putin’s Kiss

World Cinema Cinematography Award: Dramatic – My Brother the Devil

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for an Agent of Change – Love Free or Die

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Defiance – Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Independent Film Producing – Smashed and Nobody Walks

U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting – The Surrogate

World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Artistic Vision – Can

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Prize for its Celebration of the
Artistic Spirit – Searching for Sugar Man

Short Film Audience Award – The Debutante Hunters

18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Winners

2012-01-30T09:00:00.000-06:00

The Help swept the 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, winning the prizes for Best Cast, Best Actress (Viola Davis), and Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer). And in what many are calling the night’s biggest surprise, The Artist‘s Jean Dujardin bested The Descendants‘ George Clooney for Best Actor.

Below is a complete list of the 18th Annual SAG Award winners:

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES

Best Cast in a Motion Picture
The Help

Best Male Actor in a Leading Role
Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Best Female Actor in a Leading Role
Viola Davis, The Help

Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Octavia Spencer, The Help

PRIME-TIME TELEVISION

Best Male Actor, Movie/Miniseries
Paul Giamatti, Too Big to Fail

Best Female Actor, Movie/Miniseries
Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce

Best Male Actor in a Drama Series
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire

Best Female Actor in a Drama Series
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story

Best Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Balwin, 30 Rock

Best Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Betty White, Hot in Cleveland

Best Ensemble in a Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire

Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Modern Family

STUNT ENSEMBLES

Best Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Best Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
Game of Thrones

Directors Guild of America Winners

2012-01-29T11:00:00.002-06:00

Michel Hazanavicius has been tipped for Oscars glory after scooping the top prize at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards on Saturday night. The movie-maker took home the prestigious honor for his silent movie The Artist, seeing off competition from Hollywood heavyweights Woody Allen - Midnight In Paris, Martin Scorsese - Hugo, David Fincher - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Alexander Payne - The Descendants. The award launches Hazanavicius into pole position to win an Academy Award in February, as the winner of the DGA has gone on to win the Best Director Oscar all but six times since the guild began handing out awards in 1949.

Below is a complete list of this years Directors Guild of America:

Best Director for a Feature Film
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Feature Documentary
James Marsh, Project Nim

Drama Series
Patty Jenkins, The Killing - Pilot

Comedy Series
Robert B. Weide, Curb Your Enthusiasm - Palestinian Chicken

Movies for Television and Miniseries
Jon Cassar, The Kennedys

Reality Series
Neil P. Degroot, The Biggest Loser - Episode #1115

Musical/Variety Series
Glenn Weiss, 65th Annual Tony Awards

Daytime Serials
William Ludel, General Hospital - Intervention

Children’s Programs
Amy Schatz, A Child’s Garden of Poetry

Commericals
Noam Murro, Ads for Heineken Premium Light, DirecTV, Volkswagen Tiguan, and EABattlefield 3

Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards

2012-01-28T11:00:00.002-06:00

The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) is a professional organization of film and television practitioners in Australia. The Academy's aim is "to identify, award, promote and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements in film and television. The Academy is composed of Chapters, each of which represents different screen artists including actors, directors, producers and writers. Elegant and nostalgic, the black and white, almost completely silent film The Artist, was the big winner at the AACTA International Awards, being awarded Best Film for producer Thomas Langmann, and Best Direction for French director Michel Hazanavicius. The film’s lead actor, Jean Dujardin, was awarded Best Actor for his powerful performance as George Valentin, a star of the silent film era, struggling to adjust to the arrival of the ‘talkies’. The multi-award winning Meryl Streep was awarded the AACTA International Award for Best Actress for her role in The Iron Lady, trumping five other nominees in this highly contested category with her impressive portrayal of formidable former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

Below is a complete list of this years AACTA winners:

Best Picture: The Artist

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Best Actress: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Best Screenplay (tie): The Ides of March & Margin Call

Miss Bala Movie Review

2012-01-28T09:00:00.003-06:00

What happens when being in the right place at the right time is also the wrong place at the wrong time? When what saves you could ultimately destroy you? That's the terrifying minefield that the terrific "Miss Bala" navigates in a modern-day Mexico where beauty pageants, politics, police, power and a billion-dollar drug business mingle to deadly effect. Directed with great verve by Gerardo Naranjo, and the country's Oscar entry in the foreign language category, the film takes on the bloody running turf wars of the narcotics trade from street level. It is seen through the eyes of an impoverished young woman whose dreams and whose life are about to become part of the collateral damage. There is a larger message to be found here, but it never derails the taut vintage thriller that's been constructed. Miss Bala is an adventure story that might be called fantastical if it weren’t loosely based on a true story of a former Miss Hispanic America.

The film begins on edge with cinematographer Mátyás Erdély shooting in the uneasy half-light just before night gives way to day. The shadows don't hide that Laura's house is in deep decline, as is the family inside. Her hopes are plastered on the wall around her bedroom mirror, glossy magazine cutouts of stylish models who exist in a world she can't even imagine. Despite a worried father and an anxious brother, she is soon off to meet her best friend Suzu (Lakshmi Picazo) in the city to make a run at that distant dream. Later that evening Laura tries to find Suzu in a club throbbing with music and dancers. With the camera fluidly trailing Laura — it glides directly behind her, which makes it look as if she were seated in the row in front of you — she enters a shadowy, cavernous dance hall and then a dark room with a dazzlingly white back wall. As she gazes at the figures silhouetted against the wall, you realize that this brilliantly staged sequence visually evokes the passage from dimmed theater wings to lighted stage. At which point, in a tense, creepy scene, the cartel invades the club and starts shooting the place up, killing many, including partying drug enforcement agents. Laura escapes but only after the cartel’s leader, Lino (Noe Hernández), takes notices of her.

When she sees the newspapers the next day about the club massacre, she tries to report what she's seen, flagging down a taxi Laura asks to be taken to the police station. Instead, he drives her directly to the boss of the cartel that shot up the club the night before. Instead of being killed, she becomes the pawn of the gang. She's threatened with the death of her family and herself unless she cooperates - and winds up as a pawn, as well as bait, in the battle between Lino's organization, the Star, and government officials who are attempting to crack down on the rampant drug trafficking and police corruption. She endures a hellish 48 hours in which she is kept on a short tether by Lino and his men, forced to perform various tasks of which she is both ignorant and innocent. In the midst of all this, she does get her crack at the Miss Baja title - but it's just part of the ongoing nightmare from which Laura can't seem to awaken.

Once set in motion, the plot moves with an urgency that rarely lets up. The action and suspense that result from Laura’s ignorance and the reality of her situation creates a tension that engulfs the viewer from start to finish. Naranjo, who co-wrote the script with Mauricio Katz, knows how to pace a story. The same tension that propels the film forward extends into the action sequences. Captured in long, steady takes and at a distance with an elevated scope, these sequences break up the static with sudden bursts of violence. As a result, the bloody shootouts between the gangs and local authorities generate tense action and heavy pathos, making Miss Bala a visual spectacle. The narrative is unflinching in its tone, and despite the death spiral Laura seems to be on, her predicament is never played for pity. Naranjo keeps the focus tight, the pace fast and the desperation high. By doing so, he has created a film that balances its extremes with its nuance. Bodies, ripped open by machine guns, pile up in gruesome numbers as blood streaks and pools on the sidewalks, bedrooms and dance clubs around Baja. Well executed and riveting, the action is nevertheless what you'd expect a drug war would generate.

I give Miss Bala 3 stars ★★★. On a purely technical level, this is a highly accomplished and original piece of work, with all the action delivered from the perspective of the simpering but tough Sigman. What makes this film so masterful is its striking way of portraying violence. The camera usually encourages us to identify with the violence, either by making it seem cool or by focusing on a hero whose own violence we're urged to cheer on. Naranjo does just the opposite. While his movie is very exciting, he keeps us focused on the point of view of Laura, who's a victim. Using superbly orchestrated long takes that accentuate her feeling of entrapment, Naranjo either shows us what Laura's seeing or, more often, simply focuses on her face as murderous events unfold around her. The soul of the film is her fear. In Laura's face, we see the terror and dread that have become normal in a Mexico where the drug trade touches everyone and everything.

Miss Bala is rated R for Language, Some Brutal Violence and Sexuality
Running time is 1 hour 53 minutes
Directed by Gerardo Naranjo
Distributed by Canana Films

Man On A Ledge Movie Review

2012-01-27T11:00:00.001-06:00

When a guy steps onto a narrow ledge, many stories above a messy bit of New York City asphalt, you figure it is someone in dire straights taking desperate measures. In "Man on a Ledge" that guy is an ex-cop, convicted felon and recent prison escapee played by Sam Worthington — a situation that is about as fraught as it gets. And yet, Worthington's Nick Cassidy doesn't seem all that frantic, in fact, except for a couple of deep breaths he barely breaks a sweat. As a heist movie, Man on a Ledge is a bit of a throwback. It’s intensely plotted, gritty, occasionally surprising and sparing in its use of elements extraneous to the story. Lately, espionage and crime movies are turning their backs on the procedural style as dull and plodding. The result is star-driven junk like Tower Heist or glossy, stylized, incomprehensible films like Haywire.

Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is a desperate man, in a last ditch effort to prove his innocence he steps out onto the ledge of his room in the Roosevelt Hotel in downtown Manhattan, but Nick has an alternate motive than just proving that he was wrongly convicted of stealing a $40 million diamond from real estate developer David Englander (Ed Harris). Once there, a crowd quickly gathers below with camera phones armed and ready. The police arrive and when they ask Cassidy what he wants, he demands to speak to police psychologist Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks). When she arrives, the plan is already well in motion to prove Cassidy’s innocence. Cassidy was imprisoned and during a furlough for his fathers wake escapes custody and goes on the run. His ex partner Mike Ackerman (Anthony Mackie) is the only one who stood by Cassidy through the whole ordeal.

The first officer on the scene is police negotiator Jack Dougherth (Ed Burns) he quickly is out ranked when it comes to the involvement of Lydia. Lydia has earned the nick name The Grim Reaper because her last jumper - who was a police officer - died. Once she is on scene though Nick sets his main plan in motion. This plan involves the stealing of the infamous diamond that Nick was accused of stealing in the past. Also involved in this plan is Nick's younger brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and his girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodroguez). So while Nick gets everyone's attention focused on him his accomplices are working over time to get into a fortress like building. Of course David has people in the police department that he is paying off and while many of them are obvious if you pay attention you will determine who is and who isn't dirty.

The heist that is pulled off by Bell and Rodriguez to gather the evidence Nick needs to prove his innocence leads to one ludicrous scene after another in which Joey and Angie morph into gravity defying, expert cat burglars. The filmmakers never really explain how the duo learned their skills —which includes demolition, computer hacking, rope climbing and safe cracking — in such quick fashion. There’s also a couple perfunctory subplots about police corruption and an obnoxious TV reporter Suzy Morales (Kyra Sedgwick) covering Nick’s threatened jump. Neither story line adds much to the main event: The battle of wills between Nick and Englander. The movie wraps up with a truly laughable chase scene that will have you questioning the law of physics and whether the filmmakers really think audiences are that dumb to believe the sequence. I call this the filet mignon effect. This is where Hollywood doles out one stupid plot line after another it's like they are shoveling crap down your throat and trying to tell you that it's filet mignon.

I give Man On A Ledge 1 star ★. Sadly the movie itself feels about on par with your average procedural cop drama on television. It is pretty easy to figure out the bad guys from the good, and each set up is more ridiculous than the last. Clearly during an action film you have to suspend disbelief in order for it to really work, but this is much too far-fetched and convoluted to offer legitimate thrills. Documentary filmmaker Asger Leth keeps things moving quickly, in a vain attempt to keep us from noticing the chasms of illogic in Pablo F. Fenjves’ screenplay. He avoids the quick cuts used predominantly in action films today. That is the film's one blessing, but it is simply too hard to get past the lackluster excitement factor to walk away liking this film.

Man On A Ledge is rated PG-13 for Violence and Brief Strong Language
Running time is 1 hour 42 minutes
Directed by Asger Leth
Distributed by Summit Entertainment

A Separation Movie Review

2012-01-27T09:00:00.005-06:00

The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film belongs right here. With rare subtlety and transforming art, Asghar Farhadi the remarkable writer-director of what may be the best foreign film of the past decade, takes us into the emotional heart of modern Iran. "A Separation" is a movie that puts us in the position of judge and jury. Iran's Asghar Farhadi shoots the film with a detached, almost documentary style. Add in the movie's naturalistic performances and, at times, you may need to remind yourself that what you are watching was created, not captured. All its characters—male and female, comfortable and debt-ridden, secular and fundamentalist, old and young, senile and unborn—end up devastated or worse. Everyone is compelled to lie. Justice is impossible. There is no common ground. It is, in short, a thoroughly depressing movie, sparsely photographed but rich in turmoil. What makes it so good is that no one is bad. These humans, desperate to do right, are caught up in a perfect storm of inhumanity. The evil is in the system built around them.

From the opening moments, in which Nader (Peyman Moadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami), a middle-class husband and wife in Tehran, stare right into the camera, - at a divorce-court judge — as they make an embattled plea to end their marriage. The two are grappling with an issue they can't resolve. Simin wants to leave Iran to provide what she thinks will be a better life for their 11-year-old daughter, Termeh (Sarina Farhadi). Nader insists on staying in the country to care for his Alzheimer's afflicted father. When their divorce request gets turned down, the two agree to a trial separation. The daughter stays on with Nader, and he hires Razieh (Sareh Bayat), a woman from a remote working-class suburb, to help look after his father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi). What unfolds over the next couple of days seems banal enough: a dereliction of duty; an argument; an irritated shove.

Razieh is perhaps the movie’s most conflicted character. When she is asked to bathe the naked, soiled old man, she fears the religious consequences and calls an Islamic hotline to seek permission. Razieh is devout and yet she may not be telling the truth about her confrontation with Nader in her testimony before the magistrate. The caretaker and her husband do not have the same contemporary sensibilities as the semi-affluent Nader and Simin, and you can feel the tension. More traditional and fundamentally orthodox, Razieh and her husband Hodjat (Shahab Hosseini) feel steeped in intangible resentment. You can feel the itch and scratch of contempt in every scene where these two worlds collide. In the middle of all this is Termeh who is scared and bewildered, the girl, with her watchful, wary eyes, is pulled into the escalating warfare. Her bewilderment is as much about her father as it is about his accusers. He attempts to use her to his advantage in his defense, and her equivocations lead to consequences that can have no easy resolution for anyone.

Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, A Separation is an intense, focused and narrative-driven film. Its world is that of the sophisticated, well-educated middle-class residents of Tehran, but gradually, bit by bit, like drops turning into a flood, the ordinary gets devastatingly out of hand, and minor misunderstandings, confusions and evasions morph into a slow-motion nightmare that threatens to destroy everything and everyone in its path. Farhadi has chosen his title with care. This incisive look at Iranian society reveals, without calling any special attention to it, divisions over class, over religious observance, over political philosophy. But what's so inspired here is his decision to ground them all in the most personal of all separations, that between a husband and wife. In a movie of flawless acting, it is Moadi — terse, proud, angry, haunted — who shows us that rare thing: a soul in transition.

I give A Separation 4 stars ★★★★. A Separation is a movie that keeps expanding, Farhadi turns the story of one couple's collapsing marriage into a vision of an entire society. We see its tyrannies and fanaticisms, its explosions of violence and small moments of tenderness, its bullheaded men who refuse to lose even if it means lying, and women who believe in telling the truth, but not always. Perhaps the most impressive thing about the way A Separation's exquisitely human situations unfold is that the narration allows for as many points of view as there are characters. Everyone is fallible yet everyone feels justified in their own particular grievances, and the film is at pains not to pick sides. In the end, it's the film alone that matters. A Separation is not the work of a constrained artist. It’s a great movie in which the full range of human interaction seems to play itself out before our eyes.

A Separation is rated PG-13 for Mature Thematic Material
Running time is 2 hours 3 minutes
Directed by Asghar Farhadi
Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics

The Grey Movie Review

2012-01-26T10:00:00.000-06:00

With hectic blast-fests like The A-Team and Smokin' Aces, and referential, post-film-school fodder like Narc, director Joe Carnahan displayed a taste for elaborate plots, which come to fruition with fascistic, violent precision, a method that prizes process over outcome. It's a hollow, exhausting approach, and these films are failures because they expended all their energy setting up these elaborate scenarios, resulting in movies that ran out of steam by the end of the first act. Liam Neeson and director Joe Carnahan are back together again, but this time around, they’re working with material that’s far less fun than their previous collaboration. The bad news is that Joe Carnahan’s "The Grey" is a good deal more serious than his previous films but the good news is that it’s a good deal less serious than most other wilderness survival movies. This genre has a tendency to get a bit overly metaphysical, sometimes annoyingly so. Films such as Alive (1993), The Edge (1997), Into the Wild (2007), The Way Back (2010), all dealt with an uneven balance that somehow kept the film from becoming great. Somehow Carnahan has found the balance between pulp and existentialism, and he has done it by making a movie not about man versus nature or man versus man, but simply man versus wolf.

John Ottway (Liam Neeson) works for a petroleum company in the icy tundra of Alaska. Amidst the other ex-cons, fugitives and “men unfit for mankind,” Ottway’s job is to keep them safe by shooting down invading wolves. When it’s time to return to society, Ottway no reason in particular, boards a plane filled with dozens of his rowdy co-workers bound for Anchorage. But something goes wrong and the plane drops from the sky into the freezing wilderness in the middle of nowhere. Carnage everywhere, burning debris, shards of metal and only seven survivors. Ottway, well versed in both survival and death, takes charge. No one, Ottway assures the others, will come looking for them and their survival is up to them, a survival that soon becomes even more unlikely when they are beset upon by wolves, big aggressive, territorial wolves. The group includes the sensitive Henrick (Dallas Roberts) and the conscientious, religious father Talget (Dermot Mulroney). But easily the most notable among them is Diaz (Frank Grillo) a former convict who initially opposes Ottway's leadership.

Almost immediately the men become victims to the more cunning wolf pack. The first victim is Hernandez (Ben Bray) who is taken while he is left alone on guard duty. Deciding they need to head into the trees the remaining men head out, they are set upon rather quickly by the wolf pack and yet another member is killed. Flannery (Joe Anderson) was injured during the plane crash and is easy pickings for the pack. As the number of survivors gets smaller, Ottway is forced to deal with private matters as well as try to stay alive. A few of the member die because of the elements around them but the majority of the men become prey for the wolves. Both Burke (Nonso Anozie) and Hendrick (Dallas Roberts) meet their end thanks to Mother Nature, the rest of the men, Talget (Mulrony) and Diaz (Grillo) fall to the pack. The last stand between Ottway and the alpha wolf is short lived, most of the action must take place after the screen fades to black.

Directed by Joe Carnahan and written by Carnahan and Ian MacKenzie Jeffers, The Grey is based on a short story by Jeffers. Carnahan has created a tense, terrifying and ironically claustrophobic atmosphere. Spectacularly filmed in British Columbia, the juxtaposition of beautiful, pristine wilderness and true terror is frightening and disorienting. There are adrenalized moments when you will jump out of your seat from fear. Carnahan unsentimentally reminds us that in nature humans are far down on the food chain ladder, although his use of over-sized drooling animatronic wolves might be a bit of overkill. Liam Neeson can usually be depended upon to give a good performance, regardless of the material, but here he falls a bit short. His lost soul, intent on surviving a devastating accident when he is ill equipped to survive life in general is soulful. So much of the film focuses on him and his snow-burnt, ice-encrusted face, speechless but not emotionless; it is his ability to deliver all the depth of feeling that drives this film. Perhaps it is Neeson’s intensity and ability to communicate wordlessly that underscores the deficits in some of the other actors. Frank Grillo - so memorable in a small role in last year's Warrior - is a standout, despite the cliché-ridden dialogue that propels his stereotypical tough guy.

I give The Grey 1 and a half stars ★☆. Visceral action has generally been Carnahan's specialty, that talent is here, too, particularly in his sure handling of the violent plane crash. The wolves, a combination of animatronics, trained animals and CGI, look almost as if they were an inside joke the audience isn't let in on. With cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi, Carnahan drains the colour of the raw British Columbia landscapes, standing in ably for Alaskan wilderness. But when the filmmakers try to let the outside world into the film — in conversation and flashback memories — all they can manage are cliche images that sap the movie of depth, and keep it lost in the wilderness. The thrill factor shouldn't be discounted, however. Director Joe Carnahan imbues the action scenes with such a visceral energy, such urgency, you're thrust headlong into the midst of a airplane crash - one of the better ones filmed in a long time - a blizzard, a raging river and an animal attack. The camerawork is violent and inventive, and the sound is jarring and eerie, heightening the mythic nature of the wolves.

The Grey is rated R for Violence/Disturbing Content Including Bloody Images, and Pervasive Language
Running time is 1 hour 57 minutes
Directed by Joe Carnahan
Distributed by Open Road Films

Rampart Movie Review

2012-01-26T09:00:00.004-06:00

Having teamed up for the emotionally demanding The Messenger, filmmaker Oren Moverman, actors Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster join forces again. The Messenger, which was Oren Moverman's debut as a director, was one of the best movies of 2009. It starred Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson as a sort of messengers of death, the film was a heartfelt drama that was both superbly directed, as well as being emotionally gripping. As a follow-up, "Rampart" had big shoes to fill. The Los Angeles Police Department's reputation in the late-'90s was far from spotless; reports of misconduct and brutality came flooding in by the dozens out of the anti-gang unit of the Rampart division. Oren Moverman's Rampart funnels those widespread sins into a single entity — a cop whose corruption runs so deep that he barely acknowledges right and wrong anymore.

Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson), is an LA. police officer and his colleagues have nicknamed him Date Rape Dave. It's not because of his sexual history, however; rather, it's because he is suspected - though never charged - of murdering a serial rapist - who was also never charged. Dave is a swaggering, intimidating LA cop with a bad attitude and a brain full of logic and procedure. His actions define him as fearless, but Harrelson’s lean-and-mean performance makes him more than just gutsy; he’s confused, menacing and self-destructive. With a crooked smile and devil-may-care attitude, Brown becomes a hot-button scapegoat during the real-life Rampart scandal. And go figure about his home life: He has somehow had daughters with two sisters, Catherine (Anne Heche) and Barbara (Cynthia Nixon) and continues to live with them despite a high level of animosity toward him in an otherwise all-female household. You’ve got to give Moverman and co script writer James Ellroy credit though for true creativity in their depiction of an evil man.

Dave’s graver troubles ignite after he’s caught on video beating a suspect nearly to death. The episode turns up the heat in an already simmering city. Protesters start massing outside the Rampart station, politicians and the district attorney’s office are pounding the walls trying to convince Dave he is done. Despite departmental pressure, however, Dave won't quit the force. A law-school graduate who never passed the bar, he articulately keeps his official tormenters at bay, even as he tries to smooth things over at home. Later, when Dave purposefully kills a suspect during a botched robbery, the incurring investigation by an Internal Affairs officer (Ice Cube) almost seems secondary to the extreme sense of predetermined tragedy permeating through each scene. There’s also a very well rounded supporting cast, including Steve Buscemi, Sigourney Weaver and Brie Larson. Don't worry I didn't forget Ben Foster, Foster plays General Terry a homeless wheel chair bound veteran who see's more than people think, Dave uses some of the information Terry gets to his full advantage, when Terry is mugged and robbed it is Dave who tells him what to do, but Dave's trust begins to whiter after he begins to think Terry knows more about the botched robbery where Dave killed one of the men involved. The one character that seems almost out of place comes into play and then disappears only to re-emerge when Dave needs information, Ned Beatty plays a retired cop who was partnered with Dave's father. It is Beatty who tells Dave about a high stakes card game after Dave tells him his lawyers are draining him.

As the day of reckoning approaches, the film spins out of control, careening between convoluted subplots, with the emotional pitch of the piece swinging too wildly. Amid the debris, there are some gems to be found. Robin Wright as the wrung-out and strung-out defense attorney Dave meets in a bar, matches his cynicism and his sexual need beat for beat. It was already clear that Oren Moverman knew how to let actors go deep, so it’s no surprise that the performers in his new movie are uniformly very good and often better than that, starting with Woody Harrelson, who brings both a raw intensity and a necessary lightness of touch to his unsentimental performance. His Dave is a monster in many ways, but brutally human to the end. But the film is really Harrelson's calling card — if there was any doubt — proof that the goofy bartender of Cheers has turned into a natural born killer on-screen.

I give Rampart 2 and a half stars ★★☆. Moverman’s unhinged shooting style echoes the increasingly unbalanced state of his central character, almost to a fault. Indeed, at times you might be unsure of how much of what’s onscreen is even meant to be taken at face value. Aspects of the surreal eventually invade Rampart when Dave goes on a hallucinogenic bender late in the film. Moverman sets his story in an atmosphere of white noise, of background radios, street protests and snatches of random conversation. Occasionally, he’ll throw in unnecessary camera movements or rough edits, as if the movie needs to jar the viewer even more than this character and his salacious life already have. It’s pretentious, of course, but revealing as well: Perhaps even the filmmakers lose faith in the credibility of such an impossibly bad cop and feel a need to distract you with self-consciousness. Dave's insane experience inside a nightclub turns all sense of trusting perspective upside down through a barrage of jump cuts, strobe lights, and twisting camera shots that produces a sort of spasm in the narrative. Yet the entire sequence is another example of Dave descending into a fragile fantasy world created to ignore the blatant realities of his own failures and those of the institutions he represents.

Rampart is rated R for Pervasive Language, Sexual Content and Some Violence
Running time is 1 hour 48 minutes
Directed by Oren Moverman
Distributed by Millennium Entertainment

The 2012 Oscar Nominees Are....

2012-01-24T11:00:00.000-06:00

So early this morning America watched the telecast of this years Oscar Nominations, and, while I applaud the acknowledgement of Demian Bicher's touching portrayal of a single immigrant father trying to raise his growing son the right way in A Better life, his nomination in the field of Best Actor meant that other deserving actors were snubbed. Some of the noticeable snubs were performances by Albert Brooks in Drive, Shailene Woodley in The Descendants and Michael Fassbender in Shame.

And now on to those who did receive an Oscar nomination this morning. My picks will be highlighted in red.

Best Picture

The Artist - Thomas Langmann, producer
The Descendants - Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, producers
Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close - Scott Rudin, producer
The Help - Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, producers
Hugo - Graham King and Martin Scorsese, producers
Midnight In Paris - Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, producers
Moneyball - Michael DeLuca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, producers
The Tree Of Life - Nominees to be determiined
War Horse - Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, producers

Best Director:

Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Terrence Malick - The Tree Of Life
Woody Allen - Midnight In Paris

Best Actor:

Brad Pitt - Moneyball
Demian Bichir - A Better Life
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Clooney - The Descendants
Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Best Actress:

Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn
Rooney Mara - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Viola Davis - The Help

Best Supporting Actor:

Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn
Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close
Nick Nolte - Warrior

Best Supporting Actress:

Berenice Bejo - The Artist
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Octavia Spencer - The Help

Best Animated Film:

A Cat In Paris - Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
Chico & Rita - Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
Kung Fu Panda 2 - Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Puss In Boots - Chris Miller
Rango - Gore Verbinski

Best Foreign Film:

A Separation - Iran
Bullhead - Belgium
Footnote - Israel
In Darkness - Poland
Monsieur Lazhar - Canada

Best Documentary:

Hell And Back Again - Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
If A Tree Falls: A Story Of The Earth Liberation Front - Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory - Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Pina - Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
Undefeated - TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Best Original Screenplay:

A Separation -Asghar Farhadi
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids - Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig
Margin Call - J. C. Chandor
Midnight In Paris - Woody Allen

Best Adapted Screenplay:

The Descendants - Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
Hugo - John Logan
The Ides Of March - George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
Moneyball - Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Bridget O' Connor and Peter Straughan

Art Direction:

The Artist - Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
Hugo - Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
Midnight In Paris - Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set decoration: Helene Dubreuil
War Horse - Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography:

The Artist - Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo - Robert Richardson
The Tree Of Life - Emmanuel Lubezki
War Horse - Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design:

Anonymous - Lisy Christl
The Artist - Mark Bridges
Hugo - Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre - Michael O' Connor
W.E. - Arianne Phillips

Film Editing:

The Artist - Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants - Kevin Tent
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
Hugo - Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball - Christopher Tellefsen

Makeup:

Albert Nobbs - Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Iron Lady - Mark Coulier and Roy Helland

Music (Original Score):

The Adventures Of Tintin - John Williams
The Artist - Lodovic Bource
Hugo - Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Alberto Iglesias
War Horse - John Williams

Music (Original Song)

Man Or Muppet - The Muppets, Music and Lyrics Bret Mckenzie
Real In Rio - Rio, Music, Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyrics, Siedah Garrett

Sound Editing:

Drive - Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Ren Klyce
Hugo - Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon - Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
War Horse - Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing:

The Girl With The Dragon tattoo - David Parler, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
Hugo - Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
Moneyball - Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon - Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
War Horse - Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects:

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richadson
Hugo - Rob Legato, Josh Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
Real Steel - Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes - Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon - Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Weekend Box Office Results For January 20 - January 22

2012-01-24T10:00:00.003-06:00

The number one film over the weekend looked to take a bite out of a sluggish January. Underworld: Awakening opened to $25.3 million. Coming in second was Red Tails with a very respectable $18.8 million. Contraband came in third but still fell 51 percent earning $12 million, giving it a $45.9 million total so far. Following a month in limited release, the latest Sept. 11 drama Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close expanded to 2,630 locations and earned a disappointing $10.05 million. Coming in fifth was the 3D re-release of Beauty And The Beast the 3D film plummeted 51 percent earning $8.8 million. Debuting in sixth was Haywire earning $8.4 million. Joyful Noise came in seventh earning $5.9 million, the Tom Cruise vehicle Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol came in eighth earning just over $5.5 million. The Iron Lady expanded to a wider audience and came in tenth earning just over $3.65 million.

The following is a list of estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday in all U.S. and Canadian markets.

01	Underworld: Awakening	$25.3M	$25.3M	1
02	Red Tails	$18.8M	$18.8M	1
03	Contraband	$12M	$45.9M	2
04	Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close	$10M	$10.7M	5
05	Beauty And The Beast 3D	$8.78M	$33.6M	2
06	Haywire	$8.43M	$8.43M	1
07	Joyful Noise	$5.92M	$21.7M	2
08	Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol	$5.55M	$197M	6
09	Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows	$4.52M	$178M	6
10	The Iron Lady	$3.68M	$12.6M	4

Opening next week are several huge studio releases including Man On A Ledge: As a police psychologist works to talk down an ex-con who is threatening to jump from a Manhattan hotel rooftop, the biggest diamond heist ever committed is in motion. One For The Money: Unemployed and newly-divorced Stephanie Plum lands a job at her cousin's bail-bond business, where her first assignment puts her on the trail of a wanted local cop from her romantic past. The Grey: In Alaska, an oil drilling team struggle to survive after a plane crash strands them in the wild. Hunting the humans are a pack of wolves who see them as intruders.And opening in limited release is Albert Nobbs: Glenn Close plays a woman passing as a man in order to work and survive in 19th century Ireland. Some thirty years after donning men's clothing, she finds herself trapped in a prison of her own making.

The Cynics Oscar Predictions

2012-01-23T11:00:00.001-06:00

On Tuesday, the Academy will announce the nominees for the 84th Academy Awards. Will we have five Best Picture nominees? Six? Seven? Maybe even eight or nine? This year their is one major change to the best picture category that is now in effect. The change is called the 5% rule, the 5% rule means 289 first place votes are necessary to even qualify. Everyone knows The Artist, Hugo and The Descendants will make it in and receive a slew of nominations in other categories. I’ve stuck with seven Best Picture nominees. A big part of me wanted to exclude David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo from the shortlist but if the film would miss a Best Picture nomination, it would be unprecedented. No film has been cited by nearly all the guilds and miss out in the end. It did miss the Golden Globe and SAG nod so it’s very possible to miss. I still believe War Horse will make it. I’m foreseeing a very low show for Bennett Miller’s Moneyball, and Drive, although I am going to say that Albert Brooks will get a Best Supporting nomination. My prediction for winners will be highlighted in red.

With no set number of eligible nominees in the Best Picture field, I did choose the seven films I thought had the best chance. But as the academy only requires 5% of members to vote for ant given film, I will name three other films that still may have an outside chance of a nomination.

Below is a complete list of the Cynics Oscar Predictions:

Best Picture:

The Artist
The Descendants
Hugo
Moneyball
The Help
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
War Horse

Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Actor:

Brad Pitt - Moneyball
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Clooney - The Descendants
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Michael Fassbender - Shame

Best Actress:

Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn
Tilda Swinton - We Have To Talk About Kevin
Viola Davis - The Help

Best Supporting Actor:

Albert Brooks - Drive
Ben Kingsley - Hugo
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn
Nick Nolte - Warrior

Best Supporting Actress:

Berenice Bejo - The Artist
Jessica Chastain - Take Shelter
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Octavia Spencer - The Help
Shailene Woodley - The Descendants

Best Director:

Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Terrence Malick - Tree of Life
Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris

Best Original Screenplay:
Annie Mumalo, Kristin Wiig - Bridesmaids
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Tom McCarthy - Win Win
Will Reister - 50/50
Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Aaron Sorkin, Steve Zaillan - Moneyball
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash - The Descendants
John Logan - Hugo
Steve Zaillian - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Tate Taylor - The Help
Best Animated Feature:
Arthur Christmas
Puss In Boots
Rango
The Adventures of Tintin
Winnie The Pooh
Best Documentary:
Bill Cunningham: New York
Buck
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Project Nim
Best Foreign Film:
A Separation
Bullhead
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur Lazhar
The rest of my predictions are as follows with the predicted winners listed only:
Best Cinematography: The Tree Of Life
Best Editing: Hugo
Best Original Score: The Artist
Best Original Song: Life's A Happy Song - The Muppets
Best Sound Mixing: Hugo
Best Sound Editing: Super 8
Best Art Direction: Hugo
Best Visual Effects: Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
Best Costumes: Hugo
Best Makeup: The Iron Lady
So over all my predictions are that
The Artist will win 4 Awards
Hugo 4 Awards
The Descendants 2 Awards
Iron Lady 2 Awards

1 Award Each to
Beginners
Midnight In Paris
The Muppets
Rango
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
The Tree Of Life

International Cinephile Society Award Nominations

2012-01-23T10:00:00.004-06:00

Nominations for the 9th annual International Cinephile Society Awards were announced early this morning. A Separation leads the field with 10 nominations, followed by Mysteries of Lisbon with 9, and then both Drive and The Tree of Life with 7 each. The winners, along with ranked lists for Best Picture and Best Film Not in the English Language, will be announced on February 21, 2012

Below is a complete list of this years ICS Award Nominations:

PICTURE

Certified Copy
Drive
Hugo
Margaret
Meek’s Cutoff
Melancholia
Mysteries of Lisbon
A Separation
The Tree of Life
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Weekend

DIRECTOR

Asghar Farhadi – A Separation
Abbas Kiarostami – Certified Copy
Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life
Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive
Raoul Ruiz – Mysteries of Lisbon

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Certified Copy
House of Pleasures
Le Havre
Mysteries of Lisbon
Of Gods and Men
Poetry
A Separation
The Skin I Live In
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

ACTOR

Tom Cullen – Weekend
Michael Fassbender – Shame
Peyman Moaadi – A Separation
Chris New – Weekend
Michael Shannon – Take Shelter

ACTRESS

Sareh Bayat – A Separation
Juliette Binoche – Certified Copy
Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Anna Paquin – Margaret
Yun Jung-hee – Poetry

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Albert Brooks – Drive
Shahab Hosseini – A Separation
Michael Lonsdale – Of Gods and Men
Brad Pitt – The Tree of Life
Christopher Plummer – Beginners

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jessica Chastain – Take Shelter
Jessica Chastain – The Tree of Life
Leila Hatami – A Separation
Carey Mulligan – Shame
J. Smith-Cameron – Margaret

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Certified Copy – Abbas Kiarostami
Margaret – Kenneth Lonergan
Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
Weekend – Andrew Haigh

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Drive – Hossein Amini
Moneyball – Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
Mysteries of Lisbon – Carlos Saboga
The Skin I Live In – Agustín Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Drive – Newton Thomas Sigel
Melancholia – Manuel Alberto Claro
The Mill and the Cross – Lech Majewski, Adam Sikora
Mysteries of Lisbon – André Szankowski
The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki

EDITING

Drive – Matthew Newman
Martha Marcy May Marlene – Zachary Stuart-Pontier
Mysteries of Lisbon – Carlos Madaleno, Valeria Sarmiento
A Separation – Hayedeh Safiyari
The Tree of Life – Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, Mark Yoshikawa

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Hugo
The Mill and the Cross
Mysteries of Lisbon – Isabel Branco
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Maria Djurkovic
The Tree of Life – Jack Fisk

ORIGINAL SCORE

Drive – Cliff Martinez
Hanna – The Chemical Brothers
Mysteries of Lisbon – Jorge Arriagada
The Skin I Live In – Alberto Iglesias
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Iglesias

ENSEMBLE

Bridesmaids
Margaret
Midnight in Paris
Mysteries of Lisbon
A Separation
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

ANIMATED FILM

The Adventures of Tintin
Rango
Winnie the Pooh

DOCUMENTARY

The Arbor
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
Nostalgia for the Light
Pina
Senna

BEST PICTURE NOT RELEASED IN 2011

Alps
Century of Birthing
Declaration of War
The Deep Blue Sea
Elena
Faust
The Kid with a Bike
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
This Is Not a Film
The Turin Horse

Producers Guild Award Winners

2012-01-22T11:00:00.001-06:00

The Artist followed its Golden Globe win by taking top honors at the Producers Guild Awards on Saturday, as the silent film continues its unlikely run toward Oscar night. Producer Thomas Langmann received the award handed out at the Beverly Hilton by the Producers Guild of America, as The Artist beat out George Clooney's family drama and another Oscar favorite, The Descendants. The Adventures of Tintin won for Animated Feature.

The Artist won best musical or comedy at Sunday's Golden Globes and The Descendants won best drama along with a best actor nod for Clooney, making the movies likely rivals for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The other nominees in the movie category were War Horse, The Help, Bridesmaids, Hugo, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball and The Ides of March. Along with honors from other Hollywood professional groups such as actors, directors and writers guilds, the producer prizes have become part of the preseason sorting out contenders for the Oscars, whose nominations come out later this week.

Below is a complete list of this years Producer Guild Award Winners:

Theatrical Feature: The Artist

Animated Feature: The Adventures of Tintin

TV Drama: Boardwalk Empire

TV Longform: Downton Abbey

TV Comedy: Modern Family

TV News: 60 Minutes

TV Sports: ESPN’s 30 for 30

TV Variety: The Colbert Report

TV Documentary: American Masters

TV Reality: The Amazing Race

Web Series: 30 Rock Presents

Documentary Feature: Beats, Rhymes and Life: the Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

NAACP Image Award Nominations

2012-01-22T10:00:00.004-06:00

Nominees for The 43rd NAACP Image Awards were announced today. Winners will be announced during a live telecast on NBC Friday, February 17 beginning at 8 PM. The NAACP Image Awards celebrates the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of film, television, music and literature and honors individuals or groups who promote social justice through creative endeavors. The Help lead the field with eight nominations, the film is up for Best Picture, writing, and directing, as well as dominating the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. TV favorite Grey’s Anatomy and The Game tied for second place with six nominations apiece.

Below is a complete list of NAACP Image Award nominations in the television and film fields:

FILM:

Outstanding Motion Picture:

Jumping the Broom
Pariah
The First Grader
The Help
Tower Heist

Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture:

Eddie Murphy – Tower Heist
Laurence Fishburne – Contagion
Laz Alonso – Jumping the Broom
Oliver Litondo – The First Grader
Vin Diesel – Fast Five

Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture:

Adepero Oduye – Pariah
Emma Stone – The Help
Paula Patton – Jumping the Broom
Viola Davis – The Help
Zoë Saldana – Colombiana

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture:

Anthony Mackie – The Adjustment Bureau
Charles Parnell – Pariah
Don Cheadle – The Guard
Jeffrey Wright – The Ides of March
Mike Epps – Jumping the Broom

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture:

Bryce Dallas Howard – The Help
Cicely Tyson – The Help
Kim Wayans – Pariah
Maya Rudolph – Bridesmaids
Octavia Spencer – The Help

Independent Motion Picture:

I Will Follow
Kinyarwanda
MOOZ-lum
Pariah
The First Grader

Foreign Motion Picture:

A Separation
Attack the Block
In the Land of Blood and Honey
Le Havre
Life, Above All

Documentary (Theatrical or Television):

Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey
Sing Your Song
The Rescuers
Thunder Soul

TELEVISION:

Outstanding Comedy Series:

Love That Girl!
Modern Family
Reed Between the Lines
The Game
Tyler Perry’s House of Payne

Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series:

Dulé Hill – Psych
Malcolm-Jamal Warner – Reed Between the Lines
Phil Morris – Love That Girl!
Pooch Hall – The Game
Terry Crews – Are We There Yet?

Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series:

Tatyana Ali – Love That Girl!
Tia Mowry-Hardrict – The Game
Tracee Ellis Ross – Reed Between the Lines
Vanessa Williams – Desperate Housewives
Wendy Raquel Robinson – The Game

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series:

Craig Robinson – The Office
Damon Wayans, Jr. – Happy Endings
J.B. Smoove – Curb Your Enthusiasm
Nick Cannon – Up All Night
Tracy Morgan – 30 Rock

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series:

Amber Riley – Glee
Gabourey Sidibe – The Big C
Keshia Knight Pulliam – Tyler Perry’s House of Payne
Maya Rudolph – Up All Night
Sofia Vergara – Modern Family

Outstanding Drama Series:

Boardwalk Empire
Grey’s Anatomy
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
The Good Wife
Treme

Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series:

Andre Braugher – Men of a Certain Age
Hill Harper – CSI: NY
LL Cool J – NCIS: Los Angeles
Taye Diggs – Private Practice
Wendell Pierce – Treme

Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series:

Chandra Wilson – Grey’s Anatomy
Khandi Alexander – Treme
Regina King – SouthLAnd
Sandra Oh – Grey’s Anatomy
Taraji P. Henson – Person of Interest

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series:

Corey Reynolds – The Closer
Ice-T – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
James Pickens Jr. – Grey’s Anatomy
Nelsan Ellis – True Blood
Omar Epps – House M.D.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series:

Alfre Woodard – Memphis Beat
Anika Noni Rose – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Archie Panjabi – The Good Wife
Diahann Carroll – White Collar
Loretta Devine – Grey’s Anatom

MPSE Sound Editors Nominees

2012-01-21T12:00:00.003-06:00

Super 8 received three bids for the 59th annual awards of the Motion Picture Sound Editors. The film is nominated for: dialogue and ADR; music; and sound effects and foley. Drive, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Transformers: Dark of the Moon all picked up a pair of nominations as well. The Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) used to announce its list of nominees after the Oscars did, meaning the Best Sound Editing category was the one field without much in the way of precursor clues for predicting. That changed recently and now we can get an idea of where the sound branch might lean in the field.

Below is the complete list of this years MPSE Sound Editor nominations:

FEATURE FILMS CATEGORY

BEST SOUND EDITING: SOUND EFFECTS AND FOLEY IN A FEATURE FILM

Drive
Fast Five
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

BEST SOUND EDITING: MUSIC IN A FEATURE FILM

Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hop
Hugo
Priest
Super 8
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
The Tree of Life

BEST SOUND EDITING: DIALOGUE AND ADR IN A FEATURE FILM

Abduction
The Help
Moneyball
Quarantine II: Terminal
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8
War Horse
The Way

BEST SOUND EDITING: MUSIC IN A MUSICAL FEATURE FILM

Footloose
The Muppets
Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Pina

BEST SOUND EDITING: SOUND EFFECTS, FOLEY, DIALOGUE, AND ADR IN AN ANIMATION FEATURE FILM

The Adventures of Tintin
Cars 2
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
Rio
The Smurfs

BEST SOUND EDITING: SOUND EFFECTS, FOLEY, DIALOGUE, ADR AND MUSIC IN A FEATURE DOCUMENTARY

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey
Cave of the Forgotten Dreams
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Lemmy
Pearl Jam Twenty

BEST SOUND EDITING: SOUND EFFECTS, FOLEY, DIALOGUE AND ADR IN A FEATURE FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

1920. The World’s Most Important Battle
Circumstance
Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within
The Flowers of War
In the Land of Blood and Honey
Sarah’s Key
The Skin I Live In

TELEVISION CATEGORY

BEST SOUND EDITING: SOUND EFFECTS, FOLEY, DIALOGUE, AND ADR ANIMATION IN TELEVISION

Fanboy and Chum Chum A Very Brrr-y Icemas #217
Futurama Law & Oracle
Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas
Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil Truth or Daredevil
Kung Fu Panda: The Legends of Awesomeness Sight for Sore Eyes – #108
Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace
The Penguins of Madagascar The Return of the Revenge of Dr. Blowhole
Phineas and Ferb Across the 2nd Dimension

BEST SOUND EDITING: LONG FORM DOCUMENTARY

Gettysburg
Harlistas: An American Journey
Koran By Heart

BEST SOUND EDITING: LONG FORM MUSIC IN TELEVISION

The 12 Dates of Christmas
Alphas: Pilot
Avalon High
Magic Beyond Words – The JK Rowling Story
Terra Nova Occupation/Resistance – #12 & #13

BEST SOUND EDITING: LONG FORM DIALOGUE AND ADR IN TELEVISION

Big Love: Where Men and Mountains Meet
Cinema Verite
Homeland: Marine One
Terra Nova: Occupation/Resistance – #12 & #13
The Walking Dead: What Lies Ahead

BEST SOUND EDITING: LONG FORM SOUND EFFECTS AND FOLEY IN TELEVISION

Cinema Verite
Homeland: Marine One
Red Faction: Origins
Terra Nova: Occupation/Resistance – #12 & #13
The Walking Dead: What Lies Ahead

BEST SOUND EDITING: SHORT FORM DOCUMENTARY

Above The Ashes: Above the Ashes
Man Made: Bugatti Super Car
Tim Tebow: Everything In Between

BEST SOUND EDITING: SHORT FORM MUSIC IN TELEVISION

Camelot: 110 – Reckoning
CSI: Miami: Crowned
Damages: Failure is Lonely
Fringe: The Day We Died
Justified: Brother’s Keeper
Raising Hope: Prodigy
Revenge: Pilot

BEST SOUND EDITING: SHORT FORM MUSICAL IN TELEVISION

Glee: The First Time
Grey’s Anatomy: The Song Beneath the Song
The Playboy Club: Pilot

BEST SOUND EDITING: SHORT FORM DIALOGUE AND ADR IN TELEVISION

The Big C: A Little Death
Game of Thrones: Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things
Hell on Wheels: Bread and Circuses – #105
Leverage: The Van Gogh Job
Person of Interest: #107 – Witness
Smallville: Dominion
Sons of Anarchy: To Be, Part 2
The Walking Dead: Save the Last One

Iowa Film Critics Awards

2012-01-21T10:00:00.002-06:00

This is the ninth year that the Iowa film critics have named their choices for the years best films. This year they Chose to play it safe by naming Alexander Payne Best Director and his film The Descendants as best overall film. Supporting Actress went to Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids, over both The Descendants Shailene Woodly and Octavia Spencer from The Help.

Below is a list of this years Iowa Film Critic Award winners:

Best Picture: The Descendants
Best Director: Alexander Payne The Descendants
Best Actor: Brad Pitt Moneyball
Best Actress: Viola Davis The Help
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy Bridesmaids
Best Animated Film: Rango
Best Film Yet to Open in Iowa: We Need to Talk About Kevin AND Project Nim

Red Tails Movie Review

2012-01-21T09:00:00.007-06:00

For the first time, the story of the integration of the U.S. armed forces get told from the point of view of the African American soldier. A straightforward heroic film that celebrates the bravery and patriotism of the squadron of the Tuskegee Airmen known as the Red Tails. This was an all-black unit serving in the then-segregated army during World War II. They posted an exemplary record escorting heavy bomber aircraft on dangerous missions over Europe and received a rare Distinguished Unit Citation for their wartime accomplishments. In "Red Tails" executive producer George Lucas and writers John Ridley and Aaron McGruder gives us the viewer a movie that doesn’t dwell on the obstacles the pilots had to overcome to receive their training or get selected for important combat missions. It is part of the story, but the movie does not run wild with the tragic irony of black men defending a country that discriminates against them at home. The focus is squarely on the pilots, their support staff and commanders.

The film opens with a squadron of B-17 bombers on a mission into Nazi-held territory. Fortunately, they've got a fighter escort to protect them, but these escorts are easily fooled by decoy fighters and chase after them while the real German fighters destroy plane after plane in what amounted to nothing more than a turkey shoot. Meanwhile a small unit of fighter is patrolling the area far from the fighting, these men are from a new unit called the Tuskegee Airmen. Their base and unit are threatened with being closed down because they can not perform up to military standards. In a last ditch effort to prove that his squad can deliver Col. A.J. Bullard (Terrence Howard) accepts a risky escort mission that his men will handle with ease.

Martin “Easy” Julian (Nate Parker) leads the first all African-American fighter squad into active combat, along with his hot-headed best friend, Joe “Lightning” Little (David Oyelowo) who is a showboat who appears to have a death wish and on top of that he has fallen in love with a young Italian girl (Daniela Ruah). Then there's Ray "Junior" Gannon (Tristan Wilds), but he doesn't like the name "Junior" he wants to be called "Ray Gun" because he's not a kid and, as we soon learn, he'd rather die than not be up in the air. As the war in Europe continues to take its dire toll on Allied forces, Pentagon brass has no recourse but to reconsider these under-utilized pilots for combat duty. And the rest as they say is history.

Anthony Hemingway, an experienced TV director making his feature-film debut, works from a blandly problematic screenplay by John Ridley and Aaron McGruder that has too many shapeless scenes, not enough dramatic energy, and far too many lines that read like tentative first-drafts that someone forgot to edit later. In the films best scene, a group of black pilots walking past the Officers Club in Italy are called back by a white officer. Reluctantly they turn around to face what they believe will be an attack. Instead, the officer wants to thank them – he's a bomber pilot and the Red Tails had brought him and his 10-man crew back alive. He invites them into the club, introduces them to the startled, hostile white airmen as their saviors, and all the pilots, black and white, end up drinking together. Ne-Yo, as the smooth-talking, clutch-flying "Smoky" Salem, steals the supporting cast show — he's just too cool to let those nasty Nazi's shake his confidence. Kevin Phillips is memorable as Leon "Neon" Edwards, whose prayers to a cardboard Black Jesus appear to be rendering him bulletproof. Until they don't ...

I give Red Tails 1 and a half stars ★☆. The acting is by and large decent, but sadly the story is nothing more than a web of war movie cliches. Cuba Gooding Jr., who plays Major Emanuelle Stance, the unit’s executive officer, spends his scenes chewing on an enormous pipe that never seems to be lit. Appropriately, racial stereotypes and overturning racial tensions are major themes in Red Tails; however, the subject matter is handled with a shocking lack of sophistication and subtlety that, instead of becoming a major touchstone for the storyline, comes across as little more than another underwhelming side plot. Red Tails could have been saved by superlative action sequences. While the camera work and aerial acrobatics are top notch, the special effects suffer from a lack of realism. it would have been nice to see more attention paid to the details of how planes catch fire and blow up in midair. Too often, fire and bullet damage appear to be just painted on to the fuselages and wings of pristine aircraft.

Red Tails is rated PG-13 for some Sequences of War Violence
Running time 2 hours 05 minutes
Directed by Anthony Hemingway
Distributed by 20th Century Fox

London Film Critics Award Winners

2012-01-20T11:00:00.004-06:00

Another awards triumph for The Artist. Michel Hazanavicius’ silent film continues its near sweep of awards season as it took home the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor prize from the London Film Critics Circle Awards. Surprisingly, the other film to tie The Artist with three awards was the Iranian drama A Separation. The foreign film has been riding a wave of immense positive word of mouth, and the London Film Critics awarded the pic with Foreign Language Film of the Year, Best Screenwriter, and Best Actress. Nearly shut out of the awards was Britain’s own Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The espionage drama failed to pick up any major prizes and was sent home with a win for Best Production Design. Elsewhere, We Need to Talk About Kevin was named Best British Film, Anna Paquin shared the Best Actress prize with Meryl Streep for her work in Margaret, and Michael Fassbender won British Actor of the Year for his stellar work in Shame and A Dangerous Method.

Below is a complete list of this years London Film Critics Circle Award Winners:

Critics' Circle Top 10 Films of 2011 
01. The Artist
02. A Separation
03. Drive
04. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
05. The Tree of Life
06. We Need to Talk About Kevin
07. Melancholia
08. Shame
09. Margaret
10. The Descendants

The Attenborough Award: Best British Film
We Need to Talk About Kevin

Foreign Language Film of the Year
A Separation

Documentary of the Year
Senna

Director of the Year
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist

Screenwriter of the Year
Asghar Farhadi - A Separation

The Virgin Atlantic Award: Breakthrough British Filmmaker
Andrew Haigh - Weekend

Actor of the Year
Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Actress of the Year (Tied)
Anna Paquin - Margaret
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady

Supporting Actor of the Year
Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn

Supporting Actress of the Year
Sareh Bayat - A Separation

British Actor of the Year
Michael Fassbender - A Dangerous Method, Shame

The Moët & Chandon Award: British Actress of the Year
Olivia Colman - The Iron Lady, Tyrannosaur

Young British Performer of the Year
Craig Roberts - Submarine

The Sky 3D Award: Technical Achievement
Maria Djurkovic, production design - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The Dilys Powell Award: Excellence in Film
Nicolas Roeg

Costume Design Guild Nominations

2012-01-20T10:00:00.002-06:00

Following on the heels of the Cinema Audio Society today is the Costume Designers Guild, which has selected nominees in its three patented categories. Once again War Horse was snubbed in this field but in the fantasy category both Thor and X - Men: First Class were nominated as were Harry Potter and The Pirates of The Caribbean. In the contemporary field, alongside expected contenders like Bridesmaids, The Descendants and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive and that signature scorpion jacket gets a nice notice there, too. Other films not getting a nod here were Immortals, Anonymous, My Week with Marilyn, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Captain America: The First Avenger who was not able to join it's fellow comic adaptations.

Below is the complete list of Costume Design Nominations:

Excellence in Contemporary Film

Bridesmaids - Leesa Evans and Christine Wada

The Descendants - Wendy Chuck

Drive – Erin Benach

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Trish Summerville

Melancholia – Manon Rasmussen

Excellence in Period Film

The Artist – Mark Bridges

Jane Eyre – Michael O’Connor

The Help – Sharen Davis

Hugo – Sandy Powell

W.E. – Arianne Phillips

Excellence in Fantasy Film

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Jany Temime

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – Penny Rose

Red Riding Hood – Cindy Evans

Thor – Alexandra Byrne

X-Men: First Class – Sammy Sheldon

Outstanding Contemporary Television Series

Glee – Lou Eyrich and Jennifer Eve

Modern Family – Alix Friedberg

Revenge – Jill Ohanneson

Saturday Night Live – Tom Broecker and Eric Justian

Sons of Anarchy – Kelli Jones

Outstanding Period/Fantasy Television Series

Boardwalk Empire – John A. Dunn, Lisa Padovani

The Borgias – Gabriella Pescucci

Game of Thrones – Michele Clapton

Once Upon A Time – Eduardo Castro

Pan Am – Ane Crabtree

Outstanding Made for Television Movie or Mini Series

Downton Abbey – Susannah Buxton

The Kennedys – Christopher Hargadon

Mildred Pierce – Ann Roth

Excellence in Commercial Costume Design

Carl’s Jr.: Miss Turkey – Francine Lecoultre

Dos Equis: The Most Interesting Man in the World – Julie Vogel

Swiffer: Country Dirt Cowgirl – Roseanne Fiedler

Haywire Movie Review

2012-01-20T09:00:00.004-06:00

Similar to casting adult film star Sasha Grey for

The Girlfriend Experience, director Steven Soderbergh has tailor-made an entire movie around an untested talent. Almost inevitably, Gina Carano makes up for in presence what she lacks in range — her line delivery remains cold and curt throughout — but Soderbergh’s surrounded her with so many talented stars that the film is almost salvageable. Soderbergh has a knack for putting so many stars on screen that one would begin to hope that this is as good as his previous film, Traffic and better than his last film Contagion. It isn't. "Haywire" is the ultimate in stripped-down, ball out action. In his first time at the helm of an action-flick, director Steven Soderbergh, rather than go big, scales Haywire back to the point that it’s very much a companion piece to his earlier revenge drama The Limey - with writer Lem Dobbs notably having penned both. Like that earlier film, Haywire centers on a protagonists that's so talented at what she does, she becomes a liability to her handlers.

As the film starts, she's a fugitive from an operation gone wrong. After rescuing a hostage in Barcelona, Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) has stumbled on dirty business within her own organization - a private security firm used by the government for off-the-books operations. Now she's on the run, trying to track down her own boss to figure out why she was set up. Mallory, needing to talk to her boss, agrees to a meet in a small roadside diner, but instead of Kenneth (Ewan McGregor), she sees an ex partner, Aaron (Channing Tatum) getting out of a vehicle. Aaron tries to tell Mallory that Kenneth has sent him to bring her in but soon the two are involved in an all out brawl in the diner. Leaving diner patrons stunned and maybe Aaron dead, Mallory escapes by way of stunned innocent bystander Scott’s (Michael Angarano) car. With a terrified but obedient Scott nervous in the passenger seat and a determined Mallory at the wheel, she shares with Scott the events that put her unwillingly into this driver’s seat.

Flashbacks establish the Barcelona job, one where Mallory is told that she and her group will be rescuing Jiang (Anthony Brandon Wong) a journalist that has been taken captive, Mallory begins to suspect her client, Rodrigo (Antonio Banderas), as well as Kenneth, are up to no good when she is whisked away to Dublin to work along side Paul (Michael Fassbender) an MI6 agent to spy on filthy-rich French bad boy Studer (Mathieu Kassovitz) at his elegant London estate party. Mallory also discovers that the Chinese hostage she thought was alive has been murdered on the estate. Upon their return to the hotel room Mallory is caught up in a fight for her very survival. Now on the run from the police, she escapes to the U.S. by way of Canada to take refuge with her Marine Corp. father (Bill Paxton), who lives in the New Mexico hills.

Soderbergh keeps it as simple as possible, while designing a variety of breath-taking camera moves that seem to be spur-of-the-moment, whatever-works. The actual exposition -- the explanation of the plot -- is almost beside the point; we know who the heroine is and watch over her shoulder as she tries to figure out just who she can trust. Yet she's not a solo operative running around loose in the world. At one point, she winds up at the home of her father, the writer of best-selling historical thrillers - and we get a glimpse of his astonishment at what his daughter has become. Dad should have turned out to be the ultimate villain — since spy-movie plots, often climax with the revelation and dispatch of the evil father figure — but sadly Haywire doesn’t bother to go there.

I give Haywire 1 and a half stars ★☆. As a cynic it would be hard for me to call the random series of events that follows the opening sequence a “plot.” Characters are thrown in and out at random and nothing is ever completely explained, which is ironic in a movie where the protagonist’s motivation is to piece together what is happening. Regardless of the setting, the opponent or their motives, Soderbergh is smart enough to emphasize Carano's strengths. He lets the elaborate fight scenes play out — lets us see every kick, punch and body slam — without a lot of needless edits and even without any music. The battles provide their own rhythm to the film.

Haywire is rated R for Some Violence
Running time is 1 hour 33 minutes
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Distributed by Relativity Media

The Flowers Of War Movie Review

2012-01-19T11:00:00.002-06:00

Arguably the most eagerly-anticipated Chinese movie of the year, Zhang Yimou's epic retelling of the 1937 Nanking Massacre is not only the country's most expensive movie ever - its reported budget of close to $100 million makes it the country's priciest production to date - but boasts Academy Award winner Christian Bale in the lead role. Bale plays John Miller, an American mortician who is summoned to a Cathedral in Nanking to help bury the deceased priest, only to take his place and help defend the young female students, as well as a troupe of prostitutes, from the invading Japanese forces. "The Flowers Of War" is Zhang Yimou's 19th feature and it's among the first domestically financed films to star a high-profile Hollywood actor and the reported budget makes it the country's priciest production to date. The Flowers Of War is a big movie in every sense of the word, from its kinetic battle scenes to the beautiful photography and impressive performances from a mostly young and inexperienced cast. Any new project from Zhang Yimou is a big deal. He is China's most internationally-renowned filmmaker, praised for both for his bold visual style in films such as Hero and Curse Of The Golden Flower, but also for his earlier, more character-driven films, like Ju Dou and Raise The Red Lantern, which detail the plights of young women in oppressive, male-centric societies.

John Miller (Bale), an American vagabond who happens to be a mortician; as the film begins he is making his way through the fighting toward the church, where he is to be paid to conduct a burial. Also on the move are two groups of a dozen or so young women, the flowers of the title. They are convent students dressed in severe blue jackets and a group of prostitutes in seductive, rainbow-hued silken dresses. All of these women take refuge in the church, with Miller, left to bridge the divide between the suspicious students upstairs and the contemptuous, defensive prostitutes hiding in the basement. All of this activity is watched over by a young male ward (Huang Tianyuan) left to tend to the day to day business of the church after the priest died. Japanese soldiers attack the convent and while the prostitutes hide the young girls are chased and assaulted until Miller, unable to ignore the screams echoing through the church, dons the priest’s robes and stands up to the invaders. His actions don't in any way halt the ensuing tragedy, they are only delayed by the sacrifice of a lone Chinese soldier who is able to lure the invading Japanese soldiers outside and slowly pick them off one at a time. Meanwhile Miller has fallen for the one call girl Yo Mo (Ni Ni) whom the others have decided is the prettiest and therefore their best shot at getting Miller to help them. Gradually Miller acquires a new sense of dignity and compassion. He stops trying to bed the sultry leader of the courtesans and begins to treat her like the clever, formidable survivor that she is.

Bale is fine as a man uninterested in the welfare of others but forced to take action when their plight becomes unavoidable. His general weakness as an actor, that being his usual inability to appear anything but gruff, serves the character’s transformation well here. It’s clear the girls’ safety is not his primary concern, but as events develop he can’t help but step in and put their welfare before his own. It’s a begrudging concern filtered through his own anger and frustration at his unwillingness to walk away when he had the chance, and Bale makes the pain of that decision visible. Miller is no action hero, and Bale mutes his natural inclination to shout his lines in favor of playing someone whose biggest threat may be his own selfishness. Two relative newcomers actually surpass Bale’s performance with heart-wrenching turns of their own. Zhang Xinyi plays Shu, one of the young girls who comes under Miller’s protection and develops a crush on him along the way. She’s put upon by the other girls because it was her father who promised then failed to get them out of Nanjing, but her bigger struggle is within as she tries to deal with a yearning for womanhood amidst the despair and threat of imminent death. She connects with Yu Mo, and watches as the woman also connects with Miller. Both Xinyi and Ni find their characters’ emotional cores tested and emboldened by their desires and their witness to the acts of others around them, and they allow their love, fear and resignation to play through their performances to great effect.

Innocence - vs. - experience is an undeniably strong theme. The girls' tender adolescence heightens its impact, especially given the historical facts. The Nanking Massacre is also known as the Rape of Nanking, and it's more than a figurative description. Yet in The Flowers Of War it is the girls' safety that becomes the paramount concern of the survivors holed up in the cathedral. However terrible and real the threat of rape was, the screenplay turns every Japanese soldier into a rampaging maniac, some of them screaming exultantly upon discovering virgins. The exception is commander Hasegawa (Atsuro Watabe), a soft-spoken man who appreciates music. The genteel colonel isn't, however, above arranging for the convent girls to be delivered into the hands of his superiors, setting in motion a series of climactic events that are nonetheless affective because of their elemental power.

I give The Flowers Of War 3 stars ★★★. Zhang’s distance from the larger story of the massacre is embodied in his decision to set most of the film within the compound of a fictional European church. The result is an artificial, back-lot atmosphere; the opening scenes, set in the streets, take place in an actual fog of war, with smoke isolating the characters from the real world of Nanjing. Zhang often has focused on characters, especially women, enduring the constraints of tradition. In the courtesans of his latest film, he has a poignant concept, if not vivid individuals. But it's George, who fits no preconceived mold, and whom Huang makes real amid the self-consciously artful visions of murder and mayhem, he brings home the story's central notion of selflessness and sacrifice.

The Flowers Of War is rated R for Strong Violence Including a Sexual Assault, Disturbing Images, and Brief Strong Language
Running time is 2 hours 25 minutes
Directed by Zhang Yimou
Distributed by Wrekin Hill Entertainment

The Cinema Audio Society 48th Annual CAS Nominations

2012-01-19T10:00:00.002-06:00

The Cinema Audio Society has announced the nominees for the 48th Annual CAS Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for 2011 in four categories. Also included are the nominations for the CAS Technical Awards in both the Production and the Post-Production categories.

Below is a complete list of the CAS nominations in both Television and film.

Motion Pictures:

Hanna

Production Mixer: Roland Winke
Re-recording Mixers: Christopher Scarabosio
Craig Berkey, CAS
Scoring Mixer: Andrew Dudman

Hugo

Production Mixer: John Midgley
Re-recording Mixer: Tom Fleischman, CAS
Scoring Mixer: Simon Rhodes

Moneyball

Production Mixer: Ed Novick
Re-recording Mixers: Deb Adair, CAS; Ron Bochar, CAS; David Giammarco
Scoring Mixer: Brad Haenel

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Production Mixer: Lee Orloff, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Paul Massey, CAS; Chris Boyes
Scoring Mixer: Alan Meyerson

Super 8

Production Mixer: Mark Ulano, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Andy Nelson; Anna Behlmer
Scoring Mixer: Dan Wallin

Television Movies and Mini-Series:

Cinema Verite

Production Mixer: Petur Hliddal
Re-recording Mixers: Lora Hirschberg; Scott Lewis; Douglas Murray
Scoring Mixer: Greg Townley

Innocent

Production Mixer: Shane Connelly
Re-recording Mixers: Mark Hensley
Tamara Johnson, CAS

The Kennedys: Hour 7

Production Mixer: Henry Embry, CAS
Re-recording Mixer: Frank Morrone, CAS; Stephen Traub
Scoring Mixer: Larold Rebhun

Mildred Pierce : Part 5

Production Mixer: Drew Kunin
Re-recording Mixer: Leslie Shatz
Scoring Mixer: Todd Whitelock

Too Big to Fail

Production Mixer: James J. Sabat, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Chris Jenkins
Robert J. Beemer, CAS
Scoring Mixer: Chris Fogel

Television Series:

Boardwalk Empire - To The Lost

Production Mixer: Franklin D. Stettner, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Tom Fleischman, CAS

Breaking Bad – Face Off

Production Mixer: Darryl L. Frank, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Jeffery Perkins; Eric Justen

Dexter - Just Let Go

Production Mixer: Greg Agalsoff
Re-recording Mixers: Pete Elia, CAS
Kevin Roache, CAS

Game of Thrones - Baelor

Production Mixer: Ronan Hill
Re-recording Mixers: Mark Taylor; Doug Andham, CAS

The Walking Dead – What Lies Ahead

Production Mixer: Bartek Swiatek, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Gary D. Rogers, CAS; Daniel J. Hiland, CAS

Television – Non-Fiction, Variety or Music – Series or Specials:

American Experience - Triangle Fire

Production Mixer: G. John Garrett, CAS
Production Mixer: Rick Angelella
Production Mixer: Everett Wong
Re-recording Mixer: Coll Anderson

Bobby Fischer Against the World

Production Sound: Mark Maloof
Re-recording Mixer: Bill Marino
Deadliest Catch: New Blood
Re-recording Mixer: Bob Bronow, CAS

Great Performances At The Met: Nixon in China

Re-recording Mixer: Ken Hahn, CAS
Music Mixer: Jay Saks
Lady Gaga Monster Ball Tour
Production Mixer: John Harris
Re-recording Mixer: Brian Riordan, CAS

The Nominees for the Cinema Audio Society Technical Awards for 2011 are:

PRODUCTION:

Calrec Apollo Broadcast Mixing Console (software release 1.6 and later)
Movie Slate Sound Dept. Plugin by Pureblend Software
Remote Audio Meon LiFe
Yamaha 01V96i Digital Mixer
Zaxcom Nomad Production Sound System

POST PRODUCTION:

Acheron Designer Screen Channel Loudspeaker
Avid Pro Tools 10
Avid Eucon Protocol Version 2.6.2
Dolby Media Meter 2
Izotope Ozone 5 Advanced

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Movie Review

2012-01-19T09:00:00.003-06:00

One of the many reasons Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close earned so much praise when it was published in 2005 was its inherent literary power. Using tricks like color pages, illustrations and even blank pages, the novel was able to dig deeper into its narrative about grief and recovery in the wake of a tragedy. The main thread focused on precocious 11-year-old Oskar Schell as he recovered from the death of his father on 9/11, but a large part of the story was about Oskar's grandparents, survivors of the firebombing of Dresden in World War II. The grandparents' story is all but removed from the movie version of "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close", and that's just one of the many ways the film falls flat in the faces of the deeply textured wonder of the novel. Condensed by screenwriter Eric Roth and directed by Stephen Daldry, the movie eschews the novel's emotional complexity and instead chooses to wallow almost entirely in grief.

The great innovation of the story is that the tragedy doesn't happen to a generic set of characters, who are meant to stand in for all the victims, but to people who are quite specific. Oskar (Thomas Horn) is a studious 9-year-old who has Asperger's syndrome, but his father Thomas (Tom Hanks) is tuned in to the workings of his mind. Dad comes up with games and adventures designed to appeal to Oskar's methodical nature, while forcing him to socialize. But his father is killed on 9/11 because he happened to have a breakfast meeting at Windows On the World that day. Hanks' voice on the answering machine — calm, at first, then increasingly agitated — is haunting, and it's a wise choice on the part of director Stephen Daldry that we never see Hanks in that building, so that we feel some of the helplessness and detachment that Oskar experiences. One day alone in his fathers closet Oskar finds a key in an envelope with the word Black written on it, Oskar decides that he must find what ever this key opens as one last puzzle to honor his father.

Oskar's travels take him on a journey throughout New York's five boroughs and along the way, he runs into some eccentric, wonderful characters, including Stan the doorman (John Goodman), Abby (Viola Davis) and William Black (Jeffrey Wright), a married couple with their own set of secrets. He also gets some unexpected help, from his grandmother's (Zoe Caldwell) mysterious renter (Max Von Sydow) the mute tenant she shelters. The series of set pieces includes flashbacks to Oskar and his dad. The grief that gnaws at him and his mother affects their relationship, though Linda (Sandra Bullock) is perhaps not as absent as she at first appears to be. Than there is a series of messages left on an answering machine by Thomas, after the planes have hit the buildings, his calm assurances become increasingly less convincing. For reasons only later apparent, young Oskar, replaced that machine with an identical model and lied to his mother, about calls that came in before she got home. It's the very last message he can't bear to share, and it's withheld from us, too until the end.

Oskar himself is a hurdle the film never quite clears, a borderline-autistic, very smart kid whose coping mechanisms seem to change depending on the films needs at the time. In the book Oscar is capable of being funny and clever and empathetic to his family, but in the movie he is frustratingly cut-off, explained to us largely through a gallery of strangers who receive him warmly, even when we ourselves have no impulse to do so. The film centers around Oskar's biggest and most unlikely coping mechanism of all, a scavenger hunt for every person in the city with the last name Black - he's convinced one of them knows something about his father, for reasons that must only make sense to a grieving 11-year-old. Near the end of the film, Oskar’s mother (Sandra Bullock) reveals a secret that illuminates an entire parallel story occurring alongside Oskar’s adventures. Maybe that one would have been more rewarding and less annoying than Oskar's.

I give Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close 1 and a half stars ★☆. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close often feels like being trapped inside Oskar's shattered, frantic mind, and Max von Sydow has a way of slowing the film down - he never overplays his character's personal tragedy, but looking into von Sydow's weathered face, you see the cruelty of the 20th century reflected back. It's a broader perspective, beyond the hurting soul of an 11-year-old, that the rest of the movie desperately needs. The film will be even more disappointing for anyone who has read Foer’s novel. In the book, Oskar is endearingly quirky, with a distinctive and well-developed worldview. The film, however, leaves out crucial character developments and set-up, and the main character simply seems strange, even a bit annoying in his idiosyncrasies. Much of the plot was also left out, and the multi-generational tale of love, family, and tragedy is boiled down to the story of an overwhelmingly sad boy with an all-consuming desire to find a lock for a key. Ultimately, that makes Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close little more than extremely disappointing.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is rated PG-13 for Emotional Thematic Material, Some Disturbing Images, and Language
Running time is 2 hours 09 minutes
Directed by Stephen Daldry
Distributed by Paramount Pictures

Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences Short List For Best Foreign Language Film

2012-01-18T11:00:00.002-06:00

Once again this year the Foreign Language nominations are being determined in two phases. The phase one committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles based members have screened the 63 eligible films and each member picked their 5 favorites. The top six films with the most votes move on to phase two, there are also three films that are selected by the Academy Foreign Language Award Executive Committee. These nine films constitute the Best Foreign Language shortlist. This field will be narrowed to the final list over the weekend of January 20 - January 22, the viewing members will select their favorites and the top five films will move on and be nominated for the Oscar.

Below is the nine films, in alphabetical order by country that are still eligible for Best Foreign Picture Oscar:

Belgium, Bullhead - Michael R. Roskam, director
Canada, Monsieur Lazhar - Phillippe Falardeau, director
Denmark, Superclasico - Ole Christian Madsen, director
Germany, Pina - Wim Wenders, director
Iran, A Seperation - Asghar Farhadi, director
Israel, Footnote - Joseph Cedar, director
Morocco, Omar Killed Me - Roschdy Zem, director
Poland, In Darkness, Agnieszka Holland, director
Taiwan, Warriors Of The Rainbow, Seediq Bale & Wei Te-sheng, directors

This field is kind of tough, I myself have seen three of the films above, The films I've seen are the ones from Canada, Germany and Iran and if I had a vote my vote would be for A Separation, it is an emotional movie that is hard not to like. Oscar nominations will be announced on January 24th and the Award winners will be announced on February 26th.

Movie Release Schedule

2012-01-18T10:00:00.000-06:00


Movie Title	Dist.	New Date	Old Date
L!fe Happens	PMK*BNC	3/30/12	New
Musical Chairs	Paladin	3/23/12	New
Sound Of My Voice	Fox Searchlight	4/27/12	New
Goodbye First Love	IFC	4/20/12	New
The Moth Diaries	IFC	4/20/12	New
We Have a Pope	IFC	4/6/12	New
ATM	IFC	4/6/12	New
Brake	IFC	3/23/12	New
The Decoy Bride	IFC	3/9/12	New
Snowtown	IFC	3/2/12	New
Kill List	IFC	2/3/12	New
Won't Back Down	Fox	9/28/12	3/30/12
Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya	UTV Communications	2/24/12	New
The Flowers Of War	Wrekin Hill	1/20/12	New
Escape From Planet Earth	Weinstein Company	2/14/13	New

Movie Title	Dist.	New Date	Old Date
Playing The Field	FilmDistrict	12/25/12	3/9/12
Chico & Rita	GKIDS	2/10/12	New
Windfall	First Run	2/3/12	New
How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?	First Run	1/25/12	New
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth	First Run	1/20/12	New
Falling Apart	Indican	4/13/12	New
The Binary Universe	Indican	4/6/12	11/11/11
The Understudy	Indican	3/16/12	Dec 2011
Around June	Indican	2/24/12	TBD
Kung Fu Joe	Indican	2/10/12	New

2012 Bafta Awards Nominations

2012-01-17T11:00:00.004-06:00

The Artist received 12 nominations and Tinker Tailor 11, with each film up for best picture and director, and best actor nominations for both leading men, Jean Dujardin and Gary Oldman. The other best-film nominees, announced at a ceremony today are The Descendants, Drive and The Help. In a diverse field not dominated by any single film, there are also multiple nominations for Hugo, My Week With Marilyn, The Iron Lady and The Help. The nominations are another feather in the cap of The Artist, a black and white French film about a silent screen star's fall with the rise of talkies.And they are a boost for Tinker Tailor, an atmospheric adaptation of John le Carre's espionage classic that has received rave reviews but has so far been snubbed in most US award nominations. The Artist received 12 nominations. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is nominated in 11 categories, Hugo has nine nominations, My Week with Marilyn has six nominations and The Help and War Horse are each nominated five times. Drive, The Iron Lady and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 have four nominations. The Descendants, Moneyball, Senna and We Need to Talk about Kevin all have three nominations apiece and Shame, The Ides of March, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Bridesmaids, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn each receive two.

Below is a complete list of the 2012 Bafta (British Academy of Film and Television Art) Awards.

Best Film:

The Artist – Thomas Langmann
The Descendants – Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
Drive – Marc Platt, Adam Siegel
The Help – Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo

DIRECTOR:

The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
Drive Nicolas – Winding Refn
Hugo – Martin Scorsese
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Tomas Alfredson
We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lynne Ramsay

LEADING ACTOR:

Brad Pitt – Moneyball
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Clooney – The Descendants
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Michael Fassbender – Shame

LEADING ACTRESS:

Berenice Bejo The Artist
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn
Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin
Viola Davis – The Help

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Jim Broadbent – The Iron Lady
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Ides of March

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Carey Mulligan – Drive
Jessica Chastain – The Help
Judi Dench – My Week with Marilyn
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids
Octavia Spencer – The Help

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM:

My Week with Marilyn – Simon Curtis, David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein, Adrian Hodges
Senna – Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Manish Pandey
Shame – Steve McQueen, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Abi Morgan
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – _Tomas Alfredson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo, Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan
We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lynne Ramsay, Luc Roeg, Jennifer Fox, Robert Salerno, Rory Stewart Kinnear

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER:

Attack The Block – Joe Cornish (Director/Writer)
Black Pond – Will Sharpe (Director/Writer), Tom Kingsley (Director), Sarah Brocklehurst (Producer)
Coriolanus – Ralph Fiennes (Director)
Submarine – Richard Ayoade (Director/Writer)
Tyrannosaur – Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)

DOCUMENTARY:

George Harrison: Living In The Material World – Martin Scorsese
Project Nim – James Marsh, Simon Chinn
Senna – Asif Kapadia

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids – Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
The Guard – John Michael McDonagh
The Iron Lady – Abi Morgan
Midnight In Paris – Woody Allen

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

The Descendants – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
The Help – Tate Taylor
The Ides of March – George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
Moneyball – Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy– Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE:

Incendies – Denis Villeneuve, Luc Déry, Kim McGraw
Pina – Wim Wenders, Gian-Piero Ringel
Potiche – François Ozon, Eric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
A Seperation – Asghar Farhadi
The Skin I Live In – Pedro Almodóvar, Agustin Almodóvar

ANIMATED FILM:

The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn – Steven Spielberg
Arthur Christmas – Sarah Smith
Rango – Gore Verbinski

ORIGINAL MUSIC:

The Artist – Ludovic Bource
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Hugo Howard – Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Iglesias
War Horse – John Williams

CINEMATOGRAPHY:

The Artist– Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo – Robert Richardson
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Hoyte van Hoytema
War Horse – Janusz Kaminski

EDITING:

The Artist – Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
Drive– Mat Newman
Hugo – Thelma Schoonmaker
Senna – Gregers Sall, Chris King
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – SPY Dino Jonsater

PRODUCTION DESIGN:

The Artist – Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
Hugo – Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
War Horse – Rick Carter, Lee Sandales

COSTUME DESIGN:

The Artist – Mark Bridges
Hugo – Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre – Michael O’Connor
My Week with Marilyn – Jill Taylor
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Jacqueline Durran

SOUND:

The Artist – Nadine Muse, Gérard Lamps, Michael Krikorian
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener
Hugo – Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John Casali, Howard Bargroff, Doug Cooper, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley
War Horse – Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Richard Hymns

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS:

The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn – Joe Letteri
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery
Hugo – Rob Legato, Ben Grossman, Joss Williams
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White
War Horse – Ben Morris, Neil Corbould

MAKE UP & HAIR:
The Artist – Julie Hewett, Cydney Cornell
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
Hugo - Morag Ross, Jan Archibald
The Iron Lady – Marese Langan
My Week with Marilyn – Jenny Shircore

SHORT ANIMATION:

Abuelas – Afarin Eghbal, Kasia Malipan, Francesca Gardiner
Bobby Yeah – Robert Morgan
A Morning Stroll – Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

SHORT FILM:

Chalk – Martina Amati, Gavin Emerson, James Bolton, Ilaria Bernardini
Mwansa The Great – Rungano Nyoni, Gabriel Gauchet
Only Sound Remains – Arash Ashtiani, Anshu Poddar
Pitch Black Heist – John Maclean, Gerardine O’Flynn
Two And Two – Babak Anvari, Kit Fraser, Gavin Cullen

ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD:

Adam Deacon
Chris Hemsworth
Tom Hiddleston
Chris O’Dowd
Eddie Redmayne

Nominees For The 62nd Annual A.C.E. Eddie Awards

2012-01-17T10:00:00.002-06:00

American Cinema Editors (ACE) today announced nominations for the 62nd Annual ACE Eddie Awards recognizing outstanding editing in nine categories of film, television and documentaries. Winners will be revealed during ACE's 62nd annual black-tie awards ceremony on Saturday, February 18, 2012. Later this month ACE will announce the Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year honoree and two Career Achievement honorees. Because the editors' guild splits the films into two categories, dramatic and comedy or musical, it doesn't necessarily help us determine which movies will get a Best Picture nomination since we're essentially looking at ten potential nominees. The most significant aspect of the nominations are what is missing from the nominations, including Tate Taylor's The Help, Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life and Nicolas Refn's Drive, the latter two being on the periphery and needing a boost from the technical branches of the Academy. The Help should still get a big boost from the acting branch, though, and the nomination for Paul Feig's Bridesmaids coming right on top of getting both a SAG and PGA nomination means that the raunchy comedy may have more industry support than some expect. Similarly, the nomination for the editing on Steven Spielberg's War Horse helps what many felt was a film whose chances at the Oscars were waning.

Below is the complete list of theatrical nominations:

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (DRAMATIC):

The Descendants
Kevin Tent, A.C.E.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Angus Wall, A.C.E. & Kirk Baxter, A.C.E.

Hugo
Thelma Schoonmaker, A.C.E.

Moneyball
Christopher Tellefsen, A.C.E.

War Horse
Michael Kahn, A.C.E.

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (COMEDY OR MUSICAL):

The Artist
Anne-Sophie Bion & Michel Hazanavicius

Bridesmaids
William Kerr & Michael L. Sale

Midnight in Paris
Alisa Lepselter

My Week with Marilyn
Adam Recht

Young Adult
Dana E. Glauberman, A.C.E.

BEST EDITED ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:

The Adventures of Tintin
Michael Kahn, A.C.E.

Puss in Boots
Eric Dapkewicz

Rango
Craig Wood, A.C.E.

BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY:

Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Joe Bini & Maya Hawke

Freedom Riders
Lewis Erskine & Aljernon Tunsil

George Harrison: Living in the Material World
David Tedeschi

Weekend Box Office Results For January 13 - January 15

2012-01-16T11:00:00.001-06:00

The number one film the second week of the new year was Contraband the heist thriller starring Mark Wahlberg. The film took in an estimated $24.5 million to lead all other films. After the success of Disney's 3D release of The Lion King the studio jumped on the band wagon and the second scheduled 3D remake took the second spot. Beauty And The Beast 3D made an estimated $17.7 million. Falling 41 percent Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol was still able to maintain it's number three spot. Making an estimated $11.7 million and including Monday's grosses the movie has now made $189.45 million. On Saturday, the movie passed the original film's $181 million to become the second highest-grossing entry in the series, it now aims to top MI: II's $215.4 million. Coming in fourth was Joyful Noise opened to an estimated $11.3 million over the three-day weekend. Coming in fifth was Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows. The sequel dipped 37 percent earning an estimated $8.6 million, and has so far earned $170.2 million. Taking the biggest second week dip was The Devil Inside, it dropped 76.2 percent but still was able to grab the sixth spot on the list earning an estimated $8.02 million. Coming in tenth was The Iron lady which expanded to 802 locations took in an estimated $5.4 million. Its $6,757 per-theater average is nearly identical to that of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

The following is a list of estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday in all U.S. and Canadian markets.

01	Contraband	$24.5M	$24.5M	1
02	Beauty And The Beast 3D	$17.7M	$17.7M	1
03	Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol	$11.7M	$189M	5
04	Joyful Noise	$11.3M	$11.3M	1
05	Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows	$8.6M	$170M	5
06	The Devil Inside	$8.2M	$46.4M	2
07	The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo	$6.8M	$88M	4
08	Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked	$5.8M	$119M	5
09	War Horse	$5.61M	$65.8M	4
10	The Iron Lady	$5.39M	$5.97M	3

Opening next week are several huge Hollywood studio films, these films are Coriolanus: A banished hero of Rome allies with a sworn enemy to take his revenge on the city. The Flowers Of War: A Westerner finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's rape of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety. Haywire: A black ops super soldier seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission. Red Tails: A crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program, having faced segregation while kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard. Underworld: Awakening: When human forces discover the existence of the Vampire and Lycan clans, a war to eradicate both species commences. The vampire warrioress Selene leads the battle against humankind.And opening in limited release is Crazy Horse (NYC): A cinéma vérité look inside Paris' Crazy Horse, a club that boasts the greatest and most chic nude dancing in the world. Miss Bala: The story of a young woman clinging on to her dream to become a beauty contest queen in a Mexico dominated by organized crime.

69th Annual Golden Globe Awards Winners

2012-01-16T10:00:00.003-06:00

The 69th annual Golden Globe Awards took place Sunday night and The Artist, written and directed by France's Michel Hazanavicius, was proclaimed best comedy/musical. With two other awards -- one for its star Jean Dujardin and another for Ludovic Bource's score -- the silent movie, which is in the process of taking awards season by storm, was the evening's big film winner. The ceremonies, hosted with his usual irreverence by Ricky Gervais, also elevated the Hawaii-set The Descendants. The Fox Searchlight release claimed the final award of the evening when it was named best dramatic film, and its star George Clooney took the prize for best dramatic actor for his performance as a dad under siege. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which votes for the awards, also rewarded Meryl Streep, best dramatic actress for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, and Michelle Williams, best comedy actress for My Week With Marilyn. The best director nod went to Martin Scorsese for his 3D fantasy film Hugo.

Below is a complete list of this years Golden Globe winners for the film categories only.

Best Director - Motion Picture
Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Best Motion Picture - Drama
The Descendants

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
George Clooney - The Descendants

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
The Artist

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Octavia Spencer - The Help

Best Foreign Language Film
A Separation

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris

Best Animated Film
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry - W.E.

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
Ludovic Bource - The Artist

Nevada Film Critics Society Awards

2012-01-15T10:00:00.003-06:00

The Las Vegas Film Critics Society and its annual awards program has grown in stature and prestige. With a population over two million and among the highest movie theater locations per capita, the fastest growing city in America, Las Vegas, Nevada has begun to take its place among major film cities of the country. The Las Vegas Film Critics Society is a non-profit, progressive organization dedicated to the advancement and preservation of film and is composed of selected print, television and internet film critics in the Las Vegas area. Hugo won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Child Actor from the group. Meanwhile, Tom Hardy received his first win of the season for his performance in Warrior.

Below is a complete list of this years Nevada Film Critics Society Awards

Best Film – Hugo

Best Actor – Tom Hardy - Warrior

Best Actress – Jessica Chastain - The Debt,The Help,The Tree of Life and Take Shelter

Best Supporting Actor – Albert Brooks - Drive

Best Supporting Actress – Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs

Best Child Actor – Asa Butterfield - Hugo

Best Director – Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Best Ensemble Cast – The Help

Best Breakthrough Performance – tie: Elizabeth Olson - Martha Marcy May Marlene and Rooney Mara - Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Best Animated Film – Puss In Boots

Don't Go In The Woods Movie Review

2012-01-15T09:00:00.005-06:00

Vincent D’Onofrio can do crazy. This fact is clear from his role as the intellectually tormented detective on television’s on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Or better envisioned as as Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket, D'Onofrio fans have seen him take crazy, to brilliant and frightening conclusions. Sadly his feature directorial debut "Don't Go In The Woods" is based on a script by Sam Bisbee and Joe Vinciguerra and a story by D’Onofrio, Don’t Go In The Woods is an earnest attempt to marry musical and horror. Both genres tend to invest in big-time emotional endings that feature grandiose payoffs, but while musicals deliver vocal triumphs, horror dishes it out in blood and guts, arterial sprays and all that good stuff. D’Onofrio's film features a great deal of occasionally decent but consistently loud songs and a precious few heads getting crushed or caved in by the killer who carries a huge sledgehammer during its exhaustively paced eighty-six minute run-time.

In order to escape modern distractions and write new music, bandleader Nick (Matt Sbeglia) and his fellow band mates head out into the woods for peace and quite. Forbidding them from bringing their girlfriends, booze and drugs Nick will later smash all of their cell phones with an ax, just so the band will concentrate on writing new music. Their artful pursuit is quickly interrupted with the arrival of their girlfriends who bring their own alcohol and weed. As Nick stews and then descends on the band, with a vengeance, demanding that they each come up with a new song, a killer stalks the campgrounds and slaughters them indiscriminately one by one. Nick rides the rest of the guys -Anton (Casey Smith), Johnny (Soomin Lee), Robbie (Nick Thorpe) and Carlo (Jorgen Jorgensen), the reason that they let Nick ride them like this is because years ago his brother, who is now deceased, used to come to the same camping spot.

When two of the girls walk through the woods with lanterns glowing and suddenly we are thrust into a close-up of one of them singing, it’s significantly less effective than the rapid but often effective build-up D’Onofrio shapes for early kills. Eventually 'Woods' devolves into an all out massacre, as horror films frequently do, but since the victims are barely developed outside of their singing voices and one band member’s blindness, it’s an emotional crap shoot. Once the killing eventually does begin, about an hour into this 83-minute film, there’s sufficient gore to please body-count fans as a mysterious killer starts hacking and bashing his way through the guys and gals. Devotees of classic slashers will also enjoy the mysterious killer’s garb, a black long coat and hat that seem intended to homage The Burning, another upstate-New York stalker film.

Rather than a Rocky Horror-style blend of horror and music, Don't Go in the Woods instead plays more like the skeleton of Wrong Turn fleshed out with a combination of second-rate songs. It's a blend that D'Onofrio doesn't use for a splatter-genre critique or music-biz satire; despite a transparent twist during its climax, the film has no interest in saying anything about creativity, sacrifice, and the lengths to which people will go in order to achieve their artistic and celebrity dreams. Moreover, the director is so disinterested in generating terror — or even feigning interest in providing a real serial-killer story — that, the only hints of menace or dread early on come courtesy of a brief intro glimpse of a woman being attacked, a few subsequent shots of a malevolent figure and some dismembered limbs, there is an attack on two of the girls as they try to leave the woods that is devoid of suspense. So lethargic is the entire affair that, when the action finally gets around to young people being sledgehammered to death in a variety of uncreative ways, the acts seem less like terrifying crimes than mercy killings designed to cheapen the overall effect of this lame movie.

I give Don't Go In The Woods zero stars. The characters in the film are intentionally archetypes—Ali Tobia is very funny as Melinda, the smart girl who seems to know everything but the killer's whereabouts—but what development they get is ably brought to the surface through the songs they sing before meeting their demise. Leading the cast of talented unknowns is Matt Sbeglia, whose Nick is none too happy when girlfriend Ashley (Cassandra Walker) and her gal pals show up to crash the writing session. Sbeglia has the silky, plaintiff voice of a genuine singer-songwriter, while the mysterious nut job out to slay them all has the creepy costume and ability to pop up at a moment's notice necessary to make his mark as a memorable slasher. Don't Go in the Woods isn't afraid of humor, but the film is smartly never treated as a joke it is us the viewer who is looked at as the in joke.

Don't Go In The Woods is rated R for Strong Bloody Violence, Language and Drug Use
Running time is 1 hour 23 minutes
Directed by Vincent D’Onofrio
Distributed by Tribeca Films

Directors Guild Documentary Nominees

2012-01-14T11:00:00.005-06:00

On the heels of announcing their nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2011, the Directors Guild of America have announced their nominations for Best Documentary Director. Of the five docs, three also are are on the shortlist for this years Best Feature Documentary: They are in no particular order Bill Cunningham New York, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory and Project Nim. Scorsese's nomination for his documentary about musician George Harrsion is his 10th DGA nomination. He is a previoius winner for best feature in 2006 for The Departed and dramatic TV for Boardwalk Empire. It is the third nomination for Berlinger and Sinofsky, who won in the category in 1992 for Brother's Keeper and also were nominated for Paradise Lost, the first film in their current trilogy. It is also the third nomination for James, who won in the documentary category in 1994 for Hoop Dreams. It is the second nomination for James Marsh and a first-time nomination for Richard Press.

Below is a complete list of this years Directors Guild nominations for Best Documentary:

Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Steve James
The Interrupters

James Marsh
Project Nim

Richard Press
Bill Cunningham New York

Martin Scorsese
George Harrison: Living in the Material World

17th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards Winners

2012-01-13T10:00:00.003-06:00

The silent was golden Thursday evening at the 17th annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards presented by the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. with the black-and-white ode to silent film The Artist winning best picture, best director for Michel Hazanavicius, as well as best costume design and best score. George Clooney won best actor for The Descendants and Viola Davis earned best actress for The Help. Supporting actor went to 82-year-old Christopher Plummer for Beginners, and Octavia Spencer was won the supporting actress award for The Help. The cast of The Help also won best ensemble. Thomas Horn was named best young actor/actress for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. The Artist beat out Hugo, The Descendants, Drive, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life and War Horse to win the best picture category.

Below is a complete list of this years Critic's Choice Awards:

Best Picture: The Artist

Best Actress: Viola Davis, The Help

Best Actor: George Clooney, The Descendants

Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spenser, The Help

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Ensemble: The Help

Best Young Actor: Thomas Horn, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Best Director: Michel Horznavicious, The Artist

Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, Steve Zaillian, Moneyball

Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation

Best Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski, War Horse

Best Art Direction: Hugo

Best Editing: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Costume: The Artist

Best Score: The Artist

Best Song: The Muppets, Life’s a Happy Song

Best Visual Effects: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Best Make-Up: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt 2

Best Sound: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt 2

Best Action Movie: Drive

Best Comedy: Bridesmaids

Best Animated Feature: Rango

Best Documentary: George Harrison: Living in the Material World

Carnage Movie Review

2012-01-13T09:00:00.004-06:00

One of the more critically acclaimed directors of our time has adapted Yasmina Reza’s award-winning play, God of Carnage into one of 2011's most unnecessary films. Shot in Paris but set in Brooklyn, "Carnage," Polanski’s latest film presents a view of civilized society that is equal parts cruelty and splendor, chaos and balance. Carnage tries to present a supremely authentic story of a day in the lives of well-to-do Americans. The film is a daring, perfectly cast comedy that was shot in Paris but set in Brooklyn. The play was a sensation on Broadway, but like so many theater-to-film adaptations, the four-person story doesn’t translate well to the silver screen. Roman Polanski’s film, seems overly light to work similar wonders. Reza, who wrote the script with Polanski, has pulled some punches and generally dampened much of the fury. All in all, the film rarely gains the momentum and enjoyment of the original text.

Penelope (Jodie Foster) and Michael Longstreet (John C. Reilly) are shocked to find out that their son has been slashed across the face with a tree branch by a fellow student. Rather than bringing the lawyers into the altercation, the Longstreets decide to act in a more civil manner: They invite the offender’s parents over for some coffee and for a chance to talk things out. It is Penelope who feels that the civilized approach to an amicable resolution is to invite the other parents to discuss the situation and the possible consequences. And therein lies the conflict as the superficial veneer of civility is swiftly torn away as the afternoon wears on. They are equally concerned over the incident and willing to take full responsibility. Enter Nancy (Kate Winslet) and Alan Cowan (Christoph Waltz). The Cowans accept full responsibility for the blood and bruises, and, in the opening scene, Penelope is putting the finishing touches on a shared letter of responsibility that spells out the legal and financial consequences of the assault.

If the grown-ups had truly acted like grown-ups, this movie would have been over before it began. The two couples would have shaken hands, thanked each other for their compassion and understanding, and moved on without looking back. But this is a Polanski movie, you have to remember, which means the downfall will be slow and steady. The couples do not separate at the elevators. Instead, they decide to have a post-letter chat about other things, which quickly pulls them down the rabbit hole of denial. Penelope is the kind of mother who would take a stand against violence, but would refuse to see that her son may be a bully. Alan answers calls from his pharmaceutical client — insisting they hide the results of a recent clinical trial. Every time his cellphone rings, the conversation between the parents grinds to a halt. After dozens of such call and several glasses of alcohol allegiances begin to tilt and chaos reigns.

The real reason to see it is for the four talented actors and it's a master class in acting. In most moments, Polanski doesn't do much more than let the camera capture the action. This is an actor's feature and he lets them chew up the scenery. Jodie Foster's performance reaches the heights. It's a rare treat to see the buttoned-up actress gradually coming apart at the seams, and in the last half hour, she is frighteningly good as she unleashes a fountain of pent-up hatred that tears the other characters, and herself, to shreds. This is her finest hour as an actor. Kate Winslet is superb as the model of upper-crust decorum. That is until she gets her hands on an 18-year-old single-malt Scotch. The grotesque nature of her character near the end is probably the most startling out of the quartet, but she has a superhuman talent for getting across more in a glance than most actors can manage in a monologue. The most surprising turn is from John C. Reilly as the loudmouthed goofball. The role requires more uproarious comedic chops than the others and he nails the caustic dialogue and priceless reaction shots. Christoph Waltz of Inglorious Basterds can do menacing in his sleep but he finds enough original touches for the character to resonate. The character is a smug cellphone-obsessed creep, he gets the best lines, but it's not hard to see the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I give Carnage 1 star ★. No history of tenderness or tension clings to the couples. It is all but impossible to imagine that any of them have lives beyond the walls of the apartment. Confinement is Polanski’s signature. This is not the first time he has observed, with morbid and mischievous fascination, the behavior of people in apartments — there was Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion, Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby, Adrien Brody in The Pianist and here he proves himself once again to be a virtuoso of entrapment. But in trapping Ms. Reza’s play in the framed, flat dimensions of the screen, the director destroys it. In Polanski’s Carnage we are continually, literally aware of the world beyond the Longstreets’ apartment, which is visible through their windows. And this knowledge makes their bickering and posturing seem both unreal and trivial.

Carnage is rated R for Language
Running time is 1 hour 19 minutes
Directed by Roman Polanski
Distributed by Sony Pictures Classic

American Society of Cinematographers Nominations

2012-01-12T11:00:00.002-06:00

The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) has announced nominees for excellence in the field this year, and missing from the nominees was Janusz Kaminski's work on War Horse, which marks yet another key snub for the film. Though I named it to my 2011 top ten list, this snub showcases how the industry has not responded well to the film. The biggest surprise of the nominations was Hoyte van Hoytema getting a nod for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Naturally, the black and white work from Guillaume Shiffman on The Artist, the 3D lensing of Hugo by Robert Richardson and the season's dominant force in the category, Emmanuel Lubezki and The Tree of Life, rounded out most of the list.

Below is a complete list of this years ASC nominations:

Guillaume Schiffman, AFC - The Artist

Jeff Cronenweth, ASC - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Robert Richardson, ASC - Hugo

Hoyte van Hoytema, FSF, NSC - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC - The Tree of Life

Denver Film Critics Society Award Winners

2012-01-12T10:00:00.002-06:00

The Denver Film Critics Society has given director Terrence Malick’s impressionistic portrait of a ’50s-era family and the origins of life the group’s highest honor. The Tree of Life, starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Sean Penn, was chosen by DFCS as the Best Picture of 2011 this week, while The Descendants won three awards, including Best Screenplay. DFCS’s annual awards celebrate the finest achievement in film as chosen by a diverse group of Colorado-based film journalists. Acting nods went to Pitt for his complicated turn as a baseball executive reinventing the rules of his game in Moneyball, and Meryl Streep for her latest astonishing performance as Great Britain’s groundbreaking Iron Lady. Chastain’s busy 2011, including sterling appearances in Take Shelter, The Tree of Life, The Help and The Debt, made her the runaway choice for the year’s Breakout Star, while director Gore Verbinski’s western Rango moseyed off with the Best Animated Film award.

Below is a complete list of this years Denver Film Critics Society Winners:

Best Picture:

The Tree of Life

Best Actor:

Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Actress:

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Best Supporting Actor:

Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress:

Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Best Director (tie):

Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Best Screenplay Original/Adapted (both in a single category):

Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash - The Descendants

Best Animated Film:

Rango

Best Ensemble:

The Descendants

Best Original Score:

Ludovic Bource - The Artist

Best Breakout Star:

Jessica Chastain

Best Documentary:

Page One: Inside the New York Times

Best Foreign Language Film:

A Separation

Joyful Noise Movie Review

2012-01-12T09:00:00.005-06:00

With the popularity of Glee, the timing is definitely ripe for musical films to once again rise to prominence. With that in mind we have the new Warner Brothers musical film "Joyful Noise". Written and directed by Todd Graff (who wrote/directed Bandslam and Camp), the film centers around two women - Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah - who fight to lead a Georgia-based Gospel choir of their church as they get ready to compete for a national Gospel Choir championship. This turns out to be a movie with big, rousing soul-gospel songs that take your mind off how mediocre - or worse - the rest of the movie is. Sadly the plot is as cliche as it sounds, the eager but underfunded little choir, going up against the big-city Goliaths in a national gospel competition called, appropriately, Joyful Noise.

Vi Rose Hill (Queen Latifah) has just been promoted to choral director of her small, struggling church in Pacashau, Georgia. She’s an overworked mother of two teenagers, Olivia (Keke Palmer) and Walter (Dexter Darden), who has Asperger’s Syndrome, with an estranged husband in the Army. Vi Rose keeps her kids on a tight leash with her traditional values. The happy-go-lucky, larger than life G.G. Sparrow (Dolly Parton) butts heads with Vi Rose after Latifah’s character is chosen to lead the church choir. G.G. is suffering from the recent loss of her husband and former choral predecessor, Bernie (Kris Kristofferson), yet she still has the urge to run things in the church. G.G.’s rebellious grandson Randy (Jeremy Jordan) comes to town from the big city and shakes things up.

When Olivia and Randy start dating Vi Rose doesn't really have a chance of keeping them apart. Randy even teaches Walter how to play the piano. Randy has a run in with one of the town locals who has a crush on Olivia but he turns it around and once he gets into the choir, thanks to G.G. being the church's chief benefactor, he not only gets the local kid to play for the choir but also gets Walter into the band as well. Going into the new competition the group finds out that their main competition is a group of youngsters. G.G., Randy and Olivia tried to get Vi Rose to change up the tempo of their song selection and at the point where the crowd is looking for the exit, she decides that the kids may be right and in mid performance changes everything up.

Although a number of the overabundant plot points seem designed to tug heartstrings, G.G.'s and Vi's quick-witted jibes slice through the emotional narratives. The spirited music, delivered by some talented singers, also thins out the sap. And to ease in non-believers, many of the early ballads - Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror and Maybe I'm Amazed by Paul McCartney - are crowd-pleasers. These inevitably turn out to be gateway songs for more religious fare, even if later selections include a quite-pious version of Usher's less-than-holy Yeah. Writer-director Todd Graff deserves credit for occasional self-referential winks at the movie's own over-the-top sentimentality. The film wastes time on several plot points that seem to go nowhere, Vi Rose’s husband has reenlisted in the army at 35 because he can’t make a living, leaving the family on its own. Vi Rose’s son Walter has Asperger’s syndrome and the choir member (Angela Grovey) who has a thing for the choir’s sole Asian member which leads to a grimly funny punchline when they eventually hook up.

I give Joyful Noise 1 star ★. With their eye-catching looks and abundant musical talents, Jordan and Palmer make the strongest impressions. As a woman who's alternately argumentative and defiant, Latifah has one big scene in which entertainingly tells off her unappreciative daughter and what can be said about Dolly? Well she has always been open about her reconstructive facial surgeries and plastic surgeries it came as little surprise that Vi Rose and G.G herself would, during one of their many arguments bring up the fact that G.G. has had several surgeries, and Dolly defends it with mirth and a giggle. Sadly this film has little joy and a whole lot of noise.

Joyful Noise is rated PG-13 for Some Language Including A Sexual Reference
Running time is 1 hour 58 minutes
Directed by Todd Graff
Distributed by Warner Brothers

Vancouver Film Critics Winners

2012-01-11T11:00:00.002-06:00

It's been a few weeks since the Vancouver Film Critics Circle announced its nominees for its 2011 awards, and the odds are you've spent the time since then consumed by an unending curiosity, thoughts of the nominees appearing uninvited in your minds eye between fitful bouts of sleep. Well, your long nightmare has ended, my friend, because the winners have finally been announced. Most of the winners were Oscar frontrunners with a few exceptions. Though I loved Tree of Life, not hearing Michel Hazanavicius' name called as best directer was a bit of a shock. Terrence Malick did a wonderful job showcasing the beginnings of time but The Artist was a homage to the silent era of film and was the best film of all of 2011.

Below is a complete list of this years winners - surprises and all - of The Vancouver Film Critics Circle:

BEST FILM – The Artist

BEST ACTOR – Michael Fassbender, Shame

BEST ACTRESS – Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – Christopher Plummer, Beginners

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – Jessica Chastain, The Tree of LIfe/Take Shelter/The Help

BEST DIRECTOR – Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

BEST DOCUMENTARY – Cave of Forgotten Dreams

BEST SCREENPLAY – Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM – A Separation

BEST CANADIAN FILM – Cafe de flore

BEST ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM – Peter Stormare, Small Town Murder Songs

BEST ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM – Michelle Williams, Take This Waltz

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A CANADIAN FILM – Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A CANADIAN FILM – Helene Florent, Cafe de flore

BEST DIRECTOR OF A CANADIAN FILM – David Cronenberg, A Dangerous Method

BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM – People of a Feather

ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO THE BC FILM AND TELEVISION INDUSTRY – Marv Newland

The Alliance Of Woman's Film Journalist Winners

2012-01-11T10:00:00.003-06:00

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists have announced the winners of its EDA Annual Achievement Awards. EDA stands for Excellent Dynamic Activism. This year, the EDA Awards included standard best-of categories and AWFJ’s unique Female Focus Awards in which the year’s outstanding achievements by women working in film are honored – and the Alliance of Women Film Journalists have some fun pointing out which actress is most in need of a new agent, which actress or actor gave the bravest performance, and what were the most memorable and most shameful film moments of 2011.

Below is a complete list of this years Alliance Of Female Journalist winners:

Best Film: The Artist

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist

Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris

Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash - The Descendants
and
Steven Zallian and Aaron Sorkin - Moneyball

Best Documentary: Buck

Best Animated Film: Rango

Best Actress: Viola Davis as Abileen - The Help

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Janet McTeer as Hubert Page - Albert Nobbs
and
Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson - The Help

Best Actor: Michael Fassbender as Brandon Sullivan - Shame

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christopher Plummer as Hal Fields - Beginners

Best Ensemble Cast: Bridesmaids

Best Editing: Thelma Schoonmaker - Hugo

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki - The Tree of Life

Best Film Music Or Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Original Score - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
and
The Chemical Brothers, Original Score - Hanna

Best Non-English-Language Film: Ashgar Farhadi, Iran - A Separation

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS

Best Woman Director: Lynne Ramsey - We Need To Talk About Kevin

Best Woman Screenwriter: Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo - Bridesmaids

Kick Ass Award For Best Female Action Star: Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander - Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
and
Saoirse Ronan as Hanna - Hanna

Best Animated Female: Isla Fisher as Beans - Rango

Best Breakthrough Performance: Elizabeth Olsen as Martha - Martha Marcy May Marlene

Female Icon Award: Glenn Close as Albert Nobbs - Albert Nobbs

Actress Defying Age and Ageism: Helen Mirren as Rachel Singer - The Debt

This Year’s Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In The Film Industry: Jessica Chastain for performances in four highly acclaimed films

AWFJ Award For Humanitarian Activism: Angelina Jolie for UN work and making In The Land of Blood and Honey to raise awareness about genocide.

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

AWFJ Hall Of Shame Award: The Hollywood Reporter for failing to invite any women to join the Directors Roundtable

Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent: All actresses in New Year’s Eve

Movie You Wanted To Love But Just Couldn‘t: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Unforgettable Moment Award: The sound of the glass clinking on the table - The Artist

Best Depiction Of Nudity, Sexuality, or Seduction: Justine in the moonlight - Melancholia
and
Opening sequence on the subway train - Shame

Sequel Or Remake That Shouldn’t Have Been Made Award: The Hangover Part II

Most Egregious Love Interest Age Difference Award: Glenn Close (64) and Mia Wasilkowska (22) - Albert Nobbs
and
Bella (18) and Edward (Over 100) - Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I

Contraband Movie Review

2012-01-11T09:00:00.006-06:00

Although most people prefer Mark Wahlberg in dramas like The Departed and Boogie Nights over comedies like The Other Guys and Date Night, I, myself have always preferred him as an action hero. His latest foray into the genre is a grittier than average heist thriller that earns bonus points for some solid pacing and a few surprising wrinkles. "Contraband" is based, very loosely, on an 2008 Icelandic film about a smuggler, and is directed by Baltasar Kormákur, who was not only a star but one of the producers of the earlier Icelandic movie. Like most typical crime drama's Contraband a lean no-brainer action-fuelled ride with a few quieter moments, where you won't have to contend with complex characters, confusing plot-lines or emotional fallout. The only thing you may need to do is to keep up with the bursts of kinetic energy and spot the familiar faces of the supporting cast. One in particular is William Lucking as Wahlberg's father. In three scenes he creates an indelible picture of a defeated but still cagey old school Irish-American criminal.

Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) remains a legend even though he now runs an alarm installation company and his dimwit brother-in-law Andy (Caleb Landry Jones) triggers the new round of trouble by dumping a bunch of drugs into the sea just as he's about to be arrested on a cargo ship. Unfortunately, the drugs were intended for Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi), a crazed, trigger-happy lunatic who demands instant retribution for the debt, after Tim pays a visit to Chris's wife Kate (Kate Beckinsale), Chris realizes he has no choice, the only way to save Andy and his family is to go back and do a job himself. With his old crew by his side, Chris boards a cargo ship headed to Panama he is quickly placed on the ship's cleaning crew. His plan is to bring back a massive amount of uncut counterfeit bills. Chris is confident he’ll be able to pull off the job, but when Briggs threatens his family, the stakes get even more out of control and Chris is forced to reevaluate his plan.

When he goes into town, his original seller doesn't have what he wants and time is ticking, he only has a short time frame to get back to the ship, Chris along with Andy and Danny (Lukas Haas) must now go to the one man who is a legend in Panama for being crazy enough to not only kill the competition but his buyers as well. Gonzalo (Diego Luna) has a plan and he tells Chris that if he helps pull the job he can have the uncut bills free. After Andy runs off with the money, Chris is forced to help Gonzalo. Back home Tim keeps showing up near Kate and their two children. Chris asks an old friend to keep an eye on Kate while he is gone, Sebastian (Ben Foster)is dealing with his own issues and is caught up in the middle of the heist in more ways than one. Chris, and Danny get back to the ship and with the aid of several other crew members is able to get the bills on-board and has a plan up his sleeve to deal with both the one man who has made the trip a pain, Captain Camp (J.K. Simmons) and Tim.

The film starts off especially strong with a sequence of scenes showing Andy’s failed run spliced together with a wedding, giving us a look at Chris, Kate, Sebastian and Danny in happier times. So when Andy’s predicament sucks them all in, it’s all the more powerful. Also upping the emotion is the chemistry between Beckinsale and Wahlberg. They’re not even on screen together very much, as Chris boards the boat fairly quickly, but the duo has no trouble totally selling that they’re a loving couple. Neither Chris nor Kate has much of a character arc, but they’re engaging enough to keep you totally invested in this relentless adventure. The film offers a raw, realistic appeal missing from recent genre entries like the glossy Takers or Armored and the heist sequences feel like some real thought went into them. Only a few failed attempts at humor break up the tension.

I give Contraband 2 and a half stars ★★☆. On most any level of serious consideration, Contraband isn’t a particularly good movie. Its plot twists telegraph themselves pretty clearly, and every performer other than Wahlberg is only afforded a few scenes to piece together any depth to their characters. But once things get going, it’s all about Wahlberg out-muscling and out-thinking his enemies. He specializes in playing the underdog who always seems to gain the upper hand. When David O'Hara brings his Scottish brogue to the role of a lofty Louisiana crime boss, we hope that he and Chris must have the inevitable action movie showdown, but no, another man comes into play that leaves Wahlberg to stand up to all of them as the principled man of action, and he carries the picture with ease and low-key charm in a role that slyly takes advantage of his own bad-boy-made-good persona.

Contraband is rated R for Violence, Pervasive Language and Brief Drug Use
Running time is 1 hour 50 minutes
Directed by Baltasar Kormákur
Distributed by Universal Pictures

Movie Release Schedule

2012-01-10T13:00:00.007-06:00

Movie Title	Dist.	New Date	Old Date
Jeff, Who Lives at Home	Paramount Vantage	3/16/12	3/2/12
A Thousand Words	Paramount	4/20/12	3/23/12
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters	Paramount	1/11/13	3/2/12
Badass	Samuel Goldwyn	4/13/12	New
Detention	Samuel Goldwyn	4/6/12	New
The Island President	Samuel Goldwyn	3/28/12	New
Thin Ice	ATO Pictures	2/17/12	New

Movie Title	Dist.	New Date	Old Date
444: Last Day on Earth	IFC	3/23/12	New
Kid With a Bike	IFC	3/16/12	New
Last Days Here	IFC	3/2/12	New
The Wettest County	Weinstein Company	8/31/12	4/20/12
Paranormal Activity 4	Paramount	10/19/12	New

Movie Title	Dist.	New Date	Old Date
Vettai	UTV Communications	1/13/12	1/12/12
Detachment	Tribeca Film	3/16/12	New
Black Butterflies	Tribeca Film	3/2/12	New
Neon Flesh	Tribeca Film	2/24/12	New
Ultrasuede	Tribeca Film	1/20/12	New
Don't Go in the Woods	Tribeca Film	1/13/12	New
Beneath the Darkness	Image Entertainment	1/6/12	New

Movie Title	Dist.	New Date	Old Date
The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs	Buena Vista	TBD	11/27/13
Frozen (2013)	Buena Vista	11/27/13	New
Turn Me On, Dammit!	New Yorker	3/30/12	New
Lula, Son of Brazil	New Yorker	1/27/12	1/13/12
Marvel Untitled 2	Buena Vista	4/4/14	6/27/14
Monsieur Lazhar	Music Box Films	Spring 2012	New
The Deep Blue Sea	Music Box Films	3/30/12	New
Miss Minoes	Music Box Films	12/23/11	New
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen	CBS Films	3/9/12	3/2/12
Safe Haven	Relativity	2/14/13	6/1/12
Tyler Perry Presents We the Peeples	Lionsgate	3/29/13	New
Tyler Perry's The Marriage Counselor	Lionsgate	7/27/12	New
Moonrise Kingdom	Focus Features	5/25/12	TBD
Seeking a Friend For The End Of The World	Focus Features	4/20/12	New
Being Flynn	Focus Features	3/2/12	New
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel	Fox Searchlight	5/4/12	3/9/12

Movie Title	Dist.	New Date	Old Date
Footnote	Sony Classics	3/9/12	2/24/12
In Darkness	Sony Classics	2/10/12	1/27/12
Albatross	IFC	1/13/12	New
Vettai	UTV Communications	1/12/12	New
Act of Valor	Relativity	2/24/12	2/17/12
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life	Entertainment One	1/20/12	New
Crazy Horse	Zipporah Films	1/18/12	New
Lula, Son of Brazil	New Yorker	1/13/12	New

Directors Guild Of America Nominations

2012-01-10T12:00:00.005-06:00

The Directors Guild Of America threw a monkey wrench straight at Oscar today when they released their nominations for best director. As expected most of the Oscar front runners like Michel Hazanavicius, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and even Alexander Payne were on the list, the exclusion of Steven Spielberg shocked most movie fans. The Directors Guild Of Americ's winner has gone on to wine the best Director Oscar a majority of the time. Spielberg's film War Horse has not gotten the acclaim it deserves, the film is one of The Cynics Top Ten films of 2011.

Below is a complete list of this years Directors Guild Of America nominees:

Woody Allen
Midnight in Paris
(Sony Pictures Classics)

David Fincher
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
(Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures)

Michel Hazanavicius
The Artist
(The Weinstein Company)

Alexander Payne
The Descendants
(Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Martin Scorsese
Hugo
(Paramount Pictures)

Kansas City Film Critics Circle Winners

2012-01-10T11:00:00.003-06:00

Founded in 1967, the KCFCC is the second oldest film critics’ group in the country, consisting of print, broadcast and web-based film critics with outlets in the metropolitan Kansas City area. Picking their best in film awards the group stayed true to form. The only huh award went to directer Terrance Malick for Tree Of Life.

Below is the complete list of this years winners:

Best Picture: The Descendants

The Robert Altman Award for Best Director: Terrence Malick, Tree of Life

Best Actor: George Clooney, The Descendants

Best Actress: Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, Tree of Life

Best Animated Film: Rango

Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation

Best Documentary: Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Best Original Screenplay: Mike Mills, Beginners

Best Adapted Screenplay: Steven Zallian and Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball

The Vince Koehler Award for Best Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror Film: Hugo

Outstanding Visual Effects Nominations

2012-01-10T10:00:00.004-06:00

The Visual Effects Society (VES) today announced the nominees for its 10th Annual VES Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in 23 categories of film, animation, television, commercials, special venues and video games. The Visual Effects Society is the entertainment industry's only organization representing the full breadth of visual effects practitioners including artists, technologists, model makers, educators, studio leaders, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and producers in all areas of entertainment from film, television and commercials to music videos and games.

Below is a full list of motion picture related nominations:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture

Captain America: The First Avenger
Charlie Noble
Mark Soper
Christopher Townsend
Edson Williams

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Tim Burke
Emma Norton
John Richardson
David Vickery

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Gary Brozenich
David Conley
Charlie Gibson
Ben Snow

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Dan Lemmon
Joe Letteri
Cyndi Ochs
Kurt Williams

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Scott Benza
Wayne Billheimer
Matthew Butler
Scott Farrar

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture

Anonymous
Andre Cantarel
Volker Engel
Rony Soussan
Marc Weigert

Hugo
Ben Grossmann
Alex Henning
Rob Legato
Karen Murphy

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Laya Armian
Chas Jarrett
Seth Maury
Sirio Quintavalle

Source Code
Annie Godin
Louis Morin

War Horse
Duncan Burbidge
Ben Morris
Mike Mulholland
Chris Zeh

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Arthur Christmas
Doug Ikeler
Chris Juen
Alan Short
Mandy Tankenson

Kung Fu Panda 2
Melissa Cobb
Alex Parkinson
Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Raymond Zibach

Puss In Boots
Joe Aguilar
Guillaume Aretos
Ken Bielenberg
Chris Miller

Rango
Tim Alexander
Hal Hickel
Jacqui Lopez
Katie Lynch

The Adventures of Tintin
Jamie Beard
Joe Letteri
Meredith Meyer-Nichols
Eileen Moran

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Ukranian Ironbelly
Yasunobu Arahori
Tom Bracht
Gavin Harrison
Chris Lentz

Paul – Paul
Anders Beer
Julian Foddy
Jody Johnson
David Lowry

Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Caesar
Daniel Barrett
Florian Fernandez
Matthew Muntean
Eric Reynolds

The Thing – Edvard/Adam
Lyndon Barrois
Fred Chapman
Greg Massie
Marco Menco

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Puss In Boots – Puss
Antonio Banderas
Ludovic Bouancheau
Laurent Caneiro
Olivier Staphylas

Rango – Rango
Frank Gravatt
Kevin Martel
Brian Paik
Steve Walton

Rio – Nigel
Diana Diriwaechter
Sang Jun Lee
Sergio Pablos
Aamir Tarin

The Adventures of Tintin – Tintin
Gino Acevedo
Gustav Ahren
Jamie Beard
Simon Clutterbuck

Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Anonymous – London
Andre Cantarel
Robert Freitag
Rony Soussan
Greg Strasz

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Hogwarts
Keziah Bailey
Stephen Ellis
Clement Gerard
Pietro Ponti

Thor – Heimdall’s Observatory
Pierre Buffin
Audrey Ferrara
Yoel Godo
Dominique Vidal

Transformers: Dark of the Moon – 155 Wacker Drive
Giles Hancock
John Hanson
Tom Martinek
Scott Younkin

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Puss In Boots – The Cloud World
Guillaume Aretos
Greg Lev
Brett Miller
Peter Zaslav

Rango – Main Street Dirt
John Bell
Polly Ing
Martin Murphy
Russell Paul

The Adventures of Tintin – Bagghar
Hamish Beachman
Adam King
Wayne Stables
Mark Tait

The Adventures of Tintin – Docks
Matt Aitken
Jeff Capogreco
Jason Lazaroff
Alessandro Mozzato

The Adventures of Tintin – Pirate Battle
Phil Barrenger
Keith F. Miller
Alessandro Saponi
Christoph Sprenger

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Hugo
Martin Chamney
Rob Legato
Adam Watkins
Fabio Zangla

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Thelvin Cabezas
Mike Perry
R. Christopher White
Erik Winquist

Thor
Xavier Allard
Pierre Buffin
Nicolas Chevallier

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Michael Balog
Richard Bluff
Shawn Kelly
Jeff White

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Arthur Christmas
Michael Ford
David Morehead
Emi Tahira

Cars 2
Mahyar Abousaeedi
Sharon Calahan
Jeremy Lasky
Jonathan Pytko

Rango
Colin Benoit
Philippe Rebours
Nelson Sepulveda
Nick Walker

The Adventures of Tintin
Matt Aitken
Matthias Menz
Keith F. Miller
Wayne Stables

Outstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Hogwarts School Buildings
Steven Godfrey
Pietro Ponti
Tania Marie Richard
Andy Warren

Hugo – Train Crash
Scott Beverly
Allan Faucher
Forest P. Fischer
Matthew Gratzner

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol – Parking Garage
John Goodson
Russell Paul
Kristian Pedlow
Vick Schutz

Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Driller
Tim Brakensiek
Kelvin Chu
David Fogler
Rene Garcia

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture

Captain America: The First Avenger
Casey Allen
Trent Claus
Brian Hajek
Cliff Welsh

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Michele Benigna
Martin Ciastko
Thomas Dyg
Andy Robinson

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Jean Luc Azzis
Quentin Hema
Simon Jung
Christoph Salzmann

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Chris Balog
Ben O’Brien
Amy Shepard
Jeff Sutherland