Spirit Award Nominations

And we're off! Awards season that is. Yesterday the Gothams started it all by honoring Winter's Bone with Best Feature and Best Ensemble. This morning, Winter's Bone yet again takes the early lead by garnering 7 nominations at the Spirit Awards. The other nominees are...

BEST FEATURE
127 Hours
Black Swan
Greenberg
The Kids Are All Right
Winter’s Bone

Happy to see 127 Hours in here since it's the only film from this list that I've seen that I actually more than liked (I haven't see Black Swan). The others are good, but I don't feel passionate about them. The lack of Blue Valentine makes me angry/sad. Also weird to see Rabbit Hole miss out since it did well below.

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone
John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole

A respectable and totally awesome list of directors here. Would not mind one bit to see any and all honored not only here, but at the Oscars. Crazy Fact: Boyle is the only Oscar nominee in this list. Insane right?

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Everything Strange and New
Get Low
Night Catches Us
The Last Exorcism
Tiny Furniture

Last year I had heard of all give nominees and eventually got to see them. This year, I have no idea what 4 of the 5 films are. The only one I know is Get Low. Oh well, more movies to put in my queue!

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Greta Gerwig, Greenberg
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Greta Gerwig is the surprise here, but yay to Michelle Williams for getting the film's only nomination! The others were more or less expected and I expect to see a lot of these names repeated throughout the season all the way to Oscars. Poor Julianne Moore though.

BEST MALE LEAD
Ronald Bronstein, Daddy Longlegs
Aaron Eckhart, Rabbit Hole
James Franco, 127 Hours
John C. Reilly, Cyrus
Ben Stiller, Greenberg

I've only seen Franco and Stiller's performances so I can't really judge, but I'm having a difficult time accepting the fact that Ryan Gosling's performance in Blue Valentine wasn't better than some of these. Odd snub also for Get Low's lead Robert Duvall.

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Ashley Bell, The Last Exorcism
Dale Dickey, Winter’s Bone
Allison Janney, Life During Wartime
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jack Goes Boating
Naomi Watts, Mother and Child

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Samuel L. Jackson, Mother and Child
Bill Murray, Get Low
John Ortiz, Jack Goes Boating
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

With me only seeing three performances out of the ten supporting roles (Ruffalo, Dickey, Hawkes), I don't really have much to say.

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Low Budget Films)
Daddy Longlegs
Lbs.
Lovers of Hate
Obselidia
The Exploding Girl

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Kisses
Mademoiselle Chambon
Of Gods and Men
The King’s Speech
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Oscar front-runner The King's Speech sort of came out of nowhere to appear here. Last year another British film to be nominated for an Oscar Best Picture, An Education, was nominated. This year's Palme d'Or winner, Uncle Boonmee, also fittingly finds itself in the shortlist.

BEST SCREENPLAY
Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone
Nicole Holofcener, Please Give
David Lindsay-Abaire, Rabbit Hole
Todd Solondz, Life During Wartime

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Diane Bell, Obselidia
Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture
Nik Fackler, Lovely, Still
Bob Glaudini, Jack Goes Boating
Dana Adam Shapiro, Evan M. Wiener, Monogamy

Last year's Oscar winner, Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious, started his winning ways by capturing the Best First Screenplay Award at last year's ceremony. Wonder if any of these names here (and in Best Screenplay) will transfer over to Oscar in a few months.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Adam Kimmel, Never Let Me Go
Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Jody Lee Lipes, Tiny Furniture
Michael McDonough, Winter’s Bone
Harris Savides, Greenberg

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Marwencol
Restrepo
Sweetgrass
Thunder Soul