See you next year!

Another year is over. Thank for the handful of you who read and comment on the blog or more likely converse with me on twitter. You might have also visited my tumblr from time to time and for that I'm thankful as well. A recap of my favorite TV shows, movies, and actors are to come in the next month but for now here are a bunch of year-end film montages for you to watch. Until the new year!

Birthday Boy: Jude Law

I feel like Jude Law doesn't get nearly enough credit as an actor even with his two Oscar nominations. He did win a much deserved BAFTA for his role in The Talented Mr. Ripley which was probably his biggest break in the industry giving him his first Oscar nomination and yet even before that he had already worked with David Cronenberg and Clint Eastwood. He got more notices in Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence playing an android and then his second Oscar nomination playing a confederate soldier in Cold Mountain.

Since then he has made over 20 films, co-starring with various fellow Hollywood A-listers. Some of my favorites include I Heart Huckabees, Closer, and Contagion. Though if you ask the general public, they'd probably cite his role as Dr. John Watson playing the sidekick to Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes in those Guy Ritchie films. More recently, he played Karenin opposite Keira Knightley's Anna Karenina. It's unfortunate that the Joe Wright film seems to have faded into obscurity at least in regards to year-end awards, because I think Law delivers quite a mature and subtle performance as the wronged husband. He also lent his voice in Rise of the Guardians playing the main villain Pitch. I had actually seen Anna Karenina just days before I saw the aforementioned film and for some reason I just could not place Law's voice until the end credits. Pretty shameful on my part.

With all of that said, Jude Law celebrates his 40th birthday today and from the looks of things, he hasn't even begun to slow down.

Thoughts on Doctor Who & Downton Abbey Christmas Specials

Looks like the world didn't end last week, which was good news I suppose since it at least gave us a 4-day weekend to celebrate Christmas. I spent it with family for the most part so I actually didn't get to see or catch up on as many TV shows and movies that I had wanted to watch. And yet I still got to see the Christmas specials for Doctor Who and Downton Abbey. The first acts as a premiere of sorts while the latter acts as a proper finale for the show's third season. Below are my brief thoughts, but since Downton Abbey S3 hasn't aired in the states, only my Doctor Who thoughts are spoilery.

Doctor Who

The show's ability to reinvent and reboot itself every few years is why this show has lasted as long as it has and this particular Christmas episode speaks to that ability. Last we met up with the Doctor, he has yet again lost his friends and his world is full of doom and gloom. Matt Smith is great when he plays charismatic and quirky, but he's just brilliant with the darker, moodier stuff (probably better than David Tennant actually). But we can't have a show where the main character is wallowing in his melancholy and living literally up in the clouds. Enter the Doctor's friends in the form of Madame Vastra, her wife Jenny, and the hilarious Strax as well as "new" companion Clara played with a breath of fresh air by Jenna Louise-Coleman whose performance here only confirmed my love for her during her surprise appearance in the season's premiere. If there's one thing this show gets absolutely right, it's casting the Doctor's companions. All four slowly, but surely gets the Doctor back to his old ways with the help of an intriguing case of sentient snow and a frozen Pond. Speaking of the latter, the one-word test between Vastra and Clara was just a spectacular scene giving you more info on Clara as well as giving fans of Amy and Rory an unexpected gut check. All of this is to say this was probably my favorite Matt Smith Doctor Who Christmas episode considering they also needed to do a lot in the episode (re-introduce Coleman's character, touch on Amy/Rory's departure, re-invigorate the Doctor, get us to love Vastra/Jenny/Strax more than we already do, and finally tell a good, solid story). I am slightly mixed with the ending with regards to Clara's "impossibleness." Obviously there's something off about her as we first met her as a Dalek and now here she is again as an 18th century barmaid/governess. I'm certainly intrigued by the Doctor's investigation of this, but is Moffat stretching himself too thin again by being just a little too clever? And I really was looking forward for a non-modern person traveling with the Doctor, but the previews says it isn't so. In any case... new companion, new opening, new TARDIS interior... there's enough new here for me to get excited about for next year. A-

Downton Abbey

This past season was better than last season, which doesn't mean it was flawless. The Bates-in-prison storyline still dragged for far too long and a few other characters made questionable choices that seemed more to create drama for the show than something actually organically coming from the character. There was also a big chunk of the season where every episode something heartbreaking happened and while it provided great emotional moments, it was also difficult to "enjoy" in a sense. But it wouldn't be so emotionally harrowing if I didn't care about the characters so they're doing something all right. With that said, I was glad that most of the Christmas special was quite uneventful. Not to say that nothing happened, but for the most part, it felt like watching these characters spend a fairly routine few days in their lives, which I actually found pleasant in its normalcy. The episode itself felt a bit scattered as the main bulk of the family spent it off in the Highlands, away from Downton (a nice change of pace actually), while the servants and a couple other characters were left to their own devices back at home. Of course, the real drama happens towards the end capping off a season that felt more emotionally brutal than the previous one which mostly took place during the war. Can any of these characters get a break? I mean seriously. B+

And now back to real life... ugh, do I have to?

Live Like We're Dying

So the world is probably not going to end tomorrow, so the message of this song is even more meaningful then...


We gotta start looking at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking
Gotta live like we're dying...

Looking Forward To...

Les Misérables
Release: December 25, 2012
Distributor: Universal
Director: Tom Hooper
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Russell Crowe, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks, Daniel Huttlestone, Colm Wilkinson, and Helena Bonham Carter

"Tomorrow is the judgement day..."

Django Unchained
Release: December 25, 2012
Distributor: Weinstein Company
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Don Johnson, Christoph Waltz, Walton Goggins, Jonah Hill, James Remar, and Samuel L. Jackson

"Adult supervision is required."

Box Office: Good News, Bad News for The Hobbit

It has been more than a decade since Peter Jackson introduced us to his version of Middle Earth and now he's back with the prequel to his Lord of the Rings trilogy that delighted critics and fans the world over. The good news for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was that it grossed $86.4 million which is good for the best December opening ever and certainly the best opening for a Lord of the Rings film. The bad news for this film is that it only grossed $86.4 million, which when adjusted for inflation loses its top spot to Return of the King and barely edges out Two Towers. Furthermore, everyone expected the film to easily surpass $100 million especially considering how beloved the original trilogy was and years of pent-up demand. Plus this year alone, four films had already opened north of $140 million and The Hobbit couldn't even beat the opening for Skyfall ($88.3 million just last month). Part of it has got to be the mediocre reviews (64% Rotten Tomatoes), but the film had enough baggage with the controversial 48fps technology and the unpopular decision of making this a trilogy. So objectively, it's doing quite fine and the holiday season will only help its gross, but relative to expectations, it has an uphill battle.

Meanwhile Lincoln continues to astound having crossed the $100 million milestone before the weekend and then surpassing Argo after the weekend to become the highest-grossing Best Picture contender at $107.7 million. Argo, for its part, is doing just fine cracking the Top 12 list again in its 10th week of release with a total of $105 million. Another Oscar favorite, Silver Linings Playbook had the smallest week-to-week decline, but still at 317 theaters, the Weinstein Company's decision to not expand the film is getting more dumbfounding. While those films were obviously helped out by last week's Golden Globe nominations, other films benefited as well such as Best Animated nominees Rise of the Guardians and Wreck-It Ralph and Best Picture/Director nominee Life of Pi, which all saw sub 35% declines. Meanwhile, Best Song nominee Skyfall is slowly making up some ground on the non-nominated final Twilight film for the honor of being #4 for the year behind blockbusters The Avengers, Dark Knight Rises, and Hunger Games. The James Bond film also has a slight chance to reach $300 million.

With about a dozen films set to open in the next few days in time for Christmas Day, eyeballs will be scarce so the films out now hope to maximize their results as quickly as possible. Should be an interesting end of the year for the box office.

Golden Globes: Film Nominations

Another organization, another good day for Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. This time it's the Golden Globes bestowing the film a leading 7 nominations followed closely by Argo and Django Unchained with 5 nominations each, the latter finding new life this awards season with this morning's announcement. Though perhaps the most surprising film to do well has to be the little-seen Salmon Fishing in the Yemen netting 3 nominations. Onwards...

Best Director

• Ben Affleck, Argo
• Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
• Ang Lee, Life of Pi
• Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
• Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Bigelow, Spielberg, and probably also Affleck are locks for Oscar. Lee is also up there, but with so many other prominent directors in play like Tarantino, Hooper, Russell, Zeitlin, Anderson, Haneke, Anderson... it's tough to say anything with certainly. As I've said before this is a super competitive category this year. Hooper's non-nomination speaks volumes though I think.

Best Motion Picture, Drama

• Argo
• Django Unchained
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Zero Dark Thirty

The 100% match-up with Best Director says a lot more notably how these films seem set for Oscars. It also helps that they all were nominated by the BFCA as well. The big losers are unfortunately Beasts of the Southern Wild and Amour which were shut out completely today.

Best Actor, Drama

• Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
• Richard Gere, Arbitrage
• John Hawkes, The Sessions
• Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
• Denzel Washington, Flight

I actually thought there was a teeny chance for Logan Lerman to show up here, but Gere pops in for his first notice this awards season. Phoenix showing up here also gives his lowering stock after being snubbed by SAG some lift.

Best Actress, Drama

• Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
• Marion Cotillard, Rust & Bone
• Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
• Naomi Watts, The Impossible
• Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea

Former Oscar-winners Cotillard and Mirren repeat their unlikely SAG nods with nominations here making their return trip to Oscars that much likelier. Watts is right there with them though she's aiming for her first Oscar nomination. Weisz, on the other hand, finally shows up somewhere else after her unexpected NYFCC win. Again, it was a tough break for Riva and Wallis and my dark horse pick Winsted.

Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical

• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• Les Miserables
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
• Silver Linings Playbook

People are saying that Best Exotic Marigold could be this year's Midnight in Paris, a modest summer hit aimed for the older crowd. Its notices here certainly helps its cause. But this is Les Miserables category to lose, though its low nomination tally (4) is a bit perplexing. What else is perplexing is the deliberate lack of actual comedic films on the list. No Pitch Perfect, This is 40, Ted, etc.

Best Actress, Comedy or Musical

• Emily Blunt, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
• Judi Dench, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
• Maggie Smith, Quartet
• Meryl Streep, Hope Springs

As if they were actually going to give Streep a year off. We should all know better. Though I have to admit that seeing Dench vs. Streep vs. Smith makes me a little happy even though this award is probably Lawrence to lose, which is actually a bit unfortunate. If I was voting though, my write-in vote would probably be Anna Kendrick.

Best Actor, Comedy or Musical

• Jack Black, Bernie
• Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
• Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
• Bill Murray, Hyde Park on Hudson
• Ewan McGregor, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Unlike the Oscars, the HFPA have already nominated Ewan McGregor once (for Moulin Rouge), but he gets his second nomination for such an unlikely film. I'm happy for him. This category is Cooper vs. Jackman (the like Oscar nominees), but I'm thinking no one can beat Jackman. He'd win in charm alone I think.

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams, The Master
• Sally Field, Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
• Helen Hunt, The Sessions
• Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy

While the rest of the season will go back and forth between Field and Hathaway, I'm just happy that this particular Kidman performance is able to find some footing this awards season. Adams, like her Master co-star, finds good news this morning after getting snubbed by the SAG.

Best Supporting Actor

• Alan Arkin, Argo
• Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
• Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
• Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Three men lead the pack in this category and they are all Oscar-winners: Arkin, Hoffman, and Jones. But the more interesting thing about this category are the nominations for DiCaprio and Waltz. Mostly because their traction this season has been iffy. DiCaprio was seen as a frontrunner early on then faded while Waltz was seen as lead until... he wasn't. Deniro, Bardem, and McConaughey are looking in from the outside.

Best Animated Film

• Brave
• Frankenweenie
• Hotel Transylvania
• Rise of the Guardians
• Wreck-It Ralph

HULK SMASH! How dare they ignored ParaNorman. I mean, of course, for all intents and purposes all of these films have received some good reviews with the exception of Hotel Transylvania (which was apparently better than many thought), but PARANORMAN IS FANTASTIC. It... just is. Sad face.

Best Foreign Language Film

• Amour
• The Intouchables
• Kon-Tiki
• A Royal Affair
• Rust & Bone

I have plans to see at least three of these within the next few months (Amour, The Intouchables, and Rust & Bone), but since I haven't seen any yet I don't have much to say.


Best Screenplay

• Argo, Chris Terrio
• Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
• Lincoln, Tony Kushner
• Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell
• Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

Since the Golden Globes don't divide their Screenplay nominations, I'm confident all of these will be nominated for Oscars. Would've loved to have seen Perks of Being a Wallflower here or even Looper which has been getting some notices this awards season, but alas.

Best Score

• Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli
• Argo, Alexandre Desplat
• Cloud Atlas, Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimet & Reinhold Heil
• Life of Pi, Michael Danna
• Lincoln, John Williams

It's refreshing to see a couple of different films here, Anna Karenina and Cloud Atlas. I'm finding that I am liking them more than the general consensus so it's a shame that both have been largely ignored this awards season.

Best Song

• “For You,” Act of Valor
• “Not Running Anymore,” Stand Up Guys
• “Safe and Sound,” The Hunger Games
• “Suddenly,” Les Miserables
• “Skyfall,” Skyfall

I don't really care about this category this year, especially with these nominations so, yeah whatever. But I did hear someone today suggest that the cast of Pitch Perfect should perform these acapella-style. Brilliant idea!

Click here to read my thoughts on the TV nominations.

Golden Globes: TV Nominations

Like I said yesterday with the SAG nominations, after the Emmys these TV awards seem like an afterthought. Like every year there are some choices to be celebrated for sure, but many more tired, lazy, or crazy choices to vilify... if you actually cared that much. Appropriately in this election year, this year's big Emmy winners Game Change and Homeland lead the pack with 5 and 4 nominations respectively.

Best Television Series, Drama

• Boardwalk Empire
• Breaking Bad
• Downton Abbey
• Homeland
• The Newsroom

Like last year, this is a very premium cable-heavy line-up which means no room for the still wonderful The Good Wife. I'm more surprised, however, by the exclusion of Mad Men which received just one nomination today (for Actor). I'm all about shaking up the nominations, but to replace it with The Newsroom rather than Game of Thrones or even the revived The Walking Dead?

Best Actor, Drama

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

Rinse and repeat as these are the exact same men that were nominated by SAG. And my comment stands... I'm not a fan of Daniels and I don't watch Boardwalk Empire. They should've nominated Dan Stevens especially for what he did in S2. No matter this is last year's winner Lewis' competition to lose.

Best Actress, Drama

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

I'm glad Britton is recognized, but it doesn't have the same oomph as when Madeleine Stowe got nominated last year. I don't even have any real complaints about this category especially since my girl Dockery is still impressing people as per usual.

Best Television Series, Comedy

• The Big Bang Theory
• Episodes
• Girls
• Modern Family
• Smash

Well at least they didn't nominate Glee or The Office which the SAG did, but Smash? Seriously? Seriously? And no 30 Rock for its final season or Parks and Recreation for being inherently awesome? Those two shows' leads are hosting the damn show! And how about last year's nominee New Girl? It's actually BETTER this year. And then there's the perpetually under-appreciated Community. This category gives me all the sad feelings.

Best Actor, Comedy

• Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
• Don Cheadle, House of Lies
• Louis C.K., Louie
• Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
• Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

It's not a bad list, just one that doesn't inspire much passion. Still no one from Two and a Half Men so that's a plus. Remember last year when Galecki was nominated instead of Parsons? Now THAT gave me a chuckle.

Best Actress, Comedy

• Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
• Lena Dunham, Girls
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
• Amy Poehler, Parks And Recreation

I... actually love this. I mean I'm not a huge fan of Dunham's acting, but for everything she does with that show I think this nomination is well-deserved. There's still a couple of people I'd swap in, but as a category this one probably has the best nominees.

Best Mini-Series or TV Movie

• Game Change
• The Girl
• Hatfield & McCoys
• The Hour
• Political Animals

I'm a bit confused by HFPA eligibility window. They're clearly honoring The Hour's 2nd season since they nominated it last year for its first, but the show has only aired 3 episodes in the US (less when ballots were due). Maybe they got advanced screeners? Whatever. Happy to see it here as well as the short-lived Political Animals.

Best Actor, Mini-Series or TV Movie

• Kevin Costner, Hatfields and McCoys
• Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
• Woody Harrelson, Game Change
• Toby Jones, The Girl
• Clive Owen, Hemingway and Gellhorn

Really wished Ben Whishaw would've gotten in for his work on The Hour, but alas. And the only performance I've seen here is Cumberbatch's so not much to say.

Best Actress, Mini-Series or TV Movie

• Nicole Kidman, Hemingway and Gellhorn
• Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
• Sienna Miller, The Girl
• Julianne Moore, Game Change
• Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals

American Horror Story strikes again in "mini-series" even though it was honored as a "drama series" yesterday with the SAG. What.the.fucking.ever. Kidman gets two Golden Globes nominations today, one for this and another for The Paperboy, but Moore looks likely to repeat her Emmy win here.

Best Supporting Actor

• Max Greenfield, New Girl
• Ed Harris, Game Change
• Danny Huston, Magic City
• Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
• Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

If you ever think the TV categories at the Golden Globes actually mean anything, you only have to look at the clusterfuck that are the supporting categories to set you straight. Mixing all of these genre in one catch-all category is ridiculous and it leaves off so many worthy people (Aaron Paul, Peter Dinklage, Ty Burrell, Nick Offerman, Damon Wayans Jr., etc.). Patinkin and Greenfield's nominations are rad.

Best Supporting Actress

• Hayden Panettiere, Nashville
• Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
• Sarah Paulson, Game Change
• Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
• Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

See above. NO ONE from Mad Men? Anna Gunn? Mayim Bialik? This list does give us Hayden Panettiere (I thought she was a co-lead though) versus Maggie Smith which is all I could ever ask for. Thanks for that last bit of humor, HFPA.

Click here to read my thoughts on the film nominations.

Screen Actors Guild Nominations

Is it just me or does this year the awards announcement seem to happen on top of one another? Well in any case, all those critic awards are all well and good, but it's the guilds that seem to really reflect where the awards season is going. So this morning when the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) nominations were announced, ears were perked. Unfortunately Perks of Being a Wallflower was ignored, but that's a whole other story. Now while getting nominated for a SAG award doesn't automatically translate into an Oscar nomination, getting one doesn't hurt.

Best Ensemble

• Argo
• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• Les Misérables
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook

This season's Oscar frontrunner Zero Dark Thirty tumbled a bit today garnering only one nomination for Actress and none for Ensemble, but it's hard to fault the nominations above especially with their sprawling casts. All but Best Exotic Marigold Hotel are surefire bets for Oscar glory so there's no big surprises here and even Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has some British acting royalty that the actors couldn't seem to deny.

Best Actress

• Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
• Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
• Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
• Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
• Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Chastain and Lawrence was always going to be nominated but Cotillard and Watts have been checking off the right boxes this awards season, first getting BFCA nominations and now SAG ones. It's important to note though that Beasts of the Southern Wild wasn't eligible thus explaining Wallis' absence. Mirren's nomination could be an anomaly (even though she had good notices).

Best Actor

• Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
• Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
• John Hawkes, The Sessions
• Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
• Denzel Washington, Flight

The big "snub" here is Joaquin Phoenix and perhaps they just couldn't identify with his character or access the film. With that said, I think the Oscar line-up will be made up of these men including Phoenix. The only question is who will be left out. Hawkes (too small of a film?) or Cooper (newcomer) might be the odd man out in that case.

Best Supporting Actress

• Sally Field, Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
• Helen Hunt, The Sessions
• Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy
• Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

This category right now feels a little bit unformed, but the enabled the voters to put in a big name in a polarizing role (Kidman) as well as honor a great dame (Smith). In fact, while Smith was honored with FOUR nominations by SAG, two in film and two in TV. Amy Adams not getting in here hurts her chances, but does it matter since this is Field vs. Hathaway all the way?

Best Supporting Actor

• Alan Arkin, Argo
• Javier Bardem, Skyfall
• Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
• Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

I really thoughts McConaughey was going to make it in, but alas the actors decided to go with a list of nominees that have all won an Oscar before. Has that ever happened? In any case, they all were also nominated at the BFCA including the now not surprising Bardem for his fun work in Skyfall. Could he really be the first Oscar acting nomination for the James Bond series? Djanjo Unchained's supporting men were all snubbed.

Since the Emmys were held a few months ago, these TV nominations always feel like an afterthought, but at least the nominations this year are slightly better, albeit still mindnumbingly dull, than last year...

Best Ensemble, Drama

• Boardwalk Empire
• Breaking Bad
• Downton Abbey
• Homeland
• Mad Men

Last year, this group ignored Homeland, but seem to be making up for lost time this year giving the show an Ensemble nomination along with noms for its two leads. Downton Abbey also gets its first nomination for Ensemble this year. But to see how unexciting this list is, one just has to compare it to this year's Emmy Awards where the same exact shows (minus Game of Thrones) were nominated.

Best Actress, Drama

• Claire Danes, Homeland
• Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
• Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
• Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
• Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey

I'm sorry, but American Horror Story can't be a miniseries in one award while a drama series in another. That's just plain rude. The nominees themselves are okay, but what about the Emmy-nommed Anna Gunn, Elisabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks, and Christine Baranski?

Best Actor, Drama

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

I'm not a fan of Daniels and don't watch Boardwalk Empire so I'm slightly side-eying those nominations even if they are worthy. Just can't take this list seriously with the absence of Emmy winner Aaron Paul or his co-star Giancarlo Esposito. And I thought Peter Dinklage should've also gotten in!

Best Ensemble, Comedy

• 30 Rock
• The Big Bang Theory
• Glee
• Modern Family
• Nurse Jackie
• The Office

They decide to nominate six shows and I stillw ant to get rid like almost all of them and replace them with other shows. Glee? Really?! We're still on that? And I know that Carrell's departure has made The Office even MORE of an ensemble show, but NO. How about this year's breakout Girls? Veep? PARKS AND RECREATION? Community? New Girl? This category year in, year out disappoints me.

Best Actress, Comedy

• Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
• Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
• Betty White, Hot in Cleveland

Glad that Parks and Recreation gets a nod finally, but Betty White again? Whose naked picture does she own? Probably a lot actually. Kind of just surprised not to see Louis-Dreyfus, Dunham, Deschanel, or Bialik nominated.

Best Actor, Comedy

• Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
• Ty Burrell, Modern Family
• Louis CK, Louie
• Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
• Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

This is actually an okay list especially with the lack of anyone from Two and a Half Men making last year's nominations really dreadful. Still, it would benefit them to think more outside the box. How about Greenfield? Wayans, Jr.? OFFERMAN.

Best Actress, Miniseries

• Nicole Kidman, Hemingway & Gellhorn
• Julianne Moore, Game Change
• Charlotte Rampling, Restless
• Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals
• Alfre Woodard, Steel Magnolias

Kidman gets her second nomination this year, but I think Moore will repeat her Emmy win and win this one as well. Glad that Political Animals is getting some awards season notice. Maybe it's enough for them to uncancel the show? Wishful thinking in my part, I'm sure.

Best Actor, Miniseries

• Kevin Costner, Hatfield & McCoys
• Woody Harrelson, Game Change
• Ed Harris, Game Change
• Clive Owen, Hemingway & Gellhorn
• Bill Paxton, Hatfield & McCoys

I've seen a total of none of these performances so I don't know what to tell y'all. This organization certainly didn't feel bad about their tendency to starfuck.

Best Stunt Ensemble, Film

• The Amazing Spider-Man
• The Bourne Legacy
• The Dark Knight Rises
• Les Misérables
• Skyfall

The snub for The Avengers worries me more than it should, but it's interesting to see Les Misérables get in here. If Maggie Smith was in that film, it would've been unstoppable!

Best Stunt Ensemble, TV

• Boardwalk Empire
• Breaking Bad
• Game of Thrones
• Sons of Anarchy
• The Walking Dead

Yeah, sure I guess. Does Downton Abbey not have a stunt ensemble?

Looking Forward To...

Zero Dark Thirty
Release: December 19, 2012
Distributor: Sony/Columbia
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong, Jennifer Ehle, Kyle Chandler, Harold Perrineau, Édgar Ramírez, John Barrowman, Mark Duplass, Taylor Kinney, and James Gandolfini

The Sambola and The Gift

While I was a bit lukewarm to Damsels in Distress itself as a film, I can't exactly deny the charms of Greta Gerwig. Similarly, I pretty much adored the final song/dance number of "The Sambola!" which was revealed yesterday as being eligible for one of five spots for Oscar's Best Song category. I highly doubt it will make it in, but more people should really see it so we can at least make it a legitimate international dance craze:


Nathaniel over at The Film Experience has the complete list of eligible songs along with a few more clips. While perusing the list, I was shocked to see that Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, the Oscar-winning pair for the absolutely amazing "Falling Slowly" in the film Once, have a song in contention from the film The Odd Life of Timothy Green. How have not heard about this until now? View the video for their song "The Gift" after the jump...

Broadcast Film Critics Association Nominations

For better or for worse, the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) try to predict the Oscars. They may not be even doing it on purpose, but year in and year out their nominations and even winners reflect what's going to happen at the Oscars a few months from now. But they are still known for going outside the box (see last year's broad support for nearly Oscar-snubbed Drive). From first look, there doesn't seem to be anything like that this year unless you count the 7 nominations garnered by Skyfall. More surprising has to be the relatively low nomination count for critic-favorite and current Oscar front-runner Zero Dark Thirty with only 5 nominations. If there was one more thing to say is that the number of nominations is just crazy. Do we really need to set aside acting wins for Comedy/Action films? What is this the MTV Movie Awards or something? More comments and a full list of nominations below...

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

Slowly, but surely the list of films for Oscar is coalescing into these ten films. Foreign film Amour may play "spoiler" later on, but I'd be shocked if anything else gets in. Lincoln leads with 13 nominations followed by Les Misérables with 11 and Silver Linings Playbook with 10.  As I mentioned above, Zero Dark Thirty only managed 5 nominations, but then Django Unchained only got 2. Both may have been hampered by their very late releases though.

Best Director
Ben Affleck, Argo
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Tom Hooper, Les Misérables
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln

I'm still thinking Wes Anderson, Benh Zeitlin, or Michael Haneke could also get in for Oscars, but as you can see with the names already listed here, this category is stacked (isn't it every year though?).

Best Actor
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Solid boosts for some of the actresses that needed more attention this awards season namely Cotillard and Watts. It's also good for Riva and Wallis who are both probably going up against the age factor. This is not good news though for Rachel Weisz or my dark horse pick Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Argo
Javier Bardem, Skyfall
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike

That's two acting nominations for Skyfall with both Bardem and Dench (see below) getting in. Could mean something or nothing, but they really were the heart of the movie. But as solid (and kind of fun actually) as this list is, I kind of wished they had gone more outside the box. Ezra Miller? Dwight Henry? I figure Christoph Waltz or Leonardo DiCaprio could figure for Oscars.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Master
Judi Dench, Skyfall
Ann Dowd, Compliance
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions

Best Young Actor/Actress
Elle Fanning, Ginger & Rosa
Kara Hayward, Moonrise Kingdom
Tom Holland, The Impossible
Logan Lerman, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Suraj Sharma, Life of Pi
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

I haven't seen Ginger & Rosa or The Impossible yet, but I 100% agree on the other nominations. If I had to nitpick, I would say Jared Gilman should also be nominated. And I was going to say how upset I am that Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) isn't getting any love, but he's actually too old!

More nominations after the jump...

Critics Groups Rundown

Time to start keeping track of what those darn critics groups are saying about what their favorite films and performances have been this year. So far only six groups out of the bazillion groups have chimed in so we're still in that fun first phase when every movie and actor still think they have a chance for some glory. The groups to have already announced are the following:

New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC), New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO), Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA) Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA)

The results for the major categories are below along with a few films/actors also in discussion (for now). NBR winners are marked with an asterisk.

BEST PICTURE

• Zero Dark Thirty* - NYFCC, BSFC, NYFCO, BOFCA, WAFCA
• Amour - LAFCA
• Lincoln
• Argo
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Les Misérables
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Moonrise Kingdom
• The Master

BEST DIRECTOR

• Kathryn Bigelow* - NYFCC, BSFC, NYFCO, BOFCA, WAFCA
• Paul Thomas Anderson - LAFCA
• Steven Spielberg
• Tom Hooper
• Ben Affleck
• Michael Haneke
• Benh Zeitlin
• David O. Russell
• Wes Anderson

BEST ACTOR

• Daniel Day-Lewis - NYFCC, BSFC, NYFCO, BOFCA, WAFCA
• Joaquin Phoenix - LAFCA
• Bradley Cooper*
• Hugh Jackman
• Denis Lavant
• John Hawkes
• Denzel Washington

BEST ACTRESS

• Emmanuelle Riva - LAFCA, BSFC, NYFCO
• Jessica Chastain* - BOFCA, WAFCA
• Jennifer Lawrence - LAFCA
• Rachel Weisz - NYFCC
• Quvenzhane Wallis
• Naomi Watts
• Marion Cotillard

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Tommy Lee Jones - NYFCO, BOFCA
• Matthew McConaughey - NYFCC
• Philip Seymour Hoffman - WAFCA
• Dwight Henry - LAFCA
• Ezra Miller - BSFC
• Leonardo DiCaprio*
• Christoph Waltz
• John Goodman
• Javier Bardem
• Robert DeNiro

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Anne Hathaway - NYFCO, BOFCA, WAFCA
• Sally Field - NYFCC, BSFC
• Amy Adams - LAFCA
• Ann Dowd*
• Helen Hunt
• Samantha Barker
• Nicole Kidman
• Maggie Smith

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Zero Dark Thirty - NYFCO
• Looper* - WAFCA
• Moonrise Kingdom
• The Master
• Amour
• Django Unchained

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Lincoln - NYFCC, BSFC, BOFCA
• Silver Linings Playbook* - WAFCA
• Argo - LAFCA
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Les Misérables
• Life of Pi
• Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Anna Karenina

I didn't really keep track of these critics group so closely until about three years ago when The Hurt Locker and its director Kathryn Bigelow dominated the critical landscape. Fast forward to the present-day and it's feeling a little déjà vu, isn't it? Time will tell if Bigelow and film can repeat their Oscar glory of yore. The good news so far is that the rest of the categories, with the exception of Best Actor, seems to be pretty open still. How Oscar predictive these awards have been can vary greatly by category and this early on, it's even more difficult to say anything with any certainty. A few more big groups--Broadcast Film Critics, Screen Actors Guild, and the Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globes)--are set to chime in with their nominations in the next few days putting awards season more in focus.

AFI Top Ten Films/TV Programs of 2012

It's the American Film Institute's turn to chime in on their favorite films and TV shows of the past year. Do note that only American films and TV shows make the cut. Check them out below:

MOVIES OF THE YEAR

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

This is a damn solid albeit supremely dull list. Most, if not all, are already in the shortlist for Oscar nominations so what else is there to say? The inclusion of Christopher Nolan's final Batman film is slightly refreshing, but I myself would've opted for Joss Whedon's The Avengers myself. The exclusion of The Master is probably the one major snub in this list, but I would've also liked to have seen them champion Perks of Being a Wallflower or even ParaNorman. The latter especially since they championed Coraline a few years back. I do still need to see three of these films (Django, Les Miz, and Zero Dark), but since they all haven't been released yet to the general public I think I'm good!

TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR

• American Horror Story: Asylum
• Breaking Bad
• Game Change
• Game of Thrones
• Girls
• Homeland
• Louie
• Mad Men
• Modern Family
• The Walking Dead

We're still not sick of honoring Modern Family? I mean, yes I still like the show very much, but think outside the box, people! And Mad Men is great, but have they ever NOT picked the show for this honor? And especially with an election year, I'm surprised not to see Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, Veep, or The Good Wife, which all tackled politics in one form or another this year, on this list. Then again they probably had their politics quota with Game Change and Homeland. Plus overall, I really can't fault them on this list too much. It's just not an overly exciting one for me. But I recognize that it could be much worse.

Amazing Race Season 21 and Team Chippendales

Though I haven't posted anything Amazing Race-related in probably a year, I just needed to talk about the latest season which just had its finale a little less than an hour ago. Mostly I wanted to shine a light on the delightful team made out of Chippendale dancers Jaymes and James. Now I am sad to say that I judged them wrongly off the bat. I immediately thought they would be those annoyingly aggressive and entitled alpha male teams that would tear through the race making enemies left and right. And really from the get go, they proved me wrong time and time again. They were probably the nicest team this season, not only to the other teams, but to each other. Despite their slow starts, they never got angry at one another or displayed a "woe is me" attitude. They approached the entire experience with wonder and glee that was frankly infectious and it helped that they were definitely eye candy (see their picture above). With all of that said, it's no surprise then that by tonight's finale I was rooting for them 200%. More on tonight's finale including spoilers on final outcome...

Kelly Clarkson, Stronger and Grammy-Nominated

The humble girl from Burleson, Texas with the booming voice is on top of the music world again as Kelly Clarkson was nominated for three Grammy Awards last night: Record of the Year, Pop Vocal Album, and Pop Solo Performance. Her single "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" was also nominated for Song of the Year. While she's already won two Grammy Awards, this is her first nomination in two of the top Grammy prizes, Record and Song of the Year. All of this is to say that I suddenly give a crap about this year's Grammy Awards.

And for Kelly? Well, this is just icing to the cake in a year where she sang at the Super Bowl, achieved another #1 radio hit, celebrated her 30th birthday, and more recently commemorated her 10th anniversary in the business by putting out a Greatest Hits album. It's still a relatively short career and one that has also been filled with as many highs as downs, but I'm glad she's getting much deserved dues from the industry. And how did she find out about her nominations? Well, her friends surprised her with the news as she woke up in London.

As for the rest of the Grammy nominations, it was practically a Boys Club with lots of love given out to fun., Frank Ocean, Kanye West, Mumford & Sons, and Jay-Z. For a complete list of nominations, click here.

Watch Kelly's Grammy-nominated single below:

Looking Forward To...

The Impossible
Release: December 21, 2012
Distributor: Summit Entertainment
Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Starring: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Oaklee Pendergast, and Samuel Joslin

National Board of Review Winners

Like last year, the National Board of Review is chiming in second to the New York Film Critics Circle with their picks of the best films and performances of the year. But things seems to be coalescing early for one particular film which both groups picked for the top film of the year.

Best Film
Zero Dark Thirty

Top Ten Films
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Looper
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Promised Land
Silver Linings Playbook

Repeating its NYFCC win, Zero Dark Thirty looks like the film to beat so far this awards season, but it's still super early and especially in recent years, the winners of this award has gone on to lose including last year's Hugo and two years ago with The Social Network. The entire list is a bit more indicative as to which films we're going to be seeing over and over again this season, which is why the absence of supposed frontrunners Life of Pi and The Master must be slightly worrying to their fans. With that said, it allowed the organization to branch out a bit from the usual slate giving much needed boosts to film like Looper and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I've seen 6 of the 10 films so far.

Best Actor
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Best Supporting Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress
Ann Dowd, Compliance

Breakthrough Performances
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Tom Holland, The Impossible

Best Ensemble Cast
Les Misérables

Spotlight Award
John Goodman (Argo, Flight, Paranorman, Trouble with the Curve)

An acting win here doesn't automatically mean they are Oscar-bound, but it definitely increase one's chances for a nomination. This is a big win then for Bradley Cooper and Ann Dowd who will need some big industry support to catapult them to their first Oscar nominations. This also helps DiCaprio and Wallis especially with increased competition in their respective categories. Finally, we have yet to see an acting win for the Les Miz cast this season including presumed Best Supporting Actress front-runner Anne Hathaway, but the Best Ensemble win here more than helps their cause.

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Debut Director
Behn Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Original Screenplay
Rian Johnson, Looper

Best Adapted Screenplay
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award
Ben Affleck, Argo

Best Animated Feature
Wreck-It Ralph

Like her film, Kathryn Bigelow right now is dominating the awards buzz. Can she repeat her unprecedented sweep through awards season the way she did a few years ago leading up to her Oscar win for The Hurt Locker? Time will tell! Honors for Behn Zeitlin and Ben Affleck may signal them joining Bigelow for Oscar nominations. That Screenplay win for Looper is another refreshing pick from the group. Finally, score one for Wreck-It Ralph in the all-too competitive and difficult to predict Animated race.

Top Ten Independent Films
Arbitrage
Bernie
Compliance
End of Watch
Hello I Must Be Going
Little Birds
Moonrise Kingdom
On the Road
Quartet
Sleepwalk With Me

Seeing as I've only seen one of these films, the delightful Moonrise Kingdom, I don't have much to say except to chastise myself for not seeing more films. The past two years I would've at least seen 4 of these films by now. Any recommendations which ones I should check out right away?

Best Foreign Film
Amour

Top Five Foreign Films
Barbara
The Intouchables
The Kid with a Bike
No
War Witch

Best Documentary
Searching for Sugar Man

Top Five Documentary Films
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Detropia
The Gatekeepers
The Invisible War
Only the Young

I've only heard good things about Amour, The Intouchables, and Searching for Sugar Man, but unfortunately I've seen exactly none of these films so I have nothing much to say.

William K. Everson Film History Award
50 Years of Bond Films

NBR Freedom of Expression Award
Central Park Five
Promised Land

So in summary, Zero Dark Thirty rules while Les Miz, Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, and Beasts of the Southern Wild are also out in front. Well, at least until the next organization chimes in with their picks and changes the whole story yet again.

Doctor Who Gets TV Guide Fan Favorite

The folks over at BBC America must be thrilled that Doctor Who won this year TV Guide Fan Favorite cover. That would make it the second US magazine to put the long-running British sci-fi show on its cover this year with Entertainment Weekly doing so this past summer. Seems like BBC America's mission to make the time-traveling two-hearted Doctor more accessible and popular over the pond (by hosting screenings in New York and making the cast available at various cons around the country, etc.) is coming to fruition. The show itself has more recently shot in location such as New York City's Central Park and Utah's Monument Valley for a handful of episodes.

Doctor Who is actually on the cusp of celebrating its 50th Anniversary next year and the media and fans alike are already buzzing at all of the possibilities of how the show will mark the impressive milestone. I wouldn't be surprised if current Doctor and magazine cover boy, Matt Smith, will share some screen-time with past Doctors such as David Tennant and Christopher Eccleston. For things a little bit closer to look forward to, Doctor Who's Christmas special, which will re-introduce viewers to the new companion played by Jenna-Louise Coleman, will be airing in a few weeks on BBC America on Christmas Day.

And just for reference, the show beat out other fan favorite shows this year such as Fringe, Parks & Recreation, The Walking Dead, Pretty Little Liars, Happy Endings, and Vampire Diaries. Former winners include Community and Supernatural.