Ready, Set, Awards Season!

My dormant blog usually comes alive with the approach of awards season, but this year I'm a bit late in writing my thoughts on the various award bodies that have already given out their kudos and nominations. With today's SAG Awards nominations and tomorrow's Golden Globes announcement, I thought it was better start now or else get hopelessly behind.

The Spirit Awards started things off pre-Thanksgiving, which suddenly feels like a long time ago except it's actually been less than two weeks. Their nods got me pumped for the season ahead citing not only two Oscar front-runners Spotlight and Carol but also an animated film (Anomalisa), a Netflix film (Beasts of No Nation), and an iPhone-shot film about transgender hookers (Tangerine). That last film is also one of my favorite films of the year and I was also happy they further decided to honor it with a Best Director and two acting nominations for its two ladies, Mya Taylor and Kiki Rodriguez. Other nods that made me smile include Sean Baker for directing It Follows and Brie Larson in Room though I wish Larson's on-screen partner Jacob Tremblay could've made it in.

The first day of December then brought us the winners of the National Board of Review which have been more miss than hit in terms of an early Oscar predictor, but why does that really matter anyway? In any case, they threw down the gauntlet picking Mad Max; Fury Road as the best film of the year and at this point in time, I'm hesitant to disagree. Another fan-favorite film, The Martian, took home Director, Screenplay, and Actor (Matt Damon) while Brie Larson, Sylvester Stallone, and Jennifer Jason Leigh picked up the other acting awards. Their top ten films for the year included Bridge of Spies, Creed, The Hateful Eight, Inside Out, The Martian, Room, Sicario, Spotlight, and Straight Outta Compton.

Then came a flurry of critic awards with three of the biggest and oldest (NYFCC, LAFCA, and BFCS) also giving us their picks. First, NYFCC went with Carol and its director Todd Haynes as well as Michael Keaton (Spotlight), Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn), Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies), and Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria) with that last pick being quite a surprise to everyone. BFCS showed Stewart wasn't a fluke and also showed Rylance might just be the guy to beat in his category. BFCS also picked Haynes, but went for Spotlight for Best Film, Charlotte Rampling (45 Years) for Actress, and a tie for Actor with Paul Dano (Love & Mercy) and Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant). Finally, LAFCA also went with Spotlight (early critic's favorite?) and Rampling but picked director George Miller, Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Michael Shannon (99 Homes), and Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) giving ALL of their films a much-needed awards season boost. Of course as I write this another regional critic awards has probably been given out somewhere. There will be more.

Thoughts on today's SAG Awards nominations and tomorrow's Golden Globes coming this weekend! But even from just the first two weeks of the season it's all feeling a bit wacky and open-ended. Things will get clearer with more and more organizations putting forth their picks, but this year does seem like there's a lot more up in the air which, frankly, is damn refreshing.

Birdman Flies at the Spirit Awards

Yesterday, the Spirit Awards, celebrating its 30th year, picked their winners and, for the most part, felt more like a prediction list for tonight's Oscars. There were a few unique choices, but essentially if you're a frontrunner to win an Academy Award tonight, then you probably won a Spirit Award yesterday as well. The winners were:

Best Feature: Birdman
Best Director: Robin Linklater, Boyhood
Best Lead Actor: Michael Keaton, Birdman
Best Lead Actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Best Screenplay: Nightcrawler
Best First Feature: Nightcrawler
Best First Screenplay: Dear White People
Best International Film: Ida
Best Documentary: CITIZENFOUR
Best Cinematography: Birdman
Best Editing: Whiplash
Robert Altman Award: Inherent Vice
Piaget Producers Award: Chris Ohlson
Someone To Watch Award: Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia, H
Truer Than Fiction Award: Dan Krauss, The Kill Team
John Cassavetes Award: Land Ho!
Special Distinction Award: Foxcatcher

As has been the case the past few weeks, Birdman came out on top, winning Best Picture and grabbing two more wins for a leading 3 wins at the Spirit Awards. Its rival Boyhood won 2 including a Best Director win (Ethan Hawke accepted on behalf of absent Richard Linklater) setting up the two-film, two-man fight everyone's expecting for the Oscars tonight. All of the acting awards went to the respective Oscar nominee front-runner and all should repeat their wins tonight give or take Eddie Redmayne making good on his precursor successes. Whiplash (Supporting Actor and Editing) and Nightcrawler (Screenplay and First Feature) were the only other films who won multiple awards making the latter's lack of Oscar love all the more egregious.

Apart from Nightcrawler though, other Spirit-winning films that won't be honored much at the Oscars tomorrow include Dear White People, Inherent Vice, and Land Ho!. So on the one hand, it's heartening that so many of the Oscar front-runners come from "independent films" but on the other hand, I'm saddened for the sameness of the films and performances being awarded. So shout out to Love is Strange, Obvious Child, The One I Love, The Guest, Jenny Slate, Tilda Swinton, David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Jessica Chastain, Alfred Molina, etc.

Spirit Awards Nominations

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Of course, Thanksgiving not only signals the beginning of the holiday season but the start of awards season as well. In fact on Wednesday the Spirit Award nominations were announced. Below are the nominees and my brief thoughts on them...

BEST FEATURE
Birdman
Boyhood
Love is Strange
Selma
Whiplash

Birdman leads all films with 6 nominations followed closely by Boyhood and Selma with 5 nominations. Nightcrawler also surprised with 5 nominations but couldn't crack Picture/Director. Love is Strange and Whiplash meanwhile received 4 nominations. A few films like Foxcatcher, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Theory of Everything weren't eligible but The Imitation Game, Wild and to a lesser extent The Skeleton Twins were and were surprisingly shut out.

BEST DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash  
Ava DuVernay, Selma
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
David Zellner, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter

Looks like this is going to be a race between Iñárritu and Linklater, but DuVernay's nomination seems like a game-changer to me. Regardless, it's nice to see Linklater here after this group ignore his Before Midnight masterpiece last year.

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Ana Lily Amirpour, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Justin Simien, Dear White People
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
Gillian Robespierre, Obvious Child
Anja Marquardt, She's Lost Control

Unfortunately I've only seen Robespierre's delightful Obvious Child, which I'm glad is getting some year-end awards recognition. Had been meaning to catch Dear White People and Nightcrawler, but haven't yet!

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Marion Cotillard, The Immigrant
Rinko Kikuchi, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Jenny Slate, Obvious Child
Tilda Swinton, Only Lovers Left Alive

I know nothing about Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter but getting Director/Actress nominations is a testament to that film. I have seen Slate and Swinton and thrilled both are nominated. The day of the nominations I also checked out Cotillard's turn in The Immigrant and I compared it to Streep's Sophie's Choice turn so that's where I am with THAT performance. Finally, Moore is the prohibitive frontrunner to win here AND at the Oscars though she'd likely have to go up against Reese Witherspoon who was inexplicably snubbed here. Shout out to Kirsten Wiig, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Elisabeth Moss.

BEST MALE LEAD
André Benjamin, Jimi: All Is By My Side
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton, Birdman
John Lithgow, Love is Strange
David Oyelowo, Selma

Benihana Cumberband's non-nomination for The Imitation Game is really quite strange and really supports the theory that the committee just wasn't sure if it was eligible or not. That said, it does give a few men who need support early on like Lithgow, Gyllenhaal, and Oyelowo the boost they need for awards season momentum. Keaton is the likely favorite, but again that's without facing his biggest rivals of the season, the aforementioned Belichick Cumbaya and Theory of Everything's Eddie Redmayne.

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Carmen Ejogo, Selma
Andrea Suarez Paz, Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
Emma Stone, Birdman

Arquette! Chastain! Stone! Already with those three this feels like such a fun line-up though how amazing would it have been to see Swinton pop up here for her turn in Snowpiercer, which I'm sure is being largely forgotten in awards campaigning. Arquette seems like the favorite for now, but it's early days and I'm more excited at the prospect that Stone COULD get her first Oscar nomination. Again, still early days.

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Riz Ahmed, Nightcrawler
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Alfred Molina, Love is Strange
Edward Norton, Birdman
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Molina is supporting while Lithgow is lead? I liked Love is Strange and any award recognition this small film gets is a good one, but category fraud is super annoying. Moving on! I *love* Norton in Birdman and Hawke was pretty good in Boyhood (and I'm seeing his nomination as a make-up for the Before series as well). Simmons is the front-runner right not for this and the Oscars.

BEST SCREENPLAY
Big Eyes
Love is Strange
A Most Violent Year
Nightcrawler
Only Lovers Left Alive

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Appropriate Behavior
Dear White People
Little Accidents
The One I Love
She's Lost Control

It's a bit weird to see the screenplay categories have little overlap with the feature categories, especially Birdman and Nightcrawler but I'll chalk it up as a positive in that voters are actually thinking about each category. With that said, I've only see three of the ten films cited here so I need to up my game a bit.

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Low Budget Films)
Blue Ruin
It Felt Like Love
Land Ho!
Man From Reno
Test

I've heard good stuff about Land Ho! so I can't wait to check that out and I have seen Test which I liked, but thought it just okay.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Force Majeure, Sweden
Ida, Poland
Leviathan, Russia
Mommy, Canada
Norte, the End of History, Philippines
Under the Skin, UK

Wow, this feels like a stacked category already that could repeat at the Oscar with only Under the Skin not eligible for the latter award. I've only see Under the Skin on this list, but I've already heard very good stuff about most of these and it's cool to see the Philippines represented.

BEST DOCUMENTARY
20,000 Days on Earth
CITIZENFOUR
The Salt of the Earth
Stray Dog
Virunga

I'm ashamed to say I haven't ever heard of any of these. Are all worthy to check out?

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
The Immigrant
It Felt Like Love
Selma

BEST EDITING 
Boyhood
The Guest
Nightcrawler
A Most Violent Year
Whiplash

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Inherent Vice

SPECIAL DISTINCTION AWARD
Foxcatcher      

Not much to say about the rest of the categories except to say how ecstatic I am to see Adam Wingard's The Guest nominated for anything. It's one of the pleasant surprises for me this year and if it was up to me I probably would've nominated it for Feature, Directing, and Lead Actor.

12 Years a Slave Dominate Spirit Awards

With one day to go until the Academy Awards, the stars gathered themselves for the more casual Spirit Awards honoring the best of the year's independent films. This year, however, you could have been fooled into thinking the results were from this year's Oscars. Let's just say if you were Oscar nominated, it was a good night for you. The winners from earlier today...

Best Feature: 12 Years a Slave
Best Director: Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Best Lead Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Lead Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Best Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave
Best First Feature: Fruitvale Station
Best First Screenplay: Nebraska
Best International Film: Blue is the Warmest Color
Best Documentary: 20 Feet from Stardom
Best Cinematography: 12 Years a Slave
Best Editing: Short Term 12
Robert Altman Award: Mud
Piaget Producers Award: Toby Halbrooks & James M. Johnston
Someone To Watch Award: Shaka King, Newlyweeds
Truer Than Fiction Award: Jason Osder, Let the Fire Burn
John Cassavetes Award: This is Martin Bonner

The big winner of the night was Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave with 5 wins including Feature, Director, and Screenplay. Of course, it's also one of the frontrunners for tomorrow's big award show, but without its main competitors Gravity and American Hustle, it rightly dominated. I'm hoping Lupita Nyong'o's award here is just a warm-up for tomorrow, but the other actors who won look very likely to repeat with Matthew McConaughey, Cate Blanchett, and Jared Leto continuing their dominant run through awards season. The Oscar glow probably didn't hurt Nebraska either as it won First Screenplay.

Of course, there were other films honored that won't be present tomorrow such as Ryan Googler's Fruitvale Station and Destin Cretton's Short Term 12 winning First Feature and Editing respectively while Blue is the Warmest Color won International Film. As much as I loved the majority of today's winners, I did wish some of the less honored films and performers throughout the season had won such as Inside Llewyn Davis, Before Midnight, Frances Ha, Brie Larson, Julie Delpy, Oscar Isaac, James Gandolfini, etc.

Spirit Awards Nominations

The announcement of the Spirit Awards nominations the have always signaled the start of awards season and it's even more apt this year with so many worthy independent films in contention for this award and beyond. So despite a few grating snubs, it's hard to complain about the nominations too much.

BEST FEATURE
All is Lost
Frances Ha
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
12 Years a Slave

The first big snub is of course Richard Linklater's Before Midnight, but apparently his earlier Before films have also failed to impress with this crowd. On the other end, 12 Years a Slave leads with 7 nominations with Nebraska surprising everyone by getting the second-most with 6 nominations. Good for Frances Ha to make it in here despite not really showing up elsewhere.

BEST DIRECTOR
J.C. Chandor, All is Lost
Jeff Nichols, Mud
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Shane Carruth, Upstream Color

Very surprised to see Joel & Ethan Coen (and Noah Baumbach to a lesser degree) not show up here, but it's a strong category regardless. McQueen is the likely winner here and is a very strong contender for the Oscars as well.

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Blue Caprice
Concussion
Fruitvale Station
Una Noche
Wadjda

I've only seen Fruitvale Station which was a very accomplished work that truly deserved this nomination. Hope I get to see the others sometime.

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Julie Delpy, Before Midnight
Gaby Hoffman, Crystal Fairy
Brie Larson, Short Term 12
Shailene Woodley, The Spectacular Now

Despite getting a Feature nod for her film, it's insane that Greta Gerwig failed to get nominated here. I mean this group nominated her for Greenberg for pete's sake. Also curious to see Julia Louis Dreyfus not here for Enough Said. Regardless, I've seen all but one (Hoffman) of the performances and it's a ridiculous great line-up. Delpy and Larson's nominations are my favorite, but it's Blanchett who'll win (and not undeservedly so).

BEST MALE LEAD
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford, All is Lost
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

These nominations were actually pretty predictable. Perhaps an errant vote for Joseph Gordon Levitt in Don Jon or Ethan Hawke in Before Midnight, but these really were the six men expected to come out on top. The only question is which 2-3 will not be Oscar-nominated? I think Ejiofor is the only one locked, but then I feel as if I'm jinxing him so forget I said that.

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Melonie Diaz, Fruitvale Station
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Yolonda Ross, Go For Sisters
June Squibb, Nebraska

Many people expected to see Octavia Spencer show up here, but the committee I think made the better decision to cite her co-star Diaz. For myself, I wouldn't have nominated Hawkins for this role, but I'm not unhappy about it all. Nyong'o is fabulous and I'm very gleeful she made the shortlist (more to come)! I do wish her co-star Sarah Paulson made it in as well.

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Will Forte, Nebraska
James Gandolfini, Enough Said
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Keith Stanfield, Short Term 12

Surrounded by expected nominees (even the posthumous and deserved nomination for Gandolfini), Stanfield's nomination is a pleasant surprise. In terms of predicting the winner, this is the most wide-open race I think with the other four men as likely to win as the others. Now face it, did y'all think we'd get Tony Soprano, Macgruber, and Jordan Catalano in the same category?

BEST SCREENPLAY
Before Midnight
Blue Jasmine
Enough Said
The Spectacular Now
12 Years a Slave

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Afternoon Delight
Don Jon
In a World
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete
Nebraska

I've seen all of the first for Screenplay and only one film in First Screenplay (yay for Levitt's nomination!). I really do want to see In a World and Nebraska. As for the Screenplay awards, hard to pick a winner there since I actually found myself liking-loving all of them.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Blue is the Warmest Color
Gloria
The Great Beauty
The Hunt
A Touch of Sin

I've only heard of Blue is the Warmest Color (you couldn't have avoided all the articles about it even if you wanted to) and The Hunt starring Mads Mikkelsen so I don't have much to say. Hope to see those two films though soon.

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Act of Killing
After Tiller
Gideon's Army
The Square
20 Feet from Stardom

Have only heard great things about 20 Feet from Stardom so I'm looking forward to watching that, but I need a primer on all of the others.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
All is Lost
Computer Chess
Inside Llewyn Davis
Spring Breakers
12 Years a Slave

BEST EDITING
Frances Ha
Museum Hours
Short Term 12
Una Noche
Upstream Color

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Low Budget Films)
Computer Chess
Crystal Fairy
Museum Hours
Pit Stop
This is Martin Bonner

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
Mud

No other comments, but like any start of awards seasons, I'm hit with a multitudes of films I still need to catch up on. Thank goodness for the holidays coming up!

Spirit Awards Find Silver Linings

The first major awards to release its nominations is also one of the last ones to dole out their winners before the Oscars. And so here are the winners from yesterday's Spirit Awards...

Best Feature: Silver Linings Playbook
Best Director: David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Lead Actor: John Hawkes, The Sessions
Best Lead Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Supporting Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike
Best Supporting Actress: Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Best Screenplay: Silver Linings Playbook
Best First Feature: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Best First Screenplay: Safety Not Guaranteed
Best International Film: Amour
Best Documentary: The Invisible War
Best Cinematography: Beasts of the Southern Wild
Robert Altman Award: Starlet
Piaget Producers Award: Mynette Louie
Someone To Watch Award: Adam Leon, Kimme the Loot
Truer Than Fiction Award: Peter Nicks, The Waiting Room
John Cassavetes Award: Middle of Nowhere

For a second year in a row, a Harvey Weinstein-campaigned film won 4 of its 5 nominations dominating the Spirit Awards. Last year it was already Oscar front-runner The Artist while this year it's Silver Linings Playbook which is hoping to play spoiler at tonight's big show. It won Picture, Director, Actress, and Screenplay and it has a more than good shot at those two latter categories at the Oscars. The one nomination it didn't win was for Best Actor as Bradley Cooper play bridesmaids to the should-have-probably-been-nominated John Hawkes for his work in The Sessions. The film also picked up an award for Best Supporting Actress for Helen Hunt, not shockingly the only Oscar nominee in her category. Matthew McConaughey also won his first major awards in his career ever, which was a bit of a shock to find out. My favorite wins though were all below-the-lines with my favorite film of the year, Perks of Being a Wallflower, winnings its one and only nomination for First Feature. Beasts of the Southern Wild, Middle of Nowhere, and Safety Not Guaranteed only won a lone award each, which is still more than what the Moonrise Kingdom team received last night.

As for how this will effect the Oscars, not by much. Certainly Silver Linings Playbook with its 7 nominations and Harvey Weinstein-led campaign won't go down without fighting. As I said above, its two best shot for an award is Screenplay and Actress with Jennifer Lawrence the prohibitive front-runner at the moment especially with her Golden Globes and SAG wins. The only other award to most likely repeat tonight would of course be Amour for Best Foreign Film.

Spirit Awards Nominations

I could probably lament the poor state of my severely neglected blog, but instead I will just dive into a new entry talking about the Spirit Awards nominations which were announced earlier today. That announcement along with yesterday's Gotham Awards winners (Moonrise Kingdom won Best Feature), awards season is officially underway!

BEST FEATURE
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Bernie
Keep the Lights On
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook

Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom and David O'Russell's Silver Linings Playbook led the pack with 5 nominations each including one for Best Feature. One of those will probably win, but it's heartening to see Sundance and Cannes sensation Beasts of the Southern Wild make it in as well as Music Box's Keep the Lights On.

BEST DIRECTOR
Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom
Julia Loktev, The Loneliest Planet
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs, Keep the Lights On
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

I haven't seen either Silver Linings Playbook or The Loneliest Planet, but I have seen the other films and at least for those three, I thought this nomination was very well-deserved. Again, it's looking like an Anderson-Russell battle, but I would not underestimate Zeitlin.

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Fill the Void
Gimme the Loot
Safety Not Guaranteed
Sound of My Voice
The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I've only seen Safety Not Guaranteed (weird, fun, but original) and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (should be more celebrated) from this group. The latter I'm hoping gets more notices this awards season somewhere.

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Linda Cardellini, Return
Emayatzy Corinealdi, Middle of Nowhere
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Smashed

Like everyone who hasn't yet seen it yet, I realized that I need to see Middle of Nowhere which picked up a solid 4 nominations including one for its leading lady. I'm very curious to see how far Quvenzhané Wallis will go this awards season. Finally, it's just awesome to see a list that includes Katniss Everdeen, Lindsay Weir, and Ramona Flowers. Winstead's nomination makes me smile.

BEST MALE LEAD
Jack Black, Bernie
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Thure Lindhardt, Keep the Lights On
Matthew McConaughey, Killer Joe
Wendell Pierce, Four

Unfortunately, I've only seen one performance here and that is Lindhart's star turn in Keep the Lights On. I'm very much looking forward to seeing Cooper though as he's apparently very good in the film. Finally, what a great year for McConaughey, huh? Along with his scene-stealing supporting turn in Magic Mike, he's doubly nominated.

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Rosemarie DeWitt, Your Sister’s Sister
Ann Dowd, Compliance
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Brit Marling, Sound of My Voice
Lorraine Toussaint, Middle of Nowhere

Looks like a diverse and deserving crowd. Well actually since I haven't seen any of these performances, I can't exactly say if they are deserving, but it's always nice to see someone like DeWitt get praised as well as Hunt's re-emergence.

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike
David Oyelowo, Middle of Nowhere
Michael Péna, End of Watch
Sam Rockwell, Seven Psychopaths
Bruce Willis, Moonrise Kingdom

McConaughey, with his critically-loved roles this year and name recognition, might be on the short list for Oscar, but how about David Oyelowo? He's like the Jessica Chastain circa last year with five films to his credit. I haven't seen his nominated performance, but he was more than fine in Lincoln and The Paperboy. Also where is Ezra Miller for his great work in Perks of Being a Wallflower?

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Amour
Once Upon A Time in Anatolia
Rust And Bone
Sister
War Witch

It's pretty bad that I not only have I not seen any of these films, but I also don't even know what most of them are about. I do know Amour (the frontrunner?) and Rust And Bone are on my shortlist to see ASAP, but that's about it. Also apparently Holy Motors was snubbed? I also probably should see that when I can.

BEST DOCUMENTARY
How to Survive a Plague
Marina Abramoviæ: The Artist is Present
The Central Park Five
The Invisible War
The Waiting Room

How to Survive a Plague recently won at the Gothams so it's probably being seen as the front runner, but how do you count out a legendary documentarian like Ken Burns who directed The Central Park Five? You don't.

BEST SCREENPLAY
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom
Zoe Kazan, Ruby Sparks
Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs, Keep the Lights On

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Rama Burshtein, Fill the Void
Derek Connolly, Safety Not Guaranteed
Christopher Ford, Robot & Frank
Rashida Jones & Will McCormack, Celeste and Jesse Forever
Jonathan Lisecki, Gayby

The cool thing about these screenplay nominations is that even if I haven't seen the films, I actually KNOW about them. Lots of interesting names here as well like Kazan, Sachs, Lisecki, and Jones. The latter's nomination made me yell "ANN PERKINS!"

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Yoni Brook, Valley of Saints
Lol Crawley, Here
Ben Richardson, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Roman Vasyanov, End of Watch
Robert Yeoman, Moonrise Kingdom

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Low Budget Films)
Breakfast with Curtis
Middle of Nowhere
Mosquita y Mari
Starlet
The Color Wheel

No other comments, but I'm realizing there's just way too many films I still need to see and this just encompasses the "independent" films. And so far, I'm not sick of awards season yet! But I'm sure that will change as people divide via their rooting interests, etc. See you all on the other side.

The Artist Has Spirit, Yes It Does

There's less than a day left until the Academy Awards! I often wonder what the nominees do with themselves the night before. Are they partying with friends and family? Are they going to bed early? Are they still figuring out what to wear? I do know that those involved in presumed Best Picture champ The Artist are probably on a plane or just arrived from France after sweeping the César Awards, aka the French Oscars, a day ago. Winning is what that film keeps doing and it continued its awards season domination at this year's Spirit Awards...

Best Feature: The Artist
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Lead Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Lead Actress: Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, The Descendants
Best Screenplay: The Descendants
Best First Feature: Margin Call
Best First Screenplay: 50/50
Best International Film: A Separation
Best Documentary: The Interrupters
Best Cinematography: The Artist
John Cassavetes Award: Pariah
Robert Altman Award: Margin Call
Piaget Producers Award: Take Shelter
Someone to Watch Award: Mark Jackson, Without
Truer Than Fiction Award: Where Soldiers Come From

It was certainly a big night for The Artist winning 4 of its 5 nominations losing only to The Descendants for Screenplay. The latter film also picked up a win in Supporting Actress for Shailene Woodley beating out Oscar-nominees Jessica Chastain and Janet McTeer. The only other film to win more than one award is Margin Call which picked up First Feature and the Robert Altman Award. Christopher Plummer continued his Artist-like run through awards season winning Supporting Actor, while Michelle Williams picked up her second major award for Best Actress (the other coming at the Golden Globes). It's worth it to note, however, that both didn't have to face any of their fellow Oscar nominees. Finally, Oscar-snubbed 50/50 took home a deserved First Screenplay award while Take Shelter and Drive walked away nearly empty-handed.

In terms of what all of this means in regards to the Oscars tomorrow... well we'll probably be seeing a lot of the same (French) names. While it's true that in the entire history of the Spirit Awards, only one film (Platoon in 1986) has won both this and the Oscars, the domination The Artist has shown throughout the season is hard to ignore. It's becoming less a question of Will it win Best Picture? and more How many trophies will be sweep up? Plummer has been the front-runner since Albert Brooks was snubbed by SAG and the win here was icing while The Descendants look to repeat its screenplay win here as well. And finally, while I still believe it's Meryl vs. Viola for Actress, Williams winning here plus getting a Golden Globe and receiving the majority of critic awards makes you wonder. Yes, wonder.

Related: Spirit Award Nominations

Spirit Award Nominations

Technically awards season started yesterday with the Gotham Awards giving their Best Feature prize to The Tree of Life and Beginners with the latter also getting Best Ensemble. But it really ramped up this morning with the New York Film Critics Circle being the first critics group to chime in with their winners (more on that later) as well as the finding out the nominations for the Spirit Awards, which are as follows:

BEST FEATURE
50/50
Beginners
Drive
Take Shelter
The Artist
The Descendants

It was a big day for Take Shelter and The Artist as they both tied with a leading 5 nominations each. I haven't seen either film, but I only hear good things about them as well as The Descendants. I have seen the other three and I'm glad they're nominated. A bit weird to not see Midnight in Paris here, but I guess they didn't like it too much since they also didn't nominate Woody Allen below.

BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Mike Mills, Beginners
Jeff Nichols, Take Shelter
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive

As I said above, Woody Allen was snubbed here, but Cannes winning director Nicolas Winding Refn makes it in which makes me happy. No one knew The Artist was eligible for these awards, but as one of the presumed Oscar frontrunners, it makes sense for its director to be honored here as well.

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Another Earth
In The Family
Margin Call
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Natural Selection

I've only seen Martha Macy May Marlene, which I liked more than I expected. Margin Call received the Robert Altman Award from this group which is essentially a Best Ensemble award so it seemed they quite liked the film as well.

BEST MALE LEAD
Demian Bichir, A Better Life
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Ryan Gosling, Drive
Woody Harrelson, Rampart
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter

Can't say much since I've only seen Ryan Gosling's amazing performance, but I was expecting to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt for 50/50 and possibly Owen Wilson for Midnight in Paris here. Jean Dujardin and Woody Harrelson look like they can be in the Oscar shortlist.

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Lauren Ambrose, Think of Me
Rachael Harris, Natural Selection
Adepero Oduye, Pariah
Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

I'm ecstatic to see Michelle Williams here (and Ryan Gosling up there) since even though she got an Oscar nomination last year, the awards love shown for Blue Valentine wasn't nearly enough. Elizabeth Olsen wins the battle of the newcomers with Felicity Jones in Like Crazy got snubbed. Glenn Closse for Albert Nobbs was also inexplicably snubbed.

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Albert Brooks, Drive
John Hawkes, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
John C. Reilly, Cedar Rapids
Corey Stoll, Midnight in Paris

Shocker: I've seen every single performance in this category! I'm actively rooting for Corey Stoll here since he made the sexiest Ernest Hemingway ever, but I only have good thoughts for the others. Likeliest Oscar shortlister is probably Albert Brooks and Christopher Plummer, right?

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter
Angelica Huston, 50/50
Janet Mcteer, Albert Nobbs
Harmony Santana, Gun Hill Road
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Jessica Chastain is going to rule this category this year isn't she? I mean she has this film as well as her work on The Help and Tree of Life. Pretty funny to see Angelica Huston nominated. It's the only performance here I've seen. She's fine, but I didn't think she was awards-worthy.

BEST FOREIGN FILM
A Separation
Melancholia
Shame
The Kid With a Bike
Tyrannosaur

Haven't seen any of these, but I'll definitely be there this weekend for the opening of Shame. I've been meaning to see Melancholia as well. I've heard good to great things for both as well as A Separation and Tyrannosaur. Last year, the eventual Oscar Best Picture, The King's Speech, was nominated. Will any of these films repeat that feat?

BEST DOCUMENTARY
An African Election
Bill Cunningham New York
The Interrupters
The Redemption of General Butt Naked
We Were Here

BEST SCREENPLAY
Joseph Cedar, Footnote
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Tom McCarthy, Win Win
Mike Mills, Beginners
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Mike Cahill & Brit Marling, Another Earth
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Patrick DeWitt, Terri
Phil Johnston, Cedar Rapids
Will Reiser, 50/50

Good solid list for the screenplay awards, but again an odd snub for Woody Allen who will probably get Oscar nominated. I'm happy for Will Reiser, Mike Mills, and Jim Rash.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Joel Hodge, Bellflower
Benjamin Kasulke, The Off Hours
Darius Khondji, Midnight in Paris
Guillaume Shiffman, The Artist
Jeffrey Waldron, The Dynamiter

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Low Budget Films)
Bellflower
Circumstance
Hello Lonesome
Pariah
The Dynamiter

No other comments, but now I need to know what The Dynamiter is about because how cool is that title?

Now I did say I would talk about the New York Film Critics Circle winners later, but I actually meant to say I'm waiting until we get more critic groups to chime in before doing a postmortem analyses. But if you really want to see who they picked, click here.

Spirit Awards Winners

The Spirit Awards is one of the last awards ceremony before the big kahuna that is the Academy Awards which takes place tomorrow. To see the entire list of nominees, click here.

As for the winners, they are as follows:

Best Feature: Black Swan
Best Director: Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Best Actor: James Franco, 127 Hours
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Supporting Actor: John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Best Supporting Actress: Dale Dickey, Winter’s Bone
Best Screenplay: The Kids Are All Right
Best First Feature: Get Low
Best First Screenplay: Tiny Furniture
Best Foreign Film: The King’s Speech
Best Documentary: Exit Through the Gift Shop
Best Cinematography: Black Swan
John Cassavetes Award: Daddy Longlegs
Robert Altman Award: Please Give
Piaget Producers Award: Anish Savjani, Meek’s Cutoff
Someone to Watch Award: Mike Ott, Littlerock
Truer Than Fiction Award: Jeff Malmberg, Marwencol

Sweeping all four of the awards it was nominated for, Oscar Best Picture nominee Black Swan was the night's biggest winner. It was a well-deserved note of recognition for a film which had been mostly overshadowed by Oscar front-runners The King's Speech and The Social Network as well as by more populist films such as Inception, Toy Story 3, and True Grit throughout awards season. Natalie Portman continued her dominant run even with the added pressure of having every single fellow Best Actress Oscar nominees on the ballot with her.

Despite leading with 7 nominations, Winter's Bone only managed two wins, both for its worthy supporting players Dale Dickey and Oscar nominee John Hawkes. The night was actually full of Oscar nominees winning such as James Franco for Actor, The Kids Are All Right for Screenplay, Exit Through the Gift Shop for Documentary, and even The King's Speech for Foreign Film. The first two winners benefited from the absence of awards season juggernauts Colin Firth and Aaron Sorkin.

In terms of the Academy Awards, expect only Portman to repeat her award victory here though don't be surprised to see increasingly popular pick Exit Through the Gift Shop to "surprise" in the seemingly 5-way race for Documentary.

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

Spirit Awards Winners

Despite releasing its nominations earlier than most of the award shows, the major guilds, and the critic groups, the Spirit Awards is the last one out of the gate with its winners opting to hold off until close to Oscar weekend. And so last night, they picked the winners, which were the following:

Best Feature: Precious
Best Director: Lee Daniels, Precious
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Best Actress: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Best Supporting Actor: Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious
Best Screenplay: 500 Days of Summer
Best First Feature: Crazy Heart
Best First Screenplay: Precious
Best Foreign Film: An Education
Best Documentary: Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Best Cinematography: A Serious Man
John Cassavetes Award: Humpday
Robert Altman Award: A Serious Man
Producers Award: Karen Chien, The Exploding Girl and Santa Mesa
Someone to Watch Award: Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Easier with Practice
Truer than Fiction Award: Bill and Turner Ross, 45365

Oscar Best Picture nominee Precious walked home 5 for 5 dominating the night with Gabby Sidibe finally winning her biggest award this season benefiting not only from all the Precious love, but from the absence of Oscar competition Bullock, Streep, and Mulligan. With the absence of Oscar front-runner Christoph Waltz, Woody Harrelson was also able to shine with a win, his first since his win with the National Board of Review earlier this season. Finally, Oscar-snubbed 500 Days of Summer gets a consolation, but very well-deserved screenplay prize.

What does this mean for the Academy Awards? Probably not much. Jeff Bridges and Mo'Nique are probably the only two winners to repeat at the Oscars. Interestingly enough, this years Oscar front-runner The Hurt Locker was nominated for last year's Spirit Awards in actor and supporting actor and going 0 for 2. Weird and particularly peculiar, huh?

Spirit Awards Nominations

Are you ready for the awards season to begin? Too bad if you're not because it's already here. Yesterday the Golden Satellites announced their nominations while The Gothams honored The Hurt Locker for Best Feature and Best Ensemble. And this morning indieWIRE released the nominations for the 25th Spirit Awards with Precious and The Last Station leading with 5 nominations each.

Notes: The Hurt Locker is not eligible this year, because it was nominated last year. The award for Best First Feature goes to both the producer and the director. The Robert Altman Award, this year given to A Serious Man, honors the director, the casting director, and the ensemble cast.

The rest of the nominees are:

Best Feature
(500) Days of Summer
Amreeka
Precious
Sin Nombre
The Last Station

I am glad to see 500 Days and Sin Nombre get nominated and get some love down below as well, but this will probably be Precious' award show to lose, unless they really prefer The Last Station.

Best Director
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Lee Daniels, Precious
Cary Fukanaga, Sin Nombre
James Grey, Two Lovers
Michael Hoffman, The Last Station

Best First Feature
A Single Man
Crazy Heart
Easier With Practice
The Messenger
Paranormal Activity

There's A Single Man! I've heard good things about The Messenger and who couldn't ignore the hype for Paranormal Activity? Gawd, so many films to still see.

Best Female Lead
Maria Bello, Downloading Nancy
Nisreen Faour, Amreeka
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Gwentyth Paltrow, Two Lovers
Gabby Sidibe, Precious

Best Male Lead
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Joseph Gordon Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
Souleymane Sy Savane, Goodbye Solo
Adam Scott, The Vicious Kind

I'm a bit disappointed that James McAvoy didn't make it in, but then again who WOULD I kick out from this list? I'm ecstatic to see JGL and SSS (ha!) get some love. Another interesting snub? Michael Stuhlbarg from A Serious Man. Haven't seen the film, but I thought he had buzz.

Best Supporting Female
Dina Korzun, Cold Souls
Mo’Nique, Precious
Samantha Morton, The Messenger
Nathalie Press, Fifty Dead Men Walking
Mia Wasikowska, That Evening Sun

Best Supporting Male
Jemaine Clements, Gentlemen Broncos
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Cristian McKay, Me and Orson Welles
Ramon McKinnon, That Evening Sun
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station

Still not sure I'm going to be seeing the film, but good on Cristian McKay for getting a nod here.

John Cassavetes Award (Low Budget Films)
Big Fan
Humpday
The New Year Parade
Treeless Mountain
Zero Bridge

Best Foreign Film
A Prophet
An Education
Everlasting Moments
Mother
The Maid

Best Screenplay
(500) Days of Summer
Adventureland
The Last Station
The Messenger
The Vicious Kind

I wonder which screenplay nods (both here and below for first screenplay) will transfer to Oscar. Precious has the best chance most likely (and it's probably a lock) with 500 Days and The Last Station good possibilities depending how else they do for the rest of award season.

Best First Screenplay
Amreeka
A Single Man
Cold Souls
Crazy Heart
Precious

Best Cinematography
A Serious Man
Cold Souls
Bad Lieutenant
Sin Nombre
Treeless Mountain

Best Documentary
Anvil!
Food Inc
More Than a Game
October Country
Which Way Home

Multiple Nominations Tally: 5 - The Last Station, Precious; 4 - The Messenger; 3 - (500) Days Of Summer, Amreeka, Cold Souls, Crazy Heart, A Serious Man, A Single Man, Sin Nombre; 2 - That Evening Sun, Treeless Mountain, Two Lovers, The Vicious Kind