Genie 2008 Nominations

The two top nominees for the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s 2008 Genie Awards are heavy dramas: David Cronenberg’s Russian mafia thriller Eastern Promises and Roger Spottiswoode’s Rwanda genocide tale Shake Hands With the Devil, each with 12 nominations.
They were followed by Away from Her with seven nods; The Tracey Fragments with six; Continental, a Film Without Guns and Silk, both with five; and Days of Darkness with four.
The violent Eastern Promises, which is up for the best British film BAFTA (it’s a co-production), stars American Viggo Mortensen and Australian Naomi Watts as two disparate people — he a Russian hitman; she a midwife — whose paths are crossed following the death of a pregnant 14-year-old girl. [...]

Julie Christie in the LA WEEKLY

Omar Sharif as Dr. Zhivago, Julie Christie as Lara in David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago (top); Julie Christie as a woman suffering from Alzheimer’s and Gordon Pinsent as her husband in Sarah Polley’s Away from Her (bottom).
 
Ella Taylor on Julie Christie in the LA Weekly:
"Spend half an hour with Christie, and you’ll experience her ambivalence about Hollywood and almost everything else. Plainly shy and gun-shy, the actress hates being interviewed as much as she hates speaking in public. But as luck would have it, we had met two weeks earlier at a panel discussion about Away From Her, with Christie, her genial co-star Gordon Pinsent and a preternaturally confident [Sarah] Polley. Only Christie looked as though she was expecting to be [...]

Critics’ Influence on the Oscars

Kevin Spacey, Mena Suvari in American Beauty

Critics and Awards Season: Part I
It’s too bad that U.S. film critics have such short memories — see Jack Mathews‘ top comment in the previous page — as Once is the type of small, foreign film that needs year-end critics’ awards so Academy members can a) become aware of its existence b) check it out. Here’s wondering if voting "compromises," as mentioned by Mathews in his second comment, ended up leaving Once almost totally shut out of the myriad U.S. critics’ lists.
Both Stephen Witty’s and Scott Foundas‘ articles are well worth a read. I do, however, disagree with Foundas’ statement that the Oscar’s "golden luster" has been badly tarnished in recent years. After all, [...]

Genie Awards 2006

2006 Genie Awards
2006 Genie Award winners: March 13, 2006
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Marc-André Grondin (second from right) in Jean-Marc Vallée’s C.R.A.Z.Y.
 

BEST MOTION PICTURE
MEILLEUR FILM
* C.R.A.Z.Y. – Pierre Even, Jean-Marc Vallée
Familia – Luc Déry
It’s All Gone Pete Tong – Elizabeth Yake, Allan Niblo, James Richardson
Saint Ralph – Michael Souther, Teza Lawrence, Andrea Mann, Seaton McLean
Water – David Hamilton
BEST DOCUMENTARY
MEILLEUR DOCUMENTAIRE
* Scaredsacred – Velcrow Ripper, Tracey Friesen, Cari Green, Harry Sutherland
Les Voleurs d’enfance / Thieves of Innocence – Paul Arcand, Denise Robert
ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION
MEILLEURE RÉALISATION
LUC PICARD – L’Audition
* JEAN-MARC VALLÉE – C.R.A.Z.Y.
LOUISE ARCHAMBAULT – Familia
MICHAEL DOWSE – It’s All Gone Pete Tong
DEEPA MEHTA – Water
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
INTERPRÉTATION MASCULINE DANS UN PREMIER RÔLE
LUC PICARD – L’Audition
* [...]