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AFI FEST 2009: SOMETHING’S GONNA LIVE, ABOUT ELLY, DOCTOR PARNASSUS

Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (top); A Lake by Philippe Grandrieux (middle); Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest (bottom)

AFI FEST 2009 highlights, Nov. 2:

Daniel Raim’s documentary Something’s Gonna Live, which features interviews with several behind-the-scenes veterans, including Robert Boyle, Conrad Hall, and Haskell Wexler
Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which marks Heath Ledger’s last film appearance
Asghar Farhadi’s drama About Elly, winner of the Silver Bear for best director at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival
Andrea Arnold’s family drama Fish Tank, winner of the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival
Bahman Ghobadi’s No One Knows About Persian Cats, about the obstacles faced by a couple of Iranian teenagers trying to form a rock band [...]

AFI FEST 2009: Heath Ledger, PRECIOUS, FANTASTIC MR. FOX

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Wes Anderson (top); Gabourey Sidibe in Precious (middle); Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (bottom)

AFI FEST 2009, the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival, kicks off next Friday, Oct. 30, with a screening of Wes Anderson’s animated feature Fantastic Mr. Fox, featuring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, and Owen Wilson, among others.
Other gala presentations include Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, starring Christopher Plummer — who’ll be the recipient of this year’s AFI FEST Lifetime Achievement Award — and featuring Heath Ledger’s last performance; Kirk Jones‘ Everybody’s Fine, starring Robert De Niro in this remake of Giuseppe Tornatore’s melodrama about a widower on his way to meet his family; and Sundance [...]

When Worlds Collide: The Science of Movies

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (top); Tobey Maguire in Spider Man 3 (bottom)

"When Worlds Collide: The Science of Movies" is the title of the Academy’s Science and Technology Council’s program about the physics behind some of Hollywood’s best-known action and science-fiction scenes. "When Worlds Collide" will be presented on Thursday, August 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The evening will be hosted by author Adam Weiner (Don’t Try This at Home! The Physics of Hollywood Movies) and will feature film clips and a panel discussion with Oscar-winning visual effects artists Robert Legato (Titanic) and Scott Stokdyk (Spider-Man 2), Oscar-nominated visual effects artists [...]

Saturn Awards 2009

2009 Saturn Awards
The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films’ 2009 Saturn Award winners: June 25, 2009
(”*” denotes the winner in each category)
 

Iron Man (top); Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2nd from top); Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2nd from bottom); Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (bottom)
 

FEATURE FILMS
Best Science Fiction Film
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Eagle Eye
The Incredible Hulk
Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
* Iron Man
Jumper
Best Fantasy Film
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Hancock
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Twilight [...]

Cannes 2009: Heath Ledger in THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS

Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian:
"Heath Ledger takes a poignant final bow in Terry Gilliam’s loopy, sweet-natured but madly self-indulgent fantasia The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, showing here at the Cannes film festival out of competition. Halfway through shooting, Ledger had made a desperately sad early exit, so the director ingeniously re-invented his character as a series of personae. Jude Law, Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp gamely stepped into the breach.
…
"When Gilliam shoots off into his surreal wonderland, his film has a kind of helium-filled jollity and spectacle. … But the film’s convoluted curlicues are tiring, insisting too loudly on how ‘imaginative’ everything is. And when it descends into the real world – Lucy [...]

Cannes 2009: Out of Competition Films, Special Screenings

Cannes 2009: Out of Competition Films / Special Screenings
Below is a sample of out-of-competition films, special screenings, and midnight screenings at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
 

Pete DOCTER, UP (Opening Night Film)

Anne AGHION, MY NEIGHBOR, MY KILLER

Alejandro AMENABAR, AGORA

Terry GILLIAM, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS

Robert GUÉDIGUIAN, L’ARMÉE DU CRIME (The Army of crime)

Sam RAIMI, DRAG ME TO HELL

Marina de VAN, NE TE RETOURNE PAS (Don’t look back)

Jan KOUNEN, COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY (Closing Night Film)
 
Photos: Courtesy Festival de Cannes

 

Lucy Gordon

Lucy Gordon, a young British actress perhaps best known for a small role in Spider-Man 3, was found dead in her Paris apartment yesterday, May 20. Gordon’s death was an apparent suicide. She is supposed to have hanged herself while her boyfriend, cinematographer Jérôme Alméras, slept. Gordon would have turned 29 tomorrow, May 22.
The Oxford-born Gordon worked as a model before making her feature-film debut in the little-seen Perfume in 2001.
Among her other screen credits are the romantic comedy Serendipity, with John Cusack; The Four Feathers, opposite Heath Ledger; Steve Clark’s dramatic comedy Frost, starring Jason Behr; Russian Dolls, with Romain Duris; and John Krasinski’s Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, which was screened at this [...]

SAG Awards 2009: Meryl Streep, Penélope Cruz, Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins and Slumdog Millionaire cast

Penélope Cruz, Meryl Streep

Kristin Scott Thomas, Gary Oldman accepting Heath Ledger’s best supporting actor award
Photos: Michael Caulfield (Oldman/Scott Thomas), Michael Caulfield (Hopkins/Slumdog cast), Dimitrios Kambouris (Streep/Cruz)
Click on the images to enlarge them.

SAG Awards 2009

2009 Screen Actors Guild of America (SAG) Awards
2009 SAG Award nominations: December 18, 2008
2009 SAG Award winners: January 25, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
SAG Awards 2009 photos
 
THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
RICHARD JENKINS / Walter Vale – THE VISITOR (Overture Films)
FRANK LANGELLA / Richard Nixon – FROST/NIXON (Universal Pictures)
* SEAN PENN / Harvey Milk – MILK (Focus Features)
BRAD PITT / Benjamin Button – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (Paramount Pictures)
MICKEY ROURKE / Randy – THE WRESTLER (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
ANNE HATHAWAY / Kym – RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (Sony Pictures Classics)
ANGELINA JOLIE [...]

Oscar 2009 Nominations

OSCAR NOMINATIONS 2009

Richard Harbaugh / ©A.M.P.A.S.

Most nominated films
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (13 nods)
Slumdog Millionaire (10)
Milk and The Dark Knight (8)
 

The Oscar record-tier
Meryl Streep, nominated for Doubt, ties Katharine Hepburn’s 12 best actress nominations.
Streep has been the overall Oscar record-holder for acting since 2002, when she received her 13th nomination (for best supporting actress in Adaptation). She currently has 15 Oscar nominations — including two wins — under her belt.
 
Posthumous Oscar nomination
Heath Ledger for his Joker in The Dark Knight, exactly one year after his death.
 
Double Oscar nominations
Not Kate Winslet — but Doubt, with two performers competing against one another in the best supporting actress category: Amy Adams (right) and Viola Davis.
 
The big comeback
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler.
 
The [...]

Online Film Critics Awards 2009

2009 Online Film Critics Society Awards
2009 Online Film Critics Society award winners: Jan. 19, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

WALL-E by Andrew Stanton
 

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
* WALL-E
The Wrestler
BEST FOREIGN FILM
A Christmas Tale
The Counterfeiters
I’ve Loved You So Long
* Let the Right One In
Waltz with Bashir
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Dear Zachary: a letter to a son about his father
Encounters at the End of the World
I.O.U.S.A.
* Man On Wire
My Winnipeg
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who
Kung Fu Panda
* WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir
BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, The Wrestler
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Andrew Stanton, WALL-E
BEST ACTOR
Benicio Del Toro, Che
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
[...]

North Texas Film Critics Awards 2009

2009 North Texas Film Critics Association Awards
 

 

Best Film: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Foreign Language Film: Let the Right One In
Best Documentary: Young @ Heart
Best Animated Film: WALL-E
Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor: Frank Langella, in Frost/Nixon
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, in Doubt
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, in The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, in Doubt
Best Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
 
North Texas Film Critics Association Awards: 2008
Film Awards: 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Iowa Film Critics Awards 2009

2009 Iowa Film Critics Association Awards
2009 Iowa Film Critics Association award winners: Jan. 13, 2009
 

Freida Pinto in Slumdog Millionaire
 

Best Film: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Animated Feature: WALL-E
Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, Doubt
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz, Vicky Christina Barcelona
Best Picture Yet to Open in Iowa: The Wrestler
 
Iowa Film Critics Association Awards: 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Film Awards: 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Vancouver Film Critics Awards 2009

2009 Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards
2009 Vancouver Film Critics Circle award nominations: Jan. 4, 2009
2009 Vancouver Film Critics Circle award winners: The Railway Club in Vancouver, Jan. 12, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Sean Penn in Milk
 

BEST FILM
* Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E 
BEST CANADIAN FILM
* C’est pas moi, je le jure!
Heaven on Earth
The Necessities of Life
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
* The Edge of Heaven
Let the Right One In
Tell No One
BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM
* Fifty Dead Men Walking
Edison and Leo
Stone of Destiny
BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
* David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Gus Van Sant, Milk
BEST DIRECTOR [...]

2009 Golden Globe Winners

Kate Winslet, Leonardio DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road (top); Winslet, David Kross in The Reader (bottom)

There were few surprises among the 2009 Golden Globe winners.
The biggest one was Kate Winslet’s best actress, drama, win for Revolutionary Road. Pundits everywhere — including those in this blog — were predicting either Anne Hathaway or Meryl Streep.
Sally Hawkins‘ best actress, comedy or musical, win may have caught some by surprise — those who were expecting Meryl Streep for the box-office hit Mamma Mia!. But considering that Hawkins has been a critical favorite (New York, Los Angeles, National Society of Film Critics) and that she’s a likely Oscar contender, Golden Globe prognosticators shouldn’t have been too shocked, even though Happy-Go-Lucky is hardly what one would [...]

Golden Globes 2009

2009 Golden Globes
Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s 2009 Golden Globe nominations: December 11, 2008
2009 Golden Globe winners: January 11, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Freida Pinto in Slumdog Millionaire
 
MOTION PICTURES
Best Motion Picture, Drama
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
* Slumdog Millionaire
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Burn After Reading
In Bruges
Happy-Go-Lucky
Mamma Mia!
* Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Ari Folman – © HFPA / 66th Golden Globe® Awards
Best Foreign Language Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex, Germany
Everlasting Moments, Sweden / Denmark
Gomorrah, Italy
I’ve Loved You So Long, France
* Waltz with Bashir, Israel
Best Animated Film
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
* WALL-E
Best Director
* Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Steven Daldry – The Reader
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Sam Mendes – Revolutionary Road
Best Actor, Drama
Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary [...]

Central Ohio Film Critics Awards 2009

2009 Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards
2009 Central Ohio Film Critics award winners: Jan. 9, 2009
 

WALL-E by Andrew Stanton
 

Best Film: WALL·E
Runners-up:
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Frozen River
4. The Dark Knight
5. Frost/Nixon
6. Milk
7. The Wrestler
8. Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in)
9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
10. In Bruges
Best Foreign Language Film: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile)
Runner-Up: Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in)
Best Documentary: Man on Wire
Runner-Up: American Teen
Best Animated Film: WALL·E
Runner-Up: Kung Fu Panda
Best Director: Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Runner-Up: Andrew Stanton (WALL·E)
Best Actor: Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
Runner-Up: Sean Penn (Milk)
Best Actress: Melissa Leo (Frozen River)
Runner-Up: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)
Best Supporting Actor: [...]

2009 Critics Choice Winners

The biggest Critics’ Choice 2009 winner was Slumdog Millionaire, which received five awards: best film, best director (Danny Boyle), best young actor (Dev Patel), best writer (Simon Beaufoy), and best composer (A. R. Rahman). As for the biggest loser, that was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which lost every single one of its eight nominations.
Milk fared a little better, with two wins — best actor for Sean Penn and best ensemble — out of eight nods.
Expect the Academy’s choices to be quite similar — perhaps even identical — to the Broadcast Critics’ choices in just about every category, from best film to best song. Do not, however, expect a tie for the two The Devil Wears Prada co-stars. [...]

Broadcast Film Critics Awards 2009

2009 Critics’ Choice Awards
2009 Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics’ Choice Award nominations: December 9, 2008
2009 Critics’ Choice winners: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on January 8, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Dev Patel in Slumdog Millionaire
 

BEST PICTURE
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
* Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
The Wrestler
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Christmas Tale
Gomorrah
I’ve Loved You So Long
Let the Right One In
Mongol
* Waltz With Bashir
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
I.O.U.S.A.
* Man on Wire
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Standard Operating Procedure
Young at Heart
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
[...]

Heath Ledger’s Potential Posthumous Oscar

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

With Heath Ledger in mind, Scott Feinberg remembers the various posthumous Oscar nominations and wins — 53 individuals for a total of 70 nominations and 13 wins, as per Feinberg’s count — in his Los Angeles Times blog:
"As you may recall, the announcement of last year’s Oscar nominations was quickly overshadowed by the tragic news that broke later that same day: Heath Ledger, the actor best known for his Oscar-nominated performance in Brokeback Mountain (2005), had been found dead of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 28. It’s a terrible shame that Ledger will not be alive on nomination day this year, because his name [...]

Kansas City Film Critics Awards 2009

2009 Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
2009 Kansas City Film Critics Circle award winners: January 5, 2009
 

 

Best Film: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Foreign Language Film: Let the Right One In (Sweden)
Best Documentary: Man on Wire
Best Animated Film: WALL-E
Robert Altman Award for Best Director: Darren Aronofsky – The Wrestler
Best Actor: Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
Best Actress: Meryl Streep – Doubt
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Original Screenplay: Robert Siegel – The Wrestler
Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy – Slumdog Millionaire
Vince Koehler Award for Best Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror Film: The Dark Knight
 
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Site
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards: 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Film Awards: 2004 2005 2006 [...]

Best Films of 2008: LA WEEKLY/VILLAGE VOICE Poll

J. Hoberman in The Village Voice:
"All hail Andrew Stanton’s WALL-E — even us! Sometimes, the movies really are universal. And so a major studio’s mainstream, multiplex, mega-million-dollar-grossing, Oscar-friendly “summer movie” resoundingly won the ninth annual Village Voice–L. A. Weekly poll of (mainly) alt-press critics, named on 35 of 80 ballots.
"Unlike last year, when Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood materialized in late December to snatch the prize from the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men and David Fincher’s Zodiac, there was no groupthink stampede. Critics had months in which to cogitate over the eventual poll winner. Pass the popcorn, [...]

indieWIRE’s Critics’ Poll: Top Ten

Mathieu Amalric, Catherine Deneuve in A Christmas Tale

Best Films of 2008: indieWIRE’s Critics’ Poll

#
BEST FILM
Points
Mentions

1
The Flight of the Red Balloon
495
43

2
A Christmas Tale
454
38

3
WALL-E
368
32

4
Wendy and Lucy
366
36

5
Happy-Go-Lucky
346
31

6
Paranoid Park
335
31

7
Still Life
330
31

8
Silent Light
310
26

9
Synecdoche, New York
290
25

10
Waltz with Bashir
283
27

 

Asia Argento in The Last Mistress

#
BEST PERFORMANCE
Points
Mentions

1
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
548
49

2
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
514
46

3
Michelle Williams, Wendy and Lucy
462
46

4
Sean Penn, Milk
424
41

5
Juliette Binoche, The Flight of the Red Balloon
404
38

6
Asia Argento, Boarding Gate, Mother of Tears, The Last Mistress
152
15

7
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
120
12

8
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
114
12

9
Guillaume Depardieu, The Duchess of Langeais
104
11

10
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Synecdoche, New York
98
10

Best Films of 2008: indieWIRE’s Critics’ Poll

The most curious thing about indieWIRE’s 2008 poll of 105 North American film critics is that thus far only six of those critics’ top-ten films have gone on to win awards (film/director/screenplay) from US/Canada critics’ groups.
WALL-E has been the top choice in the animated feature category and was even voted the best film of 2008 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which, spreading the wealth, also gave Waltz with Bashir their best animated feature prize. Happy-Go-Lucky took best director and best screenplay honors from, respectively, the New York and the Los Angeles critics; Still Life was chosen best foreign-language film in Los Angeles; Synecdoche, New York won a couple of best screenplay awards; while Wendy and Lucy was [...]

Oscar 2009 Predictions: Best Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress

Josh Brolin in Milk

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin (Milk)
Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt)
Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)
Though about as much a lead in The Dark Knight as Christian Bale, Heath Ledger is (almost) for sure the one who’ll win the best supporting actor Oscar come next February.
Philip Seymour Hoffman should get included for Doubt and Robert Downey Jr. for his politically incorrect actor in Tropic Thunder.
Of the extensive supporting cast in Milk, Josh Brolin is the most likely contender, while Dev Patel, who apparently supports himself in Slumdog Millionaire, should also make the cut thanks to his film’s popularity.
Runners-up: Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon), as much a lead as Frank Langella, is being [...]

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