Gotham 2009 Nominations

Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker (top); Nisreen Faour, Hiam Abbass in Amreeka (middle); Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind in A Serious Man (bottom)

Considered the official beginning of awards season in the United States, the Independent Feature Project announced its 2009 Gotham Award nominations earlier today in New York City.
The five nominees for best picture are:

Cherien Dabis‘ Amreeka, the tale of a Palestinian mother (Nisreen Faour) who immigrates with her teenage son to the American Midwest. No more pesky Israeli check-points, but lots of meat-patty flipping at burger joints.
Robert D. Siegel’s Big Fan, in which a hardcore New York Giants fan (breakthrough actor nominee Patton Oswalt) gets beaten up by his favorite player — and [...]

Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Director

BEST DIRECTOR

The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow

The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson (above, with Saoirse Ronan)

A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen

Up in the Air, Jason Reitman (above, with George Clooney)

The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke

In all honesty, I don’t know who the hell will get a best direction nod this year — though I’m pretty sure it’ll be five of the ten directors listed in my "tentative" 2010 best picture Oscar list.
For the record, the other five not listed above are: Lone Scherfig for An Education; Grant Heslov for The Men Who Stare at Goats; Lee Daniels for Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire; Steven Soderbergh for The Informant!, and Rob Marshall for Nine.
Unless, of course, Jane Campion manages to [...]

Toronto 2009: IndieWIRE’s Critics’ Poll

Michael Stuhlbarg in A Serious Man (top); Joel and Ethan Coen (bottom)

Peter Knegt reports that an indieWIRE poll of "more than 25" film critics and bloggers (blogging film critics?) shows that the overwhelmingly favorite film screened at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival was Joel and Ethan Coen’s A Serious Man (not to be confused with Tom Ford’s A Single Man or the Michael Douglas vehicle Solitary Man), a black comedy about a suburbanite (Michael Stuhlbarg) whose life suddenly unravels after his wife asks for a divorce. A Serious Man hits US theaters on Oct. 2.

Colin Firth, Julianne Moore in A Single Man

The best performance was delivered by Colin Firth in A Single Man (not to be confused with either [...]

Nastri d’Argento 2008

2008 Nastri d’Argento
National Union of Italian Film Journalists’ 2008 Nastri d’Argento (Silver Ribbons) nominations: May 11, 2008
2008 Nastri d’Argento winners: Teatro Antico di Taormina, Sicily, on June 14, 2008
(”*” denotes the winner in each category)
 

Isabella Ragonese plays a college grad who struggles to find work in A Whole Life Ahead
 

Best Director
Antonello GRIMALDI – Caos calmo
Daniele LUCHETTI – Mio fratello è figlio unico
Silvio SOLDINI – Giorni e nuvole
* Paolo VIRZÌ – Tutta la vita davanti / A Whole Life Ahead
Gianni ZANASI – Non pensarci
Best European Film
Across the Universe – Julie Taymor
Elizabeth: The Golden Age – Shekar Kapur
Atonement – Joe Wright
La vie en [...]

Oscar 2008: Marion Cotillard, Martin Scorsese, Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway

Ethan Coen, Martin Scorsese, Joel Coen

Steve Carell, Brad Bird, Anne Hathaway

Marion Cotillard
Photos: Matt Petit / © A.M.P.A.S.
Click on the images to enlarge them.

Scripter Award 2008

2008 USC Scripter Awards
2008 Scripter Award winners: Feb. 18, 2007
("*" denotes the winner)
 

No Country for Old Men, which stars Josh Brolin (above), Javier Bardem, and Tommy Lee Jones, has won nearly every U.S. critics’ awards this season. The Coens’ adapted screenplay is also in the running for this year’s Writers Guild award. Literary Achievement Award recipient Steven Zaillian happens to be the only winner of three Scripters: Awakenings (1990), Schindler’s List (1993), and Gangs of New York (2002).
 

Atonment — screenplay by Christopher Hampton, based on the novel by Ian McEwan
Into the Wild — Screenplay by Sean Penn, based on the book by Jon Krakauer
* No Country for Old Men — Screenplay by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, based [...]

Oscar 2008 Predictions: Best Cinematography, Editing, Music

Best Cinematography
There Will Be Blood, Robert Elswit
Robert Elswit won the American Society of Cinematographers award, beating Roger Deakins for two films, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and No Country for Old Men. Though Deakins does have a chance to win the Oscar for either film, this is one instance where the much overused — and almost invariably absurd — "votes are split; a third party wins" logic actually makes sense. That’s why I predict that Elswit will take home the Oscar.
 

Best Film Editing
No Country for Old Men, "Roderick Jaynes" (Joel and Ethan Coen)
An atmospheric suspense thriller that wins the best film Oscar will most likely also win for best film editing. If, however, Academy-ites feel [...]

Oscar 2008 Predictions: Best Director, Screenplay

Richard Foreman / Miramax Films
Best Director: Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
By now the Coen brothers are veterans; they’ve been around for more than two decades and neither one has ever won a best director Oscar. Joel Coen was nominated in 1996 for Fargo, but lost to Anthony Minghella for The English Patient. (Until The Ladykillers in 2004, in which they were billed as directors, producers [along with a few other names], writers, and editors [as "Roderick Jaynes"], the Coen brothers shared credit for their films by naming Joel the director and Ethan the producer.)
It’s the Coens’ turn now — and they’ve won this year’s DGA Award, the first pair to do so since Robert Wise and [...]

Oscar 2008 Predictions: Best Film, Foreign Language Film, Documentary, Animated Film

Best Film: No Country for Old Men
Until late last week, things were still somewhat murky in the best film race. No Country for Old Men (above, with Tommy Lee Jones) and There Will Be Blood were the front-runners, while Juno was the fluffy dark horse that could potentially tip the scale against the heavy-drama heavyweights. But after its SAG best ensemble and DGA wins, No Country for Old Men, about a drug deal gone murderously wrong, has become the official front-runner.
 

Best Foreign Language Film: Katyn (Poland)
As I’ve said before, this is the toughest feature-film category to predict. None of the five nominees — Beaufort, 12, The Counterfeiters, Mongol, and Katyn — has been widely reviewed in the United States.
I’d [...]

Directors Guild Awards 2008

2008 Directors Guild Awards
2008 DGA feature film nominations: January 8, 2008. Documentary and television nominations: January 10, 2008
2008 DGA award winners: January 26, 2008
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men
 

FEATURE FILMS
Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage)
Unit Production Manager: Daniel Lupi
First Assistant Director: Adam Somner
Second Assistant Directors: Eric Lasko, Ian Stone, Richard Oswald Second Second Assistant Director: Jenny Nolan
* Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men (Miramax Films and Paramount Vantage)
Unit Production Manager: Robert J. Graf
First Assistant Director: Betsy Magruder Second Assistant Director: Bac DeLorme Second Second Assistant Director: Jai James
Tony Gilroy – Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.)
Unit Production Manager: Christopher Goode First Assistant [...]

Iowa Film Critics Awards 2008

2008 Iowa Film Critics Association Awards
2008 Iowa Film Critics Association award winners: January 16, 2008
 

Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men
 

Best Film: No Country for Old Men by Joel and Ethan Coen
Best Director: Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Best Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Charlie Wilson’s War
Best Actress: Julie Christie, Away From Her
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Best Animated Film: Ratatouille by Brad Bird
Best Film Yet to Open in Iowa: There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson
 
Iowa Film Critics Association Awards: 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Film Awards: 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 [...]

Golden Globes 2008: Surprises at the Un-Ceremony

Keira Knightley, James McAvoy in Atonement

The smaller, shorter, subdueder 2008 Golden Globes "news show" — a result of the ongoing WGA strike, now entering its tenth week — ended not too long ago. There was no red carpet, no dress parade, no dumb questions from journalists, no mind-numbing speeches, no godawful jokes, no poorly staged musical numbers, no toilet paper stuck on anyone’s shoe.
Many have lamented this year’s loss of glamour, glitz, and tasteless jokes. But personally, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Much to the contrary. I find the vast majority of those glitzy and glamorous — and tasteless and phony — award shows all but unwatchable, and the Golden Globes ceremony is one of the tackiest [...]

Central Ohio Film Critics Awards 2008

2008 Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards
2008 Central Ohio Film Critics Association award winners: January 11, 2008
 

Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men
 

Best Film: No Country for Old Men by Joel and Ethan Coen
Runners-up:
Das Leben der Anderen / The Lives of Others
Juno
Once
There Will Be Blood
Lars and the Real Girl
3:10 to Yuma
The Savages
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Le Scaphandre et le papillon / The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best Foreign Language Film: The Lives of Others by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Runner-Up: El Orfanato / The Orphanage
Best Documentary: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters by Seth Gordon
Runners-Up (tie): In the Shadow of the Moon and No End in Sight
Best Director: Joel [...]

Online Film Critics Awards 2008

2008 Online Film Critics Society Awards
2008 Online Film Critics Society award winners: January 8, 2008
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men
 

PICTURE
Atonement
Juno
* No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
* The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel
The Host
La Vie en Rose
The Lives of Others
The Orphanage
DOCUMENTARY
In the Shadow of the Moon
Into Great Silence
* The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters by Seth Gordon
No End in Sight
Sicko
ANIMATED FEATURE
Beowulf
Paprika
Persepolis
* Ratatouille by Brad Bird
The Simpsons Movie
DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood
* Joel and Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
David Cronenberg – Eastern Promises
David Fincher – Zodiac
Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
ACTOR
George Clooney – Michael Clayton
* Daniel [...]

Critics’ Choice Awards 2008

2008 Critics’ Choice Awards
Broadcast Film Critics Association’s 2008 Critics’ Choice Award nominations: December 11, 2007
2008 Critics’ Choice Award winners: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on January 7, 2008
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men
 

Best Picture
American Gangster
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
Juno
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
* No Country for Old Men
Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood
Best Foreign Language Film
* The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
La Vie en Rose
Lust, Caution
The Orphanage
Best Documentary
Darfur Now
In the Shadow of the Moon
The King of Kong
No End in Sight
Sharkwater
* Sicko by Michael Moore
Best Director
Tim Burton – Sweeney Todd
* Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
Sidney Lumet – Before the Devil Knows [...]

Oscar 2008 Predictions: Best Film, Foreign Language Film

Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men

I haven’t been following too closely the debates about who will or won’t be nominated for the 2008 Academy Awards, though a few front-runners — No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Ratatouille, Joel and Ethan Coen, Daniel Day-Lewis, Julie Christie, George Clooney, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page — have become rather obvious after U.S. critics, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and the Screen Actors Guild began announcing their winners and/or nominees.
That said, I have also read here and there comments on how this film, that star, or that sound technician (joke) will fare in the voting.
The list below is incomplete and quite likely not all that accurate. The only reason [...]

U.S. Critics’ Awards 2007

Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men

Much has been said about the absence of a front-runner for this year’s Academy Awards. Be that as it may, one film is clearly the favorite among the myriad film critics’ groups in the United States.
Directed and written by Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men has been chosen the top film of 2007 by nearly all critics’ societies, associations, and circles in the US and by the Toronto critics.
What often crosses my mind whenever I look at those award lists is their lack of variety. (That could be the result of the way votes are tabulated; if so, perhaps the rules should be changed.) Generally speaking, the [...]

Oklahoma Film Critics Awards 2007

2007 Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards
2007 Oklahoma Film Critics Circle award winners: December 23, 2007
 

Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men

 
Best Film: No Country for Old Men by Joel and Ethan Coen
Runners-up:
Juno
Zodiac
Atonement
Michael Clayton
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Gone Baby Gone
Once
Eastern Promises
Best Foreign Film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel
Best Documentary: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters by Seth Gordon
Best Animated Film: Ratatouille by Brad Bird
Best First Feature: Ben Affleck, Gone Baby Gone
Best Directors: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men
Best Actress: Ellen Page, Juno
Best Actor: George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Best [...]

St. Louis Film Critics Awards 2008

2008 St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards
2008 St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association award nominations: December 17, 2007
2008 St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association award winners: December 21, 2007
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men
 

BEST PICTURE
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
Juno
The Kite Runner
* No Country for Old Men by Joel and Ethan Coen
Sweeney Todd
Atonement
Michael Clayton
There Will Be Blood
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
* The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel
The Host
The Kite Runner
La Vie en Rose
Lust, Caution
Persepolis
BEST DOCUMENTARY
In the Shadow of the Moon
The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters
Manufactured Landscapes
No End in Sight
* Sicko by Michael Moore
BEST DIRECTOR
Paul [...]

Utah Film Critics Awards 2007

2007 Utah Film Critics Association Awards
2007 Utah Film Critics Association award winners: December 21, 2007
 

 
Best Film: No Country for Old Men by Joel and Ethan Coen
Runner-up: Juno by Jason Reitman
Other runners-up (in alphabetical order): The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, I’m Not There, Into the Wild, Juno, Knocked Up, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, Once, There Will Be Blood, 3:10 to Yuma
Best Non-English Language Feature: The Host by Bong Joon-ho
Runner-up: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel
Best Documentary Feature: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters by Seth Gordon
Runner-up: My Kid Could Paint That by Amir Bar-Lev
Best Animated Feature: Ratatouille by Brad Bird
Runner-up: The Simpsons Movie [...]

Florida Film Critics Awards 2007

2007 Florida Film Critics Circle Awards
2007 Florida Film Critics Circle Award winners: December 21, 2007
 

 
Best Picture: No Country for Old Men by Joel and Ethan Coen
Best Foreign-Language Film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel
Best Documentary: No End in Sight by Charles Ferguson
Best Directors: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Best Actress: Ellen Page, Juno
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Best Screenplay: Diablo Cody, Juno
Best Animated Film: Ratatouille by Brad Bird
Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins, No Country for Old Men and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Pauline Kael Breakout Award: Ellen Page, Juno
Best Original Songs: [...]

Detroit Film Critics Awards 2007

2007 Detroit Film Critics Society Awards
2007 Detroit Film Critics Society award nominations: December 14, 2007
2007 Detroit Film Critics Society award winners: December 19, 2007
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men
 

Best Film
* No Country for Old Men
Juno
Into the Wild
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
There Will Be Blood
Best Director
* Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Sean Penn, Into the Wild
Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd
Jason Reitman, Juno
Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
* George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild
Tommy Lee Jones, No Country for Old Men
Mathieu Amalric, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best Actress
* Ellen Page, Juno
Julie Christie, Away [...]

Las Vegas Film Critics Awards 2007

2007 Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards
2007 Las Vegas Film Critics Society award winners: December 20, 2007
 

Tommy Lee Jones in No Country for Old Men

 
Best Picture: No Country for Old Men by Joel and Ethan Coen
Runners-Up:
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
3:10 to Yuma
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Zodiac
Into the Wild
Juno
Eastern Promises
The Lookout
Sunshine
Best Foreign Film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel
Best Documentary: Sicko by Michael Moore
Best Director: Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Best Actress: Ellen Page, Juno
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Best Screenplay: Diablo Cody, Juno
Best Animated Film: Ratatouille [...]

Phoenix Film Critics Awards 2007

2007 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards
2007 Phoenix Film Critics Society award winners: December 18, 2007
 

Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men
 

Best Picture: No Country for Old Men
Runners-up (in alphabetical order):
3:10 to Yuma
Atonement
Away from Her
Hairspray
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
Best Foreign Language Film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel
Best Documentary Feature Film: Sicko by Michael Moore
Best Animated Feature Film: Ratatouille by Brad Bird
Best Achievement in Direction: Ethan and Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading [...]

Southeastern Film Critics Awards 2007

2007 Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards
2007 Southeastern Film Critics Association winners: December 17, 2007
 

Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men
 

Best Film: No Country for Old Men by Joel and Ethan Coen
Runners-up:
There Will Be Blood
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
Zodiac
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Gone Baby Gone
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
Best Foreign Language Film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel
Runner-up: La Vie en rose by Olivier Dahan
Best Documentary: No End in Sight by Charles Ferguson
Runner-up: Sicko by Michael Moore
Best Director: Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Runner-up: Joe Wright, Atonement
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Runner-up: George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Best Actress: Julie Christie, Away from Her
Runner-up: Ellen [...]

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