Los Angeles Film Festival 2009: CARMEN MEETS BORAT, 35 SHOTS OF RUM, PUBLIC ENEMIES

Carmen Meets Borat (top); 35 Shots of Rum (middle); Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard in Public Enemies (bottom)

Los Angeles Film Festival, Tuesday, June 23:

In Mercedes Stalenhoef’s Carmen Meets Borat (The Regent, 2 pm), a Romanian teenager dreams of going to Spain to escape the backwards town in which she lives. (The place is so backwards that she’s called "granny" because she remains unmarried at 17.) Inadvertently, Sacha Baron Cohen and his Borat crew change her life after they arrive in town to portray the locals as backwards Kazakhs. TV crews follow suit, and so do lawyers with the promise of hefty lawsuits. Will the adolescent’s Spanish Dream be able to come true?
Brent Meeske’s Branson, about struggling artists in the "Entertainment Capital [...]

Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard in PUBLIC ENEMIES Photos

Johnny Depp

In Michael Mann’s period crime drama Public Enemies, Johnny Depp plays John Dillinger, the Depression Era bank robber who became the top target of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. Christian Bale plays Dillinger’s nemesis, investigator Melvin Purvis; Marion Cotillard is Dillinger’s gal, Billie Frechette; and Billy Crudup is Hoover the (Gay?) Man. (Previously, Leonardo DiCaprio had been connected with the project.)
Also in the cast: Channing Tatum as Pretty Boy Floyd, plus Leelee Sobieski, Emilie de Ravin, Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Dorff, James Russo, and Lili Taylor. (And I’m assuming that Myrna Loy will be spotted in Manhattan Melodrama somewhere in the film.)
Previous versions of Dillinger’s story, include those starring Lawrence Tierney (1945, directed by [...]

Oscar 2008: Daniel Day-Lewis, Tilda Swinton, Marion Cotillard

Daniel Day-Lewis, Tilda Swinton, Marion Cotillard, Javier Bardem

Christopher Rouse – Best Film Editing Oscar winner

Jan Archibald, Didier Lavergne – Best Makeup Oscar winners
Photos: Matt Petit / © A.M.P.A.S.
Click on the images to enlarge them.

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.

Oscar 2008: Jennifer Garner, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page

Marion Cotillard

Jennifer Garner

Ellen Page, Robert Osborne
Photos: Michael Yada (Garner), Armando Flores (Cotillard), Matt Petit (Page). All photos: © A.M.P.A.S.

Oscar 2008: George Clooney, Marion Cotillard, Javier Bardem

Marion Cotillard

Javier Bardem, George Clooney

Christopher Rouse, Per Hallberg
Photos: Todd Wawrychuk / © A.M.P.A.S. (Bardem & Clooney); Richard Harbaugh / © A.M.P.A.S. (Cotillard, Rouse)

Oscar 2008: The Luncheon

More than 100 Academy Award nominees will get together at noon on Monday, February 4, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences annual Nominees Luncheon. (See Oscar Luncheon 2008 photos. See more Oscar luncheon 2008 photos.)
From the leading actor and actress categories, George Clooney, Viggo Mortensen, Julie Christie (who may be shy and reclusive, but who’s all over the map these days), Marion Cotillard (right, who should win an Oscar for Best Accent), Laura Linney, and Ellen Page are expected to attend.
Representing the supporting actress and actor categories will be Amy Ryan, Casey Affleck, multiple-award winner Javier Bardem, and veterans Ruby Dee and Hal Holbrook.
All six nominees from the [...]

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 [...]

Golden Globes 2008

2008 Golden Globes
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s 2008 Golden Globe nominations: December 13, 2007
2008 Golden Globe Award winners: January 13, 2008
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Keira Knightley, James McAvoy in Atonement
 

MOTION PICTURES
Best Motion Picture – Drama
American Gangster, Imagine Entertainment/Scott Free Productions; Universal Pictures
* Atonement, Working Title Productions; Focus Features
Eastern Promises, Kudos Pictures — UK Serendipity Point Films — Canada A UK/Canada Co-Production; Focus Features
The Great Debaters, Harpo Films; The Weinstein Company/MGM
Michael Clayton, Clayton Productions LLC; Warner Bros. Pictures
No Country for Old Men, A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production; Miramax/Paramount Vantage
There Will Be Blood, A Joanne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production; Paramount Vantage and Miramax Films
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Across The Universe, Revolution Studios International; Sony Pictures Releasing
Charlie Wilson’s War, [...]

Kansas City Film Critics Awards 2008

2008 Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
2008 Kansas City Film Critics Circle award winners: January 7, 2008
 

Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood
 

Best Film: There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Foreign Language Film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel
Best Documentary: In the Shadow of the Moon by David Sington
Robert Altman Award for Best Director (tie): Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood, and Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, Juno
Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old [...]

Oscar 2008 Predictions: Acting Categories

George Clooney in Michael Clayton

Oscar 2008 Predictions: Best Film, Director, Foreign Language Film
Best Actor:

George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Possibly: Denzel Washington, American Gangster; Frank Langella, Starting Out in the Evening; James McAvoy, Atonement; Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild; Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl; Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
 

Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose
Best Actress:

Julie Christie, Away from Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Ellen Page, Juno
Angelina Jolie, A [...]

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 [...]

Satellite Awards 2007

2007 Satellite Awards
International Press Academy’s 2007 Satellite Award nominations: November 30, 2007
2007 Satellite Award winners: December 16, 2007
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

 

MOTION PICTURE
Motion Picture, Drama
The Lookout Miramax Films
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead Thinkfilm
Away from Her Lionsgate
Eastern Promises Focus Features
* No Country for Old Men Miramax Films
3:10 To Yuma Lionsgate
Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Hairspray New Line Cinema
* Juno Fox Searchlight
Shoot ‘Em Up New Line Cinema
Lars and the Real Girl MGM
Knocked Up Universal Pictures
Margot at the Wedding Paramount Vantage
Motion Picture, Foreign Film
Ten Canoes Australia Palm Pictures
Offside Iran Sony Pictures Classics
La Vie en Rose France Picturehouse
* Lust, Caution China Focus Features
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days Romania IFC Films
The Orphanage Spain Picturehouse
Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media
Persepolis Sony Pictures [...]

Los Angeles Film Critics Awards 2007

2007 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
2007 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award winners: Dec. 9, 2007
 

FILM: There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson
Runner-up: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days directed by Cristian Mungiu
Runner-up: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly directed by Julian Schnabel

DOCUMENTARY/NON-FICTION FILM: No End in Sight directed by Charles Ferguson
Runner-up: Sicko directed by Michael Moore

DIRECTOR: Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Runner-up: Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

ACTRESS: Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Runner-up: Anamaria Marinca, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Runner-up: Frank Langella, Starting Out in the Evening

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone [...]

Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 2007

2007 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
2007 Boston Society of Film Critics Award winners: December 9, 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 (France)
Best Documentary: Crazy Love by Dan Klores and Fisher Stevens
Best Director: Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best Actor: Frank Langella for Starting Out in the Evening
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone
Best Screenplay: Brad Bird for Ratatouille
Best Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best New Filmmaker: Ben Affleck for Gone Baby Gone
Best Ensemble [...]

César 2005

2005 César Awards
2005 César du Cinéma winners: Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on February 26, 2005
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Abdel Kechiche’s L’Esquive was the surprise winner at the 30th César du Cinéma ceremony. Set at a Parisian housing project filled with immigrants and their children, Kechiche’s low-budget film follows a withdrawn teenager (Osman Elkharraz) with artistic aspirations.
 

Best Film
36 Quai des Orfèvres Olivier Marchal
Les Choristes / The Chorus Christophe Barratier
* L’Esquive Abdel Kechiche
Rois et reine Arnaud Desplechin
Un long dimanche de fiançailles / A Very Long Engagement Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Best European Union Film
* Ae Fond Kiss… / Just a Kiss Ken Loach, UK / Belgium / Germany / Italy / Spain
La Mala educación / Bad [...]