Oscar 2010: Those That Didn’t Make It

Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin in It’s Complicated (top); Penelope Cruz, Lluís Homar in Broken Embraces (middle); Agnes Varda in The Beaches of Agnes (bottom)

Which movies were totally ignored by the Academy? Which performers and filmmakers were ignored? The list is quite long, of course. Below are the most notable omissions from the Oscar 2010 shortlist.
Marc Webb’s (500) Days of Summer, Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces, Todd Phillips‘ The Hangover, Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story, Duncan Jones‘ Moon, Cary Fukunaga’s Sin Nombre, Sebastian Silva’s The Maid, and Olivier Assayas‘ Summer Hours were totally left out.
And so were Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles, Nancy Meyers‘ It’s Complicated, Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant!, John Hillcoat’s The Road, Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things [...]

Denver Film Critics 2010 Nominations

George Clooney, Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air (Dale Robinette / Paramount)

Denver Film Critics Society 2010 Nominations. Winners: Jan. 27, 2010.
Best Film:
A Serious Man, directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Up in the Air, directed by Jason Reitman
Star Trek, directed by J.J. Abrams
The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Best Foreign Language Film:
Thirst, directed by Chan-wook Park
Sin Nombre, directed by Cary Jôji Fukunaga
Summer Hours, directed by Olivier Assayas
Revanche, directed by Götz Spielmann
Best Documentary:
The Cove, directed by Louie Psihoyos
Anvil! The Story of Anvil, directed by Sacha Gervasi
Best [...]

Christoph Waltz: US Critics’ Favorite Supporting Actor of 2009

Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds (François Duhamel / The Weinstein Co.)

If US critics found only two lead actresses to vote for in 2009 (Meryl Streep and Carey Mulligan), they had an even tougher time finding a supporting actor. Or perhaps it was just his own thespian brilliance that made Christoph Waltz walk away with nearly every critics’ award out there. With more than 90 film and TV productions to his credit, Waltz, 53, has finally been discovered by international audiences and critics thanks to his evil Nazi in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. All that and the best actor prize at Cannes 2009, too.
Christian McKay, playing Orson Welles in Me and Orson Welles (the "Me" is Zac Efron), managed to [...]

THE HURT LOCKER, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep Win in San Francisco

Another major critical surprise: The Hurt Locker (above, with Jeremy Renner) was voted best picture of 2009 by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. The Iraq War drama’s director, Kathryn Bigelow, received top honors as well.
All kidding aside, a more unique choice — though not all that unexpected considering that it’s San Francisco — was Colin Firth for best actor. In Tom Ford’s A Single Man, Firth plays a gay English professor in 1960s Los Angeles, a time and place where homosexuality was generally not your usual conversation topic. His lover (Matthew Goode) dies unexpectedly, and the professor must decide what he wants to do with his own life — or rather, if he still has a life. A few [...]

Golden Globes 2010 Predictions: Best Actor – Comedy or Musical

2010 Golden Globe Predictions: Best Actor – Comedy or Musical

George Clooney, Up in the Air (with director Jason Reitman)
A professional downsizer finds his ideal frequent-flying partner right when he’s about to get grounded.

Sacha Baron Cohen, Brüno
An Austrian fashionista wants to become the next red-white-and-blue sensation.

Matt Damon, The Informant!
A pathological liar helps the FBI nab a law-breaking agribusiness conglomerate.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine
In this musicalized remake of Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2, Daniel Day-Lewis plays the old Marcello Mastroianni role of an Italian film director at odds with the women in his life.

Ryan Reynolds, The Proposal (with Sandra Bullock)
A Canadian businesswoman’s assistant is coerced into marrying her lest she be deported from the US.

 
Ryan Reynolds? Sacha Baron Cohen? Well, they’re both names (and [...]