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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 [...]

Cary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in GUNGA DIN Screening

George Stevens‘ rousingly politically incorrect — and for the most part much admired — action-adventure tale Gunga Din will have a special screening on Friday, June 12, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Prior to the film, Oscar winners Ben Burtt and Craig Barron will discuss the sound and visual effects used in this 1939 classic starring Cary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Victor McLaglen.
Gunga Din will also will be presented in New York City on Monday, June 15, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy Theater.
Written by Joel Sayre and Fred Guiol, from a story by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, which [...]

DGA Awards 2009

2009 Directors Guild Awards
2009 DGA feature film nominations: January 8, 2009. Documentary and television nominations: January 9, 2009
2009 DGA award winners: Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, January 31, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Following his DGA win, Danny Boyle is the odds-on favorite to win the best director Academy Award. In fact, Boyle has been the odds-on favorite for quite some time. In any case, since the DGA Awards’ inception in 1949 only eight times has the DGA winner failed to win the best director Oscar. (Actually, more like six times as there was some overlapping in the 1948-49 selections. Check out the DGA Awards/the Oscars.) Slumdog Millionaire has also won the Producers Guild Award.
 

FEATURE [...]

Oscar 2009: Makeup Artist and Hairstylist Symposium

The Makeup Artist and Hairstylist Symposium, focusing on the achievements of the 2009 Oscar nominees in the makeup category, will be presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Saturday, February 21, at 2:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
Moderated by Academy governor Leonard Engelman, the symposium will include a discussion of the nominees’ creative process and the presentation of film clips, photographs, and models of their work.
The 2009 Academy Award makeup nominees are:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Greg Cannom, special makeup creator and applicator
The Dark Knight, John Caglione Jr., Heath Ledger’s makeup artist; Conor O’Sullivan, prosthetic supervisor
Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Mike Elizalde, [...]

Scripter Award 2009

2009 USC Scripter Awards
2009 Scripter Award nominations: Jan. 6, 2009
2009 Scripter Award winners: Jan. 30, 2009
("*" denotes the winner)
 

Dev Patel, Freida Pinto in Slumdog Millionaire
 

Screenwriter Eric Roth, who shares story credit with Robin Swicord, for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Screenwriters Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway for Iron Man, based on the comic book series authored by Stan Lee and Don Heck
Screenwriter David Hare and author Bernhard Schlink for The Reader
Screenwriter Justin Haythe for Revolutionary Road, based on the novel by Richard Yates
* Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire, based on Q & A by author Vikas Swarup
 
USC Scripter Awards
USC Scripter Awards: 2005 [...]

Eric Roth on the Making of THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Merrick Morton/Paramount Pictures
In the London Times, screenwriter Eric Roth discusses "The curious case of the making of Benjamin Button" with Kevin Maher:
"’In 1922 F.Scott Fitzgerald had a baby girl,’ continues the 63-year-old Oscar-winner Roth (Forrest Gump). ‘And when she was three months old he wrote a short story, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.’ The tale, about a man who was born at 70 and slowly aged backwards towards infancy, reflected Fitzgerald’s newly altered views on mortality, Roth says, adding: ‘But it was very broad and whimsical.’ However, the basic idea would eventually evolve into the story of an 86-year-old man, Benjamin ([Brad] Pitt), who is born as a wizened homunculus [...]

Producers Guild Awards 2009

2009 Producers Guild of America’s Golden Laurel Awards
2009 Producers Guild of America feature-film and long-form TV nominations: January 5, 2009
2009 Producers Guild of America winners: Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Dev Patel in Slumdog Millionaire
 

The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award
in Theatrical Motion Pictures
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Kathleen Kennedy & Frank Marshall
Ceán Chaffin
THE DARK KNIGHT
Christopher Nolan
Charles Roven
Emma Thomas
FROST/NIXON
Brian Grazer
Ron Howard
Eric Fellner
MILK
Dan Jinks
Bruce Cohen
* SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Christian Colson
The Producers Guild of America Producer of the Year Award in Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures
* MAN ON WIRE
Simon Chinn
STANDARD [...]

Oscar 2009: Best Films at the Box Office

Domestic totals up to Jan. 20. Worldwide figures include domestic rentals.

Frost/Nixon — Domestic: $8.8 million; Worldwide: $10.1 million

Milk — Domestic: $20.5 million; Worldwide: $21.6 million

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — Domestic: $103.6 million; Worldwide: $117.9 million

The Reader — Domestic: $7.9 million; Worldwide: $12.4 million

Slumdog Millionaire — Domestic: $44.2 million; Worldwide: $61.1 million

 
Source: Box Office Mojo (boxofficemojo.com)

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. [...]

BAFTA 2009: Nominations Longlist

Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (top); Frank Langella, Michael Sheen in Frost/Nixon (bottom)

As usual, Hollywood and Anglo-American productions dominate the longlists of the 2009 British Academy of Film and Television Awards.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon have 14 nominations each, followed by Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Changeling, and The Dark Knight with 13; Milk and Burn After Reading with 11; and Doubt, The Wrestler, Mamma Mia!, The Duchess, and In Bruges with 9.
Small British films managed only a handful of nods: three for Hunger and Happy-Go-Lucky; two for Dean Spanley. Non-English-language films fared just as poorly: five nominations for I’ve Loved You So Long, three for Waltz with Bashir, [...]

Oscar 2009: Visual Effects Semi-Finalists

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the seven semi-finalists in the 2009 Oscar’s Visual Effects category. They are, in alphabetical order:

Australia

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Iron Man

Journey to the Center of the Earth

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Among those missing in action are Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Incredible Hulk, and The Day the Earth Stood Still.
As per the Academy’s release, on Thursday, Jan. 15, all members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, [...]

MARLEY & ME Again Tops Box Office

Marley & Me topped the North American box office for the second consecutive weekend with $24 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
David Frankel’s comedy starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston easily dominated the competition all week long, bringing its domestic total to an impressive $106.5 million after barely two weeks in release.

At No. 2, Adam Sandler’s latest comedy, Bedtime Stories, picked up another $20.3 million, reaching a total haul of $85.3 million. In the film, Sandler plays a hotel handyman whose bedtime stories become true the next day.

Meanwhile, David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button picked up $18.4 million in third place, lifting its cumulative [...]

Marley Beats Brad Pitt, Adam Sandler, and Tom Cruise

David Frankel’s comedy Marley & Me raced to the top of the North American box office this weekend with $37 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston as a couple struggling to keep their dog in check, Marley & Me lifted its domestic total to an impressive $51.6 million after only four days in release.

At No. 2, Adam Sandler’s latest comedy Bedtime Stories took home $28 million, reaching a cumulative gross of $38.5 million. The Adam Shankman-directed effort follows a hotel handyman whose bedtime stories come true the next day.

Meanwhile, David Fincher’s acclaimed drama The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt [...]

Oscar 2009 Predictions: Best Cinematography, Editing, Music

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E

BEST ART DIRECTION
Australia
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Changeling
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Oscar 2009 Predictions: Best Film, Foreign Film
Oscar 2009 Predictions: Best Director, Screenplay
Oscar 2009 Predictions: Best Documentary, Animated Film
Oscar 2009 Predictions: Best Actor, Actress
Oscar 2009 Predictions: Best Supporting Actor, Supporting [...]

Oscar 2009 Predictions: Best Director, Screenplay

Danny Boyle

BEST DIRECTION
Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon)
Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight)
Gus Van Sant (Milk)
All the nominees match the films found in the best picture list — something that is less common than one might think. Fincher has been getting plenty of recognition from critics’ and other groups, which makes me believe that, despite some unenthusiastic reviews for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, he’ll land a best director nomination come next January.
Doubt director John Patrick Shanley will have to be content with a screenwriting nod.
Runners-up: Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky), who may pull off another Vera Drake upset and take Ron Howard’s place; Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road); the idolized Clint Eastwood (Gran [...]

Oscar 2009 Predictions: Best Film, Foreign Film

Oscar 2009 Predictions
 

Michael Sheen, Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon

BEST FILM
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire has to be there. It’s been winning nearly every film critics’ award in the United States and it has received two SAG Award nominations: best ensemble and a surprising best supporting actor nod for Dev Patel (who, ahem, happens to be the film’s lead).
Frost/Nixon is a prestige production based on a prestige play. The sort of stuff prestige-hungry Academy members tend to go for even when reviewers haven’t been all that kind. Also, Frost/Nixon is an actors’ showcase, and actors comprise the — by far — largest contingent among Academy members. (Note: Initially, I had [...]

St. Louis Film Critics Awards 2009

2009 St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards
2009 St. Louis Film Critics Association award winners: December 17, 2008
 

Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
 

Best Film: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Foreign Language Film: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Documentary: Man on Wire
Best Animated Film: WALL-E
Best Director: Danny Boyle, for Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor: Sean Penn, for Milk
Best Actress: Kate Winslet, for Revolutionary Road
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, for The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis, for Doubt
Best Screenplay: Peter Morgan, for Frost/Nixon
Best Cinematography: Mandy Walker, for Australia
Best Music (Soundtrack or Score, Original or Adapted): The Visitor
Best Visual/Special Effects: The Dark Knight
Most Original/Innovative Film: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Comedy: Burn [...]

Houston Film Critics Awards 2009

2008 Houston Film Critics Society Awards
2008 Houston Film Critics Society award winners: December 17, 2008
 

Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
 

BEST PICTURE
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
MONGOL
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
MAN ON WIRE
BEST ANIMATED FILM
WALL-E
BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
BEST ACTOR
Sean Penn, MILK
BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Heath Ledger, THE DARK KNIGHT
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis, DOUBT
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
DOUBT
BEST SCREENPLAY
Simon Beaufoy, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Claudio Miranda, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA by Terence Blanchard
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Down to Earth," WALL-E
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMA
Andrea Grover and the Aurora Picture Show
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM PROGRAMMING
Marian Luntz and the Museum of Fine Arts [...]

AFI Awards 2008

2008 AFI Awards
2008 AFI Awards: Dec. 14, 2008
 

Christian Bale in The Dark Knight
 

FILM
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
FROST/NIXON
FROZEN RIVER
GRAN TORINO
IRON MAN
MILK
WALL•E
WENDY AND LUCY
THE WRESTLER
 
TELEVISION
BREAKING BAD
IN TREATMENT
JOHN ADAMS
LIFE
LOST
MAD MEN
THE OFFICE
RECOUNT
THE SHIELD
THE WIRE
 
AFI AWARDS 2008 JURORS
AFI JURY FOR MOTION PICTURES
Leonard Maltin
Chair, AFI Jury for Motion Pictures
ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT
Jeanine Basinger
Wesleyan University
Mary Corey
University of California, Los Angeles
Mark Harris
Author
Entertainment Weekly
Jim Hosney
American Film Institute
Rick Jewell
University of Southern California
Elvis Mitchell
THE TREATMENT
Daniel Petrie, Jr.
Writer/Producer/Director
Tom Pollock
Producer
Vice Chair and Chair Emeritus, AFI Board of Trustees
Richard Schickel
Time
Vivian Sobchack
University of California, Los Angeles
[...]

2009 Golden Globe Nominations

Golden Globe record holder Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia! (top) and in Doubt (bottom)

The biggest surprise in the 2008 Golden Globe nominations’ list is that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association didn’t dig a spot for Nicole Kidman in Australia (which was totally shut out), especially considering that Kidman’s former husband Tom Cruise did garner a best supporting actor nod for Tropic Thunder. (Cruise’s nomination, by the way, elicited laughter from journalists present at the Golden Globes announcement ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Laughter also greeted James Franco’s nomination — not for Milk, mind you, but as best actor in a comedy or musical for Pineapple Express.)
Among other Golden Globe oddities was the fact that Milk [...]

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