Elton John vs. Madonna + Angelina Jolie Political Controversy

Madonna W.E. director. Best known as a pop singer and all-around provocateuse (except, perhaps, when she shied away from taking on George W. Bush following the start of the Iraq War), Madonna has been a sporadic movie actress since the mid-1980s. More recently, she has turned to directing: the poorly received Filth and Wisdom (2008) was her first effort; W.E., better received but a resounding box office flop, is the follow-up. Madonna’s name may have helped to earn a Golden Globe nomination for the film’s pop ballad “Masterpiece,” but unfortunately for all involved, “Masterpiece” has been deemed ineligible for the Best Original Song Oscar.

Elton John in, Madonna out: Best Original Song Oscar longlist

Thirty-nine songs from eligible movies are in the running for nominations in the 2012 Oscars’ Best Original Song category. Madonna’s Golden Globe-nominated “Masterpiece,” from W.E., is nowhere to be found on the longlist as it has been deemed ineligible (see further below), but Elton John was included for “Hello Hello,” from Gnomeo & Juliet.

In fact, as it’s usually the case, kiddie flicks dominate the list, with Gnomeo & Juliet, Rio, Happy Feet Two, Winnie the Pooh, and The Muppets featuring multiple contenders.

Also worth noting, several of the songs are not in English, e.g., Sohan Roy’s thriller DAM999, with three entries on the list, is in Hindi and Malayalam; “Já Não Estar,” from Miguel Gonçalves Mendes’ biographical documentary José and Pilar, is in Portuguese; and “Coeur Volant,” from Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, is in French.

The original songs and their respective movies are listed below in alphabetical order by film.

Oscar 2012 Best Original Song longlist

“The World I Knew,” African Cats.

“Lay Your Head Down,” Albert Nobbs.

“Star Spangled Man,” Captain America: The First Avenger.

“Collision of Worlds,” Cars 2.

“Dakkanaga Dugu Dugu,” DAM999.

“DAM999 Theme Song,” DAM999.

“Mujhe Chod Ke,” DAM999.

“Rainbird,” Dirty Girl.

“Keep On Walking,” The First Grader.

“Where the River Goes,” Footloose.

“Hello Hello,” Gnomeo & Juliet.

“Love Builds a Garden,” Gnomeo & Juliet.

“Bridge of Light,” Happy Feet Two.

“The Mighty Sven,” Happy Feet Two.

“Never Be Daunted,” happythankyoumoreplease.

“Hell and Back,” Hell and Back Again.

“The Living Proof,” The Help.

“Coeur Volant,” Hugo.

“It’s How We Play,” I Don’t Know How She Does It.

“When the Heart Dies,” In the Land of Blood and Honey.

“Já Não Estar,” José and Pilar.

“The Keeper,” Machine Gun Preacher.

“Life’s a Happy Song,” The Muppets.

“Man or Muppet,” The Muppets.

“Pictures in My Head,” The Muppets.

“Summer Song,” The Music Never Stopped.

“Imaginary Friends,” Olive.

“Sparkling Day,” One Day.

“Taking You with Me,” Our Idiot Brother.

“The Greatest Song I Ever Heard,” POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.

“Hot Wings,” Rio.

“Let Me Take You to Rio,” Rio.

“Real in Rio,” Rio.

“Shelter,” Take Shelter.

“Gathering Stories,” We Bought a Zoo.

“Pop,” White Irish Drinkers.

“Think You Can Wait,” Win Win.

“The Backson Song,” Winnie the Pooh.

“So Long,” Winnie the Pooh.

Up to five nominees & no more than two songs per film

According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ press release, on Jan. 5 the Academy’s Music Branch “will screen clips featuring each song, in random order, for voting members of the Music Branch in Los Angeles. Following the screenings, members will determine the nominees by an averaged point system of voting.”

How does that average point system work? Well, the release adds the following:

“If no song receives an average score of 8.25 or more, there will be no nominees in the category. If only one song achieves that score, it and the song receiving the next highest score shall be the two nominees. If two or more songs (up to five) achieve that score, they shall be the nominees. …

“Under Academy rules, a maximum of two songs may be nominated from any one film. If more than two songs from a film achieve a score of 8.25 or more, the two songs with the highest scores will be the nominees.”

For those Music Branch members unable to attend the screening, a DVD copy of the song clips will be made available by mail.

And finally, the Academy adds that in order to be eligible…

“…a song must consist of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film. A clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody must be used in the body of the film or as the first music cue in the end credits.”

This last rule explains why Madonna’s “Masterpiece” was deemed ineligible for the Best Original Song Oscar.

The 2012 Academy Award nominations will be announced on Tuesday, Jan. 24, at 5:30 a.m. PST in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The 2012 Oscar ceremony will take place on Sunday, Feb. 26, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center.

Angelina Jolie In the Land of Blood and Honey director. Best known as Brad Pitt’s costar in Mr. & Mrs. Smith and James McAvoy’s costar in Wanted, Angelina Jolie has made her directorial feature film debut with the Bosnian War drama In the Land of Blood and Honey. A year-end release, the film apparently has gone unseen by some (most?) critics groups; that may help to explain why it has been all but completely bypassed by U.S. film critics this awards season. Even so – in no small part thanks to director Angelina Jolie’s stellar name – In the Land of Blood and Honey has a good chance of landing a Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe nomination.

Angelina Jolie Bosnian War drama angers some Serbs & wins Producers Guild Award

Some Serbians may be furious at Angelina Jolie and her first directorial effort, the Bosnian War drama In the Land of Blood and Honey, but the Producers Guild of America feels differently.

Jolie’s politically/socially conscious film has been named the recipient of this year’s Stanley Kramer Award, given to “a motion picture, producer or other individual, whose achievement or contribution illuminates provocative social issues in an accessible and elevating fashion.”

Set in 1990s Sarajevo, In the Land of Blood and Honey tells the story of a Bosnian woman (Zana Marjanovic) held captive and used as a sex slave at a Serbian prison camp while her former lover (Goran Kostic) is fighting on the side of the Serbs.

In the words of Producers Guild co-presidents Hawk Koch and Mark Gordon, as quoted in a PGA press release, In the Land of Blood and Honey “is an extraordinary film that portrays a complex love story set against the terrors of the Bosnian War, especially towards women. This film truly embraces the legacy of Stanley Kramer.”

The film’s producers are Angelina Jolie, Tim Headington, Graham King, and Tim Moore.

No awards season favorite

So far, In the Land of Blood and Honey has been all but ignored by the various U.S.-based critics’ groups that have already named their Best of 2011.

Of course, it’s possible that Angelina Jolie’s movie hasn’t been made as widely available to critics as, for instance, late-year releases such as David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, both of which major studio fare that have recently managed to get several nods from the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

With dialogue in Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian (all three are variations of the linguistic combo known as Serbo-Croatian), and English subtitles, In the Land of Blood and Honey opens in the U.S. on Dec. 23.

The 2012 PGA Awards ceremony will be held next Jan. 21 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Stanley Kramer

Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner Angelina Jolie (Girl Interrupted, 1999) is one of the biggest movie stars of the early 21st century thanks to critical and/or box office hits like Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Changeling (which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination), Wanted, Salt, and, internationally, The Tourist.

But … who was Stanley Kramer?

Stanley Kramer was a post-World War II producer and later also director whose films usually put forward humanistic ideas in a crowd-pleasing manner.

As a producer/director, two of his best were Inherit the Wind (1960), about the Scopes Trial that pitted radical Christians against secularism and the theory of evolution, and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), about the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. Both earned Spencer Tracy Best Actor Oscar nominations. (Tracy’s fellow Judgment at Nuremberg star Maximilian Schell was the eventual 1961 winner.)

Kramer’s biggest box office hit was Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), which featured the last screen pairing of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn – as the wealthy, (generally) open-minded San Francisco parents of a young woman (Hepburn’s real-life niece Katharine Houghton) whose husband-to-be is Sidney Poitier.

The most notable Stanley Kramer-produced (but not -directed) movies are both Fred Zinnemann efforts: The Men (1950), about returning World War II veterans and Marlon Brando’s film debut, and the Western High Noon, which earned lone small-town sheriff Gary Cooper his second Best Actor Oscar.

Below: I Saw the Devil trailer: Kim Jee-woon’s South Korean thriller stars Lee Byung-hun as a National Intelligence Service avenger and Choi Min-sik a demented serial killer.

Houston Film Critics surprise: Korean thriller tops

In other awards season news, Angelina Jolie’s In the Land of Blood and Honey didn’t win any upset awards from the Houston Film Critics Society. Kim Jee-woon’s thriller I Saw the Devil, however, did.

Starring Blue Dragon Award nominee Lee Byung-hun as a National Intelligence Service agent determined to avenge the gory death of his fiancée at the hands of a serial killer, I Saw the Devil was the Houston Film Critics’ (really) surprising Best Foreign Language Film of 2011.

A couple of nominations notwithstanding, I Saw the Devil, a 2010 release in its native South Korea, has been invariably bypassed by U.S.-based critics groups.

Most other Houston Film Critics winners were more anticipated names, e.g., Best Picture for Alexander Payne’s critics’ fave The Descendants, Best Actor for Michael Fassbender for Shame, and Best Supporting Actor for Albert Brooks, cast against type as a mobster in Drive, directed by Houston’s (admittedly, unexpected) winner Nicolas Winding Refn.

Update: Coincidentally – and more than a bit surprisingly – I Saw the Devil has also topped another Texas-based film critics group, the Austin Film Critics Association.

See below the full list of Houston Film Critics winners.

Houston Film Critics winners

Best Picture: The Descendants.

Best Foreign Language Film: I Saw the Devil.

Best Actor: Michael Fassbender, Shame.

Best Actress: Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin.

Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, Drive.

Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, The Descendants.

Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive.

Best Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants.

Best Animated Film: Rango.

Best Documentary: Project Nim.

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life.

Best Original Score: Ludovic Bource, The Artist.

Best Original Song: “Life’s a Happy Song” from The Muppets, music & lyrics by Bret McKenzie.

Best Technical Achievement: Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Worst Film of the Year: Your Highness.

The Smurfs with Katy Perry providing the voice for the blonde, blue-bodied Smurfette. Directed by Raja Gosnell, The Smurfs marks Katy Perry’s narrative feature film debut – even though the “Thinking of You” and “Waking Up in Vegas” singer can be heard but not seen in this mix of live action and animation, which, by the way, has been disqualified for the Best Animated Feature Oscar. Budgeted at a reported $110 million (not including marketing and distribution expenses), The Smurfs collected a relatively disappointing $142.64 million in the U.S. and Canada. Internationally, however, it has been a huge blockbuster, grossing $421.13 million.

‘The Smurfs’ disqualified from Best Animated Feature Oscar?

More awards season news…

First the Golden Globes, now the Academy Awards. According to TheWrap‘s Steve Pond, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has removed Raja Gosnell’s international box office hit The Smurfs from the list of Best Animated Feature Oscar contenders.

A live action/animation hybrid in which tiny blue creatures that sound like Katy Perry, Paul Reubens, and Jonathan Winters frolic about with the likes of Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria, and Sofia Vergara, The Smurfs has apparently not met the Academy’s qualification requirement that “a significant number of the major characters must be animated, and animation must figure in no less than 75 percent of the picture’s running time.”

Seventeen animated films are still in the running, which means that there’ll be five Academy Award nominees for Best Animated Feature of 2011. That is, unless there are two more disqualifications and the list of contenders falls below 16. In that case, only three movies would receive a nomination.

Still in the race are, among others:

• Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin.
• George Miller’s Happy Feet Two.
• Carlos Saldanha’s Rio.
• Gore Verbinski’s Rango.

‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ box office reunion

In other, non-awards season news… An unexpected, three-pronged The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo family reunion will be taking place at the North American box office on Tuesday evening, Dec. 20, when David Fincher’s Swedish-set American remake (go figure) of Niels Arden Oplev’s mystery thriller opens at 7 p.m.

That’s because in addition to Fincher’s thriller, we have the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo leading man Michael Nyqvist supporting Tom Cruise in Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and the dragon-tattooed girl herself, Noomi Rapace, supporting Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

Coincidentally, both movies opened at midnight Thursday, Dec. 15/16.

Here’s wondering which The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo connection will top the North American box office during the Christmas holiday.

‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ 2011 cast

Distributed by Sony Pictures, the new The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo features the following:

Rooney Mara. Daniel Craig. Stellan Skarsgård. Robin Wright. Goran Visnjic. Steven Berkoff. Geraldine James. Joely Richardson. Julian Sands.

Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee Christopher Plummer (The Last Station, 2009), who, for his portrayal of Ewan McGregor’s gay father in Mike Mills’ Beginners, also happens to be a shoo-in in that same category for the 2012 Oscars.

The Artist with Bérénice Bejo and Malcolm McDowell. Alexander Payne’s The Descendants and The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius’ homage to Hollywood’s silent era, are the clear Best Film favorites this awards season. The Artist‘s leading lady Bérénice Bejo, however, hasn’t been receiving that much recognition from U.S. film critics groups; the St. Louis Film Critics Association, which voted her the year’s Best Supporting Actress, has been an exception. In the image above, Bejo (who happens to be Hazanavicius’ wife) is seen with veteran Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, O Lucky Man!) made up to look like a W.C. Fields clone.

Awards season winners: ‘The Artist’ & numerous unusual picks

A favorite this awards season, Michel Hazanavicius’ silent, black-and-white comedy-drama The Artist is the top “Best Film of 2011” pick among the North American film critics groups listed in this post. (See further below.)

Starring Jean Dujardin and the St. Louis Film Critics Association’s Best Supporting Actress winner Bérénice Bejo, the French-Belgian co-production is a sort of A Star Is Born reboot, with one 1920s Hollywood star fading away (Dujardin) while the other (Bejo) shines ever brighter.

Most elsewhere in this post, however, the winners haven’t been the expected ones.

Michael Shannon & varied Best Supporting Actress choices

For instance, Michael Shannon got singled out several times as the year’s Best Actor for his performance as a man expecting (quite literally) the worst – the apocalypse – in Jeff Nichols’ small indie Take Shelter.

Besides, the Best of 2011 lists below seem to indicate that the Best Supporting Actress race remains wide open, when in fact Octavia Spencer (for The Help) and Jessica Chastain (for a variety of movies, including The Help) are the clear favorites.

The San Diego Film Critics strike again

And let’s not forget the following unique choices, courtesy of the iconoclastic San Diego Film Critics Society:

• Best Actress Brit Marling for Mike Cahill’s little-seen, futuristic psychological drama Another Earth.
• Best Foreign Language Film Le Quattro Volte (lit. “The Four Times”), a nearly dialogue-free look at life in the southern Italian municipality of Caulonia. Written and directed by Michelangelo Frammartino, Le Quattro Volte features Giuseppe Fuda, Bruno Timpano, Nazareno Timpano, Artemio Vellone, and lots of farm animals.
• Best Ensemble Cast for David Yates’ adventure fantasy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Ralph Fiennes, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Gambon, and a number of other big-name British performers.

See further below the list of 2011 winners and runners-up/nominees of the San Diego Film Critics Society, the Toronto Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Online, the St. Louis Film Critics Association, the Detroit Film Critics Society, the African American Film Critics Association, and the American Film Institute’s Top Ten films and television shows.

Take Shelter with Michael Shannon and Tova Stewart. Screenwriter-director Jeff Nichols’ psychological drama/thriller Take Shelter depicts the despair of a man who believes that the apocalypse is nigh. Or could it be that he’s merely losing his mind? So, how should the family shelter be used? To protect them all from imminent destruction or to protect his wife (Jessica Chastain) and daughter (Tova Stewart) from himself? Although hardly a box office hit even by indie standards, Take Shelter has earned Michael Shannon several Best Actor mentions from North American film critics groups, including those in Toronto and San Diego.

San Diego Film Critics Society winners

Best Film
Drive.
Hugo.
Midnight in Paris.
* The Artist.
The Tree of Life.

Best Foreign Language Film
A Somewhat Gentle Man.
Happy Happy.
* Le Quattro Volte.
Of Gods and Men.
The Double Hour.

Best Director
Martin Scorsese, Hugo.
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist.
* Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive.
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life.
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris.

Best Actress
* Brit Marling, Another Earth.
Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene.
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn.
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Viola Davis, The Help.

Best Actor
Brad Pitt, Moneyball.
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard.
George Clooney, The Descendants.
Jean Dujardin, The Artist.
* Michael Shannon, Take Shelter.

Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist.
Carey Mulligan, Shame.
Jessica Chastain, The Help.
Mélanie Laurent, Beginners.
* Shailene Woodley, The Descendants.

Best Supporting Actor
Albert Brooks, Drive.
Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Christopher Plummer, Beginners.
Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
* Nick Nolte, Warrior.

Best Ensemble Performance
Carnage.
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
Margin Call.
Midnight in Paris.
The Help.

Best Original Screenplay
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist.
Mike Mills, Beginners.
Thomas McCarthy, Win Win.
Will Reiser, 50/50.
* Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants.
Hossein Amini, Drive.
John Logan, Hugo.
Steve Kloves, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
* Steve Zaillian & Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball.

Best Documentary
Buck.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
Into the Abyss.
Page One: Inside the New York Times.
* Project Nim.

Best Cinematography
Adam Stone, Take Shelter.
* Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life.
Guillaume Schiffman, The Artist.
Newton Thomas Sigel, Drive.
Robert Richardson, Hugo.

Best Editing
Anne-Sophie Bion & Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist.
Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, & Mark Yoshikawa, The Tree of Life.
Mat Newman, Drive.
* Oliver Bugge Coutté, Beginners.
Thelma Schoonmaker, Hugo.

Best Score
Alexandre Desplat, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
* Alexandre Desplat, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
Alexandre Desplat, The Tree of Life.
Howard Shore, Hugo.
Ludovic Bource, The Artist.

Best Animated Film
* Arthur Christmas.
Happy Feet Two.
Kung Fu Panda 2.
Rango.
Winnie the Pooh.

Best Production Design
Anne Seibel, Midnight in Paris.
* Dante Ferretti, Hugo.
Jack Fisk, The Tree of Life.
Laurence Bennett, The Artist.
Stuart Craig, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

Body of Work
Jessica Chastain for The Debt, Take Shelter, Coriolanus, The Tree of Life, The Help, Texas Killing Fields.

Kyle Counts Award
Lee Ann Kim.

Toronto Film Critics Association winners

Best Picture: The Tree of Life.

Runners-up: The Artist. The Descendants.

Best Foreign Language Film: Mysteries of Lisbon.

Runners-up: Attenberg. Le Havre. A Separation.

Best Actress: Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn.

Runners-up: Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene. Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady.

Best Actor: Michael Shannon, Take Shelter.

Runners-up: George Clooney, The Descendants. Michael Fassbender, Shame.

Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter.

Runners-up: Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life. Shailene Woodley, The Descendants.

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners.

Runners-up: Albert Brooks, Drive. Patton Oswalt, Young Adult.

Best Director: Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life.

Runners-up: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist. Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive.

Best Screenplay: Moneyball, Steven Zaillian & Aaron Sorkin; story by Stan Chervin, based on the book by Michael Lewis.

Runners-up: The Descendants, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings. The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick.

Allan King Documentary Award: Nostalgia for the Light.

Runners-up: Into the Abyss. Project Nim.

Best Animated Feature: The Adventures of Tintin.

Runners-up: Puss in Boots. Rango.

Best First Feature: Attack the Block, dir.: Joe Cornish.

Runners-up: Margin Call, dir.: J.C. Chandor. Martha Marcy May Marlene, dir.: Sean Durkin.

Rogers Canadian Film Award Finalists:
* Café de Flore, dir.: Jean-Marc Vallée.
A Dangerous Method, dir.: David Cronenberg.
Monsieur Lazhar, dir.: Philippe Falardeau.

New York Film Critics Online winners

Best Film: The Artist.

Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation, dir.: Asghar Farhadi.

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist.

Best Actress: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady.

Runner-up: Viola Davis, The Help.

Best Actor: Michael Shannon, Take Shelter.

Runners-up: Michael Fassbender, Shame. Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, Drive.

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids.

Best Ensemble: Bridesmaids.

Best Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants.

Best Documentary: Cave of Forgotten Dreams, dir.: Werner Herzog.

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life.

Best Music: Ludovic Bource, The Artist.

Best Animated Feature: The Adventures of Tintin.

Best Debut Director: Joe Cornish, Attack the Block.

Breakthrough Performer: Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life, The Help, The Debt, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields, Coriolanus.

St. Louis Film Critics Association: Winners & nominations

Best Film
* The Artist.
The Descendants.
Drive.
My Week with Marilyn.
The Tree of Life.

Best Foreign Language Film
* 13 Assassins.
Point Blank.
I Saw the Devil.
Trollhunter.
Winter in Wartime.

Best Director
* Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist.
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life.
Alexander Payne, The Descendants.
David Fincher, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive.

Best Actor
Ryan Gosling, Drive.
* George Clooney, The Descendants.
Jean Dujardin, The Artist.
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Michael Fassbender, Shame.
Brad Pitt, Moneyball.

Best Actress
Saoirse Ronan, Hanna.
Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene.
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn.
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady.
* Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Viola Davis, The Help.

Best Supporting Actor
John Hawkes, Martha Marcy May Marlene.
* Albert Brooks, Drive.
John Goodman, The Artist.
Alan Rickman, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
Jonah Hill, Moneyball.

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett For Hanna.
Octavia Spencer, The Help.
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants.
* Bérénice Bejo, The Artist.
Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life.

Best Original Screenplay
* Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist.
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life.
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris.
Seth Lochhead & David Farr, Hanna.
Will Reiser, 50/50.
Thomas McCarthy & Joe Tiboni, Win Win.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin & Stan Chervin; Michael Lewis (book), Moneyball.
* Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash; Kaui Hart Hemmings (novel), The Descendants.
Tate Taylor; Kathryn Stockett (novel), The Help.
Hossein Amini; James Sallis (book), Drive.
Jason Segel & Nicholas Stoller; Jim Henson (characters), The Muppets.

Best Cinematography
Newton Thomas Sigel, Drive.
* Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life.
Guillaume Schiffman, The Artist.
Janusz Kaminski, War Horse.
Jeff Cronenweth, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Best Music
* The Artist.
Drive.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
The Muppets.
The Tree of Life.

Best Documentary
* Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey.
The Interrupters.
Tabloid.
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop.
Buck.

Best Animated Film
Rango.
Kung Fu Panda 2.
* The Adventures of Tin Tin.
Puss in Boots.
Rio.

Best Visual Effects
The Tree of Life.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
Super 8.
Captain America: The First Avenger.

Best Artistic/Creative Film (for excellence in art-house cinema)
* We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Martha Marcy May Marlene.
Win Win.
Beginners.
Tucker and Dale vs Evil.

Best Comedy
The Muppets.
Midnight in Paris.
* Bridesmaids.
Rango.
Paul.
Crazy Stupid Love.

Best Scene
Drive: The Elevator Beating Scene.
Drive: Opening Get-Away Scene.
* The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Opening Credits.
The Artist: Dance Scene Finale.
Melancholia: The Last Scene.
Hanna: Hanna’s Escape from Captivity Sequence.

Detroit Film Critics Society: Winners & nominations

Best Picture
* The Artist.
The Descendants.
Hugo.
Take Shelter.
The Tree of Life.

Best Director
* Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist.
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life.
Jeff Nichols, Take Shelter.
Martin Scorsese, Hugo.
Nicholas Winding Refn, Drive.

Best Actor
George Clooney, The Descendants.
Jean Dujardin, The Artist.
* Michael Fassbender, Shame.
Brad Pitt, Moneyball.
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter.

Best Actress
Viola Davis, The Help.
Felicity Jones, Like Crazy.
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady.
Charlize Theron, Young Adult.
* Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn.

Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist.
Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter.
* Carey Mulligan, Shame.
Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus.
Octavia Spencer, The Help.

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn.
Albert Brooks, Drive.
Ryan Gosling, Crazy Stupid Love.
Patton Oswalt, Young Adult.
* Christopher Plummer, Beginners.

Best Ensemble
* Carnage.
Cedar Rapids.
Crazy Stupid Love.
The Help.
Margin Call.
Win Win.

Best Screenplay
50/50, Will Reiser.
The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius.
Beginners, Mike Mills.
* Moneyball, Aaron Sorkin & Steven Zaillian.
Take Shelter, Jeff Nichols.

Best Documentary
Into Eternity.
Into the Abyss.
Marwencol.
* Tabloid.
We Were Here.

Breakthrough Performance
* Jessica Chastain, The Help, Take Shelter, The Tree of Life.
Felicity Jones, Like Crazy.
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids.
Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene.
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants.

American Film Institute Awards

Top Ten U.S. Films

• Bridesmaids.
  Director: Paul Feig.
  Cast: Kristen Wiig. Maya Rudolph. Rose Byrne. Melissa McCarthy. Jill Clayburgh.
• The Descendants.
  Director: Alexander Payne.
  Cast: George Clooney. Shailene Woodley. Judy Greer.
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
  Director: David Fincher.
  Cast: Daniel Craig. Rooney Mara.
• The Help.
  Director: Tate Taylor.
  Cast: Emma Stone. Bryce Dallas Howard. Viola Davis. Mary Steenburgen. Mike Vogel. Chris Lowell. Jessica Chastain. Allison Janney. Octavia Spencer. Sissy Spacek. Cicely Tyson. Ahna O’Reilly.
• Hugo.
  Director: Martin Scorsese.
  Cast: Asa Butterfield. Chloë Grace Moretz. Ben Kingsley. Sacha Baron Cohen. Jude Law.
• J. Edgar.
  Director: Bennett Miller.
  Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio. Armie Hammer. Judi Dench. Naomi Watts.
• Midnight in Paris.
  Director: Woody Allen.
  Cast: Owen Wilson. Rachel McAdams. Marion Cotillard.
• Moneyball.
  Director: Bennett Miller.
  Cast: Brad Pitt. Jonah Hill. Robin Wright.
• The Tree of Life.
  Director: Terrence Malick.
  Cast: Brad Pitt. Sean Penn. Jessica Chastain.
• War Horse.
  Director: Steven Spielberg.
  Cast: Jeremy Irvine. Emily Watson.

Special Awards

The Artist (French-Belgian co-production).
Director: Michel Hazanavicius.
Cast: Jean Dujardin. Bérénice Bejo. Penelope Ann Miller. John Goodman. Missi Pyle. Malcolm McDowell. Uggie.

The Harry Potter series.
The final Harry Potter movie, David Yates’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, became the biggest blockbuster of 2011. Daniel Radcliffe, Ralph Fiennes, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint star.

Top Ten U.S. TV Shows

• Breaking Bad.
• Boardwalk Empire.
• Curb Your Enthusiasm.
• Game of Thrones.
• The Good Wife.
• Homeland.
• Justified.
• Louie.
• Modern Family.
• Parks and Recreation.

African American Film Critics Association winners

Best Picture: The Tree of Life.

Top Ten Movies
Drive.
Pariah.
Rampart.
Shame.
Moneyball.
The Descendants.
A Better Life.
My Week with Marilyn.
The Help.

Best Foreign Language Film: Kinyarwanda, dir.: Alrick Brown.

Best Director: Steve McQueen, Shame.

Best Actor: Woody Harrelson, Rampart.

Best Actress: Viola Davis, The Help.

Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, Drive.

Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help.

Best Documentary: The Black Power Mixtape.

Best Screenplay: Ava DuVernay, I Will Follow.

Best Song: “The Show,” Jason Reeves & Lenka Kripac, from Moneyball.

Best Independent Film: Pariah.

Breakout Performance: Adepero Oduye, Pariah.

Cinema Vanguard Award: George Lucas.

AAFCA Legacy Award: Richard Roundtree.

AAFCA Horizon: Hattie Winston.

Institution Award: Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Toronto Film Critics Association website.

Detroit Film Critics Society website.

Malcolm McDowell and Bérénice Bejo The Artist image: The Weinstein Company.

Tova Stewart and Michael Shannon Take Shelter image: Sony Pictures Classics.

“The Artist & Bérénice Bejo + Multiple Surprises: From Michael Shannon to Brit Marling” last updated in July 2018.

Houston Film Critics Society winners via Film Misery.

Zana Marjanovic In the Land of Blood and Honey image: Dean Semler / FilmDistrict.

Neil Patrick Harris The Smurfs image: K.C. Bailey / Sony Pictures.

I Saw the Devil trailer with Lee Byung-hun and Choi Min-sik: Showbox/Mediaplex.

“Angelina Jolie Political Film Leads to Controversy & PGA Award + Best Animated Feature Oscar Contender Disqualified” last updated in June 2018.

Mysteries of Lisbon with Ricardo Pereira and Clotilde Hesme. Adapted by Carlos Saboga from Portuguese author Camilo Castelo Branco’s 1854 novel, Raoul Ruiz’s sprawling, 272-minute period drama Mysteries of Lisbon (2010) – shown in some countries as a TV miniseries – follows several intertwining stories involving, among others, a priest (Adriano Luz), a handsome assassin (Ricardo Pereira), a countess (Maria João Bastos), a maid (Joana de Verona), a friar with a past (Carloto Cotta), and a seductress (Clotilde Hesme). There are affairs, betrayals, out-of-wedlock babies, dark secrets, cosmic coincidences, and countless twists and turns.

Satellite Awards: ‘Mysteries of Lisbon’ & ‘Soul Surfer’ among unusual winners

Alexander Payne’s The Descendants was the International Press Academy’s Satellite Award winner for Best Film of 2011. Additionally, this Hawaiian-set dysfunctional family tale starring George Clooney and Shailene Woodley earned Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash the Best Adapted Screenplay award.

As often happens with the funky Satellite Awards, there were also a series of surprise winners. These included the following:

• Best Foreign Language Film Mysteries of Lisbon / Mistérios de Lisboa, a sprawling tale directed by the recently deceased Chilean filmmaker Raoul Ruiz. All but ignored by U.S. film critics groups this awards season, Mysteries of Lisbon has been luckier in Canada – the Toronto Film Critics Association also selected it as the year’s best – and, unsurprisingly, in Portugal, where it won three Globos de Ouro (Golden Globes): Best Film, Best Actor (Adriano Luz), and Best Actress (Maria João Bastos).
• Best Director Nicolas Winding Refn, who has been usually bypassed elsewhere in favor of Hugo‘s Martin Scorsese and The Artist‘s Michel Hazanavicius. A couple of exceptions have been the Houston Film Critics Society and the Austin Film Critics Association.
• Best Score for Sean McNamara’s Christian drama Soul Surfer.
• Best Editing for John Michael McDonagh’s comedy thriller The Guard.
• Best Costume Design for Water for Elephants, Francis Lawrence’s period circus drama starring Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, and Christoph Waltz.

Note: Initially, this post stated that the International Press Academy was a splinter group from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. See IPA member Mirjana Van Blaricom’s clarification in the comments section.

And see immediately below the list of the Satellite Awards’ winners and nominations in the feature film categories.

Satellite Awards: Winners & nominations

Best Film
The Artist.
* The Descendants.
Drive.
The Help.
Hugo.
Midnight in Paris.
Moneyball.
Shame.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
War Horse.

Best Foreign Language Film
Faust.
The Kid with the Bike.
Las Acadias.
Le Havre.
Miss Bala.
Mozart’s Sister.
* Mysteries of Lisbon.
A Separation.
13 Assassins.
The Turin Horse.

Best Actress
Olivia Colman, Tyrannosaur.
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs.
* Viola Davis, The Help.
Vera Farmiga, Higher Ground.
Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene.
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady.
Charlize Theron, Young Adult.
Emily Watson, Oranges and Sunshine.
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn.
Michelle Yeoh, The Lady.

Best Actor
George Clooney, The Descendants.
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar.
Michael Fassbender, Shame.
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard.
* Ryan Gosling, Drive.
Tom Hardy, Warrior.
Woody Harrelson, Rampart.
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Brad Pitt, Moneyball.
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter.

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn.
* Albert Brooks, Drive.
Colin Farrell, Horrible Bosses.
Jonah Hill, Moneyball.
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method.
Nick Nolte, Warrior.
Christopher Plummer, Beginners.
Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Christoph Waltz, Carnage.
Hugo Weaving, Oranges and Sunshine.

Best Supporting Actress
* Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life.
Elle Fanning, Super 8.
Lisa Feret, Mozart’s Sister.
Judy Greer, The Descendants.
Rachel McAdams, Midnight in Paris.
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs.
Carey Mulligan, Shame.
Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus.
Octavia Spencer, The Help.
Kate Winslet, Carnage.

Best Director
Tomas Alfredson, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris.
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist.
John Michael McDonagh, The Guard.
Steve McQueen, Shame.
Alexander Payne, The Descendants.
* Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive.
Martin Scorsese, Hugo.
Steven Spielberg, War Horse.
Tate Taylor, The Help.

Best Animated or Mixed Media Film
* The Adventures of Tintin.
Kung Fu Panda 2.
The Muppets.
Puss in Boots.
Rango.
Rio.

Best Documentary
American: The Bill Hicks Story.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
The Interrupters.
My Perestroika.
One Lucky Elephant.
Pina.
Project Nim.
Tabloid.
* Senna.
Under Fire: Journalists in Combat.

Best Original Screenplay
Paddy Considine, Tyrannosaur.
Rene Feret, Mozart’s Sister.
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist.
* Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life.
John Michael McDonagh, The Guard.
Steve McQueen & Abi Morgan, Shame.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Steven Moffat and Joe Cornish & Edgar Wright, The Adventures of Tintin.
Glenn Close & John Banville, Albert Nobbs.
* Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants.
Tate Taylor, The Help.
Steve Zaillian & Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball.
Lee Hall & Richard Curtis, War Horse.

Best Original Score
Michael Giacchino, Super 8.
Cliff Martinez, Drive.
Alexandre Desplat, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
John Williams, War Horse.
James Newton Howard, Water for Elephants.
* Marco Beltrami, Soul Surfer.

Best Original Song
“Bridge of Light,” Happy Feet 2.
“Gathering Stories,” We Bought a Zoo.
“Hello Hello,” Gnomeo & Juliet.
* “Lay Your Head Down,” Albert Nobbs.
“Life is a Happy Song,” The Muppets.
“Man or Muppet,” The Muppets.

Best Cinematography
Bruno Delbonnel, Faust.
* Janusz Kaminski, War Horse.
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life.
Newton Thomas Sigel, Drive.
Guillaume Schiffman, The Artist.
Robert Richardson, Hugo.

Best Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
* Hugo.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Super 8.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
War Horse.

Best Film Editing
* The Guard.
War Horse.
Drive.
The Descendants.
Shame.
Warrior.

Best Sound
* Drive.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
Super 8.
The Tree of Life.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
War Horse.

Best Art Direction
Anonymous.
* The Artist.
Faust.
Hugo.
Mysteries of Lisbon.
Water for Elephants.

Best Costume Design
Mysteries of Lisbon.
The Artist.
Anonymous.
Faust.
Jane Eyre.
* Water for Elephants.

Mary Pickford Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to the Entertainment Industry
Mitzi Gaynor.

Nikola Tesla Award in Recognition of Visionary Achievement in Filmmaking Technology
Douglas Trumbull.

Auteur Award
Peter Bogdanovich.

Humanitarian Award
Tim Hetherington (1970–2011).

Best Ensemble, Motion Picture
The Help.

Best First Feature
Paddy Considine, Tyrannosaur.

Florida Film Critics awards: ‘The Descendants’ & other critical favorites

Alexander Payne’s The Descendants, a dysfunctional family tale starring George Clooney, topped the Florida Film Critics Circle Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash), and Best Supporting Actress (Shailene Woodley).

Pedro Almodóvar’s gender-bending drama The Skin I Live In, starring Antonio Banderas and Elena Anaya, was the Best Foreign Language Film, while Martin Scorsese was the Best Director for the period fantasy adventure Hugo, a costly box office disappointment.

Michelle Williams & Michael Fassbender

Two Oscar favorites, Michelle Williams and Michael Fassbender, won, respectively, Best Actress for Simon Curtis’ My Week with Marilyn and Best Actor for Steve McQueen’s Shame.

Williams’ portrayal of Marilyn Monroe during the making of Laurence Olivier’s The Prince and the Showgirl has been one of the U.S. film critics groups’ top picks this awards season. In Shame, Michael Fassbender plays a troubled New Yorker with an unusually high sex drive.

Critics’ fave Albert Brooks was the Florida Film Critics’ Best Supporting Actor for Nicolas Winding Refn’s thriller Drive, starring Ryan Gosling.

And finally, the Best Original Screenplay mention went to another critical favorite, Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist, a recreation of Hollywood’s transition from silent to sound films. Inspired by A Star Is Born, Singin’ in the Rain, and other American cinema classics, the (nearly all) dialogue-less, black-and-white French-Belgian production stars Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo.

See below the full list of Florida Film Critics winners.

Florida Film Critics winners

Best Picture: The Descendants.

Best Foreign Language Film: The Skin I Live In.

Best Actor: Michael Fassbender, Shame.

Best Actress: Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn.

Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, Drive.

Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, The Descendants.

Best Director: Martin Scorsese, Hugo.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, & Jim Rash, The Descendants.

Best Original Screenplay: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist.

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life.

Best Documentary: Project Nim.

Best Animated Feature: The Adventures of Tintin.

Best Visual Effects: Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website.

W.E. image: Optimum Releasing / The Weinstein Company.

Mysteries of Lisbon image: Alfama Films.

The Descendants image: Merie Wallace / Fox Searchlight.

“Madonna Out, Elton John In: Best Song Oscar Contenders + George Clooney Movie Wins More Awards” last updated in July 2018.