Facebook Movie Remains Critics’ Favorite + Hollywood Liberal Is ‘Humanitarian of the Year’

Facebook movie The Social Network wins more U.S. film critics’ Best Picture awards: Jesse Eisenberg stars as controversial Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. David Fincher’s widely acclaimed The Social Network (a.k.a. The Facebook Movie) shows that the encroaching social media giant focusing on “friends” and “likes” – and personal user data collection – had less-than-friendly and less-than-likable beginnings.

Facebook movie tops Houston Film Critics Awards while liberal Hollywood celebrity named Humanitarian of the Year

David Fincher’s Facebook movie The Social Network was the shocking (kidding) Best Film winner at the 2010 Houston Film Critics Society Awards. Besides, Fincher was named Best Director, Aaron Sorkin the author of the Best Screenplay, and Jesse Eisenberg the Best Actor for his portrayal of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. (More on the acclaimed Facebook movie further below.)

More interesting, perhaps, than more mentions for this awards season’s biggest hit, was the – needless to say, Texas-based – Houston Film Critics’ selection of liberal-minded Hollywood elite member George Clooney as Humanitarian of the Year and Best Actress Oscar-winning Texan Sissy Spacek (Coal Miner’s Daughter, 1980) as the recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award.

But why George Clooney? Well, last January the Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner (Syriana, 2005) organized the telethon “Hope for Haiti Now” to collect donations for the victims of the devastating earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation on Jan. 12.

Natalie Portman once again Best Actress

The Houston Film Critics’ Best Actress was critics’ favorite Natalie Portman for her obsessive ballerina in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan.

Christian Bale received his latest Best Supporting Actor mention for his performance as a junkie in David O. Russell’s The Fighter, while newcomer Hailee Steinfeld was the Best Supporting Actress for Joel and Ethan Coen’s Western True Grit. Other winners included:

• Niels Arden Oplev’s Swedish-made global blockbuster The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, starring Noomi Rapace as a computer hacker, was selected as the Best Foreign Language Film.
• Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington’s Afghanistan War documentary Restrepo topped the Best Documentary category.
• Lee Unkrich’s blockbuster Toy Story 3 was the expected Best Animated Feature.

Facebook movie: Cinematic drama for adults

Initially set at the dawn of the 21st century – more specifically, the year 2003 – U.S. critics’ darling The Social Network follows Harvard undergraduate and computer programmer Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) as he becomes enmeshed in a series of personal issues and public lawsuits after the launch of the social media platform that would eclipse Myspace and, gasp!, Google’s Orkut: the increasingly widespread and increasingly intrusive Facebook.

Based on Ben Mezrich’s book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, David Fincher’s Facebook movie tells us that Zuckerberg was a “self-made man” who, American mythology or no, didn’t actually do it all by himself.

Among those who, to some extent or other, helped and/or resented him for taking the reins of the Internet behemoth were Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), Zuckerberg’s former college friend and financial Facebook supporter Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), and the Winklevoss twins Cameron and Tyler (Armie Hammer and Armie Hammer’s face, plus the body of Josh Pence as Tyler).

Houston Film Critics winners

Best Picture: The Social Network.

Best Foreign Language Film: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan.

Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network.

Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit.

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter.

Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network.

Best Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network.

Best Documentary: Restrepo.

Best Animated Film: Toy Story 3.

Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister, Inception.

Best Score: Hans Zimmer, Inception.

Best Original Song: Beck’s “We Are Sex Bob-Omb!” from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Worst Picture: Jonah Hex.

Humanitarian of the Year: George Clooney.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Sissy Spacek.

Cinematic Achievement Award: Hector Luna, founder and editor of C-47 Houston magazine, and Charles Dove, director of the Rice University Media Center.

Image of Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg in the Facebook movie The Social Network: Merrick Morton / Sony Pictures.

Armie Hammer twins – a.k.a. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss – in The Social Network: David Fincher’s Facebook movie traces the unlikable & unfriendly beginnings of the “Like” and “Add as Friend” social media platform. It should be noted that one of the two bodies shown in this picture belongs to Josh Pence (The Things We Carry); both faces belong to Armie Hammer.

Chicago Film Critics go for popular fare: David Fincher’s Facebook movie strikes again

The Chicago Film Critics Association went for their fellow critics groups’ popular choices:

• David Fincher’s Facebook movie The Social Network in the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin) categories.
• Natalie Portman as Best Actress for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan.
• Colin Firth as Best Actor for playing the speech-impaired King George VI in Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech.

In the supporting categories, just like the Houston Film Critics, the Chicago Film Critics honored Christian Bale for David O. Russell’s The Fighter and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld for Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit.

For the record, in the Best Supporting Actress slot, most groups have to date named The Fighter performer Melissa Leo. Steinfeld, however, has also been singled out here and there as either Best Supporting Actress or Best Newcomer.

The only “surprise” among the Chicago winners was Jacques Audiard’s French prison drama A Prophet / Un prophète being named Best Foreign Language Film. And that’s a “surprise” merely because A Prophet was a contender for last year’s Oscar and most critics groups have by now forgotten one of 2009’s favorites.

See below the full list of Chicago Film Critics winners.

Chicago Film Critics winners

Best Picture: The Social Network.

Best Foreign Language Film: A Prophet.

Best Director: David Fincher – The Social Network.

Best Actor: Colin Firth – The King’s Speech.

Best Actress: Natalie Portman – Black Swan.

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale – The Fighter.

Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit.

Best Original Screenplay: Inception – Christopher Nolan.

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin.

Best Documentary: Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3.

Best Cinematography: Inception – Wally Pfister.

Best Original Score: Black Swan – Clint Mansell.

Most Promising Performer: Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone.

Most Promising Filmmaker: Derek Cianfrance – Blue Valentine.

Image of the Armie Hammer twins in the Facebook movie The Social Network: Merrick Morton / Sony Pictures.

Facebook movie The Social Network with Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker and Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg: Backstabbing and powerlust in David Fincher’s enthusiastically received drama. Shortly after Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook, he wrote the following while IM’ing with a friend: “Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard” “Just ask” “I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS” “People just submitted it.” “I don’t know why.” “They ‘trust me’” “Dumb fucks.”

Florida Film Critics: Mind-bending ‘Inception’ vs. Facebook movie ‘The Social Network’ + lots of awards season favorites

Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending sci-fi/thriller Inception won more awards from the Florida Film Critics Circle than any other 2010 release, but David Fincher’s The Social Network was the actual (unsurprising) leader in terms of prestige.

The Facebook movie featuring Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, and Andrew Garfield topped the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin) categories. (See below the full list of this year’s Florida Film Critics award winners.)

In the acting categories, Natalie Portman was – once again – Best Actress for Darren Aronofsky’s ballet drama Black Swan, while Colin Firth was – once again – Best Actor for Tom Hooper’s royal drama The King’s Speech.

Additionally, Melissa Leo and Christian Bale were – once again – the winners in the supporting categories for their performances in David O. Russell’s boxing drama The Fighter. Leo and Bale each won “by comfortable margins,” according to the Florida Film Critics’ press release.

‘Inception’ tops four categories

Inception topped the following award categories: Best Original Screenplay (Christopher Nolan), Best Cinematography (Wally Pfister), Best Art Direction/Production Design (Brad Ricker and Guy Hendrix Dyas, respectively), and Best Visual Effects.

Other Florida Film Critics winners included:

• Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love as Best Foreign Language Film.
• Lee Unkrich’s Toy Story 3 as Best Animated Film.
• Amin Bar-Lev’s The Tillman Story as Best Documentary.

In “a close competition” with True Grit co-star Hailee Steinfeld, Winter’s Bone star Jennifer Lawrence was named the recipient of the Pauline Kael Breakout Award.

Florida Film Critics winners

Best Picture: The Social Network.

Best Foreign Language Film: I Am Love.

Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech.

Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan.

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter.

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter.

Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network.

Best Original Screenplay: Christopher Nolan, Inception.

Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister, Inception.

Best Visual Effects: Inception.

Best Art Direction/Production Design: Inception.

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3.

Best Documentary: The Tillman Story.

Pauline Kael Breakout Award: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone.

Golden Orange: Matthew Curtis, programming director of the Enzian Theater and the Florida Film Festival, Orlando.

Florida Film Critics Circle website.

Image of Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg in the Facebook movie The Social Network: Merrick Morton / Sony Pictures.

The Social Network with Rooney Mara: David Fincher’s well-regarded Facebook movie has been the top pick this awards season. Yet there’s one individual who hasn’t been all that crazy about it: that’s Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg in Fincher’s film). Rooney Mara – whose sister Kate Mara can be seen in another 2010 awards season fave, 127 Hours – plays Erica Albright, the (fictional) young woman who dumps Zuckerberg (who just can’t get over her) in the Aaron Sorkin-written Facebook movie.

Facebook movie tops Satellite Awards

The Social Network has won another bunch of trophies, courtesy of the International Press Academy, whose Satellite Awards were handed out at a luncheon held earlier today at the Intercontinental Hotel in the Los Angeles suburb of Century City. (See further below a partial list of 2010 Satellite Awards winners and nominees.)

David Fincher’s Facebook movie won for Best Film (Drama), Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin). Christopher Nolan’s Inception also won three awards, but in less prominent categories: Best Cinematography (Wally Pfister), Best Art Direction & Production Design (Guy Hendrix Dyas, Luke Freeborn, Brad Ricker, and Dean Wolcott), and Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer).

Surprise Best Actress winners

Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Anne Hathaway (Love & Other Drugs) were the two surprise winners in the acting categories. Rapace was the Best Actress Drama – instead of Natalie Portman (Black Swan) – while Hathaway was the Best Actress Comedy or Musical, instead of Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right).

The other acting winners were Best Actor Drama Colin Firth for The King’s Speech, Best Actor Comedy or Musical Michael Cera for the box office bomb Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale for The Fighter, and Best Supporting Actress Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom.

Best Film Editing shocker

Niels Arden Oplev’s Swedish crime thriller and international blockbuster The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was named Best Foreign Language Film. Toy Story 3 and Restrepo won, respectively, in the Best Animated Feature and Best Documentary categories.

Another big surprise was the choice of editor Robert Frazen’s work on Nicole Holofcener’s small dramatic comedy Please Give as the Best Film Editing job of the year. Almost invariably, flashier movies such as Unstoppable or Inception tend to win that type of award.

Image of Rooney Mara in the Facebook movie The Social Network: Merrick Morton / Sony Pictures.

Armie Hammer twins in The Social Network actually included Josh Pence as Tyler Winklevoss. The production kept Pence’s body, but his face was digitally erased for David Fincher’s Facebook movie. In 2004, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss sued fellow Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg for $65 million, claiming that Facebook was a plagiarized version of HarvardConnection a.k.a. ConnectU, which the Winklevoss twins and fellow Harvardite Divya Narendra had invented. A multimillion-dollar agreement was reached in 2008, but more litigation would follow.

Satellite Awards: Winners & nominations

Best Motion Picture Drama
127 Hours.
Animal Kingdom.
Blue Valentine.
Get Low.
The Ghost Writer.
Inception.
The King’s Speech.
* The Social Network.
The Town.
Winter’s Bone.

Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical
Cyrus.
The Kids Are All Right.
Made in Dagenham.
The Other Guys.
Please Give.
Red.
* Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Best Foreign Language Film
Biutiful.
* The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
I Am Love.
Mother.
Outside the Law.
Soul Kitchen.
White Material.

Best Director
Ben Affleck, The Town.
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan.
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours.
Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right.
* David Fincher, The Social Network.
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech.
David Michôd, Animal Kingdom.
Christopher Nolan, Inception.
Roman Polanski, The Ghost Writer.
Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama
Javier Bardem, Biutiful.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception.
Michael Douglas, Solitary Man.
Robert Duvall, Get Low.
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network.
* Colin Firth, The King’s Speech.
James Franco, 127 Hours.
Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical
Steve Carell, Dinner for Schmucks.
* Michael Cera, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
Romain Duris, Heartbreaker.
Andy Garcia, City Island.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Love & Other Drugs.
John Malkovich, RED.
John C. Reilly, Cyrus.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole.
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone.
Helen Mirren, The Tempest.
Natalie Portman, Black Swan.
* Noomi Rapace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Tilda Swinton, I Am Love.
Naomi Watts, Fair Game.
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right.
* Anne Hathaway, Love & Other Drugs
Sally Hawkins, Made in Dagenham.
Catherine Keener, Please Give.
Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right.
Mary-Louise Parker, RED.
Marisa Tomei, Cyrus.

Best Supporting Actor
* Christian Bale, The Fighter.
Pierce Brosnan, The Ghost Writer.
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network.
Tommy Lee Jones, The Company Men.
Bill Murray, Get Low.
Sean Penn, Fair Game.
Jeremy Renner, The Town.
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Fighter.
Marion Cotillard, Inception.
Anne-Marie Duff, Nowhere Boy.
Vanessa Redgrave, Letters to Juliet.
Rosamund Pike, Barney’s Version.
Kristin Scott Thomas, Nowhere Boy.
* Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom.
Dianne Wiest, Rabbit Hole.

Best Original Screenplay
Biutiful.
The Eclipse.
Get Low.
Inception.
The Kids Are All Right.
* David Seidler, The King’s Speech.
Toy Story 3.

Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours.
Fair Game.
The Ghost Writer.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
* Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network.
The Town.
Winter’s Bone.

Best Motion Picture Animated or Mixed Media
Alice in Wonderland.
Despicable Me.
How to Train Your Dragon.
The Illusionist.
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.
* Toy Story 3.

Best Documentary
Behind the Burly Q.
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer.
Countdown to Zero.
A Film Unfinished.
Inside Job.
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.
* Restrepo.
Sequestro.
The Tillman Story.
Waiting for ‘Superman’.

Mary Pickford Award: Vanessa Williams.

Nikola Tesla Award: Robert A. Harris.

Auteur Award: Alex Gibney.

Humanitarian Award: Connie Stevens.

Image of the Armie Hammer twins (including Josh Pence as Tyler Winklevoss) during the making of the Facebook movie The Social Network: Merrick Morton / Sony Pictures.

“Facebook Movie Remains Critics Awards’ Favorite + Texas Group Names Hollywood Liberal ‘Humanitarian of the Year’” last updated in July 2018.