Oscars buzz

anyway still in race

no?

I hope for some awards. I know that George and Grant are proud of IOM, and I would like them to receive something for their work.

Latest box office profit for IOM:
Domestic Total as of Dec. 9, 2011: $40,384,000 (Estimate)

Latest box office profit for The Descendents:
Domestic Total as of Dec. 11, 2011: $23,635,000 (Estimate)

hey! really good!

George Clooney's movie, 'The Descendants' wins top nod from L.A. Film Critic Association
7:10 PM, Dec. 11, 2011 |
LOS ANGELES — George Clooney's family drama "The Descendants" was chosen today as the year's best film by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, whose prizes are an early influence on the way to the Academy Awards.

From "Sideways" director Alexander Payne, "The Descendants" stars Clooney as a neglectful father in Hawaii trying to tend to his daughters after his wife falls into an accident-induced coma.

Michael Fassbender won best actor for a breakout year that included leading roles as a sex addict in "Shame," as a genetic mutant in "X-Men: First Class," as psychiatrist Carl Jung in "A Dangerous Method" and as sullen Victorian gentleman Rochester in "Jane Eyre."

The best-actor runner-up was Michael Shannon as a man beset by apocalyptic visions in "Take Shelter."

The critics' group passed over big Hollywood names to bestow its best-actress prize on Yun Jung-hee for the South Korean drama "Poetry," in which she plays a grandmother in the early stages of Alzheimer's who struggles with a new desire to write a poem.

Kirsten Dunst was best-actress runner-up as a depressive woman who finds inner strength as another planet bears down on a collision course with Earth in "Melancholia."

Notoriously press-shy filmmaker Terrence Malick was named best director for his epic family drama "The Tree of Life," starring Brad Pitt as a domineering father who mixes tenderness and cruelty in raising his sons. "Tree of Life" was the best-picture runner-up to "The Descendants."

The film also helped pick up the supporting-actress honor for Jessica Chastain, who was cited for "The Tree of Life" and five other films in which she co-starred this year. "Tree of Life" also earned the cinematography award for Emmanuel Lubezki (the runner-up was Cao Yu for "City of Life and Death").

The directing runner-up was Martin Scorsese for his 3-D family adventure "Hugo," about an orphan boy unraveling a mystery pegged to a toy-seller at a Paris train station in the 1930s.

Christopher Plummer won as supporting actor for "Beginners," in which he plays an elderly dad who announces to his son that he's gay. The runner-up was Patton Oswalt as an aging nerd who becomes unlikely pals with an old high school bombshell in "Young Adult."

Chastain, largely unknown until this year when she appeared in half a dozen films, was picked as supporting actress for her rush of movies, among them "Tree of Life," in which she plays a nurturing mother as counterpoint to Pitt's harsh dad. Besides "Tree of Life," Chastain's films included "The Help," ''Take Shelter" and "Coriolanus."

Janet McTeer was runner-up for supporting actress for her cross-dressing role as a woman disguising herself as a male laborer in "Albert Nobbs."

The LA critics passed over the acclaimed silent film "The Artist," considered a potential best-picture favorite at the Feb. 26 Oscars. Their East Coast counterparts, the New York Film Critics Circle, chose "The Artist" as the year's best picture last week. "The Artist" also is tied for the lead with five nominations at the Spirit Awards honoring independent film.

Prizes from the two critics' groups help sort out the awards picture amid the crush of Oscar contenders that studios fling into theaters at the end of the year. The Oscar outlook will be further refined by nominations Wednesday for the Screen Actors Guild Awards and Thursday for the Golden Globes.

The LA critics honored Johnny Depp's Western comedy "Rango" as best animated film. Steven Spielberg's globe-trotting action tale "The Adventures of Tintin" was runner-up.

The electronic duo the Chemical Brothers earned the prize for best music score for the action thriller "Hanna." The runner-up was Cliff Martinez for another action tale, "Drive."

Also Sunday, the American Film Institute released its list of the year's top-10 films, listed alphabetically: "Bridesmaids," ''The Descendants," ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," ''The Help," ''Hugo," ''J. Edgar," ''Midnight in Paris," ''Moneyball," ''The Tree of Life" and "War Horse." The group does not rank films on its top-10 list.

The AFI, whose awards honor U.S. films, gave a special prize to French director Michel Hazanavicius' "The Artist."

Other LA critics winners:

— Screenplay: Asghar Farhadi, "A Separation"; runner-up, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, "The Descendants."

— Documentary-nonfiction film: "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"; runner-up, "The Arbor."

— Production design: Dante Ferretti, "Hugo"; runner-up, Maria Djurkovic, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."

— Independent-experimental film: "Spark of Being."
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Detroit Film Critics Nominations: THE ARTIST, Martin Scorsese, George Clooney, Meryl Streep

Steve Montgomery | Dec 11, 2011 | Comments

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 ACTOR
KENNETH BRANAGH – MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
ALBERT BROOKS – DRIVE
RYAN GOSLING – CRAZY STUPID LOVE
PATTON OSWALT – YOUNG ADULT
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER – BEGINNERS

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
BÉRÉNICE BEJO – THE ARTIST
JESSICA CHASTAIN – TAKE SHELTER
CAREY MULLIGAN – SHAME
VANESSA REDGRAVE – CORIOLANUS
OCTAVIA SPENCER – THE HELP

BEST ENSEMBLE
CARNAGE
CEDAR RAPIDS
CRAZY STUPID LOVE
THE HELP
MARGIN CALL
WIN WIN

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

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

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Just for comparison, both The Descendants and IOM were completely shut out of the Boston Society of Film Critic's Awards:

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Thanks Missa! Go George Go!!!!

Still got my fingers crossed for George but not feeling nearly so positive any more.

Me too Katie. It just goes to show that some of those critics got taste for shit if they don't vote for George. Oops, is my adoration for George showing again?

Not just adoration also loyalty. And we know the best.
He has to get something.

well
happy if he wins

(so, what will be the next red carpet?

"shut out of the Boston Society of Film Critic's Awards"

Did they say why?

Cinderella wrote:

"shut out of the Boston Society of Film Critic's Awards"

Did they say why?

No. They released their list of winners on Sunday, and no one from either film won in any category. Here's the full list:

2011 Winners
Best Picture - The Artist

Best Actor - Brad Pitt for Moneyball

Best Actress - Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks for Drive

Best Supporting Actress - Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids

Best Director - Martin Scorsese for Hugo

Best Screenplay - Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin for Moneyball

Best Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezki for The Tree of Life

Best Documentary - Project Nim

Best Foreign-Language Film - Incendies

Best Animated Film - Rango

Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer) - Christian Marclay for The Clock
Best New Filmmaker (awarded in memory of David Brudnoy) - Sean Durkin for Martha Marcy May Marlene

Best Ensemble Cast - Carnage

Best Use of Music in a Film - Tie: Drive and The Artist

It doesn't look like they do nominees, they just pick winners in each category. Am I the only one who senses momentum in the Brad Pitt/The Artist camps?

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Article on Steven Spielberg's The War Horse slipping and the Descendents mention.

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My favorite for winner is George Clooney, of course.

My second favorite: Michael Fassbender or Gary Oldman.


My english is very bad, I'm sorry, but I want to say: Brad Pitt = Sandra Bullock (2010 best actress winner, she not deserved it)

hehe

Happy new year friends!


(from Spain)

Hi Alriv, we all keep our fingers cross for George. Hopefully he will get it for IOM and TD.

Welcome Alriv! Your English is very GOOD!!! Keep on posting!

ciao Alriv! good choice
your avatar!

A little bit more about George's "non-campaign campaign". Or are we to suppose that all these interviews, personal appearances and magazine covers and entirely coincidentally at this time?

From Huff Po

George Clooney On Oscar Campaigning, Early Career Tricks

George Clooney played a candidate for president in this year's hit "The Ides of March," but don't expect him to be on the campaign trail the next two months.

The star, who already has Golden Globe nods this year for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for "Ides" and Best Actor for "The Descendents," tells Entertainment Weekly that he won't be using his considerable charm to stump for gold.

"You use the word 'campaign.' I've actually done it where it was like a campaign, like kissing babies," he said. "You can justify it by saying, 'I'm helping the movie,' but you cross a line where it feels like you're only helping yourself. And it starts to feel unclean. So I haven't done that version of it since then. I didn't do it for 'Up in the Air' or 'Michael Clayton.' So the word 'campaigning' isn't part of it anymore."

Of course, when Clooney was campaigning, it worked out pretty swimmingly -- he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for "Syriana" in 2005.

Viola Davis, who earned a Golden Globe nod for her work in "The Help" and looks to be a lock for an Oscar nomination, agreed that the glad handing and backslapping that goes into winning an award is uncomfortable.

"People feel like you're self-generating all of this publicity. If people are saying, 'Who's going to win best Actress? Is it going to be Meryl or Viola' then somehow it's like we're the driving force behind that article," she said. "Like we're chirping in your ear. They don't know how putrid it is, even for us. Because the worst parts of yourself can come out if people plant it in your head that you have to win."

The Academy itself is less than pleased with all the campaigning; in September, they announced strict new rules meant to curb the practice. Those included a stop to receptions after film screenings, a ban on negative social media campaigning and Q&A restrictions.

"It's really a perception problem for us. The Oscars are about what our members see on screen and think is quality work," Academy COO Ric Robertson told The Hollywood Reporter. "To the extent that the public dialog about the Oscars is who threw a good party or ran a successful campaign versus the quality of the work, that's off-point for us. We want people to be taking about the work."

Clooney, famous for his tricks, isn't necessarily averse to some gamesmanship to get looks from Hollywood. In his early days, he said, he lived a fake double life to get auditions.

"I was with this really crappy agency when I first moved to LA," he said. "I literally went up for two roles in a year. And I was dating a girl who worked at the agency. So I created this character, Josh Reynolds, who was an agent at Artists First. And I would call casting directors and pitch myself, and when they would call back and ask for JOsh Reynolds, the girl I was dating would call me and say, 'All right, you got a call from this person.' And i would call back as the agent. I got myself a bunch of auditions."

I wasn't sure whether to post here or in the other thread, but this week's Entertainment Weekly (with George and Viola on the cover) has predictions for nominees in all the major categories. They have George as a lock in Best Actor for Descendants, and as a dark horse for Supporting Actor for Ides. Hadn't heard many people mention him in the supporting category, so I thought that was interesting.

Interestingly enough Missa, in some of the other nominations that are coming out, George is listed as Supporting Actor, along side of Philip and Paul. I hope he hopes one of them get it!