Awards News
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Drive Takes Four at Second Annual Youreviewers Awards
The second most prestigious awards of the season have been announced (Second of course to the Movie Parliament Awards) and like the most prestigious awards of the season, Drive won four including Picture, Director and Score. The YouReviewers awards for me personally is, no matter what happens at the Oscars, the best awards show of the season. As a longtime subscriber of channels such as Pretty Much It, What the Flick, Tom Chatalbash, Chris Stuckmann, Jeremy Jahns and The Schmoes Know, all channels which dictate my YoutTube viewing and therefore a large portion of my weekend. Seeing all these channels come together for such an event really is an advert for the Internet, demonstrating that while it may be a place for “trolls” (Although not for long if they run into Chris Stuckmann) it can also be a place where a bunch of passionate, cooperative and enthusiastic movie fans can get together to truly reflect the year in film.
For me and I am sure many viewers of this year’s Youreviewers Awards, not only was it fantastic to see the dramatic increase in the shows presentation and style but also to feel this personal attachment to the show, presenters and winners that just isn’t present at the Golden Globes or the Oscars. These reviewers are the ones who have inspired me to start doing my own movie reviews on Youtube and I hope that a few years or so down the line, that Movie Parliament can have some sort of presence in this community. As far as the winners were concerned, my favourite film of the year won the most including the big categories of Picture and Director (Much to the joy of presenters Jeremy Jahns and the Schmoes)
One of the great things about the Youreviewers however is the categories that are nonexistent at other awards shows. Such categories include the Best Trailer, Hero, Villain and I’m Shocked it Didn’t Suck Award. These are categories all movie fans can relate to and give the Youreviewer awards their own identity. As far as the winners in those categories are concerned, The Dark Knight Rises took Best Trailer. I have a feeling that The Dark Knight Rises will be the first film in Youreviewer history to win an award two years in a row. A worthy win however due to my personal feelings about modern movie trailers, I would have liked to see Prometheus take it. Best Hero was probably one of my least favourite wins of the show and I know I am in a minority saying that. Potter needed to be recognized in some way for what a tremendous achievement and success it was, however the Driver or Caesar would have been much more worthy winners.
Villain went to Albert Brooks in Drive, my favourite of the nominees but would have loved to see Fassbender’s Magneto there instead of Kevin Bacon’s Sebastian Shaw. Then again that is a testament to the fact that Magneto in X-Men: First Class was much more complex than he has been portrayed in the past. Fassbender did get some recognition however winning the Breakthrough Actor award, one of the most deserved wins of the show. Rooney Mara won both Breakthrough Actress and Actress, both deserved but the sharing is caring side of me feels that it would have been nice to see those awards go to two different people.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes tying with Fast Five for the I’m Shocked it Didn’t Suck Award was an expected and semi-deserved result, as I personally was shocked that Fast Five didn’t, didn’t suck. Warrior winning Underrated is deserved when you consider the commercial response to the film, which was shocking, and its lack of big nominations at other awards shows beyond Nick Nolte. 50/50 winning two is also great to see, considering it got a grand total of zero Oscar nominations. Levitt is one of the best actors in the business so seeing him win was fantastic and while I am overjoyed for Will Reiser, I don’t think 50/50 was the best screenplay of the year.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes was bound to have a big showing here and it was the second highest winner, as it took visual effects and supporting actor along with its tie for the I’m Shocked it Didn’t Suck Award. Both hugely deserved and if I was to make one criticism or perhaps personal minor gripe, if Andy Serkis in Rise was going to be considered anywhere other than Movie Parliament as a Leading Actor performance, I was hoping it would be here. Melissa McCarthy winning supporting actress for Bridesmaids is great as comedy is being recognized and despite my feelings about the film, I liked her in it and while she is nominated at the Oscars, is unlucky to get the gold.
So that is my opinion on all the winners at this year’s Youreviewers awards, but what are yours? Comment on the videos of the show itself by clicking on the links below, or give us your in-depth thoughts in the Your Say section. I highly recommend you watch the show itself, starting with the introduction by clicking here. Also subscribe to the Schmoes Know by checking out their channel here, Jeremy Jahns here, Chris Stuckmann here, Pretty Much It here, Tom Chatalbash here and where I (Prime Minister of Movie Parliament) will be posting reviews here. Also subscribe to the channel of Movie Parliament Minister for Foreign Affairs Arnaud Trouve here.
Congratulations again to the Youtube movie reviewing community and hopefully even more attention will be paid to the awards next year.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Winners in Full:
Breakthrough Actress: Rooney Mara
Breakthrough Actor: Michael Fassbender
Best Screenplay: 50/50
I’m Shocked it Didn’t Suck: TIE (Fast Five and Rise of the Planet of the Apes)
Most Underrated Film: Warrior
Best Trailer: The Dark Knight Rises
Best Animated Film: Rango
Best Supporting Actor: Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Best Score: Drive
Best Visual Effects: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Best Hero: Harry Potter (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two)
Best Villain: Albert Brooks as Bernie Rose (Drive)
Best Actress: Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Best Actor: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50)
Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive)
Best Picture: Drive
Drive-4 (Picture, Director, Villain and Score)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes-3 (Supporting Actor, Visual Effects and Tied for I’m Shocked it Didn’t Suck)
50/50-2 (Actor and Original Screenplay)
For me and I am sure many viewers of this year’s Youreviewers Awards, not only was it fantastic to see the dramatic increase in the shows presentation and style but also to feel this personal attachment to the show, presenters and winners that just isn’t present at the Golden Globes or the Oscars. These reviewers are the ones who have inspired me to start doing my own movie reviews on Youtube and I hope that a few years or so down the line, that Movie Parliament can have some sort of presence in this community. As far as the winners were concerned, my favourite film of the year won the most including the big categories of Picture and Director (Much to the joy of presenters Jeremy Jahns and the Schmoes)
One of the great things about the Youreviewers however is the categories that are nonexistent at other awards shows. Such categories include the Best Trailer, Hero, Villain and I’m Shocked it Didn’t Suck Award. These are categories all movie fans can relate to and give the Youreviewer awards their own identity. As far as the winners in those categories are concerned, The Dark Knight Rises took Best Trailer. I have a feeling that The Dark Knight Rises will be the first film in Youreviewer history to win an award two years in a row. A worthy win however due to my personal feelings about modern movie trailers, I would have liked to see Prometheus take it. Best Hero was probably one of my least favourite wins of the show and I know I am in a minority saying that. Potter needed to be recognized in some way for what a tremendous achievement and success it was, however the Driver or Caesar would have been much more worthy winners.
Villain went to Albert Brooks in Drive, my favourite of the nominees but would have loved to see Fassbender’s Magneto there instead of Kevin Bacon’s Sebastian Shaw. Then again that is a testament to the fact that Magneto in X-Men: First Class was much more complex than he has been portrayed in the past. Fassbender did get some recognition however winning the Breakthrough Actor award, one of the most deserved wins of the show. Rooney Mara won both Breakthrough Actress and Actress, both deserved but the sharing is caring side of me feels that it would have been nice to see those awards go to two different people.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes tying with Fast Five for the I’m Shocked it Didn’t Suck Award was an expected and semi-deserved result, as I personally was shocked that Fast Five didn’t, didn’t suck. Warrior winning Underrated is deserved when you consider the commercial response to the film, which was shocking, and its lack of big nominations at other awards shows beyond Nick Nolte. 50/50 winning two is also great to see, considering it got a grand total of zero Oscar nominations. Levitt is one of the best actors in the business so seeing him win was fantastic and while I am overjoyed for Will Reiser, I don’t think 50/50 was the best screenplay of the year.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes was bound to have a big showing here and it was the second highest winner, as it took visual effects and supporting actor along with its tie for the I’m Shocked it Didn’t Suck Award. Both hugely deserved and if I was to make one criticism or perhaps personal minor gripe, if Andy Serkis in Rise was going to be considered anywhere other than Movie Parliament as a Leading Actor performance, I was hoping it would be here. Melissa McCarthy winning supporting actress for Bridesmaids is great as comedy is being recognized and despite my feelings about the film, I liked her in it and while she is nominated at the Oscars, is unlucky to get the gold.
So that is my opinion on all the winners at this year’s Youreviewers awards, but what are yours? Comment on the videos of the show itself by clicking on the links below, or give us your in-depth thoughts in the Your Say section. I highly recommend you watch the show itself, starting with the introduction by clicking here. Also subscribe to the Schmoes Know by checking out their channel here, Jeremy Jahns here, Chris Stuckmann here, Pretty Much It here, Tom Chatalbash here and where I (Prime Minister of Movie Parliament) will be posting reviews here. Also subscribe to the channel of Movie Parliament Minister for Foreign Affairs Arnaud Trouve here.
Congratulations again to the Youtube movie reviewing community and hopefully even more attention will be paid to the awards next year.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Winners in Full:
Breakthrough Actress: Rooney Mara
Breakthrough Actor: Michael Fassbender
Best Screenplay: 50/50
I’m Shocked it Didn’t Suck: TIE (Fast Five and Rise of the Planet of the Apes)
Most Underrated Film: Warrior
Best Trailer: The Dark Knight Rises
Best Animated Film: Rango
Best Supporting Actor: Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Best Score: Drive
Best Visual Effects: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Best Hero: Harry Potter (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two)
Best Villain: Albert Brooks as Bernie Rose (Drive)
Best Actress: Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Best Actor: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50)
Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive)
Best Picture: Drive
Drive-4 (Picture, Director, Villain and Score)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes-3 (Supporting Actor, Visual Effects and Tied for I’m Shocked it Didn’t Suck)
50/50-2 (Actor and Original Screenplay)
Taking the B out of BAFTA
In a year where British film gave us such critically adored movies as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Senna, Tyrannosaur, Attack the Block, Shame, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Kill List, Submarine and The Guard...a French film has swept the British Academy of Film and Television Awards. In a year that has given us results such as this the question must be asked, do the BAFTAs want to celebrate and highlight the best of British film? Or merely be another Oscar precursor? Desperate to claim influence in shaping the outcome of the biggest awards show out there (In which case they are barking up the wrong tree, as the Movie Parliament Awards are clearly the most significant and prestigious)
In the year of the London Riots, shouldn’t Attack the Block have received some more recognition? That is home grown, British talent taking Hollywood on at their own game on a small budget and showing them how its done while subtly reflecting current, British, social issues. Deserved Debut feature over Tyrannosaur in my view. While I am not the biggest fan of Tyrannosaur (As the previous comment suggests), surely Olivia Colman and Peter Mullan deserved an Acting nomination. That is an example of two sensational, British, performances that need more exposure. While British genre films fell victim to the usual Awards snobbery (Attack the Block, Submarine, The Guard and Kill List) surely films such as Tyrannosaur, We Need to Talk About Kevin and Shame which address Awards friendly issues (Admittedly in an un awards friendly way) could have got some love.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy while winning two awards it deserved to win (Adapted Screenplay and Outstanding British Film) it is disappointing not to see Gary Oldman get a much deserved statue this Awards season, doubly so considering he was on home turf. In terms of Senna, I cannot complain as it won Documentary and Editing (A big win and the most deserved of the night in my view)
The Artist swept with six awards and just like The King’s Speech and Hurt Locker sweeps before it, solidifies its Oscar winner status. The BAFTAs may have “sold out” long ago but it was only this year when I took genuine notice and borderline annoyance about it. The BAFTAs are a big show, which could push British talent into the stratosphere, yet the biggest British film awards would rather fall in line and award talent that has been and will be recognized in bigger Awards shows. British Film and British Debut aren’t enough...I am not saying all BAFTA winners should be British and at the end of the day the best films and performances should win whether British or not. However, The Artist sweeping is not a reflection of the best of 2011 in British film nor world film. BAFTA can do what they do but they should drop the “Representing British Film” spin, nominating is not enough.
If you want to see a true recognition of British talent, go to the British Independent Film Awards. If you want help in predicting what will at the Oscars, watch the BAFTAs. Mind you when it comes to BAFTA, they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. When they do award British film in big categories, we have Atonement winning over No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood or The Queen over The Departed. I admire the BAFTAs for their nominations this year and for the 2 awards they gave to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and the 2 awards they gave to Senna. Beyond that however, when you judge it in terms of recognizing British talent, BAFTAs let themselves down this year.
In terms of the larger game, the big story from the BAFTAs in terms of definite changes in the race, is that Jean Dujardin is on track to win the Best Actor Oscar. The only question left this season is, how many will The Artist win?
What do you think? Have the BAFTAs sold out? Do you agree that they do not truly recognize and highlight British talent? Should there be more of an emphasis on British films by the voters? Have the BIFAs overtaken the BAFTAs in recognizing British talent? Give us all your thoughts on the BAFTAs and this year’s wider awards season in the Your Say section.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
In the year of the London Riots, shouldn’t Attack the Block have received some more recognition? That is home grown, British talent taking Hollywood on at their own game on a small budget and showing them how its done while subtly reflecting current, British, social issues. Deserved Debut feature over Tyrannosaur in my view. While I am not the biggest fan of Tyrannosaur (As the previous comment suggests), surely Olivia Colman and Peter Mullan deserved an Acting nomination. That is an example of two sensational, British, performances that need more exposure. While British genre films fell victim to the usual Awards snobbery (Attack the Block, Submarine, The Guard and Kill List) surely films such as Tyrannosaur, We Need to Talk About Kevin and Shame which address Awards friendly issues (Admittedly in an un awards friendly way) could have got some love.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy while winning two awards it deserved to win (Adapted Screenplay and Outstanding British Film) it is disappointing not to see Gary Oldman get a much deserved statue this Awards season, doubly so considering he was on home turf. In terms of Senna, I cannot complain as it won Documentary and Editing (A big win and the most deserved of the night in my view)
The Artist swept with six awards and just like The King’s Speech and Hurt Locker sweeps before it, solidifies its Oscar winner status. The BAFTAs may have “sold out” long ago but it was only this year when I took genuine notice and borderline annoyance about it. The BAFTAs are a big show, which could push British talent into the stratosphere, yet the biggest British film awards would rather fall in line and award talent that has been and will be recognized in bigger Awards shows. British Film and British Debut aren’t enough...I am not saying all BAFTA winners should be British and at the end of the day the best films and performances should win whether British or not. However, The Artist sweeping is not a reflection of the best of 2011 in British film nor world film. BAFTA can do what they do but they should drop the “Representing British Film” spin, nominating is not enough.
If you want to see a true recognition of British talent, go to the British Independent Film Awards. If you want help in predicting what will at the Oscars, watch the BAFTAs. Mind you when it comes to BAFTA, they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. When they do award British film in big categories, we have Atonement winning over No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood or The Queen over The Departed. I admire the BAFTAs for their nominations this year and for the 2 awards they gave to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and the 2 awards they gave to Senna. Beyond that however, when you judge it in terms of recognizing British talent, BAFTAs let themselves down this year.
In terms of the larger game, the big story from the BAFTAs in terms of definite changes in the race, is that Jean Dujardin is on track to win the Best Actor Oscar. The only question left this season is, how many will The Artist win?
What do you think? Have the BAFTAs sold out? Do you agree that they do not truly recognize and highlight British talent? Should there be more of an emphasis on British films by the voters? Have the BIFAs overtaken the BAFTAs in recognizing British talent? Give us all your thoughts on the BAFTAs and this year’s wider awards season in the Your Say section.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
PGA, DGA & SAG Winners
As you were...
PGA: THE ARTIST
DGA: THE ARTIST
SAG ENSEMBLE: THE HELP
SAG Actor: Jean Dujardin (THE ARTIST)
SAG Actress: Viola Davis (THE HELP)
SAG Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer (BEGINNERS)
SAG Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer (THE HELP)
PGA: THE ARTIST
DGA: THE ARTIST
SAG ENSEMBLE: THE HELP
SAG Actor: Jean Dujardin (THE ARTIST)
SAG Actress: Viola Davis (THE HELP)
SAG Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer (BEGINNERS)
SAG Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer (THE HELP)
Oscar Nominations Announced!
First of all apologies for failing to fully cover Globe winners and Bafta nominees, a much needed Campaign update is in store and will come this weekend where in the light of everything, I evaluate who stands where in this year's Oscar race. The major shock of the Oscar nominations for me was that despite its strong showing at the guilds (Which included a DGA nod) Dragon Tattoo failed to get either a Best Director or Best Picture nomination. Whereas Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, a film which got no guild love did get nominated. I did predict a while back however that Rudin's strategy (Which many lambasted when the film missed out on PGA and Golden Globes) could pay off, however it only has in two categories (Although many would argue that is two categories too many)
There were two major disappointments for me, one was the singular nomination for Drive being Sound Editing, Albert Brooks snubbed in what seems to be the first villain free supporting actor list in four years or so. Also the original song category which is shameful, only two nominations, first question being, why? There are normally five nominations, couldn't they just nominate three of the other songs from The Muppets? My biggest complaint with the original song category however means that the lack of a nomination for Life's a Happy Song loses me a bet...thanks Academy. I wasn't expecting Shannon and Serkis to get their much deserved love and therefore their snubs did not bother me as much, especially safe in the knowledge that they are getting recognized with the MPA NOMINATIONS Hugo leads the nominations with 11 and it is absolutely a title fight between that and The Artist, which has ten nominations. DGA will be a huge factor in this race, if Hugo wins DGA, with the most nominations and a potential Artist backlash, it could just snatch a victory. However if Hazanavicius takes the DGA, it's all over.
Happy to see Moneyball get six nominations and hope that either it or Tinker Tailor takes the Adapted Screenplay Oscar, despite the fact they will both probably lose to the undeserving The Descendants. Even though I have been saying this every nominations announcement, it has to be repeated, Bridesmaids does not belong here one bit. A film which is basically your normal gross out Hangover esque comedy, is a better and more original screenplay than something such as Take Shelter? Probably one of my least favourite nominations. While I can understand the respect directors have for Terrence Malick, my thoughts on the film lead me to take umbrage with his nomination, cinematography I can support and say deserves the win. I will come out in full support of the film however when it comes to the visual effects category, where its snub is bordering on disgraceful. Also interesting to note is that the 5-10 system gave us 9 nominees, one more nominee than I was predicting. Basically we shifted one away from the usual ten this year and under the usual ten it would be Dragon Tattoo. Looking at Picture, Director, Screenplay and Editing, it really is between Artist, Descendants and Hugo. With the nomination count bringing us to our normal two horse race. Harry Potter thankfully gets no major nominations and I feel may struggle to win a single Oscar, with its best shot at Art Direction being clouded by the presence of Hugo. I am also happy to see no Animated Film Oscar for Tintin but furious that it got an Original Score nomination ahead of works such as Drive and Dragon Tattoo.
The best way to sum up this year's nominations and the Oscars in general is that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Transformers: Dark of the Moon have more nominations than Drive...nuff said. Overall the good (No greats in these nominations) is the nominations for Tinker Tailor, Moneyball and...wow, those are the only nominations that I am happy about. The rest were either too predictable (Moneyball nominations can be included in this camp to be fair) to excite me or are for films I have either not seen or have no strong feelings towards. Overall a very so so year for the Oscars, with the nominations this year being more bad than good...at least last year three of my favourite films of the year were up for Best Picture, this year, none, well one actually. What about you? Are your favourite films nominated? Are you angry at the Potter snubs? Do you want to give an argument for why Bridesmaids deserved its nominations? Who do you think will win the "big" awards? What is your favourite and least favourite nomination? Check out the nominations by clicking here. Give us all your Oscar nomination thoughts and feelings in the Your Say section.
There were two major disappointments for me, one was the singular nomination for Drive being Sound Editing, Albert Brooks snubbed in what seems to be the first villain free supporting actor list in four years or so. Also the original song category which is shameful, only two nominations, first question being, why? There are normally five nominations, couldn't they just nominate three of the other songs from The Muppets? My biggest complaint with the original song category however means that the lack of a nomination for Life's a Happy Song loses me a bet...thanks Academy. I wasn't expecting Shannon and Serkis to get their much deserved love and therefore their snubs did not bother me as much, especially safe in the knowledge that they are getting recognized with the MPA NOMINATIONS Hugo leads the nominations with 11 and it is absolutely a title fight between that and The Artist, which has ten nominations. DGA will be a huge factor in this race, if Hugo wins DGA, with the most nominations and a potential Artist backlash, it could just snatch a victory. However if Hazanavicius takes the DGA, it's all over.
Happy to see Moneyball get six nominations and hope that either it or Tinker Tailor takes the Adapted Screenplay Oscar, despite the fact they will both probably lose to the undeserving The Descendants. Even though I have been saying this every nominations announcement, it has to be repeated, Bridesmaids does not belong here one bit. A film which is basically your normal gross out Hangover esque comedy, is a better and more original screenplay than something such as Take Shelter? Probably one of my least favourite nominations. While I can understand the respect directors have for Terrence Malick, my thoughts on the film lead me to take umbrage with his nomination, cinematography I can support and say deserves the win. I will come out in full support of the film however when it comes to the visual effects category, where its snub is bordering on disgraceful. Also interesting to note is that the 5-10 system gave us 9 nominees, one more nominee than I was predicting. Basically we shifted one away from the usual ten this year and under the usual ten it would be Dragon Tattoo. Looking at Picture, Director, Screenplay and Editing, it really is between Artist, Descendants and Hugo. With the nomination count bringing us to our normal two horse race. Harry Potter thankfully gets no major nominations and I feel may struggle to win a single Oscar, with its best shot at Art Direction being clouded by the presence of Hugo. I am also happy to see no Animated Film Oscar for Tintin but furious that it got an Original Score nomination ahead of works such as Drive and Dragon Tattoo.
The best way to sum up this year's nominations and the Oscars in general is that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Transformers: Dark of the Moon have more nominations than Drive...nuff said. Overall the good (No greats in these nominations) is the nominations for Tinker Tailor, Moneyball and...wow, those are the only nominations that I am happy about. The rest were either too predictable (Moneyball nominations can be included in this camp to be fair) to excite me or are for films I have either not seen or have no strong feelings towards. Overall a very so so year for the Oscars, with the nominations this year being more bad than good...at least last year three of my favourite films of the year were up for Best Picture, this year, none, well one actually. What about you? Are your favourite films nominated? Are you angry at the Potter snubs? Do you want to give an argument for why Bridesmaids deserved its nominations? Who do you think will win the "big" awards? What is your favourite and least favourite nomination? Check out the nominations by clicking here. Give us all your Oscar nomination thoughts and feelings in the Your Say section.
DGA Nominations Announced
Yesterday saw the announcement of the Directors Guild nominations, arguably the most important of the pre-Oscar guild awards. A win here all but guarantees a Best Director Oscar and as we know nine times out of ten Director and Picture Oscars tend to go hand in hand. It is a huge shock then and blow for the film, that Steven Spielberg and War Horse are nowhere to be seen across the five nominees. Believe it or not, David Fincher's two hour forty minute feel-bad, R rated Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has more guild recognition and better box office than Steven Spielberg's family and Oscar friendly War Horse. Midnight in Paris got another huge boost with Woody Allen getting a nomination here, solidly placing the film as a likely Best Picture nominee at the Oscars due to its recognition from SAG, Golden Globes, PGA and now DGA. Allen himself is also looking like a Director nominee at the Oscars however he, along with Fincher, is probably the most likely to be replaced come Oscar time by somebody like a certain Mr. Spielberg. The other three nominations were unsurprisingly Alexander Payne for The Descendants, Martin Scorsese for Hugo and Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist. My prediction? Martin Scorsese winning for Hugo. I predict the Guild awards to split between three films with The Help taking SAG, The Artist taking PGA and Hugo taking DGA. If such an outcome is reached, then we should have a very exciting time when coming to predicting the eventual Oscar winners. However if The Artist does a King's Speech and takes all three of the guilds then we will be set for another boring, predictable, business as usual Oscar night.
The main takeaways from these nominations for me: Dragon Tattoo IS a contender, Midnight in Paris is getting a Best Picture nomination and War Horse is in trouble
What do you think of these DGA nominations? Who shouldn't of got nominated? Who should of got nominated? (In a perfect world Nicolas Winding Refn and Tomas Alfredson would have been nominated) Who do you think will win? Give us all your thoughts on these nominations and this year's Oscar race in general, in the Your Say section. Once again this year's DGA nominations are...
Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
David Fincher (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)
The main takeaways from these nominations for me: Dragon Tattoo IS a contender, Midnight in Paris is getting a Best Picture nomination and War Horse is in trouble
What do you think of these DGA nominations? Who shouldn't of got nominated? Who should of got nominated? (In a perfect world Nicolas Winding Refn and Tomas Alfredson would have been nominated) Who do you think will win? Give us all your thoughts on these nominations and this year's Oscar race in general, in the Your Say section. Once again this year's DGA nominations are...
Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
David Fincher (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)
PGA Nominations Announced
The Producers Guild of America have announced their ten nominees for Best Picture (In reality the Darryl F. Zanuck award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures) and they are as follows:
The Artist
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
War Horse
To cut straight to the chase, if you take out The Ides of March, Dragon Tattoo and Bridesmaids then you have your Oscar nominees (Unless of course any of those three films gets a DGA nod) Bridesmaids with SAG, now PGA and likely a WGA nomination has been a surprising force early in the awards season, however I expect (and hope) that this doesn't translate into any Oscar nominations for one of the year's most overrated films. The SAG nomination I can understand, WGA giving the films not eligible I can also understand but I feel here at the PGA, it took a slot that a lot of other films were more worthy of. Bridesmaids is there because it made a lot of money but I am happy that, along with Midnight in Paris, comedy is getting recognized. The lack of a nomination here means that Deathly Hallows: Part Two is officially dead (As it was in my mind before awards season began) while Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is now facing the grim possibility of picking up only two or perhaps even one nomination, the momentum and the attention just isn't there, ditto Young Adult. It is likely that in the year of the ten, this would have been our ten with perhaps Bridesmaids out of the way for something like Harry Potter (Even though Super 8 and Rise of the Apes are much more worthy for the "blockbuster slot")
The three that I am predicting not to get the Oscar Best Picture nomination are the ones who have moved up based on this nomination and if any of those three is going to get a DGA nod it is Dragon Tattoo, if it gets that then I think it becomes part of the Best Picture conversation at least for a nomination. Drive and The Tree of Life expectedly fail to turn their critical love into industry attention, both missing out on SAG and now PGA, DGA will either be a final nail in the coffin, or perhaps a sign of life for...The Tree of Life, if Malick can get a nomination there from his peers.
What do you think of these nominations? Which film do you think will win? (I'm predicting The Artist) Which of these films do you think will get an Oscar nomination and which won't? Give us all your PGA thoughts in the Your Say section. Regardless of what they nominated in any other category, PGA have already got one up over the Oscars by giving Senna a nomination in its documentary category, continue to hang your heads in shame over this omission Academy.
Here the nominees for the other PGA categories.
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:
The Adventures of Tintin
Cars 2
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest
Bill Cunningham New York
Project Nim
Senna
The Union
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
The Artist
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
War Horse
To cut straight to the chase, if you take out The Ides of March, Dragon Tattoo and Bridesmaids then you have your Oscar nominees (Unless of course any of those three films gets a DGA nod) Bridesmaids with SAG, now PGA and likely a WGA nomination has been a surprising force early in the awards season, however I expect (and hope) that this doesn't translate into any Oscar nominations for one of the year's most overrated films. The SAG nomination I can understand, WGA giving the films not eligible I can also understand but I feel here at the PGA, it took a slot that a lot of other films were more worthy of. Bridesmaids is there because it made a lot of money but I am happy that, along with Midnight in Paris, comedy is getting recognized. The lack of a nomination here means that Deathly Hallows: Part Two is officially dead (As it was in my mind before awards season began) while Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is now facing the grim possibility of picking up only two or perhaps even one nomination, the momentum and the attention just isn't there, ditto Young Adult. It is likely that in the year of the ten, this would have been our ten with perhaps Bridesmaids out of the way for something like Harry Potter (Even though Super 8 and Rise of the Apes are much more worthy for the "blockbuster slot")
The three that I am predicting not to get the Oscar Best Picture nomination are the ones who have moved up based on this nomination and if any of those three is going to get a DGA nod it is Dragon Tattoo, if it gets that then I think it becomes part of the Best Picture conversation at least for a nomination. Drive and The Tree of Life expectedly fail to turn their critical love into industry attention, both missing out on SAG and now PGA, DGA will either be a final nail in the coffin, or perhaps a sign of life for...The Tree of Life, if Malick can get a nomination there from his peers.
What do you think of these nominations? Which film do you think will win? (I'm predicting The Artist) Which of these films do you think will get an Oscar nomination and which won't? Give us all your PGA thoughts in the Your Say section. Regardless of what they nominated in any other category, PGA have already got one up over the Oscars by giving Senna a nomination in its documentary category, continue to hang your heads in shame over this omission Academy.
Here the nominees for the other PGA categories.
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:
The Adventures of Tintin
Cars 2
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest
Bill Cunningham New York
Project Nim
Senna
The Union
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Golden Globe Nominations Announced
You know the drill...
Best Motion Picture - Drama
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse
My View: Six nominations this year rather than the usual five and a big boost for The Ides of March. Given that it was not met with any real rave reviews and the lack of SAG attention, this Golden Globe nomination gives it some more momentum in the race, with it probably likely to get a PGA nod if they are still nominating ten. Moneyball is the only film of the six I have seen and I am happy for its inclusion, however along with War Horse and The Help, the lack of a director nomination means it is unlikely to be victorious in this category. Ultimately this is a three way race between The Descendants, Hugo and The Ides of March. As of right now, I reckon The Descendants takes the prize but Hugo could be a surprise/not surprise winner. Hugo winning this and The Artist winning Comedy/Musical would set the two up as front-runners pitting a 3D special effects filled ode to cinema against a silent black and white ode to cinema.
My Prediction: Hugo (I know I said Descendants in the prior paragraph but I'm starting to think the HFPA might respond more to the Scorsese film, despite its lack of a screenplay nomination. However its lack of a screenplay nomination is in no way damaging when you consider the victory of Avatar two years ago)
Arnaud: The Descendants
Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
My Week with Marilyn
My View: They might as well give this to The Artist now. My Week with Marilyn is a questionable nomination and in my mind the overrated Bridesmaids does not belong here, Midnight in Paris could spring a potential upset however given its screenplay and director nominations. Happy to see 50/50 here and in another year I think it could have walked away with a Golden Globe (Not in this category however) but The Artist looks set to sweep the Comedy-Musical awards.
My Prediction: The Artist
Arnaud: The Artist
Best Actor - Drama
George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
My View: I am sure many (Including our Minister for Foreign Affairs) will be happy to see Michael Fassbender in this category after his SAG snub yesterday. As a fan of Moneyball I am happy to see Pitt in the category and Ryan Gosling gets a boost, however his chances of an Oscar nomination are still slim. Dicaprio, Pitt and Clooney all seem set for the Oscars, with Fassbender looking more likely than Gosling to replicate this nomination at the Oscars. Gary Oldman and Michael Shannon being snubbed from this category is a huge shame, having seen two of the nominated performances, while I have nothing against them, neither of them hold a candle to what Shannon achieved in Take Shelter, which remains for me one of the best performances of the year which provided one of the best scenes of the year.
My Prediction: George Clooney takes this. He has broken a record this year with four individual Golden Globe nominations (Three of which were for The Ides of March) and this is the most justifiable case for him to win one. Plus the HFPA love the guy, he has won two already and his film has more nominations than the films which his opponents are in.
Arnaud: George Clooney
Best Actress - Drama
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
My View: Was not expecting Tilda Swinton to get a nomination from this crowd and I now think that she, along with Glenn Close, Meryl Streep and Viola Davis looks set for an Oscar nomination. This leaves one spot open in the Best Actress race which will be fought over by Rooney Mara, Charlize Theron and Michelle Williams. I think Michelle Williams will ultimately win that war (And possibly this Golden Globe battle) but Viola Davis looks likely to win this statue. Her film is the only one in this category to score a Best Picture nomination and she will probably be the one the HFPA award for The Help, along with Octavia Spencer perhaps. With this and her SAG nomination, the doubters of Glenn Close will have to change their tune as she now has significantly more momentum than Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
My Prediction: Viola Davis
Arnaud: Meryl Streep
Best Actor - Comedy or Musical
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50
Ryan Gosling, Crazy Stupid Love
Owen Wilson, Midnight in Paris
My View: Happy to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brendan Gleeson get some worthy attention in this category, with the former being the most likely to win if a certain Frenchman was not in the equation. Dujardin however pretty much has this award sealed and may go on a Christoph Waltz esque rampage this season, especially if he can produce a killer of a speech to silence those who insinuate that his english speaking abilities may damage his Oscar hopes. Wouldn't it be awesome if he did his speeches silently? THAT would be a way to catch everybody's attention and brilliantly toy with the audience. I can imagine him moving around his body, having a translator transcribe it for us, only for Dujardin to correct him in a comic manner, if pulled off correctly it could be BRILLIANT.
My Prediction: Jean Dujardin and I hope he reads this so that we can see a silent acceptance speech. LET THE TWITTER CAMPAIGN BEGIN!
Arnaud: Jean Dujardin
Best Actress - Comedy or Musical
Jodie Foster, Carnage
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
Kate Winslet, Carnage
My View: Two nominations for Carnage is the story in this category, with Williams, Theron and Wiig all being predictable mentions. The ladies from Carnage will probably split the Carnage vote, while the lack of any other nominations for Young Adult, suggests that the HFPA didn't respond to the film and is damaging for Theron's chances in this category. This Globe pretty much has Williams' name on it as apart from Wiig (Who shouldn't be here) she is the only one with her film in the Best Picture categories.
My Prediction: Michelle Williams
Arnaud: Michelle Williams
Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
My View: Brooks is saved after yesterday's SAG snub while Branagh is looking more and more likely. Plummer remains the favourite and as a Moneyball fan, I am happy to see Jonah Hill continue to gather momentum. Mortensen is a surprise nomination in this category and as somebody who found A Dangerous Method a film that would be more aptly titled A Dangerous Meh-thod, it's nice to see an actor of Mortensen's ability get recognized.
My Prediction: Christopher Plummer but Jonah Hill might be an upset.
Arnaud: Christopher Plummer
Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants
My View: So the same as SAG except Shailene is in for Melissa, which is how it will stay regarding the Oscars I predict. This is a hard category to call, could the women from The Help split the vote? This either going to Spencer or Bejo...I'm going to say that they will want to give The Help two given that The Artist is a guaranteed winner in three other categories.
My Prediction: Octavia Spencer
Arnaud: Octavia Spencer
Best Director
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
George Clooney, The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
My View: Hazanavicius most likely takes this for The Artist but Scorsese could be a challenger. Woody Allen I think will get his Midnight in Paris recognition in the screenplay category, while the direction of Payne and Clooney probably isn't overt enough to win over the likes of the other three nominees. Given that The Artist leads the nominations though, this looks like Hazanavicius' to lose.
My Prediction: Michel Hazanavicius
Arnaud: Michel Hazanavicius
Best Screenplay
The Artist
The Descendants
The Ides of March
Moneyball
Midnight in Paris
My View: Any of these five could take it but I reckon this is the category where Midnight in Paris gets its globe. The film has got multiple nominations and voters will probably want to award both Woody Allen and a well loved critical and commercial darling of the year. Having said that if Moneyball is going to get anything from the Globes it both deserves it and has the best chance in this category, however the lack of a director nomination suggests the film may not be a big player across the whole HFPA. The Artist and The Descendants both also have valid claims to this category but I'm going to stick with Mr. Allen
My Prediction: Midnight in Paris
Arnaud: Midnight in Paris
Best Score
The Artist
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
War Horse
W.E.
My View: I'm guessing that Dragon Tattoo probably deserves it but in no film is the music more highlighted this year than in a silent film. I tend to wait and listen to the film scores in the film but I have heard nothing but good things about the score to The Artist. Like I said it is probably the most emphasized of the scores and I think will bring The Artist's awards tally on the night up to four.
My Prediction: The Artist
Arnaud: The Artist
Best Original Song
No Muppets, no comment...although I imagine Madonna will win this, it is the Golden Globes.
Arnaud: The Living Proof (The Help)
Best Animated Feature
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
My View: Another category where it is anybody's game. Tintin skews more European and therefore could win considering it's the Hollywood Foreign Press, however I think Johnny Depp's Rango takes this. Arthur Christmas and Puss in Boots are potential spoilers however.
My Prediction: Rango
Arnaud: The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn
Best Foreign Language Film
The Flowers of War (China)
In the Land of Blood and Honey (USA)
The Kid with a Bike (Belgium)
A Separation (Iran)
The Skin I Live in (Spain)
My View: Haven't seen any of the films but plan to see Skin I Live In soon. Blood and Honey could win given the Angelina Jolie connection but A Separation has become the de-facto Foreign Language winner of the awards season. Our Minister for Foreign Affairs will be able to fill you in on whether these nominations are worthy when he lists the best foreign films of 2011 that you might have missed, be sure to subscribe to the site via the Your Say section to get an email notification when it is uploaded.
My Prediction: A Separation
Arnaud: A Separation
So there you have it...my thoughts on and predictions for this year's Golden Globes. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting nothing here is a talking point considering it was shut out of SAG. How many films have gone on to win the Oscar or been a big contender having got NO SAG or Golden Globe nominations? Unless the film can get great box office and PGA/DGA nominations, Scott Rudin might have serious trouble building momentum from what looked like a sure fire nominee. I will not write off his strategy or the film yet however as oddly come Oscar time, it could...COULD work in its favour, as, as long as Academy members see the film, like the film and realize nobody else has honored it, they may sniff an opportunity to stand out from the crowd and award what would be in their minds "The Underdog"
What say you? Give us your thoughts on the nominations, who got snubbed? who didn't deserve the nomination they got? and be sure to give us your predictions as well as your thoughts on the Extremely Loud situation in the Your Say section.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Best Motion Picture - Drama
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse
My View: Six nominations this year rather than the usual five and a big boost for The Ides of March. Given that it was not met with any real rave reviews and the lack of SAG attention, this Golden Globe nomination gives it some more momentum in the race, with it probably likely to get a PGA nod if they are still nominating ten. Moneyball is the only film of the six I have seen and I am happy for its inclusion, however along with War Horse and The Help, the lack of a director nomination means it is unlikely to be victorious in this category. Ultimately this is a three way race between The Descendants, Hugo and The Ides of March. As of right now, I reckon The Descendants takes the prize but Hugo could be a surprise/not surprise winner. Hugo winning this and The Artist winning Comedy/Musical would set the two up as front-runners pitting a 3D special effects filled ode to cinema against a silent black and white ode to cinema.
My Prediction: Hugo (I know I said Descendants in the prior paragraph but I'm starting to think the HFPA might respond more to the Scorsese film, despite its lack of a screenplay nomination. However its lack of a screenplay nomination is in no way damaging when you consider the victory of Avatar two years ago)
Arnaud: The Descendants
Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
My Week with Marilyn
My View: They might as well give this to The Artist now. My Week with Marilyn is a questionable nomination and in my mind the overrated Bridesmaids does not belong here, Midnight in Paris could spring a potential upset however given its screenplay and director nominations. Happy to see 50/50 here and in another year I think it could have walked away with a Golden Globe (Not in this category however) but The Artist looks set to sweep the Comedy-Musical awards.
My Prediction: The Artist
Arnaud: The Artist
Best Actor - Drama
George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
My View: I am sure many (Including our Minister for Foreign Affairs) will be happy to see Michael Fassbender in this category after his SAG snub yesterday. As a fan of Moneyball I am happy to see Pitt in the category and Ryan Gosling gets a boost, however his chances of an Oscar nomination are still slim. Dicaprio, Pitt and Clooney all seem set for the Oscars, with Fassbender looking more likely than Gosling to replicate this nomination at the Oscars. Gary Oldman and Michael Shannon being snubbed from this category is a huge shame, having seen two of the nominated performances, while I have nothing against them, neither of them hold a candle to what Shannon achieved in Take Shelter, which remains for me one of the best performances of the year which provided one of the best scenes of the year.
My Prediction: George Clooney takes this. He has broken a record this year with four individual Golden Globe nominations (Three of which were for The Ides of March) and this is the most justifiable case for him to win one. Plus the HFPA love the guy, he has won two already and his film has more nominations than the films which his opponents are in.
Arnaud: George Clooney
Best Actress - Drama
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
My View: Was not expecting Tilda Swinton to get a nomination from this crowd and I now think that she, along with Glenn Close, Meryl Streep and Viola Davis looks set for an Oscar nomination. This leaves one spot open in the Best Actress race which will be fought over by Rooney Mara, Charlize Theron and Michelle Williams. I think Michelle Williams will ultimately win that war (And possibly this Golden Globe battle) but Viola Davis looks likely to win this statue. Her film is the only one in this category to score a Best Picture nomination and she will probably be the one the HFPA award for The Help, along with Octavia Spencer perhaps. With this and her SAG nomination, the doubters of Glenn Close will have to change their tune as she now has significantly more momentum than Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
My Prediction: Viola Davis
Arnaud: Meryl Streep
Best Actor - Comedy or Musical
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50
Ryan Gosling, Crazy Stupid Love
Owen Wilson, Midnight in Paris
My View: Happy to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brendan Gleeson get some worthy attention in this category, with the former being the most likely to win if a certain Frenchman was not in the equation. Dujardin however pretty much has this award sealed and may go on a Christoph Waltz esque rampage this season, especially if he can produce a killer of a speech to silence those who insinuate that his english speaking abilities may damage his Oscar hopes. Wouldn't it be awesome if he did his speeches silently? THAT would be a way to catch everybody's attention and brilliantly toy with the audience. I can imagine him moving around his body, having a translator transcribe it for us, only for Dujardin to correct him in a comic manner, if pulled off correctly it could be BRILLIANT.
My Prediction: Jean Dujardin and I hope he reads this so that we can see a silent acceptance speech. LET THE TWITTER CAMPAIGN BEGIN!
Arnaud: Jean Dujardin
Best Actress - Comedy or Musical
Jodie Foster, Carnage
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
Kate Winslet, Carnage
My View: Two nominations for Carnage is the story in this category, with Williams, Theron and Wiig all being predictable mentions. The ladies from Carnage will probably split the Carnage vote, while the lack of any other nominations for Young Adult, suggests that the HFPA didn't respond to the film and is damaging for Theron's chances in this category. This Globe pretty much has Williams' name on it as apart from Wiig (Who shouldn't be here) she is the only one with her film in the Best Picture categories.
My Prediction: Michelle Williams
Arnaud: Michelle Williams
Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
My View: Brooks is saved after yesterday's SAG snub while Branagh is looking more and more likely. Plummer remains the favourite and as a Moneyball fan, I am happy to see Jonah Hill continue to gather momentum. Mortensen is a surprise nomination in this category and as somebody who found A Dangerous Method a film that would be more aptly titled A Dangerous Meh-thod, it's nice to see an actor of Mortensen's ability get recognized.
My Prediction: Christopher Plummer but Jonah Hill might be an upset.
Arnaud: Christopher Plummer
Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants
My View: So the same as SAG except Shailene is in for Melissa, which is how it will stay regarding the Oscars I predict. This is a hard category to call, could the women from The Help split the vote? This either going to Spencer or Bejo...I'm going to say that they will want to give The Help two given that The Artist is a guaranteed winner in three other categories.
My Prediction: Octavia Spencer
Arnaud: Octavia Spencer
Best Director
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
George Clooney, The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
My View: Hazanavicius most likely takes this for The Artist but Scorsese could be a challenger. Woody Allen I think will get his Midnight in Paris recognition in the screenplay category, while the direction of Payne and Clooney probably isn't overt enough to win over the likes of the other three nominees. Given that The Artist leads the nominations though, this looks like Hazanavicius' to lose.
My Prediction: Michel Hazanavicius
Arnaud: Michel Hazanavicius
Best Screenplay
The Artist
The Descendants
The Ides of March
Moneyball
Midnight in Paris
My View: Any of these five could take it but I reckon this is the category where Midnight in Paris gets its globe. The film has got multiple nominations and voters will probably want to award both Woody Allen and a well loved critical and commercial darling of the year. Having said that if Moneyball is going to get anything from the Globes it both deserves it and has the best chance in this category, however the lack of a director nomination suggests the film may not be a big player across the whole HFPA. The Artist and The Descendants both also have valid claims to this category but I'm going to stick with Mr. Allen
My Prediction: Midnight in Paris
Arnaud: Midnight in Paris
Best Score
The Artist
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
War Horse
W.E.
My View: I'm guessing that Dragon Tattoo probably deserves it but in no film is the music more highlighted this year than in a silent film. I tend to wait and listen to the film scores in the film but I have heard nothing but good things about the score to The Artist. Like I said it is probably the most emphasized of the scores and I think will bring The Artist's awards tally on the night up to four.
My Prediction: The Artist
Arnaud: The Artist
Best Original Song
No Muppets, no comment...although I imagine Madonna will win this, it is the Golden Globes.
Arnaud: The Living Proof (The Help)
Best Animated Feature
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
My View: Another category where it is anybody's game. Tintin skews more European and therefore could win considering it's the Hollywood Foreign Press, however I think Johnny Depp's Rango takes this. Arthur Christmas and Puss in Boots are potential spoilers however.
My Prediction: Rango
Arnaud: The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn
Best Foreign Language Film
The Flowers of War (China)
In the Land of Blood and Honey (USA)
The Kid with a Bike (Belgium)
A Separation (Iran)
The Skin I Live in (Spain)
My View: Haven't seen any of the films but plan to see Skin I Live In soon. Blood and Honey could win given the Angelina Jolie connection but A Separation has become the de-facto Foreign Language winner of the awards season. Our Minister for Foreign Affairs will be able to fill you in on whether these nominations are worthy when he lists the best foreign films of 2011 that you might have missed, be sure to subscribe to the site via the Your Say section to get an email notification when it is uploaded.
My Prediction: A Separation
Arnaud: A Separation
So there you have it...my thoughts on and predictions for this year's Golden Globes. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting nothing here is a talking point considering it was shut out of SAG. How many films have gone on to win the Oscar or been a big contender having got NO SAG or Golden Globe nominations? Unless the film can get great box office and PGA/DGA nominations, Scott Rudin might have serious trouble building momentum from what looked like a sure fire nominee. I will not write off his strategy or the film yet however as oddly come Oscar time, it could...COULD work in its favour, as, as long as Academy members see the film, like the film and realize nobody else has honored it, they may sniff an opportunity to stand out from the crowd and award what would be in their minds "The Underdog"
What say you? Give us your thoughts on the nominations, who got snubbed? who didn't deserve the nomination they got? and be sure to give us your predictions as well as your thoughts on the Extremely Loud situation in the Your Say section.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
SAG Nominations Announced
Cutting straight to the chase here are the Screen Actors Guild nominations
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture:
The Artist
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Help
Midnight in Paris
My View: The Artist, The Descendants and The Help were three predictable nominations in this category and three Best Picture frontrunners. The lack of Hugo, War Horse, Moneyball and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is intriguing when you consider the fact that Braveheart in 1995 was the last film to win Best Picture without at least a nomination in this category. Bridesmaids is the big surprise in this category and while I found it to be one of the more overrated films of the year, I can understand why it has scored this nomination, as the acting is undoubtedly the film's main strength. Midnight in Paris is another nomination which seems obvious now, however nobody individually from the cast was highlighted in any other category. Ultimately I understand each nomination but if the SAG's wanted to recognize comedy, I can't help but think 50/50 would have been a better choice. The biggest snub is for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which should be WINNING this award let alone be nominated. I guess the likes of Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, John Hurt. Toby Jones and Benedict Cumberbatch on their A game is not enough for the Screen Actors Guild. Also The Ides of March while not groundbreaking the script or directorial department also deserved a nomination here considering there was not one bad performance, with Ryan Gosling, Evan Rachel Wood, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti all impressing. My personal nominations for this category would have been Tinker Tailor, Ides of March, Contagion, 50/50 and Win Win. What would yours have been? what do you think of these nominations? Which film was snubbed? Give us your thoughts in the Your Say section.
Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:
DEMIÁN BICHIR- A Better Life
GEORGE CLOONEY- The Descendants
LEONARDO DICAPRIO- J. Edgar
JEAN DUJARDIN- The Artist
BRAD PITT- Moneyball
My View: Bichir getting nominated throws a huge spanner into the Best Actor category, showing that a performance many deemed to be in a movie too small to get a nomination, has support within the industry. Whether Bichir can beat the likes of Michael Fassbender, Woody Harrelson and Gary Oldman to an Oscar nomination may depend on whether other awards bodies and critics follow suit. It was an unexpected nomination and one I am thankful for, for continuing to spice up what is currently a rather fluid and unpredictable race. Have not seen the performances of Clooney, Dicaprio and Dujardin, however they have been on my Oscar predictions for a while and I think the three of them can start buying their suits for Oscar night. Seeing Pitt get nominated is heartening as a fan of Moneyball and he may have hit first base enough times, what with the critics awards he has been receiving and a likely Golden Globe nomination tomorrow, to get an Oscar nomination. Snubs in this category include Gary Oldman, Michael Shannon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. What do you think of this category? Worthy nomination? Who's going to take it? Give us your thoughts and predictions in the Your Say section.
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
GLENN CLOSE - Albert Nobbs
VIOLA DAVIS - The Help
MERYL STREEP – The Iron Lady
TILDA SWINTON–We Need to Talk About Kevin
MICHELLE WILLIAMS– My Week With Marilyn
My View: Ladies and gentlemen...your Oscar nominees for Best Actress. Charlize Theron and Rooney Mara are potential spoilers, however I think these five are becoming stronger and stronger (With Glenn Close oddly being arguably the weakest of the bunch) Close has the "She hasn't won yet!" factor going for her, Davis has "The Help" factor going for her, Meryl Streep has the "Meryl Streep" factor, Michelle Williams has the "Marilyn Monroe and Weinstein" factor while Tilda Swinton has the.."Previous winner" factor...perhaps Tilda is the weakest in this category. With the NBR win and other critics supporting her as well as this SAG and likely BAFTA nod, the lack of a Golden Globe nomination tomorrow, shouldn't stop Swinton from getting the support she needs for the nomination. If SAG can nominate her so can the Oscars. I have not seen a single one of these performances and therefore cannot comment on whether the nominations are worthy, however a snub I would offer is Saoirse Ronan in Hanna, which remains to me one of the best leading female performances of the year.
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
KENNETH BRANAGH- My Week With Marilyn
ARMIE HAMMER- J. Edgar
JONAH HILL- Moneyball
NICK NOLTE- Warrior
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER- Beginners
My View: The box office of Warrior and the critical response to J. Edgar do not seem to have damaged Nick Nolte or Armie Hammer. The Hammer nod is the surprise of this category and one I feel foolish ownership for as I long had Hammer on my nomination predictions list until the negative response to J. Edgar made me think again. Dicaprio is bulletproof when it comes to that movie and this SAG nod for Hammer is an encouraging sign for him, BUT he is the most unstable in this category with Albert Brooks (Current critics darling), Ben Kingsley and Patton Oswalt lurking. I have a feeling Hammer may for a second year in a row miss out on a supporting nomination but his chances are much more likely (Lets see what the Globes do...) A big boost for Jonah Hill as well who I think is getting a supporting nomination, although I will admit if two have to go, he is the most likely to exit with Hammer.
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
BÉRÉNICE BEJO- The Artist
JESSICA CHASTAIN- The Help
MELISSA McCARTHY- Bridesmaids
JANET McTEER- Albert Nobbs
OCTAVIA SPENCER- The Help
My View: McTeer and McCarthy are the two big surprises in this category, with Spencer, Chastain and Bejo looking likely for supporting nominations. The other story besides the two surprise nominations is the fact that Chastain now has her horse in The Help, something that has been obvious since the film was released. Will Spencer and Chastain split "The Help" vote and give Bejo the Oscar? Can McCarthy get what would be an undeserved Oscar nomination? (If any supporting actress should be highlighted from that movie it is Rose Byrne) Give us your thoughts in the Your Say section.
My SAG winners predictions:
Ensemble- The Help
Actor: Jean Dujardin
Actress: Glenn Close
Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer
Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer
What are yours? Give them to us in the Your Say section and see if you can beat my predictions, something which is probably quite likely. Be sure to check here tomorrow evening, where I will be doing the same list the nominees, give my opinion and predict the winners for the Golden Globes! Lets see what treats they have in store for us this year, I predict a very critic friendly Comedy/Musical category, some attention for Joseph Gordon-Levitt and to be brave...an undeserving Best Picture nomination for Harry Potter. Give us your bold GG nomination predictions in the Your Say section.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture:
The Artist
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Help
Midnight in Paris
My View: The Artist, The Descendants and The Help were three predictable nominations in this category and three Best Picture frontrunners. The lack of Hugo, War Horse, Moneyball and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is intriguing when you consider the fact that Braveheart in 1995 was the last film to win Best Picture without at least a nomination in this category. Bridesmaids is the big surprise in this category and while I found it to be one of the more overrated films of the year, I can understand why it has scored this nomination, as the acting is undoubtedly the film's main strength. Midnight in Paris is another nomination which seems obvious now, however nobody individually from the cast was highlighted in any other category. Ultimately I understand each nomination but if the SAG's wanted to recognize comedy, I can't help but think 50/50 would have been a better choice. The biggest snub is for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which should be WINNING this award let alone be nominated. I guess the likes of Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, John Hurt. Toby Jones and Benedict Cumberbatch on their A game is not enough for the Screen Actors Guild. Also The Ides of March while not groundbreaking the script or directorial department also deserved a nomination here considering there was not one bad performance, with Ryan Gosling, Evan Rachel Wood, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti all impressing. My personal nominations for this category would have been Tinker Tailor, Ides of March, Contagion, 50/50 and Win Win. What would yours have been? what do you think of these nominations? Which film was snubbed? Give us your thoughts in the Your Say section.
Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:
DEMIÁN BICHIR- A Better Life
GEORGE CLOONEY- The Descendants
LEONARDO DICAPRIO- J. Edgar
JEAN DUJARDIN- The Artist
BRAD PITT- Moneyball
My View: Bichir getting nominated throws a huge spanner into the Best Actor category, showing that a performance many deemed to be in a movie too small to get a nomination, has support within the industry. Whether Bichir can beat the likes of Michael Fassbender, Woody Harrelson and Gary Oldman to an Oscar nomination may depend on whether other awards bodies and critics follow suit. It was an unexpected nomination and one I am thankful for, for continuing to spice up what is currently a rather fluid and unpredictable race. Have not seen the performances of Clooney, Dicaprio and Dujardin, however they have been on my Oscar predictions for a while and I think the three of them can start buying their suits for Oscar night. Seeing Pitt get nominated is heartening as a fan of Moneyball and he may have hit first base enough times, what with the critics awards he has been receiving and a likely Golden Globe nomination tomorrow, to get an Oscar nomination. Snubs in this category include Gary Oldman, Michael Shannon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. What do you think of this category? Worthy nomination? Who's going to take it? Give us your thoughts and predictions in the Your Say section.
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
GLENN CLOSE - Albert Nobbs
VIOLA DAVIS - The Help
MERYL STREEP – The Iron Lady
TILDA SWINTON–We Need to Talk About Kevin
MICHELLE WILLIAMS– My Week With Marilyn
My View: Ladies and gentlemen...your Oscar nominees for Best Actress. Charlize Theron and Rooney Mara are potential spoilers, however I think these five are becoming stronger and stronger (With Glenn Close oddly being arguably the weakest of the bunch) Close has the "She hasn't won yet!" factor going for her, Davis has "The Help" factor going for her, Meryl Streep has the "Meryl Streep" factor, Michelle Williams has the "Marilyn Monroe and Weinstein" factor while Tilda Swinton has the.."Previous winner" factor...perhaps Tilda is the weakest in this category. With the NBR win and other critics supporting her as well as this SAG and likely BAFTA nod, the lack of a Golden Globe nomination tomorrow, shouldn't stop Swinton from getting the support she needs for the nomination. If SAG can nominate her so can the Oscars. I have not seen a single one of these performances and therefore cannot comment on whether the nominations are worthy, however a snub I would offer is Saoirse Ronan in Hanna, which remains to me one of the best leading female performances of the year.
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
KENNETH BRANAGH- My Week With Marilyn
ARMIE HAMMER- J. Edgar
JONAH HILL- Moneyball
NICK NOLTE- Warrior
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER- Beginners
My View: The box office of Warrior and the critical response to J. Edgar do not seem to have damaged Nick Nolte or Armie Hammer. The Hammer nod is the surprise of this category and one I feel foolish ownership for as I long had Hammer on my nomination predictions list until the negative response to J. Edgar made me think again. Dicaprio is bulletproof when it comes to that movie and this SAG nod for Hammer is an encouraging sign for him, BUT he is the most unstable in this category with Albert Brooks (Current critics darling), Ben Kingsley and Patton Oswalt lurking. I have a feeling Hammer may for a second year in a row miss out on a supporting nomination but his chances are much more likely (Lets see what the Globes do...) A big boost for Jonah Hill as well who I think is getting a supporting nomination, although I will admit if two have to go, he is the most likely to exit with Hammer.
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
BÉRÉNICE BEJO- The Artist
JESSICA CHASTAIN- The Help
MELISSA McCARTHY- Bridesmaids
JANET McTEER- Albert Nobbs
OCTAVIA SPENCER- The Help
My View: McTeer and McCarthy are the two big surprises in this category, with Spencer, Chastain and Bejo looking likely for supporting nominations. The other story besides the two surprise nominations is the fact that Chastain now has her horse in The Help, something that has been obvious since the film was released. Will Spencer and Chastain split "The Help" vote and give Bejo the Oscar? Can McCarthy get what would be an undeserved Oscar nomination? (If any supporting actress should be highlighted from that movie it is Rose Byrne) Give us your thoughts in the Your Say section.
My SAG winners predictions:
Ensemble- The Help
Actor: Jean Dujardin
Actress: Glenn Close
Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer
Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer
What are yours? Give them to us in the Your Say section and see if you can beat my predictions, something which is probably quite likely. Be sure to check here tomorrow evening, where I will be doing the same list the nominees, give my opinion and predict the winners for the Golden Globes! Lets see what treats they have in store for us this year, I predict a very critic friendly Comedy/Musical category, some attention for Joseph Gordon-Levitt and to be brave...an undeserving Best Picture nomination for Harry Potter. Give us your bold GG nomination predictions in the Your Say section.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Ratner and Murphy Out, Grazer and Crystal In
This has been a busy week for the powers that be behind the Oscars ceremony. Hot off the heels of the critical and commercial success of Tower Heist, Brett Ratner did what any director rebuilding his reputation would do...make a homophobic statement. Following the building uproar and a revealing Howard Stern interview, Brett Ratner "resigned" from his post. Eddie Murphy then chose to follow him out the door leaving the Oscars with no producer and host, opinions on Murphy's exit are mixed with some commending him for his loyalty to Ratner and stating that the slate had to be wiped completely clean, while others think he is throwing away a golden opportunity to build upon Tower Heist and remind everybody how funny he can be when he is not voicing a donkey. The academy turned to 24 and A Beautiful Mind producer Brian Grazer who made the unexpected and brave choice of hiring...Billy Crystal.
Crystal has hosted the Oscars eight times in the past, however for me this will be the first Oscar ceremony I will see him host. While I have seen YouTube videos of his pieces from previous years this will be my first, genuine exposure to a Billy Crystal hosted Oscar show. The announcement of him as host was hardly surprising given his track record and appeal within the Academy however you cannot help but think another opportunity was squandered. Especially given the fact that a Twitter campaign got everybody rightly excited about the possibility of the muppets leading us through the night. Crystal however is sure to give us an entertaining, witty show and he knows exactly what hosting the Academy awards is all about. This decision also marks a refreshing change of attitude from the Academy, they seem to have stopped desperately reaching for the younger generation. With Franco and Hathaway the Oscars were clearly trying to appeal to a demographic they shouldn't have been bending over backwards for. The academy's attempts to "get down with the kids" were semi (if not completely) embarrassing. As somebody who is 16 years old, I accept the Oscars for what they are and enjoy writing about and predicting them, I don't care if it's Justin Timberlake or Sean Connery hosting, I will be watching.
Ultimately the academy should just worry about appealing to film fans and the events of this week will not have done anything to distance them from the biggest movie awards event out there (Apart from the Movie Parliament Awards of course) I'm sorry to see Murphy go as I was genuinely looking forward to seeing what he would do, however I am also looking forward to seeing what Crystal will do. The show goes on, they'll get it wrong, we will all complain and come back next year for more. Crisis averted, mission accomplished now Grazer and Crystal just be careful what you say and make the parts of the show that aren't the tense few moments before a name is read out bearable, if you do that then you are already one up on most Oscar hosts but then again, Crystal doesn't need telling that.
What is your opinion on Ratner-gate, or Murphy-gate, or Grazer-gate, or Crystal-gate or whatever gate this will end up being known as? Are you sad to see Murphy go? (I don't think many will be saddened over the loss of Brett Ratner) Are you happy with Crystal returning for his 9th Oscar show? Who would you have picked to replace Murphy? and finally how upset are you that the Twitter campaign to get the muppets hosting didn't work? Give us all your Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe analysis, opinions and predictions in the Your Say section.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Crystal has hosted the Oscars eight times in the past, however for me this will be the first Oscar ceremony I will see him host. While I have seen YouTube videos of his pieces from previous years this will be my first, genuine exposure to a Billy Crystal hosted Oscar show. The announcement of him as host was hardly surprising given his track record and appeal within the Academy however you cannot help but think another opportunity was squandered. Especially given the fact that a Twitter campaign got everybody rightly excited about the possibility of the muppets leading us through the night. Crystal however is sure to give us an entertaining, witty show and he knows exactly what hosting the Academy awards is all about. This decision also marks a refreshing change of attitude from the Academy, they seem to have stopped desperately reaching for the younger generation. With Franco and Hathaway the Oscars were clearly trying to appeal to a demographic they shouldn't have been bending over backwards for. The academy's attempts to "get down with the kids" were semi (if not completely) embarrassing. As somebody who is 16 years old, I accept the Oscars for what they are and enjoy writing about and predicting them, I don't care if it's Justin Timberlake or Sean Connery hosting, I will be watching.
Ultimately the academy should just worry about appealing to film fans and the events of this week will not have done anything to distance them from the biggest movie awards event out there (Apart from the Movie Parliament Awards of course) I'm sorry to see Murphy go as I was genuinely looking forward to seeing what he would do, however I am also looking forward to seeing what Crystal will do. The show goes on, they'll get it wrong, we will all complain and come back next year for more. Crisis averted, mission accomplished now Grazer and Crystal just be careful what you say and make the parts of the show that aren't the tense few moments before a name is read out bearable, if you do that then you are already one up on most Oscar hosts but then again, Crystal doesn't need telling that.
What is your opinion on Ratner-gate, or Murphy-gate, or Grazer-gate, or Crystal-gate or whatever gate this will end up being known as? Are you sad to see Murphy go? (I don't think many will be saddened over the loss of Brett Ratner) Are you happy with Crystal returning for his 9th Oscar show? Who would you have picked to replace Murphy? and finally how upset are you that the Twitter campaign to get the muppets hosting didn't work? Give us all your Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe analysis, opinions and predictions in the Your Say section.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Stephen Fry Hosting BAFTA'S, Eddie Murphy Hosting Oscars
Our hosts for the 2012 BAFTA and Oscar awards have been announced, with Stephen Fry and Eddie Murphy being the ones to hopefully successfully guide us through what will hopefully not be overly long, boring shows. The appointment of Stephen Fry is one that comes as no shock given his previous experience in the role, however personally I wished the BAFTA'S had been a bit more original in their selection. While Ricky Gervais has ruled out hosting the globes a third time, offering him the BAFTA position would be a good move, however it seems clear that they want to disappointingly veer away from any potential controversy. Still, Russell Brand, Ricky Gervais or a dynamic duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are all people I would have targeted first before reverting back to the pre Jonathan Ross status quo (Ross, who lost his hosting position due to the fact that he no longer works for the BBC)
Now on to Mr. Murphy. Eddie Murphy is somebody who I have found funny in a few of his film roles (Mainly donkey in the Shrek films, of which Mark Kermode makes the best remark in his superb book, The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex) however he has frequently been a symbol of mediocre to abysmal big budget hollywood laughter vacuums. Many cynics are pegging this decision as Oscar producer Brett Ratner trying to promote his upcoming film "Tower Heist" and while that may be true, I feel like this is a great opportunity for Eddie Murphy to remind us all that he is actually funny. While we will (most likely) not get material that is anywhere close to some of the language in Raw, heres hoping that Murphy (Or whoever is writing his script) can come up with something more humorous than what James Franco and Anne Hathaway were given. To put it bluntly, who is not looking forward to hearing what jokes Eddie Murphy has up his sleeve regarding The Help?
Do you think Stephen Fry is a safe, unoriginal, lazy pick? Who do you think would make a better host? Do you think that the appointment of Eddie Murphy is nothing more than a marketing tool for Tower Heist? Who would you have chosen as an Oscar host? Give us all your thoughts in the Your Say section.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Now on to Mr. Murphy. Eddie Murphy is somebody who I have found funny in a few of his film roles (Mainly donkey in the Shrek films, of which Mark Kermode makes the best remark in his superb book, The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex) however he has frequently been a symbol of mediocre to abysmal big budget hollywood laughter vacuums. Many cynics are pegging this decision as Oscar producer Brett Ratner trying to promote his upcoming film "Tower Heist" and while that may be true, I feel like this is a great opportunity for Eddie Murphy to remind us all that he is actually funny. While we will (most likely) not get material that is anywhere close to some of the language in Raw, heres hoping that Murphy (Or whoever is writing his script) can come up with something more humorous than what James Franco and Anne Hathaway were given. To put it bluntly, who is not looking forward to hearing what jokes Eddie Murphy has up his sleeve regarding The Help?
Do you think Stephen Fry is a safe, unoriginal, lazy pick? Who do you think would make a better host? Do you think that the appointment of Eddie Murphy is nothing more than a marketing tool for Tower Heist? Who would you have chosen as an Oscar host? Give us all your thoughts in the Your Say section.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton