Awards 2010: Cesar Award Nominations

I know it's ridiculous to post a story on a bunch of films that nobody has ever heard of before, but I've always admired the choices of the French awards known as the Cesar Awards. It's not surprising that Of Gods and Men was nominated for the top prize, but The Ghost Writer also made the cut, surprisingly enough. Carlos failed to make the top prize, but settled well enough for the lower categories. The Social Network and Inception were the American nominations for Foreign Language Film, while Academy Award winner The Secret in Their Eyes also made it in. Perhaps it's not too relevant, but it's certainly interesting.

Best Film
“Gainsbourg”
“The Ghost Writer”
“Heartbreaker”
“Mammuth”
“The Names of Love”
“Of Gods and Men”
“On Tour”

Best Director
Olivier Assayas (“Carlos”)
Bertrand Blier (“The Clink of Ice”)
Roman Polanski (“The Ghost Writer”)
Mathieu Amalric (“On Tour”)
Xavier Beauvois (“Of Gods and Men”)

Best Actor
Gérard Depardieu (“Mammuth”)
Romain Duris (“Heartbreaker”)
Eric Elmosnino (“Gainsbourg”)
Jacques Gamblin (“The Names of Love”)
Lambert Wilson (“Of Gods and Men”)

Awards 2010: Golden Globe Winners

My Golden Globe party turned out to be a lot more competitive than I anticipated going into the weekend. The telecast wasn't that stressful, but I was thrust into a predicting competition on who will win with a bunch of new friends that I just met. None of them already knew who was going to win, so I was prepped to take them all down. On the other hand, I hadn't a clue who was going to win the television categories, so I got most of those wrong. I didn't expect Boardwalk Empire to be as big a hit as it was last night, and I thought the HFPA would choose something radically different for Best Motion Picture (Drama). Instead, they stayed with The Social Network to make an entirely too predictable evening. Ricky Gervais did a great job, so I'll give the evening that.

~Film~

Best Motion Picture (Drama): The Social Network
Best Motion Picture (Comedy/Musical): The Kids Are All Right
Best Actor (Drama): Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
Best Actor (Comedy/Musical): Paul Giamatti (Barney's Version)
Best Actress (Drama): Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
Best Actress (Comedy/Musical): Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale (The Fighter)
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
Best Director: David Fincher (The Social Network)
Best Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)

Best Original Score: The Social Network
Best Original Song: "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" from Burlesque

~Television~

Best Series (Drama): Boardwalk Empire
Best Series (Comedy/Musical): Glee
Best Miniseries/TV Movie: Carlos
Best Actor (Drama): Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire)
Best Actor (Comedy/Musical): Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)
Best Actor (Miniseries/TV Movie): Al Pacino (You Don't Know Jack)
Best Actress (Drama): Katey Sagal (Sons of Anarchy)
Best Actress (Comedy/Musical): Laura Linney (The Big C)
Best Actress (Miniseries/TV Movie): Claire Danes (Temple Grandin)
Best Supporting Actor: Chris Colfer (Glee)
Best Supporting Actress: Jane Lynch (Glee)

Awards 2010: Golden Globe Predictions

It makes very little sense to predict the winners of the Golden Globes, because the HFPA always goes their own way, and it's never what you think, or what you hope. I will probably get the majority of these guesses wrong, because I'm just taking blind jabs at what may or may not win. My three biggest disappointments about what wasn't nominated are that (1) True Grit doesn't appear once on the list, (2) Easy A isn't nominated for Best Comedy/Musical, and (3) Fringe is once again omitted from the race entirely. It is nonsensical, and I honestly am dismayed. Nevertheless, I expect Ricky Gervais to do a good job at hosting the show, and I'll try my best not to take the losses too seriously. Until then, I leave you with the poster for the one major film not nominated at all.

~Film~

Best Motion Picture (Drama): The King's Speech
Best Motion Picture (Comedy/Musical): The Kids Are All Right
Best Actor (Drama): Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
Best Actor (Comedy/Musical): Paul Giamatti (Barney's Version)
Best Actress (Drama): Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
Best Actress (Comedy/Musical): Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale (The Fighter)
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
Best Director: Christopher Nolan (Inception)
Best Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)
Best Original Score: Hans Zimmer (Inception)
Best Original Song: "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" from Burlesque
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Foreign Language Film: Biutiful

~Television~

Best Series (Drama): Mad Men
Best Series (Comedy/Musical): Glee
Best Miniseries/TV Movie: The Pacific
Best Actor (Drama): Jon Hamm (Mad Men)
Best Actor (Comedy/Musical): Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)
Best Actor (Miniseries/TV Movie): Edgar Ramirez (Carlos)
Best Actress (Drama): Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men)
Best Actress (Comedy/Musical): Tony Collette (United States of Tara)
Best Supporting Actor: Chris Colfer (Glee)
Best Supporting Actress: Jane Lynch (Glee)

Awards 2010: National Society of Film Critics

It's not really spreading the wealth if you mention the runners-up in the category, but I guess these precursors just wanted to give the losers the illusion that they just barely lost out. That's not really the case, because the rankings don't give any idea how big the gap in between may be, and it only makes people feel worse in any case. Ignoring the runners-up, The Social Network took away the most wins with the NSFC, and Olivia Williams (The Ghost Writer) continues to be an outside contender that we can dream will be nominated for the Oscars, but the odds are still against her.

Best Picture: "The Social Network"
Runner-up: "Carlos"
Second runner-up: "Winter's Bone"

Awards 2010: New York Film Critics Circle

It would be an extremely frustrating week if I was constantly reporting on all the critic awards at once, so I'm going to let them trickle onto my site over the next few days, rather than let them all in at once. I actually needed the New York Film Critics Circle's choices after that unfortunate little spat I had at the BFCA's nominations yesterday. Many of the wins were rather routine, but Colin Firth was able to nail out a win, and The Kids Are All Right got some more proper consideration. I think Best Screenplay may have been a stretch, but I'm still glad it happened. And since I'm striving for pictures, here's one from the Best Foreign Film choice, Carlos.

Best Film: The Social Network
Best Director: David Fincher (The Social Network)
Best Actor: Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
Best Actress: Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)
Best Supporting Actor: Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right)
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
Best Screenplay: The Kids Are All Right
Best Cinematography: Black Swan
Best Animated Feature: The Illusionist
Best Documentary: Inside Job
Best Foreign Language Film: Carlos

Awards 2010: L.A. Film Critics Association Award Winners

Finally, somebody is breaking the mold of what is expected, meanwhile giving us some gentle encouragement in weak areas. I commend the Los Angeles Film Critics for their choices, because they kind of decided to do things their own way. They got some mad love for that five hour feature Carlos, and it shows. Of course, they still put their best foot forward in awarding The Social Network, which you could criticize for getting all this buzz, but do you honestly have any real problems with this film? Be serious with yourself. David Fincher made a pretty tight and flawless feature.

I'm glad Colin Firth is getting some wins for his brilliant Best Actor turn in The King's Speech. Supporting Actor is the only one I have a slight problem with, because A Prophet was technically released last year, but the performance was still tops. Also glad that Olivia Williams almost won Supporting Actress for her performance in The Ghost Writer, and that the film tied for Best Musical Score. Ultimately, it's nice to have a different flavor in the mix when it comes to these critics awards. I was getting a little irritated with some of the choices.

Best Picture: The Social Network
Runner-up: Carlos

Best Director: David Fincher (The Social Network)/Olivier Assayas (Carlos)

Best Actor: Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
Runner-up: Edgar Ramirez (Carlos)

Best Actress: Kim Hye-ja (Mother)
Runner-up: Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)

Best Supporting Actress: Niels Arestrup (A Prophet)
Runner-up: Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)

Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)
Runner-Up: Olivia Williams (The Ghost Writer)

Best Screenplay: The Social Network
Runner-up: The King's Speech

Best Cinematography: Black Swan
Runner-up: True Grit

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Runner-up: The Illusionist

Best Foreign Language Film: Carlos
Runner-up: Mother

Best Documentary: Last Train Home
Runner-up: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Best Musical Score: The Ghost Writer/The Social Network

Best Production Design: Inception
Runner-up: The King's Speech