Friday, February 28, 2014

César Award Winners

PICTURE: Me, Myself and Mum (Les Garçons et Guillaume, Á Table!)
DIRECTOR: Roman Polanski, Venus In Fur
ACTOR: Guillaume Gallienne, Me, Myself and Mum
ACTRESS: Sandrine Kiberlain, Nine Month Stretch
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Niels Arestrup, Quai d'Orsay
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Adéle Haenel, Suzanne
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Nine Month Stretch- Albert Dupontel
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Me, Myself and Mum
FOREIGN FILM: The Broken Circle Breakdown
DOCUMENTARY: On the Way to School
ANIMATED FEATURE: Loulou L'Incroyable Secret
DEBUT FEATURE: Me, Myself and Mum
CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Young and Prodigious Mr. Spivet- Thomas Hardmeier
ART DIRECTION: Mood Indigo- Stéphane Rozenbaum
COSTUME DESIGN: Renoir- Pascaline Chavanne
ORIGINAL SCORE: Michael Kohlhaas- Martin Wheeler
EDITING: Me, Myself and Mum- Valérie Deseine
SOUND: Michael Kohlhass
SHORT FILM: Just Before Losing You
ANIMATED SHORT FILM: Mademoiselle Kiki et Les Montparnos

The French equivalent of the Academy Awards have announced and if U.S. audiences haven't heard of any these films, don't fret-- none of the top prize winners have really had widespread American releases and none of these films really have much of a way of factoring into the Oscars this Sunday.  The novelty of Roman Polanski being named Best Director for Venus Is Fur (which premiered at Cannes last year, but hasn't had a stateside release yet) is probably the biggest story.  Outside of the that Foreign Film Oscar contender The Broken Circle Breakdown won as did AMPAS-approved short film Just Before Losing You (which is incredible and an absolutely must see as an aside.)


France's hot newcomers.

MALE NEWCOMER: Pierre Deladonchamps, Stranger By the Lake
FEMALE NEWCOMER: Adéle Exarchopoulos, Blue Is the Warmest Color

The more interesting César choices (or at least choices made for films that have a bit of an exposure in the United States, to varying degrees) came in their breakthrough acting categories where a pair of fine (and very naked-- physically and emotionally) performances won.  There's an interesting dichotomy in honoring Deladonchamps and Exarchopoulos, both performers broke through in two separate, yet equally controversial queer titles that have gotten film critics and cinephiles all hot and bothered since they both premiered at last years Cannes Film Festival.  Stranger By the Lake is a gripping, beautifully filmed and distilled study of behaviors at a bucolic gay cruising site-- it's a slow burner of a film-- one that likely features a record number of shots of male full frontal for a legit movie-- until it morphs into a creepy, Hitchcockian thriller.  It's a beautifully terse film...I've been meaning to do a proper write-up on it (let me know if there's interest in that.)  Blue Is the Warmest Color, on the other hand is the buzzier title and the 2013 Palme D'Or winner. 

HONORARY CÉSAR: Scarlett Johansson
Hollywood made one big impression at the Césars with Johansson and her great recent movie revival (Her, Don Jon, the upcoming Under the Skin) receiving an honorary prize.  She seems a bit young for this type of thing, but hell, the Oscars aren't embracing her talents, so why not?

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

40th Saturn Award Nominations...and Millions and Millions of Best Film Categories


BEST COMIC-TO-FILM MOTION PICTURE
Iron Man 3
Man of Steel
Thor: The Dark World
The Wolverine


BEST SCIENCE FICTION FILM
Ender's Game
Gravity
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Pacific Rim
Riddick
Star Trek Into Darkness


BEST FANTASY FILM
About Time
Her
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Jack the Giant Slayer
Oz: The Great & Powerful
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty


BEST HORROR FILM
Carrie
The Conjuring
Mama
The Pledge
This Is the End
Warm Bodies


BEST THRILLER FILM
The Call
The East
Now You See Me
The Place Beyond the Pines
Prisoners
World War Z


BEST ACTION / ADVENTURE FILM
The Book Thief
Fast & Furious 6
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
The Lone Ranger
Lone Survivor
Rush


BEST INDEPENDENT FILM
12 Years a Slave
Great Expectations
Inside Llewyn Davis
Out of the Furnace
Upside Down 

Monday, February 24, 2014

International Cinephile Society

The International Cinephile Society is a collection of film journalists, academics and industry professionals, a group of over 80 members voted on their picks of the best of 2013 cinema.


PICTURE: Inside Llewyn Davis

Top Ten of 2013:
Blue is the Warmest Color
Her
Frances Ha
The Great Beauty
Laurence Anyways
Gravity
Spring Breakers
The Wolf of Wall Street
12 Years a Slave
Before Midnight

DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
runner-up: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis

ACTOR: (tie) Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street; Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
runner-up: Joaquin Phoenix, Her

ACTRESS: Adéle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color
runner-up: Juliette Binoche, Camille Claudel 1915

SUPPORTING ACTOR: James Franco, Spring Breakers
runner-up: Anton Adasinsky, Faust

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Léa Seydoux, Blue is the Warmest Color
runner-up: Scarlett Johansson, Her

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Inside Llewyn Davis- Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
runner-up: Her- Spike Jonze

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Blue is the Warmest Color- Abdellatif Kechiche & Ghalia Lacroix
runner-up: Before Midnight- Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Cinema Audio Society

SOUND MIXING (Live Action): Gravity
SOUND MIXING (Animated Film): Frozen

SOUND MIXING (TV Movie): Behind the Candelabra
SOUND MIXING (One Hour TV): Game of Thrones
SOUND MIXING (Half Hour TV): Modern Family

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Costume Designers Guild Winners

COSTUME DESIGN (Period Film): 12 Years a Slave- Patricia Norris
COSTUME DESIGN (Contemporary Film): Blue Jasmine- Suzy Benzinger
COSTUME DESIGN (Fantasy Film): The Hunger Games: Catching Fire- Trish Summerville

Monday, February 17, 2014

Motion Picture Sound Editors Winners

The MPSE winners were:

SOUND EFFECTS & FOLEY IN AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE FEATURE
Gravity

DIALOGUE & ADR IN AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE FEATURE
Captain Phillips

BEST SOUND EDITING (Animated Feature)
Epic

BEST SOUND EDITING (Foreign Language Film)
The Grandmaster

BEST SOUND EDITING (Documentary)
Dirty Wars

MUSIC IN A MUSICAL FEATURE
Frozen

MUSIC IN A FEATURE
The Great Gatsby         

Sunday, February 16, 2014

BAFTA Winners

PICTURE: 12 Years a Slave
BRITISH PICTURE: Gravity
DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
ACTOR: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Yeras a Slave
ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: American Hustle- Eric Warren Singer & David O. Russell
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Philomena- Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope
ANIMATED FEATURE: Frozen
DOCUMENTARY: The Act of Killing
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Gravity- Emmanuel Lubezki
COSTUME DESIGN: The Great Gatsby- Catherine Martin
FILM EDITING: Rush- Daniel P. Hanely & Mike Hill
PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Great Gatsby- Catherine Maritn
MUSIC: Gravity- Steven Price
SOUND: Gravity
MAKE-UP & HAIR: American Hustle
BAFTA RISING STAR: Will Poutlter

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylist Guild

CONTEMPORARY HAIRSTYLING: Lee Daniels' The Butler
PERIOD/CHARACTER HAIRSTYLING: American Hustle
CONTEMPORARY MAKE-UP: Prisoners
PERIOD/CHARACTER MAKE-UP: Dallas Buyers Club
SPECIAL MAKE-UP EFFECTS: Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa

Berlin Film Festival Winners

Richard Linklater
GOLDEN BEAR
Black Coal, Thin Ice (Bai Ri Yan Huo)- directed by Diao Yinan (China)

SILVER BEAR GRAND JURY PRIX (runner-up)
The Grand Budapest Hotel- directed by Wes Anderson (US)

SILVER BEAR ALFRED BAUER PRIZE
Aimer, Boire et Chanter (Life of Riley)- directed by Alain Resnais (France)

SILVER BEAR FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Richard Linklater, Boyhood (US)


SILVER BEAR FOR BEST ACTOR
Liao Fan, Black Coal, Thin Ice

SILVER BEAR FOR BEST ACTRESS
Haru Kuroki, The Little House (Chiisai Ouchi)- Japan

SILVER BEAR FOR BEST SCRIPT
Stations of the Cross (Kreuzweg)-Germany- Anna Brüggemann & Dietrich Brüggermann

SILVER BEAR FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBITION
Zeng Jian (cinematography), Blind Massage (Tui Na)- China
 

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Visual Effects Society

When it comes to Visual Effects for the 2013 calendar year, there's Gravity and then there's everything else and this year it will just have to be a honor to be nominated for everything other than the grand space opera.  To the surprise of no one, Gravity led the field with six wins from the Visual Effects Society onward to it's forthcoming inevitable Oscar win.


OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A VISUAL EFFECTS-DRIVEN MOTION PICTURE
Gravity

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS
The Lone Ranger

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER   
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug- Smaug

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT
Gravity- Exterior

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT (Animated Feature)
Frozen- Elsa's Ice Palace

OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY
Gravity

OUTSTANDING MODELS
Gravity- ISS Exterior

OUTSTANDING FX AND SIMULATION ANIMATION
Gravity- Parachute and ISS Destruction

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING
Gravity

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING (Animated Feature)
Frozen- Elsa's Blizzard  

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: John Dykstra
VISIONARY AWARD: Alfonso Cuarón

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The Ones Oscar Chose

Photo-call for the nominees of the 86th Academy Awards.  How many can you spot?

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Art Directors Guild Award Winners

EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCTION DESIGN (Period Film)
The Great Gatsby- Catherine Martin
EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCTION DESIGN (Contemporary Film)
Her- K.K. Barrett
EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCTION DESIGN (Fantasy Film)
Gravity- Andy Nicholson

USC Scripter Awards

Sort of a precursor for the Best Adapted Screenplay category, but not completely, the USC Scripter Award honor screenplays based on previously existing material.  But with a text.  They honor both the author of the screenplay as well as the author of the original source.  This years nominees were selected from a panel that consisted of Michael Chabon, Geoffrey Fletcher, Callie Khouri, Michael Ondaatje, Leonard Maltin, Kenneth Turan and Steven Zailian.


THE WINNER:
12 Years a Slave- screenplay by John Ridley, based on the book by Solomon Northup


Solomon Northup, who died in 1863, shares the USC Scripter Prize with John Ridley who wrote the screenplay for 12 Years a Slave.

The other nominees were:
Captain Phillips
Philomena
The Spectacular Now
What Maisie Knew

LITERARY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Robert Towne

ACE Eddie Award Winners

The American Cinema Editors announced their choices for the best in film editing for the 2013 movie year.  The tricky splicing of a feature film, the what that separates the movies from real life, the sometimes (but certainly not always) invisible art form that sculpts a movie.  The Best Film Editing Oscar is usually synonymous with Best Picture and the ACE Eddies can be accurate gauges of how the race may eventually turn out.  And other times, they're not; that's the way it goes.

BEST FILM EDITING (Drama)
Captain Phillips- Christopher Rouse
"I am the captain now."
Rouse previously earned the ACE Eddie Award and the Academy Award for Paul Greengrass' The Bourne Ultimatum, one of a handful of cases where the Editors went their own way rather than placing a bet on a probable Best Picture winner.  Can it happen again?  It appears to be a fierce race for the Best Picture Oscar for Gravity, 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle, but is Captain Phillips (which has no shot at the big prize) rallying to spoil in a few areas-- it's surprise WGA win and ACE Eddie prize point to plausible surprises on Oscar night.

BEST FILM EDITING (Musical or Comedy)
American Hustle- Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers & Alan Baumgarten
"You're nothing to me until you're everything."
Cassidy and Struthers won the same award last year and were up for the Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook (they lost to Argo, which won the ACE Eddie for Drama.)  All three are up for the Oscar again for American Hustle.

BEST FILM EDITING (Documentary)
20 Feet From Stardom- Douglas Blush, Kevin Klauber & Jason Zeldes

Searching For Sugar Man won the ACE Eddie last year for Documentary Feature before winning the Documentary Oscar prize-- could this back-up singer story have the same fate?

BEST FILM EDITING (Animated Feature)
Frozen- Jeff Draheim

TELEVISION
MINI-SERIES OR MOVIE: Behind the Candelabra- Mary Ann Bernard (Steven Soderbergh)
ONE HOUR SERIES (Commercial TV): Breaking Bad- "Felina"- Skip MacDonald
ONE HOUR SERIES (Non-Commercial TV): Homeland- "Big Man in Tehran"- Terry Kelley
HALF-HOUR SERIES: The Office- "Finale"- David Rogers & Claire Scanlan
TV DOCUMENTARY: The Assassination of President Kennedy- Chris A. Peterson

GOLDEN EDDIE AWARD: Paul Greengrass
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Richard Halsey

Sunday, February 2, 2014

London Film Critics Circle

FILM OF THE YEAR: 12 Years a Slave
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
ACTOR OF THE YEAR: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
ACTRESS OF THE YEAR: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR: Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR: The Selfish Giant
BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR: James McAvoy, Filth
BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR: Judi Dench, Philomena  
BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILMMAKER OF THE YEAR: Jon S. Baird, Filth
YOUNG BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR: Connor Chapman, The Selfish Giant
DOCUMENTARY: The Act of Killing
FOREIGN FILM: Blue is the Warmest Color
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR: Tim Webber, Gravity (visual effects)
DILYS POWELL AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO BRITISH CINEMA: Gary Oldman

Saturday, February 1, 2014

American Society of Cinematographers

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Gravity- Emmanuel Lubezki

ONE HOUR TELEVISION SERIES: Game of Thrones- Jonathan Freeman ("Valar Doharis")
HALF HOUR TELEVISION SERIES: Drunk History- Blake McClure ("Detroit")
TELEVISION MOTION PICTURE: Killing Lincoln- Jeremy Benning

ASC INTERNATIONAL AWARD: Eduardo Serra
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Dean Cundey

Writers Guild Award Winners

Her solidifies itself (YAY!) as the real deal for Original Screenplay (warding off that Oscar nomination giant that is American Hustle) while Captain Phillips surprises in the Adapted race, a call that surely be seen as consolation prize as 12 Years a Slave was deemed ineligible for the WGA award.

MOTION PICTURE

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Her- Spike Jonze
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Captain Phillips- Billy Ray
DOCUMENTARY: Stories We Tell- Sarah Polley

TELEVISION

DRAMA SERIES: Breaking Bad
COMEDY SERIES: Veep
VARIETY SERIES: The Colbert Report 
NEW TV SERIES: House of Cards
EPISODIC DRAMA: "Confessions"- Breaking Bad- Gennifer Hutchison
EPISODIC COMEDY: "Hogcock"- 30 Rock- Jack Burditt & Robert Carlock 
ANIMATION: "A Test Before Dying"-  The Simpsons- Joel H. Cohen

SCREEN LAURAL AWARD: Paul Mazursky
PAUL SELVIN AWARD: Alex Gibney, We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wiki-Leaks
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