ICS Nominees!

The International Cinephiles Society has announced their nominees! A Separation leads the pack.

PICTURE
• Certified Copy
• Drive
• Hugo
• Margaret
• Meek’s Cutoff
• Melancholia
• Mysteries of Lisbon
• A Separation
• The Tree of Life
• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
• Weekend

DIRECTOR
• Asghar Farhadi – A Separation
• Abbas Kiarostami – Certified Copy
• Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life
• Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive
• Raoul Ruiz – Mysteries of Lisbon

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
• Certified Copy
• House of Pleasures
• Le Havre
• Le Quattro Volte
• Mysteries of Lisbon
• Of Gods and Men
• Poetry
• A Separation
• The Skin I Live In
• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

ACTOR
• Tom Cullen – Weekend
• Michael Fassbender – Shame
• Peyman Moaadi – A Separation
• Chris New – Weekend
• Michael Shannon – Take Shelter

ACTRESS
• Sareh Bayat – A Separation
• Juliette Binoche – Certified Copy
• Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene
• Anna Paquin – Margaret
• Yun Jung-hee – Poetry

SUPPORTING ACTOR
• Albert Brooks – Drive
• Shahab Hosseini – A Separation
• Michael Lonsdale – Of Gods and Men
• Brad Pitt – The Tree of Life
• Christopher Plummer – Beginners

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
• Jessica Chastain – Take Shelter
• Jessica Chastain – The Tree of Life
• Leila Hatami – A Separation
• Carey Mulligan – Shame
• J. Smith-Cameron – Margaret

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
• Certified Copy – Abbas Kiarostami
• Margaret – Kenneth Lonergan
• Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
• A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
• Weekend – Andrew Haigh

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
• Drive – Hossein Amini, James Sallis
• Moneyball – Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin, Michael Lewis
• Mysteries of Lisbon – Carlos Saboga, Camilo Castelo Branco
• The Skin I Live In – Agustín Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar, Thierry Jonquet
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan, John le Carré

CINEMATOGRAPHY
• Drive – Newton Thomas Sigel
• Melancholia – Manuel Alberto Claro
• The Mill and the Cross – Lech Majewski, Adam Sikora
• Mysteries of Lisbon – André Szankowski
• The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki

EDITING
• Drive – Matthew Newman
• Martha Marcy May Marlene – Zachary Stuart-Pontier
• Mysteries of Lisbon – Carlos Madaleno, Valeria Sarmiento
• A Separation – Hayedeh Safiyari
• The Tree of Life – Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, Mark Yoshikawa

PRODUCTION DESIGN
• Hugo – Dante Ferretti
• The Mill and the Cross – Marcel Slawinski, Katarzyna Sobanska-Strzalkowska
• Mysteries of Lisbon – Isabel Branco
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Maria Djurkovic
• The Tree of Life – Jack Fisk

ORIGINAL SCORE
• Drive – Cliff Martinez
• Hanna – Tom Rowlands, Ed Simons (as The Chemical Brothers)
• Mysteries of Lisbon – Jorge Arriagada
• The Skin I Live In – Alberto Iglesias
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Iglesias

ENSEMBLE
• Bridesmaids
• Margaret
• Midnight in Paris
• Mysteries of Lisbon
• A Separation
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

ANIMATED FILM
• The Adventures of Tintin
• Rango
• Winnie the Pooh

DOCUMENTARY
• The Arbor
• The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
• Nostalgia for the Light
• Pina
• Senna

BEST PICTURE NOT RELEASED IN 2011
• Alps
• Century of Birthing
• Declaration of War
• The Deep Blue Sea
• Elena
• Faust
• The Kid with a Bike
• Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
• This Is Not a Film
• The Turin Horse

BAFTA Nominations

BEST FILM
THE ARTIST – Thomas Langmann
THE DESCENDANTS – Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
DRIVE – Marc Platt, Adam Siegel
THE HELP – Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo

DIRECTOR
THE ARTIST – Michel Hazanavicius
DRIVE Nicolas – Winding Refn
HUGO – Martin Scorsese
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Tomas Alfredson
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN – Lynne Ramsay

LEADING ACTOR
BRAD PITT – Moneyball
GARY OLDMAN – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
GEORGE CLOONEY – The Descendants
JEAN DUJARDIN – The Artist
MICHAEL FASSBENDER – Shame

LEADING ACTRESS
BÉRÉNICE BEJO The Artist – Film
MERYL STREEP – The Iron Lady
MICHELLE WILLIAMS – My Week with Marilyn
TILDA SWINTON – We Need to Talk About Kevin
VIOLA DAVIS – The Help

SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER – Beginners
JIM BROADBENT – The Iron Lady
JONAH HILL – Moneyball
KENNETH BRANAGH – My Week with Marilyn
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – The Ides of March

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
CAREY MULLIGAN – Drive
JESSICA CHASTAIN – The Help
JUDI DENCH – My Week with Marilyn
MELISSA MCCARTHY – Bridesmaids
OCTAVIA SPENCER – The Help

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN – Simon Curtis, David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein, Adrian Hodges
SENNA – Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Manish Pandey
SHAME – Steve McQueen, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Abi Morgan
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – _Tomas Alfredson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo, Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN – Lynne Ramsay, Luc Roeg, Jennifer Fox, Robert Salerno, Rory Stewart Kinnear
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
ATTACK THE BLOCK – Joe Cornish (Director/Writer)
BLACK POND – Will Sharpe (Director/Writer), Tom Kingsley (Director), Sarah Brocklehurst (Producer)
CORIOLANUS – Ralph Fiennes (Director)
SUBMARINE – Richard Ayoade (Director/Writer)
TYRANNOSAUR – Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)

DOCUMENTARY
GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD – Martin Scorsese
PROJECT NIM – James Marsh, Simon Chinn
SENNA – Asif Kapadia

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
THE ARTIST – Michel Hazanavicius
BRIDESMAIDS – Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
THE GUARD – John Michael McDonagh
THE IRON LADY – Abi Morgan
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS – Woody Allen
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

THE DESCENDANTS – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
THE HELP – Tate Taylor
THE IDES OF MARCH – George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
MONEYBALL – Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
INCENDIES – Denis Villeneuve, Luc Déry, Kim McGraw
PINA – Wim Wenders, Gian-Piero Ringel
POTICHE – François Ozon, Eric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
A SEPARATION – Asghar Farhadi
THE SKIN I LIVE IN – Pedro Almodóvar, Agustin Almodóvar

ANIMATED FILM
HE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN – Steven Spielberg
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS – Sarah Smith
RANGO – Gore Verbinski

ORIGINAL MUSIC
THE ARTIST – Ludovic Bource
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
HUGO Howard – Shore
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Alberto Iglesias
WAR HORSE – John Williams
CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE ARTIST – Guillaume Schiffman
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO – Jeff Cronenweth
HUGO – Robert Richardson
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Hoyte van Hoytema
WAR HORSE – Janusz Kiminski

EDITING
THE ARTIST – Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
DRIVE – Mat Newman
HUGO – Thelma Schoonmaker
SENNA – Gregers Sall, Chris King
TINKER TAILOR SOLIDER – SPY Dino Janster
PRODUCTION DESIGN
THE ARTIST – Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 – Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
HUGO – Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
WAR HORSE – Rick Carter, Lee Sandales
COSTUME DESIGN
THE ARTIST – Mark Bridges
HUGO – Sandy Powell
JANE EYRE – Michael O’Connor
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN – Jill Taylor
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – Jacqueline Durran

SOUND
THE ARTIST – Nadine Muse, Gérard Lamps, Michael Krikorian
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 – James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener
HUGO – Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY – John Casali, Howard Bargroff, Doug Cooper, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley
WAR HORSE – Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Richard Hymns
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN – Joe Letteri
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery
HUGO – Rob Legato, Ben Grossman, Joss Williams
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White
WAR HORSE – Ben Morris, Neil Corbould
MAKE UP & HAIR
THE ARTIST – Julie Hewett, Cydney Cornell
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 – Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
HUGO Morag – Ross, Jan Archibald
THE IRON LADY – Marese Langan
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN – Jenny Shircore

SHORT ANIMATION
ABUELAS – Afarin Eghbal, Kasia Malipan, Francesca Gardiner
BOBBY YEAH – Robert Morgan
A MORNING STROLL – Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

SHORT FILM
CHALK – Martina Amati, Gavin Emerson, James Bolton, Ilaria Bernardini
MWANSA THE GREAT – Rungano Nyoni, Gabriel Gauchet
ONLY SOUND REMAINS – Arash Ashtiani, Anshu Poddar
PITCH BLACK HEIST – John Maclean, Gerardine O’Flynn
TWO AND TWO – Babak Anvari, Kit Fraser, Gavin Cullen

ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD
ADAM DEACON
CHRIS HEMSWORTH
TOM HIDDLESTON
CHRIS O’DOWD
EDDIE REDMAYNE

BFCA Winners!

As follows:

Best Picture: The Artist
Best Actress: Viola Davis, The Help
Best Actor: George Clooney, The Descendants
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicus, The Artist
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, Steve Zaillian, Moneyball
Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation
Best Ensemble: The Help
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spenser, The Help
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Cinematography (tie): Janusz Kaminski, War Horse 
                                            Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life
Best Song: The Muppets, Life’s a Happy Song
Best Action Movie: Drive
Best Comedy: Bridesmaids
Best Animated Feature: Rango

My top 10 favorite films of 2011.

With 2011 ending in 3 and a half hours, I have decided to post my top 10 favorite films of this year. 2011 was a good year. I had to leave some good films this year. Beginners, Rise of the Planet of the Apes...

10. The Help
09. The Ides of March
08. War Horse
07. Midnight in Paris
06. Drive
05. Moneyball
04. The Descendants
03. The Artist
02. Hugo
01. The Tree of Life

84th Oscars: Best Director Nominees

I'm addicted to checking the score for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Last I've read, it has a 49% on RT, and a 40 on Metacritic. In fact, it's on the brink of being "Generally unfavorable". What I really hope is that the Academy isn't too Daldry bias. Come January, I don't want to hear the film's name being announced. Scratch that, I wouldn't mind Max von Sydow being announced.

A real lock for the Best Director nomination is Michel Hazanavicus, for directing The Artist. I would say his biggest win is at NYFCC, and there are other groups that I am too lazy to name.

Besides him, there are two other big shots: Terrence Malick (I'm not bias,) and Martin Scorsese. I can easily profess that Scorsese is my favorite director, and debatably the greatest of all time. Already he has won the National Board of Review for Hugo and also been nominated for the Golden Globe.

Malick's nomination is nearly as divisive as his film itself. He won at Chicago and LAFCA, but missed at Golden Globes.

I would want to say that if critics were Oscar voters, The Social Network would have won last year, and Nicolas Winding Refn would be a nomination lock for this year. However, I don't see high prospects for Drive, or Refn himself. Bummer.

All in all, Daldry's luck has run out, Scorsese and Hazanavicus are locks, and Malick will probably make it. Alexander Payne needs to step up his game if he wants the nomination, and Woody Allen will duke it out with Spielberg for the last spot. Sounds fun.

84th Oscars: Dublin Film Critics Circle Winners

Thanks to AwardsDaily for this list. For the sake of time, I'm not going to italicize every film's title.

Best Picture
“Drive”

Best Director
Nicolas Winding Refn, “Drive"

Best Actor
Ryan Gosling, “Drive”

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, “The Tree of Life”

Best Documentary
“Senna”

Best Foreign Language Film
“A Separation”

Best Irish Film
“The Guard”

Best Irish Documentary
“Knuckle”

International Breakthrough
Jessica Chastain, “The Help,” “Take Shelter” and “The Tree of Life”

Domestic Breakthrough
John Michael McDonagh, “The Guard”

I highly doubt Dublin is a big Oscar game changer, but it's a cool list.

84th Oscars: Best Picture Nominees

If you were to ask anyone who the Oscar front runner is, you'll hear The Artist, The Descendants, or even Moneyball. (Yes, I'm talking about Sasha Stone,). The fact that there is no real front runner is a delight, and makes the game a real guess.

I'm going to say there is about a 5% chance of Bridesmaids being nominated. I'm extending the margin just in case it happens. I would also put a 3% chance on J. Edgar, because... it's not that good. Drive would have a 15% chance, despite it's goodness.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Gee, I'm giving it a 50/50 chance. (The movie 50/50 is getting a 1% chance, even though it looks good,). One of my last articles, Extreme Loss and Incredible Crap? is unfairly titled, but EL&IC is losing chances with a now 65% tomato-meter. It's pretty much holding on by Daldry and Hanks. Horn's performance is too divisive.

Speaking of divisive, The Tree of Life (My favorite movie of 2011!). It's quite divisive, just read the RT reviews here. It has a 61% audience approval rating, but an 84% Critics Rank. Either way, I think with Daldry's loss, the year's best film will become a nominee. I'm giving it a 75% chance of being nominated.

On the note of 75, that's the RT score for The Help. It's probably the year's "Audience picks" nominee, one that parents at home probably saw. I'm not going to lie, but I actually liked it quite a bit. It's a good flair of comedy and drama, and I really want Viola Davis to win Best Actress. In fact, I think the performances keep the whole film afloat. They are hard to ignore, so... 90% chance of being nominated in my book.

Over Christmas Break, I want to see The Descendants and The Artist, the two real front runners. There was a third, War Horse, but it's losing chances. The Descendants, 99.9%. The Artist, 100% (My bet to win,). War Horse, 95%.

In fact, if you want to be nominated, be different. The Tree of Life and The Artist are probably the most different films out of the bunch. The former being more divisive.

People Magazine's Top 10 Movies

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close got a number one! You can read the complete list below or go to your newsstand and see it, including top 10 albums and TV shows...

1. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
"...a film that's wrenching and a miracle."
2. The Artist
"...more imaginative than nearly every other film this year."
3. Drive
4. A Separation
5. The Skin I Live In
6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
7. Senna
8. The Descendants
9. The Adventures of Tintin
10. Bridesmaids