The Nominations Are In! Oscar Edition

Some great surprises and some not-so-surprises this year, including a first nomination for Gary Oldman (finally!) as well as some deserving nominations for Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, George Clooney, Woody Allen, Terrence Malick, Alexander Payne, Nick Nolte and Rooney Mara. There will be a ton of time for analysis, predictions and snubs, but for now, the full list:

Best Picture

• "The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
• "The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
• "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
• "The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
• "Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
• "Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
• "Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
• "The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
• "War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Actor in a Leading Role

• Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
• George Clooney in "The Descendants"
• Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
• Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
• Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
• Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
• Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
• Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
• Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

Actress in a Leading Role

• Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
• Viola Davis in "The Help"
• Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
• Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
• Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
• Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
• Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
• Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
• Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

Cinematography

• "The Artist" Guillaume Schiffman
• "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Jeff Cronenweth
• "Hugo" Robert Richardson
• "The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki
• "War Horse" Janusz Kaminski

Directing

• "The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
• "The Descendants" Alexander Payne
• "Hugo" Martin Scorsese
• "Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
• "The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick

Film Editing

• "The Artist" Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
• "The Descendants" Kevin Tent
• "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
• "Hugo" Thelma Schoonmaker
• "Moneyball" Christopher Tellefsen

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• "The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
• "Hugo" Screenplay by John Logan
• "The Ides of March" Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
• "Moneyball" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin
• "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• "The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius
• "Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
• "Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor
• "Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen
• "A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi

See you on February 26, 2012.

AFI Awards: Cold Winter Gives Way to Awards Season Heat

It’s getting to that time of year again when the Top Tens start filtering out and many Academy Awards dreams start to become realized or shattered. Not all lists or awards are equal in weight, but there are many out there that are considered to be a cut above all the rest, and one of those is the AFI Awards.

This year the AFI top ten list for film offers a wide range of genres:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
J. Edgar
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Absent from the list are films like The Artist, Shame and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which don’t qualify for the awards because they are not an American production. Sidenote, both The Artist and the entire Harry Potter series will receive special awards at the ceremony.

The AFI list usually does a decent job at predicting the nominees and winners of Best Picture, but since some films aren’t eligible to be nominated, it changes things a bit. The top tens have been released by the AFI since 2000 and only three times has the Best Picture winner not been among the top ten.

The first one was in 2006 when The Departed won Best Picture and the second time was in 2008 when Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture. Slumdog, however, was not eligible for the AFI Awards considering it was a British film and the same goes for The King's Speech last year, although it did win a special award.

AFI's Top Ten American TV shows for this year is an extremely stacked list:

Breaking Bad
Boardwalk Empire
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
Homeland
Justified
Louie
Modern Family
Parks and Recreation

Hard to have a beef with any one of these choices. While I’ve never seen The Good Wife, I hear enough to know it deserves to be here and as for the rest, I’ve seen every episode of each from this past year and while there are a lot of good choices not on the list, it's hard to have much beef with those nine.

The AFI Awards will be held on January 13, 2012.

The Academy Awards Are Tonight!

Best Picture

"The King's Speech," "True Grit," "Inception," "The Social Network," "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "The Kids Are All Right," "Toy Story 3," "127 Hours," "Winter's Bone"

Breakdown: It's really hard to argue against any of these nominees, but it's clearly a two-horse race between "The King's Speech" and "The Social Network," although it wouldn't be a major surprise at all to see box-office favorite "True Grit" pick up the award.

Who Should Win: "The Social Network." There's just something about this movie that I can't shake. David Fincher's directing, Aaron Sorkin's writing, Trent Reznor's score, and the acting of Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake all combine together to create what in my opinion is the best all around movie of the year. While some people have called the film "The Facebook Movie," it's really about much more than Facebook. It's about culture and the generation we live in now.

Who Will Win: "The King's Speech." At the beginning of awards season, it looked as if "The Social Network" could not be stopped. It seemingly was winning every critics award imaginable and was starting to have the feel of an Oscar lock. But the race got interesting late in the game as "The King's Speech" started to rack up awards and after winning the award for director Tom Hooper from the DGA, the historical drama looks to be the front-runner.

Snubs: "The Town." While I think "Winter's Bone" is completely deserving of its nomination, Ben Affleck's Boston crime drama easily could have slid in to (what was most likely) the tenth slot.

Best Director

David Fincher ("The Social Network"), Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech"), Darren Aronofsky, ("Black Swan"), David O. Russell ("The Fighter"), Joel and Ethan Coen ("True Grit")

Breakdown: It's hard to argue with any of the five nominations in this category, but it's a two-horse race again, this time with Fincher and Hooper. Both films, "The Social Network" and "The King's Speech," have enjoyed high praise everywhere, and if one of these two didn't win the award, I would be surprised. While the Coens have past pedigree in the category, I think it's between Hooper and Fincher.

Who Should Win: David Fincher has directed some truly great films in the past, including "Seven," "Fight Club" and "Zodiac," and I think he made the best picture of the year in "The Social Network." It should be his award.

Who Will Win: Fincher has it. His film and his work on it have earned widespread praise and although Hooper won the DGA Award (making him sort of a frontrunner), I still think Fincher will pull away with it.

Snubs: Christopher Nolan! "Inception," In one of the most glaring snubs in recent memory, Nolan was shut out of this category again (after another snub for "The Dark Knight). Conspiracy theories abound, but I think the reason for the snub is because some voters just didn't understand "Inception" (which means they are dumb), but whatever the reason, he deserves to be miffed. Hopefully with "The Dark Knight Rises," Nolan will get his due.

Best Actor

Colin Firth ("The King's Speech"), Jeff Bridges ("True Grit"), Jesse Eisenberg ("The Social Network"), James Franco ("127 Hours"), Javier Bardem ("Biutiful")

Breakdown: While all five actors gave amazing performances, this feels like its Firth's award to lose. He won the Golden Globe and his performance has been unanimously praised for its realistic portrayal of a character suffering from a stammer. Both Franco and Eisenberg were fantastic, and if not for Firth, either of them would be deserving.

Who Should Win: Whenever an actor is nominated two years in a row for Best Actor, I think that is truly an amazing accomplishment. Both Firth and Bridges pulled it off this year (Bridges won for "Crazy Heart" last year, while Firth was in "A Single Man") and while I think Bridges was great as Rooster Cogburn, it's Firth's year.

Who Will Win: Firth is the frontrunner and he will take it home.

Snubs: You name it. From Robert Duvall of "Get Low" to Ryan Gosling of "Blue Valentine" to Mark Wahlberg of "The Fighter." All three have legitimate beef with the Academy, but I can't argue with any of the five nominated. That said, Gosling was exceptional.

Best Actress

Annette Bening ("The Kids Are All Right"), Natalie Portman ("Black Swan"), Jennifer Lawrence ("Winter's Bone"), Nicole Kidman ("Rabbit Hole"), Michelle Williams ("Blue Valentine")

Breakdown: Another category that seems as if it's down to two nominees: Annette Bening and Natalie Portman are the frontrunners. Portman was previously nominated as a supporting actress for 2004's "Closer" and Bening has been nominated four times without winning.

Who Should Win: I thought both Bening and Portman were fantastic, but I think it's Portman who should win this year, because "Black Swan" totally fell on her shoulders and she was great in it. It was a physically and mentally demanding role, she took it head on--and she nailed it.

Who Will Win: While I think Portman could easily take this, I actually think the Academy will finally call on Bening for the first time.

Snubs: Hailee Steinfeld of "True Grit." I should call this the "Sort Of Snub." While I think it's great that she was nominated for Supporting Actress (which she has an actual chance to win), her character was more of a leading role, and I think she deserved a nomination for Best Actress, although I understand the voters reasoning.

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale ("The Fighter"), Geoffrey Rush ("The King's Speech"), Jeremy Renner ("The Town"), Mark Ruffalo ("The Kids Are All Right"), John Hawkes ("Winter's Bone")

Breakdown: While obviously every Oscar category is "deep" in the sense that the nominees are all deserving, this category is probably the strongest of any from top to bottom this year. While Bale was a knockout in "The Fighter" and is the front-runner, in any other year each four of these actors could take home the award. Ruffalo gave an amazing performance in "The Kids Are Alright,"and while I don't think he'll win this year, he was fantastic.

Who Should Win: I do think Bale was amazing, and he should win the award, but for the sake of it, and because I am a huge fan, I'll say John Hawkes should win. He has been spinning great performances for years (including in "Deadwood" among many others) and after seeing "Winter's Bone," I was floored by his performance.

Who Will Win: Bale is the frontrunner and after a slew of great career roles, he deserves this award.

Snubs: Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield ("The Social Network"). Each snub shows just how much voters liked "Winter's Bone," which I admit I was a fan of, as well. Although I loved Hawkes in the film, I think both these actors could have received a nomination. Timberlake was great and Garfield was even better--he played the emotional and sympathetic center of the year's best film.

Best Supporting Actress

Melissa Leo ("The Fighter"), Amy Adams ("The Fighter"), Helena Bonham Carter ("The King's Speech"), Hailee Steinfeld ("True Grit") Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom")

Breakdown: When a film has two nominations in one category, it says a lot. While Carter gave an amazing performance, as did Weaver, it seems to be Leo's award to lose (apart from her strange Oscar campaign photos).

Who Should Win: Steinfeld was amazing in "True Grit" and based on pure performance, she should win.

Who Will Win: Leo most likely will take home the award for her loud and realistic portrayal of boxer Micky Ward's mother.

Snubs: Mila Kunis ("Black Swan") and Julianne Moore ("The Kids Are All Right"). Both were absolutely deserving but were shut out in a strong year for the category. Kunis was great in "Black Swan" and has a definite gripe here.

Other thoughts and observations:

-Snub: Lee Smith - Editing - Inception. Come on, that last act when the movie is jumping through three different levels of dreaming isn't Oscar worthy? Please.

-I hope Christopher Nolan wins for Best Original Screenplay for "Inception." The film was fantastic and do you get a script more original than that? Don't think so.

-Snub: Daft Punk - Score - Tron: Legacy. I'm probably biased because I am a Daft Punk fan, but their electronic and transy soundtrack to the new "Tron" film definitely deserved a nomination. But if Trent Reznor loses the award, it's an injustice.

-I don't care if they thought the film wasn't that great overall, but "Tron: Legacy" getting shut out of an Effects Oscar just doesn't make sense.

The Academy Awards air tonight on ABC.

Awards Update: PGA and WGA Release Nominations

The Producers Guild of America released its nominations this past week, and the news bodes well for any Dark Knight fans hoping for an Academy Award nomination.

The PGA nominees for the best films of the year are: Slumdog Millionaire, Frost/Nixon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, and yes, The Dark Knight. The reason this bodes well for Batman is because usually the road to Oscar gold runs through the Producers Guild Awards.

Want proof? Check out what the LA Times says: In their 19-year history, the PGA has called the Academy Award for Best Picture 12 times, including last year with No Country For Old Men. In fact they got four out of the five right with, Juno, Michael Clayton, and There Will Be Blood also among their picks.

While the PGA has only predicted 63% of the eventual Oscar winners, they have gotten 76% percent of the best picture contenders correct. The only year that the producers guild nominees did not include the eventual Oscar winner was in 1995 when Braveheart failed to make the cut, and Apollo 13 won the PGA's Golden Laurel.

Being snubbed by the Golden Globes may have hurt The Dark Knight's chances slightly, but now with a nomination from the PGA, Christopher Nolan's epic superhero film could find it's way into a Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

Even better news for the film is that its screenplay was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America. Along with The Dark Knight, the nominees are: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, and Slumdog Millionaire.

The nominees for Best Original Screenplay: Burn After Reading, Milk, Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Visitor, and The Wrestler. Nice to see the Joel and Ethan Coen's underrated comedy make the list. The film hadn't recieved too much buzz this awards season, but it is defiitely deserving of a nomination here.

Academy Award nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22nd.

Looking Ahead to '09

Another part of Dark Horizon's list of notable 2009 releases are up, with a few I will be looking forward to:

The Fighter, opening some time in 2009 was being developed for a while, but it looks like Darren Aronofsky's follow up to The Wrestler will make it to the big screen. Starring Mark Wahlberg and Brad Pitt, the movie tells the story of Dicky Eklund, a talented fighter that turned to crime and landed in prison. Eventually he turns his life around and helps train his under performing half brother. With Aronofsky's success with The Wrestler, another sports themed movie might serve him well. Wahlberg has trained for a year getting into shape, so hopefully the combination of all this talent will make the film a contender come awards season. And Darren Aronofsky went to my high school, and he is the man.

Green Zone, starring Matt Damon and directed by Paul Greengrass, this film hopes to break the streak and be a successful drama about the Iraq war. The film is based on the book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City", and follows CIA agents as they search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction. If you're a fan of the Bourne franchise and Paul Greengrass' handheld, documentary style film making, this picture should be right up your alley. Has a lot of potential with Greengrass, Damon and the very talented Amy Ryan (see Gone Baby Gone, and The Office).

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, obviously the interest in this movie depends on if you can stand Harry Potter or despise him. I can stand him, and I will be looking forward to the releaseof this film, which was delayed from this past winter season to July 17th. The film should be one of the best in the series, with director David Yates returning as director, and Prince being one of the best books in the series. Either way, it will make a shitload of money this summer.

Howl, opening sometime in 2009 is a movie I hadn't heard much about, but looks interesting stars James Franco, and concerns the obscenity trial launched to censor Allen Ginsberg's controversial 'Howl'. The movie has animated segments mixed in from the book/poem and will deal with issues of morality and censorship. I haven't seen Milk, but from what I have heard Franco was excellent, and he should bring the same quality of work to this film. The stellar supporting cast includes David Strathairn, Alan Alda, Mary Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels and Paul Rudd.

The Human Factor, after seeing Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino, I will definitely be interested in seeing what he will do with this film. Eastwood directs this film, which covers the campaign by rugby star Francois Pienaar and President Nelson Mandela to secure the 1995 Rugby World Cup to give the whites and blacks in South Africa a common cause to rally around as the country was trying to heal from the wounds of apartheid. If that's not enough, the movie stars Matt Damon, and Morgan Freeman. If that isn't enough to garner some Oscar buzz, I'm not sure how else to go about it.