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Time To Get 'Social' About This Year's Oscar Rankings

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Dec 16th 2010 5:55PM
Filed under: Awards, Cinematical


Awards season officially exploded this week. Since this last Sunday, 14 different groups have announced either their winners or nominations with the Chicago Film Critics Association slated to unveil their contenders on Friday. The race is starting to come into focus as far as the locks are concerned, but is just as hazy as ever on the fringes which could post dramatic shifts over the next month. Some need help. Others need to maintain momentum and presence. We have all season to break down the numbers per group, what they could mean and where speculation is headed. In the meantime, let us start out simple and just show you where the current road of Oscar leads.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Melissa Leo ('The Fighter') - The showier of the two performances takes the lead.
2. Jacki Weaver ('Animal Kingdom') - L.A. & NBR have agreed 8 times since 1982. Five won the Oscar. All were nominated.
3. Helena Bonham Carter ('The King's Speech') - BFCA/Globe nominees 28-for-30 here since 2001.
4. Amy Adams ('The Fighter') - Ditto for arguably the be

5. Mila Kunis ('Black Swan') - Cameron Diaz & Julianne Moore only two BFCA/Globe nominees to miss. Could she be the third?
6. Hailee Steinfeld ('True Grit') - Indiana, Toronto and the Southeastern critics all crowned the newbie, but the Globes snubbed her.
7. Lesley Manville ('Another Year') - Sony Classics pushing her for Lead, yet some groups thinking she is Supporting.
8. Julianne Moore ('The Kids Are All Right') - I argued Bening for Supporting. Houston went the other way.
9. Juliette Lewis ('Conviction') - Boston named her the best for her 1.5 scenes in the film.
10. Barbara Hershey ('Black Swan') - BFCA & HFPA obviously prefer o

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Golden Globes vs. Oscars: Will The Nominations Remain The Same?

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Dec 14th 2010 12:15PM
Filed under: Movie News, Hot Topic, Oscar News, Awards, Cinematical


Check out the full list of 2011 Golden Globe nominees for both Film and Television

The Golden Globes used to be looked upon as a little teaser for the Oscar nominations. Technology had not progressed to the point that we could instantly track every single award handed out across the country in the month of December at the touch of a button. So we looked at the live party with the celebrities and particularly the winners to see who might take home the bigger statuette a few months later. Opening our gold Christmas presents early, if you will. Nowadays we do not need newspapers or Variety to see what film critic groups are awarding first. There are competing award shows from the Screen Actors Guild to the Broadcast Film Critics Association's annual we-guess-better-than-anyone travesty. Are the Globes numbers really as relevant anymore?

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association's numbers already face a setback compared to the BFCA's stats since they love to nominate six instead of five just to give themselves that little edge in guessing right. The Globes, though, have always managed to double up on their lead performances by splitting their categories into Drama and Comedy/Musical. Not that they can always decide which is which as evidenced by Jamie Foxx being put into the latter for 'Ray', yet Jeff Bridges in the former for 'Crazy Heart' last year. Numbers always look best when rounded, and as modern history intrudes on the past, it is the growing trends we need to examine rather than a blanket overview.

So what do the recently announced Golden Globe nominations mean for the upcoming Oscar nods? We break it down after the jump.
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The Alternative Awards: Considering the Screenplays

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Dec 7th 2010 7:22PM
Filed under: Oscar News, Awards, Cinematical



The Alternative Awards is a weekly column that highlights actors, actresses and films that are flying way under the awards radar, but still deserve a second glance. It will run on Tuesdays throughout awards season.

The Screenplay categories are among the most fun to watch for a variety of reasons. It is the one category where one of our personal favorites have the strength of getting in on the pure merit of its writing, with no interference of the chances of its other contributors. On the flip side it is one to keep an eye on as far as Best Picture is concerned. Only twice since 1965 ('The Sound of Music' & 'Titanic') has the big winner not been nominated for its writing. And in those 45 years, the Best Film's script also won an Oscar 33 times (10 Originals, 23 Adaptations).

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National Board of Review 2010 Winners: 'The Social Network' Leads the Pack

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Dec 2nd 2010 3:52PM
Filed under: Movie News, Awards, Cinematical


The National Board of Review has announced their 2010 winners, and David Fincher's 'The Social Network' leads the way with Best Feature, Best Director, Best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Best Adapted Screenplay. Check out the full list below, and commentary after the jump.

Best Film: The Social Network
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Best Actress: Lesley Manville, Another Year
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
Best Foreign Language Film: Of Gods and Men
Best Documentary: Waiting for "Superman"
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Ensemble Cast: The Town
Breakthrough Performance: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Debut Directors: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, Restrepo
Spotlight Award: Sylvain Chomet and Jacques Tati, The Illusionist
Best Original Screenplay: Chris Sparling, Buried
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: Sofia Coppola for writing, directing, and producing Somewhere
William K. Everson Film History Award: Leonard Maltin
NBR Freedom of Expression: Fair Game, Conviction, Howl
Production Design Award: Dante Ferretti, Shutter Island

More after the jump ...
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The Alternative Awards: Considering The Supporting Actresses

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Nov 30th 2010 2:00PM
Filed under: Features, Oscar News, Awards, Cinematical

The Alternative Awards is a weekly column that highlights actors, actresses and films that are flying way under the awards radar, but still deserve a second glance. It will run on Tuesdays throughout awards season.

We have tackled the Supporting Actors and now it is time to look at the ladies. In what might be the most wide open category in the entire race, a couple of handy reminders might actually do some good for voters. Helena Bonham Carter ('The King's Speech') may be the one and only lock at this point. The only one-time Oscar nominee may even be the favorite to win as part of a potential sweep for Tom Hooper's great film. Her closest competition could be either Melissa Leo or Amy Adams, depending on which actress from 'The Fighter' voters can make up their mind upon. Adams may have the edge, but both can easily be nominated.

After that it is a virtual pick 'em of possibilities starting with Dianne Wiest ('Rabbit Hole') and Marion Cotillard ('Inception'). There appears to be some heat building for Miranda Richardson ('Made In Dagenham'). If Michelle Williams gets shut out for 'Blue Valentine,' she could still get in for 'Shutter Island' here. We have yet to see if the discovery of Hailee Steinfeld ('True Grit') will be worth a nomination or just some consolation into the Breakthrough Performance categories. And finally it might take some acknowledgement from the critics' awards to secure nods for Jacki Weaver ('Animal Kingdom') and Ruth Sheen ('Another Year').
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The Alternative Awards: Considering 2010's Supporting Actors

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Nov 26th 2010 6:30PM
Filed under: Oscar News, Awards



Approaching the end of November we are on our way towards critics' groups, guilds and professional celebrity schmoozers announcing their awards. Each category is likely to have three favorites translating into Oscar locks. Another four or five will compete for the remaining slots. And a couple will find a nod or victory tucked away amongst the regulars in the hopes that someone is paying attention that they are still in the race. The lists of good and even great films and performances each year though extends further than five. It extends further than ten. Though that is often the ceiling of whom you hear about as the road to Oscar takes shape. Therefore in this series of pieces, may I suggest some very worthy alternatives. Not saying they are always better or that they would even make my final ballot, but wouldn't it be nice to see one or more emerge as an underdog or find a mention or two amongst the precursors?

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Awards Season: Your Move, Critics

By Erik Childress (Subscribe to Erik Childress's posts), Posted Nov 15th 2010 5:28PM
Filed under: Oscar News, Cinematical


There is a chicken/egg factor when we look upon the awards that preface each year's Oscar nominations. A month's worth of critic organizations and specialty guilds will have announced their nominations and/or winners while the lot of us speculate what is foreshadowing and what is merely prediction. On Thursday, Dec. 2 the National Board of Review will officially kick off awards season with their top ten and winner's list that has no time to wait for some of the year's late unscreened releases.

From there we will await word from the big cities -- L.A., N.Y. and Chicago -- with legitimate opinions. And then more party throwers from the Golden Globes to the Broadcast Film Critics Association; the latter always hoping to up their guesstimate percentages on the Oscar game. Each group eventually folds into part of a greater collective, though, and no matter if their choices match up to Academy voter tastes or are just playing a game to boost their rep, somebody might just be listening. And it could be the difference between a nomination and a snub.
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