'Tree of Life' leads with 7 nods from Online Film Critics Society

Posted by · 9:59 am · December 26th, 2011

Today, the Online Film Critics Society has declared nominations (or maybe I missed them pre-Christmas, I don’t know). And I guess it’s only fitting that, given the group, it’s the slate most in-line with my own views of the film year so far.

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Oklahoma critics march in step, spring for 'The Artist,' Clooney and Williams

Posted by · 3:11 pm · December 23rd, 2011

The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle has spoken up and added nothing to the precursor conversation, going with a slate of typical winners. Most annoying, they totally got their “Obviously Worst Film” and “Not-So-Obviously-Worst-Film” awards mixed, but whatever.

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'Drive,' 'A Better Life' and 'Attack the Block' among scores not eligible for Oscar this year

Posted by · 5:03 pm · December 22nd, 2011

The Academy has announced a list of 97 film scores eligible for consideration in the Best Original Score category this year. Typically, it’s this announcement that brings the bad news of this or that score either not being submitted or being ruled ineligible for whatever reason.

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Interview: Sir Ben Kingsley on male vulnerability and the limitless vision of Georges Méliès

Posted by · 12:12 pm · December 21st, 2011

“Hugo” star Ben Kingsley first got his taste of collaboration with filmmaker Martin Scorsese in 2010 on the thriller “Shutter Island.” It was a long time coming, but for Kingsley, who says he always appreciated Scorsese’s work as a filmmaker, it was a unique characteristic of the director’s process that really spoke to the actor…

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Black Film Critics Circle taps 'The Help' best of the year

Posted by · 6:13 pm · December 20th, 2011

The Black Film Critics Circle has chosen “The Help” as the best film of the year. The film won four other awards, including Best Actress for Viola Davis. “Pariah” director Dee Rees won Best Director, one of three awards for the film. And Albert Brooks added yet another honor to his mantle.

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Women critics like 'The Help,' 'The Iron Lady' and 'The Whistleblower'

Posted by · 5:31 pm · December 20th, 2011

The Women Film Critic Circle has come out in strong favor of “The Help,” “The Iron Lady” and “The Whistleblower.” The association has made selections that feel generally in line with the films and performances one would imagine ought to be be highlighted in this year’s landscape. Though I will confess their choices are seasoned with one or two surprises.

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Off the Carpet: Setting the field with the precursors so far

Posted by · 11:41 am · December 19th, 2011

In just three weeks we’ve gone from zero to a hundred on the circuit as the film awards landscape has been sculpted into a bit of a consensus in these waning moments of 2011. Let’s see what that consensus appears to be.

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Florida critics spring for 'Descendants,' Scorsese

Posted by · 9:11 am · December 19th, 2011

The Florida Film Critics Circle has tossed its hat into the over-stuffed precursor ring this year by picking “The Descendants” as the year’s best film. Martin Scorsese picked up the Best Director prize for “Hugo” while Michelle Williams continued a dominating streak by nabbing Best Actress.

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Southeastern film critics go for 'Descendants,' Scorsese, Clooney, Streep

Posted by · 8:47 am · December 19th, 2011

The Southeastern Film Critics Association has crowned “The Descendants” the year’s best film, but with no awards for “The Artist,” one wonders if the high on that film is subsiding.

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'Descendants,' 'Drive' win big at Satellite Awards

Posted by · 7:52 am · December 19th, 2011

After nominating any and everything under the sun, the International Press Academy (Satellite Awards) has tapped “The Descendants” as this year’s Best Picture of the year. The group, however, gave “Drive” a field-leading four wins, and overall, it’s a unique set of superlatives.

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2011: the year in superlatives

Posted by · 10:11 am · December 16th, 2011

Who am I to complain about the amount of year-end kudos announcements when I had this post coming all along? I know. I’m so hypocritical.

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'Tree of Life' leads Chicago film critics nods

Posted by · 8:56 am · December 16th, 2011

The Chicago Film Critics Association has announced its list of nominees this year, and it’s full of the usual. But most interesting is that “The Tree of Life” star Hunter McCracken has finally received some attention.

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'The Artist' leads with six Golden Globe nods, Spielberg snubbed

Posted by · 4:27 am · December 15th, 2011

‘The Descendants’ and ‘The Help’ followed with five nominations apiece, but it’s George Clooney’s “The Ides of March,” with four, that is the morning’s big comeback kid.

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Ben Kingsley recalls an early cinema favorite

Posted by · 5:36 pm · December 14th, 2011

In a recent interview, Ben Kingsley revealed one of the earliest films to spark his excitement for the cinema.

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San Diego critics pick 'Artist,' Refn

Posted by · 5:04 pm · December 14th, 2011

The San Diego Film Critics Society has chosen “The Artist” as Best Picture for 2011 and Nicolas Winding Refn as Best Director for “Drive,” among other honors.

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Guessing the Globes

Posted by · 11:54 am · December 14th, 2011

Here’s another chance for you to spitball the Golden Globes nominee list: we’re expecting a leading haul for “The Artist,” but what annual oddities will surface in the comedy/musical categories?

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The 2011 Longlists

Posted by · 8:19 am · December 14th, 2011

The Longlists are just that: a series of lists in various categories featuring what I thought was the top echelon of each. I trotted out 10, rather than the Oscar-centric five, throughout.

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'The Help' leads SAG nominations, Demián Bichir surprises in Best Actor

Posted by · 5:51 am · December 14th, 2011

The SAG Awards tend to hew closely to Oscar prognosticators’ lists, but they handed us a few wild cards this morning — not just in terms of who they nominated, but who they left out.

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