'Up' Takes Best Feature, Director at Annie Awards

Up took top honors at the Annie Awards this weekend, although it did not win the most trophies. I don't think that will hurt its chances to win the animated Oscar.

Coraline and The Princess and the Frog both had three Annie wins to Up's two, while Fantastic Mr. Fox, in something of an upset, took the screenplay honors over Pixar's magical balloon expedition. The Annies pay tribute to the best in animation in film, TV programs and commercials, and home video, spreading the wealth among animators, directors, writers, and voice talent, so it's a longer awards show than you might imagine. Below is the list of winners, as reported by Variety.

Click to read more ...

'Hurt Locker' Tops 'Avatar' At Producers Guild Awards

So this is interesting: After Avatar swept the major categories at the Golden Globes and Inglourious Basterds took Best Ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, it looked like the window was closing fast on The Hurt Locker in the Best Picture race at the Academy Awards. However, it just won the coveted Producers Guild honors tonight and suddenly, it's back in the middle of the fight.

The PGAs shouldn't necessarily be the direct link to Best Picture the way next weekend's Directors Guild Awards signal the Oscar in that category, because Best Picture is open to every voting member of the Academy and the other awards are not, and this award has a lower conversion rate than the DGAs, as well. Over the past decade, it's 50%, and only two of the past six winners here went on to take the Academy Award. If you follow trends, it's an unfortunate one for Avatar because those two in the past six years are the last two, Slumdog and No Country. However, we've maintained for weeks that this is a two-movie race, and it looks like, again, it's shaping up to come down to Hurt Locker and Avatar at the Oscars. Up in the Air has all but fallen out of contention for everything but adapted screenplay, and Inglourious Basterds - a true wild card that could steal votes from all three of this season's frontrunners - is likely just a wild card.

Click to read more ...

'Basterds' Leads Online Film Critics Society Nominees

One more round of nominations have been released, this time from the Online Film Critics Society. I am surprised that Avatar is not in the group's Best Picture finalists, simply because online critics tend to be a little younger and a little more into sci-fi and fantasy as genres and more into new technology, as well. In fact, even though the OFCS makes a lot of picks more independent-minded moviegoers would celebrate (Mélanie Laurent for Inglourious Basterds, In the Loop), it still seems strange that Avatar could only manage three nominations total.

There are also some selections from earlier in the year that you could argue didn't get their due late in the year. Particularly, I'm thinking of Jackie Earle Haley from Watchmen. He was actually terrific in the film, but this is the first time I've seen his name come up in awards consideration. Joaquin Phoenix is also singled out for his good work in Two Lovers, a film and a performance overshadowed by his odd antics on Letterman back in February. It's a pretty solid list of nominees, though, and we'll find out the winners on January 6th. Best Picture
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Click to read more ...

The Big Picture's Top Ten Films of 2009

What makes a great film? Or better yet, what makes one film greater than another? It's impossible to answer although we can all usually agree on a few things: The Godfather is better than Jane Austen's Mafia, Casablanca beats Gigli, and Toy Story is superior to Toys.

There's never one thing that we cling to (although, certainly, in the right or wrong hands, any one thing can shift 180 degrees), but a well-written, well-directed, well-acted film tends to stand out against the average, and there's more average every year in the movies than there is good or bad. But ranking them? That's a thankless task. This list may not be like yours. All I can tell you is that these are the films that resonated loudest with me, and some longer than others, a couple not even upon first viewing. Some of them add technical achievements to that appreciation, but that isn't mandatory unless the film itself can't exist without it. I will say that I didn't love 2009 at the movies as much as I did the previous two years, and I hope to see more of the documentaries and foreign language films that have not yet made it to our shores. Those are usually a staple of my top ten lists (30% last year), but none made the cut in 2009, I'm afraid.

Click to read more ...

'Up in the Air' Leads Golden Globe Nominees

There is one glaring omission committed by he Hollywood Foreign Press Association in this year's Golden Globe nominations, and we'll discuss that in a moment. First, here are the film nominees, and remember, the Globes are split into dramatic and musical/comedy awards for Best Picture and the two lead acting awards, but not at all for director, screenplay, or the supporting acting honors, because apparently those are less significant to the success of each type of film. (Maybe that's more than one glaring omission, then.)

Motion Picture, Drama
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
Up in the Air Motion Picture, Comedy/Musical
(500) Days of Summer
The Hangover
It’s Complicated
Julie & Julia
Nine

Click to read more ...