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Screendaily reports the winners of the British Independent Film Awards. Last year, Control won all of the top spots:
Awards in full
Best British Independent film
Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle)
Best director, sponsored by The Creative Partnership
Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
The Douglas Hickox Award (best debut director)
Steve McQueen (Hunger)
Best screenplay sponsored by BBC Films
The International Press Academy has announced the nominees for the 13th Annual Satellite Awards. Before anybody panics, remember last year, the IPA failed to nominate There Will Be Blood (presumably for lack of having seen it yet), and in 2006 Letters From Iwo Jima wasn’t nominated (probably for the same reason).
Motion Picture, Drama
Director
Actress In A Motion Picture, Drama
Actor In A Motion Picture, Drama
(more nominees, after the cut)
Forget conflict. The most essential component for Best Picture is a relationship we care about — the dynamic interplay between two mesmerizing actors. (Anyway, put a pair of intriguing personalities together, combine two kinds of charisma, and there’s your instant conflict.) Nobody wins an Oscar going solo. Show me the most electrifying movie duos of the year, and I’ll show you the partnership that delivers Best Picture.
Last year we had these 10 twosomes to choose from: Juno & Paulie, Daniel & Paul, Moss & Chigurh, Robert & Jesse, Richie & Frank, Cecilia & Robbie, Karen & Michael, Edith & Marcel, Fiona & Grant, Lars & Bianca.
This year it’s April & Frank, Dan & Harvey, The Joker and Batman, Kym & Rachel, Latika & Jamal, Frost & Nixon, Hanna & Michael, Cassidy & Randy, EVE & WALL·E… can any of these relationships beat the romance of Daisy & Benjamin? (above) Those are my Top 10 movie couples of 2008. Is there another match made in Hollywood you like better?
Carr is a writer before he is anything else and thus, when he dips into Oscar season, it’s somehow more of everything than the usual jibber jabber – his world view, born out of a life’s worth of the good, the bad and the ugly has somehow found its way to the Oscar scene. It’s about as likely as someone like Michael Jordan becoming an Oscar blogger but there it is – and so he hits this season less a fish out of water and more a one-step-removed observer. Here is his eloquent opener:
Against the backdrop of a historic presidential election and a vortex of economic dysfunction, the burgeoning Oscar season seems even sillier than usual. After all, who really cares about the throw-down for best supporting actor at a time when the citizenry seems poised for a run on its own banks.
Apparently, this was sent to subscribers only, while the Twilight cover hit the news stands.
I don’t know if this is their “official” Oscar issue or not – it’s the beginning of December so maybe it is. It can’t be. Their official issue will either have to have Heath Ledger and the Dark Knight crew on it or else the Benjamin Button crew. Milk might also take it. Then again, it could be Slumdog? Can they sell magazines with Danny Boyle and non-stars? Hm. My money is on Ben Button – Pitt and Blanchett.
This week, Meryl Streep is on the cover and our friends over at Oh No They Didn’t has posted scans of the Streep article, along with a Best Pic rundown of how the films stand. We already know which films Karger chose but it’s interesting to read the “why it gets in, why it doesn’t” parts.
They also have a thermometer of the actors and I swear it looks like Sally Hawkins where Kristin Scott Thomas should be. Have a look at the cover and the Oscar bits after the cut but if you’d like to see the whole thing, go to ONTD.
There are some films that somehow straddle the fence on being one of the best films you’ve ever seen while at the same time, inexplicably, one of the worst films you’ve ever seen. Such was the case, for me, with Australia. There are so many things to marvel at in the movie, so many gorgeous, dazzling, heart-wrenching moments and yet…
We’re trying something new here at Awards Daily that we’ve never done. We’re starting the contests early and you can have bragging rights for knowing best how the NBR will go. They announce on Thursday, so enter now . I’ve added the animated feature category as well because it isn’t a guarantee it will be Wall-E – it might be Waltz with Bashir.
Ew’s Dave Karger just put up a post about the films he thinks have the best shot at a nod come January and the ones that will run in EW’s Oscar issue. He adds that when he made the list Australia hadn’t yet opened and Milk hadn’t yet received the rave reviews, and he says he might change things if asked to do it now — take note, Oscar watchers, things can change on a dime and the Oscar race is not static, it’s fluid. It’s also important to note that only one of these films has opened to the public:
1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Frost/Nixon
4. Revolutionary Road
5. Doubt
6. Milk
7. The Dark Knight
8. AustraliaThe story closed this past Monday; now that I’ve seen the fantastic reviews for Milk and the horrible early box office for Australia, I might have amended things a bit. (And for what it’s worth, if I had had room for 10 films, I would have added The Reader and Gran Torino as well.) I know all of you out there will have opinions on my list. So let me have it. And have a great long weekend.
David Poland has declared, and Kris Tapley backs him up in the comments section, that Slumdog Millionaire is now the frontrunner of the 2008/2009 Oscar race. All of this worked out in a somewhat rushed negative review of Benjamin Button where Poland also says that the Brad Pitt film can’t win any of the top prizes at this year’s Oscars. He says that the film has “no conflict” anywhere in it. It’s funny to see how the movie is suffering all of the highs and lows of Oscar season before it’s even opened to the public. As far as conflict goes, I’d think being born old, abandoned by your parents and having to live life backwards is sort of its own conflict but that’s just me. One of the biggest conflicts in human nature is the bitter truth that youth is wasted on the young. You might not really understand this unless you’re on that side of things but conflict it is.
[SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen Pieces of April, but plan to someday, you might want to skip the clip above -- since it's the final scene in the movie.]
Thanksgiving movies aren’t as common as Christmas movies so it’s easy for me to name my favorite. Katie Holmes, Derek Luke, Oliver Platt and terrific Patricia Clarkson in Pieces of April. The family shows up late after Thanksgiving plans flame out in disastrous meltdown. Those who know the movie will appreciate the emotions leading up to these freeze-frame moments, and there’s no easy way to summarize for those who haven’t yet seen it. Highly recommended.
Like the movie’s late arrivals, I drag myself in lagging a day after Sasha’s sweet Thanksgiving wishes, but I bring my own armload of gratitude. On a purely movie-lover level I’m thankful for the visionary filmmakers who’ve given us such a cornucopia of amazing movies for three years in a row. Thankful that this latest surge of brilliant films caused me to seek out a site where I could share my excitement, and led me to “Oscarwatch” in November ‘06 — just in time to see it evolve into AwardsDaily.
(more mushiness, after the cut)
There’s already talk in the comments about which critically acclaimed movie of 2008 will fail to catch fire in the nominations process. One thing’s certain every year: Some movie that we’re all wild about in November gets the shaft come January. Last year, for some of us it was The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. For others it was Into the Wild or I’m Not There. The excitement we feel the morning the nominees are announced is always blunted by the sting of disappointment when a personal favorite doesn’t make the final cut.
It’s especially painful when we know some movies will be inevitably left off that are better than Chocolat or The Cider House Rules. But this isn’t 2001. Our favorite movies have the bad luck of competing in a year overflowing with relative greatness. We only get to hold 5 cards in our hands in Oscar poker, even if the deck is stacked with 7 or 8 aces. You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, but you also have to know which to reluctantly discard.
That’s what makes a year of apparent abundance thrilling and a little scary too. I already have more than 5 movies in mind that I’d be happy to see get Best Picture nominations. And I know there won’t be room in the lifeboat for a couple of them. Like the Sesame Street song, “one of these things is not like the other thing,” it often comes down to which highly praised film just doesn’t seem to be “red carpet” enough to sit in the front rows with the chosen few. Last year, among others, that outcast was Once. I have my own idea about which movies this year will be left standing when the game of musical chairs ends, but it’s not right for me to say on the main page. It’s a cruel task, but let’s hear your predictions for this year’s odd man out.
Michael Russnow, writing for The Huffington Post, says it hasn’t been easy for Clint Eastwood to find roles that fit his no-nonsense personality, but in Gran Torino he inhabits just such a role, with “a lovely portrayal — not always easy to watch — of a man faced with a transition that comes just in time at the tail end of his life.”
Eastwood’s voice is not suddenly full of fire. It is equipped with an old man’s crackle and doesn’t often shift no matter the emotion of the moment. But in this story by Dave Johansson and Nick Schenk and with the spare and pointed dialogue in Nick Schenk’s screenplay, and with those ever haunting eyes that always made you believe Eastwood would kill you as Dirty Harry, it all comes together and works. Perhaps only for this film in this wonderful manner, but no matter because it’s a superb achievement…
John Wayne found True Grit towards the end of his career and now Clint Eastwood has done the same with an unforgettable performance in Gran Torino, a film that is so simple in its telling that it almost slips by how powerful it really is.
It’s hard to find a review that doesn’t say Gran Torino is one of the peaks of Eastwood’s acting career. I don’t buy into the idea that the Academy hands out Best Actor nominations as “farewell to acting” souvenirs — especially not to multiple Oscar winners who’ve already been nominated several times across three categories. (For that matter, I don’t know if I buy into this film being Eastwood’s “farewell to acting” at all. Fool me once, and all that.) But Gran Torino does seem to be one of those rare alignments of personality, persona and personification that comes along once in a lifetime for an actor — and when it caps off a lifetime like Clint Eastwood’s, can the result be anything but iconic?
When I was a wee lad, during the holidays we’d take our ritual tour around town to check out the Christmas extravagance in the tonier neighborhoods. The houses I called mansions as a kid would be decked out with lavish wreaths and tasteful displays of white lights, and we’d cruise by slowly to ooh and ahh at their stately sparkling coolness. But then before coming home my Dad would always make a roundabout trip through the less affluent part of town. Down the shabbier streets where maybe the solitary decoration would be a homemade paper snowflake scotch-taped to the storm door. Past thin sagging strings of lights draped around porch rails, and skimpy trees glimpsed through broken blinds of dim windows. Worse, the houses that were totally unadorned, devoid of any holiday cheer at all.
My little sister and I would sulk and slouch down in our seats during these grim detours, but it was no secret what my Dad was doing. After our awestruck visits to see how the rich did it, my father wanted us to see how the other half lived too — so we’d be thankful for what we had when we pulled into the driveway of our own home. And we were.
In the same spirit as my father’s sidetrips through the streets of distress, on this day of thanksgiving I’ll post the trailer for one of the front-runners for this year’s Best Feature Documentary. Trouble the Water played the festival circuit this summer and the trailer’s been around for months — though I don’t think we’ve posted it here before.
I am just going to do up a quick list cause mama’s gotta get going now, little children. I just want to thank the writers of Awards Daily, most especially my partner in crime Ryan Adams who has lifted this site from its doldrums and made it lively again, and Nancy K. who is our newest regular, but also RRA and Josh P. and the many new contributors, as well as all of the regular commenters that make this site feel like home. And thanks to Craig Kennedy who kindly accompanies me to these screenings and award events I’m too scared to attend otherwise. You who comment here really make this a fun place to hang out every day, too fun in fact. Here’s an overcooked turkey for you because I can’t make them any other way! Oh, and have some burnt crusted soggy pumpkin pie too while we’re at it. Here you go. Are you sure? Oh, come on, try a piece!
In and around the web.
AJ Schnack on When Art, Sexuality and Religion Collide, What is the Role of a Film Festival?
NY Post’s Lou Lumenik on Benjamin Button, “One Classy Movie Takes the Lead.”
Jeff Wells says Brad Pitt deserves it for Burn After Reading.
Kris Tapley says awards season is sapping the creativity from his bones, not feeling a thing. Why so glum, chum?
Hollywood Reporter’s Steven Zeitchik wonders if Benjamin Button and Forrest Gump were separated at birth.
And Variety’s Timothy Gray has the proven ways of nabbing and Oscar nomination or even a win!:
# Talk funny. Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood” was a prime example of a long, proud tradition of speaking in a strange voice, using eccentric rhythms and speech patterns and — this is important — doing it while squinting. The glorious roster includes everyone from Billy Bob Thornton in “Sling Blade” to Renee Zellweger in “Cold Mountain.” (Anthony Hopkins in “The Silence of the Lambs” and Tom Hanks in “Forrest Gump” managed Oscar wins without the squint, which is remarkable.) Here’s the rule of thumb: If a standup comic can do an impression of your performance that’s immediately recognizable, you’re in.
# Have a distinctive haircut. Kate Winslet in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada,” Saoisha Ronan in “Atonement,” all great. If at least three men dress up as your character in the West Hollywood Halloween parade, Oscar voters will remember you.
# Be threatening and playful. When Forest Whitaker encounters James McAvoy in “Last King of Scotland,” he terrorizes him then pretends he was joking. Same thing for Joe Pesci with Ray Liotta in “Goodfellas.” It’s part of the “He’s scary!/Oh, he’s kidding!/No, he’s really scary!” school of drama.
# Kill somebody. 2007 was a banner year, thanks to performances from Johnny Depp and Casey Affleck, but recent winners include Catherine Zeta-Jones, Charlize Theron, Denzel Washington, Sean Penn and Tim Robbins. Other noms include William Hurt (”A History of Violence”), Mark Wahlberg (”The Departed”), Ben Kingsley (”Sexy Beast”) and Paul Newman (”Road to Perdition”).
