Monday, January 2, 2012

Broadcast critics set for year-end honors

Hugo and The Artist lead the field of Broadcast Film Critics nominees.



Just when you thought it was safe to put your formal wear back in mothballs, it's once again time to dig out the old tuxedo. OK, maybe that's not true for you (or me), but it certainly applies to lots of Hollywood folks who are about to hop a ride on the annual awards express.


The Broadcast Film Critics Association begins the season with its 17th annual awards show, which will be broadcast on VH1 live from the Hollywood Palladium on Jan 12 at 6 p.m. (MST). Comics Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel will host the event.


If you like star-gazing, it's worth knowing that the nominees all tend to show up for BFCA event, which this year features a musical and film tribute to Martin Scorsese, who also happens to have directed one of the year's most nominated movies. Scorsese's Hugo garnered 11 nominations, as did The Artist. Both films were one nomination shy of the record 12 nominations garnered by Black Swan a year ago.


The BFCA (the largest critics' organization in the U.S. and Canada) has some 250 members who ply their trade on television, radio or on line. That includes me. Maybe I'm biased, but I think the BFCA awards are a better bellwether for Oscar than the much-hyped Golden Globes.


To whet your appetite, here's a list of the major BFCA nominees:

BEST PICTURE
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse


BEST ACTOR
George Clooney – The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio – J. Edgar
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Michael Fassbender – Shame
Ryan Gosling – Drive
Brad Pitt – Moneyball

BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis – The Help
Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin
Charlize Theron – Young Adult
Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks – Drive
Nick Nolte – Warrior
Patton Oswalt – Young Adult
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Andy Serkis – Rise of the Planet of the Apes

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Bérénice Bejo – The Artist
Jessica Chastain – The Help
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids
Carey Mulligan – Shame
Octavia Spencer – The Help
Shailene Woodley – The Descendants

BEST DIRECTOR
Stephen Daldry – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Alexander Payne – The Descendants
Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive
Martin Scorsese – Hugo


2 comments:

Peter Nellhaus said...

The Denver Film Critics Society awards got posted. Kind of awkward following Kim Novak's comments on the film's music.

Robert Denerstein said...

For those who don't know, Novak accused "The Artist" of unfairly capitalizing on part of Bernard Herrmann's love theme from "Vertigo." Novak, who starred in "Vertigo," took out a full page ad in Variety, which began by saying "I want to report a rape. ...I feel as if my body – or, at least my body of work – has been violated by the movie, ‘The Artist.’” You can read stories about Novak's ad by googling Novak and ''The Artist." I found a report about it in the Mail Online, the Web site of the UK paper, Daily Mail.
Novak's reaction strikes me as over-the-top, especially since Herrmann gets a small credit at the end of the film. But we'll see how the movie world -- not to mention women's groups -- react to her ad.