R.I.P. Jane Russell

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Jane Russell, whose voluptuous good looks won the attention of millionaire Howard Hughes and launched her on a movie career, died Monday of respiratory failure at her home in Santa Maria, Calif. She was 89.

Generally cast in fluff films like 1943’s The Outlaw that showed off her well-endowed beauty, Russell reached the pinnacle of her career with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), starring in the comedy with Marilyn Monroe.

During the 1970s, Russell was widely recognized as the spokesperson for Playtex bras, appearing in national TV commercials for the “Cross Your Heart” bra campaign.

Although best known for her figure, Russell showed a comic sensibility in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and again with Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955) and The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956). Nevertheless, most of her movie roles were designed around her towering physicality and frontal amplitude.

Universal picks up Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for release this year!

From Deadline:

Universal Pictures has acquired domestic distribution rights to Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Spy, the Tomas Alfredson-directed adaptation of the John Le Carre novel that stars Gary Oldman, freshly minted Oscar winner Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong. and Ciaran Hinds. The rights were held by Studiocanal, and the film was produced by Working Title. Universal is eyeing a November or December release for the picture., which is in post production. Script was written by Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan.

The project was one of the hottest titles shopped in Berlin, where buyers watched several minutes of footage and read the script for Afredson’s follow-up to Let the Right One In. I’m told that Universal, through its first look deal with Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, had a first look that it initially didn’t exercise. Then the picture got hot, with The Weinstein Company and Summit Entertainment chasing it hard. I’ve heard the bidding was in the vicinity of $5 million for domestic rights before Universal swooped in and took the project off the table. Studiocanal, which fully financed the film, will distribute in the UK, France and Germany and is handling international sales throughout the rest of the world. Bevan and Fellner produce with Robyn Slovo, with Liza Chasin, Le Carre, Peter Morgan, Douglas Urbanski, and Debra Hayward exec producing.

What could some of the next Oscar contenders be?

Well, we'll have official Awards Circuit looks at what the potentially baity films could be soon, but for now, The Envelope takes a look at 10 flicks that might be Best Picture hopefuls:

Are you as burned out on 2010's Oscar season as we are? If so, take a look into the future to see who we are going to be tired of by next February. We've compiled a completely arbitrary -- but intriguing -- list of what films could be making it to the winner's circle in 2012. Feel free to chime in with your predictions because, really, this time next year we will all likely have been proved wrong.

(Please note: these are in no particular order.)

R.I.P. Gary Winick

Via The Wrap:

Gary Winick, the director of “Letters to Juliet,” “Bride Wars” and other films, died on Sunday after a long battle with brain cancer. He was 49.

Winick was also the founder of the small independent film company InDigEnt, which produced “Pieces of April” and “Personal Velocity,” among others. Winick launched InDigEnt with IFC Films and Cinetic's John Sloss in 1999.

He directed “Charlotte’s Web” and “13 Going On 30,” too, but was known for pushing the boundaries of low-budget digital filmmaking with InDigEnt.

The King's Speech wins Best Picture at the 83rd Academy Awards!

Behold all the winners:

Best Picture: The King’s Speech
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Editing: Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter, The Social Network
Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister, Inception
Best Original Score: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, The Social Network
Best Art Direction: Alice in Wonderland
Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland
Best Visual Effects: Inception
Best Make-Up: The Wolfman
Best Sound Mixing: Inception
Best Sound Editing: Inception
Best Song: We Belong Together, Toy Story 3, Randy Newman
Best Documentary Short: Strangers No More
Best Live Action Short: God of Love
Best Animated Short: The Lost Thing
Best Foreign Language Film: In a Better World, Denmark
Best Documentary: Inside Job

-Joey's Two Cents: After all of our coverage, is there anything left to say? Thoughts?

Academy Idol 4: Season Finale

Live-blogging the Academy Awards...

Enjoy the live blog of the big show:

11:45- At a quarter to midnight on the east coast we close out our Live Blog of the Academy Awards. Thanks for following along!

11:41- That was a classy way to close out the show...

11:38- To those keeping score, The King's Speech and Inception led the night with 4 Oscars apiece, followed closely by The Social Network with 3.

11:36- Yep, that's about what we all saw happening...

11:33- The final award of the night, Best Picture. The nominees are Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Winter's Bone. And the Best Picture of 2010 (according to the Academy) is...The King's Speech!

11:31- Steven Spielberg is on to close out the night...he's making all of the losing films feel better. Well played.

11:29- One award left. The big one...also an award that was much more in play earlier in the show than it is now, though to be fair, most of us never thought it was really in play going into tonight.

11:27- Colin Firth is giving a hell of a speech.

11:23- Time now for Best Actor. The nominees are Javier Bardem for Biutiful, Jeff Bridges for True Grit, Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network, Colin Firth for The King's Speech, and Oscar co-host James Franco for 127 Hours. And the winner is...Colin Firth!

11:19: Sandra Bullock is on now to toast the 5 leading gentlemen. I wonder who might be winning this one...

11:16- Good to see Black Swan finally on the board. Oddly enough, Portman might have gotten the biggest ovation of the evening. Good for her! Also, great job by Jeff Bridges in giving a fitting tribute to all 5 nominees.

11:11- It's time for Best Actress. The nominees are Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right, Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole, Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone, Natalie Portman for Black Swan, and Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine. And the winner is...Natalie Portman!

11:08- It's looking like The Social Network is done making the show interesting. I'm not saying it's 100% going to be The King's Speech for Best Picture, but...well, it pretty much is.

11:06- Annette Bening introduces the Governors Award winners.

11:04- Remember that Oscar split we spoke so much about? Never mind that...

11:03- A big moment now. The category is Best Director. The nominees are Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan, Ethan and Joel Coen for True Grit, David Fincher for The Social Network, Tom Hooper for The King's Speech, and David O. Russell for The Fighter. And the winner is...Tom Hooper!

11:01- Hilary Swank gives a nice intro to Kathryn Bigelow. A nice mention of last year's history.

10:58- The biggest awards are still to come, so don't go anywhere!

The box office report for February 25-27

From Box Office Guru:

Distracted by Oscar hoopla, Hollywood studios tossed unimpressive new films into North American multiplexes which failed to excite moviegoers who instead drove the three-week old animated hit Gnomeo & Juliet into first place. The Owen Wilson comedy Hall Pass stumbled into second place during its opening weekend while Nicolas Cage's latest action effort Drive Angry crashed and burned with an embarrassing ninth place debut for the actor who won an Oscar 15 years ago this spring.

Thanks to strong legs and weak results from new releases, Disney's 3D hit Gnomeo & Juliet climbed into the top spot with an estimated $14.2M in its third weekend. Off just 26%, the G-rated tale has pulled in a stellar $75.1M and is headed for $110M or more. Solid word-of-mouth from kids and parents plus a lack of other family options has helped. This Friday, a new animated competitor arrives in the form of Johnny Depp's Rango which is being backed by a massive marketing and distribution assault. However, that PG-rated pic may play a little older since its rating is due to "rude humor" and "smoking" so it may not hurt Gnomeo's hold on younger children.

Today's the big day...

Stay tuned for all of our coverage of the Academy Awards!

Here are the "winners" of the 31st Annual Razzie Awards!

Take a gander:

Worst Picture Winner 2010
The Last Airbender

Worst Actor Winner 2010
Ashton Kutcher (Killers and Valentine's Day)

Worst Actress Winner 2010
Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis & Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City 2)

Worst Supporting Actor Winner 2010
Jackson Rathbone (The Last Airbender and Twilight Saga: Eclipse)

Worst Supporting Actress Winner 2010
Jessica Alba (The Killer Inside Me, Little Fockers, Machete and Valentine's Day)

Black Swan dominates the Spirit Awards!

Here are all the winners:

Best Picture- Black Swan
Best Director- Darren Aronofsky
Best Actress- Natalie Portman
Best Actor- James Franco
Best Supporting Actress- Dale Dickey
Best Supporting Actor- John Hawkes
Best Screenplay- The Kids Are All Right
Best Cinematography- Black Swan
Best Documentary- Exit Through the Gift Shop
Best Foreign Film- The King's Speech
Best First Feature- Get Low
Best First Screenplay- Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture)
Truer Than Fiction Award- Marwencol
Someone to Watch Award- Mike Ott (Littlerock)
Producers Award- Meek's Cutoff
Robert Altman Award- Please Give
John Cassavetes Award- Daddy Longlegs

-Joey's Two Cents: I didn't do badly with my predictions, and I was glad I mildly underestimated Black Swan...thoughts?

Academy Idol 4: Top 3 Results & Top 2 (Viewer's Choice)

Independent Spirit Awards Preview

My favorite awards show each year is the Independent Spirit Awards, and as always, I take it upon myself to write up this preview/predictions article to try and make some sense of what is always a unique awards show (obviously it's on the blog this year, but that's just due to time constraints and a small technical difficulty). It doesn’t usually have any bearing on Oscar, but it’s one of the hardest precursors (if you can call it that) to accurately predict, so it’s interesting to do this and then compare come Saturday night. As for how the awards themselves might go, well…let’s jump right in. ‘Winter’s Bone’ led the nominations with 7, followed by ‘The Kids Are All Right’ with 5, so keep an eye on those. 'Black Swan' picked up 4 nods, and ‘127 Hours' didn’t do shabby either, so don’t count them out. This is really a closer race than usual in a lot of categories, but there’s still some method to the prediction madness, so here we go:

Best Feature-

The nominees are 127 Hours, Black Swan, Greenberg, The Kids Are All Right, and Winter’s Bone. I think it’s safe to say that Greenberg is out of it (sadly), with 127 Hours and Black Swan looming as long shot spoilers (more so Black Swan). This brings the race down to The Kids Are All Right and Winter’s Bone, and with the latter doing well earlier this season at the Gotham Awards, I’m going to take a cue from them and say that the big prize of the night is going to go to it.

Will Win: Winter’s Bone
Might Win: The Kids Are All Right
Should Win: Black Swan
Should have been nominated: Blue Valentine

The rest after the jump...

Behold the winners of the Cesar Awards!

Here you go:

Best Film: “Of Gods and Men”
Best Director: Roman Polanski, “The Ghost Writer”
Best Actor: Eric Elmosnino, “Gainsbourg”
Best Actress: Sara Forestier, “The Names of Love”
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Lonsdale, “Of Gods and Men”
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Alvaro, “The Clink of Ice”
Most Promising Actor: Edgar Ramirez, “Carlos”
Most Promising Actress: Leïla Bekhti, “Tout ce qui brille”
Best Original Screenplay: Baya Kasmi and Michel Leclerc, “The Names of Love”
Best Adapted Screenplay: Robert Harris and Roman Polanski, “The Ghost Writer”
Best Foreign Film: “The Social Network”
Best Animated Feature: “The Illusionist”
Best Documentary: “Oceans”
Best First Film: “Gainsbourg”
Best Cinematography: Caroline Champetier, “Of Gods and Men”
Best Art Direction: Hugues Tissandier, “The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec”
Best Costume Design: Caroline de Vivaise, “The Princess of Montpensier”
Best Film Editing: Hervé de Luze, “The Ghost Writer”
Best Sound: “Gainsbourg”
Best Short Film: “Logorama”

-Joey's Two Cents: The Social Network taking the Foreign prize was nice to see...thoughts?

The Oscars will still be on ABC until at least 2020...

...according to this in Variety:

ABC has renewed its Oscarcast pact with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for another six years, through the 2020 telecast.

ABC's previous pact had been set to expire in 2014. Alphabet pays an estimated $50 million a year for the kudocast rights.

"This contract ensures that the Oscar show will be an ABC tradition for 45 consecutive years," said AMPAS prexy Tom Sherak. "ABC is absolutely the very best place for the Academy Awards, a television event that is beloved and watched by millions of movie lovers all over the world."

-Joey's Two Cents: It's the only place I know to find it anyway, so it's all good to me...thoughts?

Harvey Weinstein will indeed release a PG-13 cut of The King's Speech...

...for better or worse. Here's the story from the A.V. Club:

Despite director Tom Hooper’s strenuous objections, The Weinstein Company is moving forward with a proposed PG-13 edit of The King’s Speech, having just received an okay from the MPAA to release it to theaters as soon as it pulls the original, R-rated version. (Normally a film has to be absent from theaters for 90 days before a re-release is granted; in this case, The King’s Speech was granted a waiver.) As we reported earlier, the Weinsteins’ decision to censor the film was based primarily on helping the Best Picture frontrunner broaden its box-office take by attracting more families—something that Harvey Weinstein apparently felt was more crucial at this point than continuing to make a stand on principle, like he did at the time of the film’s first date with the MPAA. Back then, the only thing that came between The King’s Speech and a PG-13 was a key scene where Colin Firth’s character lets loose with a string of cathartic profanities—and while there’s nothing official yet on what “unique way” (in Weinstein’s words) they’ve found to work around it, we’re assuming that scene is now pretty much gone, perhaps momentarily replaced by an insert of a couple of friendly chaps playing snooker.

-Joey's Two Cents: It is what it is, and yes, I've avoided the porn set story in regard to The King's Speech on purpose...mainly because it's a waste of time. Thoughts?

Today's Trailers: Miral, Last Night, Source Code, Paul, A Better Life, and Bad Teacher

We start off today with a look at Julian Schnabel's latest awards hopeful 'Miral':

The rest of the trailers are after the jump...

If you want the entire Oscar telecast spoiled for you...

...you can head over here to Deadline, where they run down exactly how the show will unfurl. I'm keeping it off this page just in case some people really value the surprise of what order things happen in, but feel free to discuss it.

-Thoughts?

Will the strong Box Office for Best Picture nominees lead to more Studio-funded adult dramas?

The Hollywood Reporter thinks that it might:

The King's Speech has jumped the $200 million mark worldwide. Black Swan and True Grit are right behind it. The Social Network got there in January, The Fighter has passed $100 million -- and the Oscars haven't even happened yet.

The stunning box-office performance of small awards films this season has rocked the conventional thinking in Hollywood, prompting many to speculate on whether studios will rush to release more adult dramas.

There was already evidence of the new detente at the Sundance Film Festival. As specialty films soared at the January box office, Fox Searchlight, Focus Features, the Weinstein Co. and Sony Pictures Classics were on a spending spree. Even Paramount, which hasn't been a major player since its specialty division Paramount Vantage was folded in 2008, partnered with Indian Paintbrush to pay $4 million for domestic rights to the small romance Like Crazy.

The International Film Music Critics Association announces its winners!

Behold:

Film Score of the Year
“The Ghost Writer” (AlexandreDesplat)
“How to Train Your Dragon” (John Powell)
“Inception” (Hans Zimmer)
“The King’s Speech” (Alexandre Desplat)
“TRON Legacy” (Daft Punk)

Film Composer of the Year
Alexandre Desplat
Danny Elfman
James Newton Howard
John Powell
Hans Zimmer

Breakout Composer of the Year
Óscar Araujo
Arnau Bataller
Daft Punk
Herbert Grönemeyer
Nuno Malo

Our annual Will Win/Should Win series continues on...

...with the second installment today, by yours truly. That one can be found here, with John Foote's one here as well.

-Let us know what you think!

Tom Hooper was offered the director's chair for Iron Man 3?

Apparently so, according to 24 Frames:

Of all the filmmakers to see their stock boosted this Oscar season, none has enjoyed the Google-like jump of Tom Hooper. Like any director with an Oscar nomination and a $100-million hit on his hands, "The King's Speech" helmer has been wooed by numerous studios in town.

Perhaps the most interesting offer that we've heard about? It comes from Marvel and involves some shiny gizmos. According to a person who has worked closely with Hooper but who asked not to be identified because the director did not authorize this person to speak on his behalf, the Brit was offered the director's chair on "Iron Man 3," the latest installment in the Robert Downey Jr. franchise. He turned it down, and "Lethal Weapon" writer Shane Black wound up landing the job several weeks ago.

While Hooper won't be steering Stark Industries, another person who has worked closely with him said he was weighing an offer to direct "Les Miserables," a new version of the classic novel and Broadway musical set in 19th-century France. The movie, which is being developed by "Atonement" producer Working Title, is conceived as a big-budget musical.

Academy Idol 4: Top 4 Results & Top 3 (Sound Effects Week)

Inception leads the 2011 Saturn Award nominations!

Take a gander at the nominees:

Best Science Fiction Film

Hereafter (Warner Bros.)
Inception (Warner Bros.)
Iron Man 2 (Paramount/Marvel)
Never Let Me Go (Fox Searchlight)
Splice (Warner Bros.)
Tron: Legacy (Walt Disney Studios)

Best Fantasy Film

Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney Studios)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (20th Century Fox)
Clash of the Titans (Warner Bros.)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (Warner Bros.)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Universal)
Twilight: Eclipse (Summit Entertainment)

Here's the first image from Terrence Malick's upcoming romantic drama!

The Hollywood Reporter is going to be featuring the film in its next issue, so that's something to look out for...thoughts?

Entertainment Weekly lists the 25 greatest working directors today...

...and even though they leave off some big names, the article (found here) is a good one. Here are the 25 names they came up with:

1. David Fincher
2. Christopher Nolan
3. Steven Spielberg
4. Martin Scorsese
5. Darren Aronofsky
6. Joel and Ethan Coen
7. Quentin Tarantino
8. Terrence Malick
9. Clint Eastwood
10. Pedro Almodovar

The rest of the names, as well as the exclusions, after the jump...

What are 8 ways that the Oscars are going to be different this year?

The Hollywood Reporter has the answers:

Oscar producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer tell the current issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine that the Feb. 27 Oscar telecast will feature a vastly new look this year.

With new assets ranging from a virtual reality set to two vibrant hosts -- James Franco and Anne Hathaway -- the show has been given a facelift that is still respectful to its rich history.

The changes include:

-- Moms of Oscar Nominees: To truly humanize the Oscars, the producers enlisted nine moms and one grandmom (Franco's) to follow along the telecast on their Twitter accounts. Otherwise known as Mominees -- don't expect impartial tweets.

-- The Dynamic Hosts: Hathaway, 28, and Franco, 32, are two of the youngest hosts to front the Oscars. Their youth will invite the viewers along for the ride. "They are not untouchable, they are not unreachable," says Cohen. "We hope they will offer the audience a way in."

-- Two Hosts, Two Sexes: There has never been a male-female duo who physically shared the same Oscar stage in the history of the broadcasts. Although plenty of actresses have shared emcee duties, they've all been part of tag-team groups of three- or four-host combos. Other opposite-sex hosts have been part of bicoastal telecasts -- with one in New York and one in Los Angeles. So having a male-female duo interacting in person would be a genuine first.

The Costume Designers Guild announces their winners!

Behold:

Contemporary Film
“Black Swan” (Amy Westcott)
“Burlesque” (Michael Kaplan)
“Inception” (Jeffrey Kurland)
“The Social Network” (Jacqueline West)
“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” (Ellen Mirojnick)

Period Film
“The Fighter” (Mark Bridges)
“The King’s Speech” (Jenny Beaven)
“True Grit” (Mary Zophres)

Fantasy Film
“Alice in Wonderland” (Colleen Atwood)
“The Tempest” (Sandy Powell)
“TRON Legacy” (Christine Bieselin Clark, Michael Wilkinson)

-Joey's Two Cents: No complaints here in regard to their choices...thoughts?

Don't look for Banksy (in disguise) at the Oscars...

...according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Banksy, mysterious street artist and art man of the moment, has told the British press his request to turn up at this week's Oscars in disguise in a bid to keep his identity a secret, has been declined.

He told Metro that Academy award chiefs said no amid fears that such a move would invite copycat gatecrashers.

The artist, famous for his stencils daubed on street walls, is up for a best documentary award for his debut feature film, Exit Through The Gift Shop.

Joey's DVD Picks of the Week (2/22/2011)

This week, things slow down a bit on DVD, with the quality heading downward to a degree. Keep in mind, the top selection is still a strong film, but there's not a whole lot going on besides that, in my humble opinion. There have been worse weeks, but there's also been far better ones as well. For my PICK OF THE WEEK, I honestly just went with the only film that I liked. That being said, it luckily is a film I did enjoy quite a bit. It's:

Fish Tank

This intimate character study of a troubled English youth featured a stunning performance from newcomer Katie Jarvis. She absolutely blew me away as Mia, the volatile youth with a rough family life who finds an outlet to her anger in dance. Michael Fassbender is excellent as well, playing the boyfriend of Mia's mom who complicates Mia's life even further. The third act of the flick is a bit of a letdown, but it's still a movie (and a performance) well worth seeing.

-Other releases this week include the inoffensive but bland cartoon Megamind, the disappointingly unfunny comedy Due Date, and the letdown that was the would be Oscar hopeful drama Get Low. The first flick mentioned is fair but nothing special. The second is just pointless, and the third left me shaking my head at what might have been. If any of these worked for you, however, then go pick them up and enjoy.

Robert Downey Jr. will star in 'Inherent Vice' for Paul Thomas Anderson?

It's looking like it, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Robert Downey Jr. is making plans to fill the fall hole in his schedule with the lead role in Inherent Vice for writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson.

Anderson has been working on a screenplay adaptation of the 2009 Thomas Pynchon novel while trying to get another film -- an untitled exploration of a religious organization sometimes referred to as The Master -- off the ground. Once Downey dropped out of Disney's Oz, the Great and Powerful last month, it freed him to do another movie later this year after he shoots The Avengers for Marvel and Disney. His commitment to Anderson's movie has recently grown serious.

Joey's Grandfather makes his annual Oscar picks!

As I do every year, I submit to you my grandfather's Oscar picks. He's 77 years old, retired from the film industry (a former projectionist and Union official), and sees almost as many films as I do. I've asked him to choose his personal choices, along with a runner-up (or in the case of Best Picture, to do preferential balloting), in order to see just how someone who resembles the average Academy member might cast his or her ballot. Here they are:

Best Picture

1. The Fighter
2. Black Swan
3. The Social Network
4. The King's Speech
5. True Grit
6. The Kids Are All Right
7. 127 Hours
8. Winter's Bone
9. Inception
10. Toy Story 3

The rest of his picks after the cut...

Oscar ballots are due tomorrow...

...so it's the final voting hours for the Academy, as per this in Deadline:

Get those ballots in, stragglers. Forget that many professional pundits and even casual observers of this year’s Oscar race have already called it. (...The King’s Speech wins Best Picture... Best Actor for Colin Firth... Natalie Portman gets Best Actress... The Fighter's Christian Bale and Melissa Leo win supporting... The Social Network's David Fincher picks up Director... and Aaron Sorkin snags Adapted Screenplay...) But if these are such sure shots, then why are people seemingly getting so nervous? Ballots are due Tuesday at 5 PM at the offices of PriceWaterhouseCoopers in downtown Los Angeles. With Monday a postal holiday due to President’s Day, the only way a vote will count now is if it is walked into the accountants before the deadline. Usually a few hundred are. By my informal surveys, a surprising number of voters waited until the last minute to mail in their ballots. Those who didn’t perhaps thought their vote wouldn’t matter in a race that looks like it’s going to be a King’s ransom. But consultants working with The King’s Speech say they are taking nothing for granted. Which is why director and DGA winner Tom Hooper is across town tonight at the Cinema Audio Society Awards to present a special honor to DGA president Taylor Hackford.

Today's Trailers: Hesher, Apollo 18, and Certified Copy

First off we have Joseph Gordon-Levitt's latest film that premiered at Sundance last year, the indie 'Hesher':

After the cut is a look at the other two trailers of the day...

The Social Network takes top honors at the MPSE awards!

Here are all the winners:

• Best Sound Editing: DIALOGUE AND ADR IN A FEATURE FILM: “The Social Network”
• Best Sound Editing: SOUND EFFECTS AND FOLEY IN A FEATURE FILM: “Inception”
• Best Sound Editing: MUSIC IN A FEATURE FILM: “INCEPTION”
• Best Sound Editing: MUSIC IN A MUSICAL FEATURE FILM: “Country Strong”
• Best Sound Editing: SOUND EFFECTS, FOLEY, DIALOGUE, ADR IN AN ANIMATION FEATURE FILM: “How to Train Your Dragon”
• Best Sound Editing: DOCUMENTARY IN FEATURE FILM: “Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage”
• Best Sound Editing: SOUND EFFECTS, FOLEY, DIALOGUE AND ADR IN A FEATURE FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: “Micmacs”
• VERNA FIELDS AWARD IN SOUND EDITING FOR STUDENT FILMMAKERS: “Stanley Pickle”
• MPSE CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD to Walter Murch

-Joey's Two Cents: Inception did very well too, as you can see...thoughts?

ACCA 2010 Voting & Academy Idol Polls Opened!

After the announcement of the 2010 Awards Circuit Community Award Nominations, voting is now open for the winner choices.  Think long and hard (that's what she said) and choose the favorites in all the categories HERE.

Speaking of ACCA, it is this week's theme on Academy Idol and polls are now opened.  After the elimination (surprise?) of Toy Story 3, no film is safe.  Choose your favorites.  Voting is open until Tuesday!

The box office report for February 18-20

Courtesy of Box Office Guru, we see two Best Picture nominees join the $100 million club:

This weekend Liam Neeson's latest European-set single-word-titled action thriller Unknown debuted at number one over the Friday-to-Sunday portion of the Presidents' Day frame, however the hit 3D toon Gnomeo & Juliet will give the Oscar-nominated star a run for his money over the full four-day holiday session thanks to its terrific staying power. The sci-fi alien flick I Am Number Four debuted in second place while fellow newcomer Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son launched in fifth with each averaging about $6,000. Overall ticket sales fell behind the same holiday frames from the last two years.

Debuting to an estimated $21.8M over three days, Neeson's Unknown took the top spot and averaged a solid $7,154 from 3,043 sites. The PG-13 film about an American in Berlin whose identity has been taken after a car accident leaves him in a coma played to a mature adult crowd and performed much like his 2009 sleeper hit Taken which opened on Super Bowl weekend to $24.7M ahead of a $145M run. With Oscar-nominated dramas being the only other films playing to the over-30 set in recent weeks, Unknown arrived as an exciting-looking alternative with a well-liked star.

True Grit wins the CAS award for Best Sound Mixing!

Behold:

• True Grit: Outstanding Acheivement in Sound Mixing for Feature Film
• Boardwalk Empire: Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Television Series
• Temple Grandin: Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Movie or Mini-Series

-Joey's Two Cents: Now we know what will be Inception's primary competition here at the Oscars...thoughts?

Academy Idol 4: Top 5 Results & Top 4 (ACCA Nominations Week)

Voting is open for your Top 4. Vote on the sidebar on the MainSite.

The ACE Eddies give their top honors to The Social Network!

The winners:

Best Edited Feature, Drama: The Social Network
Best Edited Feature Comedy/Musical: Alice in Wonderland
Best Edited Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Edited Documentary : Exit Through the Gift Shop
Best Edited Miniseries or Movie for TV: Temple Grandin
Best Edited 1/2-Hour Series: Modern Family
Best Edited 1-Hour Series: Walking Dead
Best Edited 1-Hour Non-Commercial Series: Treme

-Joey's Two Cents: This keeps The Social Network alive, but I'm still torn about what will happen on Oscar night...thoughts?

ACCA 2010 voting isn't far off!

So take this time check out the nominations one last time here and decide who will be getting your support!

Look for a trimmed down Oscar telecast this year...

...according to The Hollywood Reporter:

As preparations for the 83rd annual Academy Awards move into high gear, producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer have booted a number of familiar elements from the Feb 27 show.

Gone will be the movie montages -- like last year’s salute to horror movies -- that often contribute to the broadcast’s unwieldy running time. While there will be film clips from the ten best picture nominees and brief filmed introductions to different segments of the show, “Within the body of the show, we are not doing any film montage sequences,” Cohen tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview.

Gone too will be the relatively new tradition, established just two years ago, of using five presenters to offer tribute testimonials about each of the best actor and actress nominees. “We’re not going to do that this year,” Cohen says. “What we did love about it was that it was a moment where each of the nominees really gets their due. [But] we found a version of that, without using the five people on stage, from the 1970 Oscars, and we stole it.”

The International Cinephile Society awards are announced!

Behold:

PICTURE
01. A Prophet
02. Carlos
03. Another Year
04. The Social Network
05. Everyone Else
06. I Am Love
07. Blue Valentine
08. Black Swan
09. Exit Through the Gift Shop
10. Inception

DIRECTOR
Jacques Audiard – A Prophet
runner-up: Olivier Assayas – Carlos

Just how much of an endurance test is the Best Picture race?

Variety goes on to tell us as much breaking down the road to a nod for each of the 10 nominees:

Now that the Oscar race for best picture is a 10-deep scenario, securing a spot in the nominees' circle is less about clawing one's way there than keeping a spotlight on the qualities that initially put a pic in contention.

"The Social Network" didn't need 500 million friends -- to quote its memorable ad language -- to land its spot, but instead a richer, media-friendly nexus of reviewer praise, solid box office, zeitgeisty controversy, a handful of creative names enjoying their biggest moment (Jesse Eisenberg, David Fincher, Aaron Sorkin) and rafts of awards, from critics' groups to the top Golden Globe prize. All it had to do was avoid an Academy-wide unfriending.

From the feel-good side of the aisle is "The King's Speech," a movie pegged as Oscar material from early on, delivering a beloved actor (Colin Firth) in full bloom raking in awards (SAG, Globe, critics' groups), an admired screenplay and that sometimes elusive intangible: audience uplift.

Well-received summer blockbusters like "Inception" and "Toy Story 3," meanwhile, repped the biggest brains and hearts, respectively, in today's studio system. Christopher Nolan's taut mind-bender gave Academy voters who snubbed his equally acclaimed "The Dark Knight" a chance to rectify that omission, while Pixar showed that its creative attention to a threequel merited extra recognition outside the animation category.

Today's Posters: Battle: Los Angeles, Certified Copy, and Trust

The rest are after the cut...

Entertainment Weekly goes over 10 times that Oscar missed with Best Picture...

There are certainly more than 10 examples to be found (and this feels like a wink and a nod to The Social Network likely coming up short this year), but here are the 10 that EW came up with, along with their reasoning:

10. Forrest Gump (1994)

You won't catch me quoting Mama in Forrest Gump and saying ''stupid is as stupid does.'' But jeepers, Bubba! While the Oscar went to a gumbo of a feel-good movie about a simple Alabama fella who runs real fast and shows up for all the key events in the late 20th century without paying attention, Academy voters missed the headline: Oscar-worthy Pulp Fiction had reinvented the language of American moviemaking, becoming an instant classic. It deserved the prize royale. —Lisa Schwarzbaum

Today's Trailers: Thor and Something Borrowed

First up is the latest look at Marvel's next cash cow 'Thor':

After the jump is the rom-com 'Something Borrowed':

Shane Black to direct Iron Man 3?

Deadline seems to think so:


The ever secretive Marvel Studios is in final negotiations with Shane Black to direct Iron Man 3 set to be released on May 3, 2013. As you know, IM1 and IM2 director Jon Favreau begged off to helm Magic Kingdom at Disney so his relationship with the franchise ran its course. Shane is first and foremost a writer but it's not clear whether he'll be penning the IM3 script as well. "That's not figured out," our source says. Of course, everyone in and around Marvel is keeping mum. But Black has a long relationship with Robert Downey Jr since Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Not only did Shane make his directing debut on the 2005 cult favorite he co-wrote, but it helped re-launch Downey Jr’s career.

Today's Posters: The Tree of Life and Scream 4

A look at the Scream 4 one is after the jump...

This video game trailer is better than most movie trailers...

The game is called Dead Island. Take a gander:



-Joey's Two Cents: It looks great to me, obviously...thoughts?

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are teaming up again!

Here are the details from The Hollywood Reporter:

Martin Scorsese has come back on to direct The Wolf of Wall Street in his latest collaboration with star Leonardo DiCaprio. Sopranos writer Terry Winter wrote the adaptation of Jordan Belfort's memoir.

Alexandra Milchan, DiCaprio's Appian Way and Scorsese are producing the film, which was originally set up at Warner Bros. with Ridley Scott attached to direct. The producers plan to reveal financing details and the date for the start of production at the Festival de Cannes in May.

The project will detail Belfort's fast-dealing, drug-and-sex-drenched '90s-era tear through the halls of Wall Street, which eventually led to jail time in federal prison for offenses related to stock market manipulation.

What project will Kimberly Peirce be tackling next?

Via Variety:

Kimberly Peirce has been tapped to helm "The Knife" for Universal which Brian Grazer will produce through his Imagine Entertainment Banner.

Pic is based on the true story of a rookie gang-banger trying to make it out of his gang lifestyle and hot head F.B.I. Agent who team up to infiltrate the organization of a Los Angeles gang leader. Vineet Dewan penned the script.

Film is still in the early pre-production stages so no start date has been set for lensing.

Peirce has been particular in what projects she taken since directing her indie hit "Boys Don't Cry" with Hilary Swank.

Since directing 'Boys,' her only other feature directing credit is the Iraq War pic "Stop Loss" with Ryan Phillippe and Channing Tatum.

Richard Kelly is stepping out of the sci-fi realm for his next film...

...according to Collider:

It’s evident in Richard Kelly’s work that he’s one of the best idea men in the business. But he’s struggled to capitalize on the backdoor success of Donnie Darko: audiences were understandably baffled by Southland Tales, and notoriously slapped the more mainstream The Box with a grade “F” CinemaScore. The admittedly uneven film didn’t deserve that “F,” but it’s gotta be hard to rebound from such a negative reaction.

Yet, the resilient Kelly is busy setting up his next film, a Texas-set thriller titled Corpus Christi. The story revolves around the strange friendship between a mentally unstable Iraq war veteran and his boss, the wealthy owner of a supermarket chain with political ambitions. Variety suggests a more traditional narrative, but the publication seems to be responding to the lack of overt sci-fi. With a mentally unstable lead character, I expect some grade “A” Kelly weirdness.

Does the old guard face an end to their reign in the Oscar musical categories?

Via Variety:

This season's Oscar-nominated scores reflect the new realities about music in film: While there will always be room for the traditional symphonic score, composers and filmmakers are now so comfortable with high-tech recording techniques, world music and electronic soundscapes that the playing field is broader than ever before.

Twenty years ago, it would have been difficult to imagine that an American-born industrial-rock pioneer and his British partner would be nominated alongside a German-born pop producer-turned-composer, an Indian-music superstar, a French flutist-turned-composer and a conservatory-trained British tunesmith.

For a contemporary sound in "The Social Network," director David Fincher turned to Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, who had never scored a film before (although his English-born partner, Atticus Ross, had done "The Book of Eli").

Their work -- a moody mixture of old modular-synth sounds and electronic processing of real acoustic instruments, including a recurring piano figure -- reflects a little of Fincher's ideas (he had referenced the sounds once made by Wendy Carlos and Tangerine Dream) and a lot of the kinds of ambient soundscapes that Reznor and Ross had previously imagined on their "Ghosts I-IV" album in 2008.

Natalie Portman sure knows how to cry...

Just something amusing that's floating around the web I thought I'd share:

Nominations for the First Annual Comedy Awards are announced!

Behold:

COMEDY FILM
“Cyrus”
“Easy A”
“Get Him to the Greek”
“Kick-Ass”
“The Other Guys”

COMEDY DIRECTOR — FILM
Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass, “Cyrus”
Will Gluck, “Easy A”
Adam McKay, “The Other Guys”
Matthew Vaughn, “Kick-Ass”
Edgar Wright, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”

COMEDY ACTOR — FILM

Russell Brand, “Get Him to the Greek”
Will Ferrell, “The Other Guys”
Zach Galifianakis, “Dinner for Schmucks”
Paul Giamatti, “Barney’s Version”
Jonah Hill, “Cyrus”

COMEDY ACTRESS — FILM
Tina Fey, “Date Night”
Anne Hathaway, “Love & Other Drugs”
Helen Mirren, “Red”
Chloë Moretz, “Kick-Ass”
Emma Stone, “Easy A”

COMEDY SCREENPLAY
“Cyrus”
“Easy A”
“Hot Tub Time Machine”
“Kick-Ass”
“Tiny Furniture”

ANIMATED COMEDY FILM
“Despicable Me”
“Megamind”
“Shrek Forever After”
“Toy Story 3”

-After the jump we have the non-film categories for you to check out...

The return of the "Today's Posters" feature!

That was Meek's Cutoff, and after the jump are jumbo sized posters for Captain America: The First Avenger, One Day, Arthur, The Music Never Stopped, The Conspirator, The Adjustment Bureau, Hanna, and Water for Elephants.

A Circuit Debate...

Joey and I were speaking about this recently and we're opening it up to you.

If there were still five Best Picture nominees, which five would have made it?

My guess:
"The Fighter"
"The King's Speech"
"The Social Network"
"True Grit"

"Toy Story 3" or "Inception" but I suspect "Toy Story 3" would have made it. That would make Darren Aronofsky for "Black Swan" the lone director of the year. Some may disagree. You discuss.

Joey's DVD Picks of the Week (2/15/2011)

This week on DVD, we have a relatively slim selection to choose from (in terms of quantity more than quality), but after the last few weeks being more or less an embarrassment of riches, it's not a big deal. All of the releases are worth your time, but none of them exactly set my world on fire. For me PICK OF THE WEEK, I went with one of the better documentaries of the year. It's:

Waiting for 'Superman'

This engaging look at the public education system in America isn't perfect, but it is a documentary that has its heart in the right place. The film is compelling enough, and you leave it with (hopefully) ideas in your heart for improving the system. I don't know that it was necessarily "snubbed" an Oscar nomination, but it definitely deserved the consideration it got. Now that it's on DVD, a wider audience can get the chance to check it out and work on saving the educational future of the next generation.

R.I.P. Kenneth Mars

Via Variety:

Character actor Kenneth Mars, best known for roles in "Young Frankenstein" and the original film version of "The Producers," died Saturday of pancreatic cancer in Granada Hills, Calif. He was 75.

In Mel Brooks' 1974 comedy "Young Frankenstein," Mars played the police inspector with a malfunctioning prosthetic arm; in Brooks' earlier, 1968 film "The Producers," Mars was the Nazi playwright who creates "Springtime for Hitler."

Mars employed a Mitteleuropean accent once again for Peter Bogdanovich's 1972 Barbra Streisand starrer "What's Up, Doc?," playing a Yugoslavian with dubious motives.

Mars also racked up dozens of television series, including CBS' 1967-69 series "He and She"; late '70s syndicated effort "Fernwood Tonight"; and, more recently, "Malcolm in the Middle," in which he portrayed Otto Mannkusser for 27 episodes.

Sony announces that Spider-Man will offically be called 'The Amazing Spider-Man'!

Here's the press release:

“THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN™”

TO BE RELEASED JULY 3, 2012

CULVER CITY, Calif., February 14, 2011 – Columbia Pictures announced today that the title of the next Spider-Man film will be The Amazing Spider-Man.

The studio simultaneously released a photo of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, the first shot of Garfield in the famous full mask and suit.

The film, which is now in production and is being shot entirely in 3D, will be released on July 3, 2012. The film stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen, and Sally Field. The film is directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Matt Tolmach are producing the Marvel Entertainment production for Columbia Pictures. The executive producers are Stan Lee, Kevin Feige, and Michael Grillo.

Can Annette Bening pull off a Best Actress upset?

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Annette Bening glittered at Monday's Music Hall tribute, and she stole rival Natalie Portman's thunder at the Oscar nominees luncheon -- but can she grab that gleaming doll this late in the game?

Bening got more applause than Portman at the Oscar luncheon, but that doesn't mean she's sure to upset Portman's predicted victory on Oscar night. Oscar sage Steve Pond argued that noms were announced in alphabetical order, and applause fatigue set in, so people in the "B's" fared better than the "P's." I counted 10 big whoops for noms in the first half of the nom parade (Javier Bardem, Bening, Ethan Coen -- a slightly louder whoop than Joel Coen's -- Roger Deakins, Colin Firth, Debra Granik, John Hawkes and Melissa Leo) and only six in the second half, including Randy Newman and Christopher Nolan before Portman and Geoffrey Rush and Mark Wahlberg after.

And in a two-faced town, who knows how Bening's whoops translate into Oscar votes?

How hard is it for actors to win a second Oscar?

Via Variety:

There are those who win a second lead acting Oscar, but it happens only occasionally -- and not to many of those you might expect.

In the past 40 years, there have been 71 different lead actor/actress winners, highlighting how difficult it has been for anyone to return to the winner's circle, even through a storied career.

In recent years, lead actor winners Sean Penn and Daniel Day-Lewis have earned that Academy recognition a second time, for "Milk" and "There Will Be Blood," respectively, and in the last decade, "Boys Don't Cry" awardee Hilary Swank returned to the dais to accept lead actress Oscar No. 2 for "Million Dollar Baby."

Yet Meryl Streep -- often hailed as our finest living film actress -- has but one lead actress win, for 1982's "Sophie's Choice," and though she's made 11 more trips to the nominees' circle in that category, she hasn't repeated. Last year, the talk surrounding her performance as Julia Child was enough to suggest a second Oscar was coming, but Sandra Bullock won for "The Blind Side," her first Oscar nomination.

Roger Ebert makes his Oscar picks!

Here you go:

Best Picture: On the day the Oscar nominations were announced, I made some quick guesses and toyed with the possibility that “True Grit” might sneak in. I've changed my mind and now agree with the conventional wisdom that “The King's Speech” will be the year's best picture winner. Still, “True Grit” or “The Social Network” could pull off an upset.

Actor in a leading role: Colin Firth for “The King's Speech.” Jeff Bridges is unlikely to win a second year in a row, and although James Franco did a heroic job under his (shall we say) constraints in “127 Hours,” Hollywood loves British history and often gives extra points to U.K. nominees.

Actress in a leading role: In the way that such matters are decided by currents wafting in the air, Natalie Portman has emerged as the consensus choice. She is very good in “Black Swan.” That's beside the point. Everyone is good in this category. But she gets to “act” the most, which to the academy, often means “act out in emotional displays.” She was required to do that by the logic of the role, which had Oscar written all over it.

Actor in a supporting role: Geoffrey Rush. Because it could be a “King's Speech” year. Christian Bale seems to have a good chance, but when a movie gets anointed, its aura shines on its other nominees, as if voters are thinking, “Well, if I voted for ‘The King's Speech,' doesn't that mean I keep voting for it?”

Actress in a supporting role: That tendency won't carry over to this category, however, because while Helena Bonham Carter as the king's wife was splendid, as she almost always is, the role wasn't showy. The academy has a way in this category of anointing a plucky young newcomer, and the winner will be Hailee Steinfeld, who in fact played the lead in “True Grit,” no matter what the academy thinks. Melissa Leo and Amy Adams will split support for “The Fighter.”

Directing: Well, here I'm more or less forced to choose Tom Hooper of “The King's Speech” because he won the Directors Guild Award, and you know the mantra: The DGA winner wins the best director Oscar 90 percent of the time. Contrarian speculation would be risky.

Wally Pfister takes the ASC award!

Behold:

• Wally Pfister: ASC Award for Feature Film, for Inception!
• Stephen Windon: Asc Award for TV Movie /Mini-Series for the Pacific, Okinawa
• Jonathan Freeman: ASC award for TV Series – Boardwalk Empire, ‘Home’ episode
• Michael O’Shea: ASC Career Achievement in TV Award
• John Seale: ASC International Award for cinematography (Rain Man, Harry Potter, Perfect Storm, The English Patient)

The King's Speech comes close to sweeping at the BAFTAs!

Here are the winners:

Best Film – The King’s Speech
Best Director – The Social Network – David Fincher
Best Leading Actress – Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Best Leading Actor – Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
Best Supporting Actress – Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Best Supporting Actor – Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech
Best Adapted Screenplay – The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin
Best Original Screenplay – The King’s Speech – David Seidler
Best Cinematography – True Grit – Roger Deakins
Outstanding British Film – The King’s Speech
Outstanding British Debut – Four Lions – Chris Morris
Best Editing – The Social Network – Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter
Best Original Music – The King’s Speech – Alexandre Desplat
Best Production Design – Inception – Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Doug Mowat
Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood
Best Sound – Inception – Richard King, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A Rizzo, Ed Novick
Best Special Visual Effects – Inception – Corbould, Franklin, Lockley, Bebb
Best Make Up & Hair – Alice in Wonderland – Valli O’Reilly, Paul
Best Short Film – Until the River Runs Red – Paul Wright, Poss Kondeatis
Best Short Animation – The Eagleman Stag – Michael Please
Best Film Not in the English Language – The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Best Animated Film – Toy Story 3
Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award – Tom Hardy


-Joey's Two Cents: The only real surprises for me were Fincher holding off Hooper and TKS hitting in both film categories...thoughts?

The Chlotrudis nominees are announced!

Take a gander:

Best Movie
I Killed My Mother
Jack Goes Boating
The King’s Speech
Mother
Undertow
Winter’s Bone

Best Director
Tze Chun – Children of Invention
Banksy – Exit Through the Gift Shop
Xavier Dolan – I Killed My Mother
Joon-ho Bong – Mother
John Cameron Mitchell – Rabbit Hole
Debra Granik – Winter’s Bone

Buried Treasure
Dogtooth
Down Terrace
Mary and Max
Mine
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
Terribly Happy

Best Actress
Paprika Steen – Applause
Katie Jarvis – Fish Tank
Anne Dorval – I Killed My Mother
Hye-ja Kim – Mother
Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone

Best Actor
Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine
Alexander Siddig – Cairo Time
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Jack Goes Boating
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
Vincent Cassel – Mesrine: Killer Instinct
Anthony Mackie – Night Catches Us

Best Supporting Actress
Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom
Kierston Waering – Fish Tank
Sissy Spacek – Get Low
Dianne Wiest – Rabbit Hole
Dale Dickey – Winter’s Bone

Best Supporting Actor
Michael Fassbender – Fish Tank
John Ortiz – Jack Goes Boating
Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech
Miles Teller – Rabbit Hole
John Hawkes – Winter’s Bone

The 9th annual INOCA winners are announced!

Behold:

BEST PICTURE
The Social Network
BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM
A Prophet
BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
BEST ACTOR
Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine
BEST ACTRESS
Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale in The Fighter
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lesley Manville in Another Year
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Christopher Nolan for Inception
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network

BAFTA Predictions

The BAFTA's are tonight and if you're have any connection with this awards season you know that "The King's Speech" will reign supreme and then some. The question is how supreme will it reign. My predictions are in bold. Include yours in the comment section.

BEST FILM
* BLACK SWAN
* INCEPTION
* THE KING’S SPEECH
* THE SOCIAL NETWORK
* TRUE GRIT

DIRECTOR
* 127 HOURS – Danny Boyle
* BLACK SWAN – Darren Aronofsky
* INCEPTION – Christopher Nolan
* THE KING’S SPEECH – Tom Hooper
* THE SOCIAL NETWORK – David Fincher

LEADING ACTOR
* JAVIER BARDEM – Biutiful
* JEFF BRIDGES – True Grit
* JESSE EISENBERG – The Social Network
* COLIN FIRTH – The King’s Speech
* JAMES FRANCO – 127 Hours

LEADING ACTRESS
* ANNETTE BENING – The Kids Are All Right
* JULIANNE MOORE – The Kids Are All Right
* NATALIE PORTMAN – Black Swan
* NOOMI RAPACE – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
* HAILEE STEINFELD – True Grit

Constructive Criticism

Thank you guys for the support.  What do you think of the new blog and the new revamp of the site?  Write in the comment section of this post...

Welcome to the new blog!

Be on the lookout for all the news and precursors you've been used to as well as more posters and trailers!

Thanks for reading The Awards Circuit!

London Film Critics Winners

SKY 3D AWARD: FILM OF THE YEAR
Black Swan (Fox)
The Kids Are All Right (Universal)
The King’s Speech (Momentum)
The Social Network (Sony)
Toy Story 3 (Disney)
THE ATTENBOROUGH AWARD: BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR
127 Hours (Warner/Pathe)
The Arbor (Verve)
Another Year (Momentum)
The King’s Speech (Momentum)
Monsters (Vertigo)
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Dogtooth (Verve)
I Am Love (Metrodome)
Of Gods and Men (Artificial Eye)
The Secret in Their Eyes (Metrodome)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (New Wave)
ACTOR OF THE YEAR sponsored by Narrabeen Communications
Jeff Bridges - True Grit (Paramount)
Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network (Sony)
Colin Firth - The King’s Speech (Momentum)
Ryan Gosling - Blue Valentine (Optimum)
Edgar Ramirez - Carlos (Optimum)
MOËT ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right (Universal)
Jennifer Lawrence - Winter’s Bone (Artificial Eye)
Natalie Portman - Black Swan (Fox)
Noomi Rapace - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Momentum)
Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit (Paramount)

International Film Music Critics Association Nominations

FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR
• THE GHOST WRITER, music by Alexandre Desplat
• HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, music by John Powell
• INCEPTION, music by Hans Zimmer
• THE KING’S SPEECH, music by Alexandre Desplat
• TRON: LEGACY, music by Daft Punk
FILM COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
• Alexandre Desplat
• Danny Elfman
• James Newton Howard
• John Powell
• Hans Zimmer
BREAKOUT COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
• Óscar Araujo
• Arnau Bataller
• Daft Punk
• Herbert Grönemeyer
• Nuno Malo
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM
• AMÁLIA, music by Nuno Malo
• BLACK SWAN, music by Clint Mansell
• THE KARATE KID, music by James Horner
• THE KING’S SPEECH, music by Alexandre Desplat
• TRUE GRIT, music by Carter Burwell
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM
• THE LIGHTKEEPERS, music by Pinar Toprak
• LO, music by Scott Glasgow
• NANNY MCPHEE RETURNS, music by James Newton Howard
• POTICHE, music by Philippe Rombi
• VAMPIRES SUCK, music by Christopher Lennertz